Stories about Ukraine from December, 2006
Russia, Belarus: “Gazilla”
There's a distinct sense of deja vu this New Year's Eve: Gazprom, Russia's largest (and state-controlled) company and the world's biggest extractor of natural gas, is in the spotlight again, both locally (due to an ambitious and controversial construction project in St. Petersburg) and internationally (due to a dispute over...
Ukraine: Socialists Against Prosecutor General
Foreign Notes reports on the confrontation between Ukrainian socialists and the Prosecutor General's office.
Ukraine: Ruslana Against Human Trafficking
The Natashas – “a blog for those interested in fighting the scourge of human trafficking of women and men, girls and boys, especially for purposes of sexual exploitation” – posts a link to an anti-human trafficking video by Ukrainian pop singer and PM Ruslana.
Ukraine, USA: North Dakota Ukrainians
Ukraine List writes about Ukrainians of North Dakota.
Ukraine: The New Year's
Carpetblogger posts pictures and writes about the New Year's in Kyiv.
Ukraine, Poland: Traffic Jam
Abdymok writes about a neglected story of “a 20 kilometer-long line of cars, buses, and trucks trying to make it back to ukraine before the new year . . . polish border guards with machine guns. eye witnesses say little kids are sick and dying. they say the crossing zone...
Ukraine: The Black Sea
Ukraine List posts satellite photos of the Black Sea.
Ukraine: Chernobyl Photographer
Ukraine List writes about the first photographer on the scene in Chernobyl.
Ukraine: Chernobyl Rumors
MoldovAnn writes about the most recent Chernobyl scare: “One guy had a chance to check the news on the internet before dinner, and read a report that a wall on the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant had collapsed, releasing a bunch of radioactive dust into the air. The report advised to...
Ukraine: “Return of Frankenstein?”
Foreign Notes documents yet another step on Ukraine's path back to the pre-Orange Revolution past: “If the bill is approved it will enable the pre-OR guys in the CEC, including its chairman Serhiy Kivalov [now a PoR VR deputy,] and the other cheats to return.”
Ukraine: Brezhnev's 100th Birthday
Carpetblogger marks Leonid Brezhnev's 100th birthday with a Brezhnev joke: “Stalin, Krushchev and Brezhnev were riding on a train. The train comes to a halt in the middle of nowhere. Stalin yells out: ‘kill the engineer!’ Khrushchev calls out: ‘rehabilitate the engineer!’ Brezhnev says: ‘pull down the window shades and...
Ukraine: Crimea's Massandra Wines
Ukraine List writes about Crimea's famous Massandra wine collection.
Ukraine: Cheating Your Gas Meter
Foreign Notes writes about the war raging in the Kyiv City Council over the new communal services tariffs – and lists ways to cheat your gas meter and reduce your gas bill: “…connection of a vacuum cleaners to the gas faucet to make the meter go ‘in reverse’, attaching spigots...
Ukraine: Car Stats and Driving
Michelle Knisley writes about driving habits of Ukrainian drivers. Petro of Petro's Jotter provides this info in a comment: “Ukrainians are registering 35,000 cars per month […]. 33% of those are in Kyiv and 30 days in an avg month yields, incredibly, 385 cars registered in Kyiv each day. This...
Ukraine: Baby-Trafficking
Michelle Knisley writes about yet another horrible case of healthy newborns being stolen from the mothers after delivery in Kharkiv: “In a culture where everything can be bought for a price, it seems as if children are paying the ultimate price.”
Ukraine: Nestor Shufrych
Foreign Notes writes about Ukraine's new minister of emergencies: Nestor Shufrych, a man “described as a walking ‘Emergency Situation’ himself.”
Ukraine: WWII
Ukraine List posts “four perspectives on World War II (The Great Patriotic War) from Ukraine. One is from a French priest, another is from a film director, yet another is from a cave explorer, and the last is of an amateur archaeologist.”
Ukraine: Waiting For Election?
LEvko of Foreign Notes believes that Ukraine's president Victor Yushchenko “is strengthening a team around himself in anticipation of early [parliamentary] re-elections next year.”
Ukraine: 1995 Trip
A link to the map of polonium-210 in London and a memory of a 1995 trip to Ukraine, over at Wu Wei.
Ukraine: Vodka
All you need to know about Ukrainian vodka – over at Ukraine List.
Ukraine: Kyiv's Mayor
Ukrainiana writes about Kyiv's new mayor: “If true, that would make Chernovetsky and Yanukovych two of a kind. The “Better Living Today” they promised turned out to be a “Big Lying Tease.” Both did a great job of teasing pensioners for personal gain: Yanukovych — with an impermanent pension increment;...
