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Armenia: Mourning · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Nazarian joins bloggers marking 7-9 March days of mourning on the Internet for those killed during last weekend's post-election riot in Armenia.


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Armenia: Souless State Department · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

The Armenia Now blog remarks on the arrival of U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza in Armenia in an attempt to defuse tensions after last weekend's post-election riot which left eight dead. The blog criticizes Bryza for his comments to president-elect Serge Sargsyan.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Azerbaijan: Death Star Hotel · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

It looks quite impressive and futuristic on first glance — a hotel that bears an uncanny resemblance to the Death Star from the Star Wars films. Remarkably, however, the hotel will not be built in Las Vegas or Dubai. It is instead planned for Baku, capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Fan IQ thinks that the project is an attempt to increase Baku's chances of hosting the 2016 Olympic Games, and if so, the sports blog believes it might just have succeeded.
So although the 2016 Games are a long way off, if you're a city that wants to host them, you better get your act together.
Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, officially has it's #$%@ together. They're in the intense running for the 2016 Games – which will be announced next year – and I think they just took the lead.
How so?
Well, my friends, they're going to build a hotel based off of the Death Star from Star Wars for the Games.
The Geeky Traveler seems impressed too.
Azerbaijan is not a country that is usually top on the list for people desperately wanting a vacation, but they’re working on a concept hotel that may draw attention and interest. Although it’s designed in such a way that it changes appearance depending on the angle, from the front it looks remarkably like the Death Star from Star Wars, and I have to say that if I did end up needing to travel there for some reason, I would totally want to stay in the Death Star hotel!
The Gadgets Blog, however, wonders if there isn't more to the futuristic hotel than meets the eye.
I personally just think it’s a cover up for things to come and I’m taking the proper precautions.
The last time someone planned to build a Death Star, there was a little guy named Anakin walking around claiming to bring a balance in the force. And well, we all know how that one turned out.
If anyone needs me, I’ll be in a bunker in Iceland rounding up Wookies and Ewoks.
May the Force be with you.
Gizmodo gets equally excited, but then notices an important difference between the hotel and the intergalactic space station than can obliterate entire planets.
They call it “Full Moon” but they are not fooling us: this is a fully armed, fully operational battle station. And it shall be destroyed before it's too late, with a bunch of small fighters that can escape its turbolasers and drop proton torpedoes down an exhaust port. Or maybe not, if you look at it from its side.
Vagabondish also notes that the resemblance stops on further inspection, but brings us all back down to earth by sharing information that might actually be of more interest to potential tourists. The blog also remarks that it's interesting to note that the further east you travel, the more futuristic architectural design gets.
[O]n to the actual living conditions, and the interiors promise to be lavishly spacious – just 382 rooms spread across 35 floors and 104,182 square meters of space. The Full Moon Hotel sits on a wavy podium with two apartment complexes at either side, named, quite fittingly, Palace of Wind 1 and 2.
It’s interesting to see how so many of these futuristic looking designs are moving eastward. Traditionalists may cringe at the Full Moon Hotel’s design with thousands of hexagonal honeycombs running through its back, but you have to admit, it is a change from conventional tall, drab blocks of concrete with no defining features for miles.
Regardless, as About:Blank points out, whether it's officially called the Full Moon Rising Hotel or not, it will probably be referred to by everyone as “that Death Star Hotel.” Olympics or not, there will likely be a few Star Wars conventions in Baku. If so, count me in. The Hotel looks cool.


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Bahamas: Global Warming Compensation? · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

