June 2017

28 Jun

Corruption!

1461

Now Under the Nazarbayev Brand: Astana's Airport

Kazakhstan renamed Astana’s international airport after the first and current president of the country, Nursultan Nazarbayev. With a government decree, Kazakhstan’s Astana International Airport was... read more..

Kazakhstan’s Expo: Vanity Fair or Imprint of the Future?

24 Jun

Events and opinions

1583

Kazakhstan’s Expo: Vanity Fair or Imprint of the Future?

Recycling trashcans are everywhere you look at the Future Energy EXPO in Kazakhstan’s capital. For a region in which sprawling, smoldering, methane-emitting landfill sites are the norm, the message is... read more..

Son of President of Equatorial Guinea on Trial in Paris for Embezzlement

22 Jun

Events and opinions

1310

Son of President of Equatorial Guinea on Trial in Paris for Embezzlement

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, whose father is president of Equatorial Guinea, went on trial Monday in France for embezzling more than US$ 112 million of state money to fund a lavish lifestyle in Paris... read more..

Central Asia: All Together Now. The region that isn’t, and how it may be reclaiming itself.

19 Jun

Events and opinions

1536

Central Asia: All Together Now. The region that isn’t, and how it may be reclaiming itself.

After a quarter century of independence, the fragmentation of Central Asia is evident to all. A senior official there might justifiably complain about how each country “[is] pursuing its own limited o... read more..

Kazakhstan Spent $5 Billion on a Death Star and It Doesn’t Even Shoot Lasers

16 Jun

Events and opinions

1956

Kazakhstan Spent $5 Billion on a Death Star and It Doesn’t Even Shoot Lasers

The Central Asian country built a futuristic city to host the World's Fair and polish its own brand. One small problem: it forgot to invite guests. I was the only visitor in Greece. As I walked thr... read more..

Not All that Glitters in Kazakhstan Is Gold

13 Jun

Events and opinions

1325

Not All that Glitters in Kazakhstan Is Gold

Kazakhstan’s EXPO 2017, an international exposition featuring the theme of “future energy,” opened with much fanfare on June 9 in Astana, the country’s capital. The large spherical building that ho... read more..

Kazakhstan Is Preparing to Effectively Ban Political Opposition

05 Jun

Events and opinions

1397

Kazakhstan Is Preparing to Effectively Ban Political Opposition

Political opposition never got much of a look in in authoritarian Kazakhstan, where the same man has been in power for over a quarter of a century, but a draft law being considered by the country's ru... read more..

Kazakhstan’s Dirty Laundry: Money Laundering and New York Real Estate

05 Jun

Events and opinions

1652

Kazakhstan’s Dirty Laundry: Money Laundering and New York Real Estate

Kazakh politics plays out far from the steppe — in New York lofts and courts. A new and incredibly thorough report, produced in partnership by McClatchy and the Organized Crime and Corruption Repor... read more..

05 Jun

Events and opinions

1510

Kazakhstan: A Tale of Famine and Flight

When Nurziya Kazhibayeva was six years old, a famine swept across Kazakhstan. “One day back then my mother told me: ‘We’re going to China. You can walk, can’t you? You’re a good girl. We’ll be goin... read more..

Managing the Resource Curse: Strategies of Oil-Dependent Economies in the Modern Era

04 Jun

Economy

2340

Managing the Resource Curse: Strategies of Oil-Dependent Economies in the Modern Era

This is the first in a series of studies conducted as part of a program to analyze historical precedents and develop recommendations on how to diversify resource-based economies. The project is bei... read more..

Turkmenistan at Twenty-Five: The High Price of Authoritarianism

04 Jun

Events and opinions

1704

Turkmenistan at Twenty-Five: The High Price of Authoritarianism

Twenty-five years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan holds the title of the most authoritarian of all former Soviet states. Saparmurat Niyazov, the country’s last Soviet and first ... read more..

A Kazakh dirty-money suit threatens to reach Trump’s business world

01 Jun

Corruption!

1879

A Kazakh dirty-money suit threatens to reach Trump’s business world

The net is closing around a duo of fugitive oligarchs and their kin accused of laundering Kazakh money in posh U.S. real estate — including Trump Organization properties. In a complicated case with... read more..

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