Stories from Quick Reads from November, 2008
Moldova, CEE: Rural Bus Stops; Hammer & Sickle @ Flickr
Photos of rural bus stops in Moldova – at Scraps of Moscow. A link to a Hammer and Sickle group on Flickr – at LimbicNutrition Weblog.
Kosovo: Haradinaj's Profile; Discussion at LSE
Popkitchen posts a critique of a Vanity Fair profile of Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and former prime minister of Kosovo, and writes about a recent discussion on Kosovo's independence held at the London School of Economics.
Afghanistan: Explosion in Kabul
Baktash Siawash, Afghan journalist and blogger, wrote that “a suicide bomber killed four Afghans in a blast near Afghanistan's parliament in Kabul on Sunday”.
Israel: In the army – and Muslim?
Mo-ha-med describes meeting Ossama – Arab, Muslim, and a soldier in the Israeli army.
Lao: Traditional Wedding
Amphone posts images from a traditional Lao wedding in the US.
Thailand: Free Ride to PAD
Thailand Jumped the Shark wonders why “the foreign embassies and the international community have given the PAD a free ride, considering the PAD has broken multiple Thai and international terrorism laws and international travel treaties.” PAD, the opposition party leading the current protests in Bangkok has blockaded the main airports...
Ukraine: “No Other Home: The Crimean Tatars” – in Romania and Online
Maria Sonevytsky of My Simferopol Home announces the upcoming exhibition of the “No Other Home: The Crimean Tatars” project in Bucharest, Romania, in mid-December, and links to a related story on Crimean Tatars, complete with photos and audio, published in the online magazine Triple Canopy.
Russia: Moscow's “VIP Taxi”
Photo reports from inside Moscow's “VIP Taxi” – at Two-Zero's Diary, here and here.
Central & Eastern Europe: Obituaries
Edward Lucas re-posts The Economist‘s obits of Mieczyslaw Rakowski, a Polish Communist journalist and politician, who died on Nov. 8, and of Boris Fyodorov, a Russian economic reformer, who died on Nov. 20. Borut Peterlin notes the death of Vilko Filač, the “cameraman of Emir Kusturica’s best movies.”
Czech Republic: Notes on Prague
Notes on a visit to Prague – at Dr. Sean's Diary, here and here.
Poland: A Racist Country?
Discussions on whether Poland is a “racist country” – at the POLSKI blog, Raf Uzar, and Eternal Remont.
Albania: Health Care and Bribery
Belatedly, a link to Albanian Blogger‘s report on the arrest of a well-known oncology surgeon on bribery charges: “For the public, including myself, the event hopefully will serve to bring some much needed attention to this plague of our society in a sphere where all of us are vulnerable –...
Ukraine: Ruthenians
Some background and a translation of an Izvestiya piece on Ukraine's Ruthenians – at Robert Amsterdam's blog.
Ukraine: Taras Kuzio on Yushchenko
Taras Kuzio analyzes “the achievements and failures and unfulfilled expectations of the last four years” in Ukraine – here and here, and also writes that president Yushchenko “had over-focused on the issue [of Holodomor] to the detriment of contemporary political and economic concerns.”
Czech Republic, USA: “Growing Up ‘Cesky'”
An interview with a Czech-American woman on her experiences of growing up “in the midst of the 2 cultures (Czech and American)” and other issues – at Czechmatediary, in four installments: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.
Belarus: The Identity Debate
Andrei Khrapavitski writes about the ongoing public debate on “Belarusian identity.”
Russia, Ukraine: Party News
The Ivanov Report writes about last week's 10th Congress of the ruling United Russia party: “The victors have suddenly realized that as the ‘leading political force of the country’, it's their job to deal with the crisis and face its inevitably negative political and social consequences.” Taras Kuzio reports that...
Russia: Yevgeny Kolesov and Politkovskaya Trial
Robert Coalson of RFE/RL's The Power Vertical writes about “the open-again, closed-again, open-again trial of three men allegedly involved in the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya” and the role that former juror Yevgeny Kolesov has played in it.
Macedonia: “The First (!?) Macedonian Webcomics”
Filip Stojanovski of Razvigor :-) reports that “[a]t last an independent Macedonian artist has started publishing a genuine webcomics [MKD].”
Hungary, Czech Republic: Romaphobia
The Hungarian Spectrum reports on the murder of a 14-year-old girl in a Hungarian village, which led to an anti-Roma rally. The Reference Frame is unhappy with Al Jazeera's story on discrimination against the Czech Republic's Roma children in their access to education.
The Baltics, India: “The Dangers of Turning a Minority into an Underclass”
Lithuania-based Andrei Khrapavitski of Belarusan American Blog reflects on the events in Mumbai and suggests there might be a “lesson for the Baltics” there: “I know any status comparisons of Muslims in India to a Russian minority in Latvia or Estonia would be more than far-fetched, nevertheless I can see...
