Russia blogs roundup

Apologies for the lack of updates on Siberian Light over the past month or so – the day job has really been taking over my life. Things are a bit back to normal now, so should be getting back to a more regular posting schedule – starting with this roundup of what’s been happening in the Russian blogosphere (be warned – it’s a bit of an epic roundup).

New author at Siberian Light

Siberian Light has been joined by Anna Ershova, a fantastic new author who normally blogs over at Anna’s Out of Town News. If you haven’t already, go and read her first post about Russian Women Entrepreneurs immediately!

Russia storm through to Euro 2008 Semi FInals

The biggest story this week has to be Russia’s advance to the semi-finals of the Euro 2008 tournament.  I was away for the weekend, so managed to miss the game, but plenty of other Russia bloggers were watching.  Perhaps the best roundup comes from Neeka over at Global Voices. But I’d also recommend checking out the following coverage.

• Russia Blog
• Turkish Invasion (Dinc is clearly rooting for a Russia-Turkey final)
• Two Zero

Also worth a read are two articles which draw a comparison between Peter I’s trendsetting decision to import foreign talent and the Russian football team’s decision to hire a top notch foreign coach in Gus Hiddink – Mike Averko writes at Russia Blog, and there’s more at the Foreign Policy Association (of all places).

An end to eXile?

The other big story over the past few weeks has to be the news of satirical paper The eXile’s almost certain untimely demise after it underwent an ‘editorial audit’ by the Russian authorities. Sean’s Russia Blog, in particular, has been covering the eXile story extensively.  As has Poemless at European Tribune who is possibly the only person in the world to have been introduced to the eXile by his her mother.

More at:

• James at Robert Amsterdam
• Turkish Exile
• Eternal Remont
• La Russophobe (writing for Pajamas Media)

Two new blogs

Two new blogs that have come to my attention recently are Far From Moscow, an excellent Russian music blog by UCLA Slavic Professor David MacFadyen, and Baikal Club International which is, as far as I know, the world’s only blog dedicated to the world’s best lake.

I’ve not been keeping properly up to date with new blogs recently, though, so if you know of any I’ve missed, please leave a quick comment below.

Blog Roundup

OK, so on to the main reason for this post – a roundup of the best posts from around the Russia blogs over the past month or so.  First up, lets deal with a few people who have finally found true fame.

• Krusenstern, who has just won the Swiss-Russian Journalism Award 2008.
• Tim Newman, who has been honoured with a Normblog profile.
• Sean and the other Timothy, who have both received the ultimate honour of a calm, measured (ahem) La Russophobe editorial.

Now onto the boring stuff.

• A graphical representation of the Russian army, from sea to space.
• Rob Amsterdam asks why Lithuania is really offering to host the American missile shield.
• The little known story of how the Soviet Union recovered – and eventually returned – an Apollo space capsule.
• Rubashov gives his impressions of Minsk where “at least we can buy sausages”.
• Arnie Zambrano, guesting at Anna’s Out of Town News, is trying not to drool in anticipation of the hordes of Russian girls who descend on JFK during “Russian Season”.
• Also at Russia Blog, Yuri writes about how patriotism is leading the comeback of Russian filmmaking.
• Josefina considers the language of Russian blogging.
• Lyndon makes a welcome return to regular blogging, with an excellent series of posts about Soviet maps.  (While you’re over at Scraps of Moscow, make sure to also check out his fantastic post about a report by the House Un-American Activities Commission entitled Soviet Total War: ‘Historic Mission’ of Violence and Deceit.
• Colleeen is running a four part SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis comparing Russia, the US and the EU.  First up – strengths.
• De Rebus has put together a collection of old Soviet animation films.
• Laurence Jarvik uncovers video of a very hot Russian English teacher.

And, finally, best wishes to Paul Goble who underwent heart surgery over the weekend.