Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from May, 2011
Russia: Most Users of Popular Social Network Are Russian Orthodox
Ten million users of the most popular social network in Russian Vkontakte.ru consider themselves Russian Orthodox, news agency Interfax reported. It is the most popular religion on Vkontakte.ru followed by Islam (1.5 million users) and Buddhism (363 thousand users).
Russia: Senator Calls for Civilized Political Discussion Online
Senator from pro-Kremlin “United Russia” party Robert Shlegel urged opposition leaders to join him in developing the rules of civilized political discussion online, Lenta.ru reported [ru]. The senator said the opposition often uses “lies, accusations and provocations” online.
Russia: FSB Blocks Access to LiveJournal in Ulyanovsk City
A user of Internet portal Habrahabr wrote [ru] that on May 17, 2011 an Internet provider company in Russian city Ulyanovsk blocked access to the blog of Aleksey Navalny, a famous online personality on RuNet, following the order of FSB, Russian security service. It was later reported [ru] by GTZ.ru that the...
Russia: Internet Economy To Reach 4 Percent of GDP by 2015
Russian Internet economy will more than double within the next four years and rich four percent of the country's GDP by 2015, reported [ru] Lenta.ru citing the latest research by The Boston Consulting Group.
Russia: Mobile Users Search and Socialize Online
Russian mobile users utilize their phones for searching, browsing social networks and downloading musics, Rumetrika reported [ru]. Half of Russians own own mobile phones. The majority of people using mobile Internet are younger than 24 years old.
Russia: Attack Survivor Journalist Oleg Kashin on Internet Freedom
Oleg Kashin, special correspondent for the newspaper Kommersant and well-known blogger, was brutally beaten near his home in November 2010. A video recording of the attack was subsequently published on the Internet. Global Voices interviews Kashin.
Ukraine: No Bail For Ex-Interior Minister Lutsenko
Foreign Notes writes that Ukraine's ex-minister of Internal Affairs Yuriy Lutsenko has lost an appeal to be released on bail and is “back behind bars.”
Poland: Taxation
Politics, Economy, Society explains the Polish taxation system.
Hungary: Orbán Government and Romania's Hungarian Minority
Hungarian Spectrum writes about the relationship between the Orbán government and the Hungarian minority in Romania.
Russia: Medvedev and Press Freedom
Vadim Nikitin of Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog writes that while the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “had no problems embracing iPad and Twitter,” he “seems to be a late adopter when it comes to good old fashioned press freedom.”
Slovenia: Law on Mayor/MP Conflict of Interest; New Family Code
Sleeping With Pengovsky reports that “a law establishing a conflict of interests between holding an office of mayor and MP at the same time” has been passed in Slovenia, and also writes about the attitudes towards “the new Family Code which – among other things – was meant to allow...
Russia: Daghestani Media Online
Window on Eurasia reports that “virtually all Daghestani media outlets now have online versions.”
Russia: EU’s Roma to Move to Russia?
Window on Eurasia wrote in early May that “rising tensions between the Roma and the titular nationalities of the European Union have sparked reports in Moscow that some of this often-despised community are about to be moved to the Russian Federation, either on their own or from a deal between...
Russia: History of Russian Pop
A translation of History of Russian Pop (the Russian-language original appeared in Russkii Reporter) – at RussiaWatchers, here and here.
Russia: Parking and Driving in Moscow
English Dad in Moscow writes about and posts photos of parking and driving in Moscow.
Macedonia: Raising Awareness of Election Monitoring Techniques from Uganda
An article on bribery and intimidation published in Macedonian and Albanian by the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections in Macedonia mentions the example of Uganda Watch, recommended in two GVO articles.
Macedonia: Monument Fixed After Blogger's Complaint?
Partikopolis informs [mk] that the vandalized statue he blogged about a few months ago has been re-erected: “Maybe this wasn't influenced directly by me, but I am glad when I see some kind of a solution for a problem I wrote about.”
Technology for Transparency: Final Report
The Technology for Transparency Network is proud to announce the release of its final report, "Global mapping of technology for transparency and accountability". The report is being published by the Transparency and Accountability Initiative (@TAInitiative) along with a over a dozen other reports on the global transparency movement.
Bulgaria: People Bring Flowers to Sofia's Mosque
Ruslan Trad (@ruslantrad) writes that people were bringing flowers on Saturday to the mosque in Sofia where clashes between a right-wing group and local Muslims took place the day before.
Hungary: Facebook Blocked Popular Far-Right Website
Hungarian news sites report that Facebook has blocked the most popular far-right website Kuruc.info. According to kuruc.info [hu], no referring links can be sent through Facebook's system, the Like button has disappeared, and Facebook is also blocking mentions of “Kuruc.info.” Kuruc.info wrote that the block was worse than similar measures...
Bulgaria: Right-Wing Group and Muslims Clash in Sofia
Ruslan Trad reports on the violent clashes that erupted in Sofia during today's nationalist rally against a mosque's loudspeakers, between sympathizers of the nationalist Ataka party and local Muslims.
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