The quite excellent Europhobia has also had a re-launch of sorts in the past few weeks. He’s shifted his focus back to broader European issues, resulting in posts like this second-and-a-bit anniversary of the Orange Revolution post. It’s not all doom and gloom, he concludes, but nonetheless:

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.

Maaskva: nashimi glazami is a new blog of observations about Moscow. The twist is that every post on Maaskva is written in both English and Russian. (Thanks to Lyndon for pointing me in its direction).

In particular, I like this post, about the difficulties of writing about Russia:

Long ago I gave up trying to hope that one can write anything serious about Russia. No matter how long I live here, Russia (or even maaskva) defies description. And maybe when one stops trying to describe Russia to others and just conveys direct experience without interpretation, we learn something of interest. Maybe it’s enough just to convey beauty: an implicit invitation to the reader to explore further on his own.

Я давно перестал надеяться, что можно что-то серьезное и внятное со смыслом написать про Россию (или мааскву). Сколько бы я здесь не жил, описать ее невозможно. Пожалуй можно узнавать что-нибудь новое если перестать пытаться описать Россию, а просто передать непосредственные переживания без какой-либо трактовки. Может быть достаточно передать красоту настоящего, в чем и кроется негласное приглашение читателю, чтобы он самостоятельно дальше открыл красота предмета.

Perhaps this is why I liked Tim’s description of the oddities of Russian life (see yesterday’s post) so much.

Sadly, siberianlight.net didn’t get nominated for an award in the 2005 Deutsche Welle BOB awards. Probably because siberianlight.net isn’t in the same class as those that are up for the award.

There are sections for weblogs from all around the world - most interesting though, has to be the Best Russian language blog. Eight of Russia’s finest weblogs, from Bolshoi Gorod to Fairy Tales from the Underground. Go check them out, then vote, vote vote!

Do you speak Czech? Yes? Then Kremlin is just the blog for you. Covering Belarus, Ukraine and (probably, but I can’t be sure) Russia.

Sadly, I don’t speak Czech and, even with the help of InterTran, I can’t make head nor tail of what’s going on.

Neweurasia is a family of weblogs from around Central Asia, put together by the indefatigable Ben Paarmann of thinking-east.net. Currently, the project has launched weblogs from:

Azerbaijan

Georgia

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Turkmenistan

Uzbekistan

I’m sure more will follow in the coming weeks - check out their homepage for updates

(And, yes, I found out about this great new project from Nathan at registan.net, who hears about everything before I do…!).

As a part of siberianlight.net’s design overhaul, I’ve been updating the blogroll. Here are a few of the best new blogs covering Russia:

Pathalogically Sane

Sean’s Russia Blog

Russia Blog

Observatoire du proces Khodorkovsky (in French)

Speak Russian

I’m sure there are plenty of new blogs out there that I’ve not yet discovered, so please do get in touch if you’d like me to link to your blog.

Tim Newman, longtime Russia and Middle East blogger, has moved to a new home - the rather stylish White Sun of the Desert.

There you’ll find news of the Russian slant of Microsoft’s latest Age of Empires epic, and a few words of speculation as to whether Roman Abramovich will sell his stake in the oil giant Sibneft.

I’ve just discovered a cool new Russia blog.  Lovimoment (seize the moment) is the Livejournal of an American who will be working in Ekaterinburg this autumn.

And she’s just put her finger on a question that had completely passed me by:

Could someone - anyone - please explain to me what the debate over the
existence of the CIS is all about. The Department of State does not
acknowledge its existence. (This is pretty common, I think - denial for
political purposes.)

I
got in trouble at work for forwarding the text of an article in which
the reporter used the term "CIS." My boss actually wanted me to call
this reporter and ask him why he’d used the term. I had to explain to
her that (a)this reporter at Trud does not want to hear
criticiscm from interns in the United States government, and probably
wouldn’t even talk to me if he found out who I was, and (b)lots of
people use the term, especially when they’re talking about economic
data pertaining to Russia, and should not be expected to abandon it
simply because the USG does not acknowledge the existence of the CIS.

You know what?  I’ve just discovered in choosing a category for this post that I don’t actually have a category for the CIS.  The Former Soviet Union gets a category, sure.  And their are categories for Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Baltics.  And it’s not like I refuse to acknowledge supra-national organisations - I’ve found room for European Union and Shanghai Co-operation Organisation categories.  But I haven’t found room for a CIS category.

I’ve certainly written plenty about the CIS - a quick check of the search engine brings up 500 results.  So, I wonder why I’ve never considered them important enough to warrant their own category?  Curious indeed.  Maybe I subconsciously hate the CIS.

You know what else?  I’ve just noticed that I don’t have one single category to describe Belarus, Ukraine or Moldova either - each of these states are honoured with their own sub-categories.  Why is that, I wonder?  What decision making process led me to these categories?  And, really, what should I call Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova?  I mean - they’re all contiguous - should I call them ‘The European Part of the Former Soviet Union’, ‘The Western FSU’, ‘BUM’?  What?  What?

