Stories about Ukraine from December, 2008
Ukraine: Top ten bribes 2008
Wu Wei draws attention to a Kyiv Post story on the top ten bribe cases uncovered by Ukrainian authorities in 2008.
Ukraine: “A Democratic Question”
Ukrainiana writes about president Yushchenko's answer to the question that got over 85,000 online votes: “A straight question needs a straight answer. Instead, we got a rambling lecture, replete with peripheral thinking.”
Ukraine: Explosion in Yevpatoria
Ukrainiana writes about the explosion in an apartment building in Yevpatoria, Crimea, which has killed at least 27 people.
Ukraine: Political chaos and economic crisis
A Fistful of Euros analyses Ukraine's mounting political chaos and economic crisis.
Ukraine: Hutsuls and Crimean Tatars
My Simferopol Home writes about her dissertation plans to compare histories of exoticism in the Ukrainian Hutsul and Crimean Tatars cultures: “So, why these two groups? While distinct in ethnogenesis, history and territory, Hutsuls, the superstitious, hard-drinking subsistence farmers to Poland and Austro-Hungary’s urban intellectuals, and Crimean Tatars, the perceived...
Ukraine: Yushchenko's Press Conference
Tetyana Vysotska of What's Up, Ukraine? writes about the Ukrainian president's annual press conference and his response to one of the most popular questions posed to him via the internet: “Mr. President, how much money should the people of Ukraine pay to convince you and other top authorities to leave...
Ukraine: Holiday Season Update
Ukrainian holiday season update: music – at Natalia Antonova's blog; sights – at Greetings from Kyiv; politics – at Ukrainiana.
Russia: Patriarch; Yoshkar-Ola; Stalin's Legacy; Protests
A selection of recent posts from Window on Eurasia: a “Ukrainian” metropolitan who may or may not become Russia's next patriarch; Hungarians react to the Russian authorities’ suggestion to rename Yoshkar-Ola, the capital of Mari El, to Tsaryovokokshaysk, the city's pre-1917 name; some Russian history teachers’ efforts to educate students...
Russia: Gas News
Siberian Light and Robert Amsterdam's blog write about “the annual Russo-Ukrainian gas crisis”; the latter also writes about the fledgling “gas OPEC.”
Ukraine: A Loud Protest
Ukrainiana writes about and posts video of a very loud protest in Kyiv: “On December 22, at noon, Kyivites honked their horns to protest against rampant government corruption and endless power struggles wrecking the Ukrainian Dream amid the country’s deepest economic crisis since the early ‘90s.”
Central & Eastern Europe: Freedom in the Balkans; Visa Restrictions
Ari Rusila examines the Balkan-related results of the Freedom House's Freedom in the World survey at AriRusila’s BalkanBlog, and writes about the Henley Visa Restrictions Index, highlighting the results for countries of Central and Eastern Europe, at AriRusila's BalkanPerspective at Blogactiv.eu.
Ukraine: Crisis, Microfinance and Politics
Below is a selection of recent posts from English-language blogs on the political and economic crisis in Ukraine.
Ukraine: Chernobyl Panoramas; Welsh Sheep and Radiation
Chernobyl and Eastern Europe writes about the effect of Chernobyl on sheep breeding in Wales, and posts links to panoramic photos from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone – here and here.
Ukraine: Yanukovych and Lytvyn in the Russian Media
Victor Yanukovych and the new speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn talk to the Russian media: translation and summary at Foreign Notes.
Ukraine: Coalition-Building Saga
A roundup of posts on yet another Ukrainian coalition-building saga: In-depth political analysis from Tetyana Vysotska of What's up, Ukraine?, including the latest item on the newly-formed coalition, which, despite having a name – “National Development, Stability, and Order” – appears to be “not constitutional.” LEvko of Foreign Notes wrote...
Ukraine: “Judge Who ‘Borrowed/Harvested’ $2M+Hr. 2M Gets Away”
Ukrainiana writes about a Ukrainian judge “who claims to have borrowed — and harvested — the nearly $2M plus Hr. 2M” – and is now at large.
Ukraine: Update on Hryvnia's Fall
Abdymok reports on the sorry state of the Ukrainian currency and president Victor Yushchenko's inadequate response to the crisis.
Ukraine: NATO; Crisis vs Luxury; Baba Paraska
A roundup of Ukrainiana‘s December posts: Ukraine and NATO; the math of the Russian-Ukrainian relations; ex-defense minister on “martial economic law”; Ukrainian PM's Chanel necklace and the First Lady's Chanel handbag vs. the president's call “to ‘live without’ expensive foreign-made items in times of crisis”; the beating of Baba Paraska...
Ukraine: New Coalition, New Speaker
Foreign Notes writes about the Ukrainian PM's address to the nation and the parliament's newly-formed coalition and its newly-elected speaker.
Ukraine: Holodomor Politics
Natalia Antonova shares her views on Holodomor – on her blog and at GlobalComment.
Poland, Ukraine: Euro 2012
The 8th Circle notes that Euro 2012 will be moved elsewhere if the stadiums in Kyiv and Warsaw are not built in time.