Monthly Archive

2017

Welcome to our Archives page. On this page you will find a total of 152 of our articles broken down into Months and Years.
Now Under the Nazarbayev Brand: Astana's Airport
Corruption!
1443

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?
Events and opinions
1563

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
Events and opinions
1290

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.
Events and opinions
1518

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
Events and opinions
1934

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
Events and opinions
1304

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
Events and opinions
1373

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
Events and opinions
1629

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..
Kazakhstan: A Tale of Famine and Flight
Events and opinions
1484

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
Economy
2325

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
Events and opinions
1674

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
Corruption!
1865

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..
One Belt, One Road, Many Bribes?
Events and opinions
1332

One Belt, One Road, Many Bribes?

The Beijing airport is still draped with One Belt, One Road banners, a week after the close of the summit here devoted to the massive transcontinental infrastructure initiative. Launched in 2013, Pres... read more..
Kazakh court sentences labour union leader to two years in prison
Events and opinions
1350

Kazakh court sentences labour union leader to two years in prison

A court in Kazakhstan on May 16 sentenced a labour union leader at the Oil Construction Company (OCC), Amin Eleusinov, to two years in prison after convicting him of embezzlement and of publicly ins read more..
Under the Radar: Switching alphabets to SMEs, Kazakhstan’s plans for 2017 and beyond
Events and opinions
1574

Under the Radar: Switching alphabets to SMEs, Kazakhstan’s plans for 2017 and beyond

A cross-the-board look at Kazakhstan’s economic turnaround in 2017 and beyond as the country powers ahead with its ambitious reform agenda. On January 30th, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev an... read more..
Trump’s Kazakh connection
Events and opinions
1726

Trump’s Kazakh connection

Is a former mob-connected hustler—a real estate developer who in 2010 worked on the same floor as Donald Trump as his “senior advisor”—threatening to spill some beans that could harm the president’s r... read more..
Marking a Year After Protests in Kazakhstan
Political process
2015

Marking a Year After Protests in Kazakhstan

Freedom of the press, a devastating landslide, meeting a manaschi, and a special bonus; weekend reads. Central Asia weekend recommended reads and listens: A Year After the Protests in Kazakhstan: RF... read more..
Why does Turkey want to join the Eurasian Union?
Events and opinions
1434

Why does Turkey want to join the Eurasian Union?

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu states that Ankara and Moscow have come to an agreement on the purchase of the Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile defense system. A number of Russian exper... read more..
Top Kazakh Bank on the Block for Under $1 May Need $738 Million
Events and opinions
1990

Top Kazakh Bank on the Block for Under $1 May Need $738 Million

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank may have to inject at least 230 billion tenge ($738 million) into Kazkommertsbank, the troubled lender it’s set to buy for less than $1 after a state bailout, according to two ... read more..
A new reality in EU and #Kazakhstan co-operation
Events and opinions
1380

A new reality in EU and #Kazakhstan co-operation

Director of the European External Action Service Luc Devigne and Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Roman Vassilenko co-chaired the Cooperation Committee meeting that met recently in Astana to make... read more..
Kazakhstan Breaks Oil Production Cut Promise. The promise was symbolic, anyway.
Economy
1798

Kazakhstan Breaks Oil Production Cut Promise. The promise was symbolic, anyway.

Kazakhstan, it seems, has been one of the worst violators of a promise made in December to cut oil production. According to data in the International Energy Agency’s March Oil Market Report [PDF], Kaz... read more..
The US “Offshore” Industry and the Eurasian Connection
Corruption!
2022

The US “Offshore” Industry and the Eurasian Connection

In Cheyenne, Wyoming, a small brick-faced house sits between a Greek Orthodox Church and a tired-looking barbershop. The structure does not stand out. Yet, according to court documents from several... read more..
Proposed Article To Kazakhstan's Criminal Code Raises Concerns
Events and opinions
1473

Proposed Article To Kazakhstan's Criminal Code Raises Concerns

Kazakhstan has an article in its Criminal Code -- Article 174 to be exact -- that outlaws actions that foment social, national, tribal, racial, class, or religious hatred and actions that insult natio... read more..
Why Did Peace Corps Leave Kazakhstan?
Events and opinions
1541

Why Did Peace Corps Leave Kazakhstan?

In 2011, Peace Corps left Kazakhstan. Newly surfaced documents shed light on the real reasons why. When the Peace Corps shuttered its operations in Kazakhstan in 2011, rumors abounded. Stories of r... read more..
Attacks exemplify allure of extremism in ex-Soviet republics
Events and opinions
2644

Attacks exemplify allure of extremism in ex-Soviet republics

The third airport attacker was identified as being from Russia, where Islamic violence has broken out for decades — in the Chechnya separatist war, as part of a persistent insurgency in neighboring Da... read more..
Kazakhstan Country Profile
Political process
2845

Kazakhstan Country Profile

Regime Classification: Consolidated Authoritarian Regime   Nations in Transit Ratings and Averaged Scores NOTE: The ratings reflect the consensus of Freedom House, its academic advisers,... read more..
Ranking the Central Asian States as Investment Destinations
Special projects
5219

Ranking the Central Asian States as Investment Destinations

25 years after independence, which Central Asian and South Caucasian countries are the best (and worst) places to invest? In 2016, all of the five Central Asian and three South Caucasian countries ce... read more..
Central Asia Is a Critical Crossroads
Events and opinions
1637

Central Asia Is a Critical Crossroads

The Trump administration must keep the U.S. a player in the region. Developing a new strategic approach to Central Asia is probably at the bottom of the Trump administration's foreign policy inbox. N... read more..
Kazakhstan: California Court to Hear Almaty Corruption Lawsuit
Corruption!
2176

Kazakhstan: California Court to Hear Almaty Corruption Lawsuit

Kazakhstan has successfully argued in a US appeals court that it can file suit against a former top official — an avowed foe of the government — in California for compensation over alleged acts of cor... read more..
Russia scandal? Inside the Obama-Clinton uranium deal. Hillary OK'd sale as cash flowed to foundation, Bill's pockets
Events and opinions
2154

Russia scandal? Inside the Obama-Clinton uranium deal. Hillary OK'd sale as cash flowed to foundation, Bill's pockets

Tens of millions of dollars from uranium investors flowed into the Clinton Foundation, and Bill Clinton received a $500,000 speaking fee from a Russian bank tied to the Kremlin before Secretary of Sta... read more..
Results 91 - 120 of 152