WeblogBahamas.com refers to a column by former diplomat Sir Ronald Sanders, which “advocates that the Caribbean countries should introduce compensation for the damage being done to the region by the emissions from industrialised countries into trading agreements.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bahrain: Bizarre Conversations  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bint Battuta in Bahrain shares with us some of the bizarre conversations she has had with people over the past few days.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Bahrain: Scantily Clad Women Strike the Wrong Chord · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Seeing pictures of what he describes as “scantily clad women” in local newspapers, doesn't strike a chord with Bahraini blogger Jaffar who takes the opportunity to rant about other practises he frowns upon in the media and real life in this post I am translating from Arabic today.
It all starts with the pictures of women not wearing the Hijab, featured in daily newspapers, which covered this year's Education Day celebrations in Bahrain, where the country's top graduates are honoured. Jaffar complains:
من خلال تصفحي لجرائدنا المحلية الأسبوع الفائت.. كنت أشاهد صور كثيرة لفعاليات عيد العلم وأخذت أقلب الصور وأفكر فيها.. صور نساء بعضهم بدون حجاب وبعضهم بلبس فاحش لا يتقبله إسلامنا.. هل نطلق على هؤلاء مسلمون وهل هذا بلد الإسلام.. أصبحت هذه الصور تعرض في صحفنا وفي شاشات التلفاز ونشاهد هذه المشاهد حية أيضا عند زيارة الاماكن العامة كالمجمعات والمنتزهات.. فكيف وصلنا إلى هذا الحد وما الفرق بيننا وبين الدول الغير مسلمة..
While going through newspapers last week, I saw a lot of pictures for the Education Day celebrations. As I was turning the pages, I started to think…pictures of women without the Hijab (Islamic headscarf) and some were in indecent attires, which are not acceptable in Islam. Do we call those people Muslims and do we claim we are in a Muslim country? Those pictures are now being shown in newspapers and on television and we even see those people live in public places like malls and parks. How did we reach this level and what is the difference between us and non-Islamic countries?
From the scantily clad graduates, who included the country's top graduates as well as those who obtained their Masters and Phd degrees, Jaffar turns his attention to television advertisements. He writes:
الصورة ذاتها عند مشاهدة الإعلانات التجارية في التلفاز حين يكون الإعلان عبارة عن منتج كسائل غسل الشعر والجسم او ألة إزالة الشعر لتظهر لنا بطلة الإعلان وهي في الحمام مثلا تظهر شعرها ومناطق من جسدها كالرقبة والظهر والأرجل.. وكأنة شيء لم يكن ونحن نشاهد ونضحك..
The same image repeats itself in commercial advertisements on television. When the advertisement is for a product like a shampoo, body wash or hair remover, we see a girl in the bathroom showing her hair and parts of her body like her neck, back and legs. And we laugh about that as if it was nothing.
He then shares a conversation he had with a colleague at work and says:
أمس كان أحد الزملاء في العمل يستنكر وجود صورة لعارضة أزياء غربية في صحيفة بحرينية.. فذكرت له إن الملام في عرض هذه الصورة هي الصحيفة فقط.. أما عرض صور مشابهة في محافل بحرينية تظهر فيها نسائنا بصور غير مشرفة للإسلام وهنا الملام هو المجتمع بأسره..
One of my colleagues at work yesterday condemned the presence of a photograph of a foreign model in a Bahraini newspaper. I told him that the newspaper was to blame for having her picture there. However, showing similiar pictures in Bahraini society, where women are featured in situations which are unhonourable for Islam is the fault of society as a whole.
In a comment on the post, Jr7 baky writes:
اعتدنا على هذه الصور وأصبح ذلك عاديا في مجتمعنا الاسلامي!!!
اعتقد تلك النساء الغير متحجبات او ذواتي اللباس الفاحش الغير محتشم ناتج عن ضعف ايمانهم وقله ثقافتهم وعدم رقي تفكيرهم وانحطاط مسؤليتهم..والسبب الاول هو البيئة والمجتمع والمحيط التي تعيش فيه..وهم الاهل
ربما تلك المرأه نشأت في بيئة أو اسره غير مكترثه للحجاب..فالاسلام لا يجبرها بالحجاب ..لابد ان تشعر بالاقتناع والرضى من الداخل على لبسه..لان عمر الشى ما يجي بالغصب..
الصور التي في الاعلانات التجارية واسمها تجارية ماهي الا لكسب المال ولذلك نشاهد كثير من النساء ذواتي الاجسام الرخيصة يعرضونها ليتمنظر بها الشباب ..شفتوا شلون يبيعون اجسامهم بجم ربيه..
We have become used to seeing those images and they have become the norm in our Muslim society!!! I believe that women who don't wear the hijab and those who wear indecent clothing have weak beliefs, are not cultured and civilised in their thinking and are irresponsible. The main cause for this is their environment, society and the surroundings we live in.. and that is their families. Perhaps that woman was raised in a home which did not pay a lot of attention to the hijab. Islam doesn't enforce the hijab (on women) .. she should be convinced and satisfied internally to wear it. Nothing is by force. The pictures we see in commercial advertisements are just that – commercial. They are only to make money. This is why we see women with cheap bodies who are ready to put themselves on display for youth. Do you see how they sell their bodies for a few coins?


