Here are the top five – see if you can guess why I like this ranking method better than previous attempts…

The list covers the “Top 50 blogs”, in both English and German, and there are some interesting blogs out there – including a few I hadn’t discovered before. Krusenstern’s post is well worth a visit, if only to browse the list and discover a few new blogs.

Some interesting debate in the comments, too, mostly involving La Russophobe.

One particular point, which I hadn’t considered before, covers whether blogs should publicly release their Sitemeter data. The potential problem with this is that it also displays quite a lot of information about the site’s visitors, including (partial) details of each visitor’s IP address. I think, over the next few days, I’ll need to consider whether it is appropriate to keep this data publicly available. In the meantime, any thoughts welcome.

More tracking of who is the top dog Russia blog is a post from: Siberian Light

But the post that really caught my eye was this one, which obliquely discusses anti-Russian sentiments, both within blogs and the wider media, by reference to James Bond films.

So why am I speaking of a �war of the words� ? The more I follow the coverage of Russia in the media, the more I am convinced that there is a system behind it. I am convinced that, just like the fictional �Carver Media Group� in the movie I can�t get out of my mind, there is simply business behind the covering of Russia.

A business which isn�t really interested in providing a balanced coverage of the actual situation and the events in Russia. As to the commercial media I am inclined to accept that the negative tendency towards Russia is inspired by our money, money the media tycoons want to have.

And that’s just his criticism of the media.� Wait til he gets started on the bloggers…

Fascinating stuff.

New blog – российская-федерация is a post from: Siberian Light

There are moves afoot in the former Soviet Union. Quite what moves, I have no idea. But keep your eyes open�

I couldn’t agree more. Moves are indeed afoot.

Viktor Yanukovich was installed as Prime Minister quite smoothly, which bodes well for Ukrainian democracy. It demonstrates that Ukraine can handle conflict democratically, without resorting to renewed dictatorship.

But, at the same time, he is far more pro-Russian than Ukraine’s President, Viktor Yuschenko. And, given Russia’s increasingly pro-active approach towards rolling back the development of democratic governance in its near abroad, that scares me.

If present trends continue (and it is by no means certain that they will), it’s difficult to see Ukrainian democracy continuing to flourish.

Oh – before I go – here’s a great roundup of recent developments in Ukrainian politics by Dan McMinn.

Ukraine, two years on is a post from: Siberian Light

Well, perhaps not quite the blogging from the saddle bit.  Or the camels, either.  But it’s a blog and it’s about Mongolia.  And it’s definitely new.  What more do you want?

Blogging Mongolia is a post from: Siberian Light