Kazakhstan: Astana Anniversary · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, has become such ten years ago, moved from the country's largest city Almaty. It is believed to be a pet city for the president of Kazakhstan, who is often called in the pro-governmental media (which heavily dominate on the information field) as an “architect” of this new booming construction spot, magnetic for the world's most renowned actual architects. Not surprisingly, the Astana Day is celebrated on the president's birthday in an apparent attempt of the authorities to create a mild personality cult – not direct, but through a city, which was recently almost renamed in Nursultan at the MPs’ initiative.
Bloggers discuss how the celebration passed. They were so widely advertised and loads of public finance was spent on the tenth anniversary of the capital, that most of the citizens – and bloggers – sighed with relieve when the whole fuss was over. A big noise was caused by a publicized Concept of celebration, adopted by the city administration, which included a strange passage saying that one of the goals of the whole festivities is “sacralization of Astana” – and a week before the Day X, the parliament made July 6th a state holiday!
Stupid holiday. Mobile networks are overloaded, people don't work, traffic jams are all over the city, rattling fireworks at 11 p.m., crowds of drunk people, crazed policemen, beggars are convoyed out of the public view. A feast in time of plague…
mymiyden from Astana is complaining [rus].  And here is the video of the fireworks from banzay-kz. Geomart watched the festival on TV, and has sad feelings as well [rus]:
How much money was spent on this filth. Organizers had to make everything properly.  It's a shame, many artists [who came to perform on the celebration's concerts] now look so cheap.
ia-robot comments on Whitney Houston's performance in Astana and on the level of organization [rus]:
I felt so bad about her, she was obviously mad about how it was set up. She was wearing a beatiful dress and high heels, almost horror-stricken balancing on the mirror-like slippery stage. The microphone was buzzing… And when [Russian singer] Anita Tsoi was on the stage, the electricity blacked out! Instead of making series of lame concerts, they should have done one, but properly.
Cross-posted on neweurasia