Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from April, 2008
Serbia, EU: SAA and the Election
Kosmopolit reviews perspectives on whether the EU should offer Serbia a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) before the May 11 general election.
Ukraine: Remembering Chernobyl
Déjà Vu – The Uncanny Feeling remembers Chernobyl: “When I think of Chernobyl … […] … I see 16-year-old Katya in Kiev, 90 km south of Chernobyl, scared to death by a danger she can't see, she can't sense, getting on a train for Leningrad to escape from radiation. She...
Russia: Computerization of the Russian North
Window on Eurasia reports: “Scholars in the Sakha Republic have developed computer scripts for the Linux operating system […], a breakthrough that […] promises to open the way for computerization across the Russian north.”
Russia: “Chernobyl's Other Victims”
Window on Eurasia writes about “Chernobyl's other victims” – “the thousands of people who exposed themselves to extraordinarily high levels of radiation while taking part in the clean up” and who now “find themselves not only sick as a result but largely forgotten by the successor governments to the regime...
Lithuania: Stance on EU-Russia Partnership
Lituanica reports that Lithuania “is not interested in vetoing or blocking Brussels-Moscow talks over commencement of strategic EU-Russia partnership treaty.”
Hungary: Watch Repairer's House
A photo of a watch repairer's house – at Little Town in Hungary.
Russia: Anti-NATO
Streetwise Professor writes about Russia's anti-NATO stance: “Fighting the last war is dangerous if you really have one. Preparing to fight the last war is not so deadly if no conflict is in prospect. The Russian leadership acts as if that is the case, and feels just fine about living...
Slovakia, Romania: Media Freedom
Edward Lucas of the Economist re-posts his piece on the “shrinking” of “media freedom” in Slovakia and Romania.
Estonia: “The Rubik's Cube of the Soviet Legacy”
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia: “This country is complicated, but attempts to explain it to the outside world often fail. […] Estonia is closer than you think to solving the Rubik's Cube of the Soviet legacy. Let them work it out by themselves.”
Ukraine: Labor Migration
Ukrainiana explains why a social ad against labor migration currently being aired in Ukraine is actually no good: “Forget it, say millions of skilled blue-collar and thousands of white-collar Ukrainians who work abroad. Known as zarobitchany, they sent an estimated $8.4 billion worth of remittances to Ukraine in 2006, a...
Lithuania: Economy Update
Lituanica posts an update on Lithuania's economy.
Lithuania: “NOROUTINE”
Babel in Vilnius writes about “the first and only Lithuanian photo movie” – “NOROUTINE.”
Hungary: “Pseudo Scandal”
Hungarian Spectrum writes about Hungary's most recent political “pseudo scandal.”
Russia: Travel Photo Reports
Lots of Russia travel photo reports – by LJ user victorprofessor.
Russia: Lenin's Mausoleum
Window on Eurasia reports on a Moscow clergyman's appeal to turn Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum into a “museum of the victims of Soviet power.”
Russia: Oil and Gas Industry
Two extensive posts on the Russian oil and gas industry – at White Sun of the Desert, here and here.
Russia: Kasyanov and Kremlin's Populism
Scraps of Moscow writes about Mikhail Kasyanov and the Kremlin's “populist rhetoric.”
Russia, U.S.: Hillary; McCain
Mark MacKinnon writes on “why the Kremlin is pulling for Hillary.” Robert Amsterdam explains “McCain's brain on Russia.”
Russia: TV, Chechnya and the West
Valery Dzutsev writes about a documentary recently aired on a Russian state-owned channel, “in which western security services were accused of an attempt to promote Chechnya’s secession from Russia.”
Poland: Opposition to IVF
The beatroot writes about the attitudes towards in vitro fertilization (IVF) in Poland.
Georgia: Drone Downed
Registan comments on the latest scandal to hit Russian-Georgian relations after the alleged shooting down of an apparently unarmed Georgian drone by what appears to be a Russian MiG-29. For a variety of reasons outlines in the post, the blog concludes that the true circumstances of the incident may never...