Kazakhstan

[HRIP7]

It seems the news articles may actually have underreported the value of Blair's consulting contract: according to the Sunday Times, Blair doubled its value a few months ago.

TONY BLAIR has negotiated a new advisory contract with Kazakhstan that will increase the total fee for working with the regime to £16m. Critics accuse the former prime minister of “whitewashing” the image and human rights record of a dictator.

Blair, who has advised the regime on judicial, economic and political reform over the past year, is expected to finalise the deal within the next few weeks.

[HRIP7]

WikiBilim displays banner advertising featuring the WikiBilim logo on all pages of the Kazakh Wikipedia (even talk pages and history pages).

How appropriate is that, given that WikiBilim is government-funded and, according to Rauan's own statement, engages in a number of activities that have nothing to do with Wikipedia?

[HRIP7]

The Daily Dot: Wikipedia's odd relationship with the Kazakh dictatorship

Some of Wikipedia's harshest critics have dug up an embarrassing bit of Wikipedia history in recent days. Most notable: The site's first-ever Wikipedian of the Year is a former paid propaganda flack for the authoritarian Kazakh government, known for its iron control over free media and awful human-rights record.

[SB_Johnny]

WikiBilim displays banner advertising feauring the WikiBilim logo on all pages of the Kazakh Wikipedia (even talk pages and history pages).

How appropriate is that, given that WikiBilim is government-funded and, according to Rauan's own statement, engages in a number of activities that have nothing to do with Wikipedia?

If you scroll down a little on the main page there is also a section with the wikibilim logo, and including the Roman-script word "Nokia" (which also happens to be the only word I can read). Presumably this means the "prizes" are being offered on the main page.

[HRIP7]

The Daily Dot article adds some useful detail as to Rauan's history in government employment:

Rauan Kenzhekhanuly is a Kazakh government man through and through. The former first secretary at the country's Russian embassy also served as Moscow Bureau chief for the National TV Agency, a government propaganda arm launched by the daughter of Kazakh's all-powerful president-cum-dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Now Kenzhekhanuly runs WikiBilim, an organization devoted to ballooning the size of the Kazakh language Wikipedia. But while WikiBlim may be a non-profit, it's also backed financially by the state's sovereign oil wealth fund, which is run by none other than the President Nazarbayev's son-in-law.

[HRIP7]

Hindustan Times: Wiki co-founder gags critic

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has reportedly banned a critic from his page on the website for raising his friendship with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and support of work funded by the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

[Vigilant]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =529661543

Exactly what I found.

Here's my take.
Jimbo gets introduced to Blair through some pillow talk.
Sees that Tony's got a sweet gig with the Kazakh govt.
Wants some of that. He hasn't been able to dip his beak at WMF since they took his CC for whoring in Russia.
Gets glad handed through the PR circuit by the smiler with a promise of future funding.
Ignores the OBVIOUS COI to try to make some sweet lucre.

Here's the sad part: He doesn't realize he's getting played by Blair and Co because Jimmy is a stupid and shallow man.
Not thoughtful and nuanced, regardless of what Tony just told him.

What did you get Jimmy?
Tony got: a paying client, a big PR win, a doubling of his contract size.
Kazakhstan govt got: Wikipedian of the year, open presses (cough) press, international recognition.
Jimmy got: a seriously pissed off communitah, a metric shit ton of articles they can't read nor validate, all the negative press.

Jimmy,
Give it up. You are not smart enough to not get fucked by these international political sharks.

If anybody ever needed a PR minder, it's Jimmy Wales.
No PR flack would ever let him take an unscheduled meeting, give a non scripted speech or take questions from an online forum.
Jimmy just is not smart enough to do those things well.

[Cla68]

The Daily Dot article adds some useful detail as to Rauan's history in government employment:

Rauan Kenzhekhanuly is a Kazakh government man through and through. The former first secretary at the country's Russian embassy also served as Moscow Bureau chief for the National TV Agency, a government propaganda arm launched by the daughter of Kazakh's all-powerful president-cum-dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Now Kenzhekhanuly runs WikiBilim, an organization devoted to ballooning the size of the Kazakh language Wikipedia. But while WikiBlim may be a non-profit, it's also backed financially by the state's sovereign oil wealth fund, which is run by none other than the President Nazarbayev's son-in-law.

The Daily Dot article also introduces Wikipediocracy. Two more mentions in reliable sources and I'll start a Wikipediocracy article in Wikipedia.

[Cedric]

Here's my take.
Jimbo gets introduced to Blair through some pillow talk.
Sees that Tony's got a sweet gig with the Kazakh govt.
Wants some of that. He hasn't been able to dip his beak at WMF since they took his CC for whoring in Russia.
Gets glad handed through the PR circuit by the smiler with a promise of future funding.
Ignores the OBVIOUS COI to try to make some sweet lucre.

Here's the sad part: He doesn't realize he's getting played by Blair and Co because Jimmy is a stupid and shallow man.
Not thoughtful and nuanced, regardless of what Tony just told him.

What did you get Jimmy?
Tony got: a paying client, a big PR win, a doubling of his contract size.
Kazakhstan govt got: Wikipedian of the year, open presses (cough) press, international recognition.
Jimmy got: a seriously pissed off communitah, a metric shit ton of articles they can't read nor validate, all the negative press.

Jimmy,
Give it up. You are not smart enough to not get fucked by these international political sharks.

