Stories about Russia from October, 2009
Russia: 1994 Zikr in Grozny
Photographer Oleg Klimov posts photos (RUS) of Chechen men performing a zikr ceremony in summer 1994 in Grozny, Chechnya: “Some six months before the war. Most of these people are no longer alive.”
Russia: “White Russian”
Scraps of Moscow translates Zhenya Kuida's piece (RUS) on “a racist restauranteur” in Moscow.
Abkhazia: National Library
Scraps of Moscow posts pictures and writes about the Abkhazian National Library.
Russia: Aleksandr Podrabinek's Case
Reports and updates on Aleksandr Podrabinek's case: Window on Eurasia; A Step At A Time – here and here; Sean's Russia Blog – here and here.
Russia: ‘Cirque du Soleil’ Founder, a Space Tourist
RussianKafe writes about Guy Laliberte, Cirque du Soleil founder – and “the 7th space tourist to be launched into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.”
Russia: A New IT Security Draft Law
Profy writes about a new draft law, which, if approved, would require local Russian ISPs “to provide law enforcement agencies with the information on their subscribers when requested. But the most interesting thing is that in some situations they will even have to deny their subscribers internet access when deemed...
Russia: Sergey Mironov on RuNet
Evgeny Morozov comments on “one of the most cogent and frank interpretations of how the Kremlin views the Internet,” delivered by Sergey Mironov, “who heads ‘A Just Russia’ – one of those Kremlin-affiliated parties – and presides over the Russian Federation Council – the upper chamber of the Russian parliament.”
Russia: Photos From Politkovskaya Rally
In the live_report LJ community (RUS), photo reports from the memorial rally that took place in Moscow on Oct. 7, the third anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder: LJ user zyalt, LJ user pafnootty, and LJ user antonb_ru.
US-Poland: Putting robots out of work
Eric Grover of Blogactiv.eu discusses US president Obama's decision to scrap the anti-missile defence system planned for deployment to Poland and the Czech Republic on the very day of the 70th anniversary of the 1939 Soviet attack of Poland at the outset of World War II.
Russia: Accelerating WTO accession?
Amanda Lahan of Crisis Crunch accounts for Russia resuming negotiations on membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), which may still be hampered by plans for a customs’ union with Kazakhstan and Belarus, set to coincide with WTO-accession also of these countries.
Russia: Anna Politkovskaya's Memorial Rally Announced
Journalist Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated on Oct. 7, 2006. On Wednesday, people will gather in Moscow to pay tribute to her and other slain journalists and activists. Some bloggers, however, aren't too sensitive when discussing the upcoming event.