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Bahrain: Sleep, Food, TV, Sleep · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Lizardo from Bahrain complains about unemployment in this post.


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China: Freedom and Welfare · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Maomy posts a speech by Qin Hui (a public intellectual advocating political liberalism) at Ohmymedia, which explains his position in political reform in China: a parallel reform of freedom and welfare (zh).

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Photojournalist Fired for “Political Incident” · Global Voices
Meng Zhang

Wang Lili, a 52-year old photojournalist, received his pink slip from Tongzhou Newsletter where he had been working more than 3 years and the only reason for the dismissal was an incomprehensible “political incident” that in one of his picture reports for the local People's Congress, the warden of Beijing Tongzhou District “bowed the head with closed eyes, presenting an off-colored image”, Southern Metropolis Weekly Reported last Friday. The problem photo taken by Wang was concluded as a picture report which biased its readers against the government, exerting extremely bad political influence.
The Report on Wang Lili's inexplicable misfortune was abundantly reproduced and linked to in Chinese blogosphere. Although some of the portal sites had deleted the relevant news, the story sill quickly became a hot topic in all sorts of BBS and online communities.
Blogger Marcher, a guy living in Tongzhou District, showed his opinions on Wang Lili's cause which just occurred around himself:
说说俺们通州最近的牛逼事儿。
领导们开会读稿子的时候，千万别拍照，要是拍了就自己留着好了，要不跟 CGX 同志一样流传出去，事情就闹大了。正所谓，领导很生气，后果很严重。
看看这位可怜的《通州时讯》报的摄影记者，因为咱通州区的区长一愤怒，挂了。
该报社给王力利的辞退告知书上有这样的话——“经查，2008年1月10日《通州时讯》第二版刊登你拍摄的邓乃平区长代表区政府向大会做政府工作报告的图片新闻出现导向性偏差，政治影响极其不好，属于严重失职，是一起政治事故。经研究决定，即日起本公司与你解除劳动合同。”
至于这张照片怎么出了偏差，偏差到了什么样子，看看就知道，反正不黄不暴力。
虽然是早在今年一月份的事儿，但是直到前几天事情才传开。看看网易新闻上的报道，是这么说的。
《通州时讯》一位报社领导在电话里解释了这张照片的政治事故含义：“这张照片作为图片新闻，传达大会的精神是错误的，不振奋的，难道照片想告诉读者，通州区去年的工作没做好，区长在低头认罪？”
报社领导的这一句话完美地诠释了照片的“导向性”错误。领导就是领导。
更多消息，可以参见百度新闻的低头照专题。
还好，百度这回没把这种领导的新闻屏蔽掉。值得夸奖。
之所以用百度，是因为 google.cn 都打不开了。
Update：
一位网易网友的评论。
网易上海市浦东新区网友 ip：124.78.*.*：
2008-03-03 17:34:56 发表
区长猛于虎，拍照需谨慎
我觉得，真是说到点儿上了。
I want to talk about a piece of recent damn news happening in Tongzhou.
Never take photos while the leading cadres are reading their speech notes in a meeting. If you have done it, just keep them for yourself because once the photos go around like Edison Chen's case, you will wake a sleeping dog. It's said that the cadre was very angry and the consequences would be severe.
Let's have a look at this poor photojournalist of Tongzhou Newsletter. He was finished as soon as our Tongzhou District warden flew into a rage.
.
A quote from the dismissal letter which sent by the newspaper office to Wang Lili–“Through investigation, the photo which you took for warden Deng Naiping who was on behalf of the District Government to make the work report for the Congress, being published in the second page of Tongzhou Newsletter on January 10, 2008, turns out to be a guiding bias and has exerted extremely bad political influence. Your action is considered as a serious negligence of duty and the case is identified as a political incident. After a good deal of discussion, the company decides to terminate the contract with you as from today.”
.
As to what bias the photo has made and how serious the bias is, just see it by yourself. It's not so yellow, so violent anyway.
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A head of the Tongzhou Newsletter explained the political incident of the photo through telephone, “this photo, as picture report, had conveyed the spirit of the Congress in a wrong and uninspiring way. Did it intend to show the readers that the government of Tongzhou District had not done a good job last year and our warden bowed his head to plead guilty?”
