Kazajistán (Continuación)

MundoAsia,

President Nursultan Nazarbayev is in town for the 47-nation nuclear summit set up by the Obama administration.

Q: There is talk of the new great game in Central Asia with the West, Russia and China vying for influence and the mineral wealth of the region. Do you see such a game unfolding and what do you see as Kazakhstan's role in this game?

A: In light of its geostrategic location and large primary resources, the region draws a lot of attention. Energy companies from the United States, the EU, China and Russia actively work here in Kazakhstan. We are intent on further maintaining our cooperation with them.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsiaMundoOriente Próximo, , ,

When the presidents of two Central Asian countries meet to discuss matters of mutual concern, the outcome of their talks may seem irrelevant to American politicians. Indeed, why should talks that took place last month in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, have any effect on Washington? But they do. Why? Because what is in play may be the future of just how much assistance ends up going to Afghanistan from Central Asian countries (and others) to help the American war effort. That is something the U.S. badly needs.

Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to former President Jimmy Carter, told me from his office at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington recently that with "Kazakhstan assuming the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), it will be in a position to influence the politics in the region.…  Seguir leyendo »

Figura 1. Esquema geológico en el que se muestra el flujo de agua con U+6 desde el punto de captura atravesando el acuífero y precipitando en las zonas de ambiente reductor (sobre los hidrocarburos)

MundoAsia, ,

Tema: En los últimos años se han producido grandes inversiones nacionales y extranjeras en la minería uranífera en Kazajistán, especialmente en lo que atañe a la exploración y el tratamiento industrial del uranio. Tal cosa ha tenido como frutos un importante empuje y una creciente proyección del país en el mercado mundial de la energía nuclear. Pero también nos ha permitido profundizar en el conocimiento y comprensión de su geología.

Resumen: Desde hace seis décadas se están explotando yacimientos de uranio en Kazajistán, desarrollándose al mismo tiempo la exploración de nuevos yacimientos. Se han encontrado unos 50 hasta la fecha, que en general presentan grandes similitudes con otros grandes depósitos de EEUU, Australia y Nigeria.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

El paisaje de la estepa de Asia Central es imponente: una planicie sin límites, cubierta en el invierno por la sábana infinita de la nieve. La nueva capital del país, Astana, también es interesante: una ciudad aún en construcción que combina mezquitas, rascacielos ultramodernos y antiguos edificios de la era soviética. Pero sin duda, la principal atracción turística de Kazajistán es su presidente, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Nazarbayev, siempre impecablemente vestido, está en todas partes, como Dios. Fotografías suyas acompañado de niños de las diversas etnias kazajas cubren innumerables paredes de la ciudad. En el Baiterek, símbolo de Astana, el visitante puede posar su mano sobre el bajorrelieve en bronce de la mano del presidente.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsiaEspañaPolítica Exterior,

Tema: Se amplían los vínculos de la UE con Kazajistán, un país que es esencial para una integración euroasiática en la que hay intereses españoles crecientes y que está situado en una macrorregión que es mucho más propicia y esencial de lo que cabía suponer hace apenas un lustro.

Resumen: Este análisis se propone, en primer lugar, describir el salto cualitativo que Kazajistán ha realizado en los últimos años y que ha transformado al país en parte esencial de la geoestrategia euroasiática. En segundo lugar, destaca algunas experiencias españolas y de españoles en proyectos europeos y resalta su potencial. Por último, argumenta por qué Kazajistán es importante en el ámbito de la seguridad Sur-Norte y Este-Oeste.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Tony, jagshemash! Jagshemash, Elizabeth! President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, cordially received in London this week by Tony Blair and Her Majesty the Queen, has proved himself to be a really good sport by taking humorously the satirical portrayal of his country in Sacha Baron Cohen's film Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. "This film was created by a comedian, so let's laugh at it," said the genial president at a joint press conference with Tony Blair, earning praise from the Sun. Good old Nursultan, friend of Britain, Dick Cheney, BP, Chevron and Shell.

