Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from July, 2005
BBC statement on Afghan blogger threats
The Committee to Protect Bloggers recently received the following statement from the BBC in response to complaints by Afghan Blogger Sohrab Kabuli that somebody has been using a BBC computer to threaten him. The statement was sent by Mike Gardner, Head of Media Relations at BBC World Service: The BBC...
Tajikistan:: Democracy for Tajikistan :: July :: 2005
Alan Cordova looks at the prospects for democracy in Tajikistan and compares it to Kyrgyzstan.
Hungary: Budapest Bloggers’ Tag Cloud
Central Budapest has created a tag cloud for Budapest bloggers (a tag cloud is a list of tags or keywords where the size of the tag indicates how popular it is; we've got one up at the top of this page).
Ukraine: Whoops
Blog de Connard, returning after a brief hiatus, has a good roundup of Ukraining events both pertaining to the author and the country as a whole, including a pretty decent summary of Andriygate, the scandal involving the President's son.
Uzbekistan: Uzbek internet segment faces largest attack
T-Moor reports that a large number of Uzbekistan websites were attacked by hackers and defaced recently.
Russia: What goes around…
Registan.net reports on the rumor that Boris Yelstin may make a political comeback. The reasoning is something like he's the only political figure with the authority to challenge Putin, so he may be put up by anti-Putin forces.
Azerbaijan: AZ Election Poll
Blogrel reports that Azerbaijan citizens don't seem to think that fair elections are a priority.
Hungary: Cabinet Text Mad
Central Budapest reports that the Hungarian parliament has turned to SMS again, this time to gauge public opinion on the subject of drunk drivers.
Russia: Armenian Spammer Found Murdered in Russia
Oneworld Multimedia has more details about the spammer who was found murdered in his apartment this weekend.
Russia: Spammer Murdered
Digenis.org reports that Russia's most notorious spammer was found beaten to death in his apartment over the weekend. It's unknown if his brutal murder was connected to his spamming activities.
Kyrgyzstan: Don’t pack your bags
Registan.net is reporting that US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld's visit to Kyrgyzstan had its intended effect; the US presence at the airbase in Manas will continue indefinately.
Armenia: Localized Armenian Windows XP / Office Under Development
Oneworld Multimedia is reporting that an Armenian version of Windows XP and Microsoft Office is under development. Apparently one sticking point is that Armenian simply doesn't have the technical vocabulary needed for something like this.
Central Asia: Updates on Georgia Grenade
Blogrel has a pretty comprehensive update on the Georgian Grenadier.
Uzbekistan: Political Islam, Reconsidered
Central Asia blog Registan.net points to an article that takes another look at the political Islam.
Flickr Pick from Azerbaijan
“Apple Basket” by Martin Talbot
Ukraine: The WTO Debate
Orange Ukraine follows the twists and turns of passing the legislation needed for Ukraine to join the WTO.
Russia: US Ambassador's closing remarks
Siberian Light covers the departing remarks of Alexander Vershbow, the outgoing US Ambassador to Russia. He also points to a short profile he did of incoming ambassador.
Hungary: Hopes Dim as US Ambassador Opens Big Fat Mouth Again
The irreverent Budapest-based blog Pesticide documents a faux pas by the US ambassador to Hungary.
Central Asia: Bush Grenade Suspect Captured After Shootout in Georgia :: July :: 2005
Oneworld Multimedia has been doing yeoman's work covering the story of the suspected Bush grenade-thrower. He also covers local press reaction to the story, the news that the suspect is in the hospital, and further web coverage.
Kyrgyzstan: It’s not Kafkaesque, but it is boring
David Read, who writes the Kyrgyzstan blog Pretend You're Dread, has been trying to get a birth certificate for his son and get married to his girlfriend. Unfortunately, the Kyrgyz bureaucracy isn't quite flexible enough to deal with his situation…
Georgia: The red menace returns to Georgia
Siberian Light reports that the scourge of illegal tomato plants has suddenly manifested itself in the shadow of the Georgian Parliament building. Registan adds the overlooked tidbit that there may be political overtones to the contraband fruit; after all, the original news story notes that “in recent months tomatoes have...
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