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Tajikistan: Beating the US · Global Voices
Vadim Sadonshoev

One of the most discussed topics in the Tajik blogosphere recently was the  loss of the US U-17s to the Tajik team in the Under–17 Football World Cup.
Although the Tajik players then lost to Belgium yesterday, I want to extend my congratulations to this young team. Many people are surprised in US and ask questions like: Where is Tajikistan? Do they play soccer (football)?
And there are people overseas who know about this mysterious country:
I was in Tajikistan when they qualified, and none of my Tajikistani friends knew anything about it [the qualification]. Even the soccer fans knew nothing, though they could all comment in depth on the Russian and English leagues’ news at the time. I'm very interested in knowing how this is often being received there.
The FIFA ranking seems off, too. Tajikistan has improved significantly since the civil war ended in 1997. They're just about at the point where they could contend for the “octagonal” in Asian WC qualifying. Of course, that in part is a commentary on how poor Asian soccer is.
Those who need details about this match, click here.
Two bloggers made a link to my post about Chinese construction workers and their hunger for turtles in Tajikistan. One came from Ian, our friend from Beyond the River , while the other is from Bonnie Boyd's great Foreign Policy blog. They even noticed a political implication in turtle eating.
I hesitate to draw any strong inferences from what amount to rumors and perhaps unfair stereotyping, but I do think there's a point to be made here: As China's influence in the region continues to rise, the Chinese could face a backlash if they don't tread very carefully.
Ben links to a post on the Russian website Webpark.ru with pictures of a crashed plane AN-24 with the logo of TajikAir on it. I don’t think that it's been a photoshop gig.
This is surprising, as I’ve never heard anything about this crash but it does not mean that there was no news about it in our local media. I guess the administration of Tajik Air will be upset to see the pictures of this plane spread on the Internet. They never reveal any information about Tajik Air planes flying somewhere in Africa rented by African companies. So, here is the evidence!
Madina at neweurasia and a dude at Delhi Planet discuss the new amendments made to Tajik law on media where Internet is going to be put under the control of the state.
Delhi Planet says:
Imagine being put behind bars just because you made a mistake in one of your articles published on the internet. This ruling is surely gonna give all the journalists and bloggers in tajikistan many sleepless nights.
Madina says:
Does this mean now that journalists will be prosecuted for the job they do? I hope not. Otherwise, Tajikistan will gradually take one of the first places in the world among the countries with the lowest level of freedom of speech and get the lowest human rights indicators which in its turn will result in the decrees of the investment flow as well as the overall image of the country.
The other widely discussed topic in the Tajik and Russian blogosphere was the execution of a Tajik and a Dagistani in Russia by neo-Nazis and the video they spread in the Internet. Probably this was the most discussed topic in the Internet about Tajikistan but I did not want to put it on the first place in this roundup.
According to Yandex, the Russian bloggers were extremely interested in this topic. The Tajik perspective on this issue was given at VatanWeb (rus). Those who can understand Russian and Tajik should go read a post with more than a hundred of comments.
And for sure, you should read my post about the execution and all the responses from different perspectives that it collected.
Jamiyat reports that Islam Karimov during the SCO summit raised concerns about huge hydropower projects that Tajikistan is going to realize with the help of Russia and Iran.
Karimov was straightforward and made it clear that water is life and that it is worth struggling for. I hope he is not planning to fight Tajikistan for water. The edited version of this post to be found at neweurasia.  And BajaeNergy gives a good information about the rich water resources of Tajikistan.
The water and border issues between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan worsened bilateral relations in all spheres. I think the problem that Joshua Kucera had while obtaining a Tajik visa in Tashkent is somehow related to this…
All the various times I had to visit the consulate, wait for a couple of hours, only to be told to come back the next day, or that I had filled out a certain form wrong. The consulate was a terrible scene. Every day there were between 20 and 50 people waiting for visas, and there was no line and no organization.
Recommendations: Avoid getting a Tajik visa in Tashkent.

author: Vadim Sadonshoev


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Thailand:  · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Thailand Jumped the Shark takes the editorial team of Thai English language daily Nation to task for their bias against the poor. ” They have contempt for the poor masses, they have contempt for anybody who supports Thaksin or is affiliated with him, and they have contempt for anybody who doesn't kow tow down to their myopic and elitist belief system.”

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Preetam Rai


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Trinidad & Tobago: Getting the Boot? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

The Manicou Report refers to a newspaper story that suggests a government MP will not automatically be nominated to contest his seat in the upcoming Trinidad and Tobago general elections, following a controversial altercation with anti-smelter protesters.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Trinidad & Tobago: International Slavery Museum · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It was the famous black-and-white photo of C.L.R. James in the upper left-hand corner of the montage that caught my eye.” Caribbean Beat Blog links to a New York Times article on the new International Slavery Museum that opens today in Liverpool.


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Turkey: To each his own traitor · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Guillaume Perrier, author of the blog Au fil du bosphore , muses about the toughening rhetoric in the Turkish political sphere (Fr) as the election for the Turkish presidential office comes to an end. Perrier asks whether the promises of uniting the country are already forgotten.

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Turkmenistan: Prisoner amnesty · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Bonnie Boyd notes that by releasing 11 prisoners who were allegedly implicated in a failed plot to kill his predecessor, the new Turkmen president Berdymukhamedov continues to move in the direction of reform.

author: Ben Paarmann


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Ukraine: Corn · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

MoldovAnn is disappointed to discover that the corn people eat in Ukraine is feed corn: “I took one bite and nearly broke a tooth.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ukraine: Platforms of the Main Contenders · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Ukrainiana reviews the platforms of the main contenders in the upcoming election: “born-again, gutsy President Yushchenko” and Yulia Tymoshenko's “feminine mystique” – as well as Victor Yanukovych's “self-styled notion of stabilnist, or political stability.”


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Ukraine: Yulia Tymoshenko · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes posts updates on Yulia Tymoshenko's pre-election moves – here, here, and here.


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Zambia: Donor money for cars and iPods · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Most people in Zambia want cars and iPods, writes Positively Zambian, but because of donor money available they set up organizations, which claim to fight poverty.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Afghan bloggers irritated by Iranian TV series · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

The Afghan embassy in Iran has complained about an Iranian television series on Channel 3, Char Khoone, that depicts Afghans characters as villains. Several Afghan and even Iranian bloggers have reacted to this news.
Dialogue 3, an Afghan blogger, says:
Since the beginning of the summer Iranian TV has aired a series named Char Khonneh every night. Sehat Sroush , the series’ director does not have any filmmaking experience. At the beginning, this series did not have a large audience, but then the director created a new characters in order to make people laugh. Some of these characters are Afghans and their names are Shanbeh (means Saturday) and Charshanbeh (means Wendesday).
The blogger says Iranian TV insults Afghan people with cultural caricatures. Dialogue 3 says examples like Afghans who call their children by the name of days of week, creates hatred between Moslem countries rather than solidarity, and refers to an initiative by the Iranian authorities that names this the year of “Solidarity between Moslems”.
Heratblog says [Fa] he/she is proud of being the first one who protested against this series. Debate on this issue has become a hot topic between Iran and Afghanistan. The blogger appreciates Iranians who have protested against this series too. The blogger says, Shanbeh, an Afghan character on the show who engages in a lot of trickery, speaks in an accent you cannot find in Afghanistan. The blogger adds that a suitable response would to Iranian TV would be to distribute the film 300, which is insulting to Iranians, and air it on all 13 channels in Afghanistan.
Afghan Journalist says [Fa] insulting Afghans in Iranian media is not new, but that it has become worse since the Iranian government began mass expulsions of Afghan refugees. The blogger says it shows how dysfunctional Iranian TV is, where real creative people can not express themselves, and less talented people make programs by insulting other ethnicities.
Datum of Freedom,an Iranian blogger, says [Fa], “I do not know why Shanbeh speaks with Afghan accent, it would be better if he spoke fluent Persian because his characteristics such as opportunism are Iranian not Afghan!”

author: Fred Petrossian


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Anguilla: Transparency International  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Corruption-free Anguilla sees merit in Transparency International establishing a branch in Anguilla.


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Barbados, Jamaica: Dean Winning Votes?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Now taking advantage of disaster is a time honoured tradition amongst West Indian politicians,” writes Notes from the Margin, commenting on the impact Hurricane Dean may have on Jamaica's upcoming elections.


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Bermuda: Responsible Headlines · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Politics.bm thinks newspapers “have a responsibility to be more accurate” in their headlines.


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Cambodia: Best Rice in the World · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Karen Coates at Epicurious.com says Cambodian rice is the best rice in the world. (via Details are Sketchy)


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Cambodia: Encouraging Friends to Blog · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Vutha is seeking ideas to encourage his friends to blog.


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Cambodia: Why the Internet is Expensive · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Borin blogs about the cost of Internet access in Cambodia and lists some factors that keep the prices high.


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China: Guidebook On Being A Mistress · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Wang Xiaofeng is reading a book about “second wife” or mistress (zh). It discusses about the phenomena of “second wife” in China from an economic view point. The writer was once a Taiwanese reporter who collected stories from Taiwan business circle.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Porn crackdown targets online fiction · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Maya from DANWEI writes about the recent Internet crack down of erotic online fiction in China: this crackdown is part of China's general push to “clean up” before the Olympics.


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Dominica: Back to Normal · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Steve's Dominica sees signs that the island is returning to normal after Hurricane Dean.


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Eiffel Tower Not ‘That Big’ · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese Mark, who lives in Kuwait, wasn't impressed with the Eiffel Tower  during his trip to Paris and notes: “I was really expecting it to be much bigger. Weird.”

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Europe: Elimination of Roma in 1944 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Peshas Gypsy Gitan Blog writes about the elimination of the Roma by the Nazi in 1944: “The Roma kept very few written records the Generations gone before were remembered and kept alive in memory by word of mouth. Those murdered in the death camps were not only killed but they were obliterated from living memory ..for all time.”


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Guyana: A Woman’s Role · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Stella Ramsaroop finds herself assuming the role of submissive woman…but only long enough for her to use it as an example of how women must not “mindlessly fall in line with patriarchal socialisations.”


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Guyana: Flooding Expected?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“These are not freak occurrences but keep happening year after year with all kinds of excuses meted out for the cause of these floods,” says Guyana Providence Stadium, who is concerned that his countrymen “are just accepting these unnecessary floods…and taking them in stride.”


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Guyana: Let There Be Light · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Yes, in these bright nights of electricity and days of sunlight, jumbies stalking we land, living jumbies with minds so dead they can’t switch on the light no more…” Guyana-Gyal finds a way to shine light on dark days.


