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Russia: Market Roof Collapse · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile attempts to analyze today's collapse of one of Moscow's largest markets from an engineer's perspective. So far, 56 people are reported to have been killed, but this number is likely to grow, as many more were inside at 5:45 a.m., when the tragedy took place. The majority of the victims were from Azerbaijan and Central Asia.


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Russia: Political Jokes · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sergey Belyakov of RUBLog posts six political jokes, which target Vladimir Putin, Joseph Stalin, George W. Bush, Richard Nixon, and Adam and Eve.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Singapore: No More Senior Minister · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Singapore Election Watch has a post from Yawning Bread arguing that Singapore should not have a “Senior Minister.” The post was created for retired long-time PM Lee Kuan Yew and then occupied by another former PM, Goh Chok Tong, when he retired (Lee became “Minister Mentor”). Yawning Bread points out that such sinecures for (supposedly) retired leaders ensures that decisions of former administrations don't get reversed – “the privileging of continuity over change.”

author: Jose Manuel Tesoro


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Somaliland: Self Determination · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Voice of Somaliland  Diaspora-Ottawa points to a paper on “Self-Determination and the case for Somaliland.

author: Sokari Ekine


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Tajikistan: Aggressive Democracy · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

James of neweurasia writes that Tajikistan's president is making sure that the upcoming presidential election will unfold exactly as he wishes.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Thailand: Ways to Wai · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Tales from Isan explains the how and whys of the wai, the traditional Thai greeting of cupping one's palms together in front of one's chest. “Get it right, and you earn the approval and pleasure of the person you seek to honor. Get it wrong, and you risk embarrassing, or at worst, insulting the other person.”


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Tirana: A Messy House · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Spring's on the way in Tirana, and Anna shows how surreally messy the building they live in looks.


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· Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Adefunke on Adfunke gives us an insight into a Lagos wedding shower which included karaoke, a question and answer session between the bride to be and friends  “how did ya’ll meet’?, ‘are you a moaner, commentator or silent observer” advice on sex and of course lots of good food.


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Armenia: Protesting Cultural Destruction · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Rupen at Life in the Armenian Diaspora writes on preparing for a protest at the Azeri embassy and in front of UNESCO in Ottawa.


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Bahamas: Jeb Bush visit · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

On the occasion of Florida governor Jeb Bush's visit to the Bahama, Bahama Pundit offers an overview of Bush's achievements and some foreign policy suggestions for the Bahamas leadership.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Cambodia, Malaysia: Blogmeet · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Cambodia-based blogger and cartoonist Jinja reports on a meeting he set up with Malaysian bloggers on his trip to Kuala Lumpur. “We also chew over the idea that we should have some more exchange within Southeast Asia. Maybe a regional portal, or a Cambodia/Malaysia blogger exchange? Most of us have our laptops with us so we're busy showing sites we've cached or recommend.”


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Caribbean: World Cup 2007 security · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Barbados Free Press has it from “a confidential source” that “British and South African intelligence agencies and counter-terror units are to play major planning and operational roles in providing security for the 2007 Cricket World Cup” (which is being hosted by several Caribbean territories).  The same source says, however, that “offers of U.S. assistance are being under-utilized because of anti-American bias by Caribbean leadership.”


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Diary of Negotiations: Argentina’s New Experiment in Blogs and Politics · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Diario de Gestión (Newspaper of Negotiation) is one of the more interesting experiments to have emerged as a way to merge blogging with politics. Basically, it is a website that offers a free weblog to any national or local legislator.
So far (and although they seem to be few, it's a great step forward), there are 12 legislators with blogs where any citizen (or any person with internet access) can leave comments, ideas, suggestions, and why not, criticisms too. This is one the great things about blogs for politicians: they encourage relationships with voters they represent and without intermediaries. The list of legislators who have already taken this step are:
Diario de Gestión is a project of Agencia Blog and OpenSA. It was born on the 10th of December, 2005 and in January the number of unique visitors tallied 5,000; a 111% increase over its first month. A couple more interesting details: in addition to the legislators’ blogs, there is a home portal which gathers related subjects and is quite interesting. On the other hand, it's a good experience to follow each individual blog closely to see how it evolves. But still, it's a good idea to group them together and in case some legislators prefer to keep their blog on their own site, Diario de Gestión can still aggregate their content.

author: David Sasaki


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Diaspora: Racism · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

African Immigrants reporting from  Australia writes that the Australian government is demanding the new immigrants accept Aussie values.….”He has bluntly warned the radical Muslims and other migrants to respect the laws and liberties of the Australian nation or lose their right to citizenship.”


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Ethiopia: Illusions · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Ethiopundit comments on the illusions being portrayed by the government of Meles Zenawi..”Another set of illusions being projected by the government has to do with how allegedly well the economy is doing under Meles Inc. ownership and how aid is therefore not a big deal.@


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Guyana: Sucking teeth · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“With one long “stchuuuuup” and you eyes looking thin and mean, you can cut a big man down to li’l boy size,” writes Guyana-gyal in her treatise on the Caribbean art of sucking teeth.


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Hurricane Katrina: Rethinking Disaster Relief Response · Global Voices
Angelo Embuldeniya

Several news agencies online have published various view points on the White House Katrina report such as the International Herald Tribune  who stated that “the report recommends a more active role in handling major disasters for the Department of Defense but does not give details on how such changes might be made”,  Reuters AlertNet commented “the 217-page report acknowledged inadequate preparation for the storm but it did not single out anyone for blame” while an article in the New York Times said that “the report indirectly echoed frequent criticism that the Homeland Security Department was too focused on possible terrorist strikes”.  BBC News found that most reccomendations in the report “focus on the need for communication between government departments, federal agencies and relief organisations” and the online edition of TIME answered the question of whether the report says anything which hadn't been said before by stressing that it (report) “is hell-bent on looking forward as this happens to be politically convenient”.
I've gone through the 228-page report but I noticed that much of Main Stream Media have failed to give readers and viewers a realistic picture of the reccomendations stated in the report yet and so I decided to focus upon some of the reccomendations by asking the various people and organizations who were involved with Katrina relief efforts on what they thought of the reccomendations featured in the White House Report and their suggestions on disaster relief response on the whole. This blog posting is the first of a 4-part series on Hurricane Katrina: Rethinking Disaster Relief Response where I will be featuring interviews with Skype Journal, a telecom engineer from New Jersey, a paramedic at Ambulance Service of Manchester, a lawyer from Suburban Chicago and Internet2.
On page 104, Reccomendation#37 in Appendix A of the White House's Katrina Report, Communications has been identified as a critical challenge during disaster response where it is said that inadequate situational awareness during the response to Hurricane Katrina resulted in decision makers relying on incorrect and incomplete information.  Now in order to restore operability and achieve interoperability, the report has found that there is a strong need for rapidly deployable, interoperable, commercial, off-the-shelf equipment that can provide a framework for connectivity among Federal, State, and local authorities.
So I asked the editor of Skype Journal, Philip Wolff,  whether he agreed with the statement that although available technologies can provide short-term operability and support long-term interoperability for emergency responders, the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) should consider commercial, off-the-shelf solutions in order to keep pace with technology changes. I also asked him what are the other alternatives that the DHS should consider which can be implemented and here is what he had to say:
“I generally agree, but I think there are several other points which are important. First, by all means gear up; take your credit card to the store and pack up, understanding that your gear will be obsolete every nine months. Next, look at how policy changes may create entirely new capabilities”.
“For example, the president could have distributed mobile phones to evacuues and directed the local phone company to become a call forwarder for the duration of the emergency so calls to numbers in the impacted area would ring to evacuees in diaspora. This would provide communication continuity for millions in a day or two. This would, of course, involve temporarily altering the roles of phone companies with respect to numerous FCC regulations, but nobody will complain in time of emergency.”
“As more conversations take place over the Internet, emergency management must also assure continuity of those channels. What happens when a biohazard shuts down the teams that sustain Blackberry, Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo email, IM, texting and telephony? While the Internet plumbing may be more flexibile and resilient than traditional voice systems for many threats, they are exposed to distinct threats, risks, and points of failure of their own. So communications continuity plans and field response communications plans are incomplete without an Internet communication strategy.”
Reccomendation# 76 on page 117 states the need for a public communications coordination capability for crisis communications at the White House be developed. The report suggests that a senior White House Communications official will be tasked with overseeing the public communications coordination capability and one of his/her responsibilities include establishing a permanent strategic communications capability, to facilitate messages to the public, the media, and all departments and agencies.
At this point Philip stated that:
“First, sure, go ahead, create a White House office that specializes in speaking for the President on real-time disaster and military issues. I'd have thought this was already in place. “
Given that technologies like VOIP (Voice Over IP) and SMS played a major role in assisting post-Katrina relief efforts, I asked Philip what his thoughts were on the best system to facilitate these messages to the public and all other relief actors during a disaster response mission:
“Second, empower every agency to communicate, without clearing it with powers that be. Decentralize authority, trust people on the ground, and prepare. Provide scripts and templates for foreseeable announcements, test and wargame the effects of those announcements, and explore how different media channels work in different communities (where is FEMA‘s MySpace page?)”.
“Third, encourage a flood (excuse the expression) of news and information to emerge from every point possible, official and not. More information is not always better, but almost always. The Internet (and those who use it, like CNN) is better able than ever to collect, organize and share information.  Channels now include Internet media like blogs, wikis (web sites the public can edit and update, the most famous being the million entry Wikipedia), phone trees, chat, and mobile phone texting. Publish everything that goes on (unless you have an active opponent with the ability to change tactics) as input to those who make sense of it all in real time, including the public.”
“Fourth, use software news aggregators to help people find their own way through the news. Tools like search engines like Google, PubSub, Technorati can help people find information. Is there a gap? Publish it and people will respond.”
Philip continued to comment futher on the report's reccomendation to develop a public communications coordination capability for crisis communications at the White House by stating that:
“The proposal for a White House office is not sufficient in that it presumes bottlenecking mass communication at a central point. While it makes sense to have a spokesperson for the disaster response, acknowledge and accept that this is a messy business and that you may not want to have the problems associated with pre-911 intelligence (warnings made but filtered out, information not getting to the right people, alerts taking too long from trigger to public warning). You are probably better off using existing PR systems but rehearsing them more effectively. “
*Thanks to Neha Viswanathan for helping out with the structuring of this 4-part series on Hurricane Katrina: Rethinking Disaster Relief Response

author: Angelo Embuldeniya


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India: Hinduism and Others · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Pareshaan spends an evening listening to a Muslim cleric speak to a predominantly Christian audience and observes – “I wondered whether the strangeness of Hindus was the only way to bring Christians and Muslims together. This is the first time I have ever heard the word Hindu spoken in the University and it did not come up for a purpose I would have approved of.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Railways · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

With the Indian Railway Budget having hit the floors – Dateline Bombay has a post on the train connectivity between various important urban centres.


