$22 billion in Kazakh oil fund assets frozen

[Rodent + 1,424]

Speaking of corruption.... Kazakhstan's oil fund to the tune of $22 billion has just been frozen on grounds of corruption as a Moldovan investor allegedly was pushed out of his oil and gas investments by the Kazakhstan government.  

[Meanwhile + 49]

and they got offended with Borat's portraying the country

[Seleskya + 50]

This is an interesting case, and I'm inclined to suspect there was something to Kazakhstan's counter-charge of racketeering. I'm pretty surprised at the outcome of this, actually. I think it's pretty unprecedented to do this to a central bank / sovereign wealth fund. There must be more to it that we're hearing. 

[Kate Turlington + 44]

Probably a lot more to this, especially since Kazakhstan is one of the most important players in a new 'great game' in that it's a major energy player already heavily courting Russia and Iran and working to balance that out with some very hefty Chinese support. And their energy infrastructure plans are key to China's global dominance. Everyone forgets about Kazakhstan, but this is a critical juncture right now, and Nazarbayev is on his way out and he's very busy laying the groundwork for his successor and a new foreign policy strategy.