I have heard from a number of my friends who work in the government-understandably they preferred to remain anonymous–that the government is doing something about government cars being used for personal purposes. However, the program they have put into place doesn’t seem to be optimal.

To the casual observer, this does seem like a really serious problem. You see cars with AV and AST license plates at the bazaar and at restaurants. A friend of mine says the classmate of his son is picked up from school every day by an AST car. The kid is six years old.

Why is this personal use of cars a problem, I hear you say? Well, first taxpayer money pays for that gas, those drivers’ salaries and repairs and maintenance on the cars. Government workers don’t have the right to take a taxi and then make me pay the bill, which is essentially what they do when they use government cars for unofficial use. And of course the more a car is used, the more maintenance it needs, and the better chances it will get into an accident. More things I have to pay for so Azamat the Lead Manager can show his girlfriend a good time.

Second, I believe it’s a gateway drug to corruption and abuse of power. If you let a civil servant use one piece of government property anyway he or she pleases, why are they going to draw the line at cars? Why not treat their office, their subordiantes, the computers, and other information and property they have access to as if it was their own? All at our expense. At the very least, it would be very hard to take someone seriously who fights against corruption and then uses their AV to drive their mother shopping at Astrikzhan.

Third,while KZ and AV cars are assigned to individuals, the AST (formerly ADM) cars are in a pool. Civil servants who have the right to use them must phone up the dispatcher and wait for an available car to come pick them up. If all the cars are busy, they have to wait longer. One can imagine situations where people who need a car for legitimate reasons wait while all the cars are busy taking people to night clubs and cafes!

So what is the solution? Lower the mileage limits on use of cars for civil servants? Strictly enforce those limits with surprise inspections? Limit the number of government cars available? Reduce the hours of availability? Not so much. Instead the government appears to have authorized members of Zhas Otan to ride with traffic police at night and stop government cars. (more…)

Should have mentioned this last night, but Chris Merriman, who admits to not being a huge football fan, has a bit of a play-by-play of the Kazakhstan-Croatia World Cup qualifying match. Kazakhstan was already out of contention to go to South Africa in 2010, but had Ukraine lost or tied Andorra last night, a Croatian victory would have meant a playoff between Ukraine and Croatia for a slot. England already has secured a place in the group. So Croatia might have had something to gain (although Ukraine won 6-0 so it turns out Croatia’s victory is all for nought) and Kazakhstan could have gone out with a bang. A 2-1 loss to the third place team in their group is not bad for KZ though!

Beibut Shumenov, an undefeated boxer from Kazakhstan, is widely viewed as a future world champion. At 26 years old, he was undefeated–8 fights and 6 wins by knockout–although he made the decision to turn professional only in 2007. He is also one of the few CIS boxers who was smart enough to found his own company, KZ Event Productions, meaning that he is not beholden to businessmen or the government boxing association. By comparison, one member of Kazakhstan’s 2008 Olympic boxing team works as a security guard at Mega Mall in Astana and another is a police officer, when they are not in the ring.

So it was a shame that this promising fighter lost a bout to WBA light heavyweight champion Gabriel Campillo on August 15th of this year. It was a shame that the match took place in Kazakhstan, at the Astana Boxing Complex. It was too bad that he had family from Shimkent in the audience. And it was a shame that he lost on points, with the match a draw until the final round. Campillo won on the basis of one well-timed blow in the 12th round. Even more interestingly, most spectators believed that Shumenov was the clear winner, dominating the entire match. But the match apparently ended amicably with Campillo saying, “Shumenov is a great boxer…He will be world champion.”

However, that wasn’t the end of the matter. (more…)

On Sept. 30, the most recent space-tourist blasted off from Baikanour for the International Space Station. Guy Laliberte who started life as a clown performing on the streets is most famous for founding the Cirque de Soleil, the troupe that blends circus performing, ballet, performance art, opera, comedy and just about any other drama of performing art you can imagine. He apparently paid $35 million to go into space.

Perhaps it is not a coincidence that he took off from Baikanour, located in a desert area of Central Asia, a region that has serious problems with water supply. He plans to use his time on the space station to to draw attention to problems of clean water. At 24:00 GMT on October 9 [06:00 Oct 10 Astana/Almaty time], he will launch a webcast performance that will link with performances in Montreal, Moscow, Santa Monica, New York City, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Marrakesh, Sydney, Tokyo, Tampa, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, Paris and London.

