Untimely Setbacks

At a time when he is looking to court Western support for his bid to chair the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2009, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has not helped his cause. First, the long-standing leader surprisingly lashed out against Western lecturing on advancing democracy in his country. Then, the country received criticism from the OSCE for a lack of tolerance for minority religious groups, after Hare Krishna followers claimed their village was partly destroyed by the authorities. The OSCE must reach a consensus decision on the Kazakh bid before the end of 2006, and the latest

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