Mar

31

"The Stamp of Guantanamo"

March 31, 2007 | 2 Comments

Human Rights Watch slapped both Russia and the United States in the face this week. The first slap was the release of a 43 page report detailing how the US sent seven “enemy combatants” held at Guantanamo Bay to Russia. The result was all seven, Rustam Akhmiarov, Ravil Gumarov, Timur Ishmuratov, Shamil Khazhiev, […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mar

28

Tajikistan Bans Slavic Names

March 28, 2007 | 1 Comment

Just as readers at Siberian Light are discussing communist names, the NY Times is reporting about the President of Tajikistan’s effort to ban names with Slavic endings. President Emomali Rakhmon’s (the President formerly known as Rakhmonov) decree to drop “-ov” from family names is yet another nationalist attempt to remove the vestiges of Russia/Soviet […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mar

28

Old Wine in New Bottles?

March 28, 2007 | 3 Comments

Lyndon linked me about Nashi’s “Connecting with the President” or the “President’s Liaison Officer” campaign, so I’ll return the favor by liking his lucid breakdown of Nashi’s marketing-activist tactics. As he concludes:

The idea of using Nashi partisans as electronic “go-betweens” to/from the President (the passers-by receive special SIM-cards which will also be able […]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Mar

28

Letter: Highlanders Whacked Politkovskaya

March 28, 2007 | 11 Comments

I haven’t given an update on the investigation of Anna Politkovskaya’s murder in a while. The problem is that there have been few new developments. Given the Russian authorities track record in solving journalists’ deaths, we shouldn’t hold our breath. Nor should we be so quick to substitute dramatic fantasy for truth. […]

Popularity: 3% [?]

Mar

27

Nashi Website Blocked!

March 27, 2007 | 4 Comments

As a few of us discovered yesterday, the website for the pro-Kremlin youth organization Nashi is blocked for users with non-Russian IP addresses. Entering www.nashi.su into your favorite browser will turn up a “403 Forbidden” error. I’ve had limited success getting around this block using Russian proxy servers. While it happens that […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mar

25

(Dis)connecting with the President

March 25, 2007 | 15 Comments

As I wrote almost a year ago, youth politics in Russia is polarized between two youths. And the two “actions” this weekend, one in Nizhni Novgorod and the other in Moscow, prove that among political youth the chasm between pro and anti-Putin youth is vast.

For example, take the first action in Nizhni. […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mar

24

More on Russian Academia

March 24, 2007 | 2 Comments

Lyndon at Scraps of Moscow adds to the MGU controversy with a comment on the matter from an alumnus. He also rightly puts the matter into the larger context of the Russian government’s battle with the Russian Academy of Sciences and their future direction.

The collapse of the Russian academy is one […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mar

23

National Bolsheviks Deemed Extremist

March 23, 2007 | 1 Comment

Moscow courts have moved one step closer to banning the National Bolshevik Party. According to Kommersant,

 

The group was engaged in activities that violate Russia’s anti-extremism laws, the Moscow City Prosecutor’s Officer said in statement on its official web-site on Thursday. National Bolsheviks are now barred from staging rallies, demonstrations, or any other public […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mar

22

OD-Group Protests at MGU

March 22, 2007 | 3 Comments

For the past few weeks academic email lists devoted to Russian studies have been receiving a petition from a group of Sociology students from Moscow State University. A MGU student group named OD-Group, which is distributing the petition, claims that

In recent years, lectures at the department have become ever more insipid and formal […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

Mar

22

Russia’s Billionaires Enter Global Ruling Class

March 22, 2007 | 1 Comment

A few weeks ago Forbes released its World’s Billionaire List. Most commentators have noted the increase in Chinese, Indian, and Russian presence on the list. This is not surprising. The three countries are some of the most economically robust countries in the world. China serves as the global center of cheap […]

Popularity: 1% [?]

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