Stories about Ukraine from May, 2009
Russia: “A Popular Blogger”
Popularity means different things to different people, in blogging as in real life. Below is a very short humorous take on some of the implications of being a “popular” blogger in the Cyrillic sector of the LiveJournal universe.
Ukraine: Russian Ads; PM's Hairdo; Crimea
Russian ads in Ukraine; Yulia Tymoshenko's hairdo; labor minister's text message interaction with her daughter regarding a government job offer for her father; the Crimean Tatars’ situation and the mess...
Ukraine: 65th Anniversary of the Crimean Tatar Deportations
May 18 marked the 65th anniversary of Sürgün, the 1944 deportations of Crimean Tatars from their homeland in Crimea. J. Otto Pohl writes about the history of the deportations, while Maria Sonevytsky describes the current plight and the attitudes of the Crimean Tatars who have returned to live in Ukraine, and shares her thoughts on the changes that need to take place for the situation to improve.
Russia: Eurovision
“Suddenly it is that time of the year again – the time when one cannot help but feel that one is, was and will always remain a European,” writes Josefina...
Ukraine: Updates on Lutsenko's Scandal
Updates on the Ukrainian interior minister's Germany scandal – at Foreign Notes and Ukrainiana.
Ukraine: Victory Day 2009
Lots of photos and video from the celebration of Victory Day in Kyiv – at Ukrainiana.
Cental & Eastern Europe: Crime Fiction
Jost A Mon posts a “roundup of translated crime fiction consumed in April” – which includes a few books by writers from the CEE region.
Central & Eastern Europe: Swine Flu (aka “California 0409”)
Below are some of the Central and Eastern Europe bloggers' reactions to news reports on swine flu and measures taken by some of the governments to keep the disease from spreading to their countries.
Ukraine, Germany: Interior Minister's Drunken Brawl
Foreign Notes and Ukrainiana (here and here) report on Ukrainian interior minister Yuri Lutsenko's drunken brawl at Frankfurt airport.
Ukraine: Interview With Michael Forster Rothbart
Natalia Antonova of GlobalComment interviews photographer Michael Forster Rothbart about his “Inside Chernobyl: Life Goes On” exhibition that opened in Kyiv in April.