.
What the head of the newspaper office said above has perfectly annotate the photo's “guiding” fault. Leadership is to lead.
You may see the special of 低头照（bowed head photo）in Baidu News.
Luckily, this time Baidu didn't block the criticizing news about the leadership. It really deserves a pat on the back.
Of course, we use Baidu because we can't visit google.cn.
.
The comment by a Netease Nitizen.
Netease netizen from Pudong New Area in Shanghai, ip：124.78.*.*：
2008-03-03 17:34:56 Published
The District Chief is fiercer than a tiger, so please be careful to take photo of him.
.
I think it has hit the nail on the head.
Netease Blogger Li Gaosheng expressed his worry on China's press circles which are full of “hidden rules” and “forbidden grounds”:
前一段时间，西丰县委书记要到北京抓记者，沦为笑谈，那是因为记者并非他治下的媒体从业者，而是《法制日报》的记者。现在北京市通州区区长就给其辖下的一名记者上了一课——《通州时讯》摄影记者王力利因为在报道该区“两会”时拍摄的区长“低着头，闭着眼，形象不佳”而被辞退。
…
看来，记者是“无冕之王”的说法是偏颇的，甚至是滑稽的。
区长很生气，后果很严重！
看最近的新闻，我感到“铁饭碗”并不铁，只要“一把手”看不惯、看不顺，照样摘你的乌纱、砸你的饭碗，法律、规章在这里显得异常脆弱！
这是中国特色，还是习惯使然？
看着老王离去时没落的背影，背后他的同事还在抽泣。
这是记者的悲哀还是媒体的悲哀？
曾经读过一篇文章，名叫《我是弱者，因为我是记者》，一直以为记者掌握“话语权”，现在看来并非如此。原来理想和现实的距离还很长，新闻工作和其他工作一样，也有很多不得不遵守的“规则”和“潜规则”，有各种各样的“禁区”和“雷区”。
…
Not long ago, the Party committee secretary of Xifeng County let his local police go to Beijing to arrest the journalists, which has been standing jokes, because the journalists are not the media practitioners working under his power, but the reporters of Legal Daily (法制日报) in Beijing. Now, the warden of Beijing Tongzhou District has given a reporter under his authority a lesson–Wang Lili, the photojournalist of Tongzhou Newsletter, was fired because the district warden in his “two grand meeting” picture report “bowed the head with closed eyes, presenting an off-colored image”.
…
It seems, to call the journalists “uncrowned kings” is biased and even ridiculous.
The district warden was very angry and the consequences would be severe.
According to the recent news, I have a feeling that “iron rice bowl” is not iron. Once the “top leaders” take huff at you, they can give you the sack at will. Laws and regulations here are extremely fragile!
Is it the Chinese characteristics or the result of habit?
Watching old Wang's declining back, his colleagues were still sniveling.
Is it the grief of reporters or the media?
I used to read an article entitled I am weak, because I am a reporter. For a long time, I thought it was the reporters that hold the “right to speak”; now it appears that is not the case. The disparity between ideal and reality is extraordinary. Like other work, the journalism also have to abide by lots of “rules” and “hidden rules”, and elude a variety of “forbidden areas” and “minefields”.
…
On KDNET which started the topic on Wang Lili's cause rapidly, the netizens vied with each other in airing their own views:
文章提交者：lihailin118
弄得普通工作人员人心惶惶，你还是共产党员吗？还是人民区长吗？
就这张照片，算个啥，也没鞠躬呀。即使鞠躬了，又算什么呀。
想起布什，他敢这样干？
布莱尔，他敢这样干？
连最简单的人道主义都不讲，简直就是土皇帝。
还在北京呢，都敢这么干，要在外地，在小地方，下面更没法活了。
Author: lihailin118
To make the average workers disquieted, are you a qualified Communist? Are you a qualified district warden for the people.
There's nothing special in the picture! No one bowed. Even if the warden had bowed, what of it?
Dare Bush do that?
Dare Blair do that?
We can't see the most basic humanism in the warden's eyes. He is just a local despot.
If the leading cadre dare do such a terrible thing in Beijing, the situation in other parts of China will be worse.
文章提交者：夜半临深池
唉，哀民之艰辛，能找到这类“政治事故”的另外一个国家全世界就只剩下朝鲜了，如果真的是民意决定官员前途的话，会有多少这样的官员由于类似事件而激发起民愤而下台，官员自己认为是影响自己个人形象的照片，也可以政治无限发挥扩大化上升到“政治事件”，个人利益等同于国家利益。
Author: Visiting the Deep Pond at Midnight
