Stories about Eastern & Central Europe from October, 2011
Macedonia: Lead Smelting Factory Problem in Veles
Jovan Petrov provides an overview of the problem with the lead and zync smelting factory in Veles, after the court rejected a suit against the state from the municipality and...
Russia: The Data Leak War and Other Pre-Election Surprises
Current online political activity in Russia points to information warfare occurring between independent civil-society groups or remnants of 'traditional' political opposition, against various government officials and pro-government youth movements.
Russia: Alternative Voting Portal Launched
Habrahabr-user uhaby writes [ru] about otdamgolos.ru, a web-portal that offers users to propose alternative parliamentary and presidential candidates as well as to vote for them. The author claims that within...
Russia: Izhevsk City Manager Caught on Camera Talking About Election Bribery
Udmurtia.tv publishes a video [ru] of Denis Agashin, Izhevsk city manager, telling the representatives of veteran organizations that the next year's financial support will depend on the results of “United...
Russia/India: Video of a Paraglider Pilot Attacked by an Eagle in Himalayas
11-minute headcam video [ru] of a story that could end up with a human casualty. Russian paraglider pilot making his first flight in Himalayas was attacked by three eagles, one...
Russia: Pirate Flag Over Novosibirsk City
LJ-user dedmaxopka publishes [ru] pictures of himself placing a pirate flag over Novosibirsk city administration. “We just wanted to make nice pictures of the city,” explained the blogger to the police...
Russia: Retired Tennis Star Marat Safin to Run for Parliament
Russian tennis phenomenon, Marat Safin, has announced that he will run for the Russian State Duma in the December 4 elections. However, his public image, as illustrated by citizen media outlets, has until now not been focused on public service. Donna Welles reports.
Ukraine: “We Are Europeans”
Ordinary Ukrainians are using citizen media and social networks to voice their commitment to European values and organize rallies in support of Ukraine's European orientation. Veronica Khokhlova reports.
Ukraine: Best Ukrainian Blog Awards Competition Launched
Watcher.com.ua [uk], a Ukrainian Internet business and social media marketing website, launches [uk] Best Ukrainian Blog Awards (BUBA). Participants may be nominated and voted for by Internet users between Oct....
Russia: Fake ‘Crowd Sourced’ Election Monitoring Portal Launched by the Ruling Party
Gazeta.ru writes [ru] about government-sponsored NGOs that help simulate legitimacy of the election process. Among others authors mention ktonarushil.ru, a fake crowdsourcing monitoring portal launched by “United Russia” party. Not...
Russia: Crowd-Sourced Citizen Lawmaking Platform
The Economist writes about WikiVote (e.g. see projects dedicated to the laws on education, Sberbank, state-owned bank), Russian croudsourcing platform to comment and contribute to the creation of the laws....
Russia: Prison Officer Who Abused Female Inmates Arrested After a YouTube Leak
Anonymous male prison officer from Amur region who had been captured beating and abusing female inmates was arrested, Ria.ru reported [ru]. The arrest was conducted after the shocking video [warning:...
Russia: 24,300+ Personal Records Belonging to Pro-Kremlin Youth Camp Participants Leaked
Russia is entering a personal data leak war led by anonymous hackers. After the partly-fake contents of the Alexey Navalny's mailbox was published, the RuNet was struck with another massive...
Russia: Pre-Election Scandals, YouTube Videos and Semi-Anonymous Protest
Anna Arutiunova at Russia Profile covers recent pre-election RuNet scandals (see also this week's GV coverage here and here). “RuNet has become an essential platform for the dirty business of...
United Kingdom: At Age 77, a Life of Inspiration
Julie Kertesz started blogging and photographing at the age of 70. Now at 77, she has become a role-model to people of all ages who desire to lead full and active lives of learning and doing. Paula Góes reports.
Russia: Author of “the Barracks Blog” De-Anonymized, Allegedly Threatened
Vasiliy (@sosigusyan [ru]), military conscript and the author of “the Barracks Blog,” a Twitter-account telling about the life in the army (see transcripts of his tweets here [ru] and here...
Russia: Site of Political Phone Pranks Launched
politicprank.ru, website dedicated to the phone pranks with politicians has launched on October 26, 2011. The first prank [ru] has been conducted allegedly with the head of the security of...
Russia: Hacked Mailbox of Anti-Corruption Blogger Published Online
Private mailbox allegedly belonging to Alexey Navalny, famous anti-corruption blogger, has been hacked and published at navalnymail.kz by an attacker nicknamed onenavnav [ru]. Navalny hasn't confirmed the authenticity of the leaked e-mails yet....
Slovenia: Projections for Parliamentary Elections
Sleeping with Pengovsky analyses opinion polls for the upcoming December 4 parliamentary elections in Slovenia.
Ukraine: Petroleum Sets Fire to Party of Regions Tactics
LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about a rising scandal in Ukraine, where the governing Party of Regions allegedly used a petroleum trade scam to finance the party during election campaigns.
Ukraine: Turning into a European Pariah?
Jonathan Hibberd of Chicken in Kiev addresses how Ukrainian politicians are increasingly becoming a pariah in the European Union, following the verdict of opposition leader Yulia Timoshenko.
About our Eastern & Central Europe coverage
