Letters

摘要

Far from being a "showman", Nursultan Nazarbayev, the departing president of Kazakhstan, is a shrewd autocrat who has put his country on the map during his 30-year rule ("A showman exits", March 23rd). As the World Bank's energy pointman in the country for 15 years, I witnessed a big contradiction in Mr Nazarbayev's policies: bold reform orientation in the economy (Kazakhstan's gdp per person is now on a par with Russia's) coupled with soft political dictatorship (earning a "not free" status in democracy from Freedom House).