Stories about Russian from January, 2008
Ukraine: A Porous Border
Ukrainian news site Korrespondent.net posted a translation of a Sunday Times story on Ukraine's porous borders and illegal migration. The English-language original has received 16 reader comments so far, the Russian translation - 88 comments. While many readers admitted that the problem of illegal migration existed in Ukraine and that corruption among officials contributed to it, most did not seem happy about the Sunday Times' story.
Ukraine: Drunk Driving
Over 7,000 people died in car accidents in Ukraine in 2007. President Yushchenko has recently proposed to raise fines for drunk driving to $500, but many Ukrainian "netizens" don't believe it is going to change anything - and here's why.
Belarus, Russia: Minsk-Murmansk Train
The post translated below features a photo of a note pasted on the Minsk-Murmansk train - a note that's supposed to assist passengers in locating cars they've got tickets for, but is instead a great illustration of how easily something mundane may turn into the frustratingly surreal in this part of the world.
Russia: New Year's in Grozny
LJ user timur-aliev has posted three New Year's snapshots taken in Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, which the United Nations called "the most destroyed city on earth" in 2003. Below is the Chechen blogger's brief account of the festivities - and a couple of clarifications from the comments section.
Russia: Xenophobia Blogging
There seems to be more and more posts on xenophobia in the Russian blogosphere. Many are written by xenophobes, while some are written about them. Below are two recent examples of xenophobia blogging.
Kyrgyzstan: Debates over President and Parliament
Edil Baisalov’s personal blog, one of the most visited blogs in Kyrgyzstan has not been updated since 4 December, 2007. The activeness of his blog went down after he was found guilty for illegally publishing a voting ballot before the elections on his blog as was assumed by the members...
Ukraine: Donetsk Photos
Photos of Donetsk, by LJ user k_s_u_s_h_a (RUS).
