Stories about Russian from April, 2009
Russia: Teen Curfew; Police Officer's Shooting Spree
President Dmitry Medvedev approved changes to children's rights law, allowing regional authorities to bar unaccompanied minors under the age of 18 from public places from 10 PM to 6 AM. Below are some reactions from the Russian blogosphere, including a few mentions of Denis Yevsyukov, a Moscow police officer who shot three people to death and wounded six at a supermarket on the day he turned 32.
Kazakhstan: Internet Regulation Amendments Adopted in First Reading
Yesterday the Kazakh Parliament's lower chamber has approved the first reading of the draft law on online regulation, which is meant to equate all websites (including blogs, social networks, chatrooms, forums and even online shops) with mass media. On the other hand of this law, the authorities will be granted...
Ukraine: The Ruins and the Greed
LJ user sabeloff posts pictures of the ruined remains of a seaside young pioneer camp in Odesa and shares the recent history of the place - which, unfortunately, is a rather common sight in today's Ukraine.
Russia: A Chechen Folk Tale
Just A Mon translates a Chechen folk tale about Beksolta who could catch three lions in one swoop and posts it at Sundry Translations and Other Tangentialia.
Russia: Baymurat (aka Jimmy) Singing Bollywood Song
Videos of a rendition of a Bollywood song by Baymurat (aka Jimmy) – an ethnic Uzbek from Tajikistan, a gastarbeiter in a town near Moscow, and a YouTube celebrity: one of the earlier versions is here, and the performance at Asian Dub Foundation's April 4 gig in St. Petersburg, Russia...
Kazakhstan: Cadres decide everything
“Cadres decide everything” – this expression of Josef Stalin is widely quoted by the Kazakhstanis when they discuss new appointments in the government, which usually doesn't feature much new faces, coming down to “reshuffling” of the old “deck”. Megakhuimyak notes [ru]: [Russia's president] Medvedev replaces governors and creates his own...
Russia: Hyde Park; WinRAR; Hot Water; etc.
A few links to recent posts at IZO: president Medvedev “to create a Russian Speaker's Corner, based on Hyde Park”; a Russian ad agency shows “how the WinRAR data compression utility shrinks files” – “bad idea, badly executed”; a useful link for Moscow-based readers who'd like to know when there'll...
Kazakhstan: Blackout in Almaty
Last Wednesday, April 15, due to damage of the high-voltage power line Toktogul-Frunze (the largest line in the Kyrgyz Republic), most enterprises and even strategic buildings in towns of the northern Kyrgyzstan and southern Kazakhstan were in blackout. The supply of gas and hot water has been suspended, ATMs were...
Global Recession: The world is talking. Are we listening?
There is no lack of online articles about the various aspects of the global economic crisis. Many of them are written by economic experts and policymakers. What about the perspectives of ordinary bloggers? This global roundup of blogs gathers stories of people around the world who are struggling to survive the economic downturn.
Azerbaijan: Youth activist expelled from university
According to information spread by the Dalga Youth Movement, Parviz Azimov, the head of its Southern Regional Office, has been expelled from university. Both inside and outside Azerbaijan, bloggers are concerned by the action taken against the student activist.
Global Recession: “Underdevelopment is a mixed blessing”
There are governments which insist that their countries are not affected by the global economic crisis. Most of the time they are not convincing; and their constituents do not believe in the supposed improvement of the economy. Countries with very small economies and countries which are not globally-integrated are usually the same countries which claim that the financial crisis has not affected them so far.
Russia: “Extorting the Victims of Beslan”
A translation of LJ user varfolomeev-v‘s report (RUS) on how “The State is demanding money from former hostages in Beslan” – at Robert Amsterdam's blog.
Kazakhstan: Educational deadlock
Translation of the Adam's post Two popular Kazakhstani bloggers – dass and megakhuimyak – are discussing the problems of education these days. The first is concerned over this topic because he's got a school-age son, and the latter is worried because he is delivering lectures at the unversity. Today at...
Moldova: Overview of Blog Coverage of the Protests
For all the attention given to the impact of social media on the protests in Moldova in the past few days, there were people both in and outside Moldova who felt that media coverage of the events was inadequate. To somewhat fill this gap, here is a selection of posts from Anglophone and Russophone blogs.
Moldova: “Chisinau Burning”?
Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow reviews recent blog, Twitter and media coverage of the situation in Moldova.
Russia, UAE: Sulim Yamadayev – Dead or Alive?
According to some sources, Sulim Yamadayev, former Chechen rebel commander and former commander of the Russian Vostok ("East") Battalion, was assassinated in Dubai on March 28. According to other sources, he survived the shooting. Below is a selection of bloggers' reactions to the conflicting media reports about the attack on Yamadayev.
Russia: Lenin Statue Bombed in St. Petersburg
What one saw in the April 1 post by LJ user drugoi looked like an April Fool's Day joke at first - a Photoshop prank, most likely: a photo of a statue of Vladimir Lenin in St. Petersburg, the Bolshevik leader's back to the Finland Train Station, with a huge hole torn in the lower part of his bronze overcoat. But the photo was taken by AP's Dmitry Lovetsky, and there were more available, from other sources, taken from different vantage points, so it must have been for real. And it was.
Russia: Soviet Artifacts
Photos of some ubiquitous but now pretty much extinct Soviet objects – by LJ user azamat-tseboev (text is in Russian).
