Archive for the 'roundups' Category
A rose turned thorny…
TOL Georgia has been reporting at 
least thrice daily with updates of the social unrest in Tbilisi as well as analysis, photos and what the local papers have been saying. Has the rose revolution turned ugly? Make your mind up here.
…And elsewhere in the Caucasus
Steady State is continuing its coverage of the frozen conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia despite the extraordinary situation in Georgia. Looking further east into the Caucasus, there are also some fascinating posts from Azerbaijan. If you’ve ever wondered what a country with a 37% growth rate looks like, then the answer is right here.
Armenian Patchwork, a photo-blog from Yerevan, is also reporting on political developments in Armenia. They may not be as conflictual as in Georgia, but there’s at least one superb moustache involved and other facial hair delights (see left). The presidential election in February 2008 has sparked interesting cultural initiatives, including interactive theatre performances.
Upcoming elections in Russia
With only a month to go until parliamentary elections in Russia, there’s no time like the present to have a look at our two newest blogs, Elections in Russia and its counterpart in Russian, Выборы в России. Elections in Russia has articles on where the party of the Kremlin, United Russia, gets its 1.7 million members from; the strategy of “image arsenal”; Russia’s experiment with online voting; and the comforting knowledge that “nanotechnology is also Putin’s plan” and much more.
TOL Belarus continues to be active with insights into life in Belarus.
And in south-eastern Europe…
Two new posts on TOL Romania detail the uneasy political situation in Romania. Our blogger asks, “What do you think of a country where the government can’t be taken down, even if it commands only about 20% of the votes in Parliament?”. If votes of no confidence and reticence for direct democracy are your thing, look no further.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: worst political crisis since 1995?
Balkanizer, the TOL blog about all things Balkan, has some new indepth posts, including the statement recently released by the Peace Implementation Council regarding the political situation in BiH, and a piece that unravels just how BiH has become so dangerously mired in political instability: even EUFOR has recently declared that it is ready to respond in case of a new war - small comfort.
And not to forget Central Europe’s own - though much lesser - crock-pot of disturbance, TOL Hungary reports on this year’s surprisingly calm Autumn - no tear gas and rubber bullet dodging for Budapestians this October, on the 51st anniversary of the Hungarian uprising.
And finally, Romantic, TOL’s blog about all things Romani, continues to bring us fascinating insights into Romani culture, including some pictures from a recent exhibition organised to show the “real face of Romani people”.
FASCISM IN HUNGARY?
With less than one week to go until the first anniversary of Budapest’s Autumnal riots, which will most probably be marked with a minor riotous rumble, those with a zest for protest may be wondering what sartorial choices to make this time around.
Last year’s choice was the symbol of 1956 (the Hungarian tricolour with a hole cut in the middle) worn as an armband or lapel pin, or a black jacket-balaclava combo for those with a passion for riot fashion. This year, it looks like inspiration might be taken from further back into Hungary’s history, namely its Nazi past. The 2006 protests calling for extensive political reform fizzled out to be replaced by something far more unsavoury, in the shape of such far-right movements as the Hungarian Guards and the National Guardian Army.
Variously racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic, the visibility of these groups as well as their inroads to public institutions (e.g. ambivalent support from main opposition party FIDESZ) have provoked questions about the presence of fascism in Hungary. Not fascist, but containing a number of fascists, is the verdict on one blog. Another blogger ponders whether the displays of intolerance (such as violence at July’s gay pride march) might provoke the population into positive action to define what they do and don’t want. Yet another post highlights a theory that a decent Hungarian football team would make the hooligans (largely responsible for last year’s violence) less full of vitriol. If that’s the case, let’s hope Hungary can maintain its unexpected performance on the pitch.
KEEPING IT TOGETHER?
A translation of a thoughtful response run recently in a Bosnian daily, to the question of why should Bosnia stay together - rather than a final division (i.e. RS’s secession). Startling, perhaps, that this question should even be posed without even a blink from the authors of Dayton.
BELARUS BLOG
According to one of our bloggers, October’s European march will be a resounding failure - for no simpler reason than the fact that Belarusians don’t care whether the country fulfils the 12 demands of the EU or not.
The other side of the coin: a lament from a young Belarusian to his erstwhile comrades who have emigrated to study in Poland.
And…details from the trial of the alleged Belarusian spy-ring; Belarus’ economy awash with Russian money; national holidays, Belarusian style.