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Hong Kong: Nine-year-old Enters University · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

A nine-year old genus was accepted by the Baptist University of Hong Kong. Willsin thinks that it is ridiculous as the kid doesn't need to enter university to prove that he is a genus and university life in Hong Kong will kill his childhood fun (zh).
Erynnyes feels that the university is using the kid as a tool for advertisement as the news become headline of local newspapers(zh).


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Iran:Iran, USA and Cheetah Project · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Sepideh Saremi writes despite continued political tensions between the United States and Iran, the Iran Cheetah Project, a joint effort of the U.S.-based Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Iran’s Department of the Environment (DOE), is working to study and save the Asiatic cheetah (also referred to as the Iranian cheetah, and “yuz palang” in Persian


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Iran:New experience, new photos · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kosoof, a leading photoblogger,shares his new experiences in his blog.


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Israel: Brangelina Visit? · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“Brangelina” may touch down on Israeli soil this October, reports Stephanie from Israel.


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Israel: Lebanon Postcript  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lisa Goldman publishes an email she received from a reader about her trip to Lebanon, on the anniversary of the Second Lebanon War with Israel, here.


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Israel: Living Longer · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Want to know how to live longer? Read Stephanie's post from Israel.


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Israel: UN Not Welcome · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“The United Nations is doing its best to endanger Israel by sending a team to change the border with Lebanon,” writes Batya, from Israel.


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Jamaica: Beggars Can’t Be Choosers · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“We do indeed grow up in a society where begging is prevalent. Whether we're begging for money, begging for ‘justice’, or begging for a ‘bly’, there just always seems to be large levels of personal dissatisfaction with reality.”  Stories of Me blogs about why it's better to be a chooser than a beggar.


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Jamaica: Election postponed — till when? · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

Even as Jamaican authorities continue to repair the damage done by Hurricane Dean, controversy rages over the state of emergency declared last weekend by Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller, and the postponement of the general election.As Jamaica House reported on Tuesday, the country's two major newspapers, the Gleaner and the Observer, have both called for a lifting of the state of emergency declared on Sunday 19 August, arguing that post-hurricane conditions do not warrant this measure. Jamaica House suggests many Jamaicans feel the same way, and wonders if Simpson-Miller's government has a political motive for prolonging the state of emergency — specifically, whether it is a tactic related to the upcoming general election originally scheduled for Monday 27 August:
The PM’s primary rationale for the edict is to “protect human life” but no one seems to be buying this. Instead it is being framed as a last ditched attempt to hold on to power. I do believe that the indication she was getting before this storm was that if the election was held on the 27th has previously announced she and her party would lose.
Even before the hurricane, while Jamaicans were bracing for Dean's arrival, it was clear that an election postponement would be all but inevitable. “But what does this mean for us on the 27th?”, asked Jamaican Lifestyle on Saturday 18, the day before Dean hit:
I heard something on TV recently, where they said that in the event of a natural disaster, the elections could be postponed for UP TO 12 MONTHS!!
The following morning, Yannick Pessoa noted:
Here I sit on the cusp of an impending hurricane…. The literary and biblical allusions cannot be avoided. Some say this is the first miracle of Portia, to reverse an irreversible election.
By Tuesday 21, the Jamaica Elections 2007 Blog, maintained by the Gleaner newspaper, was reporting that the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) had decided on an election postponement, and that the governor-general would soon announce a new date of Monday 3 September. But the following day, Jamaica Elections said there had in fact been a procedural blunder:
Information Minister Donald Buchanan told The Gleaner/Power 106 News yesterday that the Electoral Commission’s recommendation for the postponement of the General Election should have been submitted to Cabinet for consideration, before it was sent to the Governor-General for a final decision.
Simpson-Miller was expected to announce the new election date during a TV address on the night of Wednesday 22, but didn't. As of this afternoon, no date had been confirmed, though Jamaica Elections reported it was “likely” an official announcement would be made today.Meanwhile, the Observer reports that the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce is urging the government to lift the ongoing state of emergency, and the Gleaner says the latest poll figures show the opposition Jamaica Labour Party inching ahead of the ruling People's National Party in what had previously been a neck-and-neck race. The Gleaner adds: “Reports are that the Prime Minister would like a later date in September” for the election.And while the politicians wrangle, Jamaican View says that most of the country's entertainment venues survived the hurricane intact. The election may have ground to a halt, but the party, it seems, goes on.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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Jamaica: Surviving Dean  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“It actually feels wrong to complain about the ‘agony’ of waiting 4 days to get back electricity just so that I can watch tv and surf the net.  After all, there are people who survived the hurricane and are still trying to figure out where they are going to live.”  CityGirl blogs about surviving Hurricane Dean in Jamaica.


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Jordan: Laptop for Varsity Students · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

A plan to provide Jordanian university students with affordable laptops is finally being implemented, announces Ahmad Humeid from Jordan.


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Kannada: Independence, festivals and more · Global Voices
Sanket Patil

20 runners from 12 countries; the youngest among whom is a 23 year old American woman and the oldest, a 60 year old American man; an Indian, Sunil Jayaraj, from Kolar, Karnataka. A 95 day project, covering 4 continents, 16 countries and 24000 KMs, organised by Blue Planet Run. They are running for water.
Ananthamurthy continues with his rhetorical questions. “What has changed since independence?” he asks this time. And I do not really disagree with his observations.
After independence we have gradually lost faith in the persuasive ability of language. In England in the 19th century all its great writers used many rhetorical devices to enhance the persuasive capacity of language. Whether Carlyle or Ruskin or Mathew Arnold, they used all the resources of language to persuade their opponents. This is mostly due to the democratic movements of that age. This means that the speaker believed that he or she could change the way that the opponent thought about a particular issue. [..]
[…]The language of advertisement has taken over now in every field of communication. Its intention is to kill our power of discrimination. […]We are second rate as a civilization now for we have lost faith in the power of language to persuade through reason.
Sindhu misses the shlokas and bhajanes (religious chants and songs) of her childhood. She fondly remembers the way the songs and chants instantly transformed the little monsters into nice kids, albeit momentarily! Once the worships were over, their effect soon got over. She longs for those voices today when
Our evenings are filled with the bright lights of shopping malls, honking vehicles, the “reverse gear songs”, title songs of tele-serials, the shrieking rock and pop of reality shows; it’s not even possible to just sit and listen to the song of the birds. The music from the neighbouring houses, the chaos on the roads… [Translated]
Shrikant Mishrikoti takes us back to the origins of the Ramayana. It starts with Valmiki cursing a hunter who kills the male krauncha bird (Egret or Heron) and causes grief to the female krauncha.
mA niShAda pratiShThA.n tvamagamaH shAshvatI.n samAH |
yatkrauJNchamithunAdekamavadhIH kAmamohitam.h ||
(bAlakANDa 2.14) [Source]
This is the first shloka of Ramayana, which translates into: Oh hunter! You, who killed one of the Kraunchas that were pairing filled with great love for each other, shall not progress much through your life. Valmiki realised that his curse was in the form of a shloka only in retrospect. Also, the cursing, which was an outburst due to the momentary anger, caused great unrest in him. Later on Brahma came to him and asked him to use this curse of his as the starting point of a great epic about Rama, because he thought none can understand the nuances and subtleties of the human nature and the world in which they live, better than Valmiki.
Satish Kumar has a not very happy rant about our seemingly virtual living. He is puzzled that even with so many technologies around, we still cannot communicate well. Sanganagowda is worried about karunADu (the land of black soil, Karnataka) being consumed steadily by “outsiders”. What is good about the post though is he gives a set of constructive ideas to revive Kannada and make it attractive so that others learn it. Mahesha discusses the Kannada equivalents of a few technical terms. Keshav Kulkarni shows enough evidence through a very short post, for “our” sense of false prestige and pretense.
On the 15th of August India celebrated its 60th Independence Day. However, there are not many posts about the event. Perhaps it shows a lack of zeal towards our symbols. Perhaps independence is losing its significance. At least, Archana is unhappy about the change in perception towards the Independence Day. It was an eventful affair during her childhood, when the preparations at the school started 15 days ahead; great many competitions, debates, quizzes, dances and plays. And today it is just another holiday. On the other hand, Rajesh Nayak is seemingly unbothered about these perceptions and continues to pursue his passion, traveling. He celebrates the Independence Day in a unique way in the laps of Mother Nature. A nice photo essay.
In fact, he is a tireless traveler. Here’s another nice photo essay about the different water falls in Kodagu district of Karnataka. I lived in Kodagu for about 3 years but still have not seen many of the water falls he talks about! Shivaram has a set of photos he took in Shivamogga.
Joseph narrates a story told by Osho in which God consoles a poor man who is not allowed to enter a temple by revealing to him that God himself is not allowed to enter that temple constructed by the filthy rich! Venkatesh is recollecting Gandhi through old photographs [1, 2]. A realisation occurs to Shamsundar in his effort of digging out the truth. Abdul Rasheed bashfully publishes a short story on his blog that he had written bashfully. b(bhA)ALa kavana has nice little poems. Hamsanandi translates a shloka from Kalidasa’s Raghuvansha.
Shravana has come; and the festivals come, one after the other. nAga panchami just got over. It is a great festival during which people worship snakes. But more importantly it’s a lot of fun with varieties of delicious undes (laddus or laadus) and “popcorn”. Also, it’s the time when people swing their swings. People, especially women, worship the snake god by pouring milk on to the hood of stone snakes. But in Shivamogga, people celebrated it differently by interacting with real live snakes. Kuchela has a small report on that. Sushruta pens a nice personal account of nAga panchami; laddus, henna and the intimacy of the family.
On the day of nAgara panchami, our ebullience had different flavours: it went like rock music from morning till afternoon, and then it took to the tune of Kannda film song, turning into a lyrical song later in the evening, finally mellowing down into the sound of mother’s low hums. That is because, the night of nAgara panchami is the night when henna was applied to our fingers! [Translated]
Venkatesh pays a tribute to Shyam Benegal, who was recently conferred with the Dada Saheb Phalke award. HPN remembers the good 25 year old CD ROM. He started using this thing called CD ROM barely a few years ago and it’s almost obsolete now!
Well, time flies by. Till the next time…

author: Sanket Patil


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Kenya: Political satire on Facebook · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Kenyan political satire of Facebook: Kenyan opposition figure Raila Odinga has two facebook profiles. In one of them, his only friend appears to be the very dodgy  Artur Margaryan. The other, which seems more likely to be real, says that Raila is ” Raila is Working hard to cement ODMK unity”.


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Madagascar: Closing ceremony of the Indian Ocean Island games  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

According to Jentilisa, the closing ceremony of the Indian Ocean Island Games went on without any troubles because the organizers learned from their previous mistakes during the opening ceremony (Mg).


