Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from June, 2009
Russia: Another journalist death
Eternal Remont reports that the editor of a Rostov-on-Don newspaper has died from injuries of a beating last month, supposedly provoked by his paper's reporting.
Estonia: Budget cuts and GDP decrease
A Fistful Of Euros points at the link between budget cuts and GDP decrease in Estonia.
Serbia: History and architecture
Nothing against Serbia discusses Belgrade architecture and its influence by both Byzantine and nationalist heritage, illustrating his point with pictures and plans of the city's former main telephone exchange building.
Russia: Lingering high mortality rates
Streetwise Professor writes about the prevalent high mortality rates among the Russian population, based on figures from the Lancet published by Reuters, with interesting comments by Sublime Oblivion.
Russia: Paradoxes of population growth
LJ user about:blank comments on [RUS] recent research comparing Russian population growth with average income in various regions and cities 1990-2009, coming up with the interesting result that the country's second and third cities, St. Petersburg and Nizhny Novogorod, are making moderate progress in comparison to many other less developed...
Latvia: IMF, ECB and the EU Commission at odds
A Fistful Of Euros describes how the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank may be taking another line on the currency peg of the Lat to the Euro and the country's future inclusion into the Euro zone.
Serbia-Belarus: Mobile phones in civil resistance
Information Policy summarises a recent survey on the use of mobile devices as a tool of civil resistance in Serbia and Belarus, concluding that state surveillance of communication is making them increasingly difficult to use.
The Balkans: Agim Ceku
A Fistful of Euros writes about Agim Ceku and his arrest and release in Bulgaria last week.
Russia: Stalin visits Voronezh
LJ user Vaziani tells about [RUS] how the local Voronezh communists have wallpapered the city with huge pictures of Joseph Stalin in commemoration of the 22 June 1941 attack on the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany.
Russia: Crackdown on casinos and gambling
Eternal Remont discusses the Russian government's current crackdown on the country's casinos and gambling industry.
Czech Republic: End of EU-presidency
Czechmatediary recounts the end of the Czech presidency of the European Union, finalising it with a big street party.
Albania: Electoral improvements and lingering problems
Albanian Blogger comments on the 2009 general elections in Albania.
Russia: “Ingushetia, boom”
A Fistful of Euros writes about the assassination attempt on Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and the situation in Ingushetia and other North Caucasus regions.
ISS: Photos and a Poem from Koichi Wakata
Astronaut Koichi Wakata on the International Space Station posted some photographs, including one of Sarychev Volcano while it was erupting (Also part of NASA's Image of the Day Gallery), and a tanka poem: “My home planet enwrapped / The blue light of the atmosphere shines”.
Hungary 20 years after rise of the Iron curtain
Hungarian Spectrum writes about the 1989 opening of the Austro-Hungarian border, eventually leading to the rise of the Iron Curtain, dividing Eastern and Western Europe.
Ukraine: A Tribute to Michael Jackson
Taras of Ukrainiana posts a tribute to Michael Jackson.
Russia: Report on Internet Use
Window on Eurasia sums up “a 144-page report [on Internet use in Russia,] released this week […] by the Public Opinion Foundation on the basis of interviews with 34,000 people in 1920 cities and towns of the Russian Federation.”
Russia: Buckwheat
Russian Blog posts an ode to buckwheat.
Russia: Letter to Khodorkovsky
Jeremy Putley posts an open letter to Mikhail Khodorkovsky (who turned 46 on June 26) at A Step At A Time.
Russia, Nigeria: Nigaz
Eternal Remont writes that “Gazprom has created a joint venture with Nigeria's state-owned NNPC gas company” and that the new company's name is Nigaz. License Plate Poetry has a poem on this – “But no, my dear, Russia is not racist” (via @jilliancyork).
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Croats
Croatian Crescent writes about Bosnain Croats.
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