Normally I stay away from the headline news in Ukraine, quite simply because you can read about that in other places, albeit I wouldn’t guarantee the objectivity, accuracy or unbiasedness of the reporting in those places necessarily. Like so many foundational pillars of society in Ukraine, the media here also too often sets low standards… [Continue Reading]
The trials and tribulations of being an independent TV station in Ukraine
July 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Communist sponsored homophobia?
July 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Law 8711 was proposed back in June, written by Yevhen Tsarkov of the Communist Party and supported by Catherine Lukyanov, Lilia Grigorovych, both OU-PSD deputies and Paul Unguryan BYuT from Ms Tymoshenko’s block, as well as Julia Korolevskaya of the ruling majority Party of Regions. Law 8711 is intended to ban the promotion of homosexuality,… [Continue Reading]
Are the words of the prophets written on the subway walls?
June 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
As is well known to all EU citizens (and some other nationalities), they do not need a Visa to enter Ukraine for up to 90 days in a 180 day period. It has been this was since 2005/6 for most. As is well known to all Ukrainians, the reciprocal approach has not yet been delivered,… [Continue Reading]
Ukrainian officials should be treated in Ukrainian hospitals - Tomenko
June 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
When one considers the shear scale of reforms and improvements necessary for Ukraine to close the social, legal and democratic gaps with its neighbours, it is quite an awesome task for any leadership. That said, with regards to democracy, if Ukraine treads water long enough there is a real possibility that its neighbours will regress… [Continue Reading]
What ever happened to the image of human rights?
May 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
What happened to the clear and clean cut image of human rights I had when I was younger? Although being without the Internet for 2 days was annoying, it certainly provided some time for reading real books, made of paper, that smell like books and feel like books and provided a glorious reminder of why… [Continue Reading]
Are bloggers journalists? - A question with Lord Justice Leveson
May 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
OK - This has nothing to do with Ukraine - yet - but legal precedents have a habit of seeping across international borders if they suit the establishment in other nations that have similar issues and can see similar solutions. For many, many months I have been following the Leveson Inquiry via the website and… [Continue Reading]
Should there be limits on free speech? Odessa’s Art TV
May 12, 2012 By 2 Comments
In a democracy or anything claiming to be a democracy, should there be a limit on free speech? In this article, Mykola Tomenko, Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, and probably the best leader of Ms Tymoshenko’s party it will unfortunately never have, takes a very robust swipe at Art TV for fueling “ethnic hatred” and… [Continue Reading]
PM Azarov told to stay away from EU meeting
May 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Well, I had a little mental note to look out for some aggressive, robust and chastening press releases following the EU meeting of the European Council (the council of EU Foreign Ministers) that meets on 14/15th May in Brussels as I had heard a whisper from within the bowels of Brussels that Ukraine would be… [Continue Reading]
Civil liberties, twitter debates and dissemintation of misinformation
April 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment
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… [Continue Reading]
Ukraine’s “To Do” list from the Council of Europe
January 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The recent PACE/Council of Europe draft resolution on “The functioning of democratic institutions in Ukraine” has had the Ukrainian media, whether favourable to the government or unfavourable to the government, picking and choosing selected parts of the 15 page resolution without linking to the entire document. Well as you can see, above there is a… [Continue Reading]