Alas, how hard the people's life is! Besides China, such kind of “Political Incident” can only appear in North Korea. If the will of people can really decide the leadership's future，how many cadres will be ousted by the public indignation aroused by the similar things? If a leading cadre can freely strain his power to make the picture report a “Political Incident” because he is personally not satisfied with his image in the photo, the country will be controlled by the personal volition.
文章提交者：四月的某时
可见新闻有多么自由
Author: Some Time in April
It has revealed how free our press is.
文章提交者：tty66
拍出精髓了哈，本来就是在闭着眼睛说瞎话嘛．
Author: tty66
The photo has shown the essence that the district warden is closing his eyes to tell lies (to tell a bare-faced lie).
文章提交者：掐出去捏死
报社脑子也是死的，像我这样PS一下不就好了，不但两眼囧囧有神，看着还漂亮了几分呢！
Author: Nipping it out and killing it by pinch
The newspaper office was too rigid. Why not PS (use the photoshop to edit) the photo like me? It has not only let the two eyes glaring but also more beautiful.
文章提交者：南北东西行客
这类事，在新闻界司空见惯。
因为把地方领导人名单排序错了的，总编被撤。
因为第二把手的发言刊登的比第一把手多几十字，总编被撤。
因为报案件侦破通讯时涉及地方领导人秘书，总编被撤。
俺耳闻目睹了十几起。
所以，俺们互相提醒，如果你去当记者，一定要懂什么叫“政治家办报”
Author: South-North-East-West Traveler
It's by no means unusual to see such things in press circles.
The chief editor would be dismissed because the name list was out of order, the words of the first chair's speech was less than the second's in the paper, or the crime news involved the local leader's secretary。
I have seen and heard a dozen similar events.
So, we remind each other that if you are going to be a journalist, you must understand what “Politician running newspaper” is.
文章提交者：mldtk
感觉有点可怕。文革前期就陆续有各种政治事件。
什么人有权做出这样的定性？
医疗事故，有鉴定委员会；打官司有法律；政治事件谁有权定性？发生在自己身上的事情，应该由上级调整吧？
记者没有专业组织吗？
Author: mldtk
I feel a little scared. It was before the Cultural Revolution that all sorts of political incidents continually appeared.
Who has the right to give such a judgment?
There is investigative commission dealing with the medical accidents and the court working on the lawsuits, but who has the power to judge the political incidents? As usual, the things should be found by the head in their own trade, right? Don't the journalists have their own professional organization?
文章提交者:血海飞霞
这位老兄是替罪羊,被人牺牲掉的,干过报纸的都知道,拍什么照片是摄影记者的事,但版面上上什么照片则是报社领导的事,明显地替领导在背黑锅
Author:Xuehai Feixia
The guy is a scapegoat that has been victimized by others. Anyone who has worked in the press knows that to take what kind of photos is the photojournalist's job, but to decide which one should be published is his head's work. Obviously, that guy is forced to assume total responsibility for his boss.
文章提交者：阿赛尔
有些人总是为这些官僚的霸道寻找借口，要让老百姓忍耐，出了问题，就怪老百姓素质低。他们说，“中国目前的情况已经不错了，相比于3000多年的历史，是伟大的时代，要对执政者理解，不能发出杂音”。他们还把中国不民主的责任，归结为老百姓的素质差。
大家看看这个事实，坐在这位记者的身份上想想，究竟该怎么样，才能做到既不违反新闻职业道德，还要人家满意呢？新闻毕竟要讲事实的阿。
干脆，以后官员们直接发广告好了，搞什么新闻发布呢！你这是新闻么？把你拍真实了，你都踹人啊!
Author: Asser
Some persons always seek excuses for those bureaucrats’ overbearing behavior, asking the public to endure all the time and once there is something wrong, they will shift the blame to the low quality of the people. They would like to say, “compared to the past 3000 years, the present China is excellent and we are living in a great era, so we must understand the rulers and not give any opposing voice.” What's more, they impute China's undemocratic conditions to   the common people's poor quality.
Let's pay attention to the fact and think from the reporter's view. How should we do to comply with the journalism ethics and the political officials’ requests at the same time? Anyway, the news must be based on the truth.
Why don't the bureaucrats simply put up an advertisement from now on? There is no need to  use the news media for them. Can we see the reports under their order as real news? Even honestly taking photos of them would become a disaster.

