· November, 2009

Stories about Russia from November, 2009

Russia: 1999 Chechen Diary, Part 4

RuNet Echo  16 November 2009

The final part (part 4) of Polina Zherebtsova’s 1999 Chechen Diary – at Sundry Translations and Other Tangentialia. (More links: intro, part 1, part 2, part 3, Russian-language original.)

CEE: Recycling & Bicycles, Energy Consumption, and More

  16 November 2009

At Th!nk About It, a climate change blogging competition, Adela reports on the construction of a highway in Romania, which will go through a national park, endangering “the only virgin forest on our good old continent”, and also writes about the Recicleta project in Bucharest, and one Romanian man's roof...

U.S., Europe: Immigrant Writing; Diaspora Mentality

  16 November 2009

Maud Newton writes about a newly-published anthology of immigrant writing, “Becoming Americans.” Sublime Oblivion examines the views of “Russian political analyst & nationalist Konstantin Krylov” on “international diasporas” and “the diaspora mentality.”

Russia: Luzhkov vs NYTimes; “Destruction of Old Moscow”

  16 November 2009

IZO posts a translation of an open letter to president Medvedev “about the destruction of old Moscow under Mayor Luzhkov,” written by urbanism scholar Yuri Bocharov. Russia! reports on the defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, filed and won by the Moscow mayor.

Russia: Article On Social Network

RuNet Echo  12 November 2009

The Daily Telegraph published an article “Social-media and networking websites booming in Russia” [ENG] by Denis Terekhov, one of the marketing specialists in Russian social networks.

Ukraine: Flu Stats, Panic, Gauze Masks (and Some Lingerie)

  10 November 2009

According to Ukraine's Health Ministry, 1,031,597 people in Ukraine have fallen ill with "flu, acute respiratory illness and their complications (pneumonia, etc.)" between Oct. 29 and Nov. 9 - and 174 of them have died. In the Ukrainian blogosphere, much of the discussion of the current medical emergency focuses on whether there are enough reasons to panic or not.

Russia: Bloggers Discuss 20th Anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall

RuNet Echo  9 November 2009

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall just a handful of Russian bloggers mention what some call "the most important event in the history of the 20th century." Some use the date to remind readers about the current political situation, others practice their cynicism, but most ask themselves: "Why no one talks about this date? Why is it not publicly celebrated?"

Russia: Calling Abkhazia Via Russia

  6 November 2009

Eternal Remont reports that “as of November 16, Abkhazia will adopt Russian area codes for telephone service. This means than everyone trying to reach Uncle Bagrat in Gagra will have to call Russia and not Georgia.”

Russia: Drug Abuse and Alcoholism

  5 November 2009

OpenDemocracy.net writes about Russia's drug abuse problems. The NYTimes’ The Lede and Eternal Remont write about the Russian government's attempts to fight alcoholism.