Before kicking off this week’s roundup of top posts from around the Russia blogs, just a quick reminder that Anatoly Karlin has re-started interviewing Russia bloggers, over at Sublime Oblivion. To see the latest interviews, visit Watching the Russia Watchers.
My favourite blog posts from the past week are (drumroll please…):
- Global Voices’ RuNet Echo project posts a thought provoking article about how Mr Freeman – an internet animation series – has fired political debate in Russia where others have failed. Even if you don’t read the article, watch the animations!
- After trying to stay classy, Lyndon has decided that the best way to get visitors is to follow all the other Russia blogs and post sexy pictures of Russian spies. He scoops them all with some exclusive pictures of Anna Fermanova, the latest Russian spy.
- Streetwise Professor writes about Russia’s decision to sell large stakes in state owned companies – call it what you will, he says, but it isn’t privatization in Russia.
- Global Voices rounds up Russian reaction to the Komsomolsk-on-Amur city court’s decision to require an internet provider to completely ban access to Youtube because it hosted extremist content. Is Russia the new Pakistan, or is it all just a storm in a shot glass?
- A quick guide to Russian political vocabulary from Transparent Language’s Russian Blog.
- Windows to Russia reports some more bad news for the Pearl of Siberia – the discovery of gas hydrate fields underneath Lake Baikal.
- For the linguistically challenged, the Kremlin is now tweeting in English. Hat tip: Russia Blog
- Talking of Twitter, for the first time ever, a break in the sweltering Moscow weather led to a Cyrillic word topping the Twitter trending topics for the first time.
- Lovimoment points out that there is a Russian Quilters Association.
- Some great debate about the new FSB laws in Russia (you know, the one that says that the FSB can formally caution people for thinking about committing a crime). First FSB law post here, second FSB law post here – make sure you scroll down for the debate in each post’s comments section. Hat tip: Mark from In Moscow’s Shadows.
That’s it for this week. I like to finish with a funny most weeks though, so I’ll leave you with the latest Mr Freeman video (see the Global Voices article link above for more details.)
About Andy Young
