News Roundup

News Roundup - March 10, 2008

By SRI ⋅ March 10, 2008 ⋅

Financial Times: Credit crisis shakes Kazakh banks

Kazakh banks, which over the last few years have lapped up cheap foreign loans to finance a consumer boom driven by the country’s soaring oil revenues, have been hit hard by the global credit squeeze…

Institute for War and Peace Reporting: Kazak budget cuts could backfire

In his annual state-of-the-nation address last month, President Nursultan Nazarbaev said “temporary” but swingeing cuts in government spending were needed to cool galloping inflation rates, which in December hit 18.8 per cent year on year…

Interfax: Kazakh banks expect higher credit risks in H1

“The banks expect higher credit risks in the first half of 2008 involving an increase in the number of roll-over loans and claims on the property mortgaged against problem loans,” the National Bank said in a statement after finishing its January survey of the second tier banks called Credit Market: Current Status and Forecast…

Registan.net: The Silent Steppe: The Memoir of a Kazakh Nomad Under Stalin - a review

This is a story about the genocide of the Kazakh people, organized or accidental, that happened as a result of the collectivization of the Soviet Union in the 1930s. What makes it so powerful and engaging is that it is an honest, straightforward first-person account…

UPI: Analysis: Happiness is multiple pipelines

Back in early 1990s, in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Western companies for the first time had the possibility of exploiting Caspian energy, sharp-eyed observers inside the Beltway could spot a bumper sticker proclaiming, “Happiness is multiple pipelines.” …

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: Caspian: Turkmen, Azerbaijani deal could raise energy hopes

Azerbaijani and Turkmen officials have resolved a lingering obstacle to improved trade ties during the latest round of talks on issues that include cooperation to develop Caspian energy resources…

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty: Central Asia: Severe flooding expected after harsh winter

After a winter many are calling the worst in nearly four decades, Central Asians are dreaming of spring. But the warm weather’s arrival this year will bring problems of its own, meteorologists say…

Washington Times: Prize in Eurasian game

The Russian presidential election in which Dmitry Medvedev — Vladimir Putin’s choice as his successor — was confirmed by the vast majority of Russian voters last Sunday, has serious geopolitical implications for the United States…

Eurasia Insight: The CIS: A vanishing reality?

With the “multi-vector” mindset taking hold in the Commonwealth of Independent States, Russia is feeling pressure to rethink how it can retain its dominating influence among formerly Soviet states…

Variety: How ‘Borat’ begat ‘Mongol’

Ironically, the Russian-born Bodrov recounts that “Borat” was “part of the reason” he was able to finance “Mongol”: After becoming the butt of Sacha Baron Cohen’s massive “glorious nation” joke, the Kazakh government was anxious to show people something different about the country…

San Antonio Express-News: Central Asia ripe for next Big One

I believe the new flashpoint will be Central Asia, including the Caucasus. This is a vast continental area that after a century of world inattention is coming back into play…