Will the ordinary Kazakh benefit from it? Hardly. Even if this venture spins gold, I doubt a single coin will find its way into the pockets of the common man. I’m reminded of a conversation I once had in Paris, decades ago, with an Iraqi exile. Someone in the group asked if he wasn’t furious at Americans for “stealing” Iraq’s oil. He shrugged. First, he said, he had no proof. Second—and this was the real dagger—even if they were stealing it, why should he care? Under Saddam, neither he nor his kin saw a drop of that wealth. The thief at the top was different, but the emptiness at the bottom was the same.And so it goes in Kazakhstan, and in any number of places like it. The elite will do exactly as they please, as they always have. Whether the project soars or collapses into dust is immaterial to the people in the streets. Winners or duds, the outcome is the same: the spoils remain at the top, and the rest are left with nothing but the bill.