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Madascar: It takes a village to raise an idea · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

It takes a village to raise an idea: “4 African bloggers from there have united on a project to make a difference. They aren’t just talking, they are doing something.”


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Malaysia: Forum on Future of Malaysian Solidarity · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Haris Ibrahim is inviting readers to join a forum titled “Bangsa Malaysia : The Way Forward”. The forum features some of the prominent Malaysian bloggers.


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Malaysia: Fued over Appointing a Chief Judge · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Malaysia Today writes about the impasse over appointing a Chief Judge in Malaysia.


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Malaysia: Fun Look at Sibu · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Kempua Talk takes a fun look at her hometown Sibu.


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Reunion: Mild earthquake felt on the island.    · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

At. 15:17 local time, an earthquake (3.6 on the richter scale) was felt all around the island of Reunion today. There is no report of major damages as of yet. Jonathan Gravier said he was driving in St-Denis at the time but did not feel the earthquake (Fr).


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Russia: An “Oasis of Nonchalance” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

August 19 marked sixteen years since the beginning of the Soviet Union's collapse. On this day, LJ user galerist (Marat Guelman, gallery owner from Moscow) happened to post a sketch (RUS) on his visit to a rich client's estate – a sketch that, in a way, highlighted some of the changes that have – and have not – occurred since 1991:
[…]I was visiting a client yesterday. A very rich one. A huge estate, beautiful. Everything looks untouched. It's clear that he is using 5 percent of this luxury. And only when he's in Russia.I stayed overnight. Woke up at 11 and went out for a walk. Tons of people. Families of construction workers are relaxing by the lake. Servants are drinking tea in a gazebo. The cook sits by the computer in a study (I'm taking up his space right now).Anyway – they are making full use of this estate, while the one who owns it, works for them, basically. Because he is funding this oasis of nonchalance.
Below are some comments from Marat Guelman's readers:
ol_:It's always been like this. But then, out of ignorance, they'd plunder the place, killing the master… and then lived [in misery].biblioglobus:If everyone of the top 10 percent has a dozen people working on them, then it's not surprising why gastarbeiters [migrant workers] are in such demand…nekbke:He just doesn't have a normal manager, someone who wouldn't allow violations of the work discipline. To allow a cook to roam around a study and use the owner's computer – it's too much. Each worker of any kind of enterprise has to have clear boundaries that would set apart what's allowed and what's not after work. This owner's problem isn't that he's using his estate not often – it's his right, he can use it as much as he wants to. The problem is that responsible people, and not some bums, have to be in charge of overseeing the state of the property.galerist:It seems to me that he himself cultivates [this sort of relaxed attitude].salatau:[…] He makes sure that a large number of people are employed. Many here don't understand what it means to provide employment to a HUGE MASS of people.chedelat:I'm one of those who don't get it. What's your point?salatau:The point is that [one person] […], through his creative plans and effective management, provides a well-paid and socially-protected employment to [thousands of people], and, indirectly, maybe even to millions.This is the essence of a state's social policy on creation of work places. But our state and its political strategists don't seem to understand it, they only call for stability, but don't really know how to achieve it – all they know is how to provoke new sources of instability and other problems.And this rich guy, […], without any affected blah-blah-blahs, is just doing his work, willingly, providing employment and social stability, and even their growth, on a scale he's capable of. And since it looks like there's production growth, it means he knows his market well. It wouldn't hurt to have someone like him as president.madame_prokopen:It's nothing but a post-Soviet lack of employer-employee relationship culture. It is very hard to make oneself forget that “all are equal.” Hard both for the servants and for the master. Especially when everyone are from the same area. It's easier when servants are from another country, and it's good if they speak a different language and haven't experienced Soviet upbringing. […]


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Russia: Muslims the Majority in 2050 · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes that, according to a Kremlin adviser, more than half of the population of the Russia will be Muslim in 2050.


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Russia: Opinion on Chechnya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia cites opinion polls on the Russian attitudes toward Chechnya.


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Russia: Pensioners Back to Work · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Low pensions and not enough young people are the reasons why more Russian retirees are returning to work, reports Window on Eurasia.


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Russia: Subethnic Divisions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes on how subethnic divisions among Russians influence (or not) Russia's relations with its neighbors.


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Russia: Tešanović on Politkovskaya · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

On Boing Boing, Jasmina Tešanović writes about Anna Politkovskaya, who was her friend.


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Senegal: Africa according to Nicolas Sarkozy · Global Voices
Mialy Andriamananjara

Francophone Africa was awaiting anxiously the newly elected French President's arrival. Nicolas Sarkozy's reputation certainly preceded him in Africa. He was minister of the interior under Jacques Chirac and was responsible for quenching the revolts of disaffected youths (ones he referred to as “racaille” (scum)).
Today Africa is still reeling from the speech Sarkozy made at the Universite of Dakar, named after Cheikh Anta Diop, a Senegalese historian and anthropologist whose theories “put emphasis on the human race's origins and on the study of pre-colonial African culture and its connectedness to the rest of the world”. Cheik Anta Diop is also one of Africa's most prominent historians.
GV Author Lova Rakotomalala already wrote a post on the Open Letter authored by Malagasy writer Jean-Luc Raharimanana and published in French daily newspapers “Liberation”. But other influential Francophone African intellectuals are making themselves heard through blogs, among them Cameroonian historian Achille Mbembe, whose specialty is post-colonial Africa, and who is now a research professor in history and politics at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and acclaimed Senegalese novelist Boubacar Boris Diop.  Alain Mabanckou's blog reproduces Achille Mbembe's reactions and one can read Boubacar Boris Diop's at Kangni Alem's.
Boubacar Boris Diop bitterly wonders whether Sarkozy's speech could have been made elsewhere than Francophone Africa.
“Un président étranger faisant, du haut de son mètre soixante quatre, le procès de tous les habitants d´un continent, sommés d´oser enfin s´éloigner de la nature, pour entrer dans l´histoire humaine et s´inventer un destin.”
“A foreign president, looking down on us from his 1.64 m high, judging  inhabitants of an entire continent, demanding that they finally get away from nature, enter human history and invent themselves a destiny”
“Sarkozy n´est pas naïf au point de s´imaginer que la voix de son pays porte aussi loin que Johannesburg, Mombasa ou Maputo. Si les intellectuels de cette partie du continent ont, pour une fois, prêté attention aux propos d´un président français, c´est parce qu´on leur en avait préalablement résumé le contenu. Depuis quelques jours, ils le découvrent par eux-mêmes avec stupéfaction en même temps que les réalités de la Françafrique.”
“Sarkozy is not so naive to believe that his country's voice will be heard as far as Johannesburg, Mombasa or Maputo. If intellectuals of this part of the continent have, for once, paid attention to the speech of a French President, it is because it has been previously summarized for them. For several days, they have been discovering with astonishment the realities of Francafrique”
Achille Mbembe lashes out at Nicolas Sarkozy and other contemporary French politicians for using an outdated approach:
“…l’armature intellectuelle qui sous-tend la politique africaine de la France date littéralement de la fin du XIXe siècle.”
“intellectual framework supporting African policy (that) literally dates from the end of the XIXth century.”
This feeling is echoed by Boubacar Boris Diop :
“Ce manque d´humilité d´un homme que l´on dirait encore choqué d´avoir si aisément atteint son but l´a amené à aligner, devant un auditoire particulièrement averti, les plus désolants clichés de l´ethnologie coloniale du dix-neuvième siècle.”
“This lack of humility, from a man apparently still in shock for having so easily reached his presidential goals, has led him to make in front of an especially apprised audience a speech full of all the unfortunate clichés of XIXth century colonial ethnology.”
” « l’homme africain » de notre président ethnophilosophe est surtout reconnaissable soit par ce qu’il n’a pas, ce qu’il n’est pas ou ce qu’il n’est jamais parvenu à accomplir (la dialectique du manque et de l’inachèvement), soit par son opposition à « l’homme moderne » (sous-entendu « l’homme blanc ») – opposition qui résulterait de son attachement irrationnel au royaume de l’enfance, au monde de la nuit, aux bonheurs simples et à un âge d’or qui n’a jamais existé.”
“The African man” of our “ethno-philosopher” president is mostly recognizable to what he does not possess, what he is not, or what he has never succeeded to achieve (a dialectic of loss and failure), or to his opposition to “modern man” (“white man”) – opposition which would result from his irrational attachment to the kingdom of childhood, the world of darkness, simple pleasures and a golden age which never existed.”
For Mbembe, the speech shows France's willful ignorance of Africa : rejecting the blame of slave trade on Africans themselves, and then asking Africans to make the difference between the good and the bad colonizers.
“Les nouvelles élites dirigeantes françaises prétendent jeter un éclairage sur des réalités dont elles ont fait leur hantise et leur fantasme (la race), mais dont, à la vérité, elles ignorent tout.”
“The new French leaders pretend to understand realities which they dread and fantasize about (race), but which in fact they are ignorant about.”
Boubacar Boris Diop, whose last novel was on the Rwandan genocide, is particularly incensed about the attempt at downplaying  the importance of the Rwandan genocide.
“L´implication de la France dans le génocide des Tutsi du Rwanda est si avérée que l´on sent parfois chez certaines autorités de l´Hexagone comme une tentation de passer aux aveux”
“France's role in the Tutsi genocide in Rwanda is so proven that one sometimes feels in some authorities of the Hexagone a temptation to confess”
“Pour se tirer d´affaire, on essaie d´accréditer l´idée que le Rwanda n´était, tout bien considéré, qu´un génocide africain de plus et qu´on aurait tort d´en faire une grosse histoire.”
“To get out of trouble, one tries to the idea that Rwanda was, if one thinks of it, but another African genocide and one should not make a big deal out of it “
Both men recognize that atonement and public regrets were not in Sarkozy's line of view.
Boubacar Boris Diop:
” On n’attendait certes pas de Nicolas Sarkozy qu’il regrette publiquement l´implication de son pays – qui ne fait plus l’ombre d’un doute – dans le génocide des Tutsi du Rwanda”
“One would not expect public regrets from Nicolas Sarkozy for his country's participation – which is out of doubt- in the Tutsi Genocide in Rwanda”
but according to Achille Mbembe :
“Nicolas Sarkozy a en outre cru devoir inviter son auditoire à distinguer entre les “bons” et les “mauvais” colonisateurs. Admettrait-il qu´un Allemand applique la même grille de lecture à l´histoire de son pays?”
“Nicolas Sarkozy felt he had to invite his audience to distinguish between “good” and “bad” colonizers. Would he allow a German to use the same standard to his country?”
Among the comments, one R.G. asks:
“L’Allemand Willy Brandt s’est agenouillé à Varsovie, au nom du peuple allemand, en repentance pour les crimes nazis. Quel premier ministre de Grande-Bretagne ira s’agenouiller un jour à Lagos, Freetown, New Delhi, etc., au nom du peuple anglais, en repentance pour les crimes de la colonisation ?”
“The German Willy Brand knelt down in Warswaw, in the name of the German people, in repentance of nazi crimes. Which Prime Minister of Great Britain will kneel down one day in Lagos, Freetown, New Delhi,.etc… in the name of the English people, in repentance of colonization's crimes?”
Boubacar Boris Diop renders a harsh verdict, but also thanks Nicolas Sarkozy:
“Il ne tardera pas à s´en rendre compte : les Africains et les Nègres de la diaspora ne le lui pardonneront jamais. La bonne vieille langue de bois aurait mieux servi les intérêts de son pays. Elle lui aurait en outre évité ces effets oratoires si empruntés qu´ils en étaient parfois un peu pathétiques. A l´arrivée on a presque envie de remercier Nicolas Sarkozy d´être venu nous apporter, bien malgré lui, la bonne nouvelle : en Françafrique, depuis le 16 mai 2007, le Roi est nul.”
“He will soon realize: Africans and Negroes of the diaspora will never forgive him. Good old doublespeak would have better served his country's interests. It would have avoided oratory effects so gauches that they were a bit pathetic. At the end one almost wants to thank Nicolas Sarkozy for having brought us, in spite of himself, good news : in Francafrique, since May 16th 2007, the King is a dunce.”
Achille Mbembe puts Africa's fate firmly in the hands of Africans and dismisses France.
“Aujourd’hui, y compris parmi les Africains francophones dont la servilité à l’égard de la France est particulièrement accusée et qui sont séduits par les sirènes du nativisme et de la condition victimaire, beaucoup d’esprits savent pertinemment que le sort du continent, ou encore son avenir, ne dépend pas de la France. Après un demi-siècle de décolonisation formelle, les jeunes générations ont appris que de la France, tout comme des autres puissances mondiales, il ne faut pas attendre grand-chose. Les Africains se sauveront eux-mêmes ou ils périront.”
“Today, among Francophone Africans whose servility towards France is particularly marked and who are seducted by the sirens of nativism and victimization, many know pertinently that the continent's fate, or its future, does not depend on France. After half a century of formal decolonization, young generations have learned that from France, like from other world powers, one should not expect much. Africans will save themselves or they will perish.”
“Pour l’heure, et s’agissant de l’Afrique, il manque tout simplement à la France le crédit moral qui lui permettrait de parler avec certitude et autorité.”
For now,  France is simply missing the moral credit which would allow it to speak about Africa with certitude and authority”