According to the press release,

In each of the cities, an “artistic moment” will unfold in the presence of artists and world-renowned personalities. Each city will have its own theme related to water. The following have already confirmed their participation: Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, A. R. Rahman, Cirque du Soleil, Claude Challe, Dr. David Suzuki, Fnaire, Frank De Winne, Garou, Gilberto Gil, Gregory Colbert, Jean Lemire, Julie Payette, Maud Fontenoy, Patrick Bruel, Peter Gabriel, Peter Lik, Shakira, Simon Carpentier, Tatuya Ishii, Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, Tiffany Speight, U2, Vandana Shiva and Yann Arthus-Bertrand. They will take part in the event either by reading parts of the poem, performing or sharing an artistic work.

Although the site is down right now, it will be broadcast on the One Drop Foundation site.

With talk everywhere that Alberto Contador is thinking of leaving Team Astana (See my post, The Dream Team is Over), the Astana Cycling Team Management released a statement this weekend that the two-time Tour de France winner from Spain has one more year left in his contract:

In order to clarify some misunderstandings reported in the media, the Astana Cycling Team Management reconfirms that 2009 Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is expected to ride for Team Astana in 2010. Prior to the 2008 season, Contador signed a three-year contract with Team Astana, ensuring that the rider will represent the Kazakh sponsored team for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010.

They also affirmed that despite problems this year with funding, sponsors have agreed to support the team at least until 2013. They also name Contador the leader of the team, without question, leaving hopefully soon-to-return Kazakhstan champion Vinokourov in a supporting role.

On the other hand, Contador has apparently been quite openly discussing offers he has received from teams such as Garmin-Slipstream, Katusha, Quick Step,and Caisse d’Epargne. So it sounds like he is planning to break his contract, leading many articles to claim he has no team or sponsor for 2010. On the other hand, the Velonews article states:

Contador talked about his options as he looks ahead to 2010 and beyond. He still has one year remaining on his contract with Astana, but he has indicated he’d like to move to a team that “knows the attitude to work for a leader.”

Which makes it sound like he is looking at 2011 and beyond. The fact that as of yet Contador has not released a statement countering Team Astana’s assertion that he will stay at Astana for 2010, also indicates that Alberto, like it or not, will be racing in the yellow and blue.

After Contador’s win at the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong’s third place finish (not to mention Team Astana’s Andres Kloden in sixth place), Team Astana seemed to have demonstrated itself as a cycling power on the world stage. Unfortunately that will all come to an end now.

Lance Armstrong has confirmed that he will be riding for a US team next year, sponsored by Radio Shack. The reason Armstrong came to Team Astana for his comeback, manager and coach Johan Bruyneel, is also leaving Astana, most likely for the Radio Shack team. In an interview on July 21st, Bruyneel said it was time for a change, but he also blamed instability in the team, clearly a reference to Team Astana’s sponsorship troubles. He also seemed to feel that Kazakhstan rider and founder of Astana’s team, Alexandre Vinokourov, had acted unprofessionally in dealing with his comeback after two years of suspension due to a doping charge: (more…)

Five years ago, Laura Tagasheva came to the US with a family who had adopted a Kazakh child. The family hoped Laura would make the transition process easier and she lived in Port Chester, NY for several years. However on August 4th 2007, she was attacked in an apparent random assualt on the street. The assailant(s) broke her neck and she could have been left for dead. Instead she did live, confined to a wheelchair as she is paralyzed from the neck down. She has remained in the US because the quality of healthcare is better than in Kazakhstan and because there are more options for the disabled as well. For the time being however, she is dependent on the kindness of strangers.

Besides being a horrible story, I personally feel connected not only because she is Kazakh but also because Port Chester is my old stomping ground. In fact if I remember correctly, Leonard Street (where she lives), is home to a It’s not the safest town in the world, but it’s hardly a haven of crime. It’s also a region that is surrounded by more wealthy neighbors like Greenwich, CT and Rye, NY. Great medical care in these well-off suburbs of New York City, but high bills for that care! So if you feel moved to help, check out her facebook page.

How to send money:
1. if you are in US and would like to write a check, please write a check to Madina Tagasheva. However, on the envelope, please put the name of Laura Tagasheva and her address. You can get Laura Tagasheva’s address by calling at +1(914) 907 3855 or emailing enlila@yahoo.com.

2. by PAYPAL
PayPal account: almaty.kazakhstan@yahoo.com

Also, you can call Laura at the following number: +1(914) 907 3855
Or email her at: enlila@yahoo.com

For any questions, feel free to contact Shakhnoza at shakhnoza@live.com

Also a more detailed article on Laura here.

