Category Archives: Kazakhstan

How Tony Blair advised former Kazakh ruler after 2011 uprising

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British former PM told Nursultan Nazarbayev to stress he ‘understood’ critics and to say reforms would ‘take time’

The newly knighted Sir Tony Blair is one of several well-paid western advisers who have burnished the image of Kazakhstan’s former ruler Nursultan Nazarbayev and his autocratic regime, now the target of angry protesters.

Narzabayev invited Blair to give him strategic advice after Kazakh security forces shot dead 14 people during the country’s December 2011 anti-government uprising. The protesters in the western oil town of Zhanaozen were demanding higher wages.

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Russian paratroopers arrive in Kazakhstan as unrest continues

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Moscow-led ‘peacekeeping’ alliance enters country amid violent clashes between protesters, police and army

Russian paratroopers have arrived in Kazakhstan as part of a “peacekeeping” mission by a Moscow-led military alliance to help the president regain control of the country, according to Russian news agencies.

Kazakhstan’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, asked for the intervention from the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – an alliance made up of Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – late on Wednesday and it was swiftly approved.

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Gunfire heard during protests in Kazakhstan’s biggest city – video

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Footage taken on the streets of Almaty appears to show guns being fired as unrest continues. Initially angered by a fuel price rise, protesters have been storming buildings and chanting against President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev's predecessor, Nursultan Nazarbayev. State buildings have been torched and eight security personnel reported dead in the demonstrations. The internet was shut down and 'peacekeeping forces' from a Russian-led alliance of former Soviet states will be sent to Kazakhstan to help stabilise the country

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Kazakhstan protests: Protesters storm government buildings – video

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Protesters took over government buildings and reportedly stormed the airport in Almaty, Kazakhstan, after demonstrations against a fuel price rise spread quickly across the country. A government announcement that the price would be fixed at a lower level did not slow protesters who say they are unhappy with corruption and the cost of living. 'Peacekeeping forces' from a Russia-led military alliance will be sent to help the country’s president, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, regain control. Kazakh media outlets cited the interior ministry as saying 317 police and national guard servicemen have been injured and eight killed. There have been no reliable estimates of civilian casualties

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Poverty, inequality and corruption: why Kazakhstan’s former leader is no longer untouchable

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Analysis: Nursultan Nazarbayev, behind-the-scenes powerbroker, thought he found a way to step aside without risking retribution

For years, Nursultan Nazarbayev has been used to performative adoration from the citizens of Kazakhstan. The country’s leader for nearly three decades, he was showered with praise and adulation at showpiece events, and his image smiled down from billboards across the country.

When he stepped down in 2019, he was able to choose his successor, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and kept significant power as head of the security council and general behind-the-scenes powerbroker. He retained his official title of Elbasy, or leader of the nation.

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Kazakhstan protests: president threatens ruthless crackdown

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Kassym-Jomart Tokayev says in televised address ‘I plan to act as toughly as possible’

Kazakhstan’s president has threatened to crack down ruthlessly on protests ongoing across the country, claiming the unrest has led to deaths and injuries among law enforcement officers.

“As the head of state … I plan to act as toughly as possible,” said Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in a televised address on Wednesday afternoon. “This is a question of the safety of our country. I am certain that the people will support me,” he added, saying he had no plans to flee the country’s capital.

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Protests erupt in Kazakhstan over fuel price rise – video

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Protests have broken out in several Kazakh towns and cities after the central Asian nation's government lifted price caps on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and the cost of the popular alternative to petrol soared. The government resigned on Wednesday, hours after the president declared a state of emergency in large parts of the country in response to the rare outbreak of unrest. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has appointed Alikhan Smailov as acting prime minister.

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Kazakhstan president declares state of emergency after rare outbreak of unrest

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Thousands join demonstrations in Almaty, the largest city, and Mangystau province sparked by rising fuel prices

Kazakhstan’s president has declared a state of emergency in large parts of the country, as authorities struggled to respond to a rare outbreak of unrest.

Sparked by rising fuel prices, protests began in the west of the country over the weekend and have spread quickly.

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Golden history of Kazakhstan’s Saka warrior people revealed

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Exhibition at Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to tell story of little known civilization that flourished from eighth to third century BC

Wisdom, as Bob Marley put it, is better than gold. From next month however, the precious metal is central to a major new historical exhibition in Cambridge using loaned artefacts telling the story of an ancient civilization little known beyond Kazakhstan.

