Monthly Archive

New infrastructure helps ex-Soviet grain exporters reach Asian markets China's regionwide infrastructure drive is quickly proving to be a game changer in the grain trade. The shift in the landscap... read more..

The Paradise Papers leak shows that Sauat Mynbayev, a key in Kazakhstan’s energy sector, could have conspired to hide millions in offshore havens.  The International Consortium of Investigativ... read more..

Even after a week of inquiries, investigators in Kazakhstan appear to be no closer to discovering the identity of the buyer of a 65 million euro ($76.5 million) apartment in Paris. Real estate insider... read more..

On Oct. 27, the vice president and heir apparent to the tiny oil-rich West African state of Equatorial Guinea was convicted in a Paris court of money laundering and embezzlement. At stake is Vice P... read more..

President Donald Trump made tens of millions of dollars in profits by allowing Colombian drug cartels and other groups to launder money through a Trump-affiliated hotel in Panama, according to a new i... read more..

Despite being the second-largest oil producer and exporter in the former Soviet Union, only behind Russia, Kazakhstan has been historically plagued by chronic deficits of fuel for domestic consumption... read more..

The interests of a wealthy Kazakh fugitive, a company tied to disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and the Trump Organization all intersected here Friday in unusual court proceedings. The courtro... read more..

When talking about external threats to the Eurasian economic Union, often focuses on the geopolitical aspirations of the United States, NATO and other Western integration projects, as well as on the i... read more..

Kazakhstan is abuzz with this week’s supposed revelations about how a government official bought an apartment in Paris for a whopping 65 million euros ($76.5 million). After initially scoffing at the ... read more..

A court in Kazakhstan has ordered the release on parole of a prominent journalist who was sentenced last October to serve six years in prison on fraud charges. Lawyers filing the parole appeal for ... read more..

Russia is rapidly losing its traditional leverage in Kazakhstan. Not only is demographic change swiftly reducing the share of ethnic Russians in the population, but the government in Astana is promoti... read more..

Meanwhile, “cautious optimism” about Uzbekistan and a quick lesson on Soviet history in the region; weekend reading.  Links for your weekend reading: Kyrgyz-Kazakh Rift: This week the Kyrgyz ... read more..

The United States has unveiled criminal charges against five people accused of involvement in a bribery scheme to help British defense giant Rolls-Royce win energy-related contracts in Kazakhstan, Aze... read more..

Mukhtar Dzakishev suspects he was jailed because of his opposition to the Russian takeover of a Toronto-based uranium company with connections to Bill Clinton  Languishing in a “harsh” Kazakhs... read more..

Although there is an international arrest warrant issued on her name, Botagoz Jardemalie, a Kazakhstani national and the right hand of Mukhtar Ablyazov, had a company in Brussels, Belgium, and repeate... read more..

The success or failure of Saudi Arabia’s reform campaign will have huge ramifications for China. Saudi Arabia had a busy weekend. On Saturday, November 4, dozens of princes, billionaires, ministers... read more..

When reporters asked if Sauat Mynbayev co-owns a company that made millions from gas and oil deals with Kazakhstan while he was the country’s oil minister, there was a one sentence reply. Credit: S... read more..

Two former Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc executives pleaded guilty to U.S. charges that they orchestrated international bribes at the engine maker for more than a decade. The cases, also involving three... read more..

Mukhtar Ablyazov, the fugitive Kazakh billionaire wanted on corruption charges in several European countries, has agreed a deal for Belgian citizenship and immunity as the legal net tightens around hi... read more..

Russian policy based on its misreading of the West, and especially on its misunderstanding of its own neighbors, can only frustrate. The continued downward spiral in U.S.-Russian relations during t... read more..

An escalating diplomatic and trade dispute between Kazakhstan and its smaller central Asian neighbour Kyrgyzstan is hurting companies as far away as London, and pressure is growing on Russia to step i... read more..