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Indonesia: Mining Politics · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Yosef Ardi reflects on the long involvement of U.S. mining company Freeport McMoran in Indonesian politics.  Freeport, which operated a massive mine — the largest copper and gold mine in the world — in Irian Jaya (now West Papua) province, is shutting down its operations.


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Jamaica: Say no to Brokeback · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“Now before you gay advocates out there start posting hateful comments, understand that Jamaica is a very conservative country,” says Leon, in defense of the anti-Brokeback Mountain outcry in Jamaica.


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Kenya: press freedom · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

You Missed This reports that the Kenyan government has used an old colonial law to charge the entire staff of the “Weekly Citizen with publishing an alarming report. All 11 of them — the accountants, the messengers, the whole lot.


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Kenya: Revenu collection harassment · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Bankelele complains about the increasing harassment in the name of revenue collection that is taking place in Nairobi.…”


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Kyrgyzstan: The Best Skiing · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

JJ reports on skiing in Karakol, Kyrgyzstan, which is claimed to be the best in Central Asia.


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Malaysia, Singapore: Dangers of Technology · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

The scandal involving a Singapore student's taped sexual adventures spread on the Internet continues to draw comment. Singapore's A Worm's perspective talks about the dangers of modern technology, while Life is Just from Malaysia has similar thoughts: “The internet is growing ever so gracefully.”


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Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Brazil: Poll Numbers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boz has released his now infamous Friday poll numbers from around Latin America. Tim Muth breaks down the numbers in El Salvador which show the two main parties, FMLN and ARENA running neck to neck. Jon at PostHegemony gives more background context to the differences between the FMLN and ARENA.


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Nepal: Writer speak · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samudaya.org has an interview with “Samrat Upadhyay is the author of the short story collections Arresting God in Kathmandu and The Royal Ghosts, and the novel The Guru of Love. He is the recipient of the annual Whiting Writers’ Award. “


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Nigeria: British racism · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nigerian blogger in London, Silent Storms  in an Ocean of One comments on racism in Britain through his own personal experience.


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Nigeria: Nigeria Rocks · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Gbenga of Oro reports on  “Nigeria Rocks”  which will discuss “Global Process, Local Reality: Nigerian Youth Lead Action in the Information Society@


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Peru: Presidential Candidate on Same-Sex Unions · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Peruvian leftist presidential candidate, Ollanta Humala explained at a recent press conference that he would accept homosexuals to serve on his cabinet says Andres Duque. Fabiola Bazo has more details from the press conference in a bilingual post that brings up a tense moment between Humala and a journalist who satirized his wife.


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Philippines: Historical Slavery · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

caffeine sparks rereads a historical account of pre-colonial servitude in the Philippines and reaches her own conclusions that something was going on that was more complex than “slavery” as commonly understood: “If master-slave live in one house and eat the same food, can one conclude that the master-slave relation is a complete misnomer? “


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Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of Thailand announced a House dissolution · Global Voices
Enda Nasution

At 8.40pm Bangkok time today, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has announced a House dissolution on national television after he was granted an audience with His Majesty the King earlier this evening.
He said that decision as an act to return the mandate to the people in order to uphold the democratic rules.
Snap election to elect the new government is to take place on April 2.
The decision was taken after public pressure escalated calling for for his resignation since the sell-off of his family’s controlling stake in Shin Corp to Temasek, the Singapore’s government investment agency. Critics have accused him of insider trading and structuring the deal to avoid paying hefty taxes, among other irregularities.
This month, we have seen impeachment attemp by 28 senators, Anti-Thaksin rallies of 50,000 protesters joined by student unions from the leading Thailand universities all calling PM Thaksin to step down.
2Bangkok.com on his analysis mentioned that there is a big possibility that Thaksin will fight back and stay in power.
… Thaksin, not being a political animal, but a business leader not adverse to failure, is more interested in regrouping and staying in charge where he believes he belongs. He will not step into the shadows like a canny career politician, but try to weather the storm like an embattled CEO guiding his company through a sales downturn…
..This is where the eventual conflict could come because Thaksin will not play by Thai political rules and step aside once ‘society’ (academics, politicians, and activists, but not necessarily voters) has judged him to have lost legitimacy to rule…

author: Enda Nasution


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Report on Contracts Signed during the D.R. of Congo’s Civil War Released · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog du Congolais reports (FR) that a long awaited report on mining contracts signed during the Congolese civil war  which ended in June 2003 was finally made available to the country's deputies in the past week or so.  The report recommends  1) that several contracts be revoked  or renegotiated because they defraud the Congolese state; 2) that several national and international companies be investigated for violating Congolese law; 3) that 17 persons  involved with the contracts be indicted for various crimes including money laundering. Le Blog adds that the report is available online.

author: Alice Backer


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Rwanda: problems with reconciliation · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Rwandan Survivors publishes “An account of massacre & Problems with reconciliation“……..”There are still people with such bestial hearts; people who killed. You can tell they would do it again. Reconciliation is not the problem. The problem is that those who killed, ate our cattle and took our things run away from us.@


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Serbia & Montenegro: Kosovo Update · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

As the talks on the future of Kosovo have begun in Vienna, Balkan Update sums up the history of the conflict and looks at the possible outcome and the future of this Serbian province seeking independence.


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Singapore: In-Between · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

At Singapore's Sayoni Speak, Sheila Rajamanikam describes what it's like being a transsexual: “I wish people around me could accept both parts of me: in a shaved head, packing, male looking body as well as a sari clad jewellery wearing one.”


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Somaliland: possible independence · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Inside Somaliland posts an article on the African Union accepting the split of Somaliland.…….Hopes of recognition for Somali-land’s 15-year independence have been raised by the favourable report of an African Union mission that visited the territory last year.”


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South Africa: Murder of lesbian · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Moral Fibre reports on the brutal murder of South African lesbian  Zoliswa Nkonyana.  6 men have now been arrested – “the only apparent motive is homophobia.”


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South Africa: poetry video · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Imperfect poet finally manages to crack the glass ceiling of poetry publication………….”I finally recorded some poetry for a poetry video concept that I am working on with a friend of mine. Thanks to Kurt & e-poets, I have finally done something and, in doing so, remembered why creativity is such a beautiful thing. Beyond the materialism and the trivial is creativity that feeds the heart and inspires the soul”


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(South) Azerbaijan: Blogs · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Onnik Krikorian takes a look at blogs from South Azerbaijan, the ethnic Azeri region of Iran.


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Sri Lanka: London Tales · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

One one things on the move from Sri Lanka to London – and how the latter grows on one with its culture and people.


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Sri Lanka: Peace talks in Geneva · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Mahamoor.com on the peace talks in Geneva – “Peace talks start in Geneva today, between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE.” outlines the various perspectives on the process.


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The web make to blog on Carnival day… · Global Voices
Nicholas Laughlin

