Bus Stop Shakespeare
In Gdansk, people with Down syndrome are finding jobs thanks to an innovative collaboration between NGOs and the private sector.
Upheaval in Belarus
In Belarus, Tech Workers Fear for Their Industry’s Future
Longtime Belarusian ruler Alyaksandr Lukashenka boasts that he has created a “paradise” for Belarusian IT. So why are young tech workers protesting against him – or even moving their businesses overseas?
The Broken Social Contract
How COVID-19 exposed governance gaps in authoritarian states, with Belarus at the top of the list.
“Belarus Will Never Be the Same”
The number of social groups involved in the Belarusian protest movement guarantees a broad front, but it also makes the emerging coalition internally fragile. From openDemocracy.
11 Reasons Belarusians Should Be Proud
On the streets of Minsk, some are crying in fear, others for joy. Politics aside, they should all be proud of their country. From CityDog.by.
Belarus on a Knife’s Edge
It is not clear if the opposition to Lukashenka has a cohesive organizational underground capable of coordinating a sustained campaign of resistance.
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Around the Bloc
Monday, 26 October
Regional headlines: Czech PM again mired in conflict-of-interest charges; Catholic Church under fire in Poland; Russia and chemical weapons.
Friday, 23 October
Regional headlines: Poland’s highest court bans most abortions; Albania to host anti-Semitism conference.
Thursday, 22 October
Regional headlines: cluster bombs in Karabakh; Pole gets asylum in Norway; Ukrainian elections; EU and Kosovo at cross purposes; and a gold strike in Siberia.
Wednesday, 21 October
Regional headlines: Estonia faces fallout over homophobic remarks; Belgrade to welcome Russian military; EU vs. Poland, TBD; Holocaust play opens in Bucharest; and Chernobyl goes virtual reality.
Tuesday, 20 October
Regional headlines: Slovakia to test entire nation for coronavirus; Kyrgyz ex-official charged; Kazakhstan abolishes death penalty; a Balkan cultural spat; and Turkmenistan’s food crisis.
Commentary
Meet the New Meta-Boss
Bulgarians are starting to realize that life in a magic-realist bubble has its downsides.
Danube-Oder-Elbe Canal: Can You Dig It?
A grandiose waterway scheme has some heavyweight backers, but doubts persist, and a possible Czech government shakeup could scupper it.
The Enduring Reign of Assaults on Media Freedom
Napoleonic ideas trump the liberal visions of Kundera and Havel.
Kaczynski: The Man Who Fell to Earth
The man often called Poland’s behind-the-scenes ruler may be fighting the political battle of his life.
Latest News
The Rediscovery of Gerta Schnirch
A conversation with author Katerina Tuckova, whose novel, soon to appear in English, addresses the postwar expulsion and mass murder of the Czech Germans.
Unlikely Bedfellows?
The resumption of hostilities in the South Caucasus could have far-reaching consequences on the wider region, including on Ukraine’s budding partnership with Azerbaijan.
Serbian Government First Flaunts, Then Denies Selling Weapons to Both Armenia and Azerbaijan
Mixed messages by President Aleksandar Vucic may be an attempt not to antagonise Russia and Turkey. From Istinomer.
Bits and Pieces of Hungarian Lives
In her book of linked short stories, Krisztina Toth has written something very like a novel but with all the genre’s mechanisms of showing the interconnections between characters stripped away.
The Forbidden Fruits of Huawei
Suspicion of the Chinese tech giant ratchets up as a prestigious security conference backs out of a sponsorship agreement after criticism from the Slovak president, among others.
Are Spain-Kosovo Relations Beginning to Thaw?
Spanish voices from across the ideological spectrum no longer accept the analogy of Spain’s restive Catalonia region to Kosovo and its violent split from Yugoslavia. From Kosovo 2.0.
