Stories about Kazakhstan from January, 2009
Kazakhstan: Livejournal Unblocked. And Blocked Again
On Junuary 28, the Kazakhstani Internet users were suddenly granted access to LiveJournal – the most popular blog platform in the post-Soviet Russian-speaking blogosphere. It was blocked by the national ISP on October 7 last year under unknown reasons – “Kazakhtelecom” has never acknowledged the fact of filtering. We used...
Kazakhstan: State-run web-sites tested by the public
Mursya reviews the results of an evaluation of web-sites run by Kazakhstani state authorities. The evaluation was performed by MediaNet, the International Journalism Center, supported by Soros Foundation in Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan: Innovations, Kazakh-Style
Arseny writes about the government's innovation strategies in Kazakhstan, and how efficient they actually are.
Kazakhstan: Journalist Arrested for Alleged State Secret Disclosure
Ramazan Yessergepov, chief editor of the “Alma-Ata Info” newspaper, was arrested early January this year by the National Security Committee officers from the provincial branch office of the country's main special service. They had come all the way down from Taraz (southern town in Kazakhstan) to his apartment in Almaty...
Kazakhstan: Students Expelled from Universities
KZBlog reports on the claims that 7 000 – 20 000 students were expelled for being unable to pay tuition or fees at Kazakhstan universities and colleges.
Kazakhstan: Disability Rights Group Urges Legalization of Prostitution
Ekspeditsiya reports that a disability rights group in Karaganda has called on the government to legalize prostitution and issue sex ration cards giving a minimum of five sessions a month to the disabled.
Kazakhstan: National Issue Revisited
Arseny’s post is about the controversy over the nationality record in the new Kazakhsani biometric passports.
Kazakhstan: World MBA Tour Comes to Almaty
Adam writes about the World MBA Tour, the world’s best and biggest business school fairs, which will take place in Almaty, the biggest city of Kazakhstan, early March this year.
Kazakhstan: Prime-Minister Launched Blog
On January 9 the Press Office of the Government informed that Karim Massimov, the Prime-Minister of Kazakhstan, started his private, yet official blog. Last December the Prime –Minister visited Russian capital, where he gave the interview to Echo of Moscow radio station. There he was asked a series of uneasy...
Kazakhstan: Quantum of Kompromat
Adam writes about a new reported scandal, related to the chain of shady stories about Kazakhgate and subtle foreign activities of the Kazakh authorities.
Kazakhstan: Bid for WTO backed by India?
Michael Hancock opines that given India's thirst for Kazakhstan's uranium, the South Asian emerging giant may be especially interested in Kazakhstan's entry to WTO.
Kazakhstan: Khan Shatyr Project
Michael Hancock updates the readers on the construction of one of the more unique construction projects currently under way in Astana, new capital of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan: Importing Tennis Hottie
KZBlog reports that Kazakhstan has made a deal with 19-year old Sesil Karatantcheva, the once up and coming tennis star who was ranked 35th in the world. She will become a Kazakhstan citizen and play here for at least three years.
Kazakhstan: Prime-minister, blogger
KZBlog reacts to the launch of official blog of the Kazakhstani prime-minister Karim Massimov. “That’s a good sign that the PM, or his advisers, are pretty hip to Web 2.0″, he says.
Kazakhstan: Tourism Industry Problems
KZBlog writes about his experience visiting a skiing resort near Almaty, the former capital city of Kazakhstan, and concludes that there is a lot of great tourism potential, but no investment and the people with the energy and desire to improve things.
Kazakhstan: Kazakh Student Killed in Moscow
Adam informs the readers that an 18-year-old student from Kazakhstan had been stabbed to death in south-west Moscow.
Kazakhstan: LiveJournal Still Blocked
LiveJournal is still blocked in Kazakhstan – the national telecom operator started filtering it on October 7, although it never acknowledged this fact. Skullptor is sarcastic [ru]: I think it’s a step in the right direction. Kazakhs should be barred from Internet on the whole – there are viruses, porn,...
Kazakhstan: Little Progress in Science Policy
Patrick Frost reviews the efforts of Kazakhstani authorities make to increase science research funding in the country 25 times over in six years, saying that little progress has been done so far.