Bullseye! Got it in one.

The Daily Dot article also introduces Wikipediocracy. Two more mentions in reliable sources and I'll start a Wikipediocracy article in Wikipedia.

Please don't do that.

[Cla68]

The Daily Dot article also introduces Wikipediocracy. Two more mentions in reliable sources and I'll start a Wikipediocracy article in Wikipedia.

Please don't do that.

We can discuss it more first elsewhere.

[thekohser]

If anybody ever needed a PR minder, it's Jimmy Wales.

Is not Kate Garvey a close enough PR minder to Jimbo? Maybe he doesn't listen to her advice.

The Daily Dot article also introduces Wikipediocracy. Two more mentions in reliable sources and I'll start a Wikipediocracy article in Wikipedia.

They can't be simply passing mentions. It has to be extensive coverage. (At least that's what the Wikipediots will say are the rules, even though they have no apparent problems with articles like Hardware Secrets (T-H-L) or Jhanki (T-H-L).)

[HRIP7]

Here's my take.
Jimbo gets introduced to Blair through some pillow talk.
Sees that Tony's got a sweet gig with the Kazakh govt.
Wants some of that. He hasn't been able to dip his beak at WMF since they took his CC for whoring in Russia.
Gets glad handed through the PR circuit by the smiler with a promise of future funding.
Ignores the OBVIOUS COI to try to make some sweet lucre.

Here's the sad part: He doesn't realize he's getting played by Blair and Co because Jimmy is a stupid and shallow man.
Not thoughtful and nuanced, regardless of what Tony just told him.

What did you get Jimmy?
Tony got: a paying client, a big PR win, a doubling of his contract size.
Kazakhstan govt got: Wikipedian of the year, open presses (cough) press, international recognition.
Jimmy got: a seriously pissed off communitah, a metric shit ton of articles they can't read nor validate, all the negative press.

Jimmy,
Give it up. You are not smart enough to not get fucked by these international political sharks.

Bullseye! Got it in one.

I wouldn't speculate like that. The only solid fact is that it is very odd for the Wikimedia Foundation to support, and hold up as a model, a career government official whose entire professional track record consists of working for a dictatorship with a very poor human rights and freedom of speech record ... and who even says openly that his effort is being financed by that dictatorship.

Indeed, according to the Kazpravda article, WikiBilim was "purpose-organized by Kazakhstani activists of Wikipedia at the initiative and for the money of Samruk-Kazyna."

Rauan has said the idea of working on Wikipedia occurred to him while he was at Harvard. (Note how that Wikimedia blog post downplays his government career.)

Kazpravda appears to flatly contradict him, saying the initiative came from Samruk-Kazyna. How can these statements be reconciled?

As for Jimbo's role in this, there are several possible explanations. The one thing I find unlikely is that the Blair connection would have had no effect whatsoever on Wales' decision-making. It is hard to believe that no one with a connection to Blair ever discussed Kazakhstan with him over the past five years. Blair has been cultivating his Kazakhstan contacts for many years: he did not just start last year.

[EricBarbour]

No one noticed the COI associated with an article called WikiBilim (T-H-L)?

Written almost entirely by three WikiBilim members: Sanzhar Kenzhekhan (T-C-L), Nurbek Matzhani (T-C-L),
and of course, predictably, someone called Rauank (T-C-L). (The same Rauank who posted that rant on Jimbo's talkpage, of course.)

[thekohser]

I had forwarded both my Examiner article and the Wikipediocracy blog post to various members of the tech media. Here was the response from Andrew Baron of Rocketboom:

I think you are crazy. Wikipedia is awesome and Jimmy Wales is very transparent and clearly for the good of the world.

End of story.

Baron continues to e-mail me, now that he's seen the wider global coverage of the story, but he seems even more of a stooge than before:

I read a bit about the naz leader.

My first question was why did Tony Blair agree to help him? Sure the money is good. But my first guess is because Nazarbayev needs help as he appears to be a disaster of the antiquated type.

So good, now that he is surrounding himself with smart folks like Wales and Blair, maybe it will help. He needs some good advice.

No wonder Rocketboom has been slipping and sliding into oblivion. And I note this on Wikipedia about Rocketboom:

In Fall of 2006, Rocketboom's popularity claims and self-published statistics came into question. In an interview with Dow Jones, Baron claimed "400,000 viewers per day" and that "some episodes are more popular and receive well over a million complete downloads." After extensive analysis[21] BusinessWeek reported that Rocketboom provided incorrect statistics data resulting in "cutting in half the original estimate... to 78,500 downloads" and noting that Rocketboom refused "to let any third party... verify these stats."[22]

I guess Internet liars feel the need to stick by each other. Compete.com estimates that Rocketboom had 747 unique visitors in the month of November 2012.

[The Devil's Advocate]

As for Jimbo's role in this, there are several possible explanations. The one thing I find unlikely is that the Blair connection would have had no effect whatsoever on Wales' decision-making. It is hard to believe that no one with a connection to Blair ever discussed Kazakhstan with him over the past five years. Blair has been cultivating his Kazakhstan contacts for many years: he did not just start last year.

He indicated that he the Open Society Institute were assisting them with their efforts in Kazakhstan. That is the link. Specifically, the Revenue Watch Institute, whose activities focus specifically on resource-rich countries such as Kazakhstan, has long been supported by Blair.