STEADY STATE
Abkhazia: a youth camp run for children on both sides of the Georgian-Abkhaz divide is a great success, throwing a shadow on Georgia’s own lacklustre (and divisive) efforts at peace-building.
Russians: “It’s not our cosmic junk!”. No one wants to claim responsibilty for the UFOs flying and landing over Georgian territory. But give it a few years and ordinary Georgians might be able to work it out, with the aid of a new state-funded military TV channel. Gulp.
South Ossetia: the summer holidays have been making de facto leader Kokoity sweat, specifically the free summer holidays to glossy Black Sea destinations handed out to certain families by the pro-Georgian Ossetian administration. Kokoity has barred certain children who have been on these holidays from going to school, apparently fearing tales of much higher living standards spreading around the playground. Also, a detailed look at the dangers of staging the “Kokoity, Fandarast!” (Kokoity, goodbye!) campaign in the conflict zone of South Ossetia.
ALSO: summer surfing in Armenia; a return to multiculturalism in the Czech Republic; the international dynamics of the Kosovo precedent.
A bit of blogkeeping before launching into this fortnight’s roundup of blognews from the TOL region:
We’ve opened new blogs for: Ukraine, South Caucasus (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia), Visegrad states (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic)…and rakia! (not excluding other tipples from the TOL region)
If you would like to join any of these blogs, email blogs@tol.org 
Wasted on the youth? International Youth Day comes and goes, while one of our bloggers reflects that young people in BiH can only look to themselves for emancipation.
A damning piece on Republika Srpska Prime Minister Dodik, his increasingly explicit desire to create an ethnically homogeneous state and the wall of silence from the international community.
Festivals galore at both Visegrad Vice and The Vodka Herald: read up on what you missed out on at the Sziget Festival in Budapest and the beer fest in Belgrade.
BELARUS
- A young activist is kidnapped and violence is used to break up a peaceful demonstration to commemorate disappeared leaders and repressed activists.
- A translated blog entry written by a Belarusian student who was summoned to the KGB and questioned on his studies and life.
- New, repressive Internet regulations are being considered by the Belarusian government, while a South African property investor wins permission to build Belarus’ “Silicon Valley“.
- Farewell to Poland: the price of visas to Poland are raised to an amount that ordinary Belarusians will not be able to afford. Selective treatment for democratic activists is less useful when most of the population are locked in the country.
FROZEN CONFLICTS
Also: Azerbaijan’s fiery economy; gender attitudes in Azerbaijan; a shout out to another blog promoting Roma culture from a UK Tatcho Rom; and “a young major, a liberal term - a European capital” - not usually three things one might associate with Moldova, but Chisinau’s new mayor is quickly proving that Europe’s poorest country need not be a lost cause.
The silly season’s begun elsewhere so get your unsilly stories here…
CENTRAL AND SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE
One of our bloggers reports that Romanian pensioners should be donning their party hats at the news that their pensions will see significant increases, but wonders whether it is a cynical pre-election move.
Sinister developments in Hungary, where an organisation for young men has been founded which uses the symbols of the Nazi Hungarian regime, the Arrow Cross. Their raison d’être - “psychical, mental and physical training of the Hungarian youth to an opportunity when there will a need for mobilizing people” - makes Russia’s Nashi look like boyscouts.
Republika Srpska (Bosnia-Herzegovina): is obstructive PM Milorad Dodik playing sick to elegantly remove himself from the premiership, before new High Representative Lajcak does? And if this is what’s really going on, then who could replace him, when there are no opposition figures who enjoy public or international support?
27% of Moldova’s GDP comes from migrant workers transferring money back to their relatives. TOL Moldova reports on what effect this has society and the economy. Read a further article on the need for trade liberalisation in this country which is suffering from wine import bans to Russia and a hefty trade deficit.
Romantic, the TOL blog about Roma issues, reports on a seminar held in Ljubljana for young people to increase the level of acceptance of Roma as a minority.
MEDIA
“Citizen media” is spreading further east: read about these new initiatives in Croatia and Central Asia.
A strange case of censorship? The abrupt withdrawal of an article written by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in the American journal Foreign Affairs provokes cries of censorship from Russia - or was it a routine editorial decision? And further censorship in Azerbaijan, where an imprisoned journalist has sown up his own mouth in protest at his incarceration.
