Stories about Russia from September, 2007
Russia: Nashi
Darkness at Noon writes about the pro-Kremlin youth movement Nashi and the impact they may have on Russia's political development.
Russia: Moscow Subway Myth
The Turkish Invasion writes about one myth of the Moscow subway that's actually true.
Russia: “Art Concrete”
Copydude writes about what may pass as Soviet roadside art, and about a misadventure with a Russian woman in Kaliningrad.
Russia: Kasparov; “The Italian”
The Accidental Russophile comments on the New Yorker 12-page piece on Garry Kasparov, and writes about The Italian, a Russian movie by director Andrei Kravchuk.
Ukraine: The Language Issue
Victor Yanukovych's Party of the Regions is pushing for a referendum on granting Russian official status as a national language, in addition to Ukrainian. Below is a selection of views on the "language issue" from the Ukrainian blogosphere.
Russia: Conference on Renewable Energy Sources
Web 2.0. is finally coming to the Balkans: SeminarskiRad.com, a portal based on the share principle and offering free resources to Serbian students, has become really popular very quickly. A few days ago, the portal's blog supplement opened on Blogger, dedicated to the topics relevant to Serbia's youth. The first post is a report from a recent Moscow conference on renewable energy, whose aim was to educate young scientists in order to make this planet greener.
Russia: The Pulse of the Blogosphere
Scraps of Moscow tries the Pulse of the Blogosphere, a new feature of the Russian Yandex portal and writes about some of the findings – here and here: “Consider this – the Russian blogosphere has consistently mentioned “porno” and “pornography” fewer times than it has mentioned Putin for most of...
Russia: Media and Blogs on Zubkov
Scraps of Moscow posts a comprehensive review of blog and media coverage of Russia's new prime minister Victor Zubkov.
Russia: More on Ingushetia
David McDuff links to his own translation of a piece on the situation in Ingushetia.
Latvia: N. Irish Football Fans and Russian Nationalists
All About Latvia writes about an encounter between Northern Irish football fans and Russian nationalists in Riga.
Former Soviet Union: Yegor Gaidar's Book
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis reads Yegor Gaidar's book, in which the Soviet Union's collapse is explained from an economic perspective.
Russia: Moscow's “Unusual People and Peculiar Foods”
BusterPh.D.Candidate of moscowthroughbrowneyes writes about “unusual people and peculiar foods” that make Moscow feel like home.
Free Speech Roundup: Turkey, Russia, Pakistan, India
For the second time in a year, a Turkish court ordered, on Tuesday September 18, to block access to YouTube.com over videos deemed insulting to the country's leaders. In Russia, the 23-year old LiveJournal blogger, who wrote a fictional story on his blog inspired by the Virginia Tech shooting, could face up to three years in prison for "falsely warning of a terror threat." In Pakistan, access to the popular blogging platform blogspot.com has been blocked again. And Mumbai's police are planning to install keystroke loggers in cyber cafes.
Russia: Ingushetia Not Chechnya-II
Window on Eurasia explains why the situation in Ingushetia “is not Chechnya-II but possibly something worse.”
Russia: Demography
Window on Eurasia writes about the lack of improvement in Russia's demographic situation: “…the small rise in the number of births reflects instead a temporary increase in the number of Russian women of child-bearing age.”
Europe: Romani Culture
TOL's Romantic writes about Lojze Podobnik, a Slovenian author whose works focus on Romani culture. Pesha's Blog links to Professor Steve Balkin's compilation of online resources on Romani culture.
Moldova: Transnistria
Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Transnistria, “a sort of post-Communist gangster state”: “Travellers unanimously agree that Transnistria is weirdly fascinating for the first hour or two, then just depressing and boring.”
Ukraine: Car Accidents
Petro of Petro's Jotter writes about car crashes that he sees regularly during his morning commutes in Kyiv.
Russia, Ukraine: “Fiddling” With Voters’ Lists
Elections approach both in Russia and Ukraine, and politicians start “fiddling” with the numbers of registered voters’ – or accusing their opponents of doing so. Window on Eurasia reports that “members of the entourage of Kaliningrad Governor Georgiy Boos are thinking about combining his district with the Adygei Republic or...
Russian LiveJournal blogger could face three-year sentence
The 23-year old Russian blogger, Dmitry Shirinkin, who wrote a fiction story on his blog inspired by the Virginia Tech shooting, could face up to three years in prison. In an interview with Russia Today (watch the video on GV Advocacy), Shirinkin said “I didn’t expect that a short writing...
Russia: Hotel Baltika in Kaliningrad
Copydude writes about Kaliningrad's Hotel Baltika, “centrally located in the middle of nowhere”: “But for some inscrutable reason, Internet only works on Mondays. To help you feel helpless, this vast and isolated complex doesn’t have a bankomat or a shop either.”