… to paraphrase the late Lord Kitchener, calypsonian extraordinaire.
It's Carnival Friday here in Trinidad and Tobago, which means that after weeks of mounting anticipation (the Carnival season really gets started as soon as Christmastime festivities are over), the biggest event in the country's calendar is underway. This weekend will see the final rounds of the major Carnival competitions — Soca Monarch tonight, Panorama on Saturday, and Calypso Monarch and Carnival king and queen on Sunday (Dimanche Gras). Carnival proper begins in the wee hours of Monday morning with J'Ouvert (French patois for “day open”), an earthy, ritualistic celebration in which masqueraders cover themselves with mud and paint, wear tails and horns, and welcome the “Merry Monarch” by dancing through the streets under cover of darkness. Monday “mas” (short for “masquerade”) is relatively low-key, as the Carnival bands save their energy (and their elaborate full costumes) for Tuesday, when the spectacle reaches its height. At midnight, Carnival is over for another year; on Ash Wednesday many revellers go to church services to ritually atone for the “bacchanal” of the previous two days.
Trinidad Carnival shares historical roots with Carnivals in places like Venice, south Germany, Brazil, Haiti, and New Orleans, but has evolved here into a unique phenomenon, reflecting the influences of all the cultures that have contributed to Trinidad and Tobago's diverse society — Amerindian, African, European, Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern. And as the 2006 season has progressed, Trinidadian bloggers have been writing about their Carnival experiences from many points of view.
Early in the season, Francomenz wondered if today's “fete” culture isn't actually destroying the liberating spirit of Carnival as generations of Trinidadians understood it. Around the same time, Caribbean Free Radio also remarked that the Carnival spirit was yet to kick in.
Of course, for some people it never does kick in. There have always been as many people staying out of the “national festival” as joining in, for all sorts of reasons: too noisy, too crowded, too dirty, too libertine, too exhausting. Hassan Voyeau planned to stay home and relax “away from a computer and desk”. Taran Rampersad said he'd be “quietly reading somewhere”, having “enjoyed it in the past and … had enough”. And in a comment he left at Caribbean Free Radio, Jonathan Ali said “One of the reasons Carnival continues to hold less and less appeal for me is that the music gets worse and worse every year” (though at last report he'd decided to play J'Ouvert after all).
But for some Trini bloggers, the Carnival picture changed completely at the end of January, when, barely a month before the festival, the masman-artist Peter Minshall, considered a genius by many, announced that he'd be designing a band this year after all, called The Sacred Heart. It's hard to explain Minshall's significance to someone who's never experienced his “mas” first hand, but a handful of bloggers gave it a try, including yours truly, reporting on a talk Minshall gave at an exhibition of Carnival photos.
Carnival-related blogging heated up in early February. Caribbean Free Photo posted images from the Phase II Pan Groove panyard, and photographer Stefan Falke paid a visit to the Kilimanjaro moko jumbie (stilt-walker) school. Francomenz wrote about an exhibition of Carnival masks by veteran masman Wayne Berkeley, but also about noise pollution from Carnival parties, a huge frustration for people living near to popular fete venues. She finally caught the Carnival “vibe” at a performance of the 3Canal show. Attillah Springer had previously blogged about sitting in on one of the rehearsals; Caribbean Free Photo posted a full set of images of the opening night performance at Flickr; and I was struck by the Canals’ attempt to link the message of their protest songs to the tradition of Carnival “resistance”.
Like other high-emotion annual events, Carnival has a way of making you think hard about your life and its direction. Attillah Springer mused that this might be one of the last Carnivals she'd be able to throw herself into body and soul — “I can't be a free agent for the rest of my life” — and I found myself trying to explain how Carnival has helped me understand “freeness”.
By mid-February things were getting busy down at Peter Minshall's Callaloo Company mas camp — the place where the costumes get built. Caribbean Free Photo posted an excellent series of photos of the Callaloo production line, including images of The Sacred Heart's queen costume being assembled. Other bloggers had signed up as volunteers at Callaloo — myself included, and I reported on spending a Sunday afternoon cutting little metal rectangles for some of the Sacred Heart costumes.
Minshall's king, “Son of Saga Boy”, and queen, “Miss Universe”, made their public debut at the preliminary round of the Carnival king and queen competition, held at the traditional Savannah stage in Port of Spain. Caribbean Free Photo was on hand to capture images of the high-drama event, as was Stefan Falke; I was there also, taking in what I felt was a historic Carnival moment. Two nights later, “Son of Saga Boy” made his second public appearance, at soca superstar Machel Montano's Alternative Concept show; once again bloggers were on hand to describe the emotion and the blood, sweat, and tears behind it, and to capture  some breathtaking images.
Meanwhile, Francomenz was describing a performance by calypso legend David Rudder; Stefan Falke was posting photos from the Children's Carnival parade, which Karen Walrond also wrote about at Blogging Baby; Small Island Girl was talking about what a good time she had at the Panorama competition semi-finals and explaining why she would be playing mas without her husband; and Jamaican blogger Yamfoot announced that she'd be in Trinidad for Carnival this year — but skipping J'Ouvert (Cayman-based Jamaican blogger Mad Bull was green with envy).
By the week before Carnival, the anticipation was intense, no one was getting enough sleep, and France-based Trini blogger Callaloo Soup was thinking back longingly to Carnival 1998. Hassan Voyeau transcribed some of the inane lyrics of the season's new soca songs. Bahamian CariBlog, in Trinidad for Carnival, had a good time at the PNM fete, and noted that many of the performers included political commentary in their song lyrics. Caribbean Free Radio posted a to-do list that began with “Fina good source of mud” (for J'Ouvert), and reported on the rained-out semi-final round of the Carnival king competition. I managed to do a quick “interview” with Kerwin Paul, Peter Minshall's king, and Attillah Springer posted a list of “Carnival survival necessities” for her “outer-national” readers.
But all this Carnival blogging is likely to grind to a halt over the big weekend — between Soca Monarch, Panorama, Dimanche Gras, the fetes, J'Ouvert, and Monday and Tuesday mas, which of the Carnival bloggers will have the time or the strength to sit down in front of a keyboard? Expect some slightly hungover reports come Ash Wednesday….
Note: Global Voices’ Caribbean region editor will be taking a break from February 27-March 5.

author: Nicholas Laughlin


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This Week in Palestinian Blogs: Refugees Reloaded · Global Voices
Shaden Abdulrahman

News of the blogosphere…
PSM (Palestine Solidarity Movement) Fifth Annual Divestment Conferece has taken place from February 17-19 in Washington DC, US attracting more than six hundred student and community activists from ninety different university and organization from across the US as mentioned in a report by The Hatchet.
Witnesses from KABOBfest, said JDL protesters and Israel alliances from Georgetown University failed to provoke conference attendees. Protesters flooded the activists with infamous chants, some of which included insults to Prophet Mohammed (blessings and peace be upon him).
Pro-Israel protester chanting “We love cartoons”. Photo credit: by KABOBfest
In the closing session, PSM Conference concluded by declaring the 30th of March as National Day of Divestment Action.
Summary on the conference can be found here. Full coverage of the confernce was provided on KABOBfest's Blog. Fifth Annual Divestment Conference has seen success on more than one level thanks to Georgetown University's solid efforts.
Dave from davereed.org attended the conference and wrote a comprehensive summary on Saturday's sessions offering his personal observations and opinions.
On the conference, Ramallah Online, blogs an article explaining how divestment can serve as a non-violent reply to oppression.
Haitham Sabbah writes about the new Israeli war crimes in Nablus and Balata Refugee Camp:
On Sunday over 30 Israeli vehicles, supported by encircling Apache helicopters, invaded the camp. They broke into several homes, turning them into military installations
The next morning, children threw stones on the Israeli military vehicles, soldiers returned the assault by shooting them from the very rooftops used to be theirs one day ago.
Sabbah adds:
The cruelest of the killings in this devastating period was that of two teenagers…
In the same post, Haitham says on the 24th of February, twenty Palestinians were injured most of them aged 12-22. Since the start of the incursion, eight Palestinians died. Only two Israeli soldiers reported injury compared to seventy civilians on the Palestinian side.
Ambulances and journalists obviously had no immune against what Sabbah describes by:
the Israeli Occupation Forces did not stop what it practice best; killing.
He then offers a link to last week report on Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
On the same devastating news:
umkahlil urges you to write to your congressman. karmalised dedicates a post titled: “Israel Has No Shame” . ninathedog says the incursion is the largest and longest since the pullout from Gaza.
moomin13 of Postcards from Palestine, was there during the siege attack, she says:
It was I think I can say the scariest 3 das of my life but it's normal for the people there.
What we talk about…
KABOBfest suggests that we warm up for more dumb moves by the US, who is now supporting Israel in cutting off all aids to Palestinians after seeing the outcome of the Palestinian elections.
Ramallah Online, says act now! stop the hate speech. The Israel Project had launched an Ad campaign ironically named “Mothers of Peace”. The ad contains misleading, erroneous information about Palestinians and their lives. Ramallah Online adds:
Comcast needs to know that you feel this grossly discriminatory ad, sponsored by The Israel Project, depicting an entire race and generation of children as “hateful killing robots”, is a clear form of bigotry and racism! These ads are neither informative nor educational. They are simply promoting racist perceptions rather than facts.
Contact information of Comcast and a sample letter are provided here.
nasrawi talks about the ethnic discrimination and humliating treatment he received at the crossing border between Jordan Valey and Israel:
It was insulting and it stole my dignity. It made me strip my pants to my knees, walk around the building without shoes and jacket when external temperatures stood at 7 degrees, it went through personal messages and contacts on my cellphone unrelated to ‘security’, it refused to speak with Canadian Foreign Ministry Officials that I was in contact with, it made fun of Arabs, Muslims and the Middle East, and it made it a crime to speak Arabic.
nasrawi though, says he has no biases towards or against Israelis.
Daoud Kuttab talks about democracy in the Middle East and the US policy toward Hamas winning the elections recently.
Sugar Cubes talks about the Israeli soldier who shot 13 year-old Iman Al-Hams. The soldier identified as Captain R, was not only acquitted of all charges but has recently received a promotion to the rank of major. Read full transcript of the conversation between Captain R and the watchtower here.
The little things that matter…
Via KABOBfest,  Palestine Remembered has started a project to record and collect stories of Palestinians who witnessed Al-Nakba (foundation of Israel and the dispossion of nearly 750,000 Palestinians on 1948). Its aim is to make an oral history which depicts the memories of Palestinian refugees before, during and after Al-Nakba. The site contains interviews of Palestinians who were only twelve when it all started.

author: Shaden Abdulrahman


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Trinidad & Tobago: Carnival necessities & reenactments · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Got your snake oil? Just in time for the official start of Trinidad & Tobago's Carnival on February 27, Attillah Springer makes a list of Carnival necessities. She also posts photos of old-time Carnival and the reenactment of the Canboulay Riots of the 1880s.


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Turkmenistan: Strange Priorities · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Peter of neweurasia reports on the Turkmen government's strange spending priorities.


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Uganda: rappers · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Kikuyumoja’s realm post some videos of Ugandan rappers “the next generation in Uganda“


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Ukraine: ‘Gangs of Donetsk’ · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko at Foreign Notes writes about ‘Gangs of Donetsk’ and what appears to be a criminal connection of a major Ukrainian party.


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Ukraine: Politics Via Mother-in-Law  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine shares some valuable political commentary from one of his favorite sources: his Ukrainian mother-in-law.


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Ukraine: Self-Immolation Attempt · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time has translated a report about a Ukrainian woman's recent self-immolation attempt as a way to protest her Chechen husband's imminent deportation to Russia.


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Ukraine: Two Babushkas · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stefan of Dykun continues with his Ukrainian grandmother‘s story: how the languages and dialects Baba Omaha can speak – Ukrainian Poltava and Ukrainian Galician, Polish, Czech, Russian, German and Belarusian – reflect her life experiences. The Ranger of NVASHAG tells of his Ukrainian mother-in-law: Babushka Maria is turning 70 next week and has seen a lot, too, but can't talk about it because a wartime childhood illness left her deaf and mute.


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Vietnam: Planned City · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Le Bao Tuan of Sticky Rice experiences “architecture shock” visiting Phu My Hung, a booming planned community built on a former swamp south of Saigon. He writes: “Phu My Hung is an evidence proves Vietnamese economy is developing quickly and Vietnamese people are trying to approach the more modern and more civilized lifestyle.”


