Latest posts by Veronica Khokhlova from July, 2006
Romania: Targu Mures
Owlspotting writes about his native town: “[…] my hometown of Targu Mures (also called Targu-Mures, Tirgu Mures and more recently Tirgu-Mures; the latter is the spelling used by city officials).”
Captive Nations Week
Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes about the Captive Nations Week and its relevance today.
Czech Republic: Language Lesson
Jesse of Bored in Brno discusses the difference in the Czech usage of the words ‘far’ and ‘distant.’
Ukraine: “Microscopic, Telescopic Views”
Adrian J. Erlinger of Leopolis writes on “microscopic, telescopic views” of the current political situation in Ukraine: “By the looks of mini-Maidan, the most progressive of the Ukrainian electorate have come down with a case of electoral fatigue.”
Russia: Youth Activism
Sean's Russia Blog writes about two trends in the Russian youth political activism.
Russia: Caterpillar Armor in Chechen Village
David McDuff of A Step At A Time translates an article about Russian army's caterpillar armor now moving through a Chechen village.
Moldova: Corruption and Middle Eastern Food
Peter Myers of Adventures in Moldova writes about corruption and Middle Eastern food in Moldova.
Israeli Women Blog the War, in Russian
The Israeli blogosphere has a Russian-language corner: quite vocal, it is populated mainly by those who emigrated from the former Soviet states in the past few decades. Below is a selection of posts about the war, written by Israeli women, in Russian. LJ user gollitely (Lena Lagutina, Jerusalem) – July...
Belarus: Music and Censorship
TOL's Belarus Blog writes about music and censorship in Belarus, and about an upcoming Belarusian music event – to be held in Poland, “not so far from the border, in ethnically Belarusian territory.”
Russia: Lyudmila Putina's Style
LJ user plushev is wondering (RUS) who is responsible for the tacky dresses of Putin's wife (photos attached): “I've heard a fantastic version that this is the work of Kremlin's imagemakers – this way they are said to win women's sympathy for Putin: women unconsciously pity the president who's got...
Russia: “Senseless Brutality” in the Army
Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog writes about “senseless brutality” that keeps occuring in the Russian army: “This time one of the victims is 19-year old Radik Habirov from Kazan, who was brought in to a local hospital weighing only 65 pounds and is now in a coma. This is the...
Russia: G8 and Coverage of Crackdown
Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog reports on results of the G8 Summit and criticizes the coverage of crackdown on protesters: “The methods that are being used in St. Petersburg—preemptive arrests and detention, restricting protests and protesters, caging them in, preventing foreign activists from entering the country—are not new in...
Russia: Failure to Join WTO
Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog writes on why Russia hasn't joined the WTO.
Ukraine: Hutsul Wedding Video
Stefan of Dykun offers his readers a break from Ukrainian politics: an annotated video of a Hutsul wedding. “The wedding was that of a cousin of a friend, Anna. Much of Anna's heritage is Hutsul. Hutsuls and their descedents have lived in their part of the Carpathians for some 500-600...
Ukraine: Sheshory Folk Festival
The Humble Observer reports on a trip to a folk music festival in Sheshory, a small town in West Ukraine's Transcarpathians: “Imagine Pete Seiger learns Ukrainian and plays with an instrument that you crank (no kidding) and you have something like what I was at last weekend.”
Serbia: Symbols of the 1990s (2)
Viktor of Belgrade Blog posts part 2 of the series about the 1990s in Serbia: “Walking down some streets all you could hear was buzzing and see money switch hands, dinars for deutch marks, deutch marks for dinars, depending on peoples needs. Why buzzing, you may ask yourself. Well, Dileri...
Serbia: Kosovo Policewoman
KosovaReports reposts an article about a Kosovo policewoman who has managed to bring order to a “troublesome” town.
Slovakia: Ruling Coalition
Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Slovakia's new government: “It is rather, well, nationalist socialist.”
Romania: “Ask a Romanian”
Owlspotting are introducing a new “(hopefully) weekly” Q&A feature, Ask a Romanian. The first question answered is on whether “Romanians drink vodka tonic.”
Belarus: Relationship With the EU
TOL's Belarus Blog writes about a paradox: some EU officials think that visa sanctions against Aleksandr Lukashenko's government officials are inefficient; others think opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich is spending too much time in the West.
Russia: Oppositional Disarray
Konstantin of Russian Blog criticizes the coverage of what the “Western media pictured […] as a ‘democratic’ challenge to Putin”: “Few mentioned the fact that at this forum Kasparov gathered almost all extremists both left and right. Like, Limonov’s National Bolsheviks (their flag is an exact copy of Hitler’s banner...