Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from July, 2014
Vanity Military Selfies Are Spoiling Russia's Attack in Ukraine
"We shelled Ukraine all night long." These are the words a young Russian soldier wrote online last week, where he published a photograph of military equipment in an open field.
The Angriest Man in Odessa is on the Front Lines of Ukraine's Information War
Odessa's vigorously anti-Moscow LiveJournal star, Zloy_Odessit, has his work cut out for him. Indeed, open dialogue with pro-Russian bloggers is still a long way off.
Camera Phones vs. Kalashnikovs in Ukraine's Separtist-held Luhansk
How "streamer" journalism both empowers and endangers civic reporters in eastern Ukraine.
The Mouthpiece of Totalitarian Propaganda — Crimea's Colonel Cassad
Colonel Cassad has little love for Vladimir Putin. Despite this his blog has become massively popular among Putin's supporters. It has also earned him the ire of Ukraine's intelligence services.
Russian Government IP Address Caught Editing German Wikipedia MH17 Article
IP addresses inside the Russian government continue to be active on Wikipedia, where a computer at the Russian Secret Service, the FSO, revised the German entry for Malaysia Airlines Flight 17,...
Spinning the MH17 Tragedy, Moscow's Victory Isn't What You Think
Kyiv and Moscow trade evidence and conspiracy theories about whose BUK surface-to-air missiles downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. What game is the Kremlin playing online?
Macedonian Authorities Claim Social Networks ‘Have Always Been Blocked’ in University Dorms
Residents of a state-run student dormitory in Skopje began an online campaign to expose the horrific living conditions. Then, access to Facebook and other websites was cut off.
Twitter “Blocks” Access to Russia's Most Infamous Hackers
Russia's Twitter users no longer have access to @b0ltai, an account belonging to a hacker collective that has leaked several Kremlin documents to the Internet over the past 7 months.
Russia's 4-Million-Ruble Procurement Order to Crack Tor Is Suddenly Revised
The Russian Interior Ministry has revised the language in a procurement order offering almost USD $100,000 for developing a way to decipher user data on the Tor anonymity network.
Russia Is About to Lose “Fake News,” But the Internet Freedoms Going with It Are Real
The owner of an independent TV channel has staged a curious "intellectual provocation" to shock people into understanding the peril of Internet freedom in Russia.
Russia Offers 4 Million Rubles to Crack the Tor Network
Although unlikely, should Russia’s decryption project succeed, it could endanger millions of Internet users whose interest in online anonymity is far from nefarious.
The Death and Gloom of Donetsk and Gaza
How did RuNet users react to the twin events of July 17, the downing of Malaysian Flight MH17, and the beginning of Israel’s ground assault into the Gaza Strip?
Four Kosovars Walk to Brussels for Visa-free Travel Privileges
On July 17, 2014, four men from Kosovo completed a 78-day walk from eastern Kosovo to Brussels, Belgium. The goal of their trek was to incite EU officials to grant...
The Russian Government's 7,000 Wikipedia Edits
Over the past ten years, IP addresses belonging to various Russian state agencies are responsible for almost 7,000 anonymous edits to articles on Wikipedia’s Russian-language website.
The Art Nouveau Windows to Belgrade's Soul
Aleksandar Lambros, a Serbian-born photographer currently living and working in Monaco, has been snapping photos of tell-tale details of Belgrade's architectural history and collecting them on his blog. While the...
Artists Explore the ‘Melting Point’ of Art and Propaganda in Skopje
A not-for-profit, self-financed group of artists calling themselves Kooperacija (“Cooperation”, Macedonian slang for a general store in small villages) hosted an exhibition titled “Melting Point: Art as Anti-Hegemonic Propaganda” [en,...
Malaysia Airlines Crash in Ukraine Brings on Heart-Wrenching Déjà Vu for Chinese Families Still Waiting on MH370 Answers
Memories are still fresh for Chinese families who don't know what happened to their loved ones after airliner MH370 vanished from radar screen in March.
Russian State TV Edits Wikipedia to Blame Ukraine for MH17 Crash
Someone at VGTRK, a state-run Russian broadcasting company, has edited a Wikipedia entry about the Malaysian Flight MH17 crash to blame the government in Kyiv.
The 5 Most Insensitive Reactions to the MH17 Crash in Ukraine
With emotions running high following the plane crash in Ukraine, a handful of particularly calloused statements by figures in Moscow and Donetsk have attracted the RuNet's attention.
First Russian Reactions to the Downed Plane in Eastern Ukraine
An airplane has crashed in Ukraine. With nothing but a few pixelated YouTube videos and a fast-growing mountain of accusations, RuNet users are in the midst of a full-blown hysteria.
Ex-Pussy Riot Lawyer to Defend Ukrainian Pilot in Russian Court
After the infamous Pussy Riot trial, Mark Feygin will now try to save Nadezhda Savchenko, the Ukrainian air-force pilot captured by separatists in Ukraine and now detained in Russia.
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