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Post-Soviet states
Dear granddad, for Christmas I'd like a Eurasian union
In October Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin proposed a 'Eurasian union' of former soviet nations that could be a major global player competing for influence with the US, the EU and Asia, creating instant headlines about the threat of Russian expansionism. Is Putin mastering geopolitics? Where are the limits of his modernisation strategy?
post-soviet states, empire, belarus, regionalism, kyrgyzstan, kazakhstan, tajikistan
Odessa to Vilkova: Ukraine's Venice
Inspired by British website 'Nerdy Day Trips', we should say that cafebabel.com isn’t just about metropolises and life in the big city, but also Europe’s far-flung corners. A German correspondent discovers pelicans, tortoises and old believers in a sleepy fishing village in Ukraine
post-soviet states, lifestyle, travel writing, danube, history, ukraine, travel
Arab spring 2011 and Europe’s fall of communism in 1989
As the Maghreb goes through its transitions, a look at the lessons learned from central and eastern Europe. Opinion from Daniel Novotny, deputy director of the research centre at the association for international affairs in Prague
post-soviet states, 1989, morocco, conflict, peace, algeria, arab spring
Flying coffins and Polish president plane crash: in search of answers
Russia and Poland have announced they are taking control of the Polish president Lech Kaczyński’s plane crash under their control. The shared investigation is one of many rapprochement strategies between the two countries, But more than six months after the investigation of the Polish national tragedy began, will the Russians be as transparent as they promised?
post-soviet states, poland, warsaw, warsaw, security, moscou, justice
Alice in Belarus (Wonderland): politician tries to enter local elections
This is the story of Olga Karatch, a Belarusian dissident and 'Nash Dom' human rights activist, and her participation in local elections in Belarus. Those were in May 2010, but Olga’s testimony has lost none of its relevance. Unfortunately, it's all too synonymous with the state of Belarusian politics as a whole, and with elections looming on 19 December
post-soviet states, censorship, belarus, human rights, minsk, alexander lukashenko, elections
The parallel (and enigmatic) life of Russian cinema
Russia and its cinema are developing behind the EU's back. The films succeeding over there fail over here, and vice versa. Why? From Paris, a panel of experts decipher the unfathomable tastes of audiences on both sides of the former iron curtain over a screening of Pervyi Etazh (‘Ground Floor’)
post-soviet states, cinema, censorship, culture calendar, culture, russian federation
Cheese People: 'European' face of Russian music
From the banks of the River Volga just west of the Urals mountains, which mark the geographical border between Europe and Asia, a funky new band is making a big impact on the Russian music scene: an unsigned, energetic female-fronted quartet with a disco-punk sound. We meet backstage in Moscow
post-soviet states, belarus, european tour, travel, interview, cheese people, students
University-educated flee and woo Lithuania: emigration and erasmus
An increasing number of students are asking professor Žilvinas Martinaitis at the University of Vilnius to let them take their exams at the end of May. This would allow them to go abroad - most popularly, to the UK, Ireland or Scandinavia - to work, and return with some extra money in October, a month after the official term start. Lithuanian and eramus students, professors and politicians explain the phenomenon
post-soviet states, money, university, economical crisis, labour, brain drain, baltic republics
Stalin, rock music and bad weather: story behind suicides in Lithuania
The River Neris splits Vilnius down the middle: to the North lies the university, the stadium and terraces with views; to the south is the heart of the capital: cobbled, colourful, and impeccable. But a sinister notice hangs from one of its bridges, followed by a telephone number
post-soviet states, joseph stalin, poverty, suicide, eucrisis on the ground, rock, vilnius
Berlin film festival: 60 years of masterpieces
The Berlin international film festival (or Berlinale) has been fraught with political struggles. Created by the allies of west Berlin right under the noses of communist dictators, it was a way of opening a window to the 'free' world. Over the years, it has developed into an unmissable world cinema event
post-soviet states, cinema, cold war, berlin, jean-luc godard, nouvelle vague, berlinale
Soviet nostalgia: Russian drink, bunker parties and film in Vilnius
Twenty years after the Iron Curtain, the Baltic tiger is experiencing a bout of nostalgia. A young, trendy generation, fed up of hearing about the past, is looking back at a not-quite-so ‘carefree’ childhood under the soviet regime
post-soviet states, good bye lenin, giedrė beinoriūtė, marius ivaškevičius, joseph stalin, reunification, cold war
Zhenya Strigalev: 'London's jazz scene is more open than Moscow's'
At 28, the prodigious composer and late-night jam-session organiser is the only Russian alto-sax player active on the London scene. We catch him at the launch of his new fusion set ‘Findamorale’ at the London jazz festival
post-soviet states, zhenya strigalev, united kingdom, music, cd, london, western eu
The future is death metal-inspired art in Kosovo
Contemporary art is just one bright face of the Kosovo prism, from which the works of the likes of 29-year-old visual artist Artan Balaj refract
post-soviet states, future of europe, racism, non-eu countries, photography, museum, serbia
UK, Russia: a new Iron curtain?
Two out of three British Council offices were deemed 'illegal' and closed down in Russia in January. A reflection on ties between the Kremlin and London
post-soviet states, photogallery, internet, foreign policy, british council, dmitry medvedev, life-long learning
Arkady Babchenko: ‘Russia is the Germany of 1934’
Sent to the Chechen front at 18, the Russian ‘Novaya Gazeta’ columnist and colleague of murdered journalist Anna Politkovskaya, 31, lays bare the nightmares he endured in his semi-autobiographical 'One Soldier's War in Chechnya'
post-soviet states, literature, balkans, anna politkovskaya, arkady babchenko, discrimination, war
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