Latest posts by Veronica Khokhlova from February, 2012
Russia: An Overview of the Pre-Election Anglophone Blogging
Below is a quick overview of what some of the Anglophone Russia bloggers have been writing during the busy pre-election month of February.
Russia: The “Big White Circle” Protest in Moscow
On Sunday, Feb. 26, thousands of people gathered in central Moscow for the Big White Circle protest, forming a human chain along most of the length of the Russian capital's 15.6-kilometer/9.7-mile Garden Ring, protesting against corruption and demanding a fair presidential election, which is to take place in one week, on March 4.
Russia: Bloggers’ Photo Reports and Reflections on Pro-Putin Rally in Moscow
On Thursday, February 23, ten days before the March 4 presidential election, the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin addressed thousands of people at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. A number of Moscow-based bloggers attended the event, too. Below is a selection of their photo reports and observations, along with some of the remarks from their audiences.
Russia: Navalny vs Kadyrov
At Jamestown Foundation Blog, Valery Dzutsev reports that Ramzan Kadyrov, the President of Chechnya, has called politician and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny “a real chatterbox” – and Navalny retaliated by publishing (here and, later, here; ru) “the results of his investigation of the Chechen police’s car inventory acquisitions, naming and...
Macedonia: Coping With Ice and Snow in Skopje
GV Author Filip Stojanovski posts pictures of Skopje's snowy and icy streets and reports on his blog: “[…] the pavements and the side streets in the municipality of Centar remain icy. Some are covered by layers of ice or re-frozen slush, by old frozen snow, or an unevenly hardened mash...
Russia: “Anti-Gay Propaganda Bill” Passes Second Reading
St. Petersburg is getting closer to signing into law the notorious "anti-gay propaganda bill." "Will talking about Tchaikovsky be banned?" tweets British writer and actor Stephen Fry. Some of the Russian netizens' reactions are translated below.
Russia: Three Conversations With Parents of Young Neo-Nazis
At OpenDemocracy.net, Olesya Gerasimenko talks to the parents of three young neo-Nazi men who were convicted of race murders: “One has adopted the views of their only child and says that violence is necessary. One blames the politicians that have incited adolescents to street fighting. One cries, convinced of the...
Bulgaria: Severe Flooding Emergency
GV Author Ruslan Trad is tweeting – here, here, here, and here – about the severe flooding in southern Bulgaria, which was caused by heavy rainfall of the past few days and has killed at least eight people in the village of Bisser. The latest tweet came about an hour...
Ukraine: Ex.ua is Back Online
Ex.ua, a file-sharing site that the authorities shut down two days ago, is now back online [uk], though its content is still inaccessible. @bl4ka tweets [ru]: “The DDoS revolution has won! […]” @VsemPohuy tweets [ru] about the DDoS attacks that followed the shutdown, and the situation in the country in...
Ukraine: Government Sites Under Attack; “Freedom to Ex.ua”
The official websites of the President of Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers, the Internal Affairs Ministry, and the Party of Regions are either completely down or work with interruptions today. Some of the coordination of the collective effort to take down governmental sites, apparently in response to yesterday's shutdown of...
Ukraine: Authorities Shut Down File-Sharing Site Ex.ua
On Jan. 31, the Ukrainian authorities shut down Ex.ua, a popular file-sharing site. A selection of relevant tweets [en, uk, ru] is here: e.g., @sinplotnika [ru]: “The state has deprived you of bread, now it's also decided to take the show [entertainment] away.”; @Urshulia [uk]: “For me, the loss of...