6 January 2007

Turkmenbashi Tribute

Filed under: Fun - KZBlog @ 11:40 am

A little after the fact, but what with the holidays, it took me a bit to track this down:
Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me an NPR comedy show about current events, featured questions about Turkmenbashi on the 6th of May 2006, with the Mayor of Washington D.C., Anthony Williams, here

A fitting tribute perhaps.

Hare Krishna Update

Filed under: News, Human Rights - KZBlog @ 11:25 am

EDIT: My first post on this is here

Although there was apparently a hearing on the 25th of December, I cannot find any updates on the decision. However, the commune did recieve a statement from the Commission on Religious Affairs. The statement and reply are here.

The statement pretty clearly distributes the responsibility elsewhere by recommending that the regional akim continue to follow all relevant laws and fix any inconsistencies in laws. But recommendation three is to:

To continue the previously suspended privatization of cottages and horticultural plots of land taking into account the requirements of land legislation and architectural and town-planning legislation of RK

This would seem to indicate that the destruction can/will continue.

For the Hare Krishna commune, the commission recommends that they continue to work with the local authorities, which would seem to block any chances of their finding a court of appeals, but that they can also report to local and international media and government bodies, presenting facts objectively.

Govinda Swami answers to raise a number of questions, including, if these decisions have been made, then what is the agenda for the 22 December meeting? And, why wasn’t he invited to the commission meeting that made this decision.

Year in Review

Filed under: News, OSCE - KZBlog @ 11:02 am

Kazakhstan.NewEurasia published a link to Radio Azattyk’s review of the year from various prominent figures and an English translation here.

The opinions run the gamut from a member of Parliament showing he knows who butters his bread:The year has been very successful as it started with the inauguration of the president. My deep conviction is that there is only one politician in our country - Nursultan Nazarbaev. We are just helping him where we can.
to Andrey Chebotarev, head of the Alternativa think tank, who cited the tragedies of the year (and saw a different event as defining the year) but still saw room for hope: (more…)

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