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Computer Crash: Food Overload · Global Voices
Melissa De León

Was your umbilical cord attached to a computer when you were born? It may sound like a strange statement, but the truth is that some of us think that. Especially if you happen to be in the middle of the Ecuadorian Andes and there is no telephone or Internet for ten days.
That having been said, let's travel and eat around the world, sponsored by our traditional food blog round-up:
#1: From Argentina
Beginning with a description backed up by the Argentinian Food Code, Error del Sistema shares his favorite recipe to prepare traditional Argentinian Alfajores de chocolate y dulce de leche (Chocolate – Dulce de Leche Alfajores from Argentina.) I am not sure why, but it is very true that most of the time people are intimidated by the making of these delicious cookies. Just give it a try, come on…, you will learn that they are not as difficult as you thought, besides the point is that you can add as much dulce de leche as you want!
#2: From Italy
If you are looking for a place in Rome where you can eat three meals a day for free and at the same time meet very interesting people, you are going to love this post. Christopher comments about "Christian Charity: The Other Roman Vacation," the article he wrote for Vice Italy.
#3: From Chile
Visit CoBe, by Daniel Greve,  and you will have an amazing opportunity to experience the food from Chile at its highest point of expression. Pick your favorite among: Cevichisimo (Ceviche Mania), restaurant review: Sukalde, Mas alla del Sushi (Beyond Sushi), and Catar, Catar (wine tasting adventures.)
#4: From Spain
Cannella hosted an international San Valentine's virtual party, and the delicious round-up is here. She was the winner of the New Year's dinner recipe & photo swap. If you cooked  something delicious on February 14 and blogged about it,  we invite you to send her the link to your post, your name and the name of your blog, so she can add you to the round-up.
Learn about the stinkiest cheese in human history: the Epoi. Directo Al Paladar shares details on the origins and invites all with a nose-of-steel and a love for cheese to try it.
#5: From Turkey
Yogurt Land writes about  Su Boregi, or Turkish Lasagna. The recipe is her aunt’s specialty; she rolls and cooks the dough, and later bakes it. In order to even try making this recipe you need to know how to roll the dough thin — when I mean thin, I mean about 1 – 2 mm thin. In Turkey it is customary to use straight rolling pins. As you roll the dough around the pin, you push down on the dough and roll at the same time, moving your hands to travel from the mid section of the dough to the sides. This way you will achieve thin dough.
#6: From The Philippines
Quick'n’ Easy Treats from Zu's Kitchen prepared some great and delicious looking Sushi Balls for dinner. She claims that she ran out of ideas and that the sushi balls were the result of the project. Wow! Just imagine for a moment what would she prepare when the inspiration strikes!!!
#7: From New Zealand, via DC Fud.
Have you heard of Earthy Cooking? It’s a sobering moment when you realize that no matter how extreme your saute, how crazy your roasting, and how freaky your flambe, you will never be as hardcore as people who cook with an active volcano! Are you ready to try?
On The Farm shares a gorgeous photo of the first porcini of the summer from his garden. He also writes about the most expensive pizza in the world: with truffles!
#8: From Australia
Noodle Cook demonstrates how to prepare the delicious Banana Fosters with a video and a great recipe.
#9: From Korea
This  post is  dedicated to all  of the  sugar addicts and Krispy Kreme fans.  I would have never imagined that  those little yummy devils could be even more sweet than how they are in the US. Do you agree with me? Well, there's some news for us: we are so wrong. If the mega companies that make anti-cavities tooth paste, and the labs that manufacture weight loss pills are behind this marketing strategy, I do not know. But, this is what I know now:
At any bakery in Korea, the only non-sweet bread is the stale baguette in the corner. Even the garlic bread is sweetened. Almost all pizzas are served with sweet corn or sweet potatoes along with a side of sweet pickles. The sweet pickles come with almost every sit down Western meal, whether it be Outback, TGI Friday's, or a local fancy steakhouse. Sandwiches have to have some sweet fruit sauce, honey mustard, and sometimes — gasp — strawberries. All mustard is honey mustard. Sweet ketchup is considered an elegant exotic sauce, which is thrown on the oddest things. Steaks come smothered in a sweet brown sauce, as do hot dogs. Even the scant Mexican food I find tastes like a cup of sugar was thrown in the sauce.
Dunkin’ Donuts is one of the most successful foreign fast food chains in Korea. On casual glance, it looks far more successful than McDonald's. Yet when I first came to Korea, I saw there were no Krispy Kreme doughnuts.
Thank you ZenKimchi for the report!
#10: From Japan, via BunnyFoot in San Francisco
Amazake is sneaking it's way into the American culinary consciousness. You may have seen little bottles of the stuff lurking in the refrigerated section of your local health food store, all cozied up next to the spirulina and camel dung health drinks. You know what I'm talking about, those little shakes that use amazake as a base along with nuts, fruits and various flavorings. They're thick, creamy, sweet and, of course, expensive.
Learn how to prepare this cooked grain beverage inoculated with aspergillus oryzae in the form of koji and allowed to ferment. The most interesting part of this process is that indeed, it is the first step in sake making (and miso and shoyu, and shochu too!)
Head over to their blog to learn more about this fascinating process.
Feliz Carnaval! See you soon!

author: Melissa De León


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Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus: Swedish Blogs Covering the Region · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander reviews Swedish blogs – some in English, others in Swedish – that cover Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus. His own English-language blog – Vilhelm Konnander's Weblog – belongs to this group as well.


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From the Jordanian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Roba Al Assi

The Jordanian bloggers are angry over the attack on Islamic, particularly Shi'aa, monument the Askariya Shrine, some of them are comparing the unneeded reactions from Muslims towards the Danish cartoon fiasco to the current apartheid at the ruination of a 1200 year old mosque. Mazen Arafat says, “Where is the MORAL outrage, the demonstrations, the demand for moral rectitude and neighborly decency between two communities? Why aren't Sunnis on the street saying: whatever the anxieties we may harbor as a result of the seismic shifts in power between the two communities of Islam, we are outraged and demand justice? I smell rot in the lack of anger, of a moral sensitivity that knows how to order the significance of things: cartoons by insular Danes designed to have a laugh at the expense of a minority is not worth more moral outrage than a vicious and cynical attempt to launch civil war by destroying a holy shrine.” Haitham Sabbah agrees, “Shame on you Muslims. Shame that you protest over the Dane cartoons yet shut-up on the Human/Muslim flesh cartoons.” Meanwhile, Roba Al-Assi wonders, “Why should such architectural treasures, that should be not only Iraqi treasures but also international treasures, suffer from the political struggles?”
On a brighter side, the Jordanian blogosphere is relieved to know that Jordanian embassy driver kidnapped two months ago by Iraqi militants, Mahmoud Saedat, has been freed, and everyone is praying for the safe return of Jill Carroll.
With the issues regarding the national budget being laid out on the table, the Jordanian economy is being scruntized. Batir Wardam says, “After the black comedy of the Parliament's vote on the public budget last week, I have to admit that I am ashamed, as a Jordanian citizen and voter, of the low professional quality of the Parliamentarian process and of course, the shallowness of the majority of its members.” Rami from Rami's Mirror has some observations on the state of the Jordanian economy, and Khalaf writes about the government's plans to spend 50 to 60 million dinars a year to help low income families deal with rising fuel prices. Madas criticizes local issues relating to brand sensitivity and self-esteem, saying, “Do we even imagine and those who make Zara’s clothing are even remotely more efficient or more competent than our own women? It made me wonder if we could ever learn to trust our own initiatives and maybe the magic word to solve our own problem is indeed… self esteem!”  Apparently though, the Jordanian IT industry is doing well. The guys over at Techhash report about this year's East Med Developers Conference.
Sealing issues pertaining to the economy with technology, let's move over to Natasha Tynes, who has a feature on the state of blogging in the Arab world in G21, which has exploded in 2005. This month, one initiative that has evolved from the Jordanian blogosphere is the online Jordan Planet book club – the members are are currently discussing Diana Abu Jaber's novel Crescent.
The Jordanian bloggers are also looking at other types of media. Rami Abdul-Rahman presents a comparative study on the coverage of the assassination of Palestinian Ahmad Abu-Sharia to illustrate how Middle Eastern news services (Palestinian, Israeli, Jordanian, and Al-Jazeera) use different labels and terminology for the two sides of the conflict. In his conclusion, he says, “After looking into the similarities and differences in the coverage of the assassination of Abu-Shariah, one would read that there are political agendas behind every story, except in the case of Aljazeera TV, where the agenda does not seem to be as apparent as others.”

author: Roba Al Assi


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Guyana: Mashramani · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

VSO/CIDA intern Michiyo experiences Mashramani, Guyana's Carnival, and posts a few photos with short captions (also rendered in Japanese). A sampling: “Everyone is full of glitters. By the time I finished watching the parade, I myself was covered with it.”


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Iran: Moslems & Buddha · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

HasanAgha asks Shiites Moslems (Persian) who are protesting against destruction of their shrine, why they did nothing when Taliban government in Afghanistan demolished Buddha’s statues in Bamyan?

author: Fred Petrossian


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Latvia: Russo-Latvian Border Dispute · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

All About Latvia links to a year-old entry still relevant today: on a proposed Russo-Latvian border argeement and Russia's objections to it.


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Peru: A BlogsPeru Screensaver · Global Voices
David Sasaki

BlogsPerú has compiled a new community screensaver (ES), which is available for download. As always, they are accepting new, relevant photos to be published in the next version.


