Global Voices Online

A Step At A Time writes in depth about the relationship between Finland, Estonia, and Russia - now and in the past.

Borut Peterlin thinks that Finnish journalist Magnus Berglund should be awarded “a Slovenian national medal of honor” for making public PM Janez Janša's graft allegations. There's even a Facebook group (with 662 members so far) devoted to Berglund and the story he broke.

Istori posts a speech by and publishes a statement about the Ingushetian publisher Magomed Yevloev, who was killed by Russian police in the weekend. Together with Anna Politkovskaya, Yevloev - the publisher of closed-down news site ingushetiya.ru - was a frequent guest at the Finnish-Russian Civic Forum.

BBC's Mark Mardell reports from the emergency EU summit in Brussels that “it seems all but decided that there will no sanctions against Russia.”

A Step At A Time and Vera's Log report on the Finnish Immigration Service's decision to deport Maria Kirbasova, a half-paralyzed 67-year-old Russian citizen, who was one of the founders of Soldiers' Mothers organization.

AnTyx writes about the Finnish Muslim Party's protest against Estonia's presence in Iraq - and shares a few Soviet/post-Soviet childhood memories.

Itching for Eestimaa reports that “Estonia is considering hiring 300 unemployed Finnish police officers to handle its internal shortage of police.”

Blogger and social activist Sakiyama Nobuo [ja] (see earlier coverage) picks up a number of recent news stories and predicts that it may not be long before Chinese filtering policy is no longer thought of as “another country's problem” [ja]. He points to the launch of the Mobile Alliance against Child Sexual Abuse Content, which he argues could put sites on a blacklist simply because they are “illegal” according to national laws, and points to a case in Finland where something similar has already happened.

Armenia and me posts an account and photographs of what is a rare sight indeed — 150 Scandinavian running through Yerevan's Victory Park as part of a World Wide Orienteering Promotion. Arriving in the country from Iran, the blog reports that local onlookers were at first shocked to see so many foreigners racing through a public space, but soon warmed to the idea. “The concept of tall blond Scandinavians in tights seemed to be quite attractive,” concludes Trygveu.