In this issue:

- Top Stories:

1: Multimedia: Property Rights and Refugee Realities Clash in Azerbaijan

2: Around the Bloc: Krakow Gets Tough on Graffiti, Chechen Poet Slain in Moscow

3: Around the Bloc: Russia Rounds Up Tajiks, Moldova Cancels Prez Elections (subscribers only)

4: Education: The High Cost of Fair Testing

5: Middle Europa: Athens on the Danube

6: Education: Big Dreams, Long Odds in Kazakhstan

7: Around the Bloc: Ukraine Bows to EU Pressure, Bolshoi Pair in Dramatic Getaway

- Editors’ Blog:

* On Debt Default Doomsday Scenarios, Part Two

* The First Lady Strikes Again

* The Good Life, Through the Eyes of Statisticians

- From The Archives:

* Five years ago: Welcome to Boratistan (subscribers only)

* Ten years ago: The Trouble With Meciar

- Announcement: SUBSCRIPTION OFFER

Take out a 2-year subscription to Transitions Online and save 25% on our usual rates. Click here to start (or renew) your subscription.

- Top Stories:

1: Multimedia: Property Rights and Refugee Realities Clash in Azerbaijan

TOL video: European courts weigh in on the sticky issue of displaced people from Nagorno-Karabakh occupying private homes against owners’ wishes. By Rena Allahverdiyeva 17 November 2011

2: Around the Bloc: Krakow Gets Tough on Graffiti, Chechen Poet Slain in Moscow

Plus, St. Petersburg pols mull gay "propaganda" ban and crafty Kazakh president calls snap elections. By S. Adam Cardai and Joshua Boissevain 17 November 2011

3: Around the Bloc: Russia Rounds Up Tajiks, Moldova Cancels Prez Elections

Plus, Illegal caviar trade thriving and Uzbek health care in decline. By Jeremy Druker, Ioana Caloianu, and Joshua Boissevain 16 November 2011

4: Education: The High Cost of Fair Testing

When Romania attacked cheating on the all-important high school exam, the unintended consequence was a financial crisis in the universities. By Clara Stanescu 16 November 2011

5: Middle Europa: Athens on the Danube

Politicians in Hungary and Slovenia are reacting to the crisis in a way that resembles lawmakers in a certain Mediterranean country. By Martin Ehl 15 November 2011

6: Education: Big Dreams, Long Odds in Kazakhstan

Six students and their Peace Corps teacher in a fading village make a bold try for something better. By Dariya Tsyrenzhapova 15 November 2011

7: Around the Bloc: Ukraine Bows to EU Pressure, Bolshoi Pair in Dramatic Getaway

Plus, Armenians wonder how the military spends its treasure and Romania looks for millions of missing citizens. By Ky Krauthamer and Ioana Caloianu 15 November 2011

- Editors’ Blog:

* On Debt Default Doomsday Scenarios, Part Two

A new EBRD report assesses the economic and political fallout in TOL countries from the 2008-2010 global financial crisis – and what’s at stake for the region now, with the eurozone in turmoil By S. Adam Cardais 17 November 2011

* The First Lady Strikes Again

After Livia Klausova’s foundation cut off funding from a kids’ magazine that had apparently offended her, a wave of both prominent and ordinary Czechs come to the rescue. By Jeremy Druker 16 November 2011

* The Good Life, Through the Eyes of Statisticians

A quick peek into an annual measure of how well or poorly people around the globe are living. By Barbara Frye 15 November 2011

- From The Archives:

 Five years ago: Welcome to Boratistan

Kazakh elites are willing to negotiate their country’s image abroad but remain intensely concerned to protect the fragile national identity at home. By Robert A. Saunders 16 November 2006

 Ten years ago: The Trouble With Meciar

Slovakiamay have trouble getting into NATO if former Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar wins next year’s election. By Lubos Palata 16 November 2001

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