It’s been a busy week, with not much time for posting. So, in lieu of a real post, here’s a roundup of some of the Russia and FSU blogging that’s caught my eye over the past few days:
- Lyndon writes to let us know that the ??????????? ??????? over at Scraps of Moscow continues.
- Two great posts from Rob Meyer, at Publius Pundit on how (and whether) the US and EU should draw Turkmenistan and Belarus into their evil embraces…
- Konstantin takes me to task for not noticing that the reason China figures higher than Russia in the Economic Freedom rankings is because it figures higher in the alphabet. And draws some interesting parallels between the economies of Russia and Kazakhstan.
- The latest Economist Big Mac Index is out. Turkish Invasion has details.
- NewEurasia.net interviews Martha Brill Olcott about her new venture - Cental Asian Voices, which met with some initial scepticism from bloggers covering the region.
- Sean Roberts asks whether Kazazkhstan’s reaction to Borat is a perfect example of sloppy but successful nation branding. Bonus: Sean has dug out his paintbrush to provide readers with a beautifully doctored picture of Homer Simpson.
- La Russophobe is holding a poll to see who should replace Vladimir Putin as President. Oddly enough, Garry Kasparov, the average Western liberal’s wet dream of a candidate, is way out front with 41% of the vote.
About Andy Young
Another interesting feature of the poll is that Mr. Medvedev, the Kremlin’s golden boy, is lagging behind Mr. Ivanov, the ugly stepson.
I amended my Google Reader post to include you
Check it out, I do think you’ll like it.
That’s cute, Tiny. Friedman is a real dork, for sure. But the sad thing is that compared to the other NYT columnists, he’s a genius. That whole shooting match is swirling right down the old toilet bowl. If you really want a howl, check out their guide to the Russian blogosphere. It gives new meaning to the words lame and pathetic.