KAZAKHSTAN: MEDIA REACTION, APRIL 30 - May 6

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000828 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL ECON SOCI KDEM KPAO KMDR KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: MEDIA REACTION, APRIL 30 - May 6 ASTANA 00000828 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. SUMMARY: A draft law on Internet regulation, which passed the lower house of Parliament this week, drew a fusillade from opposition and independent media outlets who object to what they see as potential for overbearing government control over new media. Though the Internet law was the hot topic of the week, weeklies "Megapolis" and "Delovaya Nedelya" also addressed the H1N1 virus scare and the regional Aral Sea summit. Pro-government "Liter" took a long look at the situation around Bank Turan Alem (BTA),which is coming under international financial pressure. END SUMMARY. TEAR DOWN THIS WALL ¶2. Independent and opposition media banded together to attack the draft Internet regulation law that passed the lower house of Parliament earlier this week. According to those who oppose it, the law allows the government to close any web site that bears proscribed commentary, even if the comments in question are posted by an unidentified reader. In opposition, Russian-language "Respublika," human rights campaigner Yevgeniy Zhovtis drew an analogy between the proposed law and graffiti on a wall, saying that the owner of the wall could be held criminally liable. "Substitute mass media for this wall. If the authorities don't find who wrote the message, they just tear down this wall." ¶3. Independent, Russian-language "Vremya" published commentary by political observer Vadim Boreyko suggesting that if this draft law is adopted, "the Prosecutor General will first of all have to close Prime Minister Massimov's blog" since it contains accusations of corruption by many state officials. He also points out that Kazakhstan's e-Government Center of Excellence site had nude pictures posted on it by an unknown person, and so would also have to be closed. He goes on to say, "But everyone in Kazakhstan understands that this law will not apply to the Prime Minister's blog. Kazakhstani justice is very selective. Even the statue of Themis in Almaty near the Kazakhstani Humanitarian Law University wears no blindfold." ¶4. "Vremya" also provided a forum for free press advocate Tamara Kaleyeva, who said that after the Prosecutor General blocks everything "harmful" from the Kazakhstani Internet, "the intellectual food of Kazakhstan will be tasteless." She said that Kazakhstani law has long defined criminal, civil, and administrative punishment for journalists, so "it is not a coincidence that Kazakhstani traditional mass media are so disciplined: they march in line, sing in chorus, and do not write what they actually think," a fate that she now believes awaits Kazakhstani bloggers. ¶5. Independent, Russian-language "Panorama" presented the other side of the story. A majority of parliamentarians supported the draft law on Internet regulation because they said they are tired of the flow of negative and often illegal information coming from the Internet. "Panorama" quotes Parliamentarian Mukhtar Tinikeyev, who emphasized that democracy should not be equated with permissiveness. "Read what people write in their (Internet) comments. It is hair-raising. They write those comments because they know they won't be punished," Tinikiyev said. WATER AGREEMENT EVAPORATES ¶6. Independent, Russian-language "Delovaya Nedelya" bemoaned the failure of Central Asian leaders at last week's Aral Sea summit in Almaty to solve "the region's main problem - the distribution of water resources." The summit turned out to be "disappointing, disillusioning, and demonstrated the absence of unity." The author believes that the regional water problem could unite the Central Asian states the way coal and steel united the nascent European Union. But "the Aral Sea summit showed once more that the leaders do not understand the fact that until the region can solve its internal problems, it will continue to be a battlefield for someone else's vanity - a set of pawns that can be sacrificed without serious consequences. The Almaty summit will enter history as a missed opportunity for Central Asian states to become the fingers of one strong and independent hand." ASTANA 00000828 002.2 OF 002 ¶7. Pro-government, Russian-language "Megapolis" agreed with "Delovaya Nedelya's" assessment, stating that despite the joint statement signed at the summit, "Many observers agree that Central Asian leaders were not satisfied with the results." The paper quoted the Director of the Development Institute of Kazakhstan, Magbat Spanov, who accused Central Asian states of "energy egoism" and speculated that conflicts over water resources will only grow and could "turn into military conflicts." FLU SEASON ¶8. "Delovaya Nedelya" reported on the outbreak of H1N1 influenza, or swine flu, and described the actions taken by U.S. President Obama and Russian Prime Minister Putin to prevent its spread. It stated that the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Serik Akhmetov, is "convinced that swine flu will not penetrate into Kazakhstan" due to government vigilance. The author said that "in the opinion of scientists, the current developments in Mexico reminds one of a similar situation in Mexico in 1918 which led to global epidemics of Spanish influenza and 20 million deaths." Among anti-flu measures taken by different countries, the author mentioned that "Russia and China have stopped meat imports from the United States and Mexico. WHO experts, however, say that such measures are not necessary since it is impossible to become infected from eating meat." ¶9. "Megapolis" pointed out that the United States wants to change the name of "swine flu" to "H1N1" because it "is concerned that because of the name of the virus, many countries have banned American pork from their markets. Now, American authorities are trying to convince the world that pork and swine flu are not connected. 'It is necessary to explain to people that the consumption of pork does not cause the virus,' U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said. Veterinarians agree with Vilsack, saying that swine flu is not the proper name for this virus that can originate not only among pigs but also birds and humans." BTA STRESS TEST ¶10. Pro-government, Russian-language "Liter" published two analysis articles on the financial troubles of Kazakhstan's largest bank, Bank Turan Alem (BTA). In the first, the author sees BTA and the government that nationalized the bank as losers in an "information war." The author pointed out that the ousted head of BTA, Mukhtar Ablyazov, "fueled the flames by announcing himself to be a victim of political repression." The article states, "Today, the foreign press believes his provocative statements more than it believes the bank's rare and short statements. With so little information coming from bank officials, it is impossible for someone in London or New York to build an objective opinion about what is going on around the bank." The author surmised that this information war failure led to Western creditors calling in BTA's loans. ¶11. In a second article, "Liter" explained to its readers that "all of the financial resources given to BTA were insured by special financial instruments called credit default swaps that insure corporations and banks receive a payoff in case of default. When Morgan Stanley requested that BTA pay off its loan, BTA was unable to do it and thus was declared in partial default. Many foreign experts agreed that Morgan Stanley is provoking BTA's default in order to cash in on credit default swaps. BTA's default will change the American bank from a loser into a winner." The author noted that the "excessive" use of credit default swaps helped bring on the financial crisis, and concluded, "However, instead of fighting the crisis honestly by rejecting the old rules and letting everyone responsible for issuing credit default swaps go bankrupt, the U.S government made a dishonest decision to legalize this financial disease." MILAS