Stories about History from November, 2008
Moldova, CEE: Rural Bus Stops; Hammer & Sickle @ Flickr
Photos of rural bus stops in Moldova – at Scraps of Moscow. A link to a Hammer and Sickle group on Flickr – at LimbicNutrition Weblog.
Kosovo: Haradinaj's Profile; Discussion at LSE
Popkitchen posts a critique of a Vanity Fair profile of Ramush Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and former prime minister of Kosovo, and writes about a recent discussion on Kosovo's independence held at the London School of Economics.
Ukraine: “No Other Home: The Crimean Tatars” – in Romania and Online
Maria Sonevytsky of My Simferopol Home announces the upcoming exhibition of the “No Other Home: The Crimean Tatars” project in Bucharest, Romania, in mid-December, and links to a related story on Crimean Tatars, complete with photos and audio, published in the online magazine Triple Canopy.
Central & Eastern Europe: Obituaries
Edward Lucas re-posts The Economist‘s obits of Mieczyslaw Rakowski, a Polish Communist journalist and politician, who died on Nov. 8, and of Boris Fyodorov, a Russian economic reformer, who died on Nov. 20. Borut Peterlin notes the death of Vilko Filač, the “cameraman of Emir Kusturica’s best movies.”
Czech Republic: Notes on Prague
Notes on a visit to Prague – at Dr. Sean's Diary, here and here.
Ukraine: Ruthenians
Some background and a translation of an Izvestiya piece on Ukraine's Ruthenians – at Robert Amsterdam's blog.
Ukraine: Taras Kuzio on Yushchenko
Taras Kuzio analyzes “the achievements and failures and unfulfilled expectations of the last four years” in Ukraine – here and here, and also writes that president Yushchenko “had over-focused on the issue [of Holodomor] to the detriment of contemporary political and economic concerns.”
Belarus: The Identity Debate
Andrei Khrapavitski writes about the ongoing public debate on “Belarusian identity.”
India: Kashmir and Mumbai
India’s largest city and economic hub are now target practice grounds; much similar to Kashmir. “We’ve all been watching TV till our eyeballs were emanating radioactive glow,” pings a friend and freelance Photographer from Mumbai, who adds: “Media coverage is par for the course. We’re a very crassly inquisitive race,...
The Balkans: Tragic Legacy
Cafe Turco writes on the inaccuracies in Resolution 819 film and posts a translation of Hasan Nuhanović's article that challenges “the veracity of some scenes.” Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes on a recent exhumation of “50 complete and 883 partial human remains of Srebrenica genocide victims” and links to a documentary...
Czech Republic: Milan Kundera Controversy
Belatedly, a link to the post on Milan Kundera controversy – at Balkans via Bohemia.
Ukraine: “orange revolution” vs “Orange Revolution”
A note on the difference between “orange revolution” and “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine – at Leopolis: “The former represents the current state of politics: disappointment, disillusionment, distrust, financial crisis, brawls in parliament, corruption, broken promises. There is no reason to celebrate the ‘orange revolution.’ But the latter recalls an amorphous...
Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan: Calling Attention to Tragedy
Window on Eurasia writes: “Kyiv’s efforts to call attention to Stalin’s terror famine on the 75th anniversary of that tragedy and especially its moves to gain international recognition of it as a genocide against the Ukrainian people has generated much criticism by Russian officials from President Dmitry Medvedev on down...
Russia: The Crisis and Constitutional Changes
Robert Amsterdam writes about “the uses and expediency” of Beslan in 2004 and the current financial crisis for Russia's leaders: “[…] an opportunity to pass measures to further consolidate authority.”
Puerto Rico: Status Quo?
“Our struggle for self-determination, to be free from outside impositions, is ideological and it is not what's best for the majority of the people who live here”: Gil the Jenius answers some tough questions about Puerto Rico's status.
Haiti, Venezuela: Chavez's Change
The Haitian Blogger believes that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is the driving force behind “a global change agenda that gives voice to the poor and dispossessed.”
Cuba: Indebted
“If Cuba was a household, the repo man would have been sent in a long time ago”: Child of the Revolution examines Cuba's balance sheet.
Central Europe: Relations With the U.S.
Belatedly, a link to Antal Dániel's post at Central Europe Activ on “Central European expectations from the new American president.”
Russia, Ukraine: “Pindostanis at the Gate”
A definition of a derogatory Russian word for “Americans” – at Eternal Remont; a usage context example – at Russian Navy Blog.
Armenia: Bloggers Throw Funeral at Georgian Embassy
Carrying a black casket labeled “The Newborn Georgian Democracy,” a group of bloggers in Yerevan have marched toward the Georgian Embassy protesting what they call the destruction and desecration of Armenian cultural monuments in neighboring Georgia. Bloggers tell the story.
Bahrain: Ancient burial mounds
Nzingha gives us a tour of the pottery and the ancient burial mounds in the village of A'ali in Bahrain.