Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from September, 2006
Hungary: Traffic Jam Protest
Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar warns of possible traffic jams – albeit “peaceful and civilized” – in Budapest.
Hungary: Candidate Withdraws From Local Election
Pestiside.hu writes about the upcoming local election and one of the candidates who decided not to run: a “Roma eccentric […] whose key election promise was to build a condom factory.”
Hungary: Economic Problems
Edward of A Fistful of Euros writes that the Hungarian prime minister “is now in a double bind”: “If he goes through with a hard set of reforms the Hungarian economy will shrink […] and his government will tremble, while if he doesn’t reform as stated […] then the economy...
Bulgaria: More on “Tripoli Six” Blog Campaign
Declan Butler, a senior reporter at Nature, reports that the blog campaign to help free the “Tripoli Six” seems to be gaining momentum. Also, he writes that “Mickey Grant, a filmmaker from Dallas, Texas, has, in response to the blog campaign, today made his full, 1h 22 min, 2003 documentary...
Estonia: Reaction to a Headline in the Economist
Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes about Estonia and other “small” countries: “Small countries are often more interesting than big ones, and size may be one reason that the Baltic states and Slovenia have done rather well in the past 16 years. Politics works...
Bulgaria: Cyrillic and the EU
Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes about Bulgaria, the Cyrillic alphabet and the EU.
Poland: Early Election in November?
The beatroot writes that Poland may be “on the verge on an early election. Again.” Even though things may still change, “it’s a brave person to bet on anything in the weird and whacky world of Polish politics.”
Estonia: “Election Eve Post”
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa posts an “election eve” entry, in which he tries “to sum up a lot of big thoughts in a few modest paragraphs. Such is the Estonian way.”
Baltics: Pan-Baltic History
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa muses on the so-called “common pan-Baltic history.”
Estonia: Generalizing About Latvia
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa generalizes about Latvia: “Plus, if things have been hard for Estonia, Latvia's always gotten it just a little bit shittier.”
Slovenia: 4th National Blogmeet
The Glory of Carniola announces the 4th National Slovenian Blogmeet to be held on October 14 in Ljubljana.
Hungary: More Boring Than Canada
Pestiside.hu observes that Hungary is more boring than Canada.
Hungary: Violence Subsides
Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes that “from Wednesday onwards, the amount of violence has drastically decreased. […] Now, of course, that could be simply because of the fact that most of the original ringleaders are now in custody….or because the outbreaks are now considered embarrassing and...
Hungary: Budapest's “Watergate”
As the first week of the Budapest protests ends and what seems to be “the Watergate case of Hungary” hasn't been resolved, Henrik of Hungarian Accent writes about “the violence, the lies, the media and the path ahead.”
Russian Diaspora
Sean's Russia Blog looks at the large and widely-scattered Russian diaspora in the CIS (e.g. 4 million in Kazakhstan) and in Israel.
Hungary: “Budapest '06 vs. '56”
Amid the continuing protests in Budapest, Pestiside.hu is trying to help foreign reporters covering the situation: “So as a public service to these naive hacks and their even more clueless editors back home, below is a handy guide to the similarities and differences between '56 and '06.”
Serbia: Belgrade Taxis
Belgrade Blog writes about the city's taxis: “Its a sad fact (or happy depending on your perspective) that educated taxi drivers are increasing in numbers.”
Serbia: The Military and Internet Domain Issues
Dictionary of the Serbian Mess writes about Serbian military and domain issues.
Russia: “Don't Try This At Home” Recipes
Copydude shares some literary and real-life “Don't Try This At Home” cocktail recipes from Russia.
Russia: A Road From Moscow
English Russia posts pictures of the Russian Federal Highway “Moscow-Yakutsk”: “Everytime it rains the road gets paralized, these shots are made a few days before the traffic jam for 600 cars got stuck there. Hunger and lack of the fuel followed, according to the witnesses. One woman gave a born...
Russia: “Racism and Human Nature”
Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog writes about “racism and human nature” in Russia: “Xenophobia is even necessary, as is the immune system.”
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