This is the French Vista Debating Society.

I'm John Bats with Professor H. A. McHenner,

International Relations, who has a note about a capital that is not a world power,

not even a middle power, but its resource rich and it borders the former Soviet Union

now, the Russian Federation, called Kazakhstan.

It stretches from the Caspian Sea all the way to the gates of China, Xinjiang.

It is very small population with a large land mass.

The capital is now Nursalton, sometimes called Astana.

I visited in 2003 simultaneously with the Iraq invasion.

What I found was a country that was just shaking off the operatiques of the Soviet Union

and aware that its oil wealth along with its natural resources was going to make everybody

an authority rich.

All these years later, that's what's happened.

Professor, what is the point of view of Kazakhstan?

Well, this is a bit of an enigma.

However, I think it is fair to say that since 2019, when Nursalton, Nazarbayev, who the

capital is named after, resigned and Mr. Tukayev took over.

There has been some improvement.

Tukayev says that he's putting in a democratic constitution that already had the first-stage

elections.

The people who watch these things, such as Freedom House, say that it is still an authoritarian

country.

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