Hillary Clinton is heading to Astana for the OSCE Summit, and is supposed to attend a civil society event, which will evidently help "send the message" that the independent sector needs to be strengthened in Kazakhstan. It's also a level below the president -- and that's a good thing. I think it would definitely be the wrong idea for President Obama to show up at this coerced affair and have to be photographed with the Dictators' Club -- Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the other Central Asian despots.
I've been meeting to write a longer post about this summit -- but it's so...demotivating...to contemplate it that I keep putting it off.
Of course, Wikileaks is the talk of the town and I went over to the Wikidump to see what they had from Astana.
No one seems to have blogged yet about this cable and another that reveals the lavish lifestyles of these partying former Party types -- and just how capricious and autocratic they are (like that was a secret?!)
Prime Minister Masimov is spotted dancing solo in a club to 1:00 am, and Defense Minister Akhmetov, known to hit the bottle, is reported "eyes-on" (witnessed) showing up drunk to a meeting with a U.S. defense attache and admitting he was toasting some cadets at a graduation.
Gas big-wig Idenov is portrayed barking into his cell phone ordering around a British Gas country director and drinking Coke instead of vodka.
There are lots of horses, and plov, too. And lamb. Lamb that is "well done, never rare...this is Astana, not London!"
Then there's that time they flew in Elton John and paid him a reported million pounds to sing for the leaders.
But we knew that already, didn't we?
These cables have an XXXXX protect over the name of the president's wife's friend and some other words that appear not to be just source names-- and that is yet another indication of how certain cables were redacted by the Wikileakers, apparently in compliance with U.S. State Department requests, although supposedly they weren't going to heed them.
Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, currently the chair-in-office of OSCE, is featured in the cable, but with nothing more sinister than hosting a co-del -- whose names we don't get, but using the date and other clues, probably somebody could come up with it -- but it's likely already known.
There's also a story of expulsion of Chevron execs from a meeting by KazMunaiGas First Vice President Maskat Idenov over what sounds like merely a fit of capricious temper because the exec (Hollingsworth) couldn't find a cell number fast enough but is really about some power play -- "the ascendant Idenov appears determined to show the international majors that they need to deal with him."
Apparently it wasn't the first time that U.S. oil majors got chucked out of a meeting -- and this is, of course, the same rudeness and crassness we saw on display at OSCE in Warsaw and other venues by our lovely chair-in-office team.
In another cable written (or at least classified/signed by Amb. Richard Hoagland), we get a snapshot of the intellectually-intriguing and information-packed diplomatic life that the Wikileaks *can only envy* because the cables just don't do the actual experience justice -- and it can never be taken away from our foreign service officers:
On June 5, Chinese Ambassador Cheng Guoping hosted the Ambassador for dinner at the restaurant on the 23rd floor of a striking new hotel built in Astana and owned by the Chinese National Petroleum Company. During a fascinating, wide-ranging, three-hour tour d’horizon, the Chinese Ambassador discussed his government’s policy -- and occasionally made personal comments -- on human rights, smart power, President Obama, Afghanistan’s reconstruction, Russia’s policy in Central Asia, Georgian President Saakashvili, Iran’s upcoming presidential elections, North Korea’s nuclear tests, Central Asia’s energy resources, the Manas air base, and the proposed international nuclear fuel bank. The Chinese Ambassador clearly enjoyed the free and easy, open-ended conversation and invited the Ambassador to meet again, at the restaurant, in the near future. Guoping was joined by an unidentified policy advisor and an interpreter, to whom he addressed his remarks in soft whispers throughout the evening.
And here's a pro-tip for human rights activists -- and the State Department officials who try to fend them off: the Chinese government EXPECTS you to raise human rights -- so raise them!
Guoping was relaxed, wearing short sleeves and no jacket, and clearly eager to engage and entertain his American guests. He began the evening by referring to the recent visit to Beijing of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Without openly acknowledging or discussing the twentieth anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square protests, Guoping said the government was prepared, and also fearful, for the Speaker to raise human rights and democracy issues during her visit. “She had the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) scared to death on the eve of her visit,” Guoping said, half-jokingly.
I wonder if Pelosi raised anything pertinent after all that.
Note the Chinese flattery -- Obama's Cairo speech, now being critiqued for going soft on democratic struggles, is praised for being exemplary of "smart power".
Here's an interesting tid-bit on the NDN as well -- yes, funny to think of China supporting NATO -- but Afghanistan is in Asia, and China should do more, and do it explicitly. I wonder where this stands now:
In particular, Guoping said that the Northern Distribution Network to transport non-lethal supplies to U.S. troops in Afghanistan has enabled many countries to participate in Afghanistan’s reconstruction. He said that the Chinese government is aware of the U.S. government’s request to transit non-lethal supplies via China and said “we are actively researching this suggestion. In essence, it would mean that the People’s Republic of China would be supporting a NATO military operation, which would be an interesting development.” Guoping confided that China’s MFA and its Ministry of Defense have different opinions on the subject, although he said he expected a decision soon. “My own personal opinion,” he said, “is that we will do the right thing and cooperate with NATO and the U.S. government in Afghanistan.” Guoping said this would be an appropriate issue to raise in the context of the President’s visit to Beijing in July.
Oh, but there's a price:
Guoping said that Russia is experiencing “severe difficulty” now because of the global financial crisis. He suggested that the government of Russia is eager to improve relations with the United States now because Moscow is concerned that the economic downturn will begin to affect the political stability of the country, “even the stability of the Kremlin.” Guoping said that Russia does not want or need any foreign policy problems right now; “they need to focus on their domestic, economic affairs.” Guoping also said that Russia would like more support from the United States for its insistence on a privileged sphere of influence in Central Asia, in exchange for greater cooperation in Afghanistan. “Russia is convinced that they must dominate Central Asia and the Caucasus. They believe they have vital, strategic, historical interests in the region,” Guoping said. When pressed by the Ambassador to express his own opinion, Guoping said, “I personally do not agree that Russia should be granted a special sphere of influence in the region, but that is their view.”
And here's one for the Sovietologists -- and Russophiles, as it blames the U.S. for Russia's invasion of Georgia instead of placing the blame for aggression prior to the invasion on Russia:
Guoping suggested that Secretary Rice’s July 2008 visit to Georgia before the war in August 2008, might have indirectly encouraged Saakashvili to take military action. He said his understanding was that Saakashvili briefed Secretary Rice on his plans to mobilize Georgian armed forces and when she did not directly object, Saakashvili mistook that as a sign of U.S. support.
Ah, but the life of the diplomat has its hazards:
The revolving restaurant provides a spectacular panorama of Astana, and the empty steppe beyond, but it seems to revolve at varying speeds and sometimes can be a bit too fast on a full stomach and after a few glasses of wine.
One's own stomach may be turning now at how much sucking up our government has done to Kazakhstan.
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