Stories about Russia from March, 2007
Russia: Photos of Grozny
Earlier this week, I linked to LJ user kunstkamera‘s photos from Grozny, Chechnya. (Warning: bandwidth intensive.) Below are some of the comments and kunstkamera‘s own remarks, translated from Russian. gematogen: Was it scary? kunstkamera: It was scary to fly the [YaK-42] plane. […] i_grappa: It's interesting, thank you! In general,...
Kazakhstan: Russian Chill
neweurasia discusses chilliness in relations between Kazakhstan and Russia, but says that the relationship is far from on the rocks.
Russia: Tolstoy's Diary
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis notes that Leo Tolstoy's diary turned 160 years old yesterday: “In the complete set of his works the diaries occupy 13 volumes.”
Russia: Lenin, A Collector's Item
“Thus, what is so fascinating about the cult of Lenin is the efforts of an atheist regime to create a kind of religion for political control,” writes Darkness at Noon in a lengthy post about his own very impressive collection of the Soviet busts of Lenin and a recent ordeal...
Russia: WiFi and All, St. Pete vs Moscow
Lex Libertas compares St. Petersburg's technological development to that of Moscow.
Russia: Beggars and More
Darkness at Noon continues with the discussion of the Russian street beggars: La Russophobe guest-blogs around the issue; bloggers discuss the post in the comments.
Russia: Nashi Site Blocked
Strangely, no one from outside Russia can access the site of the pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi, reports Sean's Russia Blog.
Russia: Politkovskaya
Sean's Russia Blog reports on no progress in the investigation of Anna Politkovskaya's death. (Also, Sean mentions that Politkovskaya's last – posthumous – book is coming out in May.)
Ukraine, FSU: Stalin
Over at Siberian Light, readers discuss weird first names, such as Stalin, Ninel, and Vladlen. Carpetblogger writes about the Donetsk Heating Company's Stalinist methods to get this East Ukrainian city's population to pay their utility bills.
Global Voices in Moscow
On March 21, Moscow hosted its First International Conference on Blogs, Media and Citizen Journalism. I was happy to represent both Global Voices and neweurasia at the meeting. The conference was organized by the Centre for Internet Policy of Moscow State University for International Relations (MGIMO), Realno.info, a web site...
Russia: Putin's Article in the Times
Very Russian Tochka Net thinks Vladimir Putin should stop writing articles for publication in the West: “Confused, placatory stuff whose only effect is to make a bunch of smart-arses think we’re trying to suck up to them. At least this time he didn’t say we’re European.”
Russia: Non-Touristy Moscow Pics
The Turkish Invasion posts non-touristy pictures of Moscow.
Russia: Deadly Strip Club Fire
The Turkish Invasion reports on the deadly fire at a Moscow strip club.
Russia: Thaw
White Sun of the Desert reports on the beginning of the springtime thaw in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: “Bereft of any kind of drainage system, the melting snow first forms a brown slush which lies ankle-deep on every pavement, and later turns to lakes of dirty water which straddle entire roads and covers...
Russia: Svyaznoi Prezidenta
Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow writes on the latest get-together of the pro-Putin youth group Nashi (the post includes a lovely Russian-language paraphrase of Aleksandr Pushkin).
Russia: Chechnya's Street Children
A Step At A Time translates an article on street children in Chechnya.
Russia: Grozny Photos
A Step At A Time links to incredible pictures from Grozny, Chechnya, taken by LJ user kunstkamera.
Russia: Variations of Dissent
After reading LJ user rudin‘s report (RUS) from the Dissenters’ March that took place in Nizhniy Novgorod this past Saturday, LJ user an_drevv made this ironic remark (RUS): Judging by the ratio between the participants [police outnumbered the protesters], it looks like the majority of the dissenters were cops, and...
Russia: User Guide
This has been an eventful weekend, rally-wise. In Minsk, Belarus, water cannons had to be used against several thousand citizens opposed to Aleksandr Lukashenko‘s regime. In Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia, it took some 20,000 police and military personnel to prevent yet another “Dissenters’ March” from happening. In Moscow, however, 3,000 riot...
Russia, Georgia: On Beggars
Darkness at Noon (Moscow-based) and Music and Life – Everywhere! (currently, in Tbilisi) reflect on street beggars and ways of dealing with them.
Russia: Blood Tests, Work Permits
The Turkish Invasion reports on the blood tests one is required to undergo to be allowed to work in Russia.
