Archive for July, 2010
Kazakhstan Landmarks That You Can’t Miss
Posted by alibabarika in Articles on July 22, 2010
Kazakhstan is a country located right in the heart of Eurasia. It’s kind of sandwiched between the two world powers as Russia and China. It also borders three other “Stans” of Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and moreover shares a common soviet “Russian” history with them.
It’s size by area makes Kazakhstan the ninth largest country in the world and therefore it naturally is the ideal hub for diverse landscape that starts as lowlands in the west (130 meters or about 430 ft below sea level) and ends by a 7 000 meters (approx. 23000 ft) peak in the south east, called Khan Tengri.
International Adoption – The Plight of Kyrgyzstan
Posted by alibabarika in Articles on July 22, 2010
Kyrgyzstan, once a major participant of the international adoption field, is now mentioned with nothing but contempt and spurn. The story of the 65 children awaiting their families has made it to the front pages of adoption blogs, became a heated topic of discussion within many chatrooms, reached several written publications, and is now a major concern for the US Department of State, Office of Children’s Issues. There is, however, a great hope that the current situation will be resolved speedily and efficiently, and that these, and many other children, will soon be with their forever families.
Going back to the moment when China released its new adoption regulations and provisions, effectively making their adoption process cumbersome and unreliable at best, Kyrgyzstan, along with other Asian countries, stepped up to fill the void created by China’s decision. A neighboring country, Kyrgyzstan, both geographically and ethnically closer to China than Russia, another major partaker in the field of international adoption, appealed to the american parents with its transparent and straight forward process, reasonable associated fees, and a general reliability of the program. For some time Kyrgyzstan was a viable alternative, and soon became a primary program that parents asked about and considered, many naming Kyrgyzstan as the only option considered. Things, however, rapidly declined at the end of 2008.
Investing in Kazakhstan’s Uranium
Posted by alibabarika in Articles on July 22, 2010
StockInterview: What makes you respect the Kazakhs with regards to ISL mining in their country?
Fletcher Newton: First of all, they have a tremendous amount of experience with this. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have been doing ISL mining of uranium longer than anybody in the world. The Kazakhs, in particular KazAtomProm, have over the last 30 years, maybe more, developed an incredible amount of expertise in how to recover uranium effectively, inexpensively. They are extremely environmentally sensitive. Kazakhstan, to my knowledge, has had none of the environmental issues with ISL recovery of uranium that, for example, we’ve had in this country. They have gone to great lengths to be sensitive to the interests of people in local communities, who are obviously always concerned about groundwater. But, the bottom line is they are extremely competent in their ability to mine uranium. They are among the very best, if not the best.
StockInterview: Why do you call them among the very best?
Backpacking Information on Kyrgyzstan
Posted by alibabarika in Articles on July 22, 2010
KYRGYZSTAN
Population: 5.3 million (UN, 2005)
Capital: Bishkek
Area: 199,900 sq km (77,182 sq miles)
Major languages: Kyrgyz, Russian
Major religions: Islam, Christianity
Life expectancy: 63 years (men), 71 years (women) (UN)
Monetary unit: 1 som = 100 tyiyns
The barren, hot, and impoverished fields of the Kyrgyz Republic used to be a sleepy back border of the Soviet Union. Now, it is the best kept secret for travellers and tourism. Kyrgyzstan has become a vivacious nation that is no longer defined by dominating powers, having proven this recently by temporarily ousting its president and the entailing capitalist government. National tourist promotions state Kyrgyzstan as meaning “40 towns”, but locals recommend it to be not so. Kyrgyzstan from the sound of its name elicits an impression of a strange and mysterious place unknown to the world for the most part, but the name which actually means in Kyrgyz “immortal” or “indestructible” suggests an interesting culture that would name its nation such. Kyrgyzstan has the most liberal tourist visa policies in Central Asia and an economy to match Kazakhstan’s prowess.