Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from September, 2011
Macedonia: Protests Against Police Brutality Continue
Several hundred persons continued the street protests against police brutality in Skopje on September 29. With only two exceptions, the Macedonian media largely obeyed the embargo on covering the protests.
Russia: A New Online Game Might Change Offline Moscow
A graduate of Strelka Institute Andrey Goncharov gave an interview about his final project an online game “Crowdsourced Moscow 2012″. According to the interview the game can contibute to real democracy and allow people to participate in reshaping the offline public space of their city through online.
Russia: Pro-Kremlin Youth Movement Leader Seeks New Internet ‘Activists’
A journalist from “Afisha” magazine had succeded to attend a secret meeting in the underground Moscow bunker dedicated to the training of a new generation of pro-Kremlin Internet activists organized by a leader of “Nashi” youth movement Vasiliy Yakemenko. Yakemenko demanded from pariticipants to initiate citizen Internet-based campaigns and argued that the main goal...
Albania: One in three pays bribes
Home of the Albanian Blogger reports that one out of three Albanians pays bribes, making the country the most corrupt in Europe.
Russia: Expert Analyzes RuNet's Role Under Putin's Presidency
Nikolay Kononov, a columnist of Russian “Forbes,” says [ru] that the Internet will be the only space where real politics will take place in the era of new Putin's presidency. In an article “12 Years in the Internet” [ru] he predicts that the virtual politics will be able to penetrate to...
Bulgaria: Clashes Between Roma and Ethnic Bulgarians in Katunitsa
Violent clashes in the Bulgarian village of Katunitsa broke out Friday night, following the death of a 19-year-old ethnic Bulgarian, who had been run over by a vehicle driven by a man linked to the local Roma clan leader. Ruslan Trad reports on the Bulgarian netizens' reactions.
Russia: “For Russia Without Putin” Rally in Moscow
Ilya Varlamov (@varlamov) and Roustem Adagamov (@adagamov) are tweeting [ru] and posting pictures from the not-too-numerous “For Russia Without Putin” opposition rally in downtown Moscow.
Russia: Racial Propaganda in the State-Owned Media
Drawing on a rich tradition of "political technology" honed under both the Tsarist and Soviet police states, the Russian media are now rife with paid stories planted to advance specific agendas. Will Partlett examines what appears to be a recent example of this practice.
Russia: Controlled Media Support Party Hijacking
With Russia’s parliamentary and presidential elections quickly approaching, political battles are becoming an almost daily occurrence. The latest scandal has reminded many bloggers that political celebrities can be discredited as fast as they're pushed into the spotlight.
Russia: Cyber Security Code of Conduct?
The Russian government is attempting to spread the system of Internet controls abroad. Russian bloggers are interpreting these attempts as either the current regime's basic self-preservation instinct, or, even more troublesome, as inadequate thinking about the Internet.
Bulgaria: Meeting to Support Palestine's UN Bid
A silent meeting in support of Palestine's bid for a UN seat and independence took place in Sofia on Sep. 20, organized by the Bulgarian-Palestinian Association for Friendship and Development. There was coverage by Press TV and here are photos from the event on Facebook (Bulgaria to support independent Palestine...
Ukraine: Vitaly Portnikov's “Winter Time”
Foreign Notes posts a loose translation of Vitaly Portnikov's latest analytical piece [ru] on the political situation in Ukraine.
Latvia: Talk Show Host Fired for “Breach of Good Taste”
Free Speech Emergency in Latvia reports that a Latvian-American talk show host has been fired from LTV for calling certain politicians “whores.”
Ukraine: Chernobyl Trip Reports
At Desolation Travel, Jane Keeler and Derek Kedziora write about their trip to Chernobyl this past summer.
Poland: “Hot Autumn in Politics”
Politics, Economy, Society writes about the upcoming Oct. 9 parliamentary elections in Poland.
Russia: Jokes and Xenophobia
Donna Welles writes about Russian jokes (and a blog that translates Russian and Ukrainian jokes into English) – and about xenophobia.
CEE: Top 10 Worldwide Download Speed
Watcher.com.ua reports [uk] that, according to a 6-month study of 27 million downloads by 20 million computers in 224 countries conducted by Pando Networks, Romania (1,909KBps), Bulgaria (1,611KBps), Lithuania (1,462KBps) and Latvia (1,377KBps) have the second, third, fourth and fifth highest download speeds in the world, while Ukraine has been...
Ukraine: Euro 2012 “Travel Advisory”
“Travel advisory for Ukraine and EURO-2012” from uaMuzik's Vasyl – “short and sweet”: “Travel there with extreme caution – levels of barbarity and disrespect for human life by law enforcement officials is at intolerable levels by international standards. They claim that there will be law enforcement officials that speak your...
Slovenia: Government Loses Confidence Vote
Sleeping With Pengovsky reports that the government of PM Borut Pahor has lost a confidence vote in parliament.
Latvia: Parliamentary Elections Results
Andrew Wilson of OpenDemocracy.net and Juris Kaža of Failed State Latvia? analyze the results of the Sep. 17 parliamentary elections in Latvia.
Hungary: Photojournalists Banned From Parliament
The Contrarian Hungarian reports that photojournalists working for two Hungarian online news portals have been banned from entering the Parliament building following the publication of photos of PM Orbán's handwritten notes on the speech he was delivering on the country's defense plan.
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