Many people know of Georgy Zhukov - one of the Soviet Union’s most famous military commanders and rightly recognised as a major decision maker and facilitator in the direction and outcome of World War II/The Great Patriotic War from the Soviet perspective. Indeed he received numerous honours both from within the Soviet system and from […]
Mens rea - The Shufrych incident (and beyond)
October 2, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Yesterday, as the sharp-eyed amongst you readers will have noticed, there was no entry. That due to a requirement to be in Kyiv. Whilst away for the day, a very sad incident occurred in Odessa whereby RADA MP Nestor Shufrych was beaten by demonstrators strongly objecting to his presence in the city. To be very […]
Partisan local media - What does it tell us? Odessa
September 19, 2014 by 1 Comment
A few days ago, this entry about IT belatedly rearing its head within the Odessa Regional Administration, contained this penultimate paragraph: “Who knows, perhaps an increase in quality regional soft power may also result, helping to negate some of the partisan local media and set an example for the snake-pit that remains Odessa City Hall.” […]
Can IT change Odessa?
September 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Last month Odessa Regional (Oblast) Council elected a friend of this blog, Alexie Goncharenko as head of the regional parliament. That is not to say that being friends automatically means agreement with politics or policy. As adults we should all be capable of separating people and personalities from their positions and politics - though when […]
Odessa City Hall getting far murkier again? Organised Crime
June 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment
For those who find local matters in Odessa boring stop reading - unless you have an interest in organsied crime, the Odessa mafia and all that - in which case you may want to continue reading. For better or for worse, the Odessa Mafia has something of a particularly infamous reputation - even in Moscow […]
Beyond the limits of plausible election manipulation? Odessa
May 27, 2014 by 1 Comment
A short entry today after two entries yesterday - how exciting! This entry relates - once again - to the elections for the office of Odessa Mayor that had already been criticised by democracy NGOs. Most readers will not find particularly interesting unless shenanigans draw your attention. In a somewhat Dickensian tweet yesterday evening, I tweeted […]
A (braided) witch hunt in Odessa or are the hounds on the right scent?
May 8, 2014 by 3 Comments
This entry will leave to one side questions about the individuals physically involved in the tragic events of 2nd May in Odessa. Questions of where firearms came from or why there are so few in custody - or perhaps rather why there are so many still wandering about the city. Those questions are for another […]
Collusion or ineptitude? Take your pick - Odessa
May 5, 2014 by 2 Comments
Yesterday I wrote “Questions will no doubt be raised over the actions and inactions of the city administration and institutions. Some of it will be fair and some undeserved.” Today’s entry is late. I went to lay flowers at the scenes where people died both in the city centre and at Union House. That people […]
Meanwhile, in Odessa
April 27, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Another break from matters of national importance to quickly look at an interesting little occurrence in Odessa and the mayoral elections here that take place on 25th May. It is now quite clear that it is a two horse race between Eduard Gurvitz and Gennady Truhanov - despite other candidates of course. So we now […]
In the crosshairs - Odessa
April 19, 2014 by 1 Comment
There has been much speculation, rumour and conjecture within the media and amongst academic/think tank circles as to the extent of the Kremlin appetite with regard to Ukraine - naturally. What is happening now on the continent of Europe has become very much a rarity thankfully - and yet not extinct unfortunately. That speculation has […]