Stories about Russian from February, 2008
Kazakhstan: State of the Nation
The main event in the country’s politics never passes by the bloggers’ attention. This week it was the time of presidential State of the Nation address. All TV stations and state-controlled newspapers provided its aggressively propagandistic coverage, that bloggers were unhappy with [ru]. As megakhuimyak jokes, “our president does not...
Kosovo: Views from the Russophone Blogosphere
According to the Yandex Blogs portal, over 3,700 posts on Kosovo independence have appeared in the Russian-language blogosphere in the past three days. Some of these posts have received dozens, if not hundreds, of comments. Below are a few snippets of this lively discussion, all translated from Russian.
Russia: Degrees of Responsibility
Marat Gelman - LJ user galerist, Russian art dealer and, allegedly, Victor Yanukovych's “spin doctor” in 2004 - describes his recent brush with Russia's multilevel reality and inspires readers to comment on how much Putin's regime has to do with uncivilized behavior of certain individuals.
Uzbekistan: Abnormal Cold, End of “Nirvana” and Genderwise Realpolitik
The abnormally low temperature that lasted in the region for a record-breaking long time seems to have its effect not only on Uzbek-Tajik relations but on the Uzbek blogosphere too — for the past several weeks it was not active at all. However, the topics covered there are still vital...
Russia: Bribes
Moscow Rules writes about corruption and reposts a table of “the current going rate for bribes people have to pay to do business here in Russia,” originally published in a Russian business daily.
Russia: Sergei Dorenko on Badri Patarkatsishvili
Badri Patarkatsishvili, an exiled Georgian tycoon, opposition politician and Boris Berezovsky's longtime friend and business partner, died unexpectedly on Feb. 12 in England. World media are providing extensive coverage of the ongoing investigation into Patarkatsishvili's death, and the Russian blogosphere offers plenty of commentary as well. Below is journalist Sergei Dorenko's comment about Patarkatsishvili and the people who surrounded him.
Russia: An Electrician's View on Vasily Alexanyan's Case
While the previous Global Voices translation on Alexanyan's case dealt with the relative silence that surrounded Vasily Alexanyan internationally and a rather massive response from the Russian bloggers, below is a story of one Russian electrician who was not aware of Aleksanyan's existence at all. Written by LJ user becky-sharpe, this sketch may (or may not) reflect on how Aleksanyan's ordeal is viewed by those in Russia who do not rely on the online media as their primary sources of information.
Russia: Vasily Alexanyan
Vasily Alexanyan, a jailed Yukos executive, is said to be dying of AIDS and lymphoma cancer, but is being denied life-saving treatment. While most human rights groups in the West are silent about the case, the Russian blogosphere is quite abuzz.
Russia: “All Snow is in Samara!”
Inspired by Amira Al Hussaini's earlier post on the cold spell in the Middle East, Veronica Khokhlova does a roundup of the Volga region bloggers' reactions to (and their photos of) the record snowfall that paralyzed the city of Samara and trapped hundreds of cars on the Samara-Ufa highway last week, forcing local authorities to declare state of emergency.
