Stories about Russia from July, 2011
Russia: To Join WTO Or Not?
Russia's considerations whether to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) or not is addressed by Julia at The Pipeline, and by Democratist.
Is Russia's Political “Black Hole” About to Reach Tipping Point?
In December 2011 Russian voters will elect a new parliament, and than in March 2012 a new (or perhaps, not so new) president. Analysts predict that the upcoming elections threaten a confrontation between the old political parties and their new, network-based, alternatives.
Russia-Lithuania: Did Russian Pressure Set KGB-Officer Free?
Gerhard Mangott discusses [GER] to what extent Russian pressure was decisive for Austrian authorities to let a former KGB-officer free, wanted by Lithuania for January 1991 Vilnius deaths.
Russia: Online Effort to Discredit Environmentalists Exposed
Suren Gazaryan, Russian environmentalist, publishes [ru] the scan of the document that describes the strategy of discrediting local environmentalist organizations protesting against the development of the Tuapse oil terminal. The “plan” includes prices for the paid posts in the blogs, forums, media outlets, as well as a list of possible...
Russia: President Medvedev's Gadgets Evaluated in a YouTube Video
YouTube user tebedam publishes a video [ru/en] entitled as “Medvedev is NOT corrupted,” that provides market prices for the gadgets president Medvedev had been spotted with on various photos, including Leica S2 camera (Price 22,995 US dollars), other top shelf Swiss watches, and a spacious Moscow flat. According to the...
Russia: Putin Wary of WTO
Kyle Keeton of Windows to Russia argues that Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, is right in his wariness towards membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO), fearing that this might hurt the country's economy.
Russia: Putin As Universal Evil
Ernst Krenkel of Backyard Safari discusses [GER] how Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, is often portrayed as a universal evil in the West, to the point where he is even accused of being an accomplice in an alleged conspiracy [FR] against former IMF director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Russia: Women ‘Rip For Putin’ As Election Campaign War Begins
Russian 2012 presidential candidate Vladimir Putin is quickly catching up with his supposed rival Dmitry Medvedev in engaging guerrilla marketing techniques and new media to boost his campaign.
Russia/Belarus: Two More ‘Revolutionary’ Initiatives Appear Online
Ukraine-based Looo.ch launches [ru] street-art initiative called “Belarus Front of Street Art,” which idea is to spray word “Скоро” (“Soon”) on the streets of Belarus thus inspiring people to oppose the regime of Alexander Lukashenko. In Russia, the community “Crayon Revolution” [ru] calls people to draw “This government should resign”...
Russia: Putin as a Liberal
Sean's Russia Blog continues his argument on Putin as a liberal after reactions to his previous discussion on the subject.
Russia: Defence Paradoxes
Streetwise Professor discusses development of Russian military technology and weapons procurement and the paradoxes they pose to the Russian Armed Forces.
Russia: Public Transport Safety
Streetwise Professor reflects upon safety of public transport in Russia, against the backdrop of the recent “Bulgaria” boat disaster.
Russia: Clashes in Sagra
Kevin Rothrock of A Good Treaty discusses the recent “ethnic” clashes in the little south-Russian town of Sagra and how these are exploited by various political and nationalistic interests.
Russia: Illusory Economic Stagnation?
Anatoly Karlin of Sublime Oblivion argues that the view of Russian economic stagnation is illusory, if taking demography, development level, etc into account.
Russia: Internet Audience Continues to Grow Rapidly
RuMetrika sums up the recent survey of “Public Opinion Foundation” on the Internet audience in Russia. According to it, the audience grew 7 percent (versus predicted 3.7) in the first three months of 2011. During the last year and a half, the monthly Internet audience increased by 27 percent.
Russia: Notorious Foundation Clashes with “Forbes”
Infamous “Federaciya” foundation accused “Forbes” employees of contacting the internationally famous guests of a Russian charity event and trying to persuade them not to attend, “Forbes” reported on its Facebook page. The magazine denies any involvement in the issue.
Russia: New Statistics of Social Network Users
Russian collaborative blog Habrahabr.ru publishes statistics on the users of Vkontakte.ru, the most popular social platform in Russia. According to the data, Alexander (for man) and Ekaterina (for women) are the most popular names of users. The most users are from Moscow or Saint Petersburg.
Russia: Photoblogger Covers Drug Addiction in Afghanistan
Popular Russian photoblogger Ilya Varlamov (zyalt) traveled to Afghanistan where (among other things) he covered drug addiction in Kabul.
Russia: Government Company to Bring Internet to Largest Island in Norway
Russian government company “Kosmicheskaya Svyaz” plans to bring fast Internet and digital TV to Spitsbergen, the largest island in Norway, news website Lenta.ru reported.
Russia: News Website to be Closed Because of Racial Clashes Coverage
URA.ru, an information agency and website that became popular after it extensively covered clashes in a small Russian village Sagra, is on the verge of being closed down by the authorities. It is said that because of URA.ru, the coverage of Sagra clashes became “too extensive” in media.
Russia-Middle East: Comparing the Fall of the Wall and the Arab Spring
Dr. Sean's Diary compares the difficulties of area studies in handling the fall of the commnist bloc in Central and Eastern Europe in the 1990s with that of the current Arab spring, against the backdrop of a recent Foreign Policy article.
