It was a quick shot Nurlan Iskakov took when news broke that over 300 dead seals had been washed ashore the Caspian Sea in the Mangystau oblast.

Iskatov said that if the oil producers are to blame for what happened, they would bear full responsibility. “In this case, they would have to expect sanctions, compensation payments and a stop of drilling operations until the reasons for the death of the seals are found.”

Now, however, it becomes obvious that the seals had to die because of an abnormally warm winter which prevented the formation of ice in the northern parts of the Caspian Sea. In any case, the environmental regulations become more stringent now:

The minister said he had ordered to cancel “disposing of any waste from any types of drilling on the Caspian shelf.” Now the rules of zero discharge are applied there, Iskakov specified.

Isakov’s haste in getting things done and taking quick shots at the oil industry seem justified when taking into account what happened last year, when 350 seals and thousands of sturgeon died in the northern part of the Caspian region as a result of a leak at the Kashagan site.

As if the oil industry isn’t enough of a challenge to the declining seal population, climate change seems to become even more dangerous for them in the long run.

Kazakhstan introduced a jury trial in cases where crimes are punished by the death penalty. The trials have already taken place in Eastern and Northern Kazakhstan. The jury consists of eleven people, selected by special computer programme from a long list of people’s surnames, suggested by regional Akimat. People who do not have legal capacity, public servants, police officers, military personnel, lawyers, people with criminal history, as well as those who know the accused personally or are younger than 25 years old, cannot participate. Those who are called in can also refuse from taking part voluntarily. A day of work as a juror is rewarded with 3.713 tenge – a half of daily salary of a judge in a regional court.

Karavan desribed the selection process in the first trial in Petropavlovsk, Northern Kazakhstan (RUS):

More than 4.000 candidates to the jury were selected preliminarily from all voters in Northern Kazakhstan. Computer has selected 40. Only 37 appeared in the court. Among the candidates, crowded in a small court room, were people from all over the region, from the teachers to the housewives. Some of them had to cross several hundred kilometers to reach the regional court. Some have clearly smelled of alcohol …

About one third of the candidates informed the court that they could not take part in a trial. Some referred to being swamp at work. The teachers of the state university and the schools turned out to be the busiest people. Others said they had to take care of their sick husbands or wives at home, or worried about their chickens and cows left behind. One candidate, as it turned out, did not speak Russian, a language of the trial, another had an impaired hearing. Satybaldy Nurushev, who was worried about leaving his stock room unattended, became the very first juror in the history of the country’s judiciary.

According to this report on gazeta.kz, the trial in Petropavlovsk was attended by American observers and the OSCE (RUS). American Bar Association and its Europe and Eurasia Division for the Rule of Law (CEELI) worked on awareness raising and conducted mock trials where real judges took part, which were broadcast on television channel “31″.

There are clear benefits of the introduction of jury trials in Kazakhstan, and I really welcome this news. Jury helps people to see what the trial is like and feel they become part of justice. In Kazakhstan, where people tend to mistrust the courts, having a jury might win back their trust. The defense and the prosecution will try to be more participative and prepare well to present their arguments. It would help combat corruption: it is more more difficult to bribe 11 people than one judge.

But a grain of salt as always: Read the full story »

…says President Nazarbayev, knowing that he himself prematurely rejected his own one. To achieve that, first of all, all countrymen currently abroad are invited back home:

“We will create conditions for you on par with what you have abroad. Your education, energy and knowledge are needed at home.”

With the help of American experts, a comprehensive assessment of the areas in which Kazakhstan can compete internationally was carried out. The most promising sectors for R&D form an impressive list: nanotechnologies, biotechnologies, technologies for the hydrocarbon and mining sectors, nuclear and renewable energy technologies, as well as IT and space technologies. Phew! Read the full story »

After his posts on the demolition of old Stalin and Khrushchev houses in Almaty, Adam Kesher continues writing about the changes in the city in his Livejournal (RUS). In his post, he writes about the new project for the Square of the Republic in Almaty.

“This comes in addition to a huge undeground construction, renovation of the facades of the buildings, that constitute the square ensemble, construction of three atriums for the undeground city on the upper side of the square (instead of the tribune), and two on the lower side, and the reconstruction of the pedestrian’s space.

According to Architektonika.ru, the Eric Owen Moss’ construction company “started expanding into construction markets of the former Soviet Union after the series of failed projects in Russia … and quite successfully”. The project includes 126 thousand square meters of the trade space, the offices, the hotels and other accommodation. The unusual part of the building would probably be its lower part, a hall, a whole square actually, with a winter garden that would represent the spiral 38 meters in diameter.

As the constructors say, despite the airiness of the lower part, which makes it look as if the building is going up from earth, the spiral is structured and functional. It is the main support for the whole building, which represents five elements, “inserted” into the rings of the spiral. Four sub-squares between five pieces of the main buildings are presented as the four seasons of the year. In general, in my subjective view, the project – except the spiral holl – is quite unattractive. Read the full story »

On 21 March, Dr. Igor Tomberg, senior research fellow with the Energy Research Center at the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, wrote an article entitled “Moscow is no Longer Kazakhstan’s Only Friend”:

While Europe, the United States, China and Russia compete for Eurasian resources, Kazakhstan is playing its own game, called “multi-vector politics.” The heightening confrontation between Russia and the West on energy security issues is forcing the government in Astana, the Kazakh capital, to distance itself from Moscow, which naturally irritates the latter.