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Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere · Global Voices
Ahmed Al-Omran

Many different and interesting topics were discussed in the Saudi blogosphere this week, so let's start our roundup right away.
What is the difference between democracy and American democracy? Hassan thinks he has the answer (Arabic). “In democracy, those who gain more votes should win. In American democracy, those who win should not harm America, and if they won, they have to be hurdled in every possible way. The evidence on this is the American stand from the Hamas government in Palestine and the Iraqi government.”
Farooha had a recent visit to the neighboring island kingdom of Bahrain, and was not very pleased with the behavior of her countrymen there. She wonders, “where the hell we were on the day God handed out civility and manners?” and says that “we probably overslept that morning.”
Aya writes about women's driving, calling it the most polarized issue in Saudi Arabia. She added:
If women ever get their right, there will be a “Saudi Arabia before women driving” and a “Saudi Arabia after women driving.” Things will never ever be the same again. And for this same reason this issue gets more resistance, it is not just about a car and a woman being alone together, no, it is about opening Pandora’s Box.
Green Tea has a short comment on the sentence of an Austrian court to jail the British historian David Erving. He writes (Arabic):
Excuse me, I think I'm getting confused! But isn't this story goes under the so-called ‘freedom of expression’ that they keep on telling us about it. Or is it just applicable to our prophet (peace be upon him) and our religion, and not to their proclaimed Holocaust!
Last week, Jeddah Economic Forum took place in this nice coastal city on the Red Sea, and @rabian Rash thinks the amounts of money paid for speakers in the forum for their minute speeches were “more than enough to fix the pot holes and sewage problems in Jeddah.” But he is not complaining, because “it was all for ‘our benefit’,” he added.
Fouad Al-Farhan is discussing the Ministry of Education's decision to teach Ardah, a folk-dance popular in the central region of Najd, in Saudi schools. He argues that every region in the country has its own folklore, and Ardah is not necessarily a part of it. “Is this a new attempt to Najdify the country? (Arabic) Is it wise to do that in a time when our enemies are trying to take any chance to destroy our unity?” he asks.
Riyadhawi thinks that most of the political and economical problems facing Arab countries today are caused by the continuous wars the region has to go through (Arabic), with a rate of one war every ten year since 1948 to present. “Now, close your eyes and imagine the political and economical situation if none of these had happened,” he said.
Finally, let's take a quick tour on some posts of note: Itachi posts some photos from the National Festival of Heritage and Culture (aka Janadriyadh). Abod writes about Dan Brown (Arabic), the famous novelist. After reading Nostradamus’ history, Talal wonders about the legacy he would be leaving behind if at all he would leave one. “What are the various situations that I have encountered and the ones I will face that will either write my accomplishments in history or let them fade with the wind,” he added.

author: Ahmed Al-Omran


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Turkey is Typing…. · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

Well the Turkish roundup is back after a long hiatus, and as it has been so long there is no way to get fully caught up or cover everyone, so we are going to focus on the highlights.  Let's get caught up a bit on our friends shall we?
Amerikan Turk, who recently injured himself in a soccer game (get well soon-my friend), has posted a record 45 times in the last three weeks, perhaps that doesn't mean much to anyone, but I think that it is of statistical interest….and for the rest of the authors I cover this week, I am going to tell you their post count for the past three weeks.  However, continuing on with the update… Murat gives us a comprehensive look at Muslim protests throughout the world over the recent Mohammed cartoons, but sharply outlines the hypocrisy of Muslims protesting about a cartoon while children are suffering from the earthquake in Pakistan.
Erkan's Field Diary (69 posts in three weeks) mentions the assasination of a Catholic priest in Turkey which has been linked to the outrage over the Mohammed cartoons. Erkan also went to the courthouse where the trial of several Turkish journalists are being held, it is an interesting introduction to the Turkish Judical system.  He posted a copy of a cartoon about Turkey joining the EU which I found hilarious, but those who haven't encountered a restroom of that sort might not get it.
Ignore Me If You Can (13 posts in three weeks) posts about beggar-children in Turkey, a horrible but very common encounter that happens in Turkey.  She also announces the addition of new authors for Metroblogging: Istanbul (25 posts in the last three weeks). Metroblogging covers a range of items this week that range from ATM scams in Istanbul and a tribute to the alcoholic beverage Raki.
Talk Turkey (10 posts) writes about living in the “OC”, and he has an excellent post about “blogger etiquette”.
Turkish Torque (60 posts in three weeks) writes about compassion in nature and Turkey's first Olympic skater. However Tork's most important post in these past few weeks is his announcement that he was named as one of the top 12 blogs in Asia by the Best of Blogs.  Congrats!
The final blog to be covered in this post and also our winner of the most posts in three weeks–a whooping 93!– is Mavi Boncuk, who recently celebrated his 1300 posting.  With so many postings and gems of Turkish and Ottoman history it is hard to select only a couple of highlights, here however is my short list: the train car of the sultan, background on the recently deceased Princess Durruhsehvar of Berar the last Ottoman princess, and a book that I desperately want, Slang in Turkish Culture.
Lastly,  I would like to apologize to the Turkish bloggers that I regularly cover for slacking off as I have, the friendship offered to me by this blogging community means a lot to me and I am very grateful for their support.

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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Update: Samarra Catastrophe · Global Voices
Salam Adil

The developing situation in Iraq is moving too fast and filling more column inches than a roundup can satisfy. Here is a summary of the blog events since Thursday. It is at times like this you can see that blogging comes into its own above other journalism. There is no other medium that can give you the feel of people's opinions and emotions in almost real time.
Word from the Street:
Zeyad of increasingly misnamed Healing Iraq is in the thick of the fighting and is updating regularly:
Fierce streetfighting at my doorstep for the last 3 hours. Rumor in the neighbourhood is that men in black are trying to enter the area. Some armed kids defending the local mosque three blocks away are splattering bullets at everything that moves, and someone in the street was shouting for people to prepare for defending themselves. … The news from other areas in Baghdad are horrible. I don't think it's being reported anywhere.
But fortunately:
UPDATE: Apparently, the attackers were fended off in our neighbourhood. The fight ended about 2 hours ago, about the same time electric power returned to our area. Now we are only hearing sporadic gunshots here and there. To have an idea of what was going on, listen to these small audio files I recorded using a cell phone.
He also posts detailed mosque by mosque updates and maps showing where violent incidents have happened in the past three days.
Christopher Allbritton reports a large armed but peaceful demonstration marching towards the Interior Ministry at 4pm on Friday. He follows this with reports of Sunni's hitting back against Shi’a neighborhoods and religious sites.
Iraq the Model [sic] gives some reports of Thurdays events and observes:
The sense in the streets and the statements given by some Shia clerics suggest that retaliation attacks are organized and under control and are focusing on mosques frequented by Salafi and Wahabi groups and not those of ordinary Sunnis.
Mohammed also adds that most people are blaming the Mahdi Army for carrying out many of the attacks.
Truth About Iraqis gets through on Yahoo to his cousin who says “It looks like a civil war, the situation is really bad.” He also worries for fellow bloggers who live in Baghdad. He also reports from the Arabic and Western media.
Riverbend reports from her neighbourhood:
The streets near our neighborhood were eerily empty and calm but there was a tension that had us all sitting on edge. We heard about problems in areas like Baladiyat where there was some rioting and vandalism, etc. and several mosques in Baghdad were attacked. I think what has everyone most disturbed is the fact that the reaction was so swift, like it was just waiting to happen. … I don’t think I remember things being this tense- everyone is just watching and waiting quietly. There’s so much talk of civil war and yet, with the people I know- Sunnis and Shia alike- I can hardly believe it is a possibility. Educated, sophisticated Iraqis are horrified with the idea of turning against each other, and even not-so-educated Iraqis seem very aware that this is a small part of a bigger, more ominous plan…
Pointing fingers:
Several bloggers point out the calculted way in which the shrine was bombed. Baghdad Dweller analyses the method:
The one who did this, entered the mosque comfortably carrying explosions, he had all the time to study the construction of the building and find the perfect angles to set the explosions in a way that only the dome will be destroyed. This is a professional, controlled demolition and the bombs set by demolition experts.
The Woman I Was notes:
Samara had been sieged by the American and Iraqi forces for months; no body could enter the city without permission; how those who planted the explosives in the holy shrine managed to stay in it from 5.45pm Tuesday till 7am of the black Wednesday?
She goes on to list who has the most to gain:
Who will get benefits of a civil war in Iraq? Kurds are the first; because Barzani said before months that he will announce his independent state as soon as a civil war will begin… the Americans, again to protect the Iraqis!! And the political “leaders” who are becoming wealthiest day after another from the chose in Iraq… Bush, as usual without feeling any shame, said on the day when tens of mosques were burning and tens were being killed that Iraqis are enjoying the freedom of media and speech!!
Zeyad comments that the Shi'ite parties have much to gain:
The timing of this incident is very ominous. Just as pressure was being mounted on the UIA to form a more inclusive government, and to disband its sectarian militias, we have this. I normally don’t resort to conspiracy theories, and I don’t like the ‘Who gets to benefit from this?’ explanations. People often commit stupid actions for stupid reasons, and lashing out in violence is also a very human reaction. But still, the extent and the spontaneity of the violence are deeply troubling.
He also relates Eyewitness reports that contradict the official story: “that American and Iraqi Interior ministry forces blocked the main street leading to the shrine at 9 pm on the night preceding the blast. It was opened again at dawn Wednesday and the troops pulled out of the area.” and “Another eyewitness … claims that 2 Iranians were arrested yesterday, and that the Al-Arabiya channel crew had filmed them.”
Truth About Iraqis blames America:
This has to be the most corrupted incompetent government ever assembled by US foreign policy. It doesn't function on so many different levels.But then again, this government was never about governance, but sowing dissent. This dissent was planted in the early days by the Iraq Governing Council and now it is bearing fruit.
Iraqi Pundit points to the media:
Iraqis have been working hard to avoid a real civil war in the midst of suicide bombings, killings and kidnappings. But the media prefer to ignore these efforts and instead choose to focus on the agressive acts of Moktada Al Sadr's gang.
And The Baghdad Alcohol Sponge has a rare moment of lucidity:
I actually checked the word on the street with the Iraqis. They are all saying the same–that its the Saudis sending people in to fire it up with the Sunni and Shia. And since Iran is against the Saudis–they're using the locals too. Kinda like the US and Soviet Union over Vietnam.
Final Words go to:
24 Steps to Liberty:
I was amazed how only the provocative and civil-war-style quotes were published today in the newspapers. Almost no newspaper showed how great, it appeared to us, the solidarity among Iraqis was yesterday. It is true that Sunni mosques were attacked by unknown men yesterday, and some Sunnis were killed. But that wasn’t the only thing happened as a reaction. Newspapers should have been neutral, as we were taught, and show both sides. … All expect civil war in Iraq, which might happen although I don’t believe it would. Therefore, they want to contribute to the civil war’s first step. Shame on you all! Shame on the “free and honest” press!
and An Iraqi Tear:
The Iraqis and the nobles of the world should curse Bush, Blair and every body who are observing the Iraqi bloods without trying to stop it.
I am shouting WAKE UP WORLD again; WAKE UP IRAQIS.
The tears are insisting to make me stop writing… PRAY FOR US.
Why those who are burning the mosques did not curse the American and the (Iraqi) forces when these bloodies bombed Imam Ali holy shrine? Why no body is cursing those who attacked the shrine of Malik Bin Anas in Basra who was one of the earliest followers of our prophet Mohammed (MPUH)… why no body is trying to find the link between the cartoons attacking the prophet and exploding the holy shrine?
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
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author: Salam Adil