author: Mialy Andriamananjara


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Singapore: Getting A Mac to Access Internet Over GPRS · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Singapore tech blogger James Seng has instructions on how to access the internet on a Mac via your mobile phone.


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South East Asia: Abortion Policies · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bisean compares the abortions policies practiced by the countries in South East Asia and finds that Singapore and Vietnam have the most flexible policies.


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South East Asia: Ghost Month · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

The Travellers Tale blog explains the origins of the Chinese Ghost Month feast.


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Sudanese Refugees in Israel  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Cutter, who is based in Italy, discusses the situation of Sudanese refugees in Israel – from another perspective – in this post.


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Tahiti: Photos of dancers performing the “fire” dance.  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Amazing photos of Tahitian dancers performing “la dance du feu” (the fire dance). Fenua blog advice: “do not try it at home !” (Fr).


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Tanzania: The future of the East African Community · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

By joining SADCC instead of Comesa, Tanzania has diminished chances of a regional integration: “This was until Tanzania opted out again to join South African Development Cooperation (SADC) , allying itself to what is clearly a grouping for Southern African countries.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: A Case for Condoms  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The reality is that people are having sex, illicit or otherwise, with frightening proportions in our country being infected with HIV and other STIs.”  Ramblings and Reason makes a case for educating youngsters about being sexually responsible.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Costly Mistake · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“For an event that is asking people to pay $100,000 per plate you would think that they would at least get the invitation right!” Now is Wow has a bone to pick with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago.


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Tunisia: explanations about lodging regulations  · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Mouwaten Tounsi explains that the accusation of racism in a dispute over lodging regulation is much ado about nothing. He explains that in Tunisia, it is against the law to rent a room to unwed Tunisian couples. This rule applies only if you are of Tunisian citizenship. Therefore the couple was not granted the room because they were not married and not because of their citizenship (Fr).


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Ukraine: Another Poisoning? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Foreign Notes writes about an alleged poisoning of the author of “the only book written to date describing the turf wars that took place in the early and mid '90's in Donetsk and their alleged participants.”


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Ukraine: Independence Day · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Scenes from the Sidewalk and Ukrainiana write about Ukraine's Independence Day – today and 16 years ago.


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Bahrain: Thoughts on Sectarianism  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini blogger emoodz shares with us this thoughts on sectarianism in this post I am translating from Arabic today. From a discussion over lunch, Mohammed Al Maskati discusses sectarianism and its impact on society, ending his treatise with a question with no answer: Will we Arabs ever wake up?


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Barbados, Jamaica: Rough Road Ahead? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“Jamaica was sailing along towards elections on August 27.  Then, buddum!  Nature, who has no votes, but often can be critical in how things turn out, wanted to have its say.”  Caribbean Comment provides an analysis on how Hurricane Dean continues to affect Jamaican politics.


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Japan: Three Death Penalty Executions on Aug. 23 · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Adamu at Mutant Frog Travelogue reports on the recent executions in Japan of three death row inmates: “It is really scary that the final decision of when and if these prisoners die lies solely in the hands of a political appointee […] who goes through no official vetting process, and on top of that no prior warning is given to the public, victims, or the convict or his or her family.” (See also a detailed post at Asia Death Penalty.)

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Time-lapse Tokyo · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Pink Tentacle brings together ten great time-lapse videos shot in Tokyo, including one of 35 years of construction in Shinjuku, one of the construction of Roppongi Hills, one of a trip along the Yamanote Line, and one of lighting striking in Higashiyama.


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Japan: Yokozuna gets the boot · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

Never far from controversy, Mongolian Yokozuna (sumo champion) Asashoryu (朝青龍) is again in hot water.  Just before a regional sumo tour started, the yokozuna left for Mongolia claiming that he would not be able to participate, having submitted a doctor's note indicating that he had injuries in his arm and lower back that needed to be treated. Shortly after his departure, a video image showing the yokozuna playing soccer in Mongolia made it onto some of the major Japanese TV networks, sparking a controversy. Asashoryu has been penalized by the Sumo Association with suspension from the next two tournaments and a salary reduction. When the yokozuna was then reported to be suffering from depression, the story became further sensationalized.
Many bloggers were harshly critical of Asashoryu's behaviour. Kazusan writes:
もし、横綱をモンゴルにこのまま帰すならば、、、、、帰って来るな！！朝青龍！！と言いたいですね。実に簡単な、「迷惑をかけました」の挨拶も出来ない人間が、心技体を求める国技相撲には不必要で、謹慎が開けた後にも、精神異常者を横綱と認めるわけにはいかないと考えます。
Another blogger also criticizes Asashoryu's misconduct:
診断書を出しモンゴルへ帰国。モンゴルで治療していると思いきや、それがみごとなヘッディングまでやってのけていたのだ。これは、相撲協会だけでなく日本国民すべてがいきり立った。朝青龍が、涼しいモンゴルでサッカーに興じていたとき、日本では４０度にも達する暑さの中、関取集は地方巡業で汗をかいていた。結構な強行軍で、長野から北海道まで興行と移動の連続を強いられていたのだ。そこには、モンゴル出身の関取集３４名も含まれているのだ。誰一人文句も言わず、ファンサービスを一生懸命やっているではないか。
On the other hand, a number of bloggers express their concern about the treatment of Asashoryu and how the Association and others involved have been handling the sitution.
One blogger criticizes the old style attitude of the Association towards mental illness and its failure to deal with the problem:
朝青龍は謹慎処分が下って以降一切自宅を出ていない。はっきり言って異常事態であり、早く帰国させるべきである。今後の進退については本人の意思と親方、協会が競技をして決めれば良い。協会内部、特に巡業部は朝青龍に対して「汗を流せば治る」等と馬鹿馬鹿しい発言をしていた親方もいたが、彼らは精神的な病をいまだに「病は気から」何て思っている古臭い考えを持っているのだろう。ストレス障害やうつ病は立派な病気である。早く治療するに越したことのない病気であり、放置していて手遅れになればそれこそ大問題だ。
今回の件は朝青龍にも非がある。しかし、もっと問題なのは朝青龍がこういった態度を取ることを容認してきた親方、そして協会にもあるはずだ。特に始動すべき親方の対応にはほとほと呆れるばかりだ。協会と親方はもっと問題意識を持ってこの件に対応すべきだろう。
Asashoryu does have faults in this case. However, what's more problematic is his oyakata as well as the Association, who have let Asashoryu behave this way. Particularly, I am really fed up with the way his oyakata, who is in the position to supervise him, has been handling the situation. The Association and the oyakata should deal with this with more awareness of the problem.
Another blogger expresses his anger at the media and Japanese society over their attitude towards mental illness:
ここのところの朝青龍の報道や世論には失望させられる。
テレビでこの話題が出ると、静聴できなくなる。
２１世紀に入っても、精神的な病いを理解できない、大部分の愚かなマスコミや日本人。
周囲がそっとしておくことが、最も大事だと理解できず、医師の診断が出ているのに、そもそも仮病のように、勝手に決め付ける、大部分の愚かなマスコミや日本人。
ほんとーに腹が立つ。
無知ほど愚かで、おぞましく、残酷で、馬鹿なことはない。

author: Hanako Tokita


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Lebanon: Prostituting in France · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lebanese Rampurple links to a news article about a Lebanese pimp caught up in a prostitution racket in France.


