Communist Tax Lawyer

The Associated Press
Friday, February 19, 2010; 6:46 AM

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — Turkmenistan is set to allow the creation of a second political party this year, breaking up the one-party system that has been in place since the Central Asian nation gained independence, state media reported Friday.

The only political force registered in the ex-Soviet nation is the pro-government Democratic Party of Turkmenistan, which is closely modeled on the Communist Party.

“If anyone wishes to propose creating a new political party, we can register one this year, as stipulated by the Constitution,” President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov said at a government meeting Thursday. The constitution that was adopted in 1992 allows for the formation of political parties. Read the rest of this entry »

To further expand their uranium supply, state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) Overseas Uranium Holding Ltd. has come to a purchase agreement with Canada’s Khan Resources worth US$53 million.

Khan Resources is a uranium development company based in Mongolia, with their subsidiary Central Asian Uranium Company Ltd. (CAUC) primarily focused on the Dornod province in the country’s northeast. Read the rest of this entry »

The final piece of the puzzle, Kazakhstan has agreed to an overland transit deal that would grant NATO a more reliable supply route to Afghanistan than is currently being provided through Pakistan.

Ukraine, Russia, and Uzbekistan had already agreed to similar terms, but the northern supply line was impossible without the approval of the largest Central Asian country.

“This allows supplies for our forces to start moving from Europe to Afghanistan, beginning in the coming days, complimenting the very important transit route through Pakistan,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

The agreement is contingent on only non-lethal supplies passing through the area, but nevertheless, is of huge importance to NATO’s Afghanistan campaign as the Pakistan supply route through the Khyber Pass remains under frequent Taliban attacks.

Update: (New York Times) Militants Strike Convoy with NATO Supplies in Karachi

Armenian President Serzh Sarksyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev have reportedly come to an agreement on some basic principles regarding the Nagorno-Karabakh dispute that has been going on for almost 20 years.

While meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev at a ski resort near Sochi on Monday, the two leaders reached an understanding on the preamble to a new and improved version of the 2007 Madrid document, which outlined a step-by-step resolution to the conflict. Read the rest of this entry »

In Mongolia, where no coins are used, the country’s national currency, the tugrik (or tögrög), has slowly been making a comeback due to massive deflation and significant revaluation against the U.S. dollar.

As such, the humble 1 tugrik banknote – the smallest currency denomination in Mongolia, worth roughly US$0.0007 – has re-entered the daily lives of Mongolia’s citizens after being virtually unusable in recent years.

In addition, an end to the impasse between the Mongolian government and the worlds mining corporations looms on the horizon, which would likely ensure that the country comes out of the recession in better shape than it went in. Read the rest of this entry »

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences have shortlisted nine foreign films, out of 65 contenders, for the prestigious Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards which will take place March 7, 2010 at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, California.

Although the nine will be whittled down to just five final nominees by February 2, among the nine shortlisted include Bulgaria’s, “The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner,” and Kazakhstan’s, “Kelin.”

If both films make the final cut, it would be the first Oscar nomination for a Bulgarian film and the second for Kazakhstan, after the country’s 2007 film, “Mogul.”

Here is the list of the final nine:

Argentina – “El Secreto de Sus Ojos”
Australia – “Samson & Delilah”
Bulgaria – “The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner”
France – “Un Prophète”
Germany – “The White Ribbon”
Israel – “Ajami”
Kazakhstan – “Kelin”
The Netherlands – “Winter in Wartime”
Peru – “The Milk of Sorrow”

Less than four years after the death of Turkmenistan’s eccentric and repressive ruler Saparmurat Niyazov, President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has ordered the removal of the Arch of Neutrality from the country’s capital at Ashgabat.

The 246-foot white tiled tripod tower was built by Niyazov to glorify himself during his rule and is topped with a rotating golden statue of himself which rotates so as to constantly face the sun.

The decision to move the statue outside of the city and rename it suggests that Turkmens may be trying to forget the isolated and repressive years under Niyazov and his authoritarian rule.

The late leader was famously narcissistic and had airports, cities, streets, months, periodicals, publications, and even a meteor named after himself and his family.

His portraits were hung outside public buildings and his name was included in the country’s patriotic oath which had to be published in every newspaper and recited at the end of every news program.

Niyazov also renamed himself the Great Turkmenbashi, meaning the “Father of All Turkmen,” and wrote a two volume spiritual guide that was made mandatory reading.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) met last week in Moscow to discuss the possibility of increasing the coalition’s collaboration on military training to combat terrorism, extremism, and separatism.

Although the organization – made up of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan – has maintained that it is not a political/military alliance, it seems that they have been moving towards that direction since Russia took the SCO presidency in August 2008.

As part of the SCO’s “Peace Mission 2010,” military exercises will be conducted in Kazakhstan with the bulk of the armed forces participating in the drills hailing from Russia and China.

“Specific anti-terrorism activities will be practiced at drills in Kazakhstan. All previous and upcoming military exercises involving SCO countries are of a counter-terrorist nature,” said Russia’s Defense Minister Anatoliy Serdyukov.

China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and Kazakhstan’s state oil company Kazmunaigas have agreed to jointly purchase Kazakh oil company JSC Mangistaumunaigas (MMG) for US$3.3 billion.

This news comes following a US$5 billion loan-for-oil agreement between Chinese and Kazakh officials earlier this month.

“The transaction is an important step to develop long-term strategic partnership between China and Kazakhstan. It also helps our overseas expansion,” CNPC said in a statement on their website.

The purchase of MMG includes two oil and gas fields and the licenses to explore and develop 15 others in Kazakhstan and the Caspian region. It also includes all other oil and natural gas assets.

MMG’s crude oil output in 2008 was 40 million barrels and it had 41.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves, according to China Daily.

The World Health Organization has issued a report stating that the spread of multi-drug resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has reached “epidemic” proportions in many ex-Soviet nations and is now widespread in many provinces in China. Data collected during 2002-2007 showed that one in nine patients of the approximately nine million new cases of TB each year failed to respond to at least one anti-TB drug.

Cases of MDR-TB reached between 9%- 22% of all TB infections in ex-Soviet states, while nearly 20% of all cases in Eastern Europe were drug resistant. In countries such as the UK, France, New Zealand the rate is 1% or lower. Cases recorded in China are believed to show an average of 15% all TB infections being MRD-TB.