Stories about Russian from October, 2008
Kazakhstan: Blocked Bloggers Discuss Economics
Although LiveJournal, the major blog platform on the post-Soviet space, including Kazakhstan, is still not accessible through the national telecom monopolist Kazakhtelecom, Internet enthusiasts find their way to express their...
Russia, U.S.: Sergei Elkin's U.S. Election Cartoons
Ukrainiana writes about Russian cartoonist Sergei Elkin and his cartoons on the U.S. presidential race.
Russia: “Help Svetlana Bakhmina” Petition
As of now, 71,250 people have signed an online petition appealing to the Russian president to pardon Svetlana Bakhmina, a former senior lawyer for Mikhail Khodorkovsky's oil company Yukos, who was arrested in December 2004 and sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison for embezzlement and tax evasion in April 2006.
Russia: Dozens of LJ Blogs Suspended, Then Restored
Several dozen Russian LJ blogs – including quite a few top-ranking ones – got suspended for no obvious reason tonight, causing a massive LJ outcry. LJ user tarlith-history compiled a...
Russia, U.S.: LJ User Drugoi in NYC
LJ user drugoi, one of the most popular and prolific Russian bloggers, shares his wonderful photos of New York City - and his thoughts on some of the issues discussed on Oct. 17 at the Russian-language blogosphere conference at Columbia University School of Journalism - "Russia Online: Mapping the Russian-Language Blogosphere and Participatory Internet."
Russia, Ukraine: Financial Crisis
IZO cites a post by LJ.Rossia.org user mrparker (RUS) about a somewhat panicky mistranslation of a Reuters news item on the financial situation by a Russian news agency. Also, a...
Kazakhstan: LiveJournal Blocked
On October 7th, the Kazakhstani users have found themselves unable to access popular social network LiveJournal. This website is the most popular blogging platform in the Russian-speaking communities on the...
Russia: Firing Grad Rockets at Tskhinvali on Aug. 8?
War correspondent Vadim Rechkalov (LJ user voinodel) has posted an Aug. 9 interview with a Russian soldier (RUS) who said they had fired at least 20 Grad “packages” (each “package”...
Russia: A Ticketless Passenger
In Moscow, you can buy a bus/trolleybus/tram ticket from the driver and it'll cost you 25 rubles, which is roughly $1. If you buy your tickets at special kiosks, you get a discount. But some people prefer to cheat and ride for free. A ticketless passenger is known as zayats in Russian: a hare. Moscow-based LJ user kozenko described a recent encounter with one representative of this species.
Ukraine: Voting Again – For the New Ones, and Against Them All
On Oct. 8, president Victor Yushchenko announced the dissolution of the Ukrainian parliament. The snap election - the third parliamentary vote in Ukraine since the 2004 Orange Revolution - has been scheduled for Dec. 7. Here is what some Ukrainian bloggers think of the political situation in their country.
Kazakhstan: Language, Economics and Foreign Policy
The Kazakhstani authorities have again brought up the issue of state language. Kazakh language has been heavily depreciated in the Soviet times against the background of inculcation of Russian language....
Russia: Remembering Anna Politkovskaya
Oct. 7 marks two years since the assassination of journalist Anna Politkovskaya. No one has been jailed so far, but three men are expected to go to trial soon for their suspected involvement in the crime. Below is a selection of today's commemorative posts from the Russophone blogosphere.
Russia: “Alice in Wonderland” in Swahili
LJ user tapirr (RUS) compares illustrations in the original Alice in Wonderland to those in a Swahili-language edition.
Russia: Eid ul-Fitr in Moscow
Over 30,000 Muslims reportedly came to the Moscow Cathedral Mosque for a communal prayer on Sept. 30, the first day of Eid ul-Fitr, a Muslim holiday known in Russia as Uraza Bayram, which marks the end of the month of Ramadan. Russian bloggers' reactions ranged from hostile to positive, and below is a translation of some of them.