Golden objects unearthed from ancient burial mounds built by the Saka warrior people of central Asia – a culture which flourished from around the eighth century BC to the third century BC – will go on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

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Oliver Stone derided for film about ‘modest’ former Kazakh president

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Eight-hour series about Nursultan Nazarbayev criticised for stoking cult of personality of 30-year ruler

Oliver Stone has interviewed Kazakhstan’s former president Nursultan Nazarbayev for a new eight-hour film series which has been attacked as a hagiography that contributes to the leader’s cult of personality.

In the film, Qazaq: History of the Golden Man, Stone employs the same non-confrontational approach to interviewing autocrats that has made him a favourite of Vladimir Putin, Ukraine’s former president Viktor Yanukovych and others seeking to polish their reputations by sitting down with the Oscar-winning director of Platoon and JFK.

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Kazakh-American group claims Borat Subsequent Moviefilm ‘incites violence’

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The Kazakh American Association has released a letter on social media accusing Sacha Baron Cohen’s latest Borat film of ‘justifying harassment’

A group of Kazakh-Americans has demanded that Amazon withdraw Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Sacha Baron Cohen’s new satirical comedy which – like its 2006 predecessor Borat – identifies Kazakhstan as the home country of its fictional journalist character Borat Sagdiyev.

In a letter published on social media shortly before the film’s official launch, addressed to three senior Amazon executives, the Kazakh American Association says that Borat Subsequent Moviefilm “may cause irreparable harm to to Kazakhstan’s national image and people as its comedic nature may justify ethnicity-based harassment”. It adds: “This film incites violence against a highly vulnerable and under-represented minority ethnic group.”

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UK crime agency loses case against ex-Kazakh president’s family

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Judge overturns unexplained wealth orders that led to freezing of London properties

Britain’s National Crime Agency has lost a high court attempt to force the daughter and grandson of a former president of Kazakhstan to explain where they got the money to buy £80m of property in London.

Last year, the NCA froze three of the family’s properties, including a mansion on north London’s so-called Billionaire’s Row with an underground swimming pool and cinema, over claims they were acquired using proceeds from unlawful activity.

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Should we build cities from scratch?

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With another 2.5 billion urban dwellers predicted within the next 30 years, should we expand existing cities? Or is there a case for starting afresh?

People have been building new cities from scratch for millennia. From the foundation myths surrounding Athens and Rome, to the clearance of virgin forests in western New York state to create the “garden city” of Buffalo, to scores of purpose-built capitals – Brasília, Canberra, Astana, Washington DC – building new cities is just something that humans do.

When countries rise up, when markets emerge, people build new cities. Today, though, we are taking it to unheard-of levels. We have never before built so many new cities in so many places at such great expense as we are right now.

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Kazakhstan president Nazarbayev steps down after 30 years in power

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Nursultan Nazarbayev has led oil-rich country since fall of the Soviet Union

Kazakhstan’s president has announced his retirement after nearly 30 years as leader of the central Asian nation – but he will likely remain a power behind the throne, analysts said, as he retains key posts in Kazakhstan’s military and political bureaucracy.

Nursultan Nazarbayev has led the oil-rich country since the fall of the Soviet Union, first as its Communist leader and then as president after independence.

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Kazakh police arrest activist who campaigned for human rights in Xinjiang

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Serikjan Bilash, who has fought for victims of China’s Muslim internment camps, detained in Almaty

Kazakh police have arrested an activist who has campaigned for victims of China’s internment camps in Xinjiang, sealing his group’s office and taking its computers.

Serikjan Bilash, who has led a high-profile awareness drive centred on ethnic Kazakh victims of China’s crackdown in the region, was arrested in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty and flown to the capital Astana, his partner told AFP.

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Almaty spills its secrets: lost Soviet art discovered behind wall

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Thanks to the Kazakhstan city’s loss of capital status in the 90s, rare mosaics, sgraffiti and other artworks escaped destruction

When Jama Nurkalieva and a small group of colleagues conducted a site survey of a disused Soviet-era panoramic cinema in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, they had no idea what lay behind the internal plasterboard wall that faces out towards the street – until someone spotted a narrow gap.

As the caretaker shined a light into the darkness behind, the group caught a glimpse of a man’s head. Out came the toolbox and the rest of the artwork was slowly revealed: a Soviet-era sgraffito by the graphic artist Eugeny Sidorkin that had been lost and forgotten for decades.

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Bill Clinton Is Involved in Two Major Uranium Scandals Involving the…

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It is already well known that former President Bill Clinton was right in the middle of the now widely reported criminal Uranium One deal. What isn't well known is that this was the second of two criminal uranium deals involving the former President and the Clinton Foundation.