Stories from RuNet Echo from April, 2010
Russia: “Burnt By the Box Office”
Vadim Nikitin of Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog reviews the reactions to Nikita Mikhalkov's Burnt by the Sun 2, “Russia’s most expensive movie.”
Russia: More Commentary on Sex Video Scandal
A Good Treaty comments – here and here – on the sex video scandals involving members of the Russian opposition, notes an increase in blog traffic (“nothing brings visitors to a website like the promise of nudity”), and responds to Julia Ioffe‘s Foreign Policy piece on the scandal.
Russia: Russian Authorities Want to Block 2,000 Web sites
Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to make addition to the law “On Information” allowing Russian authorities to block an access to around 2,000 Web sites with extremist, pirated and pornographic content, Russian information agency “New region” reported.
Russia, Poland: The Truth About Katyn
Steve Bandera of Kyiv Scoop writes about Andrzej Wajda’s 2007 film Katyń, which has been shown twice in Russia in the past few weeks (reactions from the Russian blogosphere are here) – and comments that the truth about the massacre is “only coming out now in the former Soviet Union...
Russia: “The Sirens of Russia”
A Good Treaty posts a YouTube video of a Moscow driver's encounter with a high-ranking official's BMW and explains why “the special road status of the elite is a sore point with the Russian public.” (A few more related links in Russian are here.)
Russia: Medvedev Twitter Accounts
Profy writes about the soon-to-be-launched official Twitter account of the Russian president – and the recently suspended fake one: “The thing is that this Twitter account misbehaved on the day of last week’s terrorist bombings in Moscow: a comment was published that looked very much like the first official comment...
Russia: Authorities Inspect Major Social Network
Russia authorities started inspection of the country's major social network Vkontakte.ru, rbcdaily.ru reported. The authorities claim the social network became popular with neo-Nazi, xenophobic and extremist groups. But the inspection can also be an attempt to extract users’ private data.
Russia: Internet Development in Regions
Yandex.ru published report [RUS, .pdf] on Internet development in Russian regions. Report concludes that the drastic increase in Internet penetration during 2009 was in Russian regions. The average speed of the Internet there is 1,100 kbs. The most active bloggers are in the Far East.
Russia: The ‘Little Blue Buckets’ Protest
The Little Blue Buckets mock protest, initiated (RUS) by LJ user cook, took place in Moscow Sunday, as drivers fitted their cars with blue plastic buckets (siniye vedyorki) to protest the impunity of state officials who routinely use blue flashing lights (migalki) on their vehicles to violate traffic rules and...
Russia: Volcanic Eruption Provokes Cooperation and Jokes
Two days passed since Mother Nature showed its power to mankind letting the Icelandic volcano with unpronounceable name “Eyjafjallajökull” fill the European aerospace with ashes. As the ash cloud went east, more and more airports were closing, which led to European-wide transport collapse. Russian bloggers – also affected by the...
Russia: New Book About Livejournal Announced
Russian magazine “Ogonyok” published an interview with Andrey Podshibyakin, a former executive editor of Livejournal. Podshibyakin tells about his new book “Po-zhivomu: 1999-2009. Livejournal in Russia.” The book covers a decade in the history of this popular blogging platform in Russia.
Russia: Facebook to Open Office
Russian daily Vedomosti reports [RUS] that Facebook is going to open its office in Moscow and develop cooperation with local cellular companies. So far, most Russians have been using local social networking platforms (e.g., Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Moy Mir). The article's translation is published [ENG] in The Moscow Times.
Kyrgyzstan: A Photo Report From Bishkek
Photos and commentary (RUS) on the recent unrest, looting and poverty in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan – by LJ user zyalt (Ilya Varlamov).
Russia: Eyewitness Story Of Polish Plane Crash in Smolensk
LJ user elena-pushistay shares [RUS] an eyewitness story about the Polish plane crash near Smolensk, told to her by a local woman named Lyudmila, who lives just 3 km from the military airport where the tragedy took place.
Russia: Reactions to the Polish Tragedy
April 10, 2010, the day that should have started a new era in the Russian-Polish relations, brought tragic news instead. Airplane with the highest Polish establishment on board crashed in the Smolensk forest. The reaction of the Russian blogosphere was divided as usual when it comes to the Russian-Polish relations.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss Andrzej Wajda's “Katyń” Movie
For the first time in Russian history, Andrzej Wajda's “Katyń” (2007) has been aired on Russian public television channel “Kultura” -- thus leading to online discussions on Stalin regime, historical truth, humanism and Russian-Poland relations.
Kyrgyzstan: Social Media Create and Fight Information Overload
The coverage of recent bloody events in Kyrgyzstan by online and traditional media caused information overload that made it very difficult to create a consistent picture. That is why bloggers who focused on monitoring the information, checking its credibility and creating consistent picture of events, played an important role in an adequate coverage of the protests.
Kyrgyzstan: The “Archived” Revolution
On April 6th, Kyrgyzstan was hit by mass protests which eventually led to the overthrow of the government as well as many deaths. While the internet did not play a major role in mobilizing the protests, it has been used to document what happened in detail.
Russia: Expat Bloggers List
Ru_travel community tries to make a list of expat bloggers who live in the most distant parts of the world. Russophone bloggers found in New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and even Antarctica.
Russian Government to Develop National Search Engine
Why would the Russian government try to develop its own search engine? Bloggers and Internet experts in the country attempt to come up with explanations and possible implications of that ambitious plan.
Russia: War Reporter Blogs on Trauma and Politics of the Subway Attacks
Olga Allenova is a special correspondent for the Kommersant daily, author of Chechnya is Close: War Through the Eyes of a Woman, a collection of the 1999-2007 war reportage from the North Caucasus. In the post below, she writes about the March 29 subway bombings, the subsequent pain and trauma, and the resulting political and media responses.
