ON February 22, 2015 the President of the Russia Vladimir Putin paid tribute to fallen soldiers of the Great Patriotic War by laying a wreath/flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin wall. The event was to commemorate WWII, the war of liberation fought by the peoples of the USSR against the […]
Tajikistan: President Warned After Fatal Car Crash
Written by Mahina Shodizoda There are not many netizens in Tajikistan that have remained silent about a recent car crash in Dushanbe involving a relative of President Emomali Rahmon. The incident has demonstrated once again that powerful and well-connected individuals are above the law in the country. But it has also shown that simple technological […]
Russia’s Illegal Immigrant Camps
Written by Nina Jobe At the end of July, Moscow oblast’s Acting Governor proposed [1] [ru] the establishment of a detention center for illegal immigrants on a former military base near Yegoryevsky. The cost of renovations to repurpose the property is estimated to be 200 million rubles (over $6 million). Not surprisingly, local residents were […]
Russia: Monument to Chechen Women Raises Controversy
Last Saturday, September 14, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov dedicated a monument to a group of Chechen women who had died when Russia was establishing control over the North Caucasus in the 19th century. According to the story, which some say is apocryphal, in 1819 forty-six Chechen women taken prisoner by Russian General Yermolov threw themselves […]
Russia: Interpretation of Putin’s NYT Op-Ed on Syria
Written by Kevin Rothrock It’s not every day that the Russian President pens an opinion piece in the New York Times, but it happened yesterday, and the American blogosphere promptly lost its collective marbles, as tweeting journalists and surprised ordinary Internet users stumbled over each other to react. In the aftermath of local and regional […]
Kyrgyz Media: Shocking Headlines Spill Gossip
Written by Shakhnoza Isakova In Kyrgyzstan, a small country of roughly five million people, rumors play a significant role in forming opinions and forecasting the future. Although Kyrgyzstan’s Russian language media is often viewed as being more objective, the editors of the Kyrgyz language press have formidable networks, giving them plenty of opportunity to spill […]