Kazakhstan’s Almaty is the financial hub of central Asia, a region made up of the five “Stans” – former Soviet republics which became independent nations in 1991. Simpson’s office is in the former Kazakh parliament building, an imposing Stalinist neo-classical structure that was once the most important building in Central Asia. Almaty city officials have recently travelled to urban forums and consultation meetings in Bangkok, Singapore, Seoul, Berlin and Ljubljana. The city centre is largely bereft of people, save the armies of cleaners who move methodically through the wide avenues pruning the bushes and watering the grass. The paranoid Turkmen authorities are torn between conflicting impulses to show off and to hide their capital city.

Source: The Guardian October 16, 2017 06:22 UTC