#213: Posner

Vladimir Posner was in Bishkek and I was able to attend two of his events using my alumni network at AUCA. He was invited by the president of AUCA (to the left of VP in the picture. Photo courtesy of murzakimov) as a guest lecturer.

I was interested in listening to a person who was born in France, grew up in the U.S., worked for the propaganda machine of the Soviet Union, and had lost faith in the Communist Part. He admires the U.S., loves Europe, and, it seems, still has hopes for Russia. This is a synopsis of what he said (not verbatim):

• The Soviet Union was an artificial formation and was doomed for failure.
• Yeltsin is a more pleasant person than Putin, although the latter has his own merits.
• Yeltsin did not appoint Putin in 1999. He was removed by the oligarchs, who then thought that Putin would a weak politician and could be manipulated. They were a bit wrong.
• Putin did tighten the screws in Russia. All the major media is controlled by the government, directly or indirectly.
• Putin did a major thing: he resigned although he had the tools (Duma, referendum, public approval) to stay for the third term.
  
• There will be some liberalization in Russia under Medvedev, who will stay for 2 full terms.
  
• Medvedev is different from Putin, not completely, but in some ways.
• When launching his program Vremena (Times) seven years ago he was politely asked not let 3 people on air for political reasons.
• There was big disagreement with Dariga Nazarbaeva over one issue and told her that he will never come to Kazakhstan.
• China is dangerous

#199: Naryn

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Naryn. This one was taken as you come down the Dolon Pass on the way to Naryn. There was still a lot of snow in Naryn in April.
The road between Bishkek and Naryn connects Kyrgyzstan to China, which has been exporting tons goods (food, clothes, electronics, etc.) to Kyrgyzstan. This one is one smaller trucks. They also have bigger trailer trucks.
China imports scrap metal from Kyrgyzstan, although some are saying they are looking for sources in neighboring Uzbekistan because there is not much scrap metal left in Kyrgyzstan. This is a picture of a crash scene with a broken trailer and all the scrap metal laying on the road.

#153: Trading With China

According to the official Chinese statistics, the trade turnover between Kyrgyzstan and China is around $1 billion, while our government puts it at $289 million. The Kyrgyz government met with their counterparts from Xinjiang (China's western province) to discuss the trade issues.

Where is $711 million? Corruption resulting from poor accountability and lack of transparency is the cause. This striking difference ends up in the pockets of traders, who lower the actual amount of goods being imported from China in order to avoid paying the tariffs, and of customs officials, who agree to register for a kickback. As a result, it is rumored that positions of customs officials on a border post cost from $5000 to $20000.

You can read more about trade between China and Kyrgyzstan here.

#125: China

120 reports ago I wrote about an increasing interest in China and the Chinese language. Last week NA, my younger brother, left to Guangzhou, China. He will be there for at least a year at a language school. I know at least half a dozen Kyrgyz students there now.

By the way, NA tells me that all blogging servers, Blogger, LiveJournal, WordPress, etc. are blocked in China. Plus, it takes 100 times longer to open a web server located in Kyrgyzstan (.kg). I am now sending him news from Kyrgyzstan and copies of this blog by e-mail.