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Morocco: Peace Corps Bloggers Part 2 · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

As last week's post, an introduction to Peace Corps Bloggers, garnered an overwhelming response, this week's post will continue to introduce this illustrious and hardworking category of bloggers, complete with photos.
We'll start off this week with a rare glimpse into the home of a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer).  Samuel Gunter, of Life Called, has posted some photos of his home in Morocco.  Here's one of the kitchen:
Now remember that there is no running water so I have to go collect that which can really be a pain. I have the conversation almost every day about why I don't have a wife to do that for me. The Peace Corps of course didn't put “Wife to carry water” on the packing list so I didn't bring one. I'm very upset about that and am lodging a complaint through the proper channels. I'd get one in country, but my budget doesn't allow for that.
Connie in Morocco has been traveling, and shares with us a beautiful photo from the Cascades d'Ouzoud, Morocco's most famous waterfalls.
The next day we took a day trip with another nearby volunteer to a place called Cascades d'Ouzoud. The drive there in the taxi was rather spectacular, but mostly uncomfortable. It was quite hot, the driver had the native music playing very loudly, and it was hairpin turns in and out of mountains for a couple of hours. But the place, once we got there, was quite pretty. I think it must be very beautiful early summer. Most Moroccan people there, many kids enjoying the cool water, lots of folks brought picnic lunches, blankets, and just spent the day in the shade.
Sometimes when abroad, it's nice to come across something – anything – familiar.  James Collins of واخا  (or wakha, which means “ok” in Moroccan Arabic) is another PCV with a blog, who shares this story of spotting The Wizard of Oz in Morocco:
Several months ago I stayed with my neighbor Meddi and his family in Oujda, where he’s a school teacher for most of the year. On a satellite TV with more than 200 channels, less than 10 of which are in English, we found the original “Wizard of Oz” being shown with Arabic subtitles. I then took the following photo, showing Oumayma watching this classic.
And lastly, a repeat performance of one of last week's bloggers.  Cory Driver of 32n5w demonstrates what air travel from Morocco can be like:
the plane was 5 hours late, but that didn't really affect me. what did have some effect on me was the man who lit a cigarette in his seat and merrily puffed away until two somewhat mortified flight attendants asked him to put it out. he asked why, because he wasn't dropping ashes or anything (he had a henry's cookie package open and was dropping his ashes into it, after all). the flight attendants not-so-calmly explained that smoking was not allowed on the flight. the man very calmly replied that it was allowed on the bus, so it should be allowed on planes too. the flight attendants then snatched the cigarette, lightly burning the smoker's neighbor and told the man not to light up again. he said it was his last cigarette anyway. the flight attendants came on the loud speaker and told everyone on the plane not to lend the smoker a cigarette. the flight continued…
A special thanks to last week's readers, who posted some helpful links for Peace Corps or would-be Peace Corps volunteers (as well as those of us who just find the Peace Corps interesting!).  Here are the links they shared:
Peace Corps Writers
The Blog of John Coyne, a Returned PCV
A Site for Returned PCVs
A Collection of English-Language Morocco blogs from Friends of Morocco

author: Jillian C. York


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South Africa: Continuing education is working · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

The nonrequired writes about the success story that is continuing education in some African nations and how it can prevent the brain drain.  Continuing education is paid for by companies and provided by local universities at an affordable cost. It has been succesfully implemented so far in countries such as South-Africa, Senegal, Ghana and Tanzania (Fr).


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South Africa: Introducing Thought Leader · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

The South African Mail & Guardian has a new blogging platform: “Today the Mail & Guardian Online linked to our new blogging platform called Thought Leader so I may as well post about it here and shed some light on our strategy and thinking.”


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Cape Verde: Cape Verde beats Egypt · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Dan Klotz clebrates Cape Verde success in the African Basketball Championship: “As many of you know, most of these larger teams have better funding and support, so it really is a cinderella story when a team from a small country can beat all but the very best of an entire continent!”


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China: Bringing blogging to the countryside · Global Voices
John Kennedy

One afternoon in late 2004, 24 Hours Online blogger Zhang Shihe, then aged 50 and working as an office executive, came across a violent murder taking place in downtown Beijing. Exasperated at the non-committal response he received from the police emergency hotline dispatcher, he began taking notes and photos which he later posted to his blog, where he lambasted police for failing to themselves document the crime scene.
If you look in the comments of Zhang's breakthrough post, you can find one left by Zola, Zhang's much younger and more radical successor who a few years later would himself go on to become famous for his contribution to citizen reporter blogging. “Blogs,” wrote Zola then, “are the only media that can stand against The Media.”
Calling himself Tiger Temple, Zhang set off earlier this month on a bicycle blogging tour to look for his own news that will take him through Shanxi, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia, four impoverished provinces in north central China's hinterland, posting photos, video and reports of who and what he encounters along the way, the next step it seems from his usual blogging of things like street-level crime and natural disruptions to construction work on 2008 Olympic venues.
Is Zhang going just to see how many slave labor brick kilns he can find? His main problem, judging from several posts, seems to be the lack of file transfer-friendly internet bars which, as he points out, are mostly ‘underground’ out there. It seems he's approaching this with a grand design in mind, from his concept of Big Blogging while in your fifties to the distinction, he emphasizes, between a citizen reporter and what he considers himself, a reporter of or for the citizenry.
Tiger Temple's route, from red dot Beijing to black dot Xi'an in Shaanxi province
A photolist of all his blog-touring equipment was posted on August 9, the day before he set off: plenty of gore-tex,  a Sony Vaio, maps, first aid supplies, recording devices, a brass tobacco pipe and more. Photos from the first stage of travel can be found here here and video here.
Zhang is spending a lot of time conducting random interviews; August 12 saw him riding through the mountains of Hebei province. In one village he talks to one girl who says she's grown up walking ten kilometers to school everyday. She's happy and proud, he writes, when she mentions that next semester she'll be living closer to the school with her aunt, so from then on trips home through the mountains will only be made once a week:
In the same village he comes across one well-informed older gentleman, and strikes up a conversation about all the latest national and international current affairs. Two days later Tiger Temple zips into the small village of Qingbaikou, pulling over only to spot an elderly woman standing in the doorway of the small local museum of revolutionary history; he interviews her, learning less about what life was like when Japan invaded the country—her husband founded the museum—than about how she survives as a pensionless widow whose children have nearly all abandoned her, and the kind of life she still hopes to live.
Still in Hebei, Zhang comes across his first illegally-operating coal mine that employs children of the trip, there's The Thing That Happened In The Bathroom, when he discovers what Chinese truckers do in the summer heat when traffic on the mountain highways gets backed up, and the town where a local child rapist was diagnosed with penile cancer, given the ultimate cure when the doctor treating him turned vigilante and sliced the man's penis off in revenge, after which the man went on to unsuccessfully attempt suicide several times.
There's a flurry of more photos, video and posts right up until and after August 19 when he leaves Hebei (great photos) and enters Shanxi and his trip officially began. This weekend sees Tiger Temple passing through the desert:

author: John Kennedy


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Gambia: The religion of sycophancy · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

A Gambia Professor, Ba Banutu Gomez, leaves the US and returns to Gambia, but…: “What gets under my skin though is the tendency of African intellectuals returning home and all of a sudden converting to the religion of sycophancy to fit in the system.”


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Indians blog to defend against illegal logging along the Brazil-Peru Frontier · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

The Ashaninkas are the largest indigenous group in the Peruvian Amazon and differently from the majority of the South American original dwellers, their cultural identity is greatly preserved. Apart from being among the native nations of the continent connected with the traditional use of Ayahuasca, the Ashaninkas are specially known for their use of beautiful cotton robes, or cushmas, which are woven by the Ashaninka women for the men of their tribe. Cushmas are an Ashaninka's most prized possession and there is a very long tradition of giving and exchanging cushmas and cloth with nyomparis (or trading partners) which linked distant Ashaninka villages into cycles of meetings, collaboration and resource sharing.
Accounts from the beginning of the last century tells about some Ashaninka groups that escaped from the Peruvian “caucheiros” [rubber tappers], and today a few hundred of them live on the Brazilian side of the border. There are stories about the braveness of  the skilled warriors who expulsed the wild Amahuakas from the area around the Amonia River in the Upper Juruá. These few groups achieved the ownership of their land in the 90s, after many decades of struggle against the successive waves of colonization, and nowadays they strive to engage in activities that can help them to communicate with the world, and better defend their land and their culture from their current enemies.
amplified map
It's been a month since the blog of the Ashaninka Society of the Rio Amônia (Apiwtxa), has been decrying that workers from the Peruvian company Venao Forestal had illegally crossed into Brazil, and were now logging mahogany and cedar there. On a recent expedition to supervise the border, the Brazilian Ashaninkas were received with death threats from a task leader of the Peruvian company, which raised some worries about the possibility of violent clashes in the region. The power of the Internet and the blogs for outreach and networking have recently been discovered by some of the young leaders of these communities, and this fact is surely making a difference in the present struggles faced by their people.
Tenho um amigo que pra mim é uma espécie de guardião, um guardião da fronteira. Ele mora no Alto Juruá, na comunidade Apiwtxa, é da etnia Ashaninka. Seu nome é Benki Piyãko. Há alguns dias recebi um email dele contando um caso sobre o qual ele não tinha ainda muitas informações, mas que o deixou bastante preocupado. Para os que não estão acompanhando os últimos acontecimentos na fronteira acreano-brasileira e peruana, continua a invasão das nossas florestas por madeireiras peruanas. Há um verdadeiro cerco se formando. A Terra Indígena do Benki e seu povo já vem há anos sendo vitimada, e a triste novidade é que a invasão chegou a Reserva Extrativista do Alto Juruá, no seu flanco oeste e sul (cf. postagem “Cerco na fronteira”). Pois bem, houve uma ação do Ibama e do Exército na fronteira, quando prisões foram feitas. Todo o trabalho sujo das madeireiras peruanas envolve alianças suspeitas (quais seus termos?) com povos indígenas que vivem na região. Há coisas como madeireiras financiando planos de manejo de comunidades indígenas, que depois a elas venderão suas madeiras. Um dos tenentes do Exército relatou ao Benki que um morador da Reserva Extrativista, que atuara como guia naquela expedição, estaria sendo ameaçado de morte por “índios peruanos”, que o teriam procurado em sua casa. O caso, do pouco que se sabe até o momento, não teve maiores desdobramentos, mas deixou o guardião em estado de alerta. “Como líder da comunidade Apiwtxa vejo que isso é um jogo sujo da empresa Venao [empresa madeireira] por estar manipulando nossos parentes indigenas para entrar em conflito com o nosso País brasileiro ameaçando pessoas e comunidades”.
Guardião – A Flora
What makes this case notable, however, is that Venao Forestal has been FSC certified by SmartWood, which awarded the certificate in April 2007 after an evaluation in September-October 2006. According to OlyEcology, “Forestal Venao is infamous in Ucayali, Peru for their indifference to laws, indigenous people, and the rainforest environment. They have built an illegal, non-state sanctioned logging road from the banks of the Ucayali to the Juruá basin on the Brazilian border. This is no small skid trail, but a network of roads whose main trunk extends over 120 kilometers”.
The blog from the Ashaninka Society of the Rio Amônia (Apiwtxa) has been the instrument for announcing that the group would  “take immediate action to stop the advance of this exploitation”, and the intention to “appeal to international courts to protect Brazilian sovereignty, their territory, the preservation area, and the still existent biodiversity of the region.” It is important to follow what will be done in a certification system which certifies a company deserving the blacklist.
Da nossa parte, exigimos ser consultados desta vez, algo que não aconteceu antes da SmartWood/Rainforest Alliance ter concedido a certificação à Forestal Venao, em abril deste ano. Esperamos que, com a confirmação das atividades ilegais da Forestal Venao em Território brasileiro, assim como no Peru, a sua certificação seja imediatamente cancelada, conforme compromisso assumido pela Alliance.
Forestal Venao investigada no Peru e no Brasil – Apiwtxa
The Ashaninka are so intimate with the forest that they see their own clothing as akin to the plants covering of the earth. The young Ashaninka leader Benki Piyãko actively uses the latest Internet tools to reach out to the world, giving a global voice to the forest and the wisdom of his people, as the following eloquent message testifies.
Images: Incabocla

author: Jose Murilo


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Indonesia: Kidnapping Children for Ransom · Global Voices
A. Fatih Syuhud

