Latest posts by Veronica Khokhlova from June, 2007
Ukraine, Russia: Serhiy Taftay's Guitar
uaMuzik tells the tale of one Ukrainian musician's legendary guitar.
Ukraine: Lviv Coffee and Food
Olechko prepares to spend August in Lviv: in this post, she writes about the newly-discovered local coffee houses and restaurants.
Ukraine: Erotic Symbolism in Folk Songs Lecture
A Ukrainian Diaspora ethnologist will give a lecture in Kyiv on Aug. 25 on the erotic symbolism in Ukrainian folk songs, Nash Holos reports.
Serbia: Bad TV
Time to do something about the state Radio and Television of Serbia (RTS): Anegdote is considering the options.
Russia: Sochi-2014?
Inside Krasnodar is “waiting with baited breath” for the July 4 announcement of the winner of the 2014 Winter Olympics bid: “Apparently the city of Sochi is also gearing-up for the announcement by declaring the 4th and 5th of July as holidays and preparing to have a free concert with...
Russia, Sweden: Lavrov and Georgian Wine
Vilhelm Konnander reports that the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was drinking Georgian wine banned in Russia during his recent visit to Sweden.
Russia: Chechen “Daimohk” to Perform in the U.S.
“Daimohk, a children’s dance group based in Grozny and trained by the former first dancer of the Chechen national theatre, will be visiting the US for their first ever tour there,” A Step At A Time reports.
Hungary: Bilingual Education
N.Irish Magyar writes about Hungary's minority languages and bilingual education.
Eastern & Central Europe: Feral's Back; Czech Lustration
Illyrian Gazette posts an update on the fate of Feral Tribune (it's back and financially secure), and writes about lustration and music in the Czech Republic.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Miroslav Lajcak
Balkanizer posts a lengthy and detailed post on the legacy of the outgoing High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina: “[…] an unrefined and unedited thinking about the departure of the old High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Christian Schwarz-Schilling) and the arrival of new HR – Slovakian diplomat Miroslav Lajcak.”
Russia: Rewriting History
Kosmopolit blogs about Putin's attempts to re-write Russian history.
Poland: BBC on Lustration
Dr. Sean's Diary links to a BBC program on “on lustration and decommunization issues in Poland.”
Ukraine: A Spanish Embassy Ordeal
In an ideal world, there'd be no need for travelers to waste their time and money obtaining visas: buying a plane ticket and booking a hotel room would suffice. Tanya Kremen, a Ukrainian journalist, studies Spanish but feels that a plane ticket to Latin America costs too much. So she decided to go to Spain. She had a valid visa - unlike the two of her friends who wanted to go along. What follows is the story of their frustrating visit to the Spanish Embassy in Kyiv, posted by Tanya on her blog at Korrespondent.net.
Russia: Attic Repairs
Ruminations on Russia explains what the oligarchs’ flight from Russia may have to do with the delayed repairs of an attic at one apartment building in Moscow.
Russia, U.S.: Comparative Presidential Popularity
As Putin and Bush are about to meet on Sunday, Sean's Russia Blog discusses a survey comparing the two leaders’ popularity.
Ukraine: Kyiv Traffic Jam
Olechko gets stuck in traffic in Kyiv and discusses possible reasons for the jam with her cab driver: “[…] end of year graduation, Rada’s last meeting for the year, end of business quarter, beginning of four-day weekend!”
Russia: Monument to the Defenders of Leningrad
Darkness at Noon posts pictures from the Monument to the Defenders of Leningrad.
Croatia: Marko Perković Thompson
Illyrian Gazette and Balkan Baby write about the controversial Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson and his recent concert in Zagreb. In the same post, Balkan Baby also writes about Tito's birthplace and football.
Russia, Belarus: Blaming Putin and Lukashenko
Adam Goodman of Being Had admits that life is tough in Belarus and Russia, but disagrees with La Russophobe‘s perspective: “[…] I refuse to believe, just as I have since I started writing about Belarus, that it is appropriate to place the blame solely on Lukashenka or Putin.”
Poland, Germany: “Stepmother of Europe”
Publius Pundit quotes from a BBC piece on the Polish-German relations and reproduces the controversial cover of the Polish weekly Wprost, featuring a computer-generated image of German Chancellor Angela Merkel breastfeeding Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and President Lech Kaczynski.
Central & Eastern Europe: Political Parties
Dr Sean's Diary fails to come up with “two or three examples of parties in CEE that might plausibly resemble the ‘radical right wing populists’ (as opposed to old-style neo-fascist or integral-national extreme right)”: “Plenty of successors to blood and soil national traditions, now somewhat tamed by post-1989 realities of...
