Billionaire President-elect Petro Poroshenko has promised to sell his chocolate making concern Roshen, to ‘focus on the well-being of the nation.’ Even with the best of intentions, this might be rather difficult.
President Putin recently rewarded some 300 journalists for their 'objective coverage' of the annexation of Crimea. The ceremony was held in secret and very little information is available. Why should this be? на русском языке
While increasing regulation and manipulation are restricting Russia’s online space, activists are still finding innovative ways to use it to uncover corruption, such as a site uncovering plagiarism among Russian politicians.
Federalism need not be a dirty word in Ukraine. There are many power-sharing examples available to follow, that would keep the country together.
There is no agreement about what ‘self-rule’ means for parts of Ukraine. Moreover, even if federalism is not a first step to the disintegration of Ukraine, neither is it a ‘magic solution.’
In ten years, the number of active Russian internet users has leapt from 3% to 48% of the population, and counting. The government reacted by introducing a register of blacklisted sites. But some users are fighting back. на русском языке
The EU has renewed talks with the Kyiv government on closer ties, but in its zeal to promote visa-free travel it has dropped gay rights from the agenda.
With most of the Russian media under Kremlin control, the internet has been a popular source of independent information. But now this window may be closing, with major online news sites blocked by the authorities.
The first ‘.ru’ domain was registered twenty years ago. Russia’s internet (or RuNet) used to be one of the least regulated online spaces in the world, but it has come under increasingly heavy government scrutiny.
The internet in Russia, or ‘RuNet’, has developed largely free from state interference. But recent government initiatives paint a grim picture of its future.
Kazakh banking is in a state of disarray, as banks assimilate the consequences of a recent 20% devaluation of the tenge. But there is also consolidation taking place, adding to the flux; and those bad loans…