And a sidenote to those surprised that such a typically English name like Laura is also a typical Kazakh name (or thinking that her real name is Lolita or Lyazzat and she took an American name), it turns out that the name Laura is typically Kazakh, but is pronounced La-URA, A and U as seperate vowels, stress on the U.

Do they do that in European sports events?

Anyway, in case you didn’t know, today at 16:00 GMT or 21:00 Kazakhstan time, England and Kazakhstan will meet in the World Cup qualifiers. If your local station isn’t covering it, or someone else in the house is watching the French Open, Eurosport looks like it will have nice play-by-play coverage online.

We will remember that the last time Kazakhstan and England met, in October of last year, Kazakhstan lost 5-1. Here’s hoping the homefield advantage will play out. It does look like even though the match is taking place in Almaty, the England fans will be in better shape to cheer their team on. According to a Neweurasia post, locals are relegated to the east side of the stadium where there is no roof and the afternoon sun gets in people’s eyes. (more…)

Yeah, lame post title. I haven’t written about the firing of Mukhtar Dzhakishev as head of Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s state uranium company. Dzhakishev. In and of itself this would be newsworthy because Kazatomprom can genuinely be called an internationally competitive country. Kazakhstan has been blessed with a lot of uranium but Dzhakishev has done a lot right in running the company and Kazatomprom is considered a major player in the uranium industry. Dzhakishev is also one of the few (possibly only) people who has worked in the same industry and the same job since independence. Whereas other government officials and businessmen seem to shift here and there every couple of year, Dzhakishev has been doing the same thing. Some of us had hoped his success would grab someone’s attention and create a new model here in Kazakhstan where experience
is valued.

So Dzhakishev’s removal was already newsworthy before the general prosecutor’s office announced they were arresting him for corruption; specifically he is accused of using shell companies to buy state-owned uranium mines for (presumably) himself and his friends. Dzhakishev is known to be close to Mukhtar Ablyazov, an opposition leader and ex-head of BTA Bank, who is also under investigation for corruption. Some claim that evidence that Ablyazov and Dzhakishev were working together came up during the investigation of BTA Bank. Others claim that the move is purely political; Dzhakishev’s friendship with an opposition member is simply unacceptable as the government tries to consolidate power and influence. Still others say the arrest is part of a larger campaign to weed out corruption, one that has already seen the removal of top management in Kazakh Temir Zholi and KazMunaiGas.

The reason I mention it now is an article by the AFP makes an intriguing point:

“Our information confirms the illegal tranfer of more than 60 percent of the state’s uranium deposits into the property of Dzhakishev and the companies he owned,” a KNB spokesman told reporters in the capital Astana.
Authorities did not explain how Dzhakishev managed to steal more than half of the country’s uranium deposits out from under the government’s nose. All uranium deals in Kazakhstan are heavily monitored and audited by the state.

Team Astana will probably meet the UCI deadline of May 31stand retain its license. However the UCI has requested new guarantees of the team in order to ensure that it stays in the black to the end of the year. UCI threatened Team Astana with revocation of its license after the Kazakh sponsors failed to pay salaries to its riders for two months and used up its reserve cash. The UCI requires that all teams have $2 million in a bank account untouched.

The President of the UCI, Pat Mcquaid is quoted in Cycling Weekly as saying:

The deadline we’ve given them is a bank guarantee deadline and the payments are up to schedule. They’ve paid sums of money in recent weeks, and they may be in order. The bank guarantees I believe have been put back in place,” McQuaid said before the stage 19 of the Giro d’Italia to Mount Vesuvius.

However the UCI has made new requests of Team Astana. As of Friday the Kazakh authorities had not responded. The licensing commission meets in the middle of July so any decision to revoke the team’s license would be taken then. Of course, the question on everyone’s mind is whether the team will be able to ride in the Tour de France, the most famous cycling race and the one that Lance Armstrong has won seven consecutive times (1999-2005). The Tour starts on July 4th. General Manager Johan Bruyneel has said previously that the team will race in the Tour de France, whether as Team Astana or under different sponsorship.

Team Astana is primarily sponsored by a number of state-owned Kazakh companies including Air Astana, KazMunaiGas, KazZinc, and Kazakh Temir Zholi. However many of these companies have been unable to make payments due to the financial crisis and changes in the priority of spending state budget funds. Sponsors pay the Kazakh Cycling Federation who then pay Team Astana.