So, in this spirit of all-round bonhomie, let's have a few more Kazakh jokes.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

By Gauhar Abdygaliyeva, a student from Kazakhstan doing graduate work at George Washington University (THE WASHINGTON POST, 08/11/06):

I'm a Muslim Kazakh woman who arrived in the United States two months ago to work on my master's in public administration. Almost every time I meet people and tell them where I come from, they ask me about the "Kazakh journalist" Borat, "the sixth most famous man" in Kazakhstan. I answer that Borat is a satirical fictional character who has nothing in common with Kazakhstan or its people.

Many of my new American friends find Borat's adventures in "US and A" hilarious and his remarks about my country amusing.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

By Erlan Idrissov, the Kazakhstan's Ambassador to the United Kingdom (THE TIMES, 04/11/06):

LET ME admit it: we Kazakhs owe Sacha Baron Cohen, Borat’s creator, a debt. Not only is he capable of making many of us — myself included — laugh out loud, but his spoof documentary Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, has resulted in the kind of media attention of which previously I could only dream.

In a sense he has placed Kazakhstan on the map — no mean achievement, since, even though it is the size of Western Europe, most people in the English-speaking world have difficulty in spelling its name and have only a vague idea of where it is.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

By Erlan Idrissov, the Kazakhstan's ambassador to the United Kingdom (THE GUARDIAN, 04/10/06):

Humour can be used to defuse tensions and heal divisions - as Tony Blair demonstrated to brilliant effect at the Labour party conference. But if it exploits ignorance and prejudice it can have quite the reverse effect.I fear that the British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of Borat Sagdiyev, whose new movie opens here next month, does not understand this. Baron Cohen possesses a great comic talent and remarkable inventive powers. So inventive, in fact, that in creating Borat he has also created an imaginary country - a violent, primitive and oppressive place which he calls "Kazakhstan", but which bears no resemblance to the real Kazakhstan.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

Notebook by Giles Whittell (THE TIMES, 04/10/06):

HOW WONDERFUL that Kazakh buses are back in the news after nearly 90 years. (The last time was in 1918, when the Times man Stephen Graham used one to evacuate himself from Ust Kamenogorsk on receiving word, just a year after the event, of the Russian Revolution.) Now Borat, he of the egregious moustache and eponymous film, has given Central Asia fetishists an excuse to recall their all-time top Kazakh bus journeys in the interests of regional stability and harmonious gender relations.

I shall limit myself to three. The first is Bishkek to Almaty, a post-Soviet classic, starting in the Kyrgyz capital but heading almost immediately into the idyllic Kendyktas hills where Lenin’s henchmen butchered Kazakh nomads by the thousand but their heirs farmed placidly for the next 70 years.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsia,

By S. Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (THE WASHINGTON POST, 28/09/06):

The president of Kazakhstan will be visiting the United States soon, and the critics are sharpening their pens. The trip by President Nursultan Nazarbayev will mark 15 years of independence for his country as well as a growing strategic partnership with the United States. But whereas the State Department sees Kazakhstan as a successful "corridor of reform," critics claim that it's just another corrupt petro-state and Nazarbayev himself a repressive, authoritarian ruler. The fact that Vice President Cheney recently visited the Kazakh capital of Astana only confirms their darkest suspicions: It's all about oil, and probably about Halliburton as well.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAsiaMundoCáucasoReflexionesDemocracia, , ,

By Jackson Diehl (THE WASHINGTON POST, 24/04/06):

President Bush's retreat from the ambitious goals of his second term will proceed one small but fateful step further this Friday. That's when, after more than two years of stalling, the president will deliver a warm White House welcome to Ilham Aliyev, the autocratic and corrupt but friendly ruler of one of the world's emerging energy powers, Azerbaijan.

Here's why this is a tipping point: At the heart of Bush's democracy doctrine was the principle that the United States would abandon its Cold War-era practice of propping up dictators -- especially in the Muslim world -- in exchange for easy access to their energy resources and military cooperation.…  Seguir leyendo »