See page 15 of this document:

http://www.cmi.no/publications/file/424 ... -flows.pdf

These sources show some of the overlap in their actions in other countries:

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fa169b18 ... z2G87nw65N

http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_ ... 02804_text

Most likely he is just being unwittingly dragged into some broader campaign that aims to gain favor for the West over Russia or China in a resource-rich area. OSI has a long track record of such meddling so it is not unusual. Jimbo only pawn in game of life.

[Peter Damian]

Some interesting comments on Twitter https://twitter.com/search?q=%23jimmywales

[thekohser]

Some interesting comments on Twitter https://twitter.com/search?q=%23jimmywales

Twitter tweets accounted for nearly 40% of the approximately 200 referral-link-based hits on my Examiner article.

[dogbiscuit]

Some interesting comments on Twitter https://twitter.com/search?q=%23jimmywales

Twitter tweets accounted for nearly 40% of the approximately 200 referral-link-based hits on my Examiner article.

Jimbo deliberately ignoring bad tweets (he's learning) trying to tweet Wiki good news, no signs of traction.

What I did notice was Bill Thompson, one of those dull IT opinion column writers (used to be in the Independent I think) tweeting about donating to Wikipedia. I wonder if there is a tweet at him we could compose?

Perhaps we could have a little tweet campaign to be sent to anyone who tweets like that to point out that they are supporting Wiki-bureaucracy and propaganda for totalitarian states.

[HRIP7]

Greg's Examiner article got a shout-out in the Guardian's Technology blog.

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales denies Kazakhstan connection >> Examiner.com

Over the past 48 hours, something very strange and disturbing has been panning out on one of Wikipedia's most popular pages - the Talk page of the project's co-founder, Jimmy Wales. Accusations have been leveled about the Wikimedia Foundation (which Wales created), saying that the non-profit organization is working too closely with the government of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan's president has been the target of many worldwide criticisms for his authoritarian crackdowns on free speech in the former Soviet republic. The Kazakh government funds a new wiki-focused project in that country, called WikiBilim.

Wales sounded off on Friday:

"The Wikimedia Foundation has zero collaboration with the government of Kazakhstan."

And more.

[thekohser]

Greg's Examiner article got a shout-out in the Guardian's Technology blog.

Only led to 17 hits, though.

[thekohser]

Now in The Daily Mail (online at least). Did this make print?

And now it's gone from the Daily Mail website. Pressure from Jimbo? Or Blair? Or the Kazakh government?

Could one of our intrepid UK members try to find out what happened?

[dogbiscuit]

Now in The Daily Mail (online at least). Did this make print?

And now it's gone from the Daily Mail website. Pressure from Jimbo? Or Blair? Or the Kazakh government?

Could one of our intrepid UK members try to find out what happened?

Which becomes even more foolish because instead of being an obscure Wikipedia story, it becomes a tale of influential people muzzling the press who have fought so loudly under the recent Leveson Inquiry to be free.

[HRIP7]

Now in The Daily Mail (online at least). Did this make print?

And now it's gone from the Daily Mail website. Pressure from Jimbo? Or Blair? Or the Kazakh government?

Could one of our intrepid UK members try to find out what happened?

Oddly reminiscent of this Daily Mail article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... viser.html

By the way, Creative Commons describes WikiBilim as follows:

The public Foundation “Wikibilim” is the regional branch of Wikimedia foundation inc. in Kazakhstan and it is engaged in the development of the Kazakh language section of the Wikipedia.

[Vigilant]

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=w ... mail.co.uk

Several articles are gone.
The coverup is always worse than the crime.

[SB_Johnny]

On Jimmy's talk page:

I think it's important to learn from this episode. Tony Blair is my wife's former boss. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia and Kazakhstan. I've never talked to him about it. It has never even occurred to me to talk to him about it. Why was he brought into it? I would say two reasons: first, to create an insinuation that since Tony Blair has apparently been paid a lot of money to advise Kazakhstan, and since I know Tony Blair, maybe... corruption? Second, and this is the clever part, the knowledge that the newspapers in the UK are frequently irresponsible and inflammatory, and anything having to do with a potential scandal involving Tony Blair - even with zero evidence of any kind - is going to get in the papers. So, very clever and manipulative to have brought in that line of attack.
Anthonyhcole, if I understand what you're saying, I fear that you've fallen victim to the ploy. Perhaps the mention of Tony Blair was not meant to suggest that I was corrupt or involved in a conspiracy, but rather "naïve" - well, I may well be naïve, but the fact remains, Tony Blair has nothing to do with any of this.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:28, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

[lilburne]

On Jimmy's talk page:

I think it's important to learn from this episode. Tony Blair is my wife's former boss. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia and Kazakhstan. I've never talked to him about it. It has never even occurred to me to talk to him about it. Why was he brought into it? I would say two reasons: first, to create an insinuation that since Tony Blair has apparently been paid a lot of money to advise Kazakhstan, and since I know Tony Blair, maybe... corruption? Second, and this is the clever part, the knowledge that the newspapers in the UK are frequently irresponsible and inflammatory, and anything having to do with a potential scandal involving Tony Blair - even with zero evidence of any kind - is going to get in the papers. So, very clever and manipulative to have brought in that line of attack.
Anthonyhcole, if I understand what you're saying, I fear that you've fallen victim to the ploy. Perhaps the mention of Tony Blair was not meant to suggest that I was corrupt or involved in a conspiracy, but rather "naïve" - well, I may well be naïve, but the fact remains, Tony Blair has nothing to do with any of this.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:28, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Do you think he can get two more in before the cock crows.