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A Look at the Syrian Blogsphere · Global Voices
Yazan Badran

After a tense month of anti-violence campaigns, the Syrian blogsphere seemed to be quite calm this week…
Discussions revolved about the new step from the US to give a $5 million to promote democratic governance and reform in Syria.
While Joshua Landis of SyriaComment.com sees this step as a good start, but a bit worried that it won't have the proper effect if not supported by other moves.
This is a good start. Now Syrians will have to figure out how they can apply for the funds without getting bashed by their government.
Ironically, American legislators are trying to have the embassy staff reduced even further, which will undermine the effectiveness of democracy promotion. Only by supporting effective representatives on the ground in Syria can America be expected to evaluate and judge how best to promote democracy. Building links to courageous and imaginative people working in Syria who are trying to expand the scope of local civic institutions should be key.
Rime Allaf from Mosaics says that this step falls short on all terms, compared to the support the US gave to the Iraqi opposition against Saddam Hussein regime. She feels that the regime feels more safe than ever as the US is not interested with a regime change in the near future.
Be that as it may, it seems perfectly clear now that America is not bothered with regime change in Syria, for the moment at least (which has been my hunch); had it been even remotely interested, it would have disbursed more than those peanuts. This amount merely allows the Syrian regime to complain about it without worrying, and to demonstrate that American designs are less than honorable.
Away from politics, Ghalia of Cocktail had a brilliant post on Syrian children, their dreams, fears and hopes for the future.
Joudy 10-year-old, she already speaks two languages perfectly in addition to Arabic, she answered me without hesitation; “interior designer, I also love fashion, and yeah I can’t wait till I grow up to do a plastic surgery to my nose, there is something wrong with it, I don’t like it. I also will drive my mother’s car or buy a new one and let little kids sit in the back so I’ll take them to nice places to play.”
Talking to children from variant social levels…
Hameed, 9-year-old, I met him in Old Damascus at Souq al-Hamidiyeh, he was supposed to be at school while he was actually working as a goods porter, “What do you want to be in the future?” I asked. He looked at me quizzically, he needs not to say anything, from his reaction I knew that he had never thought of that. “I don’t know, I have to ask my father, he will decide for me, I really don’t know!”
Finally, a very strong post by Ayman from The Damascene Blog, featuring a caricature by Naji al-Ali…
- Are you Muslim or Christian? Sunni or Shiite? Druze or Alawite? Coptic or Maronite? Greek Catholic or Greek Ortho…
- I am Arab, jackass!

author: Yazan Badran


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Blogging Presentation in Zaghouan, Tunisia · Global Voices
Mohamed Marwen Meddah

In the Tunisian monthly blogger meetups, one of the issues that always comes up is what we can do to spread blogging even more in Tunisia and get more people writing and sharing online.
One of the ideas that we came up with is by giving presentations about blogging in cultural, internet or youth centers. We also thought it was important that we give such presentations in places outside the capital city where most Tunisian bloggers are from.
Last wednesday (22/02/06), we were able to take the first step in that direction, by holding a presentation about blogging in Zaghouan, a city that lies 55Km outside Tunis.
The presentation was held in the ISET institute in Zaghouan, in the presentation/activity room of one of the dormitories.
Around 50 students showed up, mostly girls, for the presentation, in which we tried to explain the basics of blogging, a bit of it's history, how to go on about it, …etc.
We also gave a little overview of the Tunisian blogosphere and the community of Tunisian bloggers.
We were four bloggers (Tom, Karim, Marouen and myself) and one non-blogger Moez, who is a friend of Karim‘s.
The themes we covered were:
Moez kicked in after the presentation with his non-blogger views about blogging and his understanding of it all.
After that we held a little Q&A session in which we answered some questions by the students .
Some of the questions we got were about the credibility and trustworthiness of blogs and bloggers, the difference between blogging and other online publishing and if there were any funny situations that happened with us bloggers.
Some privacy concerns were raised too, especially when it came to the idea of publishing their personal photos online, which we explained wasn't necessary and even unadvisable.
Our goal from the presentation was to introduce blogging to the students and get them interested in exploring it further, maybe even trying to get online and start a blog of their own.
We tried to break it down into simple, interesting ideas and to give them pointers at all the possibilities they could use a blog for.
Overall we think that we were successful in doing that and that we got the message across. A few eyes sparkled and we felt some interest stirring in some of the crowd.
After the presentation, I had the chance to talk further to some of the students and some of them were already thinking of ways to use blogs to help in their studies and projects, which I think is great.
I would personally like to thank everyone who helped make the presentation a reality, as well as the students who showed up and listened to us, and of course my fellow bloggers who believed in the importance of this presentation and came. Last but not least, a big thanks to Moez who was so generous to drive us to Zaghouan and back and added a valuable non-blogger insight to the presentation.
Hopefully we'll get to do this again soon in other places around Tunisia.

author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah


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Bolivia: U.S. Revokes Politician’s Visa · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boz, Eduardo Ávila, and Adam Isacson all disapprove of the United States revoking the visa of Bolivian peasant leader and Morales ally, Leonida Zurita.


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Lone Haiti-Based Haitian Blogger on Recent Haitian Elections · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Yon Ayisyen, the sole Haiti-based Haitian blogger complains  (FR) that he does not have an internet connection at home. But that has not stopped him from blogging regularly if not always promptly about the recent presidential elections.
Special Rules for Favored Candidate?
Riots over the possibility of a runoff in Haiti's presidential elections received lots of press coverage two weeks ago.    In a post titled “The VIP Candidate” Yon Ayisyen,  devotes (FR)  some blogging ink to the legal implications of the rioters’ demands.  He deplores an electoral culture that does not tolerate less than a landslide victory for a favored candidate, often at the detriment of existing rules:
Preval's followers “demanded” squarely  that their candidate be “proclaimed” victor on the first round and that was true even before ballots were fully counted.  They do not want blank votes to be counted … Question: Why contest the counting of blank votes now and not last year when the electoral decree was published? Answer: Because counting blank votes as valid votes does not favor their candidate.
Yon Ayisyen  also deplores another manifestation of the lack of adherence to the rule of law during the electoral process. He points out that a commission of  members of the electoral council, the government and of Preval's party LESPWA was created in violation of a clause of the electoral decree that provides for a period of contestation after the official publication of results.  He adds:
But since  candidate Preval is the big favorite, he couldn't possibly be treated like everybody else; those who are eyeing possible appointments in his future government must naturally start courting  him now. … So LESPWA has the right to contest results even before they are published while other candidates must wait for the decreed contestation period. … The rule of law and other decrees apply to neither Preval nor his supporters.
A Chaotic Election
In his post “The Flatterers”, Yon Ayisyen reports irregularities that took place during the election:
While voters lined up well before voting was scheduled to start, voting booths did not open until hours later. …  In certain voting centers, voters forced their way in because they were tired of waiting; in others they waited for the center to open but tripped over each other on the way in.
Yon Ayisyen zeroes in specifically on a voting center for Cite Soleil residents which a friend of his described as chaotic. He explains that election observers stood outside instead of inside the center and that the center offered so little privacy  that it would have been very hard to vote for anyone other than  the favored Preval. He reports rumors that wanted gang leaders had voted in Cite Soleil centers.
In another post entitled “Chaos,” Yon Ayisyen recounts:
Many voted in centers other than those where they were registered.  The learning curve for democracy is quite steep.
Yon Ayisyen also reports that voting booths  and therefore voter privacy were absent in most centers.
Reminiscing Preval's First Presidency
In a post entitled “Preval the ex-President”, Yon Ayisyen thinks back to Preval's 1997 presidency when the blogger was 17:
I do not conceive of a sane person wanting Preval for president.  This is the man who once told the people to “escape via the sea.” …  No matter how much I rake my brain I cannot find a single good memory of this president.  Back then I was convinced that the only reason for his election was that people were fed up with three years of  a long embargo. … [W]hat mattered most to people was that food and other daily necessities were once again available  [at a reasonable price]…  Corruption, crime, nepotism, impunity and a little before the end of his term he left us his most memorable legacy:  the highjacking of  an election that took place under his watch.
In his latest post “Ironic”, Yon Ayisyen compares Lavalas supporters’ reactions to discarded ballots in the 2000 election organized by Preval to this year's election and finds a discrepancy:
[In 2000] protesters did not make a big deal of the ballots found discarded in the streets. They didn't care that “the people's” vote had been thrown away less than 24 hours after the election … Indeed the Lavalas party won  those elections as the militants who had “taken to the streets” had hoped.
But Yon Ayisyen contends that in 2006, discarded ballots elicit different reactions from Lavalas supporters:
Brouhaha among Preval's supporters who for the most part are also Lavalas supporters. “The people‘s vote was treated like garbage” they say. “They stole my vote.  They stole the people's vote. … The people voted for Preval, give us Preval. We've already voted, we won't vote again.” … Pure hypocrisy. … They tolerate electoral fraud when it benefits them but otherwise they call it a crime.