Nobody in Indonesia feels sure as to what motivates the criminals to abduct a child to serve their purpose. One thing is clear this trend is growing and it grows at an alarming pace. The “climax” of such child abduction criminal trend was the release of Raisya, a 4-year-old pre-nursery student yesterday afternoon after being kidnapped for about 9 days in Jakarta.
As the daughter of Ali Said, the head of Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs (HIPMI) group, makes Raisya more fortunate than the other kids in the sense that her case is getting a lot of attention from the media and Indonesian establishment. No less than President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) himself made a plea to the abductor to release her sooner rather than later.
Many schools has beefed up their security arrangements to prevent repeats of such incidents. That's said, some schools think that they have had done enough. Reports Cheetezz:
Despite widespread calls for a greater focus on school security, some city private schools insist they have already taken  appropriate action to protect their students.
The North Jakarta International School (NJIS), an elite school in Kelapa Gading, for example, says it already has comprehensive security arrangements in place.
The school says it assigns a teacher’s assistant to accompany students home on the school’s bus service.
But he said the school’s responsibilities did not extend to students who were driven home in private cars.
“Parents are fully responsible for the safety of children who are dropped off and picked up by their own driver,” said Ibu Ish, the transportation coordinator at NJIS.
She said the school kept the identity of all private drivers on file and obliged parents to report the hiring of new drivers to the school.
The principal of another elite institution, Gandhi Memorial International School (GMIS), said his school already had a comprehensive security arrangement but had boosted security somewhat in the wake of the kidnapping.
“Of course, schools should not become fortresses … but security and safety is rule number one for our school. How can we educate correctly without safety?” Ashok Pal Singh said Thursday.
“We have everything under surveillance (at our school),” he said,
According to the Jakarta Post, the abductors ask Raisya parents for ransom about IDR 150 million to 700 million. Interestingly, the mastermind of the kidnapping was the husband of Raisya's Quranic teacher meaning that the suspect was a person whom the unfortunate kid knew very well.

author: A. Fatih Syuhud


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Iran: A worker activist moved to hospital · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

According to[Fa] Kargaran (means workers) blog,Mahmoud Salehi, a jailed worker activist,moved to a hospital in Sanandaj, in Kurdistan province, on 23th of August.


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Iran:Fox Attacks · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Robert Greenwald's short film, “FOX Attacks: Iran“, outlines “the evidence from the station's own broadcasts, comparing their reporting before the Iraq war with what they are saying now about Iran.”


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Iran:Iranian nature in 50 photos · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Kosoof, a leading photoblogger, has published more than 60 photos to show different aspects of Iranian nature.


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Iran:Protesting against the death of flamingos · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Wild life of Iran says[Fa] that tommorow,27th of August,some pro environment Iranians will organize a protest demonstration against the death of 2000 flamingos in Lake Bakhtegan,a protected natural area, in Iran. It seems pollution killed these birds.You can see a couple of photos of flamingos in trouble.


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Japan: Crazy for a Bug · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

A catchy tune about a funny-looking bug that bites people's bums and makes them happy is catching on like crazy across Japan. “Oshiri Kajiri Mushi“, a short clip featured as regular filler between programs on the national broadcaster NHK as part of the children's show “Everybody's Song” [Ja], has crossed the age barrier and is rapidly becoming a hit among adults as well. With all its popularity, CDs of the song, released on July 27, sold out earlier this month, and NHK has meanwhile decided to extend regular airing of the clip on TV through August and September.
According to news reports [Ja] and Wikipedia [Ja], the main character in the song, the Oshiri Kajiri Mushi or “Bum-biting Bug”, is 8 years old, 25 cm high, weights 2kg, is from Osaka, and is a fan of Quincy Jones. His backup singers, the Kajiri Gals, were apparently born in Los Angeles to Shuzuoka-born parents and take their cue from the Candies, a Japanese idol group from the 1970s.
The creators of the clip, a duo husband and wife team (UrumaDelvi), have previously worked on animations such as Ugougo Ruuga [Ja] on Fuji Television and The Capsule Samurai. According to Uruma (the husband half of UrumaDelvi), the Oshiri Kajiri Mushi animation was created using Flash software [Ja].
NHK explains the show as follows (quoted from here):
日本の「お尻」が何故か近頃元気がない。
複雑化する現代社会で、「距離」や「遠慮」が高じて生まれた漠然とした疎外感が
原因ではなかろうか？
そこで立ち上がったのが「おしりかじり虫」と称するやんちゃな妖精。底抜けに明るく
世話好きな性格で、人々を瞬時に笑顔にしてしまいます。かつて日本にあった筈の
「暖かな無遠慮＝お節介」によって人と人をつなぐ使命を負った珍虫の難行苦行を
痛快に歌います。昨年、経済産業省より「スーパークリエータ」の称号を得た実力派
ユニット、うるまでるびが詩・曲・映像を手がけます。
Blogger nafuken writes:
おしりかじり虫におしりをかじられると元気になるんだそうです。
日本を元気にするためにはるばるアッシリアからおしりかじり虫のご先祖様が日本へやってこられて、今のおしりかじり虫は18世、
大阪生まれなんだそうです。
ＮＨＫみんなのうたでほうそうされていたこの歌、子供たちのあいだで人気に。
一度聴いたら忘れない歌詞で次第におとなのあいだにも・・・。
おしりかじり虫〜、おしりかじり虫〜。
聞いていてついつい笑ってしまいます。
Blogger Doctor Tora no Maki writes about the middle section of the song, in which the bum-biting bug gets sick:
人のおしりをかじって幸せにするという、かわいい虫です。
あるとき、おしりかじり虫は、都会へ出ます。都会の人のおしりはとっても苦く、とうとうおしりかじり虫は病気になって寝込んでしまいます。
おとーさーん、おかーさーん・・・
でも、最後には元気になって、みんな一緒に、にこにこ。
NHKみんなのうたで、ちょっとしたブームになっている歌です。
夏休みをいただいて、初めて知りました。
小さなお子様をお持ちのお母様方はご存知でしょう。
聴いてみると、大人でも結構はまりますよ。
私にとっては、リズムや音程がけっこう難しいのですが、子供たちは聞いただけですぐコピーしますね。
感心します。
Do you know about “Oshiri kajiri mushi” [Bum-biting bug]?
It's a cute bug that bites people's bums and makes them happy.
At one point, the Bum-biting Bug goes to the city. City people's bums are really bitter, and the Bum-biting Bug eventually ends up sick in bed.
Daaaad, mom…
But in the end, the Bum-biting bug gets better, and everybody is together smiling.
On NHK “Everybody's Song”, this song is having a sort of boom.
I started my summer vacation and then I found out about it for the first time.
Parents who have little kids must all know about it.
Just listening to it, even adults get hooked.
For me, the rhythm and pitch are pretty difficult, but kids just listen to it and right away copy it. I'm pretty impressed.
Blogger Shinobi writes about the show's special charm:
おしりをかじる・・・しかも虫が・・・という意外性がうけているということなのでしょうか？
聴いていると単純な歌詞とメロディーなのについ聞き入って笑ってしまうおかしさあります。
Finally, earlier this month, one of the creators of the show, Uruma, expressed his surprise at the show's popularity in his blog:
こんにちは、うるま（仮）です。
なんだか人気らしいです。おしりかじり虫。
CD・DVDが、売れすぎて在庫切れになっちゃったって。
今、レコード屋さんに行ってもないらしいですよ。
それから、みんなのうたで8、9月も延長が決まったんですが、
延長になるだけも珍しいのに、それとは別に、
「みんなのうたPR番組・おしりかじり虫スペシャル」という
テレマップみたいなやつを作って、
番組と番組の間、随所に挟むそうですよ。
やるなあ、NHK。
ほかにも人気の証明みたいな話は聞きますが、
わしら的には、町で「おしりかじり虫さんですよね？」と
声をかけられることもないので、
実感が全然ありません。


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Japan: Peace Child 2007 · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Hasan at hasanhujairi[dot]com has posted an outline of his experience at the 10-day Peace Child program at a farm in Chiba, two hours from Tokyo, discussing issues such as war and peace, pollution and the environment. Hasan transcribes and reflects on a speech by a survivor of the atom bombing of Hiroshima, Yamaoka Michiko, who could not attend the event but appeared on a DVD that was shown to everyone.