author: Meng Zhang


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Colombia: View from U.S. Primary Candidates · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Plan Colombia and Beyond collects the reactions of the three remaining U.S. presidential candidates regarding the recent tensions between Colombia and Ecuador.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Croatia: Words and Pictures · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An occasional glance at Croatia's landmarks (e.g. Zagreb's train station) and a Croatian word a day – at Bojan's Blog.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Czech Republic: New Schengen Problems · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Czech Daily Word reports on the “thousands of Americans” who “are staying illegally in the Czech Republic” – “because of the new Schengen rules.”


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Dominica: Child Abuse · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“The head of the Child Abuse Prevention unit said there has been an increase of about 30 percent of reported cases of child abuse in Dominica”: Dominica Weekly offers advice on what to do if you think a child may be abused.


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Ecuador: Diplomacy and OAS Resolution Not Enough · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Milton Ramirez of BPLE [es] collects more reactions from Ecuadoran bloggers, but also summarizes that the recent meetings at the Organization of American States were not enough to “restore the soverignty of Ecuador.”


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Ecuador: Double Standards for the FARC and Colombia · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

“The FARC can violate our borders on a daily basis, set up camps in our jungle, but the Colombian government cannot?  It is only then, when we explode, break off relations and even appear as if we are preparing for war?”  writes Vida Quiteña en Gringoland [es].


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Ecuador: What Should Happen With the Border Crisis · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Danny Ayala Hinojosa of El Federalista [es] writes what he wants regarding this border crisis, “We want the Venezuelan and Ecuadoran troops to return to their bases,” and “We want the conflict to be resolved diplomatically and for the insults to the legitimate governments and the people and institutions that they represent to stop.”


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Egypt: 600 Muslim Brotherhood Members Arrested · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

More than 600 Muslim Brotherhood members have been arrested in Egypt. Elijah Zarwan sheds light on the issue.


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Egypt: Call to Socialist Bloggers · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“I’m compiling a list of revolutionary socialist bloggers who are affiliated with the International Socialist Tendency groups… If you are one of them, please email me on egyptian[dot]bolshevik[at]gmail[dot]com … Get in touch, we need to start networking more… for workers’ power and international socialism…” writes Hossam El Hamalawy from Egypt.


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Egypt: Jeffrey Black’s New Blog  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Cairo-based journalist Jeffrey Black, who is currently in Yemen, has a new blog: Middle East Diaries, announces The Arabist.


