Our weekly digest of articles about emerging Europe published elsewhere this week, all of which caught our eye and all of which are well worth your time. Listing them here, however, does not necessarily mean that we agree with every word, nor do they necessarily reflect Emerging Europe’s editorial policy.
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Karel Gott: Czech singer dubbed ‘Sinatra of the East’ dies
A Czech singer who sold millions of records and was known as the “Sinatra of the East” died this week aged 80. Karel Gott (pictured above) released almost 300 albums, starting in the mid-1960s, selling tens of millions of copies around the world.
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The Real Heart of Kyiv? This Quiet Street
Wander down Reitarska Street just about any midsummer weekend evening, and you might forget you’re deep in Eastern Europe. Sharply dressed hipsters sip cocktails and share bruschetta on elegant outdoor patios. Tattooed skate punks clack through huddles of black-clad art kids checking out a gallery show. Wineglasses clink like wind chimes as a soiree spills out of a chic salon.
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Devil in the detail of Polish ruling party’s welfare promises
Poland’s ruling nationalists go into elections on October 13 promising a “Polish welfare state”. But are the party’s policies really lifting more Poles out of poverty, or simply winning their votes?
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Estonia’s Isle of Women
What would life be like without men? On this tiny Baltic island, it’s business as usual. But its colorful, folkloric way of life is threatened by a dwindling population.
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Russia’s strategy in the Black Sea: How NATO can up its Game
The Black Sea region is a central locus of the competition between Russia and the West for the future of Europe. The region experienced two decades of simmering conflicts even before Moscow’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Russia has used military force against countries in the region four times since 2008. However, the region’s security challenges have not received nearly as much attention from U.S. and European officials and analysts as northeastern Europe.
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Stand up and be counted: Ethnic Poles in Belarus gear up for census
Poles in Belarus are gearing up to be literally counted in an upcoming nationwide census, hoping bigger numbers will translate into political power.
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How US military aid became a lifeline for Ukraine
The US provided about 1.5 billion US dollars in military aid to Kyiv between 2014 and this past June, according to a Congressional Research Service analysis.
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A road map for Kosovo-Serbia dialogue
Kosovo’s elections will be a critical determinant of the foreign policy direction the country will take in the months ahead, with preparations underway to resume negotiations for the normalisation of relations between Kosovo and Serbia.
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After 1989: How five eastern Europeans saw their lives change
They helped bring down communism 30 years ago. What do they make of politics today?
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Hungary will not be a single-party state forever
The democratic transition is not over in Central and Eastern Europe and we will continue our mission of training people and creating free minds, people who think, says Michael Ignatieff, a Canadian academic and president of the Central European University (CEU).
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Belgrade International Theatre Festival: Let’s start over
Destruction, renewal, and numbing violence at Belgrade’s festival of avant garde theatre from across Europe.
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