[DanMurphy]

On Jimmy's talk page:

I think it's important to learn from this episode. Tony Blair is my wife's former boss. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia and Kazakhstan. I've never talked to him about it. It has never even occurred to me to talk to him about it. Why was he brought into it? I would say two reasons: first, to create an insinuation that since Tony Blair has apparently been paid a lot of money to advise Kazakhstan, and since I know Tony Blair, maybe... corruption? Second, and this is the clever part, the knowledge that the newspapers in the UK are frequently irresponsible and inflammatory, and anything having to do with a potential scandal involving Tony Blair - even with zero evidence of any kind - is going to get in the papers. So, very clever and manipulative to have brought in that line of attack.
Anthonyhcole, if I understand what you're saying, I fear that you've fallen victim to the ploy. Perhaps the mention of Tony Blair was not meant to suggest that I was corrupt or involved in a conspiracy, but rather "naïve" - well, I may well be naïve, but the fact remains, Tony Blair has nothing to do with any of this.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:28, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Do you think he can get two more in before the cock crows.

Q: But what about the thuggish Kazakh government's apparent financial control of the Kazakh Wikipedia?
Wales: How dare you suggest I'm involved in a corrupt deal with Tony Blair! That is nonsense.
Q: Mr. Wales -- does it trouble you that a country that routinely arrests and jails citizens for speaking their minds controls much of the contents of the Kazakh Wikipedia?
Wales: Again with the Tony Blair stuff again. Really, you conspiracy-minded haters sicken me. I am not in business with Tony Blair. Blair is completely irrelevant to all this.
Q: Mr. Wales -- given the political stand you've taken against SOPA and British plans to track online activity, is it hypocritical for Wikimedia to effectively be in partnership with one of the worst surveillance regimes on the planet?
Wales: Again with the Tony Blair. Stop lying about me and Tony Blair! You people aren't fooling anyone.
Q: Mr. Wales...
Wales: ... let me stop you right there. Tony Blair. Blair. Blair! Ok? So shut up already. Nothing to see here, move along!

[lilburne]

[lilburne]

Now in The Daily Mail (online at least). Did this make print?

And now it's gone from the Daily Mail website. Pressure from Jimbo? Or Blair? Or the Kazakh government?

Could one of our intrepid UK members try to find out what happened?

Caution the Mail article did seem to be a direct crib from the Telegraph one if memory serves me right.

EDIT: Yeah if you look at the google cache the two are identical.

[thekohser]

EDIT: Yeah if you look at the google cache the two are identical.

Could you provide some links? I do not recall the articles being "identical" at all.

[lilburne]

EDIT: Yeah if you look at the google cache the two are identical.

Could you provide some links? I do not recall the articles being "identical" at all.

Check this item 'Don't mention my friendship with Tony Blair'! Wikipedia founder ...
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=w ... mail.co.uk

with this from the telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/w ... dship.html

You'll need to peer at the google page preview for the mail as the cache is blown away.

First paragraph is the same:

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has banned a critic from his page on the website for raising his friendship with Tony Blair and support of work funded by the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

then the 2nd mail para is remarkable close to the telegraph 7th paragraph:

Mr Wales shut down the discussion on his Talk page, saying it had become “absurd”, when critics raised his friendship with Tony Blair, who is advising the Kazakh dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev, reportedly for $13 million. Mr Blair was a guest at Mr Wales’ wedding to his former diary secretary Kate Garvey in October, and the men have visited Richard Branson’s private island in the Caribbean.

[thekohser]

On Jimmy's talk page:

I think it's important to learn from this episode. Tony Blair is my wife's former boss. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia and Kazakhstan. I've never talked to him about it. It has never even occurred to me to talk to him about it. Why was he brought into it? I would say two reasons: first, to create an insinuation that since Tony Blair has apparently been paid a lot of money to advise Kazakhstan, and since I know Tony Blair, maybe... corruption? Second, and this is the clever part, the knowledge that the newspapers in the UK are frequently irresponsible and inflammatory, and anything having to do with a potential scandal involving Tony Blair - even with zero evidence of any kind - is going to get in the papers. So, very clever and manipulative to have brought in that line of attack.
Anthonyhcole, if I understand what you're saying, I fear that you've fallen victim to the ploy. Perhaps the mention of Tony Blair was not meant to suggest that I was corrupt or involved in a conspiracy, but rather "naïve" - well, I may well be naïve, but the fact remains, Tony Blair has nothing to do with any of this.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:28, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Because Jimmy Wales must be either the dumbest or the most devious person on Earth, I will have to spell this out for him, I guess.

(1) Firms that have helped Kazakhstan burnish its international profile, either presently or in the recent past, include Tony Blair Associates, BGR Gabara, Portland Communications, and Berlin-based Media Consulta. Astana’s recent PR push includes the placement of infomercials on global cable channels, including CNN International. And, using forensic investigative techniques, EurasiaNet.org also has uncovered evidence that suggests PR firms may have massaged Wikipedia entries in ways that cast the Kazakhstani government in a better light. (link)

(2) Alastair Campbell (who works for Portland, the PR agency mentioned above) was Tony Blair's "PR spin doctor". Campbell was seen in October 2011, returning from Astana, the Khazakh capital, where he admitted to doing some consultancy work and quoted as saying: ”but nothing like on the scale that Tony is doing”. The Portland firm has also been known to directly edit Wikipedia on behalf of clients.

