Stories about Russia from March, 2007
Russia: Skiing and Snowboarding
Russia Blog posts pictures of winter sports at Vorobyovy Gory in Moscow. Sochi Travel posts pictures from the skiing and snowboarding competition that took place in Krasnaya Polyana on March 1-3.
Russia: Who is “Maria Ivanova”?
On March 11, the Sunday Times ran a piece by Sarah Baxter and Anna Voutsen on the recent attacks against critics of Vladimir Putin's regime. It opened with the story of a Russian journalist who has allegedly received political asylum in the United States following several attempts on her life,...
Poland, Russia: Responsibility for Katyn
The beatroot reports that “the Russian NGO Memorial has pledged to pursue all legal means to get Moscow to recognize Soviet responsibility for the deaths of over 20,000 Polish officers in the Katyn massacre of 1940.”
Russia: Unreliable Electricity
The Turkish Invasion experiences a blackout: “So another myth about Russia is busted…no reliable electricity.”
Russia: Interview With Sean Guillory
Andy of Siberian Light interviews Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog.
Russia: Coverage Critique
Russia in the Media critiques Luke Harding's Guardian piece on Russia's poor; Russia Blog awards The Stranger's Annie Wagner with “the Shoe Award” for her review of the 9th Company movie.
Russia, USA: Cold War Movies
Russian Kafe writes about Cold War films that could have caused “a child to write things like ‘I have been worrying about Russia and the United States getting into a nuclear war’ and ‘I would like to know why you want to conquer the world or at least our country’.”
Russia: Has it Really Been Lost?
Russian bureaucrats force Darkness at Noon to live without his passport; at some point, it looks like the passport has been lost; but then the blogger hears this: “In Russia we don't lose things. We just take a long time looking for them!” – and, bingo, “this little saying puts...
Russia: No Toilet Seats
Darkness at Noon ruminates on the missing toilet seats in the Russian public bathrooms.
Eastern & Central Europe: Post-War Ethnic Cleansing of Germans
“During 1945 and 1946 some 14 million Germans from Central Europe and the Balkans permanently lost their traditional homelands due to a ruthless campaign of ethnic cleansing,” writes J. Otto Pohl in a post about this neglected post-war crime.
Russia: Like A Spy Novel
Edward Lucas posts “another unpublished and polemical draft piece on what may be a systematic Kremlin campaign of murder and intimidation–but of course may just be groundless paranoia.”
Russia: Regional Elections
This past Sunday Russians voted in regional elections for legislative assemblies in 14 of Russia’s 86 regions. Although their choices failed to surprise anyone, bloggers did find much to write about. Andy of Siberian Light: It probably won’t surprise you to hear that pro-Putin party United Russia came first in...
Russia: Moscow Power Plants
Russian Kafe links to a Flickr set of photos of Moscow power plants by Flickr user elephantr.
Russia: Who Lost It?
Russia in the Media disagrees with the Washington Post's Op-Ed Columnist Fred Hiatt on his assessment of Russia's current problems: “[…] who's to blame for losing Russia and what's to be done about it? While he did not manage to come up with any coherent answer to the first question,...
Russia: “The Duality of Free Speech in Russia”
Darkness at Noon guest-blogs at La Russophobe about the distinction that has to be made between powerful and powerless critics of Putin's regime: “If you are a critic of the state and possess enough power (whether measured as money, influence, actual political power, readership, or sensitive information) to make the...
Russia: House on the Embankment
Darkness at Noon visits the “House on the Embankment” Museum in Moscow and shares his thoughts and observations on the history of Stalin's Soviet Union: “The Great Terror of 1937-38 took an enormous toll on the upper echelons of the Soviet hierarchy, and nowhere was that toll more apparent than...
Russia: Sokolniki
maaskva: nashimi glazami links to YouTune videos of Moscow's Sokolniki Park.
Russia: Still Some More on Putin's Munich Speech
Edward Lucas of The Economist posts “a long rant written last month about Putin and Russian foreign policy which was never published and is now slightly out of date.”
Ukraine: Retro Tickets
MoldovAnn discovers a rather amazing thing: theater tickets she has recently bought in Kyiv for the Russian production of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” were printed way back in the Soviet times (photo is enclosed).
Russia: Slain Journalists
Sean's Russia Blog writes about the 20 journalists who have been killed since Vladimir Putin became Russia's president.
Russia: Major Auditing Firm's Tax Problems
Siberian Light reports on PricewaterhouseCoopers’ recent brush with tax police in Moscow.
