Joshua Kucera

EurasiaNet - Two US Congressmen Seek to Nominate Kazakhstan's President for Nobel Peace Prize

I have a new story on EurasiaNet today:

Kazakhstan’s poor record on human rights would seem to hinder Nazarbayev’s chances of actually becoming a Nobel laureate. Nazarbayev’s administration does not allow serious opposition parties or independent media, and in 2007 engineered changes to Kazakhstan’s constitution that would allow him to remain president for life. The most recent State Department human rights report cited "severe limits on citizens’ rights to change their government; military hazing that led to deaths; detainee and prisoner abuse; unhealthy prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of an independent judiciary; [and] restrictions on freedom of speech, the press, assembly, and association," among other problems.
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But Issa and Melancon’s nomination letter focuses exclusively on Nazarbayev’s decision to give up nuclear weapons, said Frederick Hill, a spokesman for Issa. "This is not a lifetime achievement award," he said. "This is not intended to gloss over the problems that exist in Kazakhstan in terms of backsliding on democracy and the human rights record. But when they do something significant in the area of nonproliferation, it’s important that we recognize that."
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Issa and Melancon would seem unlikely leaders of the nomination effort. Neither representative sits on any committee dealing directly with Kazakhstan or nuclear anti-proliferation (although Melancon is on the Energy and Commerce Committee). Both do, however, have a history of promoting commercial ties between their districts and Kazakhstan.

Issa has traveled twice to Kazakhstan and has pushed for trade between the United States and Kazakhstan. "Kazakhstan is an emerging market and I would like to see the US presence in their marketplace grow with their economy," Issa said in a 2005 press release announcing a "US-Kazakhstan Business Opportunity Conference" in his home district of San Diego.

Melancon also has traveled to Kazakhstan and advocated for Louisiana’s petroleum industries in Kazakhstan. "The Melancon Initiative focuses on opening the door for Louisiana oil and gas companies to help develop Kazakhstan’s energy infrastructure and fully realize its potential as a major supplier of oil to the world," reads one press release on Melancon’s website.

Read the whole thing here.

Soldiers of Reason

I have a book review published today in the San Francisco Chronicle on "Soldiers of Reason," a history of the RAND Corporation. The gist:

The Soviet newspaper Pravda called the Rand think tank the "academy of science and death." Conspiracy theorists see it as the shadowy behind-the-scenes brains responsible for nefarious U.S. government plots.

Reading "Soldiers of Reason: The RAND Corporation and the Rise of the American Empire," it's not hard to understand why the conspiracy theories developed. Rand gave author Alex Abella (a mystery novelist) unprecedented access to its archives, and sure enough, Rand played a central role in some of the most secret, high-stakes military strategy during the height of the Cold War.

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Yes, Rand still does research and writes reports on hot topics, but so do dozens of other think tanks. Rand, in a sense, is a victim of its own success, as competitors have sprung up to compete with it, and today it is "just another outfit running after contracts," as Perle puts it. Kudos to Abella for including that comment - but Perle is right, and Rand's glory days are long past.

Read the whole thing here.

Meet the World's Worst Spies

The fourth installment of my Slate series, from Nakhcivan, is out. Read it here.

Azerbaijan Dabbles in Fundamentalist Islam

The third installment of the Slate series is up, see it here.

How to Build a Personality Cult

The second installment of this week's Slate series is out, on the cult of personality in Azerbaijan. See it here.

Travels in the Former USSR - Slate.com

I have another series on Slate.com this week, this one dealing with the Caucasus and Central Asia. The first one is up; it's on South Ossetia. Then there will be a new one every day for the rest of the week. The next three are on Azerbaijan -- on nationalism and the cult of personality, Islam and the police state -- and then final one will be on Uzbekistan's beleaguered dissident community. As usual, they're accompanied by photos. So check them out.