Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from August, 2007
Russia: “Mama, We're In Hell!”
A young Russian woman traveling from Helsinki to Moscow found herself in a railway traffic jam caused by the train derailment last week. She was so horrified by the sight of the Russian countryside that she called her mother on her cell phone and told her they were stuck "in hell." The blogger who posted this story has received 469 comments from his readers.
Ukraine: Platforms of the Main Contenders
Ukrainiana reviews the platforms of the main contenders in the upcoming election: “born-again, gutsy President Yushchenko” and Yulia Tymoshenko's “feminine mystique” – as well as Victor Yanukovych's “self-styled notion of stabilnist, or political stability.”
Ukraine: Corn
MoldovAnn is disappointed to discover that the corn people eat in Ukraine is feed corn: “I took one bite and nearly broke a tooth.”
Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko
Foreign Notes posts updates on Yulia Tymoshenko's pre-election moves – here, here, and here.
Russia: Communist Youth League and Just Russia
Sean's Russia Blog writes about the current political preferences of Russia's Communist Youth League.
Former Soviet Union: A 1945 Book
Scraps of Moscow feels “sort of funny using new media to post photos of old media” and writes about a 1945 book on the still-friendly Allies – or, the “soon-to-be Cold-War foes.”
Russia: Baseball
The Accidental Russophile writes about baseball in Russia: “Let's not pretend that baseball (or even it's ancient cousin, lapta) is very popular in Russia. It isn't.”
Russia: Blogger on Trial for Writing Fiction
Blogger Dmitry Shirinkin faces trial for having written on his blog that he had purchased a gun and was going to kill a few dozen people in one of the city’s colleges. According to Shirinkin, the text - posted on April 21, but made private on April 22 - was a work of fiction, "inspired" by the Virginia Tech shooting. According to the prosecutor's office, however, Shirinkin has violated Article 207 of the Russian Criminal Code by "distributing false information on a planned terrorist act." The trial is likely to take place in September; if convicted, the Russian blogger may receive a three-year prison sentence.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: “Voluntourists”
Bosnia Vault links to a piece on “voluntourists” in Srebrenica.
Russia: Intermarriages
Of the more than 60,000 marriages in Moscow in the first half of 2007, a quarter were between native Muscovites – “typically an ethnic Russian woman – and a citizen of a neighboring country – more often than not a man from Azerbaijan or Central Asia.” Window on Eurasia attempts...
Russia: August 1991
Window on Eurasia writes about the missed opportunities of the August 1991 coup, which out an end to the Soviet Union.
Serbia: Kosovo Roma
Peshas Gypsy Gitan Blog writes about the plight of the Roma of Kosovo.
Russia: Nashi, BBC, and the Upcoming Elections
Mark MacKinnon writes about the recent BBC ban and the Nashi movement's summer camps: “Both the Kremlin's bolstering of “patriotic” youth movements and its crackdown on non-state media outlets are moves directed at heading off any kind of Orange Revolution-inspired uprising in Russia around December's Duma elections and/or next year's...
Estonia: Russia
Yet another blog battle is raging in the comments section of Edward Lucas’ post on the Russo-Estonian relations.
Ukraine: Bukovyna's New Romanians
Edward Lucas writes about Bukovyna's demographic trends: “A Ukrainian TV channel reports that 50,000 people in the western region of Chernovtsy now hold Romanian passports.”
Czech Rebublic: “Imaginary Migrants”
Dr. Sean's Diary writes about the Czech Republic's immigration policies and the president's “imaginary migrants and imaginary Muslims.”
Czech Rebublic, Slovakia: Tax Systems
Dr Sean's Diary compares the tax systems of Slovakia and the Czech Republic.
Russia: Xenophobia and Violence
There are 48 comments so far to a post on xenophobia and violence in Russia, over at Sean's Russia Blog. One commenter writes: “It seems to me that the Kremlin gave a green light to the ‘ultra-nationlist’ tendencies of some ethnic Russians by the way it dealt with Georgia and...
Russia: Photos From St. Pete and Vyborg
Megan Case posts more pictures of St. Petersburg, and of Vyborg, and writes this about her trip to this formerly Finnish town: “…while St. Petersburg has been getting cleaner and shinier and better by leaps and bounds, Vyborg still looks dirty and run-down. I can’t really understand it, since that...
Russia: Speaking Russian Properly
Megan Case writes about a somewhat annoying initiative to get everyone to speak Russian “properly.”
Bulgaria: “Roma Vendetta”
Eternal Remont writes about Roma violence in Sofia: “Two Words I NEVER Wanted to See in a Headline Together […] Roma Vendetta.”
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