Stories about Ukraine from March, 2011
Ukraine: “A War of Monuments”
Back in February, Uilleam Blacker of Memory at War: Blog wrote about “a war of monuments” in Ukraine.
Russia, Japan: Sakhalin Residents’ and Chernobyl Survivors’ Reactions to Fukushima
Ksenya Semenova writes on OpenDemocracy.net about the reactions of Sakhalin residents to the situation in Japan: “I have some friends in Japan […]. From their relations and from the internet they have discovered what's going on in the Russian Far East at the moment. They sigh deeply and smile ruefully,...
Ukraine: Reasons for Targeting Ex-President Kuchma
LEvko of Foreign Notes explains possible reasons – here and here – for targeting Ukraine's ex-president Leonid Kuchma, against whom a criminal investigation has recently been opened on suspicion of his involvement in the 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
Ukraine: Lukyanivka Pre-Trial Detention Facility
Journalist Kristina Berdinskikh writes (RUS) at her Korrespondent.net blog about Kyiv's pre-trial detention facility SIZO #13/Lukyanivka: the conditions (general capacity is 2,800 detainees, the actual number is around 4,000; cells for 40 people house 60-80, inmates take turns sleeping; “60 people sometimes smoke all at once, if a non-smoker ends...
Ukraine: Myroslava Gongadze on Media Freedom
Viktor Kovalenko writes about the views of Myroslava Gongadze – who is the widow of the slain Ukrainian journalist Georgiy Gongadze – on the freedom of the press and other issues in Ukraine.
Ukraine: Comparing Fukushima to Chernobyl?
The media are increasingly present the situation at Fukushima as the world’s worst nuclear accident since the Soviet-era Chernobyl disaster. This news has hit home in Ukraine, where Chernobyl is located and where memories of the terrible events of 25 years ago are still very much alive.
Russia: Social Media Monitoring Tools
Katya Trubilova of Social Media Lessons From Russia and the UK writes about social media monitoring tools produced in Russia and Ukraine.
Ukraine, Japan: Fukushima Discussion at Pripyat.com
Forum users of Pripyat.com (RUS), a portal devoted to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, are examining news reports and discussing the technical aspects of the situation at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant and the response to it on the ground, pointing out some of the differences between the current disaster and...
Japan: Iodine Distribution Needed
@Traysizzzle writes: “I hope #Japan starts distributing #iodine asap to anyone close to the radiation…it's not #Chernobyl but its prognosis is not good…”
Ukraine, Japan: Drink Red Wine to Reduce Radiation Toxicity
@DJLoli shares a health tip that was popular in Ukraine in 1986: “If u r in the area affected by Japan radiation: drink red Wine to get it out. It what helped us in Ukraine during #Chernobyl. […]” (Here's an article on a 2008 study that showed that “resveratrol, the...
Japan: Fukushima Reactor Has Different Design Type Than Chernobyl
@BrianDunning, author of a science podcast Skeptoid, explains: “Fukushima nuclear plant does NOT have a combustible graphite core like Chernobyl. A total meltdown should flow into underground containment.” (This explanation has been retweeted by over 100 people already.)
Japan: Tweets From Lviv, Ukraine
Ukraine-based @hiranotakaci (Hirano Takaci) tweeted this (UKR) and this (UKR) a while ago: “As for the earthquake in Japan, it's chaos in my feeds now. No gas and electricity, fill bathtubs with water, metro trains aren't running. Don't go to the coast. […] Announcements that trains and metro won't be...
Ukraine: Cases Against Tymoshenko and Lutsenko
Foreign Notes writes about the cases against Ukraine's ex-PM Yulia Tymoshenko (“180 volumes of evidence of between 250 and 300 pages each”) and ex-Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko.