Stories about Russian from November, 2007
Ukraine: Thoughts on Yushchenko's Bloc
It's been nearly two months since the Sept. 30 snap parliamentary election in Ukraine, and although there are plenty of "democratic coalition" promises and hopes in the air, it has yet to materialize. Or not.
Ukraine: Holodomor
This year, Nov. 24 was the day to remember the victims of the 1932-33 famine in Ukraine, Holodomor. Ukrainian bloggers share what they learned about the tragedy from their grandparents.
Kazakhstan: Gangster Movie Hits Box Office
The first Kazakh fully commercial movie – shot, cut and promoted without state support with the purpose to extract money from the box-office – has produced a big debate in...
Kazakhstan: Economic Crisis Aftermaths
In the aftermath of slight economic and financial crisis, which the government prefers to call a “correction of the market”, the bloggers keep on discussing its consequences. Sarimov says that...
Russia: “Dirty Tricks” and Opinion Polls
Ten day to go before the Russian Duma election, Dmitri Minaev of De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis reports on the "dirty tricks" used in this year's campaign, and LJ user drugoi conducts an online opinion poll, whose results, among other things, show that the new parliament is likely to be elected by the Russian bloggers' grandmothers.
Russia: To Vote, or Not To Vote?
To vote - or not to vote? To "vote with your feet" - or to follow Mikhail Khodorkovsky's advice and vote for one of the smaller parties that you don't "despise"? To boycott the election - or to spoil the ballot? To be proper and check one of the ballot's squares - or to get mischievous and write a swear word across the page? These are the questions that quite a few Russian bloggers seem to be considering right now.
Russia: “Rashn for Dummies”
Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears translates “a double plus good lexicon of newspeak in Moscow’s dangerously jaded fashion community,” originally published in the Bolshoi Gorod.
Russia: Non-Vegetable Voters and Other Election News
Two weeks remain before the Russian Duma election, and the presidential vote isn't too far, either. Below is the first quick review of the blogosphere's election coverage.
Tajikistan: Doubts over Blast in Dushanbe
Vadim is skeptical about “terrorism roots” in the Dushanbe explosion. He alleges that the blast could be a political technique for restraining the dissatisfaction of the popuilation [ru].
Russia: Bloggers Expose a Pharmaceutical Scam
Thousands of Russian bloggers have united to combat a pharmaceutical scam that tried to persuade Russian pensioners to spend around half of their annual pension on a course of 'anti-arthritis' drugs that were actually little more than vitamin pills. In the course of their campaign, bloggers have not only publicised the scam nationwide, they've forced the notoriously unresponsive Russian government to act.
Russia: Moscow City and Its ‘Gastarbeiter’ (Photos)
Charles Ganske of Russia Blog goes up to the 35th floor of the Federation Tower and takes pictures of the Moscow City, “the largest construction project in Europe.” LJ user...
Russia: Photos of a 1902 Building in St. Pete
LJ user an-drevv takes photos inside the 1902 residential building on the corner of Zagorodny Prospekt and Zvenigorodskaya Ulitsa in St. Petersburg. The building's condition could have been worse, the...
Kyrgyzstan: Parties Struggle for Power
Political events in Kyrgyzstan for the past several weeks have spurred a lot of discussions, assumptions and dispute among Kyrgyz bloggers. Following president Bakiev's decree on dissolution of the Kyrgyz...
Russia: Chewing Gum in the Soviet Union
Like a million other things, chewing gum wasn't freely available in the Soviet Union. In the post translated below, a Russian blogger recalls a childhood experience involving chewing gum - zhvachka - that appears comical now, but must have been rather traumatic 30 years ago.
Russia: Aleksei Pichugin's Trial Blogger Nominated for the BOBs
For the second year in a row, LJ user sivilia-1 (Russian journalist Vera Vasilieva) is taking part in Deutsche Welle's Best of the Blogs Awards (the BOBs). Her blog is devoted to coverage of the case of Aleksei Pichugin, former security chief of former oil giant Yukos, sentenced to life in prison for involvement in at least three murders; his arrest in 2003 marked the beginning of the Kremlin's attack against Mikhail Khodorkovsky. In the post translated below, sivilia-1 explains to her critics the choice of her blogging subject matter.
Ukraine: 1,000 Riot Police vs 50 Crimean Tatars
Ukrainiana critiques TV coverage of the recent clash between nearly a thousand of Ukrainian riot police and 50 Crimean Tatars at Mount Ay-Petri in Crimea – and asks some questions:...
Kazakhstan: Media Wars
As the Rakhat Aliyev affair spins, and the ex-ambassador and former presidential son-in-law continues blackmailing the country’s authorities with discrediting materials, including publication of illegal taps of telephone conversations between...
Kazakhstan: A Plan to Spend Money
Adam Kesher reviews reports on the new Sir Norman Foster's architectural project in Astana, Kazakhstan, looks at this piece of news from the point of view of how do the...
Kazakhstan: Blogosphere Debates the Language Issue
A month ago Nurgeldy told at neweurasia how they are fighting poor knowledge of the state language in the Kazakhstan's northern city of Kustanai. His post gave rise to quite...
Russia: Bloggers’ Perspectives on Xenophobia
Wherever you click in the Russian blogosphere these days, you always seem to end up reading posts on nationalism, ethnicity, xenophobia, ethnic violence and other related subjects. In October, apart from discussing the famous DNA scientist's race comments and the U.S. president's DNA comments, Russian bloggers dealt with at least two xenophobic attacks - one that took place in Spain, and the other one domestic.
Russia: Togliatti Bus Explosion
On Oct. 31, a bomb exploded on a bus packed with morning commuters in the southern Russian city of Togliatti, killing eight people and wounding 50. Russian bloggers discuss the tragedy and the highly disturbing images of the victims that have flooded the blogosphere.
