Russia blog roundup – September

Since I got back from vacation I’ve been ploughing through literally thousands of unread posts in my RSS feed reader, and I thought it was about time I shared my latest pick of the best blog posts about Russia.

Unsurprisingly, most of the Russia blogs have been extensively covering the war in Georgia, but I’ve decided to showcase mostly non-war related stuff this month, for those hankering after more peaceful times.

Blog News

But before we start looking at actual posts, let’s start off with a quick round up of what’s new, and who has moved in the Russia blogosphere.

• La Russophobe has moved from her old blogger site to a shiny new wordpress.com site.  Apparently blogger is no longer reliable enough.
• La Russophobe, by the way, has acquired an anti-fan club – La Russophobe Exposed.  LaRE follows on the heels of the short-lived La Russophobe Uncovered, which vanished from blogspot pretty soon after launch – banned?  Although, if you’re curious, a search for “La Russophobe Uncovered” shows that the Google cached version of the site still exists.
• Eagle and the Bear is a new blog from Alec, a student in St Petersburg.
• Daniel’s Wanderings looks like an interesting new blog, although I’m not sure if it will last – it hasn’t been updated for a couple of weeks.
• SOS Georgia is a very slick looking site / blog covering Georgia.  No prizes for guessing their viewpoint on the war.
• Michael Totten, an independent blog journalist has been reporting from Georgia.
• The Copydude is back.  Look out Kaliningrad.
• The eXile returns in a new online only format – eXiled.

Because I’ve been away for a while, I’ve probably missed a fair few developments.  If you know of, or would like to promote any new blogs, leave a note below in the comments.

Top posts

Leaving aside the war, the most intense debate among Russia bloggers recently has been on the topic of Russophobia.  The debate was kicked off by the Streetwise Professor, who explained how his classical liberal beliefs have led him to be critical of a Russia that is rooted in a much more authoritarian, statist philosophy.  Despite his criticism of Russia, however, the Professor still classes himself as a true Russophile.  The Professor’s initial post led to some fascinating responses from both Timothy Post and Da Russophile.  Sadly, though, I couldn’t see any response from Kim, the Queen of Russophobes…

And now on to the best of the rest:

• The forgotten story of a Soviet submarine crew that mutinied during the August 1991 coup attempt.
• The Foreign Policy Association reveals that Russia Challenges US Hegemony… In Inmates Per Capita.
• Zany Nights in Georgia with President Mikheil Saakashvili, courtesy of Slate Magazine.
• Eternal Remont has noticed something that Nabucco would prefer we didn’t – they’re building a $7.9 billion pipeline to nowhere.
• Mulder and Scully locked up in Russia – the conspiracy heads East!
• Lots of blog coverage of Solzhenitsyn’s death.  Russia Blog’s is the best.
• Now this is what you want on your tellybox – TurkmenDissidentTV.  Fabulous, says Eternal Remont.
• Otto gives some background on the migration of Russian Koreans from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan.
• Keeping with the historical theme, Joel at Far Outliers writes about Armenian Merchant Information Networks from 1600 to 1800.
• Mumi Troll have a new album.  Far from Moscow reports that ‘8’ has been hailed as the “best Russian rock recording since Kino”.
• If you’re not quite, um, athletic enough to enter the real Olympics, why not try out for the ‘Sakhalin Olympics’?
• Mmd reports on how Russian blog marketers haven’t quite embraced the concept of ethics in marketing…
• Lyndon has compiled a great list of resources about the war in Georgia over at Scraps of Moscow.
• And De Rebus has put together this excellent summary of South Ossetian/Georgian history.
• Another Russian blogger is has been hauled before the courts – Oborona Youth Movement activist Dmitri Solovyov has been charged with “inciting social discord in relation to militsiya and FSB officers.”
• Anna searches the internet to find out “What Russian women want”.  She finds out that Russian women are a brand.
• Lyndon shares some beautiful scanned maps of Georgia.
• Want to learn Russian?  Then you must have this dictionary, says Josefina.
• You want toilet seats with pictures of Putin, Lenin and Stalin on em?  You got em.
• De Rebus posts some stunning pictures of his Volga river voyage.
• Moscow snubbed by International Monopoly!
• Russia Blog posts 10 Reasons Americans should care about Russia
• How do you spell ‘blogger’ in Russian?
• Rubashov worries that he’s “become someone’s A material without realizing it”.