After the Revolution

Today Georgia’s richest man, Badri Patarkatsishvili – who died under what were considered “suspicious” circumstances earlier this month – was laid to rest in Tbilisi to the applause of thousands of Georgians.
Patarkatsishvili was considered a “robber baron and philanthropist,” according to an article published by EurasiaNet.org. His wealth helped finance Georgia’s Rose Revolution.
The billionaire had been living in exile in England […]

[Read more →]

Recently headlines are starting to give me deja vu. 
Last week the electoral commission of Armenia declared Serzh Sarkisian, until then the country’s prime minister, winner of Armenia’s presidential election.
According to the count, Sarkisian won a couple of points over 50 percent of the vote, just enough to avoid a run-off. But many say the voting process was seriously flawed.
The Organization for Security […]

[Read more →]

Call it giving up — or just plain practical.
Labor officials in Kyrgyzstan are encouraging vocational schools to teach students the skills they need to do manual labor abroad, according to an article from the Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
Despite the recent spate of hate crimes in Russia against these kinds of migrant workers [see previous post], the Kyrgyz […]

[Read more →]

Spend any amount of time in towns and villages in countries that were once part of the Soviet Union, and you will begin to wonder something.
Where are all the young people?
I’m not talking about the children. The children are there.
But many of them live with grandparents or a neighbor. Some live alone. It is fairly […]

[Read more →]

Let me take you on a bit of a side trip to the Republic of Moldova.
From 2004-2006, I taught English in the town of Calarasi, just an hour outside the capital, Chisinau.
There were three secondary schools in my town: two for Romanian speakers and one for Russian speakers. I taught at a Romanian school.
Many of my students told me […]

[Read more →]

Don’t like the government? Create your own.
That’s what an organization of opposition parties in Kyrgyzstan has done. Members of “Movement for Justice” have created their own “Public Parliament.”
The founders of the Public Parliament claim that it is not meant to replace the current parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh.
They say it is only a platform for them to express […]

[Read more →]

Finally, I found an article that mentions what the governments of breakaway provinces in former Soviet republics think of Kosovan independence.
In this article from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, the leaders of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are quoted as saying that they will make appeals for independence to the United Nations and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
They […]

[Read more →]

If you think the Georgian elections are over, there’s a crowd of angry Georgians who will tell you you’re wrong.
Opposition leaders have continued to protest, and they’re beginning to see some results.
According to an article from EurasiaNet.org, the government met one of the protesters’ chief demands yesterday by releasing six prisoners arrested for participating in […]

[Read more →]

All that waving of American flags, and the best George Bush can give Kosovo is an adjective.
Today Bush called Kosovo’s people “independent” but stopped short of officially recognizing Kosovo as an independent state.
This doesn’t mean that Bush refuses to recognize Kosovo officially, but it might have something to do with the European Union’s failure to take an official position on […]

[Read more →]

While in a Russian-language bookstore on Chicago’s famously international Devon Avenue on Sunday, I met two Ukrainian immigrants, Michael Arov and his mother, Anna Arova.
Michael took a moment to speak with me about his cultural background, Russia and Kosovan independence.
Here is the interview:
http://kathryngrim.com/audio/InterviewArov.mp3
Below is the transcript:

[Read more →]