· February, 2009

Stories about Kazakhstan from February, 2009

Kazakhstan: Lomography

  27 February 2009

Ehot posts a collection of images taken in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with the legendary Lomo camera, which gave name to the whole trend in photo art called lomography.

Kazakhstan: Politics and Society in Times of Crisis

  23 February 2009

Politics remain the major topic of the online discussions in Kazakhstan – much more frequently and intensely than in public life. One of the most recent events, widely discussed by the bloggers, was the establishment of the new state award – the title of the Kazakhstan's Hero of Labor (an...

Kazakhstan: A Kazakh Video Tube

  18 February 2009

On St. Valentine’s Day, February 14, a Kazakh video hosting project Kaztube.kz came to life. Dozens of videos with congratulations from celebrities and government officials had been uploaded for the opening of the website. Even the prime minister congratulated on the opening of new service — such PR is unheard...

Kazakhstan: Devaluation and Blogospghere

  10 February 2009

On February 4, the National Bank of Kazakhstan ceased maintenance of the national currency tenge (KZT). The measures on retention of the overestimated exchange rate during the last 6 months has cost nearly $6 billion, while national currencies in the neighboring countries have dropped down significantly. The new exchange rate...

Kazakhstan: End of private banks

  3 February 2009

Recently, odd things have happened to a number of Kazakh banks and the Kazakh stock market. The spread of ungrounded controversial information sent stocks of three banks plummeting, leading to nationalization of two major private banks. Today, there is little doubt that the action was intentional. There are various hypothetical...