Afghan security forces on track to take full security responsibility
"Our national security forces continue to grow on a daily basis. I am confident that we will complete the process of transition to full Afghan security responsibility by the end of 2014, as previously agreed," said Major General Asadullah Akramyar, Deputy Assistant Minister for Policy and Strategy at the Afghan Ministry of Defence while visiting NATO Headquarters on 9 November. READ MORE
Borg lambasts ‘gross calumny’ raised during EC briefing over Aliyev residence
During European Commission press briefing, press asks whether EC is aware of MEPs looking into claims of a bribe to foreign minister to award residence permit to Kazakh billionaire Rakhat Aliyev. READ MORE
New Kazakhstan-US Energy Partnership Plan Adopted
The latest meeting of the Kazakhstani-US Energy Partnership Commission took place in Washington on October 15–16, 2012. The two delegation heads, Kazakhstan’s Minister of Oil and Gas Sauat Mynbayev and the US Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, signed a Joint Action Plan for 2012–2013 that promotes cooperation in four broad categories: Nuclear Security and Nuclear Power, Hydrocarbon Resources, Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, and Electric Power. READ MORE
Former East German prime minister dubs Malta’s handling of Aliyev case ‘scandalous’
Tonio Borg thrust into the limelight of hunt for Kazakh billionaire over Maltese residence permit. READ MORE
NATO Must Monitor Central Asia, Reach Out To Pakistan As Afghan Mission Ends
Afghanistan’s neighbours have conflicting aims for the strife-torn country’s future and NATO should keep a wary eye on Central Asia while reaching out to Pakistan as international troops prepare to withdraw in 2014, members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly were told Sunday. READ MORE
Gazprom gets a boost from Asia as EU sales decline
Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom reported sales declines in Europe and its home market, showing the importance of its strategy to expand into Asia. READ MORE
A Climate Vision for Russia: From Rhetoric to Action
Regardless of many benefits available to Russia from adopting a more practical approach to climate mitigation, the country remains on the outskirts of the international climate policy debate—an important element of foreign policy in this decade. Russian leaders tend to point to the post-Soviet decline of Russia’s greenhouse gas emissions as a major contribution to global climate mitigation efforts. Yet, because the country’s carbon intensity remains very high, that stance undermines Russia’s role as a serious global climate actor. READ MORE
Absolutely different phenomenon
At the dawn of Kazakhstan’s independence only few Europeans could show this country on a map - the exotic country as it seemed to everyone at that time. Today, the republic has received wide acclaim. Along with it – all that is attached to fame, including black PR of detractors. READ MORE
Escaped Oligarch Lost the Opposition Game
Off-system opposition of Kazakhstan has suffered crushing fiasco. This is underlined by the refusal of definite lobbying forces of West to support the main opposer of the country Mukhtar Ablyazov. READ MORE
Teare J refuses to recuse himself from Ablyazov case
Addleshaw Goddard has failed in its bid to have Mr Justice Teare recuse himself from a $6bn dispute between Kazakh billionaire Mukhtar Ablyazov and JSC BTA Bank. READ MORE