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This week in Israel: election campaigns, a kidnapping in France and more · Global Voices
Lisa N. Goldman

Israel is now six weeks before general elections, and the campaigning is starting to heat up.
Shai Tsur of Shaister has a concise and intelligent roundup of the campaign platforms of the major parties. He writes that he likes the ad campaign of Meretz, a leftist Zionist party, the best.
Each ad features one of the candidates on the Meretz list, a large semi-provocative slogan, and a smaller second line of text which explains it. For instance, a picture of party chairman Yossi Beilin, with the slogan “I don’t have an Arab mother” (a reference to rumors about Peres in elections past), and a sub-line saying “…but I will fight for minority rights.” Or a picture of Meretz’s token religious woman  Dr. Tzvia Greenfeld with the slogan “I believe in the Almighty … but I will separate state and religion.”
This Meretz campaign poster shows Knesset member Avshalom Vilan. The slogan is: “I am a happily married man. But I will fight for a civil divorce law.” (In Israel the religious authorities control all matters of marriage and divorce).
And this campaign poster shows Arab-Israeli Meretz candidate Issawi Farij. The slogan, written in Arabic, reads, “Don't patronize me! My voice is influential and my conscience is serene.”
Allison Kaplan Sommer of An Unsealed Room scooped the mainstream media when she wrote about Ilan Halimi, a Parisian Jew who was kidnapped and tortured to death by a gang called the Barbarians. Halimi’s family claimed that the Muslim gang members were motivated by anti-Semitism; they pointed out that two previous kidnapping victims were also Jewish; that the kidnappers had recited verses from the Koran during their ransom phone calls; and that they had told the family to “get the [ransom] money from their synagogue” if they could not come up with it themselves. Allison was surprised that the story was not covered by any of the wire services, so she started to write about it herself and got an instalanche via links from widely read blogs. Eventually, the papers started to pick up the story – but only about a week after Ilan died. She notes that it took quite a while for the newspapers – and the French government –  to confirm that the crime was likely based on anti-Semitic motives.
Allison’s final post on the Halimi saga is here; scroll down to the bottom to find links to all her posts on the Halimi murder, in chronological order.
In another interesting post, Allison explains why Israelis reacted calmly to the victory of Hamas in the Palestinian Authority elections.
Rinat Malkes, a journalist who blogs at Balagan, posted a photograph of herself in Ramallah, wearing a Hamas sash that she was given as a gift while covering the Palestinian elections. Readers reacted very strongly to the photo: some thought it was funny; others accused Rinat of being disloyal to Israel.   Some of the negative commenters used very strong language.
Ari Miller, who blogs at Ari Lives in Israel, posts about why Israelis should see Paradise Now. He points out that most of the American Jews who oppose the film’s being categorized as Palestinian for the Oscar awards have not seen it. Ari writes:
“I have seen this movie and I do have personal feelings about it. I found it to be one of the most beautiful, moving, touching and empathetic works of film that I have seen in some time. It was much better than Cats. It presented a window into an existence that I can hardly begin to imagine.
Chayyeisarah, an Orthodox journalist who lives in Jerusalem, has an excellent post that points out the hypocrisy of both left and right wing Israelis in the wake of the Amona riots. After the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the West Bank settlement of Amona was illegal and that nine houses must be destroyed, right-wing demonstrators and Israeli police faced off in a violent confrontation that left several people badly injured. The right wingers accused the police of excessive violence; the left was either indifferent or claimed that the demonstrators had got what they deserved. Sarah takes both sides to task in her well-reasoned post.
Over at One Jerusalem (“frothing at the mouth about politics, ideas and culture”), Jill Cartwright, a non-Jewish Englishwoman who lives in Tel Aviv, is writing an ongoing memoir about how and why she moved to Israel at the height of the second intifada, and what it’s like to be a non-Jew in the State of the Jews. She has a very compelling (and funny) writing style; readers have written that they are hanging on the edge of their seats, waiting for the next installment. (part one; part two).
Jill also wrote a post about a photography exhibition she and I attended in Tel Aviv on Friday. The photographs were taken by the Israeli women volunteers of Machsom Watch (Checkpoint Watch); the volunteers stand in shifts at the Israeli army checkpoints in the West Bank and monitor the behaviour of the soldiers toward the Palestinians.
And finally, a bit of sock it to ‘em, irreverent Israeli humour.
An Israeli graphic artist, Amitai Sandy, has come up with a hilarious response to the Holocaust cartoon contest sponsored by an Iranian newspaper (in response to the Danish Muhammad cartoon-gate). Sandy is sponsoring an Israeli anti-Semitic Cartoon Contest.
“We’ll show the world we can do the best, sharpest, most offensive Jew hating cartoons ever published!” said Sandy. “No Iranian will beat us on our home turf!”
So far, the post about the cartoon contest has received 276 responses, from Jews, Muslims and Christians all over the world. Check ‘em out – they make some pretty fascinating reading.

author: Lisa N. Goldman


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Voices of African Women Bloggers · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Mshairi calls for the abuse of women bloggers to stop!  She recalls two recent incidents in the blogosphere where male bloggers “discussed and described women in misogynistic terms.”
“The descriptions included ‘ignoramus’, ‘spiteful, angry menopausal bitch’, and ‘ruthless menopausal maniac’. All that remained was the blogger to call the woman a prostitute. Wait, he did.
In another incident the attack was on lesbians  the blogger wrote
“lesbos probably need a dick whipping” later backtracked  to ““lesbians would most likely have a change of heart on their sexual orientation if they had mind blowing sex with a guy”.  Mshairi comments
Do you really need to prove your masculinity by putting women down, by belittling their reproductive functions, by dehumanising them, by reducing them to sex objects or a nothing? Is your self-esteem that low?
Nigeria's Youth Service Corp has often been the subject of jokes by Nigerian bloggers.  Here The World of Adaure  writes about the experience of not being able to sleep by her friend…
i didnt get registered that day, and therefore didnt get allocated a bed space so hundreds of us had to sleep OUTSIDE on the ROAD… im not even playing.. luckily, ‘Angela’ and i bought a mat to sleep on, which was equally as bad because the ‘mat’ was made of wood!! so can u please imagine how uncomfortable that was for starters..
As if that is not enough her friend  is disturbed by sounds of Sunny Ade in the middle of the night and eventually…
at about three thirty, ppl had started getting up to take a bath outside, and by the time we managed to borrow buckets, fetch water from the well-like hole tank where there was water, they had brightened the lights, and so we still had to bathe like that with both guys and girls strolling about.. TALK ABOUT SERIOUS REDUCTION OF OUR BRIDE PRICE!!!!
Aqumada writes of her love for African soccer since the days of Roger Milla of Cameroon - remember those glorious matches?
The recent edition of the Nation’s cup has shown that African teams can be as complete as any of the teams from the top footballing nations. In addition to the traditional attacking football, defense and tactical awareness of many of the teams has improved tremendously. The Ivorian team which went to play Egypt in the final as well as being one of Africa’s representatives in the world cup was a prime example of this. Not only the Ivorian defense was brilliant but they also have dangerous strikers which can be a handful for any defense.
KenyanMusings has a question and answer session with her friends in the Kenyan blogosphere –  everything you ever wanted to know about Kenyan bloggers!
the innermost essence has her own take on the religious violence taking place in Nigeria - once again it's those damn cartoons…
There are Christians and Muslims in Ghana. There are Christians and Muslims in Togo, in Cameroon, all over Africa. Nigeria is not the only country with both religions yet its only in Nigeria sporadic killings erupt and people are massacred.
An Unreasonsable Woman makes some true confessions - as one commenter writes “we all have our demons”… for Nehanda Oprah Winfrey plays some part in uncovering those secrets….
there were months when i'd be involved with a boyfriend & at those times i would be monogamous and try to be a typical normal person. it's only when things went down hill that id jump back to this old way of doing things.
Sticking with Oprah she is also the subject of a rant from More to Life over the Millions Little Pieces saga..
The smoking gun.com, finds exaggerated issues in the memoir's details. They don't claim the memoir has falsehoods. No. They claim Oprah has been duped. This would have had little to no effect had Oprah not bought into the falsehood that this book has anything to do with her because she picked it for her book club. It is just a book club Oprah!
Molara Wood and SisiOgeBlogs! both remember Lynden David Hall…
Some called him the nearest Britain had in RnB royalty, an artist who made one think of the best of African America Soul music. Lynden David Hall achieved a lot in his 31 years on earth
God bless Lynden David Hall….In our hearts you will stay, beautiful spirit!!!!

author: Sokari Ekine


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A List of French Authors Who Have Written on Africa · Global Voices
Alice Backer

At the blog Conscious Generation,  Another Africa  blogger HBG publishes  (FR) an exhaustive list of French authors who have written on Africa along with names of their works.


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Afghan Whispers · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Afghan Reality encourages foreign forces such as Canadian soldiers stay in Afghanistan. The blogger says
“Security. Security. Security. This is a persistent call for international assistance from the Afghan government, civil society and most importantly from the ordinary Afghans. How could peace and stability be envisaged without reassuring the safety of aid workers, citizens and elected representatives?”
Safrang talks about Europe & minorities:
“Denying the holocaust, a relatively recent and well-documented historical event, would at worst be a factual error, no more than that. One would think that no country in the world with a rule of law and respect for basic human liberties criminalizes erroneous historical claims, or jails people for committing factual errors and expressing personal opinions about historical events. Especially countries that purport to upholding freedom of expression, and excercising and defending it to the point of insulting hundreds of millions of people would be expected to defend the freedom to express controversial -or outright wrong and stupid- opinions. However, expressing doubts about holocaust is a crime in 10 European countries.”


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Africa is a continent NOT a country · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Confessions of the Mind criticises those who persist in referring to Africa as a country “Africa is a continent and not a country”.…”I am really tired of having my continent generalized and also having Nigerian folks here telling me that:  When I go back to Africa *in the midst of non-Africans and Africans alike*Yeah I know Africa, but can you please be specific. You don’t get non-Africans going when I go back to Europe or something like that. Or say they speak “European”


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Argentina, Chile: More Free Music · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Fernando Casale has more free tracks for indie music lovers. Check out Calostro from Chile and Argentine, Sebastián Kramer.

author: David Sasaki


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Armenia: Contrabass · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Notes from Hareinik writes on Hovik Babakhanyan's  one man show, “Contrabass.”

author: Nathan Hamm


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Armenia: Notes from the Armenian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Oneworld Multimedia has roundups of the Armenian-language blogosphere and the English-language Armenian blogosphere.


