Stories about Russian from October, 2007
Russia: Remembering Victims of 1937; Podcasting Their Names
Seventy years since Stalin's Great Terror of 1937, many Russians are ignorant of their country's horrible past, Windows on Eurasia reports. Nevertheless, hundreds of people came to Lubyanka yesterday to read out the names of thousands of victims – and PODstantsiya, a podcasting project of the Moscow-based Foundation for Independent...
Russia: Bloggers On George W. Bush and “Russian DNA”
The U.S. president's recent comments about "Russian DNA" did not cause as much of an uproar as did race comments by James Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA - but, they did not go completely unnoticed. Below is a selection of comments made by Russian bloggers and forum dwellers.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss James Watson
James Watson, an American Nobel Prize-winning geneticist, provoked international outrage when The Sunday Times quoted him on race issues on Oct. 14. The news of the controversy produced a certain stir in the Russian-language blogosphere, too.
The War in Abkhazia – ‘Cyxymu’ Remembers
Blogger cyxymu - whose Russian-language blog is devoted to the “memories of Sukhumi, the war and the pain” - spent the second half of September marking the 14th anniversary of the storm of the Abkhaz capital, which dealt a final defeat to the Georgian forces in their war with Abkhazia. Lyndon Allin translates from some of cyxymu's entries, and reviews and comments on the others.
Russia: A St. Petersburger in Moscow
Russian bloggers are, of course, eagerly discussing the upcoming elections and other newsworthy political developments, but there's still plenty of room in the country's blogosphere for apolitical reflection. St. Petersburg journalist Svetlana Gavrilina (LJ user aneta_spb), for example, shares her impressions of Moscow, filing her little sketch from "the-street-named-after-I've-again-forgotten-who" in Kuzminki district of the Russian capital.
Ukraine: Marat Gelman's Notes
Marat Gelman - Russian blogger, art dealer and a retired spin doctor - shares a link to Boris Berezovsky's blog, posts a joke about George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin and Victor Yushchenko, and offers a three-sentence analysis of the post-election political situation in Ukraine.
Waiting in the PMR
Lyndon Allin translates a few posts by bloggers from the PMR, "the secessionist entity (or de facto state, depending on your preferred terminology) located along Moldova's eastern border on a patch of land called Transnistria, Transdniestria, Transdniester, Transdnestr, or Pridnestrovie (again, depending on your preference and politics)."
Russia: Anna Politkovskaya's Memorial Rally
Russian bloggers discuss the rally that took place in Moscow on October 7: a few hundred people gathered at Novopushkinskiy Square to pay tribute to journalist Anna Politkovskaya, killed one year ago, and to talk politics.
Ukraine: So Long, Oleksandr Moroz?
According to the preliminary results of Ukraine's snap parliamentary election, five parties and blocs appear to have obtained the minimum 3-percent share of the vote required to enter the new parliament - and the Socialist Party led be Oleksandr Moroz is not one of them. Moroz was Victor Yushchenko's ally during the 2004 Orange Revolution, but joined Victor Yanukovych's coalition to become the speaker in 2006. Some Ukrainian bloggers are already discussing the renegade politician's likely defeat.
