Most people will have heard of Kazakhstan by way of the spoofdocumentary Borat. This time the central Asian nation isin the spotlight for something real, as a victim of global selloffin emerging-market assets. After the country abandonedcontrol of the tenge, the currency lost a quarter of its value.

Here's what you need to know about this vast land-lockedcountry, literally caught between a rock and a hardplace.

1. Kazakhstan isn't poor and has only ever hadone ruler. Despite being almost the sizeof Argentina, only 17.5 million people live here. That'sless than the population of New York state. Before thecurrency blow, Kazakhstan's gross domestic product per capita wasset to overtake Russia and was already higher thanBrazil's. Nursultan Nazarbayev, 75, who has been in powersince 1989 and has immunity from prosecution for life, isthe only president the country has had in its 24 years ofindependence after the Soviet Union collapsed.

2. Oil is not yourfriend. We are now in a $40-dollar-a-barrelworld. That is bad news for countries like Kazakhstan that relyon natural resources and oil reserves for their wealth. Withabout 90 percent of its exports coming from commodities,Kazakhstan is a textbook case on why economiesmust diversify.

3. Russia and China are too close forcomfort. Wedged between Russia and China,Kazakhstan is economically dependent on both. Most of its importscome from Russia. Moreover, Russians make up a quarter ofits population. The ruble's tumble made imports fromRussia extremely cheap, pushing out less-competitivelocal manufacturers.

Enter China, the region's other dominant force and potentialcounterweight to Russia. It took over as the nation's biggesttrading partner and has been Kazakhstan's top exportdestination since 2007. But it was China that killed the pegwhen it weakened its exchange rate earlier this month, forcing adomino reaction by other nations scrambling to stay competitivetoo. In the long run, an economic slowdown in China may hurtKazakhstan, as the world's second-largest economy might needless of the commodities that Kazakhstan produces.

4. This is not the first time Kazakhstan hasbeen in this situation. The last timeNazarbayev dropped the pegged currency's value, with a 19 percentweakening in February 2014, he had to raise salaries and pensionsto restore the Kazakhs' purchasing power. Several times earlierthis year, Nazarbayev promised to avoid a sharp tengedepreciation, saying the move to a free float will take atleast five years. The International Monetary Fund said inMay that Kazakhstan has enough cash to support the tenge forseveral years.

5. Fortunately, its debt islow. Kazakhstan's debt as a percentage to GDPstands at 12 percent, one of the lowest in the world. Phew.

6. Something is rotten in the state ofKazakhstan. Powered by natural resourcesranging from oil to uranium to copper, including the world'slargest proven zinc deposits, the economy has remained hamstrung bycorruption and political controls.Kazakhstan ranked 126th out of the 177 countries inthe Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, alongwith Nepal and Pakistan. It fares worse than many of itsemerging-market peers but not as badly as its immediateneighbors.

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