Russia Blog Roundup – 24 October

Since the summer I’ve been putting together roundups of my the most interesting blog posts I’ve read about Russia in the previous month. But, the problem with monthly roundups is that there are hundreds of posts about Russia published every month – probably thousands. The end result? A roundup post that is too long to read properly, in which all the best posts still get hidden.

So, to better highlight the best blog posts about Russia, I’m going to write a weekly roundup post from now on. Here’s the first set of links…

• Paul Goble considers whether ‘W’, Oliver Stone’s biopic about George W Bush, will actually have more impact in Russia than it does in the United States.
• Peter Lavelle is annoyed at journalists for taking the easy line when it comes to blaming the Kremlin. “Some dots were quickly and erroneously connected: ‘Kremlin critic – dead journalist – lawyer – poison – Kremlin.'”
• Moscow house prices have gone up by more than 300% since Putin became President in 2000, and gone up by 30% in the first half of 2008 alone. The Streetwise Professor thinks the Moscow housing bubble is about to burst.
• Did you hear the one about the lawyer and the Ukrainian?
• October 21st was a busy day in history for Andrey Nikolayevich Tupolev, the aircraft designer.
• China and Russia – two very different approaches to corruption
• In Moscow’s Shadows hopes that better quality guns will lead to less reliance on indiscriminate force and increased options for Moscow’s Police – “one of the first practical steps away from the paramilitary model of policing”.
• The arrival of the Pavlas Family has resulted in a 100% increase in the number of Sakhalin bloggers.
• If you’re looking for fun in St Petersburg, Copydude heartily recommends Lulu Unlimited.  “Lulu likes audience participation even if you don’t. It’s not a tourist haunt, so saying ‘me no speaky’ won’t spare you.”

Finally, before I go, I wanted to point out a couple of additions to Siberian Light that you might find useful.

At the bottom of the sidebar is a section called ‘Good Reads’.  If you can’t wait for the weekly roundup of Russia blog posts, take a look there instead – it updates every time I highlight and share an item in my RSS reader.

And, at the bottom of each post, I’ve added a small What’s Next section.  As well as letting you know about other related posts you might be interested in, it has a few social media buttons.  If you enjoy what you read at Siberian Light, and think it’s worth of sharing with others, I’d really appreciate the occasional vote on Digg or Stumble Upon.