Lefteast
The recent protests against the destruction of the national park in Bulgaria’s Pirin mountain reveals the relation of forces in Bulgaria’s green movement. The start of Bulgaria’s EU Council presidency on 11 January 2018 put the country into the focus of European public opinion. As usual, the spotlight was on the progress of Bulgaria’s integration […]
Soheil Asefi is an independent leftist journalist and academic. At a very young age, he started writing articles and working for various media and publications, both in cyber and print media. As part of his work, he covered the Majlis [Iranian parliament] and has interviewed numerous high-ranking government officials in Iran. He was arrested in […]
Translated from the original Russian by Joseph Livesey According to forecasts, the upcoming March 18 presidential elections in Russia will proceed without any surprises, as just the latest legitimization of another presidential term for Vladimir Putin. However, this foreseeable ‘victory,’ gained via massive pressure on the electorate and the Kremlin’s tight control over the political […]
Note from LeftEast: In the last few days, the Turkish government and mainstream media, which has been brought in line by journalist arrests (at least 122 in prison so far, another 520 being tried) and other, less visible forms of pressure, have gone into war frenzy. What three years ago they used to neutrally call […]
933 Of course everyone knew! Amidst family photos, selfies, and anecdotes, other types of pictures have surfaced on social media. These images have spread, bit by bit, news of horror across the country: homeless sleeping in empty graves, 3 to 7 million child labourers employed, humans used as border couriers in Kurdistan, an unfolding fresh water […]
Note from the LeftEast editors: In January 2018 Bulgaria has taken the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first six months of 2018. Meanwhile Neonazis will still be marching the on the streets of Sofia in February to commemorate General Hristo Lukov: the head of the interwar Legion and Minister of War […]
The fragmentation of the pro-Western bloc in Kiev. This is the new stage of the political crisis in Ukraine. The division is not a new one but past weeks have shown to the world how deep runs the crisis between president Petro Poroshenko and the former Georgian president (and now pretender to power in Ukraine), […]
On behalf of LeftEast, Mary Taylor interviewed Ivor Fuka from Lupiga.com, the critical news portal founded in 2001 in Croatia as it embarks on its crowdfunding campaign. You can visit Lupiga’s crowdfunding campaign here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ima-nas-media#/ LeftEast: Can you tell me a little about when Lupiga first came into being? What does the name mean and […]
The new government of the ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party) and FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) in Austria opens the way towards radicalised neo-liberal economic and social policies. As in some other EU countries, such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark and Finland, a traditional liberal-conservative party has formed a coalition with or at least achieved the tolerance […]
The continuing conflicts in the Middle East may seem too distant to most East Europeans. Not so to Bulgaria’s arms manufacturers and government, for whom the killings have provided a significant source of income. This article was first published in Serbo-Croatian by Bilten. Last month the Bulgarian prime minister Boyko Borisov made an official visit […]