(3) Jimmy Wales is married to Kate Garvey. Garvey is Tony Blair's former diary secretary. Blair and Campbell not only attended the Wales-Garvey wedding, but Campbell even played the bagpipes for them.

(4) Garvey is an executive at PR firm Freud Communications.

(5) Freud Communications staff have manipulated Wikipedia on behalf of clients.

(6) Jimmy Wales has engaged Wikipedia on behalf of interests beneficial to Freud Communications.

Perhaps someone could point out each of these elements of evidence to Jimbo on his Talk page, and then he can explain how they are not to be reasonably interpreted as a story line that links Tony Blair (and Jimmy Wales) to possible deliberate PR manipulation of Wikipedia on behalf of the Kazakhstan government.

[thekohser]

First paragraph is the same:

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has banned a critic from his page on the website for raising his friendship with Tony Blair and support of work funded by the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

It is not the same.

Telegraph:
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has banned a critic from his page on the website for raising his friendship with Tony Blair and support of work funded by the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

Daily Mail:
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has censored critics from his page on the website after they questioned his friendship with Tony Blair and work with the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

I agree that it is very close, but it is not "the same". Your point being that maybe The Telegraph objected to the article on ground of plagiarism? That is certainly possible -- but I hope someone can get to the bottom of it.

For posterity's sake, I've saved a screen shot of the Daily Mail article that is gone now.

[HRIP7]

First paragraph is the same:

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has banned a critic from his page on the website for raising his friendship with Tony Blair and support of work funded by the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

It is not the same.

Telegraph:
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has banned a critic from his page on the website for raising his friendship with Tony Blair and support of work funded by the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

Daily Mail:
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has censored critics from his page on the website after they questioned his friendship with Tony Blair and work with the authoritarian Kazakh regime.

I agree that it is very close, but it is not "the same". Your point being that maybe The Telegraph objected to the article on ground of plagiarism? That is certainly possible -- but I hope someone can get to the bottom of it.

For posterity's sake, I've saved a screen shot of the Daily Mail article that is gone now.

I thought they were sufficiently different: although it is clear that the Daily Mail basically just took the Telegraph story and ran with it. I think this level of close paraphrasing is commonplace. Be that as it may, just as the Daily Mail article has been spirited off the Daily Mail website, a Russian summary of it appears ...

[HRIP7]

On Jimmy's talk page:

I think it's important to learn from this episode. Tony Blair is my wife's former boss. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia. He has nothing to do with Wikipedia and Kazakhstan. I've never talked to him about it. It has never even occurred to me to talk to him about it. Why was he brought into it? I would say two reasons: first, to create an insinuation that since Tony Blair has apparently been paid a lot of money to advise Kazakhstan, and since I know Tony Blair, maybe... corruption? Second, and this is the clever part, the knowledge that the newspapers in the UK are frequently irresponsible and inflammatory, and anything having to do with a potential scandal involving Tony Blair - even with zero evidence of any kind - is going to get in the papers. So, very clever and manipulative to have brought in that line of attack.
Anthonyhcole, if I understand what you're saying, I fear that you've fallen victim to the ploy. Perhaps the mention of Tony Blair was not meant to suggest that I was corrupt or involved in a conspiracy, but rather "naïve" - well, I may well be naïve, but the fact remains, Tony Blair has nothing to do with any of this.--Jimbo Wales (talk) 11:28, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

Do you think he can get two more in before the cock crows.

Q: But what about the thuggish Kazakh government's apparent financial control of the Kazakh Wikipedia?
Wales: How dare you suggest I'm involved in a corrupt deal with Tony Blair! That is nonsense.
Q: Mr. Wales -- does it trouble you that a country that routinely arrests and jails citizens for speaking their minds controls much of the contents of the Kazakh Wikipedia?
Wales: Again with the Tony Blair stuff again. Really, you conspiracy-minded haters sicken me. I am not in business with Tony Blair. Blair is completely irrelevant to all this.
Q: Mr. Wales -- given the political stand you've taken against SOPA and British plans to track online activity, is it hypocritical for Wikimedia to effectively be in partnership with one of the worst surveillance regimes on the planet?
Wales: Again with the Tony Blair. Stop lying about me and Tony Blair! You people aren't fooling anyone.
Q: Mr. Wales...
Wales: ... let me stop you right there. Tony Blair. Blair. Blair! Ok? So shut up already. Nothing to see here, move along!

Bingo.

[lilburne]

I agree that it is very close, but it is not "the same". Your point being that maybe The Telegraph objected to the article on ground of plagiarism? That is certainly possible -- but I hope someone can get to the bottom of it.

For posterity's sake, I've saved a screen shot of the Daily Mail article that is gone now.

All I'll say is that The Telegraph article remains.

[HRIP7]

Eurasianet.org have an article out. Their assessment:

While a major goal of the project was to increase local-language online content, the result was content editors that created pages that closely conformed to “official” versions of events and biographies. Language barriers meant that government-issued history books and encyclopedias were often, de facto, the only sources available. Thus, many of the websites our students and volunteers created would reflect their only understanding of the world.