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Armenia: Temporary Anthems · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Zarchka writes about Armenia's temporary anthems, the songs that suddenly become popular and are played everywhere.


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Bangladesh: Infrastructure Blues · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Living in Dhaka becomes more difficult says Rezwan. Electricity, infrastructure and other services need improvement.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Barbados: First Album Release by Bloggers’ Brother · Global Voices
David Sasaki

SunGoddess does an undeniably great job promoting her brother's first album, “Free,” which has been released in Barbados by CRS Music. Links to sample tracks are provided.


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Bolivia: Support for Morales, but not Courts · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo Ávila links to a survey which says that 79% of Bolivians approve of new president, Evo Morales so far. Meanwhile, Miguel Buitrago points to the large distrust of the Bolivian justice system, asking, “is this a crisis of the democratic sistem or is it a realignment?”


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Brazil: The Winners and Losers of Carnival · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Sangroncito has three descriptive posts on Carnival in Salvador, noting that, “not everyone in Salvador loves Carnaval. For some middle and upper class Soteropolitanos (as citizens of Salvador are called), Carnaval is a nightmare of crowds, noise and crime and they flee the city.” Robert Basler writes of a screenwriter's dream caper when four thieves stole several famous paintings from a Rio de Janeiro museum by disappearing into the Carnival crowd. But it's Made in Brazil who has the most tragic story of a gay couple that was brutally beaten by five men simply for kissing in public. The story is yet to be picked up by the major english press, but a link to an article in Portuguese with pictures is provided.


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China: Blogger in church · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Shanghai-based blogger and Microsoft employee Wang Jianshuo goes to church, and gets something out of the service despite not being a Christian.

author: Luisetta Mudie


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China: Why unenforced laws matter · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Chinese Law Prof notes the appearance of a new book by Kevin O'Brien and Lianjiang Li, Rightful Resistance in Rural China, saying it shows how legal texts can be socially meaningful even when they are not in any practical sense enforceable by courts or other state institutions.


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DRC: 38,000 still dying every month · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Congo Watch reminds us that up to 38,000 people are still dying every month in the Democratic Republic of Congo...”The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remains a humanitarian disaster despite the presence of UN troops and the recent approval of a new constitution that paved the way for elections in April, said a report from a think tank on Saturday.”


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Ethiopia: Role of the Diaspora · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Weichegud!ET Politics continues her discussion on  the role of the Ethiopian Diaspora in mobilizing and lobbying for a better Ethiopia.


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Ethiopia: Yacob Hailemariam · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

Nazret.com reports on the continuing imprisonment of Ethiopian professor, Yacob Hailemariam.  “Hailemariam left Virginia Beach for his native Ethiopia last year to try and spread the democratic values he’d come to cherish after decades in America. He won a seat in parliament in last May’s elections.”


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Eurasia: HIV/AIDS · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Jessica of neweurasia discusses HIV/AIDS in Eurasia.


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Hong Kong: Horse city · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

SimonWorld picks up on local media reports surrounding the establishment of a new company specially to organize equestrian events ahead of the 2008 Olympics. Do the 80-strong workforce need offices in downtown Hong Kong, or closer to the stables in the New Territories, he muses.


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Hong Kong: Sexual hoopla · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

EastSouthWestNorth reports, with pictures, on the opening day of Hong Kong's Sexual Cultural Festival 2006, which featured a demurely dressed inflatable doll and an anatomically correct hoopla stall.


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Hong Kong: Writing oneself · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Glutter completes a 18,000-word post, seven days after the break-up with her man, and emerges saying she has written her way out of it.


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India: Bhopal Disaster · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Bhopal Blog which hopes to seek justice for those affected by disaster – “The Bhopal Blog is an attempt by AID (Association for India’s Development) volunteers in India and the USA to garner support for the victims of the Bhopal Disaster and show the affected that the world is behind them in their struggle for justice.”


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India: The early years of AIDS · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Lives in Focus has a feature on the profile of a social worker who worked in the early years of the AIDS epidemic – “As time passes, it is important to acknowledge the struggles of those involved in the early years of the battle against AIDS in India.”


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Indonesia: Blog to You · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Indonesian blogger Nagasundani asks “What is blog to you?” Some people, he says, write about their own life. His own answer: “For me this blog helps me to develop my writing and capture my imagination on spot. How deep I can write about sex, dirty things, evil inspiration, anything far from your character, your life.”

author: Jose Manuel Tesoro


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Iran: Being American Iranian  · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Brooding Persian talks about in an ironic way about being American Iranian in a future US-Iran war: In a case I am taken as a prisoner of war by either side, I refuse to perform human pyramid tricks or commit suicide by downing hair removal creams. I also like to request from the Iranian side not to ask me to blow myself up, and the American side not to ask me to attach electrical wires to nipples of hooded prisoners.


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Iraq in Crisis – The Optimists Strike Back · Global Voices
Salam Adil

As the crisis in Iraq rumbles on bloggers are divided on the whether there is civil war and how bad things really are. For the sake of balance here is the reports of those who are looking for lights at the end of the tunnel.
If you want to understand what is really going on read this:
Ali of Free Iraqi gives an excellent analysis of the mentaility of the Iraqi Sunni and Shia.
He concludes by saying:
I think we should all look at ourselves first and for me I think the major problem is that Saddam's mentality is still running this country through people like Sadr, Al-Hakeem, Adnan Al-Dulaimi and Barzani. It's those people who keep inflaming those already existing divisions for their own benifit, as they represnt nothing but ethnic and sectarian hatred and they feed this fear and hatred among their people so that they vote for them. We Iraqis need to see that and then Americans need to see that too. The solution is certainly not even visible now but I think it helps a lot to identify the problem first.
The optimists strike back:
Forget civil war we have all out blogger battles in Iraq. The Konfused Kid is not confused anymore , he starts with a warning: “WARNING : I am pissed off, so I may say things I do not mean.” and then lays into Zeyad and AnaRki13:
F**k you Zeyad, F**k you Anarki13, f**k you my sectarain grandmother, f**k anyone who's done anything to wallow in the misery of Iraq and incite more hatred, fear and death amongst the masses, either intentionally or not. Those blogger friends who have taken to recluse in digging up any horrible stories and passing them off to anyone who can hear, glorifiying any negative news they can find, please ignore these sorry fools
Ouch. But why?
Zeyad, a friend of mine and arguably the best Iraqi blogger out there, has been continously adding oil to the pan by translating to the world at large gloomy news from a decidedly miserable website …all the news Zeyad's been passing are all about doom and gloom, stop glorifiying the death…
As for 13, who immediately called it a Civil War and put his head in the sand, well, dude, please, I know u hate Iraq and everything but can't u at least have a little faith in yourself?
But he has something positive to say:
I know Iraq will pass through this, and it will actually be a good thing in retrospect because people have got a taste of what it's like of pitting brother against brother and it will bring the people together…Iraq is filled with nice intellctual guys, yeah I've come out and dared to say it. These people will not engage in this folly…
I love my country. Shit, I never knew I cared so much.
Iraq Pundit takes the Western media to task:
Why do these reporters want to see a civil war so badly in Iraq? It looks to me that they hate Bush so much that they will stop at nothing to prove that he's wrong about Iraq and they are right. The reporters have sunk so low as to take this cheap angle of insisting that an all out civil war has been underway for three years. When will they wake up and realize that this is not a White House scandal. This is about Iraq and its people.
24 Steps To Libery is amazed by a picture she posts from his TV:
Iraqi clergymen, Shiites and Sunnis, have met in a mosque in Baghdad and decided to contribute to ending the crisis… What was amazing about it is the unity they showed on TV. In the picture, Kubaisi [spokesman of the Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars] is shown leading the prayers and all the clergies behind him are Shiites from Sadr trend. This is the first time I see this. I’ve never seen a Sunni clergyman leading Shiite prayers…. This is a huge encouragement to Iraqis and a huge defeat also for those who predicted a wide civil war in Iraq.
Ali is not scared by the prospect of civil war:
this mounting rage and distrust among both Sunnis and She'at may not be resolved by Sistanis misplaced calls for tolerance or the Sunni scholars faked offers for peace and it may be needed that things are taken to the extreme to show Sunnis that they're not the strongest anymore and to show She'at that being a majority does not mean you can whip out 5 or 6 million Sunnis from Iraq. Both parties would most likely learn after that to live in real tolerance and acceptance of their differences.


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Jamaica: First Female Prime Minister · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Continuing the global trend of more female heads of state, Portia Simpson-Miller won elections to become the first female party leader and Prime Minister in Jamaica's history. Although not his first choice, Leon Robinson says of Simpson-Miller: “she can cross party lines, she has a humble attitude, she's spiritual and she's seen as a caring person. She also led a terrific campaign. She should make a great prime minister.” Charles Matheson points out that “female Prime Ministers and Presidents in the past have proved themselves to be no pushovers.” Dr. D sounds skeptical when he says, “we will see if having a woman runnin tings going mek any difference.”


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Kazakhstan: Protests in Almaty · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

neweurasia and Registan.net write about yesterday's opposition protests in Almaty over the murder of opposition leader Altynbek Sarsenbaev.


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Kenya: Poverty eradication industry · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

ThinkersRoom comments on the growing poverty eradication industry…“Poverty is one of the biggest employers, and what’s more, has created some of the biggest gravy trains in history”


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Laos, Singapore: Swords to Ploughshares · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Preetam Rai visits the Singapore air show. The sight of the weapon merchants’ wares reminds him of what he had seen in Laos: war material turned into flowerpots.


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Malaysia: Blogger Probe · Global Voices
Jose Manuel Tesoro

Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi looks like he might be investigated for his coverage of a local controversy over an allegedly disrespectful cartoon published in the New Straits Times. He writes: “Let the law take its course and let justice be seen to be done.”


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Mexico: New Report Documenting Mexico’s Dirty War · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Michelle Dion links to resources in English on the soon-to-be released official report of abuses by the PRI regime in Mexico's Dirty War of the late 60's and 70's. RegioBlogs and Olganza have more information in Spanish.