Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from June, 2006
Serbia: Search for Mladic, Not For Karadzic
Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic reproduces an article by Nedim Dervisbegovic on the neglected search for Karadzic: “Pressure on Serbia to capture Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic keeps rising, but his wartime boss Radovan Karadzic seems almost forgotten.”
Serbia: Serbian Radical Party
Srdjan Cvijic of The TransAtlantic Assembly writes on how the pro-EU parties in Serbia can use “a sharp rise of the populist, ex-Milosevic ally, Serbian Radical Party.”
Albania: “Cellphones Can Seriously Damage Your Pocket”
No competition between the only two Albanian mobile phone operators makes protesting against high prices ineffective, writes Alwyn Thomson of Our Man in Tirana.
Albania: World Bank Poverty Report
Alwyn Thomson of Our Man in Tirana writes about World Bank's conclusions on poverty in Albania.
Belarus: The Language Issue
In a perfect world, languages would be nothing but a way for people to communicate with each other – no language would be considered superior or inferior, children would be encouraged to study as many as possible. In the real world, however, languages are being used as political and ideological...
Belarus: Stencil Graffiti
A new LJ community has been created: by_stencil – “Belarusian stencil REVOLUTION” (BEL, RUS) It includes photos of both political and apolitical stencil graffiti in Belarus. One photo is from Warsaw, however, taken near the Centrum metro station: “Stop Lukashenko,” says the writing in Polish, next to the portrait of...
Ukraine: Trip to Chernobyl
MoldovAnn posts an account of her trip to the the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone: “…wild land, more or less untouched by humans for the past 20 years. […] It was breathtaking, even, to see the vast expanse of lush green. At the same time, though, you can never forget that you...
Ukraine: Party of the Regions vs the Coalition
Adrian J. Erlinger of Leopolis reports that the Party of the Regions is “preventing the new coalition from getting down to business.”
Ukraine: Coalition and Gas Agreement
LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about the newly-formed coalition and one of the most important issues facing it: re-negitiation of gas agreements with Russia and Turkmenistan.
Armenia: Mom Called Me Khachik
Nessuna has a public service advertisement and a translation of the ad that was produced by an Armenian radio station for distribution throughout the CIS to combat xenophobia in Russia.
Poland: “Sex Slaves” Rumor
The beatroot writes that despite the worries of “Polish nuns, green feminists and George W. Bush,” there are no 100,000 East European “sex slaves” servicing the World Cup fans in Germany: “Sex slavery exists, for sure, but 100,000 women being imported into Germany? Surely most of the fans there are...
Poland: Hungary In 1956 Vs Iraq Now
The beatroot writes about “the major difference between Hungary back then and Iraq today”: “Hungarians led the uprising, which was later crushed by a Superpower. In Iraq today, a Superpower has ‘liberated’ Iraq and is now experiencing an insurgency by some Iraqis (and a few cross- border terrorist weirdos).” He...
Serbia: Football and the EU
Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Serbia's poor performance at World Cup and the country's slim chances of getting into the EU anytime soon.
Russia: Ethnic Chinese in the Soviet Union
J. Otto Pohl writes about the fate of the ethnic Chinese in the Soviet Far East.
Ukraine: Oil Stocks; Gas Situation
Wu Wei writes about the gas situation and implementation of “an EU system of oil stocks” in Ukraine.
Serbia: War Criminal's Concert and the Country's Image
Viktor of Belgrade Blog writes about Serbia's image abroad. He also links to the text on a concert by a “Serbian war-criminal,” written by the Serbian writer Jasmina Tesanovic for BoingBoing: “There is no excuse for going to Ceca's concert (“Ideally Bad”) but I found one: I took a foreigner...
Belarus: Marking Three Years Without Vasil Bykau
Andrei Khrapavitski writes about the third anniversary of writer Vasil Bykau's death: “The famous writer was nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature, was one of the founders of the Belarusian Popular Front, and is one of the most respected Belarusian authors, a moral authority revered by both seniors and...
Ukraine: Football and Politics
Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine writes about Ukraine's World Cup victory over Saudi Arabia – and a no less important event: the “re-formation” of the “orange coalition.”
Moldova: Monthly Salary Vs. Daily Spending in London
Peter Myers of Adventures in Moldova notes how much money he spent in one day in London and compares it to the average monthly salary in Moldova.
Romania: Sibiu and Currency Exchange Scam
Andy H of Csikszereda Musings writes about Sibiu, his “least favourite place in Transylvania,” and a common currency exchange scam he got into while there.
Azerbaijan: Statue Protest
In light of a protest in Moscow against a statue of Heydar Aliev, the first Turkic Politburo member and the former President of Azerbaijan, Denise of neweurasia argues that Russia must take steps to treat its Azeri residents better to ensure a good image in Azerbaijan, if for no other...
About our Eastern & Central Europe coverage
Filip Stojanovski is the Central Europe editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
Daria Dergacheva is the Eastern Europe editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.
