Stories about Russia from October, 2010
CEE: IKEA
Czechmatediary, 20 east, Robert Amsterdam, and The Russia Monitor – on IKEA.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss Putin's Bruise
The recent visit of Vladimir Putin to Ukraine surprised Internet community with official photographs of Putin with a bruise on his face. Russian bloggers jumped on the opportunity to talk about the possible reason for the bruise.
“United Russia” Ideologist Calls to Forbid Official Blogs
Alexey Chadaev, a leading ideologist of “United Russia,” calls [RUS] to ban blogs and microblogs of senior Russian officials. Chadaev explains that blogging threatens the authority of the Russian political leadership since it has been always based on “three whales: miracle, secret and power,” in other words, exclusivity and distance from...
Russia: Blogger Navalny Tries to Prove That Fighting Regime is Fun
One of the most prominent Russian bloggers that use the Internet for fighting corruption in Russia, Alexey Navalny, gives interview to "RuNet Echo" He contemplates if the blogosphere can have a real political impact in Russia and share his further plans for using information technologies in the struggle against injustice.
FSU: ‘The Road’ by Vasily Grossman
Robert & Elizabeth Chandler’s translation of The Road, a short story by Vasily Grossman, and Robert Chandler's article about Grossman's stories and his friendship with Andrey Platonov – at OpenDemocracy.net.
Russia: Online Activism Success Stories
While Internet analysts across the Atlantic are busy arguing whether technology brings about social and political change or not, bloggers in Russia add their humble contributions to the debate, probably unaware that the debate is taking place at all. Their victories are small and not numerous; their impact can easily be attributed to statistical error - but they certainly are out there.
Russia: Post-Emergency Sustainability of Crowdsourcing Projects
Gregory Asmolov analyzes the fate of the Ushahidi-based Help Map project after the wildfires have ended. What is the future of emergency projects and how can we make them more sustainable?
Serbia: Children Get Military Training in Russian Camps
In the prime of the newest public discussion on patriotism and the origin of violence in the Serbian society, newspaper Danas reported that two years ago Serbian children, aged 11 to 15 years old, had spent 16 days in scout camps in Russia, where they were being trained to assemble and dismantle weapons, to throw bombs, and to fire rifles. Sinisa Boljanovic translates some of the reactions to the case.
Russia: More on the Kremlin Worm
More on the Kremlin worm – at Dmitry Sidorov's The Putin State Chronicles. (Yelena Osipova's GV text on the worm scandal is here.)
Russia: Report on Geography of Russian Internet
Russian Sphinx highlights a report issues by the Public Opinion Foundation (FOM) on the geography of the Russian internet.
Russia: Photos of Kurdish Refugees and Homeless People
At PhotoPolygon, photos of ethnic Kurdish refugees from Uzbekistan living in the woods outside Novosibirsk (by user Bender13, via English Russia), and of the homeless people in Blagoveshchensk (by user anikina).
Russia: “Scary Fairy Tales”
War and Peace comments on Ludmilla Petrushevskaya's Scary Fairy Tales story collection.
Venezuela: Nuclear Energy Deal with Russia
President Hugo Chávez met with his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, in Russia on October 14. At the meeting they signed a "plan of action" on different issues; among them, building a nuclear plant in Venezuela. Venezuela is the first Latin American country to sign an atomic energy deal with Russia.
Ukraine: Stance on the Customs Union
The Pipeline reports on Ukraine's stance on membership in the Customs Union.
Russia: Attack on the Chechen Parliament
In Moscow's Shadows writes about the Oct. 19 suicide attack on the Chechen parliament building in Grozny.
Russia: “Siberian Nationalism”
Window on Eurasia writes about “Siberian nationalism” – here and here.
Russia: “The Aftermath” of Luzhkov's Dismissal
RFE/RL's The Power Vertical and PBN's The Pipeline write about “the aftermath” of Yuri Luzhkov's dismissal from the post of Moscow mayor.
Russia: New Video from Primorsky Krai Guerrillas
The story of the cop-killing gang in Russia's Far East continues, and Masha Egupova analyzes the new content.
Russian Newsweek Closes
Closure of Russian Newsweek provoked a lively reaction [RUS] among bloggers. One of the reasons for it is that the majority of Russian Newsweek's staff had blogs. Photomans posts [RUS] his press passes, Anticompromat complains that the whole archive of the magazine is inaccessible now, BFM explains why the closure...
Russia: Photos of Children's Camp Decorated as a Social Network
Habrahabr user goodsprite posts pictures of the children's summer camp. Author, who worked at the camp, claimed that children had to register in Russian social network Vkontakte.ru. Photos depict camp's wallpapers decorated by hand-drawn illustrations of Vkontakte.ru interface and various applications like “Happy Farmer” (analogue of “Farmwille”).
Russia: Videos of Election Fraud in Rostov Region
LJ user serg757 posts several videos that show various fraud cases at the recent regional elections in Rostov region.
