· November, 2007

Stories about Kazakhstan from November, 2007

Kazakhstan: Gangster Movie Hits Box Office

  22 November 2007

The first Kazakh fully commercial movie – shot, cut and promoted without state support with the purpose to extract money from the box-office – has produced a big debate in the blogosphere. “Racketeer” is a movie about a young sportsman, who had to make money in the 1990s – a...

Kazakhstan: Economic Crisis Aftermaths

  22 November 2007

In the aftermath of slight economic and financial crisis, which the government prefers to call a “correction of the market”, the bloggers keep on discussing its consequences. Sarimov says that the annual Kazakhstan’s Congress of Financiers has been postponed indefinitely. Mr. Saidenov, chairman of the National Bank, explained that the...

Kazakhstan: The Big Oil Companies Are Making Concessions

  19 November 2007

Steve LeVine reports that a fresh concession by Chevron and Exxon Mobil in Kazakhstan is evidence of the shrinking influence of Big Oil. “After years of playing tough guy on the Caspian Sea, the two companies have knuckled under and paid their share of a whopping $309 million environmental fine...

Kazakhstan: The Coming Oil Plateau

  19 November 2007

Steve LeVine opines that Italy's Eni, negotiating on behalf of many of the world's largest oil companies with Kazakhstan, will try to satisfy Kazakhstan and proceed with the development of Kashagan, which contains a minimum of 13 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Kazakhstan: Walking in Astana

  19 November 2007

Marlengo posts pictures of monuments in Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, starting the series with the monument to Abai, the great Kazakh humanist.

Kazakhstan: Aliev Affair and OSCE Bid

  13 November 2007

Adam Kesher reviews the launch of trial over Rakhat Aliyev, the ex-ambassador and Kazakhstan president's son-in-law, and the new round of bargaining around the country's bid to chair the OSCE.

Kazakhstan: Media Wars

  8 November 2007

As the Rakhat Aliyev affair spins, and the ex-ambassador and former presidential son-in-law continues blackmailing the country’s authorities with discrediting materials, including publication of illegal taps of telephone conversations between the top officials, a number of websites have been recently blocked in Kazakhstan. “No explanations on the reasons of filtering...

Kazakhstan: Interview with Akhan Satayev, Film Director

  7 November 2007

Tomorrow the movie theatres of Kazakhstan and Russia will start shows of “Racketeer”, one of the first Kazakhstani commercial film-making experiences. The audience is invited to learn the biographical story of a young boxer from Almaty, who decided to fight for a better life with his own fists in uneasy...

Kazakhstan: A Plan to Spend Money

  6 November 2007

Adam Kesher reviews reports on the new Sir Norman Foster's architectural project in Astana, Kazakhstan, looks at this piece of news from the point of view of how do the authorities spend petrodollars [ru].

Kazakhstan: Blogosphere Debates the Language Issue

  5 November 2007

A month ago Nurgeldy told at neweurasia how they are fighting poor knowledge of the state language in the Kazakhstan's northern city of Kustanai. His post gave rise to quite a heated dispute both in Russian and English versions of the blog, covering such issues as why urban population speaks...

Kazakhstan: Review on “Nomad” movie

  1 November 2007

Nathan reviews the Kazakhstan's “Nomad” epic movie that was regarded by Western observers as a response to “Borat” and finds that most unintentionally entertaining were the political messages of the movie.