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Egypt: Khaled Hamza Still in Jail  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Arabist, from Egypt, updates us on the arrest of Muslim Brotherhood website's editor Khaled Hamza in this post.


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Egypt: New Book Out · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The Arabist draws our attention to a new book on the political situation in Egypt.


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Egypt: Secrets Kept by Palms  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Egypt, Zeinab shares a story entitled Secrets Kept by Palms.


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Egypt: The Knights of Lebanon  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Egypt, The Arabist introduces us to a new profession in Lebanon. “There is a category for “knight.” A holdover from the Crusades?” he wonders.


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Egypt’s Smartest Child  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Meet the smartest child in Egypt. Zeinobia has the story.


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Estonia: Otepää · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Otepää, “the Estonian winter capital.”


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FOKO: Bloggers put Madagascar in the spotlight  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Last month Madagascar was devastated by Cyclone Ivan and the world press barely noticed it. The Force and destruction of the tropical storm was comparable to Hurricane Katrina, yet Andriankoto of Foko Madagascar tells us that the coverage by the US and French press was “bare minimum”. Malagasy bloggers took to the task of filling the information void:
Mainstream media may have dropped the ball on covering the cyclonic season in the Indian Ocean but alternative citizen media filled the void and try their best to keep the lines of communication open within the country and with the rest of the world.
The combined efforts of bloggers covering the aftermath of the storm resulted in an interactive map of the current status of many regions in Madagascar after Ivan as well as a comprehensive slideshow illustrating the extend of flooding in Antanarivo and its surroundings.
Malagasy bloggers at FOKO blog club, a blog outreach initiative of FOKO, were also phenomenal in response. From the FOKO Blog:
One of our most enthusiastic bloggers, Avylavitra…has showered us with pictures from cyclone Ivan that devastated Madagascar.
Avylavitra also applied his recent learning of video-blogging by posting some videos on YouTube of the tidal surges Cyclone Ivan caused.
FOKO was busy last month with a lot of activities, including their first video and photo workshop.
For an example of the outcome, take a look at Avylavitra's Flickr account for coverage of the riots outside Mahamasina Municipal stadium during a football match.
FOKO also planted trees in the region of Andranovelona with the Namana SeraSera Youth Group. Avylavitra, a member of  Namana SeraSera posted some pictures of the tree planting which can be found in his Flickr album.
They also initiated a blog commenting exercise. More seasoned bloggers are encouraging new ones by following up others’ posts with tips and encouraging comments. So we have seen an increased flow of comments in participant blogs and a boost in the morale of budding bloggers..
A selection of three posts from January were translated for the international audience of Foko which can be found here.  Please don't miss gazety_adaladala's translated post to learn about the indiscriminate parking of cars in Antananarivo from early morning to late at night.
Despite the cyclone, FOKO carried on with its expansion plan in Madagascar’s second largest town, Toamasina.
“Our interest in bringing the Foko Blog Club to Toamasina resides in bringing more attention to a very dynamic region where the youth and the communities are highly skilled and have many stories to share with the world. Our Toamasina group will be of course driving attention to environmental echues that are not commonly talked about on the web or even on the ground. With their charming accent is different, their wonderful seafront and kindness, this group will very quickly surprise us!”
The workshop went on well and you can get the feeds of the newly trained Toamasina Bloggers here.
A selection of five of the February posts of the FOKO bloggers were translated on the Foko Blog Club page. Two of the featured Toamasina bloggers reveal how quickly they have begun expressing themselves via blogs.
Karenichia, from FBC-Tana-Youth group, continues with her excellent posts and is now also writing in English. She shares her concern about the Malagasy society and also wonders “Why is it so important for Malagasy societies and companies to have employees who have spent some years abroad?”
Meanwhile FOKO has resolved to strengthen their ties with the other Rising Voices grantees, learn from their experiences and apply their tips to running workshops successfully. They have put up posts about Nari Jibon, Hyperbarrio andVoces Bolivianas in their Blog.
Hery, a member of the Serasera Namana Group, is planning to bring teens and will teach them blogging himself. Read an interview with Hery on ICT and Youth in Madagascar.
Please check the FOKO project blog on Rising Voices and the FOKO Club Blog (or subscribe to their feeds) regularly for more updates on this exciting project.

