Smoke signals of political trouble for Kazakhstan's nascent
democracy rose over the offices of daily newspaper Respublika this
May after unknown assailants tossed Molotov cocktails through its
windows.
No-one was caught but few doubt what was behind the act of
vandalism: Respublika is one of Kazakhstan's more liberal papers
and had been outspoken in its criticism of the president and the
corruption rife in the country.
Kazakhstan is booming for the first time in its decade-long
history but the young republic's economic success is stoking a fire
under businessmen and politicians for political change.
"The presidential clan's grip on the country has grown to the
point where there is no independent economic activity and big
business was starting to bang its head against the ceiling," says
Martha Olcott, a senior analyst at the Carnegie Endowment and
author of Kazakhstan: Unfulfilled Promise. "These people need real
economic and political reform if they are...
