Karimova gets schooled in Twitter debate

How does she manage it all?

Even though her schedule must be packed, Gulnara Karimova, an ambassador to the UN and daughter of Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov, still seems to find time to lecture human rights activists, though not too successfully. Read More »

Estonia’s Winny Puhh makes 1 million new Internet friends

The members of Estonian rock band Winny Puhh bear (ahem) little resemblance to the red-shirted, honey-loving cartoon character, but they’ve managed to win over Internet audiences with a 2013 Eurovision-qualifying performance regardless.
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Makers of Grozny-fire spoof video will help in cleanup

Two men who allegedly posted online a video making light of a skyscraper fire in Chechnya last week got a taste of the fury of the Russian republic’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, Radio Free Europe reports.   Read More »

Meteorite pelts Russia with tweets, memes, and scams

The meteorite that fell near the Russian industrial city of Chelyabinsk on 15 February sent shock waves around the RuNet and social networks worldwide. Read More »

Hunting black swans with big data

In times of worldwide economic crisis, natural disasters, and political turmoil, one often wonders if such events couldn’t have been mitigated or avoided altogether with the help of the latest technological developments. The United Nations Development Programme offers a potential answer in the form of a software that allows better data visualization and detection of irregular patterns.

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‘Carousel Voting’ Goes Viral in Kyrgyz Elections

Nearly three months of intrusive and irksome electoral campaigns in Kyrgyzstan came to an end as votes were counted for the five municipal elections held on November 25. But with the results in, a scandalous piece of citizen media has left a sour taste in the mouth. Read More »

Moscow court orders removal of ‘extremist’ Pussy Riot online videos

Four videos made by the dissident punk band Pussy Riot are extremist, a Moscow court ruled 29 November, according to Radio Free Europe. Read More »

Blogger provides look into Russian war on terror

The anonymous LiveJournal blog hardingush [ru] was created on September 15, 2012. Now, less than two months later, the blog, subtitled Spetsnaz Ingushetii (Ingush Special Forces), is number 425th [ru] in LJ’s general user rating. Netizens have left over 4,000 comments on its various posts. Four of these posts also made it into the October top-25 list [ru] of North Caucasus bloggers (a monthly rating compiled by Moscow-based blogger timag82 [ru]). Read More »

Bulgarian Facebook group helps police the police

A new Facebook group, called “Photograph a Policeman”  is making waves in the Bulgarian media. Read More »

Ukraine: Humorous Political Ad Sparks Online “Pussy Cat Riot”

Half a month ago, after weeks of tension caused by the adoption of the controversial Language Law and in the midst of an intense pre-election mudslinging period, Ukrainians were finally rewarded with the much-needed comic relief. Read More »

Bratislava officials nix “Chuck Norris” bridge

In more depressing news for the Internet’s civic activism potential, online voters in a Slovak poll lost their effort to give a possibly tongue-in-cheek name to a new pedestrian bridge over the Morava River into Austria, according to The Guardian. Read More »

Persian journalist angers Azerbaijani netizens and media

A firestorm of negative reactions has sprung up in Azerbaijan over a video posted to youtube of an Persian journalist criticizing Azerbaijan and it’s preparations for Eurovision. Read More »

Who’s afraid of Macedonians?

A recent YouTube ad campaign funded by the Macedonian government and meant to teach people how to behave with tourists upset many Macedonians through its style, Balkan Insight writes. The seven one-minute clips that went viral after being posted last week present several “Macedonian endemic species” including a bed-and-breakfast owner, an “alpha male,” a taxi driver, a waiter, and a market vendor, each behaving in a rude an unwelcoming way. Read More »

First political viral video from Belarus passes 60,000 views

A new video from Belarus depicting President Alexander Lukashenko as an annoying bee harassing a journalist has reached more than 60,000 views since it was posted 29 February, making it the first political video in the country to go viral. Read More »