Latest posts by Ashley Cleek
31 July 2012
Russia: Anti-Church Activist Flees Under Psychiatric Incarceration Threat
A blogger and leader of the Youth Human Rights Group in Karelia, has fled Russia to Poland after months of interrogations by prosecutors that included threats of detention in a...
10 October 2011
Russia: Personal Information Leaked, Who's To Blame?
On October 3, several Russian citizens' documents, including financial statements and passport numbers, were posted on the website rusleaks.com. Netizens are debating who is to blame.
12 September 2011
Russia: Connecting Neighbors, Saving Lives
The creators of a website that enabled Russians to help each other during wildfires in 2010 have now redesigned the site to enable citizens to assist each other in new...
26 August 2011
Russia: Cigarettes Branded for Young Women Spark Controversy
A recent advertising campaign and carton redesign by one of Russia’s largest tobacco manufacturers has riled Russan bloggers and sparked a debate on responsible marketing and advertising. Ashley Cleek looks...
26 July 2011
Russia: Bloggers Find Street Shooter
Bloggers across the Russian Internet were quick to respond with posts and information after well-known photo-blogger Dmitry Ternovsky was shot at recently on a highway in the southeast of Moscow....
13 June 2011
Russia: Bloggers Discuss the Fall of Russian Newspapers
A spate of firings at the nearly century old Russian daily Izvestia as well as the online news site Gzt.ru has journalist appealing to the public for their jobs, as...
24 May 2011
Russia: Renewed Anger Over Bureaucratic Traffic Bypasses
A fiery incident on a Moscow highway has reignited the debate on Russian officials' use of “special signals” that allow bureaucrats to move quickly through traffic. Ashley Cleek explores the...
4 May 2011
Russia: Anti-Corruption Donor Details Leaked
In the middle of April 2011, donors to the Russian anti-corruption, whistle-blowing website Rospil.info [ru] began to report that they had received strange calls and emails from unknown people, some...
12 April 2011
Belarus: Reactions to Subway Explosion
A bomb blast inside the Oktyabrskaya station of the Minsk metro has so far left 11 dead and wounded hundreds. Ashley Cleek had been collecting information and bloggers' reactions in...
6 April 2011
Russia: DDoS Attack On LiveJournal Has Russians Debating Internet Politics
On March 30, 2011, the blogging platform LiveJournal experienced serious functionality problems for over 12 hours due to a powerful Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack. It has triggered a debate on...
7 February 2011
Russia: Bloggers React, Reflect On Egypt Protests
As protesters surged to the streets in Tunisia and Egypt at the end of January, Russian bloggers began to rehash the news, and some reflected on how the uprisings in...
4 February 2011
Russia: Bloggers React To Threatened University Stipends
After an aid to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said [RUS] on January 19 that Russia should do away with stipends for university students, bloggers, parents, and university rectors began furiously...
22 January 2011
Russia: Why Skype Worries The FSB?
While Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urges government officials to get hip to technology, Russia’s Security Service, the FSB, has begun to clamp down on officials’ use of email and Skype,...
