On the occasion of the release of the international trailer of Nomad:

(in Russian)

I bring you my story of The Nomads.

The Book

The Nomads was written by Ilyas Yesenberlin (1915 - 1983) in Kazakh. He wrote a lot of historical fiction about the history of Kazakhstan including a trilogy of books, “The Golden Horde,” about Chyngis Khan. In 2000, The Nomads was translated into English by the Ilyas Yesenberlin Foundation and with funding from Exxon. It can be found all over Kazakhstan, at every tourist kiosk and book shop, in Russian, English and Kazakh. It can also be found on E-bay as a websearch for the author’s name will quickly reveal.

Other works by Ilyas Yesenberlin, including his trilogy about Chyngis Khan and the forming of the Golden Horde, can be read in Russian online here.
The Nomads in Kazakh, Russian and English can be downloaded off of this site, which also contains other Kazakh texts and language learning texts.

I have no idea of the legality of these websites, so it’s at your own risk.

The Nomads is the dramatized story of the history of how the Kazakh nation became the Kazakh nation, (more…)

Borat’s defense in my mind was always that he had nothing against Kazakhstan itself. And many say that Kazakhstan has brought the personal war on themselves. But, this might be going too far. While Nazarbayev is in the US, Borat gave a press conference in front of the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, claiming that the spokesperson for the Embassy, Roman Vassilenko, is in fact an imposter from Uzbekistan and that the President is hosting a screening of his fim followed by cocktails at Hooters.

His statement is here

Despite this article in the New York Times claiming that many Kazakhs are untouched by the Borat scandal, and may even find him quite funny, this latest stunt, to be percieved as openly mocking the President and the government, may bring it home for them.

This is at the same time that Nazarbayev is unveiling a Monument to Independence in the Embassy. From the Kazakhstan Embassy press release, put out by Vassilenko:

President Nursultan Nazarbayev, visiting Washington for official talks with President George W. Bush and U.S. officials, today unveiled the Monument of Independence of Kazakhstan in the American capital. Group of more than 200 guests shared the moment, including U.S. Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman.

Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to the United States Kanat Saudabayev opened the ceremony, saying “This truly historic event is new evidence of the growing relationship based on true friendship and strategic partnership between our two countries.”
…
The monument, standing 13 feet high, is cast in bronze and depicts a young warrior astride a winged snow leopard.

The monument embodies the spirit of an archaeological find in Kazakhstan from the fourth century B.C. The Saka nomadic civilization existed in Kazakhstan at that time, leaving behind very vivid artifacts. Commonly known as the Golden Warrior Prince, this figure, found near Almaty in 1970, is perhaps the best known symbol of Kazakhstan’s long history and rebirth as a modern nation.

Pictures and description from Sean Roberts here

Алтын адам has arrived in Washington!

Personally, I think Mr. Borat has crossed a line now, and he really needs to hire some lawyers and possibly bodyguards.

As has been widely reported, Kazakhstan wants to be one of the 50 most competitive countries in the world. My wife and I often joke about this when we get bad service. For example, when the workmen came to hook up our cable TV, they were late and very drunk. We complained and they got very aggressive, very quickly, threatened to leave several times, and after we invited them to come in and get to work several times, they did in fact leave. Competitive?

Well apparently all that hustling and bustling accounted for nothing: World Economic Forum, Kazakhstan went from 51st to 56th place. I think Borat will be less of an embarassment than being ranked below Mauritas and Costa Rica and just above Panama!

However, the press release has all good things to say, confusing many a reader (including me–for about 1 hour this entry stood showing an improvement which you may have caught):

Boosted by its natural resource wealth, it experienced a major improvement in its macroeconomy, thanks to its significant government budget surplus, low debt-GDP ratio, high savings rate and a considerably reduced interest rate spread, possibly reflecting more financial market efficiency or less perceived lending risk. It also saw improvements in market efficiency, rising 8 places to rank 44, boosted by less red tape and more competition in the goods markets, but still impeded by the prevalence of trade barriers and still relatively underdeveloped or unsophisticated financial markets. The country also benefits
from flexible labour markets.

Kazakhstan press release here in PDF format

So perhaps this is a call out for politicians and businesses to start paying attention to the litte guys, those of us trying to get our cable hooked up, or the heating to be turned on before the 15th of October (Dear Kazakhs, is the 15th of October some kind of magical date? Did Timurlane swear he would rise again if the heat got turned on before then? It’s colder in Astana than Almaty, why should the heat get turned on in both cities at the same time? What if there’s a cold freeze in September?). One of the big issues here, in my opinion, is that businesses don’t engage in marginally profitable activities. More than one businessman has reported to the government that consumer services, or setting up certain types of financial markets will not produce the huge (multi-million) dollar profits that buying and selling real estate in Georgia, will and thus they see no reason to enagage in small business.

The summary and downloads of the WEF report are here.

Interviews with two of the authors are here

Ken Pierce, who blogs at Redneck Peril runs the CCCP foundation, which help orphans in Kazakhstan. Right now, they are setting up youth houses for former orphans in Karaganda so that these kids have somewhere to go. He also puts his money where his mouth is, and has adopted a few Kazakhstani orphans.

Here is a list of the foundation’s needs
Here are ways to help out.

I note also, that unlike a lot of other religious groups acting in this area, proselytizing and converting are not goals of the CCCP Foundation.

The devil is in implementation. In searching for other HIV blood donor issues in Kazakhstan (I will admit that I am personally a little scared as someone who has been to the hospital here on a few occasions), I found Summary of Fact Finding Mission, by Maitland J. “Aaron” Peak – Peak Options Consulting on health care in Karaganda and Almaty.

The president decreed that at-risk groups, such as blood donors, sexual or drug using partners, IDUs, CSWs, MSMs, STD patients, people who travel abroad for more than three months, and blood recipients, would have compulsory HIV testing. A few other categories, such as at-risk pregnant women and orphans, are tested. Anyone who wants an HIV test can obtain one anonymously. (Ref. 8)

So much for that promise. I remain bothered that Khabar and Channel 31 show the Prime Minister and other officials saying that they will get to the bottom of this and punish whoever did it and so on, but I don’t hear what they are doing to ensure that it never happens again, and to find out how many people may be infected.

Registan.net reports on the HIV crisis in Kazakhstan. Yesterday the Minister of Health and the akim of South Kazakhstan oblast were fired.

The akim was replaced by the akim of Astana, leaving that position open. There are some who believe the Prime Minister, Daniyel Akhmetov, will step into that role, giving him a graceful exit. Of course, his exit has been being predicted for several years now.

EDIT: The Minister of Transport ended up taking that role. Akhemtov will likely not become the new Minister of Transport!

The Ministry of Health representative in South Kazakhstan stepped down before she could be fired. I incorrectly noted on Registan.net, that she was the sister of the akim of Almaty. She is the sister of the akim of Astana, who is originally from Shimkent.

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In other disturbing news, the President is calling for the head of Kaztelecom, the national telecommunications company to be fired because he has been receiving a salary of 365,000 dollars a month and a two million dollar annual bonus.

The President also asked for other heads of national companies to be investigated to see if they deserve their salaries:

”Kambar Shalgymbaev, president of the Kazakhstan Development Bank received 100,000 dollars a month, and his assistant, 40,000. The salary of the junior head of Kazpochta [the postal service] has been doubled. The Director of the brand-new holding company Samruk gets 34,000 dollars and his assistant, 32, 500 dollars,” the President reported.
[translation mine]

By contrast, advisors to the Prime Minister make around $600 a month and a director of a department at a Ministry can make around $1000-$2000 a month. Last year, Michael Porter of the Harvard Business School was paid $26 million to do a project analyzing Kazakhstan’s economic and industrial competitiveness.

The question remains if the bodies and agencies responsible for checking use of budget funds will also be investigated.

EDIT: Sean Roberts makes a nice post, linking up to a lot of the news on this, and also reminds us that Timur Kulibayev, who is the son-in-law of the President, the leader of a major power group in Kazakhstan, and sits on the Board of Directors of Kazmunaigas, is also deputy director of Samruk. I might add that while the President’s accusations may be weakening Kulibayev’s standing, nothing is being said about his salary at Samruk, or at Kazmunaigas!

It also might be noted that while the holding companies were envisioned originally as a way of modernizing state companies and getting them to run on market and business principles, instead of political principles, the way holding companies are starting to pile up, including holding companies of holding companies, is getting ridiculous. It makes one think, someone figured out how to make a profit on these new arrangements. Or maybe it’s the old Kazakhstani, if one of something is good, 86 is better!

On the eve of Nazarbayev’s visit to the White House on Sept. 29th, speculation and analysis abounds as to what the issues on the table will be. The White House site has a nice list:

Democracy Promotion:
Kazakhstan Neweurasia has put up a slighting cartoon from The Economist. This is one big issue. And one that Nazarbayev may be asked by the reporters. Since it is not common for him to personally address reporters in Kazakhstan, nor for government officials to comment on anything except in formal, planned press-conferences, this is where the interesting bit occurs. We will remember when Condoleezza Rice visited Kazakhstan, and allegedly, Nazarbayev was stopped by her before he walked off the stage without taking questions. Rice also recounted that after the press conference, in which Andrea Koppel asked the President if he were a dictator, Nazarbayev asked her what he should do with such accusations. She advised that he answer them. So I am personally waiting to hear answers to questions about the Sarsenbayev trial, as well as a repeat of Ms. Koppel’s question.

One subheading here is the bid for the OSCE Presidency. Committees are busily meeting to put into place democratic reforms to make the bid more viable.

During the session, members of the state commission will discuss the questions regarding the work of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs concerning the course of promotion of Kazakhstan presidency in OSCE in 2009. The special representative of Kazakhstan in OSCE, the first Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Rakhat Aliyev will make a report on the topic.

One interesting tidbit from this is that Aliyev, also son-in-law of the President, in his report claimed that Kazakhstan is the sole candidate for the Presidency in 2009, though Reuters claims that Greece and Latvia are also putting forth bids.

