Stories from 3 July 2007
Germany: Stasi Smell Museum
Boing Boing writes about the Stasi Smell Museum: “The Stasi — East German secret police — kept an enormous museum of ‘smell samples’ of German citizens, kept in case they ever needed to give hunting dogs the scent of a fugitive criminal.”
Ukraine: Kyiv Attractions
Olechko writes about Tavriyski Igry music festival, the Pyrogiv open-air folk museum, and the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra.
Serbia: Red Hot Chili Peppers in Indjija
Belgrade 2.0 writes about the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ concert in the town of Indjija – and posts pictures, and reviews the bloggers’ responses.
Serbia, Montenegro: “Bringing the Soviets to Heel”
Anegdote tells an old story about a Communist Party council in a remote Montenegrin village.
Russia: Irkutsk Photos
Photographer Oleg Klimov images of Irkutsk – here (RUS) and here.
Russia: St. Basil's Cathedral
Instead of a post on the battle of Kosovo, De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow – and posts a photo of a graffiti in Samara, which says in Serbian: “Serbs and Russians are brothers forever. Greece, Serbia, Russia.”
Russia: Getting Used to Moscow, Russian Food, etc.
Darkness at Noon writes about his “newfound acceptance of Russia.”
Russia: 27 Ways to Tell You Live in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
Tim Newman of White Sun of the Desert and BearBait list 27 ways “to tell you live in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.” Here's one: “You think nothing of paying USD3000 for an apartment refurbished with leopard skin touches, a dodgy boiler, pneumatic door bolts and an alcoholic living in the stairwell.”
Turkey, Russia: Kars
Vilhelm Konnander writes about the Turkish city of Kars and “its multi-faceted historical heritage.”
Russia: Illarionov's Translation
La Russophobe posts a translation of Andrei Illarionov's piece in Yezhednevnyi Zhurnal.
Romania: “Communist-Era Motoring Icons”
Romerican again writes about “the mystique and allure of communist-era motoring icons.”
Estonia: International Relations
“But why waste so much energy on that relationship with diminishing returns?” writes Itching for Eestimaa about Estonia's relations with Russia, and continues with an overview of Estonia's relations with other countries.
IRAN:A woman activist sentenced to prison and lashes
According to[Fa] Maydaan, Delaram Ali,a young activist for equal rights was sentenced to about 3 years prison and ten lashes. She had just participated in a peaceful demonstartion against gender discrimination.
Togo: Government funding for political parties
Togo-iTunes posts an article about a new law for financing political parties (Fr). Any of Togo's nearly 80 political parties that have received at least five percent of the vote in legislative elections, five seats in the National Assembly, or 10% in local elections will be eligible for government funding.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Urban Sevdah
London Sevdah writes about the Urban Sevdah band and links to the YouTube videos of their performances.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Book of the Dead
Bosnia Vault writes about “Bosnia’s Book of the Dead” project: according to the recently released findings, over 97,000 Bosnians died as a direct result of the 1991-95 war.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Mosques; Princip and History
Bosnia Blog links to photos of Bosnian mosques and to “an interesting analysis of what would have and have not happened if Gavrilo Princip had not pulled the trigger on that fateful day in Sarajevo.”
Tunisia: Blogger meetup
Tunisien Doctor writes about a recent meetup of fifteen bloggers that went down in Tunis this weekend. A map was drawn. There were games involved (Fr).
India: Rock and Counterculture
Mixed Bag explores the notion of music in counterculture, looking specifically at rock music in India.
Pakistan: More on Lal Masjid
All Things Pakistan links to various media reports on the shootout at Lal Masjid. There is an interesting discussion on in the comments space.
Pakistan: Lal Masjid
Behind the Chairman's Door on a shootout between the students of Lal Masjid and the government, with links to other opinions.
