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