Adam Kesher of Neweurasia covers the OSCE issue well.

Aliyev has recently been the source of some fun and mockery due to his article on whether Kazakhstan should be a monarchy of Kazakhstan. While he claims that constitutional monarchies are more democratic than republic—

[Aliyev] concluded, “We speak here solely and exclusively of a constitutional monarchy, a liberal monarchy, and however paradoxical it might sound, a democratic one, with developed and really independent institutions of power — parliament, government, independent judicial system based on the rule of law, and a responsible and independent press.
From Euraisanet.org

–many are laughing that he wants to be Prince! The opposition is noting that if one of them printed an article like this, they and the editor of the newspaper would be in jail!

Energy Diversification
This gets at the heart of the question of how much oil their really is in the Caspian Sea, whether Kazakhstan owns a lot of it, and whether they can get it out without turning the Caspian into an environmental disaster.

But it also turns on civilian nuclear energy, which Kazakhstan is developing. Politically, Kazakhstan, is attending the 50th International atomic energy session. And not only has the nation has not given up economic or diplomatic ties to Iran, in a stand of support one assumes for nations that want to develop nuclear power, but, Nazarbayev has addressed the comparison head on in his piece in Le Monde in July, My Advice to Iran. Essentially, he argues for the end of nuclear weapons, but for the world to leave nations alone in developing nuclear power.

Expanding Prosperity
Has been the subject of a number of high level visits from the US to Kazakhstan, especially in the Department of Agriculture.

The USA is the largest foreign investor in Kazakhstan. The total amount of investments into the economy of our country exceeds $12 billion that makes one third of all foreign investments into the economy of the Republic,
Quoted by Kazakhstan Today

And of course Kazakhstan wants help in becoming one of the 50 most competitive countries in the world and diversifying its economy. As much fun as is being made of the US for playing nice with oil-rich Kazakhstan, we note that Kazakhstan is being pretty nice to the investment-rich USA, as well.

Finally, of course the topic on everyone’s mind, except Bush and Nazarbayev: Borat and PR!. And enough said about that!

When in the course of human events, a nation suffers hardships and prospers and one group of people prospers beyond the limits of all predictions, they get odd ideas. Many accuse the Bush administration of trying to use political and material capital to remake the fundamental core of the United States government. Now in Kazakhstan, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Raxat Aliyev, who is also the son-in-law of the President, has proposed that Kazakhstan become a Constitutional Monarchy

Printed about 2 weeks ago in Karavan, the newspaper apparently run by his wife, Aliev puts forth the argument that there is something inherently contradictory in the name: the Republic of Kazakhstan. He does not develop this very deeply, depending on his audience to understand that Kazakhstan does not have any kind of history of being a republic, that to be a –stan (as he puts it), is not compatible with being a republic. Presumably he is thinking about past arrangements like the Khans and the Sultanates and Emirs, that ruled relatively autocratically over the tribes occupying the lands of Kazakhstan.
(more…)

Nothing new* in the Telegraph article about Borat, except this. Sascha Baron Cohen was a member of Footlights, the drama club at Cambridge. The link will take you to the complete list of members, but the gods of British comedy were all there, not to mention they met at Footlights and began their brillant careers together there: Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, the Monty Pythoners, Douglas Adams, Emma Thompson.

The Wikkipedia entry on Cohen claims:

Contrary to popular myth, Sacha Baron Cohen never appeared in a Cambridge Footlights Review.

However, the Footlights website lists him in their blurb as one of their famous alumnae. However apparently he wasn’t involved in the summer shows. Look at the deep investigative reporting KZBlog is willing to go to to get to the heart of controversial issues in Kazakhstan today.

* Sean Roberts has already covered the way it’s being spun as if Nazarbayev and Bush are meeting specifically to discuss Borat, which I thought was the funnest development thus far

Mankurt is apparently an awful term to call a Kazakh. It literally means someone who has lost their home, their history, traditions, has no memory of where they are from, cannot recite their Seven Fathers. It is a grave insult. Recently, my wife was reading Chingis Aitmatov, the Kyrgyz author of The White Ship and Executioner’s Block, among others. In The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years, he explains, or interprets, this term and this concept. Factual or not, it is a beautiful and disturbing account.

The Huns used to take nomadic people as slaves. In order to make them into the perfect slave, they would shave their heads and tie a camel hide on their heads. Binding their hands to prevent them from removing the camel hide, they would then leave the prisoners in the desert. In the heat of the day and the cold of the night, the hide would shrink and bind itself to the prisoner’s scalp. This would also prevent removal of the hide, or at least a painless removal, disfiguring the slaves for life. As the hide tightened, and as the slaves sat in the desert, they would go quite mad and forget why they were in the desert, where they had come from, who they were, their mothers’ own faces. When the Huns returned and ‘rescued’ the slaves, feeding them and giving them water, the slaves would be one hundred percent loyal to these kind men who saved them and having no memory of another family, other friends, would agree to work for their masters.

True or not, that is the significance of the word in Kazakh (and apparently Kyrgyz).