As Kazakh-language development is a major policy goal of the Kazakh government, Kenzhekhanuly must know how much favor his project curries with the government, just as similar projects sponsored by USAID, OSF, and Chevron have. Whatever the intentions of Kenzhekhanuly’s organization, or of Jimmy Wales’ cheerleading, the reality is that an authoritarian system, particularly one as well financed as oil-rich Kazakhstan’s, has thus far choked the idealist dreams of the crowd-sourced openness revolution. Without the freedom to express opinions openly in all fora, the online medium may remain a reflection of discussions in the rest of society, not an exception to them.

[DanMurphy]

This is a good point:

As Kazakh-language development is a major policy goal of the Kazakh government, Kenzhekhanuly must know how much favor his project curries with the government.

There is a big nationalist/political element to all of this beyond simply "Nazarbayev is teh awesome" propaganda. This looks like a reasonable press article on this from last year. Interestingly, Nazarbayev sounds like more of a Russian-speaker, but has been nosing around for ideas on how to coopt Kazakh language nationalism of late. An idea he's pushed on and off for years is "latinization" of Kazakh. He's apparently just revived it again:

Kazakhstan's president announced a raft of reforms for this energy-rich, authoritarian state Friday, ranging from having more direct local and regional elections to imposing the use of the Latin alphabet for the Kazakh language.

... In what may prove an especially controversial announcement, Nazarbayev said the Latin alphabet would be adopted for the Kazakh language by 2025 in place of the Russian-style Cyrillic alphabet currently in use.

"This will enable our children to better understand English, the Internet and it will reinforce our desire to modernize the Kazakh language," he said.

By the same year, 95 percent of Kazakhstan's citizens should have learned to speak in Kazakh, he said. Although Kazakh is the official state language, many people speak Russian instead.

The CIA world fact book estimates 10 million Kazakh speakers in the country out of a population of about 16.5 million. There look to be some very interesting journal articles on Kazakh linguistic nationalism, but they're paywalled.

[DanMurphy]

Adding: This is an easy read on the complex (and fascinating topic) of written kazakh, which has had three different systems in the past 100 years (so far).

... And let there be no doubt – nearly everything that it means to be a Kazakh in terms of Kazakh-specific national poetry, literature, heroic tales – was created and written in Cyrillic. The point is not that no one will transfer this body of literature, but that they have to do so in the first place. It will be expensive and time-consuming, meaning it will be selective. And even the best selection committee will leave too much out of the picture.

Two: the new Latin alphabets of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan are hardly identical. Vowels and those same problematic consonants are all over the place. But that isn’t really my idea of why this is likely a project with very serious consequences. Rather, the point of transferring the body of literature is much more expensive proposition if you have to do it 8 times instead of 1 time. Moreover, there is still a vast body of literature in Arabic script untouched, sitting in state and private collections across the former Soviet Union and Turkey. Some have the training necessary to read it, but the states involved seem to have limited interest in sharing these narratives, poems, histories, and religious works with the great-grandchildren of those that produced it. This, of course, ignores the fact that Kazakhs in China still use

[HRIP7]

Another piece by the same author: On Kazakh-language Wikipedia, Crowdsourcing Meets Crowd Mentality by MYLES G. SMITH on 12/27/2012

Over at EurasiaNet, I pointed to the heated discussion over Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales’ involvement with the Kazakh government on his user page. Heated, at least, until Wales closed off discussion on the topic of manipulation and bias in his freely-editable Wikipedia page in a curiously unironic rant:

I’m closing this discussion because it has reached the point of the absurd. I have responded to the last comments which were made, so participants and other interested parties can look at that. But I’m going to insist that this discussion, if re-opened, be premised on “Assume Good Faith”.

[DanMurphy]

Another piece by the same author: On Kazakh-language Wikipedia, Crowdsourcing Meets Crowd Mentality by MYLES G. SMITH on 12/27/2012

Over at EurasiaNet, I pointed to the heated discussion over Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales’ involvement with the Kazakh government on his user page. Heated, at least, until Wales closed off discussion on the topic of manipulation and bias in his freely-editable Wikipedia page in a curiously unironic rant:

I’m closing this discussion because it has reached the point of the absurd. I have responded to the last comments which were made, so participants and other interested parties can look at that. But I’m going to insist that this discussion, if re-opened, be premised on “Assume Good Faith”.

This is good stuff.

I’m willing to assume good faith with the guy – I don’t know him, and I’m going to venture to guess that like Sting, Depardieu, and, if our sources are correct, J.Lo, Wales doesn’t know Central Asia. But, he should have known to hedge his praise for the Kazakh Wikipedia project and its implementers at Wikibilim, which its CEO says is funded by Open Society Foundations, the Samruk Kaznya State Investment Fund, and the Wikimedia Foundation.

As I noted, it took only a few seconds of browsing Wikipedia’s own meta-data to find that the Kazakh-language version was full of single-author articles.

Myles hasn't been taught that experts are scum, yet.

ADDING: Even better (from a commenter I guess at his eurasianet piece)...

I find it hard to believe that the sudden surge in the Kazakh wikipedia is due to “volunteers”. Where did the 30 mio. Tenge that Samruk-Kazyna pumped into the project go if not into paid editing? Some of the new content is lifted straight from the “official”, regime-approved Kazakh national encyclopedia. What we have here is basically a hostile takeover. Imho the appropriate response to that kind of content, and the way it is funnelled into Wikipedia, would be “thanks, but no, thanks”. That is, the [Wikimedia Foundation's] response. Instead it is being touted as a token of the success of the Wiki principle. I find it hard to swallow that.

