Vladimir Mayakovksy may be known as a leading poet during the events of 1917, with his name surfacing frequently as tributes pour in commemorating the revolution’s centenary. However, scholars who direct a museum dedicated to the writer in his birthplace in Georgia, are arguing that his talent transcends the political and that the time has come to “read the unread poet”.

This piece originally appeared in Issue 1/2017 of New Eastern Europe. Subscribe now.

Casting aside a longstanding tradition of American exceptionalism, Trump is remaking the United States into a more consumer-friendly version of autocratic Russia. This is alarming and deeply demoralising. But it could also suggest that the American and Russian societies now simply share the same underlying plight.

Since the very beginning of its independent existence, the Republic of Moldova has been a unique state in the post-Soviet space. As the only Soviet republic, Moldova declared independence (on August 27th, 1991) not in order to build its own political future, but to become part of another country - Romania. The unification project collapsed, however (due to the outbreak of civil war, subsequent disintegration of the state and the lack of interest in the project in Romania), and the young state suddenly found herself in an ideological vacuum.

One would find it hard to name a part of the former Soviet Union, where high expectations and great potential have been wasted so miserably as in the tiny Russian “island” situated in the heart of Europe – the Kaliningrad Oblast. Amidst tumultuous 1990s many romantically predicted that Kaliningrad would soon become either a “Baltic Hong Kong” or the “Fourth Baltic Republic.” The past twenty five years have dispelled these sentiments leaving instead merely one word applicable to the current situation of Kaliningrad – disappointment. What are the reasons of such an inglorious outcome and how is it possible that an area bordering dynamically developing members of the European Union is now reduced to the doles of Moscow in exchange for being a “scarecrow of Europe”?

On February 20th 2014, 53 people were shot dead in central Kyiv. Altogether, the death toll between February 18th and 21st reached 113 people. Two years on there are still no feasible answers to the main questions both about the killings and the future of the country.

Belarus, located in the far-flung reaches of Eastern Europe is the last dictatorship on the continent. When you walk the streets, you have a feeling that you are on a movie set. Everything is extremely clean and organised, the grass is always clean-cut, and the architecture glitzy and reflecting perfectionism. It does make you wonder exactly what may be hiding behind this facade. 

June 17, 2016 - Jadwiga Brontē