Empire of the Ring

The ministers, including Youngho and Kasim, were enjoying the winter of the Caspian Sea on a ferry icebreaker.

After a New Year’s ceremony at the royal territory, ministers were on their way to tour Aktau, a newly designated port of import and export.

There were several waterways made by an icebreaker in the frozen sea, with large and small cargo ships passing in a row along with it.

However, all of them looked rusty. It was because the paint on ships sailing in the winter would peel due to the ice, so they were not repainted in the winter.

And most of the ships in the Volga-Don Canal were over 15 years old, so people would neglect ship maintenance.

There were not many shipments entering or exiting the Caspian Sea through the Volga-Don Canal, so the ship owners in the Black Sea were turning a blind eye to them.

If it were a new vessel, it would operate the Black Sea or the Mediterranean Sea, not the Caspian Sea.

“It seems that all second-hand cargo ships from the Mediterranean and the Black Sea have entered the Caspian Sea. They are all rusty and ugly to look at.”

“The ship owners have yet to recognize the importance of the Caspian Sea, but they will soon deploy new ships.”

Prime Minister Kasim confidently said that the Caspian Sea would soon be in the spotlight, but the reality was that the combined economic power of the coastal countries of the Caspian Sea was no better than that of a single Western European country.

Even though it was winter, ships were seen traveling in the Caspian Sea because of Kazakhstan’s grain and underground transportation.

“The Caspian will only be noticed if our economy grows enough to overwhelm Western Europe.”

“Your Highness, it’s a great improvement compared to a few years ago. Until now, Kazakhstan has changed all the economic indicators recorded by the world’s most important countries. If this condition lasts only 10 years, no one will look down on the Caspian Sea.”

“Thanks to the Prime Minister’s good leadership in the government.”

“No. It was all because of the Kazakh royal family’s effort and generous support. The government is forever indebted to the royal family.”

“What do you mean? The royal family received Kazakh gold mines, so the calculations are already done. Hahaha…”

“They were old mines close to exhaustion. I’m sorry that all we can offer are them.”

The amount of gold produced from the gold mines were kept strictly confidential.

Kasim had no idea how much the royal family was making, but if he knew, he would have been quite surprised.

“That’s enough. We need Kazakhstan to have the royal family. We will fully support the government and the people of Kazakhstan still the same.”

“Your Highness, we have come to the point where our government can support itself enough. It’s time to save royal funds. The people want a royal family of wealth and not a poor one. Your Highness has done much for Kazakhstan. The people know it well. It’s time for the government and the people to stand alone. It is also not desirable to rely on the royal family for the future of Kazakhstan.”

Youngho was relieved to hear Kasim’s remarks.

He had been getting anxious as the former president Nazarbayev’s slush funds had been decreasing, but now Kasim, the head of the government, was saying he should save the royal funds. This was majorly because it was no longer necessary to provide royal funds.

With the government budget, the royal family only needed to provide assistance when purchasing overwhelmingly expensive high-tech weapons.

The government had built up its defense capabilities with Youngho’s releasing almost all of President Nazarbayev’s slush funds so far and with the royal family’s support. Now, it could get away from the huge burden of defense spending and go all-in on economic development.

Kazakhstan’s economy was now strong enough to roll itself.

“Prime Minister. The royal family is not that poor.”

“I know it very well. In the meantime, it’s done as much as it could do, and it’s a shame to put more pressure on the royal family. In fact, the Royal Bodyguards and the Navy should be paid by the government. It’s a true shame. I’ve never seen any European royal family do that.”

“Mr. Prime Minister. I don’t think the government is stable yet to manage the defense budget. That could lead to a total lack of defense capabilities.”

“That’s not true at all. If this year’s economy stays the same as last year’s, we can dramatically increase our defense budget for next year.”

“It’s not that I’m unaware of your concern for the royal family, but we’ll continue to support a certain portion of the defense budget for our military’s strength. I will let it go if there are no risk factors anymore.”

***

While talking to Prime Minister Kasim, the ferry icebreaker arrived in waters off the city of Aktau, their destination.

The sea in front of Aktau Port was covered with thin ice.

Based on the Ural River, southern waters did not freeze very often, but this winter’s unusual cold compared to previous years had frozen the southern waters of Kazakhstan.