[EricBarbour]

ADDING: Even better (from a commenter I guess at his eurasianet piece)...

I find it hard to believe that the sudden surge in the Kazakh wikipedia is due to “volunteers”. Where did the 30 mio. Tenge that Samruk-Kazyna pumped into the project go if not into paid editing? Some of the new content is lifted straight from the “official”, regime-approved Kazakh national encyclopedia. What we have here is basically a hostile takeover. Imho the appropriate response to that kind of content, and the way it is funnelled into Wikipedia, would be “thanks, but no, thanks”. That is, the [Wikimedia Foundation's] response. Instead it is being touted as a token of the success of the Wiki principle. I find it hard to swallow that.

I would not call it "hostile", because it was done with the full knowledge and approval of Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia's official poster boy.
Not only did he open the vault door to Kenzhekhanuly's "friends", he rewarded Kenzhekhanuly with a "special title". And now he's lying
to the rest of the world in a pathetic attempt to cover it up.

[The Joy]

Are there any Kazakh human rights groups that have weighed in on this? If not, should we try asking them for their perspective?

[Moonage Daydream]

I'm coming late to this story and I'm not sure I've got a firm grasp of the history. There are a bunch of threads here about Jimbo's involvement in Kazakhastan (prompted by a report that Jimbo was planning a visit). Is the history of this discussed anywhere?

Here's what I have figured out (please correct me if any of this is wrong and/or covered elsewhere):

3 March 2011 - Nartay Ashim (User:Ashina (T-C-L)) registers wikibilim.kz

?? April 2011 - "In April 2011, the first meeting of Kazakh Wikipidians was held in Almaty (Kazakhstan) where Local Chapter creation issue had been discussed." - Nartay Ashim

28 April 2011 - Nartay Ashim puts up a page on Meta calling for the formation of a Wikimedia Chapter in Kazakhstan. (Quote above is from that page.)

17 June 2011 - A press conference is held to announce Wikibilim's expansion of Kazakh WP. WMF Chair Ting Chen attends the press conference.

Ting Chen of the Wikimedia Foundation attending the press conference said that “the Foundation is considering launching a regional office in Kazakhstan. Altogether, there are a total of 30 representation offices. I believe Kazakhstan stands all chances to be home to one”, he said.

23 June 2011 - Another press conference?

”Kazaksha Wikipedia” is a project launched in Kazakhstan to develop the Kazakh section of the free public universal multilingual internet encyclopedia Wikipedia. It was initiated and is sponsored by JSC “National Welfare Fund “Samruk-Kazyna” and Nokia, administrated by the public fund Wikibilim with the assistance from Wikimedia Foundation (USA), its partners are “Kazakh encyclopedia” and JSC “KazContent”.

4-7 August 2011 - At Wikimania in Haifa, a new award "Wikipedian of the year" is created and awarded to the head of Wikibilim by Jimmy Wales.

Jimmy also announced the creation of an annual award—Global Wikipedian of the Year. This was given to Rauan Kenzhekhanuly of Kazakh Wikipedia and consisted of a $5,000 award to Wikibilim, the chapter in Kazakhstan, to pay travel expenses to Wikimania next year. This would be presented to Kezhekhanuly at a ceremony in Kazakhstan with the country's prime minister Karim Massimov.

20 October 2011 - Nartay Ashim puts up a request for a grant to the Wikimedia Kazakhstan to host a conference (already scheduled and in preparation at that time). Despite the fact that the event is scheduled for less than a month away and the fact that Wikimedia Kazakhstan does not appear to be a recognized chapter, the request is granted.

Apparently, Kazakh Government supports Wikipedia. Do you expect any contributions from it and any other sponsors?--Victoria 08:55, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

Yes, our Government supports us and Wikimedia movement. Particularly, they provide wide media coverage of the event and for whole project. Also they agreed to provide us with transportation to commute within the city. Besides thanks to their support we are running wiki-contest for 100 article (each participant have to write 100 articles) and for Featured article. First 100 editors who write 100 articles will get laptop from Samruk-Kazyna National Foundation ([1]. Another 50 active editors will get phones from NOKIA Kazakhstan. Also representative of the Ministry of communication and information and one MP willing to join us during the conference to give a talk.--Rauank 06:42, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

More to come....

[HRIP7]

There isn't a timeline of this anywhere else yet, and you're doing great work. Pray continue ...

[HRIP7]

ADDING: Even better (from a commenter I guess at his eurasianet piece)...

I find it hard to believe that the sudden surge in the Kazakh wikipedia is due to “volunteers”. Where did the 30 mio. Tenge that Samruk-Kazyna pumped into the project go if not into paid editing? Some of the new content is lifted straight from the “official”, regime-approved Kazakh national encyclopedia. What we have here is basically a hostile takeover. Imho the appropriate response to that kind of content, and the way it is funnelled into Wikipedia, would be “thanks, but no, thanks”. That is, the [Wikimedia Foundation's] response. Instead it is being touted as a token of the success of the Wiki principle. I find it hard to swallow that.

No, that was Janneman (T-C-L), a German Wikipedian, on Jimbo's talk page, reopening the discussion. There's been a discussion of this on the German Signpost talk page, and I wrote a piece for the German Signpost a couple of days ago. It's been quite well received there. Janneman in particular has been great about this.

