AMBER COAST:
Chechnya:
An Honorary Baltic State
Mel Huang
Over the past decade, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have shown great solidarity with the Chechen cause against Moscow. But the Chechen crisis also shows why the three countries need to reassess their own media.

P O L A N D:
A Fractured Identity
Karen M Laun
Confusion over identity and a lack of cohesion make it difficult for the Lemko of Poland to form a unified cultural whole and for activist groups to adequately represent the entire society in protecting their rights.

L I V I N G:
Post-Com Pre-fab
Paul Csagoly
Nobody really loves living in a housing development in Central and Eastern Europe, but with some changes they just might.

Czech Protest
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of Prague and other Czech cities last Friday in support of the "Thank You, Now Leave" (Dekujeme, Odejdete) petition demanding sweeping political changes. CER presents three views of the new movement.

Jan Culik
Somehow, once a totalitarian system has fallen, it is very difficult to imbue mass demonstrations with strong meaning. The problem is that the current student protest is quite vague.

Kazi Stastna
Sappy, romantic and pitifully nationalistic, these "former student" leaders refuse to take the political reins the public are offering them.

Andrew Stroehlein
Czech politicians generally ignore petitions, and they are likely to do the same with this one if the movement refuses to transform into a political party. But if this petition were to be successful, members of the Czech media wouldn't know what to do with themselves.

L e t t e r s   to   C E R

DEAR CER:
Too Clever by Half
John Keane
Last week, CER presented Kieran Williams's extensive critique of John Keane's new book on Vaclav Havel. This week, Professor Keane replies.

Theme of the week: Summit in Helsinki With just days before the critical Summit, we look at how some of the applicant countries stand on the eve of important decisions on EU expansion.

CER's Regular Columnists:

MIORITA: Political Turmoil in Moldova Catherine Lovatt Political turmoil and confusion in Moldova is creating a state hounded by instability and infighting. As a result, the economy is weakening and heading towards further crisis.

BALKAN ENCOUNTER: The Caveman and the Alien Sam Vaknin When Chancellor Kohl's party and Edith Cresson are suspected of gross corruption, such activities are labelled "aberrations" in an otherwise honest West. And if something similar happened in the East?

Kinoeye The second installment of Kinoeye's look at the 9th Festival of Young East European Cinema which took place earlier this month in the German town of Cottbus.

Books and Literature

P U B L I S H I N G:
Hungarians Read Their Way To Success
Carolyn Chapman
The Frankfurt Book Fair is the most important book and multi-media publishing show in the world, so it was quite a big deal for Hungary, whose publishing industry has undergone a complete transformation in the past ten years, to be chosen first among the former Socialist countries as guest of honor.

S U P P L E M E N T:
The CER Book Shop:
Books about Central and Eastern Europe
Have a look at CER's list of books on the region - all available from Amazon.com. The list is divided into five subject headings: cinema, literature, politics, history and economics.

M   u   s   i   c

S U P P L E M E N T:
The CER Music Shop
In co-operation with Amazon.com, Central Europe Review offers you this on-line shopping supplement.

O n   D i s p l a y

EVENTS: Coming Up in the UK Andrew J Horton Details of selected Central and East European cultural events in the UK over the next few weeks.

EVENTS: Polish Cultural Review Wojtek Kosc Events and exhibitions in Poland.