Stories from Quick Reads 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...
Afghanistan: Explosion in Kabul
Baktash Siawash, Afghan journalist and blogger, wrote that “a suicide bomber killed four Afghans in a blast near Afghanistan's parliament in Kabul on Sunday”.
Israel: In the army – and Muslim?
Mo-ha-med describes meeting Ossama – Arab, Muslim, and a soldier in the Israeli army.
Lao: Traditional Wedding
Amphone posts images from a traditional Lao wedding in the US.
Thailand: Free Ride to PAD
Thailand Jumped the Shark wonders why “the foreign embassies and the international community have given the PAD a free ride, considering the PAD has broken multiple Thai and international terrorism...
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...
Russia: Moscow's “VIP Taxi”
Photo reports from inside Moscow's “VIP Taxi” – at Two-Zero's Diary, here and here.
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...
Czech Republic: Notes on Prague
Notes on a visit to Prague – at Dr. Sean's Diary, here and here.
Poland: A Racist Country?
Discussions on whether Poland is a “racist country” – at the POLSKI blog, Raf Uzar, and Eternal Remont.
Albania: Health Care and Bribery
Belatedly, a link to Albanian Blogger‘s report on the arrest of a well-known oncology surgeon on bribery charges: “For the public, including myself, the event hopefully will serve to bring...
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...
Czech Republic, USA: “Growing Up ‘Cesky'”
An interview with a Czech-American woman on her experiences of growing up “in the midst of the 2 cultures (Czech and American)” and other issues – at Czechmatediary, in four...
Belarus: The Identity Debate
Andrei Khrapavitski writes about the ongoing public debate on “Belarusian identity.”
Russia, Ukraine: Party News
The Ivanov Report writes about last week's 10th Congress of the ruling United Russia party: “The victors have suddenly realized that as the ‘leading political force of the country’, it's...
Russia: Yevgeny Kolesov and Politkovskaya Trial
Robert Coalson of RFE/RL's The Power Vertical writes about “the open-again, closed-again, open-again trial of three men allegedly involved in the murder of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya” and the role...
Macedonia: “The First (!?) Macedonian Webcomics”
Filip Stojanovski of Razvigor :-) reports that “[a]t last an independent Macedonian artist has started publishing a genuine webcomics [MKD].”
Hungary, Czech Republic: Romaphobia
The Hungarian Spectrum reports on the murder of a 14-year-old girl in a Hungarian village, which led to an anti-Roma rally. The Reference Frame is unhappy with Al Jazeera's story...
The Baltics, India: “The Dangers of Turning a Minority into an Underclass”
Lithuania-based Andrei Khrapavitski of Belarusan American Blog reflects on the events in Mumbai and suggests there might be a “lesson for the Baltics” there: “I know any status comparisons of...
