2030

So a ton of places in Kazakhstan, you see billboards saying Kazakhstan 2030. No, it's not advertising a new sci-fi flick starring Mark Dacascos, but rather a reference to the government's longterm growth strategy. I actually admire that they have a patient plan for growth, and I hope that in the end it will pay off. (Resource rich countries have had a history of looking for short-term solutions with all of their wealth.)

So in my attempt to find the country's constitution in English (found: Constitution Good news: my reading of it seems to suggest I could eventually be President after turning 40, living here 15 years, and gaining "perfect command" of the Kazakh language). But I also stumbled across the 2030 plan (2030. And starts off with a quote from Virgil and then a few paragraphs later quotes Shakespeare. I didn't read the whole thing, but so I wouldn't be left in suspense, I did skim down to the end. And the final section is introduced by:

SELF-CONFIDENCE IS A POWER
Bowie.

What!? Bowie? As in David Bowie? Am I supposed to just know which famous Bowie this is referring to. A quick google search of that quote in quotations, returns...only the Kazakh 2030 plan the Kazakh 2030 plan. Expanding it to non-quotation marks and including bowie in the search yields..."I had a lot of self-confidence." -Bowie Kuhn. As in the former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn?

I don't know who wrote the plan, but they sure were well-read. I hope the next longterm strategy will contain a quote from Ziggy Stardust.