Stories about Russia from December, 2010
Russia: Internet 2010 Overview
2010 highlighted several important trends of Russian Internet. Online audience grows very fast with people getting more news online and actively using social networks. In a lot of ways, 2010 brought a recognition of the power of the Internet into Russian society.
Russia: Politics and Justice
At OpenDemocracy.net, Dmitry Travin writes about politics and justice in Russia.
Russia: Media Coverage of Khodorkovsky Verdict
Overview of media reactions to the verdict and sentence in the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev – by Robert Amsterdam, Global Chaos, and Sublime Oblivion.
Russia: Informal Medvedev Election Trailer Realeased Online
An anonymous user created a short à la Guitar Hero video trailer jokingly presenting Dmitry Medvedev as “President Hero 2012.” The video draws attention to the upcoming 2012 presidential elections in Russia.
Russia: Regional Minister Hired Through Internet
A new minister for information technologies of Russia's Ulyanovsk region has been found through Internet [RUS]. Elena Balashova, 35, was one of 2,563 people who submitted their online applications for the position. The candidates used Livejournal to share their professional plan and were interviewed via Skype.
Russia: Author of Wildfires Internet Meme is Prosecuted by Police
A blogget top-lap, an author of a famous blog post [ENG] demanding “rynda” from Vladimir Putin and criticizing the state's response to Russian wildfires closed his blog [ENG] and disappeared. In the last posts, he wrote [RUS] that Russian police conducted a search at his home, took his computer and...
Russia: How Vladivostok Christmas Tree Craziness Made Me Laugh
People in Vladivostok never lose their sense of humor. Otherwise one would be in the perpetual state of depression. They laugh about everything from nerve-racking traffic jams and alarming snow situations to Christmas tree arrangements and new taxes on the imported Japanese cars.
Russia: Is Internet Guilty of Organizing Nationalistic Riots?
Russian media and blogosphere ponder who is responsible for the nationalists’ riots in Moscow in mid-December. But the authorities found their own scapegoat – the Internet.
Russia: List of Regional Governors’ Online Tools
“Vedomosti” newspaper, published [RUS] a detailed list of online tools of Russian regional governors. The list includes links to personal websites, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook profiles, and even YouTube channels.
Russia: Media Coverage of Manezh Riots
A Good Treaty posts a detailed review of the Russian press coverage of the Manezh riots in Moscow.
Russia: Newspaper Announces Its Partnership with Wikileaks
Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta known for its critical stance toward Russian authorities announced today its official partnership with notorious Wikileaks. This came as a punch toward less-known magazine Russian Reporter that, until now, claimed to be the official partner of Wikileaks.
South/North Korea: A Review of 2010 in Keywords
From Cheonan incident in March to the latest North Korean attack on Yeonpyeong island, Global Voices took a look back at the year’s hottest keywords that have been widely circulated over Korean internet venues.
Russia: Studying Online Mobilization of the Manezh Riots
Recent riots on Manezhnaya Square next to the Kremlin showed that Russian soccer fans have become a powerful community who can mobilize thousands very quickly around an event. Last week, that event was the commemoration of Yegor Sviridov, a fan of the Moscow soccer club “Spartak” who was murdered in...
Russia: Police Intensifies Surveillance ‘to Prevent Calls to Violence’
Special services are monitoring social networks and track IP-addresses of those who spread calls to violence, rian.ru reports [RUS]. Vkontakte.ru, Russian social network, increased removal of the groups with xenophobia content after the events at Manezh square. “600 moderators work on removal of groups inciting hate-crime”, rian.ru adds [RUS].
Russia: Photos and a Testimony of the Clashes in Moscow
Photo-blogger Ilya Varlamov (@varlamov) and bb-mos tweet and share photos of the current events in the center of Moscow. Tujana-jx reports a story of a skinhead assaulting an older woman in metro.
Russia: the Blogosphere Boils As Ethnic Clashes Flood Moscow
Interfax.ru, Russian news portal moved to manual update mode due to the overload caused by numerous ethnic clashes (so far 1200 arrested and 30 injured) in different places of Moscow, news2.ru reported. Fanat1k.ru, largest soccer fan media outlet, has been inaccessible throughout the day, many smaller fan forums don't load...
Russia: “WikiFakes”
FP's Passport writes about the possibly fake WikiLeaks’ “scoops” published by Russkiy Reporter magazine.
Russia: Commentary on Dec. 11 Moscow Rioting
Reactions to the Dec. 11 xenophobic riots in downtown Moscow – by Vadim Nikitin, Miriam Elder, Natalia Antonova, Robert Amsterdam's blog, and The Power Vertical.
Russia: Too Warm in the World's Coldest Place
eYakutia reports on the abnormally “warm weather” in Oymyakon, “the world’s coldest inhabited place”: just -20 ºC/-4 ºF, “the heat record of the Siberian winter.”
Russia: Kashin on Spartak Fans and Nov. 6 Beating, in English
Russian journalist Oleg Kashin writes for OpenDemocracy.net about the authorities’ inadequate response to a rally by Spartak football fans, and, for the New York Times, about the Nov. 6 attack on him in Moscow (both texts are in English).
@MedvedevRussia, Are You Listening? A Story of 6 Months on Twitter
Since first appearing on Twitter in June 2010, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has become one of the most prominent tweeters on Russian Tweet-o-sphere. Yelena Osipova looks back at some of the highlights and key moments of the past six months.