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Korea: Koreans in UTORO · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

There are 203 Koreans who are in a small village, Utoro in Japan. They have lived in Utoro since their ancestors were drafted for labor during the Japanese colonization period and they couldn’t afford the fare to go back to Korea. More than 60 years later, they are about to be kicked out. A news clip is below.
Korean descendents living in Utoro, Japan are facing a difficult time as their residence is about to be sold to another buyer. The move could oust them from their homes as early as this month… Utoro was first built in the 1940s when the Japanese colony drafted 1,300 Koreans to build strips for the air force. But the construction was not completed because the war ended before the development was finished. As a result, those Koreans were left stranded in the middle of nowhere. People who could not afford to go back to Korea gathered around the town of Utoro and lived in slated houses, battling poverty and racism.
However, the Japanese government, which owned the land and let the Koreans stay there, sold the real estate to a private corporation in 1987. Since then, the residents had to struggle against those who tried to sell the land and rid of them from their homes. In 2005, their news caught the eye of several progressive people in Korea and 500 million won was contributed to allow the people buy the land from the Japanese owners, but it was only a fraction of what the owners were asking.
Recently, the new landlord told residents that another real estate development company was willing to buy the land. He gave the ultimatum that unless the current residents buy the land, or at least tell him that they would buy the land by July 31 (Editor: It’s delayed to the end of August), it will be sold off and that they will have to leave. The bidder is said to be in the planning stages in developing the land.
In 2005, Ban Ki-moon, then foreign affairs minister and currently secretary-general of the United Nations, promised the residents aide if the donation by civilians fails to meet the required amount.
Kim Kyo-il, the village headman, and seven others visited the National Assembly, sponsors and civic groups asking for help. However, the government said it is impossible to give them money, as it would be unfair to other Koreans living in Japan who are not entitled to government subsidies. According to some reports, all it can do is help find a social welfare center that could accept them after the demolition takes place.
Kim said he understands the government's dilemma. “But what we are expecting is some legal advice which does not require large amounts of money,” he added.
To many residents, leaving the village means more than just moving away. The place has been a haven for those who were discriminated by Japanese society.
“Utoro was labeled a Joseon slum among Kyoto residents. Many people looked down on us and put us through hard times. But we were happy that we had each other's company,” Kim said.
During their trip to Korea, some non-governmental organization members held charity concerts and encouraged residents by holding campaigns to promote the story of Utoro.
Several lawmakers, who were supporters, promised to address their plight in the National Assembly, but the plenary session is due in September, and it may be too late.
“But thank you all for caring for us this much. We will fight to our last to live in our places, and please pray for us and support us in Korea,” the Korean residents in Utoro said as they left for Japan Tuesday.
The 6,400 pyong (587.6 square meters) of land was where they kept their identity as Koreans, Bae Ji-won, director of Utoro supporters’ group, said. She explained that the 1,300 residents, who were literally drawn to the land, received no compensation from the Japanese government for the draft and the land they live in is the only thing they rely on…
Since several days left, the appeals from netizens to let people support Utoro have been rapidly growing up. Some bloggers express their ignorance through the internet and others make use of the internet, linking Utoro stories or making cartoons or flashes to get the attentions from people.
Bloggers reflect on what they and the Korean government can and should do for Utoro people.
일제강점기
강제로 이주당한 그 사람들을 볼때마다
화가납니다. 국제방에 와서 보니 베스트에 올라있는 글들 중에
우토로란 현안을 언급하는 글들이 없어서
많이 아쉽습니다.
다시 한번 생각해 보았으면 합니다.
시한은 촉박하고 우리에게 점점 희망이 사라져 가지만
형평성이니 구제니 하기전에 우리정부가 할 수 있는 방법을 모색해보자고
말해보고 싶습니다.
We should think again.
Time is ticking and the hope is getting weaker. But before we argue about equality and aid, I hope that the government tries to find a solution.
Bloggers like Hangulo suggest ideas of how to solve this problem.
…최근에 300억원 이상 친일파의 땅을 환수하기로 했으면, 그중의 일부는, 일제시대때 끌려간 우리의 동포를 구제하는데 사용해야 하지 않나? 일본의 땅을 한국 정부가 구입하고, 일제시대 강제 징용자들에게 장기 임대하면 되는 문제다.
이 일에 쌍심지를 켜고 보는 어떤이들은, “그러면 한국에 들어와서 살지 그러냐?”고 한다. 참 철없는 헛소리다. 어느곳에서 60년을 살았는데, 하루아침에 그 터전을 버리고 다른 곳에서 살라고? 미안하지만, 이미 그 분들은 한국에서 받아들일 자리가 없다. (우리가 얼마나 편협한지는 다 알지 않나?) 한국말도 잘 못하거나, 한다고 하더라도 일본에 모든 터전이 있는 그 분들이 한국에서 어떻게 뿌리를 내리나?
그냥. 쉽게 생각하자. 우토로 문제를 먼저 해결하고, 차차 그와 비슷한 문제들을 해결하자. 이미 그 분들은 나라를 잃은 “대한민국”의 과오때문에 많은 희생을 겪으셨다. 그런 분들에게 조국이 등을 돌린다면, 이 나라에서 “대~한민국”을 외치는 우리 대한민국 국민으로서 수치스러운 일이 아닐 수 없다.
Some people say “Why don’t they come back to Korea?” What are they talking about? They have lived there for 60 years. In a day, can we tell them to come back here, abandoning their place? Sorry to speak, there is no place to accept them (we know how narrow-minded we are). They don’t speak Korean well. Even though they do, how can we force them to abandon the place where they were born and grew up?
Let’s think at ease! First of all, solving this Utoro issue, and then we should solve similar issues. Those people already went through many sacrifices due to the mistake of the “Republic of Korea” If Korea doesn’t take care of them, as one of the Koreans who shout “Dae~hanminguk (Republic of Korea),” it is our shame.
Direct suggestions to the presidential candidates are not a few either.
대선후보, ‘우토로'가 당신들을 기다립니다.
이럴때, TV에 나와서 약속하고 실천하는겁니다. 저번 대선 때, ‘이미지정치'로 아주 확실하게 효과보셨죠? 이제는 ‘실체'까지 책임지는 ‘이미지정치'하시길 바랍니다…
‘대선'에서 정말 효과보고 싶으면 이런 일 합시다.
On the other hand, a netizen has a different opinion.
우리와 같은 민족은 맞지만 우토로 마을 사람들은
조총련계 입니다. 즉 국적이 대한민국이 아니라 북한이죠.
일본 민단조직(한국 재일교포)에서 지원을 하지 않는 것과
우리나라에서도 별다른 지원을 하지 않는 가장 큰 이유입니다.
More planned or graphic suggestion is below.
1. 우토로 대책회의에서는 현재와 같이 네티즌이 독자적으로 국민적 호응을 얻어 줄 것을 요청함.
2. 국민적 호응이 있어야 정부 설득이 용이함.
Here are articles about Utoro, a documentary movie, and an NGO website.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Sierra Leone: Presidential run-off in Sierra Leone · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Sandra writing about the final election results in Sierra Leone: “The presidential run-off between the All People’s Congress and the Sierra Leone People’s Party will be held on Saturday, September 8th, 2007.”


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Thailand: WordPress.com blocked · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

On August 22th, 2007, access to wordpress.com blogging platform has been blocked by TOT (Telecommunication Authority) preventing Thai Internet users from accessing Thai WordPress and all blogs hosted on wordpress.com. “A notice has been shown when trying to access any WordPress page: “Sorry. TOT Plc., as an organization of Thai people, has restrained the access to this website as it contains content, text, and/or picture that is unappropriated which affects the mind of Thai people all over the country and cannot be accepted.”
In a recent update, Freedom Against Censorship Thailand (FACT) confirmed that “ until the evening of Friday 24 August, it is still impossible to access WordPress.com from TOT service. The symptom is unpredictable, actually, as sometimes it can be access, but sometimes cannot.”
Please visit GV Advocacy and listen to the podcast interview, from Thailand, done by my friend and colleague David Sasaki, Global Voices’ outreach director.

author: sami ben gharbia


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The Committee to Protect Bloggers is back · Global Voices
sami ben gharbia

The Committee to Protect Bloggers (CPB) “the first organization devoted to the free speech and personal liberty of bloggers worldwide, has come back after a 1+ year hiatus, with a tighter focus. Our primary goal is to act as the comprehensive clearinghouse for information on threatened bloggers and on threats to bloggers,” CPB said. The new website is available at committeetoprotectbloggers.org and if you are a Facebook user you can join the Committee to Protect Bloggers Facebook page.


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Albania: Selling Arms to Armenia · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Albania is selling arms to Armenia – and more links to media coverage of Albania – at Our Man in Tirana.


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Americas: Poll Numbers From Across the Region · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Bloggings by Boz has the latest poll numbers from across the region, which includes uncertainty in Ecuador regarding the Constituent Assembly vote and Colombian support for an Uribe third term.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Arabeyes: Just a Pretty Face · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Miss South Carolina was asked why a fifth of students in the US couldn't locate their country on a map. This is how she responded:
Her mumbles were the butt of jokes on blogs from the Middle East and here's a quick review:
Mohamed Nanabhay, who lives in Qatar, simply stopped laughing after watching the video for the fifth time.
“After watching this video for the fifth time it stops being funny and starts becoming very worrying …,” he writes.
Of course, we shouldn’t be too worried, though — it’s not like beauty-pageant contestants run the most powerful country on the face of the planet (even if they can’t quite place themselves on a map). Surely American presidents congressmen know a bit more about the region where they are waging war. Right?
“Nanabhay goes on to show us how some congressmen don't fare any better than the teen contestant, even when they wage a war on another country.
The chairman of the United States House intelligence committee (which is charged with oversight of the intelligence community) must surely understand all of this complicated geography, history and religious stuff. Well, luckily for us, Jeff Stein decided to interview Congressman Reyes just before he became chairman:
Al-Qaeda is what, I asked: Sunni or Shia?
“Al-Qaeda, they have both,” Reyes said. “You’re talking about predominately?”
“Sure,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
“Predominantly — probably Shi’ite,” he ventured.
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Al-Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shi’ite showed up at an al-Qaeda club house, they’d slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball …
And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?
“Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah …”
He laughed again, shifting in his seat.
“Why do you ask me these questions at five o’clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?”
“Poquito,” I said — a little.
“Poquito?!” He laughed again.
“Go ahead,” I said, talk to me about Sunnis and Shia in Spanish.
Reyes: “Well, I, uh …”
I apologised for putting him “on the spot a little”. But I reminded him that the people who have killed thousands of Americans on US soil and in the Middle East have been front-page news for a long time now …
“Yeah,” Reyes said, rightly observing, “but … it’s not like the Hatfields and the McCoys. It’s a heck of a lot more complex.
“And I agree with you — we ought to expend some effort into understanding them. But speaking only for myself, it’s hard to keep things in perspective and in the categories.”
Alrighty. Well I guess it’s time to start praying that the good folks at the Pentagon have a better sense of the world and don’t mistake Boksburg for Baghdad …
Egyptian D. B. Shobrawy weighs in, entitling his post: You're so Dumb, It Hurts!
“There are things in this world that boggle the mind, things that have no answers and things that entice the mind with curiosity. Among them is the overwhelming ignorance towards geography and world affairs in the U.S. It can be even more mind boggling when someone asks the question, “why dont Americans excel in Geography?” A shortage of maps perhaps? Miss South Carolina, your thoughts?” he notes.
Oooh, you poor fragile little thing! If only America had maps like “the Iraq”. And who will save South Africa?
Palestinian-Jordanian Soul Blossom, who is based in Texas, US, says the joke cracked by Miss Carolina was “priceless.”
“HAHAHA priceless! What was she thinking, or should I say, was she thinking at all?
…
Bored, I was flipping channels when I stumbled across it. Luckily for me, it was the funny part when the contestants are asked questions and their answers are then evaluated. The ironic thing is, I bet if she were asked to locate the US, she would point at Africa. Does what you see in the video give an idea -even if a vague one- about the US high school educational system? Something to ponder about! Enjoy a good laugh,” she explains.
From Jordan, Naseem Tarawnah, takes the opportunity to poke fun at beauty pageants. He writes:
And to think that once upon a time, American educational institutions were hotbeds for political dissent. Suffice to say, students protesting the war on Iraq in the same manner their grandparent’s did in the 60’s, is, well, way off. To be fair, the US is full of very intelligent and articulate individuals; graduates of some of the best universities in the world in fact. Some of those people even end up becoming President.
In any case, I’ve been told that I shouldn’t be so hard on Mini Miss South Carolina. It is, after all, called a beauty pageant (’drool-in-cup-and-look-hot contest’ came in second) and not a brains and beauty pageant. So I don’t know why they insist on testing the mental capabilities of contestants at these things just to show they’re looking for well-rounded figures (pun intended). Seriously, finding knowledge during one of these contests is as slim as a porn star finding religion at a sci-fi convention.
Ironically, her answer reminded me of practically every single time Bush has ever stood behind a podium and opened his mouth. Maybe the judges should start asking contestants if they have an exit strategy for Iraq.
Anyways, while most of the people living in the Arab world can find their own country on a map (and probably a few others as well), our region has a whole other set of problems when it comes to education.


