SEPT. 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A court in Bishkek ruled against plans by the government to increase fees on electricity and gas, media reported, argued for by reformers who have said that Kyrgyzstan needs to charge more for its utilities.The ruling is a blow for the government which has been working to modernise Soviet-era systems.
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(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)
SEPT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyz PM Djoomart Otorbayev sacked two cabinet ministers, minister of culture Kamila Taliyeva and interior minister Abdyldy Suranchiyev, his first major reshuffle since taking over the job in March.
The sackings are a nod to public dissatisfaction with the government, with reports growing that many ministers are hanging on to their jobs by a thread.
But they may be less about improving the efficiency of government and more about preparations for next year’s parliamentary elections. With a winter energy crisis expected to put pressure on both President Almazbek Atambayev, affiliated to the Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan, and Mr Otorbayev, loosely associated with the socialist Ata-Meken party, dropping a few unpopular officials makes political sense.
Kyrgyz media reported that both the sacked ministers where disliked, making them easy scapegoats for failings across government but personnel changes are unlikely to spare the government public frustration if the winters are as cold as expected, especially with Kyrgyzstan’s power production struggling.
Ulugbek Erkeshev, a Kyrgyz political journalist, said he has seen it all before.
“At a time when they need to be working together as a government around the clock they are passing portfolios around,” he said.
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(News report from Issue No. 201, published on Sept. 24 2014)
SEPT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – It looks like the Kazakh president’s office is becoming more commercially-minded.
Media reported that it has trademarked the Akorda, or the presidential palace, and a handful of other buildings in Astana.
One of the trade-marked images of the blue-domed Akorda show the sun rising behind it, rays of light shining over its roof.
It’s unclear, currently, just what the presidential administration plan to do with the trademark other than boost the image of the building itself.
The Akorda, which means White Horde, was built in 200 and lies at the centre of Astana, the city at the focus of President Nazarbayev’s vision for Kazakhstan.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 11 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tension between Georgia’s President, Giorgi Margvelashvili, and its PM, Irakli Garibahvili appeared to bubble to the surface. Mr Margvelashvili accused Mr Garibashvili of thwarting his attempt to speak at the UN by planning his own address at the UN General Assembly. Growing tension between the presidency and the PM is important to monitor.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 12 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Perhaps wanting an eye-catching policy to launch his campaign for next year’s parliamentary election, former Kyrgyz PM Feliks Kulov, a nationalist, has called for a referendum on renaming Kyrgyzstan as Kyrgyz El Republic, media reported. Mr Kulov said the suffix stan is an alien Persian word for country.
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(News report from Issue No. 200, published on Sept.17 2014)
SEPT. 1 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – On Independence Day, people in Bishkek crammed into cinemas to watch a film geared towards nation-building.
The film’s organisers think the film has a shot at the Best Foreign Film Category at the Oscars. Kurmandjan Datka, Queen of the Mountains received $1.5m from the threadbare republican budget and was part-organised by nationalist MP, Zhyldyz Zholdosheva.
The Kyrgyz-language picture, telling the story of a female clan ruler during the time of the Russian empire, was generally well received, although one viewer, 21-year old Maxat Dukenbayev, said it was some way short of Nomad, a Kazakh state-made epic with 25 times Kurmanjan Datka’s budget and featuring B-List Hollywood actors.
“That didn’t come close to an Oscar,” he said, standing outside Bishkek’s October Cinema.
Not that Nomad did either.
Still, Zholdosheva, who gained a reputation as an outspoken nationalist in the aftermath of ethnic violence between Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in 2010 declared herself ready to win an Oscar.
Elsewhere, on a grassy stretch outside Bishkek’s Panfilov Park, scores of Kyrgyz families grilled skewered kebabs and took in national beer.
Kyrgyz films celebrating its independence, seemingly, are not for everyone.
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(News report from Issue No. 198, published on Sept. 3 2014)
AUG. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Cherie Blair, wife of ex-British PM Tony Blair, has negotiated a contract to advise Kazakhstan’s ministry of justice for three months for $200,000, the Daily Telegraph reported. Mr Blair has been an adviser to Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev since 2011.
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(News report from Issue No. 196, published on Aug. 20 2014)
AUG. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – This is the age of austerity and when money is tight, costs have to be trimmed.
That’s certainly the message Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev was sending out when he announced that he was merging several ministries.
“It is hard to understand, why one government body must be responsible for oil and gas, while another one deals with solid energy resources, the third department controls the power grid and the fourth one the nuclear industry,” Reuters quoted Mr Nazarbayev as saying. “This is why I believe it is time to concentrate the entire energy sector in the hands of one person.”
He appointed his ally Vladimir Shkolnik head of a new super Energy Ministry that merged the Oil and Gas Ministry, the Environmental Protection Ministry and the Ministry for Industry.
Kazakhstan’s economic growth has slowed due to sanctions on Russia over its interference in Ukraine and the failure of the giant Caspian Sea oil field Kashagan to start producing.
Mr Nazarbayev’s downsizing didn’t stop with the energy sector. He disbanded the Agency for Fighting Financial Crimes and gave its responsibilities to the Agency for Civil Affairs and also cut the Ministry for Emergencies, handing its duties to the Interior Ministry.
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(News report from Issue No. 195, published on Aug. 13 2014)
JULY 3 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police arrested the former mayor of Tbilisi, Gigi Ugulava, for money laundering. Supporters of Mr Ugulava denounced the allegations as politically motivated and part of a plot to blacken the reputation of senior officials linked to the administration of former president Mikheil Saakashvili.
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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)
JULY 7 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Eduard Shevardnadze, a foreign minister of the Soviet Union and president of independence Georgia, died in a Tbilisi aged 86.
Tributes poured in from around the world for one of Georgia’s most recognisable modern-day politicians.
Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili described Shevardnadze as “one of the most distinguished politicians of the 20th century.”
His friend and political ally, the former leader of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev said: “He was an important contribution to the foreign policy of perestroika and was an ardent supporter of new thinking in world affairs.”
From Washington, John Kerry, the US Secretary of State said: “(Shevardnadze) played an instrumental role with President Gorbachev, President Reagan, and Secretary Shultz in bringing the Cold War to an end.”
But Shevardnadze leaves behind a mixed legacy.
As Mr Gorbaechev’s surprise choice as foreign minister for the Soviet Union in 1985, Shevardnadze was instrumental in rolling back Communism. He helped pull the Soviet military out of Eastern Europe and Afghanistan; gave a taciturn nod to the reunification of Germany.
Shevardnadze quit in 1990 because he feared a reactionary response but was persuaded back at the end of 1991, becoming the last foreign minister of the Soviet Union.
As president of independent Georgia, though, Shevardnadze’s reputation is far more ambiguous. He governed from 1993 until a revolution in 2003 toppled him. That revolution, later dubbed the Rose Revolution, ushered Mikheil Saakashvili into power and his staunchly pro-Western agenda.
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(News report from Issue No. 192, published on July 9 2014)