My head hurts.

Although the number of blogs in Europe as a whole is probably roughly comparable to the number in the United States, keeping track of blogs written in more than a dozen languages is a nightmare. 

In an attempt to at least give an overview of the European Blogosphere, French blogger Loic Le Meur has created a wiki (a kind of group edited encyclopaedia) with country by country details. 

The Russia page is a little sketchy so far with just a few samples, which is a shame considering that Russia has more blogs than any other European country bar France and Britain.  But, for an example of what can be done with the format, have a look at this page on the British Blogosphere. 

Other Former Soviet countries covered by the wiki so far are Lithuania and Ukraine.

mylittlerussia joins the stable of blogs about the world’s greatest country:

"You speak Russian?!"

That’s the reaction I get from people when they find out I speak Russian.  It’s almost as good as the reaction I get when they find out that I lived in Russia for 3 years. "Cool!" (read as, "Are you crazy?"

So, one begs the question, how in the world did it all happen?  Well, it’s all my father’s fault. I was 15.  He was driving me to school one day when he pops up and asks, "What would you think if I took you to Russia with me next summer?"  He had been at least once or twice on missions trips at this point (he is getting ready to go on his 22nd trip if I haven’t lost count.)  I thought, "Russia?  Are you kidding?"  While mostly scared to agree, I was intrigued by the thought.  So, I went.  That trip literally changed the entire course of my life forever. 

I love the saying of the day section, particularly this one:

Дай ему палец, он всю руку откусит.

Literally:  Give him a finger, and he will bite off your whole arm.

Equivalent:  Give him an inch, and he will take a mile.

mylittlerussia has the honour of being the first MSN hosted weblog I’ve visited too.  It’s look is a bit fussy, but it’s got a great colour scheme (gotta love that light blue).  And I really like the lists section.  Want to check out mylittlerussia’s guide to the best Russian movies?

New Mongolia - blogging from the saddle to provide you with all your nomadic camel riding blogging needs. 

Well, 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?

Misty has just upped sticks and moved herself and her blog to Yaroslavl. Like many students living in Russia, she’s living in the appartment of a host - in her case a Babuska:

My babushka that I live with is somewhat smothering. This morning everytime I would do anything she would follow me around and try to help me, speaking Russian very quickly and loudly so that I would understand (I’m not deaf, just American!!) She yelled at me last night because I opened my door to the balcony because I was hot in my room with the heaters running. She also didn’t want me to wash my hair this morning because I still have a cough. Typical Russian babushka. Wouldn’t let me leave the flat without my scarf and hat and gloves on, and walks right into my room without knocking!

I lived in dorms when I was in Russia, but I’m sure that for many of you reading Misty’s report will bring back some fond (yet, frustrating) memories.

Registan.net has a spangly new design. 

Just when I think I’ve discovered all the english language bogs about Russia, I discover another one.  I’d be annoyed, except they’re all far too cool to be annoyed at.

Blogchik is written by a student of Russian, currently in Edinburgh, and she’s looking for clues about Scotland’s most mysterious graffiti artist:

Has anyone else seen the graffiti stencilled around Edinburgh which reads, in Cyrillic lettering, dyevat’ (Russian for the number 9)? I first started seeing these three years or so ago. There appears to be only one master stencil, rather stylised. Does anyone know the significance of this, and is it unique to Edinburgh?

Please leave your answers on the side of the train that goes past Blogchik’s house.

UPDATE: Michele has found and uploaded a photograph.  Go see.

A Stroke of Key is Mike Tyukanov’s new blog.  A frequent commentator on Siberian Light, Mike lives in Moscow. 

His latest post is a revealing look into Russian and Soviet military decorations:

Military and civilian decorations in USSR and Russia have two classes. The higher one is called an order, the lower one is a medal. For example, if a soldier did some heroic deed in WWII, he was awarded a medal ‘Za otvagu’ (For courage). Many medals were awarded for participation in a specific battle, e.g. ‘For the defense of Moscow’, ‘For the liberation of Prague’, ‘For the conquest of Budapest’ (since Hungary was Hitler’s ally, it is conquest, or taking, (vzyatie), not liberation).

However, if the deed was outstanding, he could be awarder an order ‘Slavy’ (of Glory), or an order of Red Banner. ‘Hero of Soviet Union’, ‘Hero of Socialist Labor’, and modern ‘Hero of Russia’ are special titles. In the Soviet times, the awardees were decorated both with an Order of Lenin and the special Golden Star medal (with Hammer and Sickle for Labor version). This makes this medal the highest award, like Medal of Honor in USA. But basically, orders are what is called medals in America, and medals are what is called badges and coins.