Mathijs Pelkmans (LSE): Post-Soviet Space and the Unexpected Turns of Religious Life. Caucasian connection: Kelly Moffitt on how the Boston Marathon bombing was covered by media in the Caucasus, Central Asia and Russia. A pleasant post-apocalypse: Central Asia is, both defiantly and tragically, a land without a narrative. Richard Marshall interviews David Bakhurst, author of Consciousness and Revolution in Soviet Philosophy: From the Bolsheviks to Evald Ilyenkov. The Soviet Union had its Gulag — it also had its seaside resorts: The same government that threw its citizens into labor camps also gave them vacations and places to spend them, some of them lavish. Central Asia and the horse: An excerpt from The History of Central Asia: The Age of the Steppe Warriors by Christoph Baumer. From Pushkin to Putin: Mikhail Shishkin on the sad tale of democracy in Russia. Central Asia's most important city is not in Central Asia, it's in China — welcome to Urumqi. Russian schools to teach Putin’s version of history. Joel Krupa reviews Fragile Empire: How Russia Fell In and Out of Love With Vladimir Putin by Ben Judah. Amnesty raps post-Soviet states for renditions.
