KAZAKHSTAN….

What do you give the man who has everything? By a vote of 59-5-3 in the Majlis (lower house) and 36-0-1 in the Senate, parliament gave President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who turns 60 on July 6, a guarantee that he can keep it. Parliament approved a constitutional amendment that gives Nazarbaev lifetime political rights: the right to address the country, to sit on the Security Council and the Constitutional Council, to attend and address cabinet meetings and sessions of parliament, and to issue “policy initiatives.” And also lifetime legal privileges: pensions for himself and members of his family and immunity from liability that extends to his dwellings, offices, papers, documents, communications, and possessions for anything he does as president, except “high treason.” Happy birthday, Mr. President!