Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from October, 2009
Ukraine: Swine Flu (and Some Election Politics)
On Oct. 30, after a few days of alarming reports on an outbreak of respiratory illness in western Ukraine, the first swine flu-related death was confirmed, and PM Tymoshenko ordered Ukraine's schools closed and public gatherings banned for at least three weeks.
Russia: “Twitter Against Tyrants”
Oleg Kozlovsky links to and quotes from the text of a briefing held by US Helsinki Commission/Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which included “a few recent examples of how we utilized Web 2.0 to spread information about electoral fraud” in Russia.
Russia: Riot Police vs “Senior Citizens”
Oleg Kozlovsky reports on a scandal that broke out after riot police used – during a drill – “water cannons, shock grenades, and tear gas” to disperse “a group of senior citizens that protested social injustice and blocked a federal highway.”
The Balkans: Open Letter to Amnesty International
Samaha posts Ed Vulliamy's open letter to Amnesty International regarding the invitation to Professor Noam Chomsky to lecture in Northern Ireland – as well as background info on the campaign.
Russia: Nokia In and Out of LJ
Profy reports on the demise of Nokia's LiveJournal community: “But unfortunately for everyone (Nokia, the editorial team, and the overall corporate usage of social media) the community only existed for 25 days and was closed last week with the PR representative citing the fact that many bloggers used the community...
Slovakia, Hungary: “Linguistic Discontents”
Edward Lucas writes about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, including the “linguistic discontents.”
Slovenia, Croatia: Updates on Border Dispute
Sleeping With Pengovsky posts updates on the recent developments in the Slovenian-Croatian relations – here and here.
Russia: Khodorkovsky's Case, 6 Years On
In The Huffington Post, Robert Amsterdam writes about Mikhail Khodorkovsky's case, six years on.
The Balkans: Karadzic's Trial; Plavsic’s Release
Americans for Bosnia writes about the trial of Radovan Karadzic. Samaha writes about Biljana Plavsic’s release.
Ukraine: Charity
Scenes From the Sidewalk writes about an encounter with one of Kyiv's many homeless children – and posts photos from actress Olga Kurilenko's visit to a CrossRoads Foundation/ChildRescue's rehabilitation center. Wild World of Sean's Blog reports on a charity visit to a Kyiv hospital for children affected by the Chernobyl...
Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia: “Dumping Grounds for People”
Dumping Grounds for People is a blog devoted to the results “of a four-months long journalistic investigation, conducted mostly undercover in ten institutions for adults with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.” A Flickr photo set, by Yana Buhrer Tavanier, is here, along with this note:...
Albania: Robert Elsie's “Albanian Dialects”
Albanian Blogger recommends scholar Robert Elsie's work to those interested in the Albanian language and literature.
Ukraine: Interview With A Drug Addict
David Sasaki shares thoughts on “engaging, not exoticizing human rights” and posts a video interview with Pavel Kutsev, a self-described “average drug addict” and “the co-founder of Drop-In Center, a Ukrainian organization which advocates for the rights of the injection drug user communication and for better national policy related to...
Hungary: Budapest
Marietta Le of Remainder of Budapest comments on Budapest Business Region's campaign video and on the discussion raging on YouTube and elsewhere – here and here. She also links to a site that lists seven tour routes for those interested in Budapest's contemporary architecture, and posts pictures from a walk...
Hungary: 1956
Hungarian Spectrum writes about an online collection of testimony (HUN) on the events of 1956, which “helped the western powers understand the Hungarian situation, not just events that occurred during the revolution but more importantly the reasons for the outbreak of the uprising.” Remainder of Budapest wrote this on the...
Hungary: Dual Citizenship
Hungarian Spectrum writes about “a recurrent theme in Hungarian politics”: dual citizenship.
Hungary: Update on ‘Nap-Kelte’ Talk Show
Hungarian Spectrum posts an update on the situation around the Nap-kelte political talk show – and is “trying to make sense of Hungarian legal thinking.”
Hungary, Serbia: Tragedy At The Border
A group of 19 Kosovo Albanians tried to cross the Hungarian-Serbian river border illegally on Oct. 15; fifteen of them are now reported missing; three bodies have been found by divers. Marietta Le reports on some of the reactions in the Hungarian blogosphere.
Russia: Struggling with democracy
Robert Amsterdam draws attention to an interview on Russian democracy with Kremlin Grey Cardinal Vladislav Surkov.
Czech Republic: Lisbon before court
The Reference Frame writes about the EU Lisbon Treaty being addressed by the Czech Constitutional Court to review its accordance with national legislation.
Russia-Georgia: Tagliavini report reviewed
Greater Surbiton discusses the recent EU-report by the Tagliavini Commission on the 2008 Russo-Georgian war, and argues that it – with few exceptions – mostly sides with the Georgians.
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