As observers of this blog will know, Odessablog tweets. A twitter feed is to the right of this page. It doesn’t tweet much, it doesn’t follow that many people or organisations and not that many people follow @Odessablogger. That said, those who do follow are academics, think-tanks, Ukrainian politicians, Ukrainian civil liberties groups, journalists from [...]
Civil liberties, twitter debates and dissemintation of misinformation
April 30, 2012 by Leave a Comment
The unpopularity race – Politics in Ukraine
April 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment
When all major political parties in Ukraine manage to gain 18% or less individually in the straw polls of public opinion regardless of what provocative or pacifying actions they make take in an attempt to either motivate or buy off the voting public, the one clear result opinion polls show is that the Ukrainian public [...]
Dnipropetrovsk bombings – Amongst the victims will be truth
April 28, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Firstly before saying anything about the events of yesterday and the four bombs that went off around Dnipropetrovsk injuring 27, hosptialising 25, requiring the amputation of an arm and serious injuries to a young woman, it is important to show sympathy to the victims of this crime. They are the innocent, the unsuspecting and the [...]
Organised crime, Ukraine and the region
April 26, 2012 by Leave a Comment
OK. I thought about the final paragraphs of yesterday’s blog entry and I would like to ponder them a little more. Specifically of the questions at the end, which were posed to nobody in particular, let’s think about the organised actors involved and what they are involved in. This post would be far too lengthy [...]
Ukraine, NATO, Afghanistan and $2.1 Trillion
April 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Over the last week, President Yanukovych signed the now almost ritual event of a cooperation agreement with NATO which among other things allows for the unpopular annual Sea Breeze exercises with the US. Quite why it is so unpopular is really something of an enigma. Ukraine is non-aligned. Its military trains and exercises with all [...]
New laws for NGOs – Dramatic and radical changes for the better (possibly)
April 24, 2012 by 2 Comments
As I have written here before many times about NGOs, civil society and Ukrainian academia, occasionally in a supportive way when writing about specific individual NGOs, but also in a robust and critical way when writing about them in general, I should not let the new radically and dramatically better Ukrainian laws relating to NGOs [...]
The Rule of P, Day of the Dead and EU Humanitarian Volunteers
April 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Before you all get too excited, there is no direct connection between the Rule of P (Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance), the day of the dead and the EU Humanitarian Volunteers. There may very well be a direct connection between the Rule of P and the EU Humanitarian Volunteer service but I couldn’t [...]
Ukraine’s European Charter for Regional or Minority languages budget
April 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment
It’s Sunday. I don’t want to rant. It seems I have ranted for most of the week and I only write about one topical and current Ukrainian issue each day. I can assure you there is much more than one Ukrainian issue to rant about each day, but I try to bump my gums about [...]
EYP (European Youth Parliament) Ukraine
April 21, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Well this is something I don’t normally do, however I am going to raise awareness of a NGO. In fact a European NGO but specifically it is the Ukrainian branch I am highlighting. It is the European Youth Parliament (EYP). Why am I doing this? Because it is not tied to Yanukovych or Tymoshenko or [...]