Veronica Khokhlova
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Regional Editor for Central and Eastern EuropeI'm a Kyiv native; divide my time between Kyiv, Moscow, Istanbul and the Croatian island of Vis; lived in St. Petersburg in 2003-2005; attended Rutgers University and the University of Iowa in the 1990s. I blog at Neeka's Backlog; tweet @smetanka; my photos from 2006 up to now are at Flickr; my Global Voices translations are stored on Work Log; some of my pre-blog/non-blog work has been Filed Away.
Latest posts by Veronica Khokhlova
1 February 2012
Ukraine
On Jan. 31, the Ukrainian authorities shut down Ex.ua, a popular file-sharing site. A selection of relevant tweets [en, uk, ru] is here: e.g., @sinplotnika [ru]: “The state has deprived you of bread, now it's also decided to take the show [entertainment] away.”; @Urshulia [uk]: “For me, the loss of Ex.ua is the loss of the alternative to TV. […]”; @rlasuria [ru]: “Is Ex.ua [shutdown] #SOPA tricks?)”. More details and comments - at TorrentFreak; reader Taras writes: “In Ukraine movie on BlueRay costs $40 when minimal salary is $120.” Following Ex.ua's shutdown, the Interior Ministry's site has been down for hours; @kotusenko wrote: “[…] is this some sort of hacker retaliation 4 ex.ua?”
31 January 2012
Russia
Facebook pages of some Russian media outlets (e.g., Afisha, Bolshoi Gorod, Esquire Russia, Channel 1, MTV Russia) were deluged with copy-pasted comments [ru, ar] from users who appeared to be supporters of the Syrian opposition earlier today. An excerpt from a typical comment [ru, ar]: “Syria's regime is killing people with the Russian weapons. If it hadn't been for the Russian veto, the killing of the people in Syria would have been stopped a few months ago. […]” On President Medvedev's and PM Putin's Facebook pages there are comments [en, ru, ar] from both the opponents and supporters of the Syrian regime (e.g., here and here).
17 January 2012
Romania
Power & Politics World reports on the protests in Romania, sparked by budget cuts and the resignation of deputy health minister Raed Arafat. Csíkszereda Musings writes about Raed Arafat and the government's policies: “Basescu and his government seem hell bent on using the excuse of ‘austerity' to destroy education, healthcare and pretty much everything else that the country actually needs.” GV's Ruslan Trad is posting links to media reports on the protests on the GV-CEE Facebook page.
14 January 2012
Bosnia Herzegovina
Back in Dec. 2011, Belgraded wrote on how Angelina Jolie’s In the Land of Blood and Honey is likely to be received in Serbia.
Ukraine
Semkee/Seeds writes about the Ukrainian borscht experience: “How to prepare your borscht is a serious topic and not to be taken lightly. No, it is not just a bowl of soup. It is borscht! Respect your borscht! It is a concept!” More Ukrainian food-related posts - at The Pickle Project (e.g., here and here).
Ukraine
Back in Nov. 2011, Peace Corps volunteer Barb Wieser guest-blogged about her work at the Ismail Gasprinsky Crimean Tatar Library in Simferopol, Crimea, at Uncataloged Museum blog.
Next time we will be there again :)