| Nazarbayev met with an unlucky member of the presidential family It is a difficult task to save the image of the country and its leadership. And also expensive. But not for a country like Kazakhstan. They take this seriously there. At the end of last year , the television company NTV-Kazakhstan was created for this purpose. But if the results of her work have not yet had any impact on the Russian-Kazakh information field, then the PR on the American field ended in embarrassment. The President of Kazakhstan received a correspondent from the influential newspaper The Wall Street Journal, and instead of the expected interview, he published a caustic article. Nursultan Nazarbayev’s aides, in order not to upset their boss, gave out the text of the interview allegedly published in the newspaper and posted the fake on Mr. Nazarbayev’s presidential website .
And now the team of the Kazakh president has failed him again. While the entire Western press makes fun of the sexual exploits of the younger brother of US President Neil Bush, he is received with honor by the top leadership of Kazakhstan, President Nazarbayev and Prime Minister Akhmetov. Thank God, this happened on January 7, that is, two days before Vladimir Putin’s visit to Astana, so they managed not to cross paths in the new Kazakh capital.
48-year-old Neil Bush, the third son of ex-President Bush Sr., is a well-known personality in the United States. According to one of his close friends, quoted by the reputable Washington Post, which devoted an extensive study to the brother and son of American presidents on December 28, “Neal was the most charming of the Bush brothers, the most relaxed, the funniest, he is the best speaker in the family... he could easily be a congressman.”
However, his political career is no longer in danger. Neil Bush's reputation was hopelessly damaged in the late 1980s when his name, as the newspaper writes, "became a symbol of the $500 million lending scandal" associated with the collapse of the Silverado Savings and Loan company, on whose board he came in. Neil became a true hero of both the tabloid and serious press last year, when his revelations during a noisy divorce proceedings became known.
Here, in particular, is a fragment of a dialogue quoted in The Washington Post between Bush and the lawyer of his wife, who accused him of extramarital affairs.
Lawyer: "Mr. Bush, you have to admit that it is quite an amazing thing for a man to simply open the door of a hotel room, see a strange woman on the threshold and immediately have sex with her."
Answer: “It was very unexpected...”
From further answers from Neil Bush, it turned out that he “does not remember exactly the number” of such cases during his trips to Asia, “does not know whether they were prostitutes,” but does remember that he “did not pay them.” The court had no doubt that the latest testimony was true - everywhere in Asia one of the younger Bushes was received at the highest level as a member of the presidential family. Neil also rejected suggestions that he contracted several sexually transmitted diseases there. According to him, he only got sick with one.
And so Neil Bush came to Asia again, where, naturally, a reception of the “highest standard” was again prepared for him. How else can one explain that the cheerful Bush was granted an audience with the President of Kazakhstan himself? It is inconceivable that Mr. Nazarbayev would take the time to listen to the details of the new education system Neal is promoting for poor Hispanic children in Texas. This program, called Ignite! (“Light Up!”) is based on chants, since music, Bush believes, is “a very powerful tool of influence.” And it doesn’t matter that American experts criticize his pedagogical delights for “dumbing down the history” in which they are used in teaching.
For PR people working on orders from Astana, something else is more important: one of the Bushes personally came to Kazakhstan to meet with Nazarbayev. After all, the Kazakh leader himself now has serious problems with organizing meetings with the “chief” Bush in Washington due to the impending trial in the United States in the “Kazakhgate” corruption case, in which Nazarbayev himself and members of his family are involved. Despite this, the President of Kazakhstan “looks up to” the main American family. As Mr. Nazarbayev said in an unpublished interview with The Wall Street Journal, he “prefers” that the transition of power in Kazakhstan “occurs in the same way as in the Bush family.”
Neil Bush's trip was organized by Patton and Boggz, which last fall contracted for $1 million a year to improve the image of the leadership of Kazakhstan. The Financial Times wrote about this with irony: “If the leadership of Kazakhstan believes that this can be done if only it spends more money, then there are many who want to help it with this.” Arkady DUBNOV |
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