BELARUS
We have a litany of stories over at our Belarus blog, including horror stories about the patriotic BRSM summer camps, more crackdowns on youth activism movements and more gas disputes in the pipeline.
CAUCASUS
Georgia, which for the last two years has had the highest military growth rate, will continue to gratuitously outstrip all other big spenders in the following year as it will double its military spending. One bloggers wonders how this can be justified when very little government money is spent on addressing some of Georgia’s dire social problems, such as huge numbers of drug addicts.
This little country has also been called on by the new UN Secretary General to remove its “Patriot Camp” which is situated just miles away from the conflict zone of Abkhazia. The camp is part of Georgia’s “peace plan”: but needless to say, the Abkhazians don’t see it that way. Click here to see what else the UN scolded Georgia about.
But despite this, a message board erected in Tbilisi for Georgians to write to Abkhazians contained not one negative message, and was overwhelmingly full of pleas for the former countrypeople to reunite. You’ll find this intriguing snippet here.
And it’s not gone all quiet on the northern front either: Georgia is trying to cure its South Ossetian headache with an “all-inclusive” commission to settle the breakaway republic’s status - but with no cooperation from Russia or the de facto South Ossetian government it looks like this commission will get nowhere before the ticking time-bomb of the Kosovan independence precedent goes off.
We have two great photostories from Armenia: environmental activists assist the authorities in Yerevan at a protest; and a collection of pictures from a dance performance that took the capital by storm.
Highlights of the last fortnight on TOL blogs include:
Is Russia actually less corrupt than is universally imagined?
Why has it taken the Stones so long to roll on
down to Belgrade?
Info on a new social networking site aimed at strengthening contacts among Roma worldwide.
Students in Macedonia protest about their “Student Union”: a corrupt relic from communist days.
A milestone? July 2007 - the first time a leading politician in Hungary openly admits being homosexual. At the same time, homophobic comments posted on a doctor’s forum become public. “Gays are sick” is the message from many Hungarian doctors, in a country where doctors have a big role in forming public opinion.
Extreme whining - not a new sport, unless you’re Victor Orban (leader of the Hungarian opposition) says one of our bloggers.
An introduction to how Moldova’s geographical position has influenced its development and a tale of how Chisinau’s creaking and damp Ministry of Culture is reflective of “daily problems that put a massive shade on a rich culture”.
But before we collectively reach for our St John’s Wort, spare a moment on this optimistic story about Chisinau’s new young mayor.
TOL’s executive director argues that the value of the Czech press is rising, thanks to the efforts of the biggest paper, Mlada Fronta DNES…which then squanders it days later on a classic barrel-scraping piece.
Russian education takes a nosedive as a new history teaching manual becomes public and most probably mandatory for teachers. Among other things, the last chapter declares: “We see that practically every significant deed is connected with the name and activity of President V.V. Putin“. Did anyone say personality cult?
And did anyone say inappropriate? A handful of mothers in South Ossetia have named their newborns “Genocide” in remembrance of the purported crimes committed against South Ossetians by Georgia. As our blogger points out, not only is this inaccurate, it’s also indicative of something foul afoot in this politicised society.
Steady State, a blog about the frozen conflicts in the Caucasus, has been feverishly busy of late. There are several posts about the pro-Georgian alternative government of South Ossetia, led by Dimitry Sanakoev. He won’t get much help from the EU; but he will form a football club; and he seems a lot saner (and smarter) than the “President of Democratic South Ossetia” Eduard Kokoiti who this week threatened terrorist attacks on Georgia. Read this short summary of the conflicts and Russia’s interests in it, if you’re miffed by these machinations.
Sochi? Who the hell is Sochi? Sochi was last week announced to be th
e venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics. But joy and sadness was felt beyond Russian, Austrian and South Korean borders (the latter two were final round competitors). Sochi is close to Abkhazia, one of Georgia’s breakaway regions. What does this mean for the resolution of the frozen conflict? And could it have reverberations for other breakaway regions in the former USSR?
Further reading:
- a link to a new paper by the (in)famous Francis Fukuyama and Michael McFaul about the promotion of democracy.
- access to information in Abkhazia by London-based NGO Article 19.
least thrice daily with updates of the social unrest in Tbilisi as well as analysis, photos and what the local papers have been saying. Has the rose revolution turned ugly? Make your mind up here. 
