Monthly Archive

February 2016

Welcome to our Archives page. On this page you will find a total of 20 of our articles broken down into Months and Years.
Kazakhstan Delicate Balancing Act Between Turkey and Russia
Events and opinions
1776
5 min read

Kazakhstan Delicate Balancing Act Between Turkey and Russia

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu visited Kazakhstan, on February 6, where he and his host government discussed bilateral cooperation on large-scale transit corridor projects (Akorda, February read more..
Kazakhstan: Astana Comes Clean on Economic Rout
Events and opinions
1989
2 min read

Kazakhstan: Astana Comes Clean on Economic Rout

Kazakhstan has slashed its growth forecast for this year, finally acknowledging the scale of damage wrought to its economy by the slump in the price for its main export commodity. The government no... read more..
Kazakhstan: Graft Probe Targets Prominent Media Figures
Events and opinions
1759
3 min read

Kazakhstan: Graft Probe Targets Prominent Media Figures

Free speech campaigners are crying foul over a criminal investigation in Kazakhstan involving two prominent media figures on charges of embezzling nearly $1 million.   Seytkazy Matayev, head ... read more..
Head of Kazakh journalists' union detained
Events and opinions
1713
2 min read

Head of Kazakh journalists' union detained

The Committee to Protect Journalists is concerned by today's detention of Seytkazy Matayev, head of the Kazakh Journalists' Union and the chair of National Press Club, in Almaty. Agents of Kazakhstan... read more..
Kazakhstan launches probe against media figure ahead of election
Events and opinions
1520
2 min read

Kazakhstan launches probe against media figure ahead of election

Kazakhstan's anti-corruption agency is investigating the head of the journalists' union Seitkazy Matayev over suspected theft and tax evasion, it said on Monday, less than a month before a parliamenta... read more..
VimpelCom Pays $795 Million To Settle Uzbekistan Bribery Investigation
Corruption!
2444
3 min read

VimpelCom Pays $795 Million To Settle Uzbekistan Bribery Investigation

Netherlands-based telecommunications giant VimpelCom announced today that it would pay U.S. and Dutch government authorities $795 million to end an investigation into bribery in Uzbekistan. While the ... read more..
U.S. Dismisses Defamation Lawsuit Linked To Kazakh Family Feud
Events and opinions
1738
3 min read

U.S. Dismisses Defamation Lawsuit Linked To Kazakh Family Feud

 A U.S. federal judge has thrown out a defamation lawsuit brought by a close business associate of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev's former son-in-law, who was found dead in an Austrian jail read more..
Can Kazakhstan’s Privatization Plan Succeed?
Events and opinions
1833
11 min read

Can Kazakhstan’s Privatization Plan Succeed?

Kazakhstan’s plan to privatize its state industries is ambitious, but it faces some major barriers. In October 2015, the government of Kazakhstan announced the largest privatization of state-owned ... read more..
Child’s Murder Sparks Ethnic Tensions in South Kazakhstan
Events and opinions
1688
3 min read

Child’s Murder Sparks Ethnic Tensions in South Kazakhstan

Ethnic tensions are bubbling in southern Kazakhstan, where local authorities have stepped in to restore calm following the murder of a child by a member of an ethnic minority. Worryingly for Astana, ... read more..
Autocrats’ bag of tricks for staying in power
Corruption!
2043
3 min read

Autocrats’ bag of tricks for staying in power

Excluding hereditary monarchies, there are close to 40 countries around the world in which the national leader has been in power for 10 or more years, writes Freedom House analyst Elen Aghekyan. A sma... read more..
Kazakhstan: Astana Opera Hits Cultural High Notes
Special projects
5828
4 min read

Kazakhstan: Astana Opera Hits Cultural High Notes

On a recent snowy winter’s evening in Kazakhstan’s capital, arts buffs flocked to the state-of-the-art opera house. Kazakhstan may be in the grip of an economic crisis, but it was a full house at... read more..
Crackdown on dissent in Kazakhstan as economy slumps
Events and opinions
1709
3 min read

Crackdown on dissent in Kazakhstan as economy slumps

Activist jailed for inciting social hatred on Facebook, then released after apology, as dropping oil prices hit hard. Something surprising just happened in Kazakhstan. Not the fact that an opposi... read more..
Kazakh pension fund to buy foreign assets, domestic bonds
Events and opinions
1532
2 min read

Kazakh pension fund to buy foreign assets, domestic bonds

Feb 10 Kazakhstan's state pension fund will invest 500 billion tenge ($1.4 billion) abroad this year and buy bonds from local banks and state companies worth 600 billion tenge, the president's office ... read more..
Kazakh leader orders 689 million pounds for house building as snap poll looms
Events and opinions
1525
2 min read

Kazakh leader orders 689 million pounds for house building as snap poll looms

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered his government on Wednesday to allocate 360 billion tenge (689 million pounds) to build affordable housing to support the economy, which has been hit by t... read more..
Move over Royal Family. London’s oligarchs are the new tourist attraction
Events and opinions
1446
3 min read

Move over Royal Family. London’s oligarchs are the new tourist attraction

‘And if you look to your left you will see a house once linked to Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakhstan’s former intelligence chief, who died in police custody in Austria while awaiting charges of corruption, tor... read more..
Central Asia’s Presidents-for-Life. Don’t hold your breath waiting for democratic transitions in Central Asia.
Political process
1925
7 min read

Central Asia’s Presidents-for-Life. Don’t hold your breath waiting for democratic transitions in Central Asia.

The president of Tajikistan was granted the title “Leader of the Nation” in December 2015 by special law. However, he does not want to stop there. On January 22, Tajikistan’s parliament adopted new am... read more..
Kazakhstan at Twenty-Five: Stable but Tense
Economy
2084
18 min read

Kazakhstan at Twenty-Five: Stable but Tense

Kazakhstan is at a political and economic crossroads. The country saw impressive growth from 2000 to 2015 due to high oil prices, but it failed to diversify the economy away from extracting and export... read more..
Kazakhstan’s Snap Elections: Watching the Watchers Not all election monitors were created equal.
Political process
2049
3 min read

Kazakhstan’s Snap Elections: Watching the Watchers Not all election monitors were created equal.

Earlier this week, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister attempted to lay out why Kazakhstan would be hosting snap parliamentary elections next month. “Strong leadership and a clear strategy ... to overcome t... read more..
Oil Squeeze: Kazakhstan And Central Asian States Suffer Amid Slowdowns In Russia And China
Economy
2021
4 min read

Oil Squeeze: Kazakhstan And Central Asian States Suffer Amid Slowdowns In Russia And China

Amid the modern and futuristic landscape of Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, and in the large city of Almaty, something rarely seen has appeared in recent weeks and months: protesters. Kazakhstan’s tenge... read more..
Kazakhstan: Ruling Party Plumps for Populism
Political process
1939
2 min read

Kazakhstan: Ruling Party Plumps for Populism

Kazakhstan’s president could hardly be expected to run for parliament, so the ruling Nur Otan party has gone for the next best thing: The actor who played him as a young man in the biopic. Nurlan Ali... read more..
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