Russian media has devoted a great deal of attention to a German town called Quakenbrück in the northwestern Lower Saxony region. According to Ria Novosti, Izvestia, Lenta.ru, Sputnik and TVC the town’s parliament will call for Crimea to be recognized as part of the Russian Federation and for EU sanctions against Russia to be lifted. Quakenbrück is a town of less than 13,000 residents. Its legislative body is not a…
Each year, Russia’s WWII victory celebrations become more grandiose and spectacular. In recent years, the cult of the Great Victory has become a quasi-religion and the main basis which unites the Russian society, writes Oleksii Polegkyi for EurActiv. The Soviet Union’s victory in WWII became a cornerstone in the process of building a Russian national identity, especially under the rule of Vladimir Putin. It is actively exploited to mobilise support…
Forget about the battle between the television and the refrigerator. Russia is now witnessing a battle between the television and the newspaper. Consider the case of Yakutsk Vecherny, a plucky little paper in Russia’s Sakha Republic that is basically warning its readers not to watch television. Above its TV listings, the newspaper has been publishing a warning that reads: “Caution! TV news broadcasts often contain distorted and false information. This…
The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 was one of the most important events in modern Chinese history. The rebellion pitted a secret organization known as the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists against Western and Japanese colonists who had been gradually forcing more and more concessions out of the ruling Manchu Qing dynasty. As the name of the secret society implies, members practiced traditional martial arts and thus Western observers labeled them…