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Aruba: Stormy Weather  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Arubagirl posts some photos of the bad weather the island has been experiencing.

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bahamas: Art & Culture  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A blog post by Reginald Shepherd underscores Bahamian Nicolette Bethel‘s point that art and culture “should be a fundamental part of any social agenda”.


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Bahrain: Getting Into Gear and Going All the Way… · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

Our topics range from the highbrow to the lowlife this week, with an exhortation to read more books from across the Arab world, a child’s misunderstanding of a word in a cartoon, and an encounter with a prostitute. A new blogger has just arrived in Bahrain, and another blogger has just returned from a holiday in Iran – where he experienced rather more than he had bargained on during a taxi ride…
Widening horizons
We start this week with Layal, who recently read some books published in Yemen, and wants to encourage others to read more widely from around the Arab world:
For more of Layal's thoughts see here.
Keep on talking
A number of bloggers have posted interesting conversations this week. We start with a conversation between a young Yagoob and his father Salman, just after Yagoob has watched a cartoon in which the main character, Sinan, has been told to take some rest after exerting himself. However, the word used to indicate ‘some’ rest or literally ‘a measure of’ is the same word used for ‘an instalment’ – and young Yagoob has got confused:
Our second conversation comes from one of the bloggers from the group blog Word on the street, who describes a ‘red-light’ night on the town with his colleague. After they have entered a bar for a drink, and his colleague has overcome his worry about being seen by someone he knows, our blogger decides to call over an attractive and scantily-clad prostitute to sit with them:
For the rest of the conversation see here…
Ali has a more general point to make about conversations, phone conversations in particular:
And the result of all that:
-the loss of your time even if it was not valuable
-your feeling of astonishment that the person talking to you didn’t pick up on all the negative signs you gave and which clearly insisted on your desire to end the conversation
-your feeling of guilt at lying in the end to extract yourself from the vortex of the conversation…
Glad to have moved to Bahrain…
Sous is a Swedish woman who recently moved from Saudi Arabia to Bahrain, and is happy to be here:
Came here yesterday and I must say it feels pretty fine even though I am still tired. … I am so pleased I am not in Saudi (no offence Saudis) but I might still pop over there sometime to run some errands. What I really like about Bahrain is the mix of people and that the society is alive. People dress how they want and all people I have ever met here so far (from my visits from before) have all been friendly. I know it’s a country with all kinds of people rude, nice, friendly and whatever but I just feel it’s a “real and normal” country unlike Saudi. Just to see people smile here makes my heart happy. Women smiling and looking at my little daughter today, who excitedly ran through the Geant Mall (I don’t know the name of the mall), well it is just so nice to see their faces and smiles. Talk about enjoying the little things in life..
…and glad to be home in Bahrain!
We finish this week with a post by Concerned Citizen X, recently returned from a holiday in Iran, who entertains us with an account of an uncomfortable journey he undertook in a shared taxi – that he calls ‘My Date with a Stick Shift‘:
So we got a cab, me and an acquaintance sat in the front. Yes, the both of us sat on one seat, we had to squeeze in though and there in lay the problem. The other four sat in the back.
NOW, 99.99999 % of all cars in IRAN are manual, so the driver has one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the Stick shift, forcefully guiding the stick from one gear to the next.
Unfortunately, since I was sitting on the inside, gears one and two were, well let’s just say they really got acquainted to my thigh and left cheek, and I'm not talking about my face here.
As I felt the driver change into third gear, yes I say felt, not saw but felt, because now the stick shift was touching the under parts of my left thigh.
He then looked at me, and with an embarrassed grin asks if I would give him permission to shift into fourth gear.
I got the message and had to take it like a mannnnnnn, fourth gear was right under my bottom and no matter how much I squeezed and squirmed, twisted and turned, I just could not shift it, the goods I mean, away from the inevitable, so I gave in and took it like a man.
During the trip, all I could think of was, STOP, NO TRESPASSING, DO NOT ENTER, PRIVATE PROPERTY, and for the love of god, pleeeeeeeeeeeeesseeee nooooooooooo BUMPY ROAaaDDDS!
By the end of the trip I had gone to third base and back with the stick shift gear box, at least three times that come to mind, but fourth base was safe, cause I had my cheeks shut iron tight, and when I pounced out of the cab as it stopped at our final destination, and pushing my acquaintance during my rush, I could have sworn I saw the gear box wink at me……
Ouch…More from Bahrain's bloggers next week!

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Barbados: Apartment Building Collapses  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Barbados Free Press, Barbados Underground and Pull! Push! all report on Barbados’ most recent tragedy – a young family feared dead after their apartment building collapsed into a cave.


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Brazil: “Rodeos” in the Amazon · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

Lou Gold, an American eco-spirit guy now traveling in Brazil blogs about [EN] northern Brazilian “rodeos”, the expanding economy of the Brazilian state of Acre, his own past growing up in the Midwest, and about the pros and cons of the “progress.”


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Brazil: The side effects of a ban on outdoor advertising · Global Voices
Jose Murilo

Bruno Giussiani writes about São Paulo's radical ban on outdoor advertising: how it brought up a new identity to the city, and also removed the camouflage of some previously hidden realities.


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Cayman Islands, Jamaica: Elections Predictions? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Mad Bull consults his “second favourite Tarot card reader” to determine the results of the upcoming Jamaican elections – and the results are “clear as mud”.


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China: Beijing Traffic Controls · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Joel from DANWEI translated a few blog posts which analyzed the effectiveness of Beijing's traffic controls to improve the city's environment.


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China: Interest Rate and Pork Price · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Recently, the interest rate and pork price in China has been rising rapidly, the former is to cool down the stock investment. It is rather obviously the tactic of increase in interest rate is not working, as Youguc notices that people are more concerned with the increase of pork price (zh).


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China: Missing History · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mary Ann O'donnell wrote some reflections on the missing of master narratives, such as history, tradition in Shenzhen (also in China): without history. shenzhen is the perfect example of new china because it doesn't have any culture or history. but it's not even the best copy of the west.


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China: Myth Disintegrated · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Hu ge used to believe that People's Liberation Army had destroyed 12,000 planes from the enemy during the Korea War. However, a recent CCTV programme disclosed that the PLA had shot down 330 enemy planes. The historical myth is then disintegrated (zh).


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China: Self-disciplined bloggers · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Keso commented on the recently passed “code of self-regulation of blog service”. More than a dozen of local blog service providers have signed the code which would demand real name registration of bloggers. The blogger doubted whether such “self-regulation” would really work… (zh)


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Colombia: Video Channel on Blog · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Medallo Bloguero [ES], through the use of Custom Player, has placed a Video Channel on its page and features Colombia-related videos.


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Croatia: Gračac · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Anarchist writes about his familial ties to and the recent history of Gračac, “a town and municipality located in the south of Lika,” which, before the war, had “a Serbian ethnic majority, the majority of which does not live there anymore.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Greece: On Fire · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

We've probably all heard it in the news by now: Greece is ablaze. Today the fires reached the ancient city of Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympics and home of the Olympia Museum, which houses one of Greece's greatest archaeological collections.
While the fires are still burning in the outskirts of Athens itself, this is what the Greek blogsphere had to say about this. EllasDevil wrote nothing but the headline of a prominent Greek paper, Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia.
The headline simply reads: “there are no words”.
CaliforniaKat, an American living in Greece, published a comprehensive post about what is taking place, a lists of major fires, the events leading up to  it, and what can people do to help.
1. Don’t flick cigarettes out the car window while driving or on the ground near dried grass, paper or plants — Many forest fires are started this way2. Don’t burn garbage3. Make certain that roasting/cooking fires are controlled — Keep an eye on burning ashes, coals or kindling that can fly away or make contact with grass, brush, etc.4. Request or lodge a complaint that your municipality trim trees away from power lines or remove dried brush that pose a fire hazard5. Face mirrors away from direct sunlight6. Homes in rural and remote areas should be armed with fire extinguishers, a water reserve with hose/pump, wool blankets, ladder, rakes, brooms, boots and a first aid kit. Some people also put important documents, photos and other valuables in a fireproof safe, just in case.
Tina, of Athena, says that Global Warming and arsonists are to blame for this disaster.
The last two days I follow as all Greeks the wild fires in Greece. My feelings are pain and anger. I feel pain for the loss of human lives, for the forests, for the ecosystems that have been lost for ever. This is an unprecedented ecological disaster not only for Greece but for whole Mediterranean area.I feel angry and surprised the same time. The last few days I have heard a lot of possible causes for this disaster: arsonists seem to be the main and usual suspects. It seems that a lot of people have as main scope to destroy Greece. I don’t object the possibility that many of the fires have been initiated by arsonists.But I am surprised because I didn’t manage to find nowhere another simpler and more logical cause. CLIMATE CHANGE or global warming
betabug reports his own first hand observations on the fires, from his house in Athens.
Forest fires are burning in the immediate surroundings of Athens again. Firefighter planes drone on over our building. We went up to the terrace and watched a couple of Canadair planes, a russian Beriev, and a helicopter. There's lots of smoke and appart from the fire on Ymittos (which we can clearly locate) there is a big yellowish cloud which we don't know if it's smoke or a normal cloud.

author: Yazan Badran