[HRIP7]

Also note the thread on the timeline of the relationship between WikiBilim, Jimmy Wales and the WMF

[The Devil's Advocate]

(2) Alastair Campbell (who works for Portland, the PR agency mentioned above) was Tony Blair's "PR spin doctor". Campbell was seen in October 2011, returning from Astana, the Khazakh capital, where he admitted to doing some consultancy work and quoted as saying: ”but nothing like on the scale that Tony is doing”. The Portland firm has also been known to directly edit Wikipedia on behalf of clients.

You missed the juiciest and most relevant part of Portland's paid editing:

According to Wikipedia records, the IP address 83.244.252.242 – which has been traced to Portland – was the source of a number of other Wikipedia edits.

These included the pages for the Kazakhstan bank BTA and its former head Mukhtar Ablyazov. BTA is a client of Portland's. Information was added with regard to BTA seeking legal action against Mr Ablyazov for corruption. Mr Ablyazov denies any claims of corruption. On Mr Ablyazov's page someone using the Portland IP address removed references to the impact Mr Ablyazov's request for asylum in the UK was having on UK-Kazakhstan relations.

It also massaged politically-sensitive material:

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =411197043

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?tit ... =411156497

They repeatedly edited that article and the one on BTA Bank of Kazakhstan, which was a client of theirs and a company that had been bailed out by the country's sovereign wealth fund. Granted, Campbell was not with the firm at the time this happened or at the time he attended Jimbo's wedding, but the founder of Portland Communications was also a former member of Blair's staff and served as Campell's deputy during that time.

[EricBarbour]

I say again:

No one noticed the COI associated with an article called WikiBilim (T-H-L)?

Written almost entirely by three WikiBilim members: Sanzhar Kenzhekhan (T-C-L), Nurbek Matzhani (T-C-L),
and of course, predictably, someone called Rauank (T-C-L). (The same Rauank who posted that rant on Jimbo's talkpage, of course.)

Plus, bear in mind that I was the first person here to notice the "special treatment" Rauan was receiving from the WMF and Wales.

This is what I wrote about it for the book, back in July:

During an interview on the PBS News Hour on 10 July 2012, Wales commented that "The Kazakh Wikipedia is doing really well". In fact, there was a massive increase in the number of "active" editors on kk-WP, in June 2011 -- which turned out to be the work of one Kazakh starting an editing club in Almaty. Since then, the editing activity on kk-WP has declined to a tiny fraction of late 2011's editing.

I was wrong about that "one Kazakh", in fact it was a whole government-sponsored organization.....

[tarantino]

There is a press release at wikibilim.kz.

Microsoft translator says,

An official press statement

21-22 December on the talk page (the talk page) online encyclopedia Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is actively discussed development of the Kazakh Wikipedia and Commons «WikiBilim». In comments certain participants in the discussion, it was stated that the Foundation "WikiBilim" received from JSC QMS 204 million tenge. Also it was said that the ROK Government is censoring edits and articles in Kazakh Wikipedia. Blogger has posted his article on Examiner.com, which has been translated and published in some local media.

Public fund "WikiBilim" is a non-profit organization whose purpose is the development of educational content in the Kazakh language. The Foundation has launched the project "Wikipedia" in Kazakh language in May 2011, with the aim to draw public attention to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and involve the active part of the public in the process of content creation in the Kazakh language. For less than 2 years project has been successfully implemented, having achieved all your goals. Wikipedia has articles on Kazakh National encyclopedia of Kazakhstan and other industry publications, donated by the Kazakh encyclopedia. The number of articles grew from 7 thousand in April 2011, until by the end of 2012, 200000. The number of editors has grown to 300 people, the depth of the articles has grown from 0 to 6, monthly page views in the kazahskoâzyčnom section of Wikipedia has grown to 8 million. pages per month.

In 2011, of NWF Samruk-Kazyna JSC provided sponsorship of "WikiBilim" on Wikipedia in Kazakh language in amount of 30000 million. tenge. In 2012, has allocated 20 million. tenge. Within the project of "WikiBilim" held over 100 seminars and training sessions for new members. It was organized a contest for active editors. Under the rules of the contest sponsor, who wrote more than 100 articles and laptop. Nokia company has donated 50 handsets for authors of featured articles and active editors. Featured articles are identified by community members.

In 2012, the PF "WikiBilim" launched and other projects. The Foundation presented the online library http://www.ikitap.kz, Audiohrestomatiâ project of Kazakh literature included in the school curriculum, built a generic online dictionary of the Kazakh language, published the book "free culture" by Lawrence Lessig in the Kazakh language. In December 2012, the Foundation together with "Agency" Khabar "started showing up world famous TED speeches on" Blìm ".

Public fund "WikiBilim" is an independent and non-profit organization operating in accordance with legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. PF "WikiBilim" projects are implemented under the patronage of the head of the presidential administration of the Republic of Kazakhstan k. Masimov. Partners and donors are the foundation of NWF QMS, Ministry of culture and information, Ministry of education and science, by Nokia, the company Beeline, charitable foundation "Altyn kyran insignia", the Wikimedia Foundation, the TED Foundation, the Creative Commons Europe, open society Fund, national book Chamber of Kazakhstan, the Union of writers of Kazakhstan, Khabar News Agency, Institute of Linguistics of a. Bajtursynuly, Institute of literature and art m. Auezova, plus more than 50 organizations and individuals.