Kazakhstan is already connected to a pipeline that carries Caspian oil from Baku (Azerbaijan) to Tbilisi (Georgia) and on to Ceyhan (Turkey), from which it is shipped to Western markets bypassing Russia. Nazarbayev discussed the construction of gas and oil pipelines across the Caspian Sea, also bypassing Russia, with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney last May and with U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman last September. In late February, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher reminded Nazarbayev of the agreements reached during his visit to Washington last September.

Moscow is dissatisfied with its Central Asian partner also because of Nazarbayev’s plans to attend an energy summit that will be held in Poland in May. The Polish president, Lech Kaczynski, is expected to meet the leaders of four ex-Soviet countries – Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan – to discuss the possibility of extending Ukraine’s Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to the Polish city of Plock to pump Kazakh oil to Poland. Last month, Astana announced the formation of a Kazakh-Polish working group to discuss the project. Kaczynski also wants to raise the issue during his visit to Astana on March 28.

The article came like a thunder in a clear sky. Because for Russia, in its turn, its “post-Soviet politics” has been dominated by the relations with the Baltic countries, disputes with Georgia and annoyances with the Ukraine. Central Asia is different: far from Europe, it would never enter the European Union, and probably not join NATO (only Kazakhstan joined the Individual Partnership Action Plan on 31 January 2006). It is used to being ruled by Russia and the Soviet Union throughout its history. Kunaev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan at the time of the collapse of the USSR, wrote in his book that Kazakh political elite was desperately waiting for orders from Russia shortly after the collapse. Russia was too busy with its own problems though, and the moment was lost. Now the lack of information and the lack of interest in Kazakhstan from Russia results in a paranoia when Kazakhstan becomes independent in its foreign policies. Read the full story »

In its Best-of-April-Fools’-Joke collection, Spiegel Online includes a Kazakhstan-related anecdote from 1995:

The bankers didn’t believe their eyes: Because of an early April Fools’ joke, thousands of Kazakhstanis besieged the country’s banks. A local newspaper cracked a joke when it reported that the security bars on the country’s 10-Tenge notes contained precious metal.

During the printing process, strips of gold and platinum had accidentally been used. The banks bought the notes for 250 USD, it was said. Many Kazakhstanis sniffed a chance, as at that time the US-Dollar was worth 60 Tenge. Once the news turned out to be a hoax, some angry customers caused a tumult.

Anyone from Kazakhstan who can remember this story?

As reported on this blog before, Kazakhstan is turning green on its oil industry and has already threatened TCO with hefty fines should the company not comply with environmental regulations at Tengiz.

The move is apparently part of a wider strategy not to boost oil production at any price, reports the Gulf Times:

The Kazakh government, which had planned to lift annual output to at least 150mn tonnes (3mn bpd) by 2015, now wants to raise standards of environmental protection.

(…)

“It won’t be a tragedy if in 2015 we extract” less than the target, Ural Mukhamedzhanov, the chairman of the Kazakh lower chamber of parliament, said late on Monday in an interview in London. “I would even curb some projects for the sake of the ecological balance.”

The fact that ex-Soviet countries care about the environment is always slightly suspicious. Although Kazakhstan has a rather long tradition of green movements (e.g. the protests against nuclear testing near Semipalatinsk in the 1980s), there are several other ramifications of this new green conscience: Read the full story »

Kazakhstan’s players celebrate their victory against Serbia

For the first time since joining the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) in 2002, Kazakhstan claims competitive victory: its team defeated the Serbian with 2:1 in Group A. It was also the first time the Kazakhstan team scored at home in a European qualifier. It is a surprising victory, as Serbian team was team A’s favourite, and previously Kazakhstan has only won once when it played against Armenia in 2004, out of 25 friendly and competitive international games against UEFA member associations. It used to show better results in AFC (Asian Football Confederation), when it was defeating Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, thus the transfer was criticised.

Rakhat Aliyev, the President of Kazakhstan Football Federation, was the one who transferred the Kazakhstan team from AFC to UEFA. After a long series of dissapointments, the team finally shows the results, thus the transfer to a stronger league is paying off. Kazakhstan Today published a quick interview with Rakhat Aliyev, who is indeed very happy about Kazakhstan’s victory: Read the full story »

Translation of Adam’s post from Russian-language neweurasia Kazakhstan.

According to the news reports, between 18 and 19 of March, there has been a conflict among the locals in Malovodnoe. The conflict became violent and resulted in the death of three people from gun wounds, five people were injured and taken to the hospital in a very bad state; the house and a car belonging to the parties to the conflict were burnt down. Reports vary as to the number of people who took part – from several to two hundred of young people.

The additional police forces were brought to Malovodnoe, security measures enforced, the criminal case initiated. “It is possible that the conflict is interethnic”, – added a source in the police, commenting for Interfax.

The very first reports were talking about the conflict between the “people from Caucasus” and Asians, apparently, between the Chechens, living in Almaty suburbs, and Kazakhs. However, the first official commentary – from the head of the press-service for MIA Bagdat Kozhakhmetov – did not only deny the possibility of a “conflict on interethnic, religious basis”, but also warned journalists against overblowing the issue and drawing premature conclusions. Read the full story »

All those people who are getting increasingly bored by my technocrat posts, please disregard the following – again I have to succumb to my inner drive to write about Kazakhstan’s financial sector. In my earlier post, I highlighted some of the issues at stake and got into a discussion with Mergen, who criticised me for over-emphasising the importance of oil in Kazakhstan’s current economic boom.

In the couple of paragraphs to follow, I want to extend a little bit on this by adding some hard data which I retrieved for a uni assignment. Read the full story »