“This much ice won’t hinder big ships’ sail.”

“That’s not true. Your Highness, even if the ice is thin, it puts pressure on the hull. Iron wires would only get scratches, but it could be fatal to FRP (fiber reinforced plastic) vessels.”

“You mean the fishing boats are stuck no matter what.”

“It’s hard to fish in this weather. This is originally an area where ice doesn’t freeze…”

When asked by Youngho, Yessimov, minister of agriculture and fisheries, seemed nervous as if it was his fault.

“What if we support the icebreaker?”

“It doesn’t help much except for the role of making waterways.”

“You mean you can’t fish in the winter anyway. If the ice is frozen this year, there is a high chance that it will continue to freeze…”

“The catch in the Caspian Sea is becoming less and less. So we plan to reduce the number of fishing boats. When we build the port of import and export, it’s hard to do the fishing anyway.”

“Would people who have been fishing all their lives change their profession easily?”

“Even now, people are having a hard time without government support. So we’re going to induce them to do agriculture.”

Kazakhstan had a vast landmass for farming.

The problem was that most of the western part of the country was semi-desert, and therefore not suitable for farming unless it was near water like the Ural River.

“If they don’t agree with it, don’t force it. We don’t have enough fish resources now, but things might get better.”

“I will respect the opinions of the fishermen as much as possible. But I think we should stop providing subsidies for fishing. Some people are only resisting to receive government subsidies.”

“The Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry should take care of such matters. But I hope we can find a way to selectively support them.”

“I’ll make sure of that.”

“The reason I’m saying this is because the fish resources of the Ural River are still abundant, unlike the Caspian Sea. I heard that fishermen living in the royal territory can’t handle it because there are too many fish.”

Many said that the Ural River was made of half water and half fish.

People might ask why people in Central Asia did not eat fish when there were so many, but it was because nomadic Central Asians did not prefer eating fish.

“How can I not know Your Highness’s concern? However, if we don’t adjust the fishing population now, the construction of the port of import and export will not be easy. The government has no way of dealing with the fishermen once they start demanding compensation.”

“What does that mean?”

“Since the inauguration of the new government, there has been a growing number of civic groups that have hindered the government’s policies. They gather if they can take advantage of it. When civic groups join forces, we cannot help but comply with their demands. We can’t force them to disband because they report rallies and start taking collective action according to due process.”

“Is that happening a lot?”

“You can say it’s everywhere because you have complaints.”

“What do they live on?”

“They know if they protest on behalf of the ignorant people, they can share a certain portion of the compensation money from the government. People who join civic groups live on doing protests. They’re professional protesters.”

This would have never happened under the previous administration.

Seeing civic groups sprouting up on the wind of democratization, Youngho believed they were healthy critics, but they were using civic group activities as a way of life, not as a means to correct wrong policies.

“Mr. Prime Minister. Does that happen often, as Minister Yessimov said?”

“Yes, it’s true. Under the revised law, a number of civic groups have completed registration, and some of them have gone too far in their acts of deviation.”

“Did you take any action on them?”

“We can’t help it because the law stipulates that civic groups should participate in government policies. It’s only natural to listen to sound criticism…”

“Have you looked into what kind of people they are?”

“How can we investigate if there is no legal basis for private inspection?”

There could not be a civilian inspection as the new administration prioritized human rights by eliminating the evils of the iron-fisted rule of the previous administration.

However, strange groups were wriggling up through this gap.

“Of course it’s the freedom to speak your own voice, but this is more than freedom, it’s almost self-indulgence.”

“I should have reported it before it festered further, but I missed the timing.”

“It’s not too late now. We will take action and resolve this once and for all.”

To renovate the previous Kazakhstan, which was fed up with its long-standing dictatorship, the new regime had put human rights first and allowed the people to express their opinions freely.

In the early days, civic groups played their part.

As more civic groups looked into government policies and corrected wrongs, the government had come to subsidize them.

However, as time went by, there were people who did civic group activities professionally.

It was hard to live only on government subsidies, so they intervened in various interests to raise funds. Those groups were now transformed into groups of professional protesters who delayed social advancement.

Thinking that it would be a big problem in the future, Youngho called in Kasim quietly.