Tag Archives: Kazakhstan

WikiLeaks publishes US embassy cables from Astana and Bishkek

NOV. 29 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – WikiLeaks has released 291 out of a promised 251,287 US diplomatic cables.

Of those 291 documents, five originated from Astana, two from Bishkek and four from Ashgabat. Perhaps the most inflammatory revelation is the Feb. 2009 cable from the US ambassador in Bishkek who confronted the Chinese ambassador over Kyrgyz claims that China had offered them $3b to close the US airbase outside Bishkek.

The base is vital for resupplying NATO forces in Afghanistan. According to the leaked cable, the Chinese Ambassador’s denial was unconvincing.

A cable from Jan. 2010 documented a lunch between the U.S. ambassador in Astana and the vice president of Kazmunaigas, Maksat Idenov, who named the men he thought were closest to Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev.

They were Chief of the president’s staff Aslan Musin, the Chief of administration of the president’s office Sarybai Kalmurzayev, foreign minister Kanat Saudabayev, PM Karim Masimov and Mr Nazarbayev’s son-in-law Timur Kulibayev.

A cable from Kazakhstan in April 2009 written by the US ambassador on Kazakh officials said: “they’re stealing directly from the public trough”, another cable detailed the elite’s drinking habits and another cable described a fractious meeting between executives from Chevron and Kazmunaigas.

One cable also gave a detailed account of a meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Astana and his views on Central Asia, China’s energy policy in the region and his description of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as “not a mature statesman”.

From Ashgabat, a cable described an arms find at the border with Iran.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)

Clinton to visit Central Asia

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NOV. 29 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – In the wake of WikiLeaks’ publication of confidential files from US Embassies around the world, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will visit Central Asia this week. She flies to Kazakhstan for an OSCE summit on Dec. 1, 2010 and then visits Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan before flying on to Bahrain.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)

Kazakhstan’s Nurbank plans to raise $900m

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NOV. 26 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakh bank Nurbank said it wants to raise $900m in a share issue. In May 2010, the daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Dariga, and her son sold a 56% share in the bank through university professor Sofia Sarsenova. Ms Sarsenova now owns over 70% of the bank.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 17, published on Nov. 29 2010)

With US help, Kazakhstan cleans nuclear site

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NOV. 18 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan and the US finished decommissioning a nuclear reactor in eastern Kazakhstan and securing highly enriched uranium and plutonium capable of making 775 nuclear weapons. In Georgia, officials said they arrested four people carrying radioactive material which could have been used in a dirty bomb.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)

The Caspian Sea feud continues

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NOV. 22 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Control of the Caspian Sea and its resources are worth arguing over.

It is the biggest inland body of water in the world, covering an area about the size of Germany, and dominates trade routes between Europe and Asia. The Caspian Sea also holds vast stocks of sturgeon which produce the lucrative caviar. Most tantalising, though, is the oil potential.

Its reserves are difficult to estimate but the US Energy Information Administration puts them at between 17b and 44b barrels of oil — equivalent to the oil reserves of Qatar at the bottom end of the scale and to the United States at the upper end.

The five states which border the Caspian Sea — Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkmenistan — have argued over its ownership for years. On Nov. 18 in Baku the heads of these countries met for their third summit in eight years on how to divide the Caspian Sea and its treasures between them. Once again much was promised but little agreed.

Writing for Asia Times Online, Robert Cutler, a Canada-based academic, commented: “While the framework for a relatively minor security cooperation agreement was endorsed, the summit’s real significance lay in the agreements not reached and documents not signed.”

Before 1991, ownership of the Caspian Sea was less complex as it only needed an agreement between the Soviet Union and Iran. Now, with five countries, it’s far more difficult. Add into the mix the Caspian Sea’s emergence as an energy transit route to Europe and the debates heat up.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)

Kazakhstan will not attend the Nobel Peace Prize

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NOV. 18 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Alongside China, Russia, Cuba, Iraq and Morocco, Kazakhstan will not attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo next month, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. This year the committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to an imprisoned Chinese dissident angering China. China is one of Kazakhstan’s biggest investors.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)

US judge drops corruption charges linked to Kazakhstan

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NOV. 19 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – A judge in the United States dismissed charges of corruption and fraud against businessman James Giffen, who had been accused of giving $84m in bribes to Kazakh officials in exchange for oil concessions during the 1990s. Prosecutors linked senior members of the Kazakh government, including President Nursultan Nazarbayev, to the case.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)

Caspian Sea countries meet

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NOV. 18 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – The leaders of the five countries that border the Caspian Sea met for a summit in Baku to discuss the sea’s disputed ownership but they failed to sign any major agreements. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had arrived on Nov.17 for separate bilateral talks with Azerbaijan’s President.

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(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)

Kazakhstan accused Kashagan of fraud

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NOV. 19 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan accused Agip, a unit of Italian energy company Eni, of a $110m fraud at the Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea by inflating development costs. Eni’s Agip declined to comment. It is the leader of the consortium developing Kashagan, Kazakhstan’s biggest oil field.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 16, published on Nov. 22 2010)

What a new bicycle lane says about Almaty

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NOV. 15 2010 (The Conway Bulletin) – Bicycle lanes cut through many major cities in the developed world. They are, perhaps, a public luxury that wealthy, well organised societies can afford and away from Europe or North America are far less common. Roads have to be smooth, drivers disciplined and the public has to be wealthy enough to be concerned with both traffic management and pollution and not just scraping together a living.

Now, Almaty has its own bicycle lane — the first in Central Asia. Opened this month, the bicycle lane runs 2.5km along a pavement at the side of Abai street which cuts across Almaty.

Kazakhstan has high aspirations. It is once again enjoying economic growth and this year it gained international political kudos through its chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) which monitors democracy and human rights.

Almaty, no longer the capital but still Kazakhstan’s cultural and financial centre, also holds serious aspirations and in January 2011 hosts the Asian Winter Games.

But Kazakhstan’s recent wealth has also brought traffic and pollution problems to Almaty. In rush hour, the roads are gridlocked and exhaust fumes choke the air.

It appears, though, to be taking traffic management seriously. In 2011 Almaty will finish construction of a seven-station metro system and the bicycle lane in Abai is just the start of a proposed 40km network — similar to wealthy, well-organised European cities.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 15, published on Nov. 15 2010)