Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from April, 2010
UK: Krakow Funeral Broadcast in London's Trafalgar Square
Rosie Walunas writes that London's Trafalgar Square “was nearly filled to capacity” on Sunday, as people gathered to watch TV Polonia's coverage of the funeral of late Polish President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria in Krakow. Mark Grigorian (LJ user markgrigorian) posts more photos from the live broadcast and...
Russia: Volcanic Eruption Provokes Cooperation and Jokes
Two days passed since Mother Nature showed its power to mankind letting the Icelandic volcano with unpronounceable name “Eyjafjallajökull” fill the European aerospace with ashes. As the ash cloud went east, more and more airports were closing, which led to European-wide transport collapse. Russian bloggers – also affected by the...
Poland: Social Network Criticized for ‘Black Ribbon’ Gifting Option
Sylwia Presley translates online reactions to a new gifting option that a popular Polish social network has introduced this week: black ribbons.
Georgia, Russia, Poland: Imedi-TV's Kaczynski Controversy
Giorgi Kvelashvili of Jamestown Foundation Blog writes that the fake news broadcast aired by a Georgian TV channel on March 15 did not contain mentions of Lech Kaczynski's death in a plane crash – even though some recent Russian media reports claim otherwise.
Russia: New Book About Livejournal Announced
Russian magazine “Ogonyok” published an interview with Andrey Podshibyakin, a former executive editor of Livejournal. Podshibyakin tells about his new book “Po-zhivomu: 1999-2009. Livejournal in Russia.” The book covers a decade in the history of this popular blogging platform in Russia.
Poland: Controversy Over Polish President's Burial Location
Today's announcement that the Polish presidential couple, killed in the tragic aircraft accident over Smolensk last Saturday, would be buried in Krakow's Wawel Castle has raised a lot of controversy. Sylwia Presley translates the views of some Polish Facebook members.
Macedonia: Blogs and Other Web Sources on Cooking
A short overview of the current situation regarding availability of gastronomical information within the Macedonian blogosphere.
Hungary: A Long Election Day
Marietta Le reports on Hungarian bloggers' reactions and observations, following the first round of the parliamentary election, which took place on April 11.
Russia: Facebook to Open Office
Russian daily Vedomosti reports [RUS] that Facebook is going to open its office in Moscow and develop cooperation with local cellular companies. So far, most Russians have been using local social networking platforms (e.g., Vkontakte, Odnoklassniki, Moy Mir). The article's translation is published [ENG] in The Moscow Times.
Macedonia: Ridiculous Advertising Songs
Filip Stojanovski writes about an amusing overlap between Macedonian pop music, advertising and education, and reviews Macedonian bloggers' reactions to some of the "ridiculous advertising songs."
Russia: Eyewitness Story Of Polish Plane Crash in Smolensk
LJ user elena-pushistay shares [RUS] an eyewitness story about the Polish plane crash near Smolensk, told to her by a local woman named Lyudmila, who lives just 3 km from the military airport where the tragedy took place.
Poland: Online Grief After 10.04.2010
Sylwia Presley reports that all major Polish online news portals, social media services, governmental websites and portals of Polish organizations abroad have changed their color palettes to gray, black and white to express unity with the nation's grief.
Russia: Reactions to the Polish Tragedy
April 10, 2010, the day that should have started a new era in the Russian-Polish relations, brought tragic news instead. Airplane with the highest Polish establishment on board crashed in the Smolensk forest. The reaction of the Russian blogosphere was divided as usual when it comes to the Russian-Polish relations.
Poland: Video Reactions to the Deadly Plane Crash
Following the shocking news of the death of President Lech Kaczyński and 95 other officials, Poland starts the official week of mourning. Next to an enormous amount of reactions in various online venues, video messages present themselves as a very powerful tool to express the feelings of the nation.
Poland: R.I.P. Black Saturday 10.04.2010
As we live through the first 24 hours of the tragedy of the Polish nation, social media in Poland present various reactions to this morning's events, when the country lost its President and 95 other important personalities.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss Andrzej Wajda's “Katyń” Movie
For the first time in Russian history, Andrzej Wajda's “Katyń” (2007) has been aired on Russian public television channel “Kultura” -- thus leading to online discussions on Stalin regime, historical truth, humanism and Russian-Poland relations.
Poland: President Kaczyński is Killed in Plane Crash in Russia – Initial Reactions
Sylwia Presley reports on the initial reactions of the Polish social media users to the shocking news of the plane crash, which killed the Polish president and many other top officials in Western Russia this morning.
Kyrgyzstan: Social Media Create and Fight Information Overload
The coverage of recent bloody events in Kyrgyzstan by online and traditional media caused information overload that made it very difficult to create a consistent picture. That is why bloggers who focused on monitoring the information, checking its credibility and creating consistent picture of events, played an important role in an adequate coverage of the protests.
Ukraine: Court Ruling on Stepan Bandera's Hero of Ukraine Status
Steve Bandera of Kyiv Scoop addresses the Ukrainian president once again, writing about the Donetsk Administrative Court's decision that Stepan Bandera “cannot be a ‘Hero of Ukraine’ because he was never its citizen”: “Following the logic of the Donetsk court ruling, you will have to ‘de-heroize’ at least 15 Heroes...
Russia: Expat Bloggers List
Ru_travel community tries to make a list of expat bloggers who live in the most distant parts of the world. Russophone bloggers found in New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia and even Antarctica.
Russian Government to Develop National Search Engine
Why would the Russian government try to develop its own search engine? Bloggers and Internet experts in the country attempt to come up with explanations and possible implications of that ambitious plan.
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