A Bad New Year’s Present For The Kremlin

December 17, 2009

Martin McCauley writes: It’s cold in Moscow. However, this winter will get even colder for the men in the Kremlin, who depend so much on the revenues from the sale of natural gas. The Chinese have stolen a march on them – again. On Monday, the first gas along the pipeline from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang in western China began to flow. There will be two pipelines. The second one is due to be built next year. To mark this momentous occasion Chinese President Hu Jintao (he dyes his hair jet black, by the way, just like all other members of the Chinese leadership), together with the presidents of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (all of whom allegendly dye their hair black as well), celebrated with Chinese and local delicacies. As well they might. They had pulled off quite a coup....

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Category: Around The World
Tags: China, Gas, Gazprom, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

China And Kazakhstan Edge Closer Together. To The Apparent Disapproval Of Russia

November 17, 2008

By Martin McCauley: For China, Kazakhstan is the most important of the Central Asian states. This is made clear by Beijing referring to their partnership as ‘strategic’. So why is it exactly that Astana is the most important capital for Beijing? Kazakhstan shares a long border with the Xinjiang autonomous region, home to Uyghurs and other Muslim nationalities. It is also potentially fabulously rich in minerals, oil and gas, not to mention being the bread basket of Central Asia. Energy security is very important to China, and oil and gas from Kazakhstan and from two other countries in the region – Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan – is less subject to disruption than imports from the Middle East. Kazakhstan is courted by Russia, China and the US because of its strategic position...

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Category: Around The World
Tags: , China, Kazakhstan, Oil, Russia

England Beats Kazakhstan At Wembley. Is There Any Reason To Rejoice? None At All

October 12, 2008

I have said it many times before and I’ll say it again: the English national football team sucks. Big time. These overpaid, overrated, oversexed players are hopeless. Absolutely hopeless. They don’t have any desire to play for their country. They are paid too much by their clubs to care. So what if England has beaten the Kazakh team 5:1 in the World Cup qualifier at Wembley yesterday? The Kazakhs are ranked 131st in the world, which makes them amateurs compared to England. They should have been beaten by those so-called stars of English football 10:0 or even 15:0. And England couldn’t even score in the first half. Yes, in case you haven’t watched this pathetic match, the English national team, which supposedly includes the best of the best of English football, could...

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Category: Sport
Tags: England, Kazakhstan, Wembley

Kazakhstan: Locked Between The Bear And The Dragon

September 24, 2008

(By Martin McCauley.) They came like monkeys on horseback in the tall steppe grass. They were the heirs of Genghis Khan, the most feared warrior horsemen of their era. They overwhelmed the Russians and ruled them for two and a half centuries. It was called the Tatar Yoke. Then a great victory in 1480 ended the tutelage and the Mongol empire slowly disintegrated. Some of their nobles became members of the Russian nobility and one can trace their names to this day. Others stayed in Central Asia where they had swept away any resistance they encountered. They moved into Afghanistan and left it devastated and then into northern Iran. What is now Kazakhstan was conquered, in turns, by Mongols, Tatars and Chinese. In their heyday, the Chinese reached as far as the Caspian Sea but were forced back...

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Category: Around The World
Tags: , Kazakhstan, Russia