author: Rezwan


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Hindi: Cricket victory and foodie delights in Old Delhi · Global Voices
Amit Gupta

Every Indian cricket fan is over the moon as India handed down two successive defeats to four times and current world champions Australia in first two (of three) final matches of the Commonwealth Bank Series which saw the third team Sri Lanka make a flamboyant exit by defeating Australia in their last match of the series and the last one before the finals. Pankaj at Cricket Fever writes that this record maker win for India has come after a period of 24 years as the Indian tigers beat Aussie kangaroos right in the Aussies’ backyard, kinda way off the track for a team which has crushed just about every international team on the planet and has maintained its hold on the World Cup for last 12 years.
Pankaj mentions how the complacent Aussie skipper Ricky ‘Punter’ Ponting had said before the first final match that the third final won't be played, clearly giving the message in hidden words that his team will wrap off the series in first two matches. Little did Ponting know that his words will come true word for word but not in a way he wanted or that he'd end up on the badly beaten side, a side on which many believe would've ended up in the test match series earlier had it not been for poor (many say ‘biased’) umpiring against the Indian team!
Pankaj mentions that this one day match series was very successful as far as the Indian team is concerned as it found many young talented players, a captain with a ‘never say die’ attitude who wouldn't give in. According to him, if the young gun fast bowler Ishant Sharma was the find of the series, it was also the series which showed that there's no alternative to the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who gunned India's thrust towards victory with his unparalleled stroke play.
Dipanshu at Musafir narrates his foodie exploration experiences of old Delhi, the Chandni Chowk area where he goes on to eat the mouth-watering and yummy paranthas at Paranthe wali Gali which used to be full of shops selling only paranthas many years back but now has only a few shops which sell freshly made paranthas of different types and tastes (I'm already feelin hungry, eh!).
Then he moves on to tell about the famous chaat shop thats on the other end of the Paranthe wali Gali which sells absolutely yummy “aloo tikki” and “dahi bhalle”. And just a bit ahead from there is, he says, the famous sweet shop of Ghantewala which got its name from a big bell (called “ghanta” in hindi) which used to hang outside the shop in the Mughal times.
He further notes that he came across another great “chaat” shop near Fatehpuri Mosque further up and if one is fond of non-vegetarian food then they should try out the famous Karim's, near Jama Masjid, for Mughlai delicacies at this almost a century old restaurant which is said to be opened in 1913 by a descendant of a royal cook of last Mughal King Bahadur Shah Zafar.
Abhishek at Shabdarth remembers the old days when the first ever television serial(made by Ramanand Sagar) on the hindu epic Ramayana used to air on Doordarshan, a remake of the epic serial (made by Ramanand Sagar's son Prem Sagar) currently airs on NDTV Imagine which has caught Abhishek's fancy as did the earlier version years back as he recalls his old memories when a huge crowd used to assemble in the outer room of his house in his village during the showtime as only they had a TV in the whole village.
Links courtesy: Narad

author: Amit Gupta


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Hungary: Styrofoam Lenin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pestiside writes, among many other things, about “a Styrofoam statue of the goateed mass-murdering Bolshevik that was seen moseying up the Duna, apparently on the way to some film shoot.”


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India: Environment and Journalism · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Don't Trust the Indian Media! on the deplorable coverage of environmental issues in the media.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Sharia and History · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Indian Muslims Blog reflects on Sharia laws as implemented by Muslims rulers.


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Iran:Old Tehran in photos · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Here are several photos where can we see Tehran in 1930 or even in 19th century.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran:President,people and nulcear issue · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Mohmmad Ali Abtahi,former reformist vice president, writes that Iranian president,Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,says “Iran has passed superpowers and nuclear issue is finalized.” He adds “the most important reason public opinion does not trust the statements of officials is making use of this kind of advertisement.”


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Japan: American enka singer makes waves · Global Voices
Hanako Tokita

The first ever American-born enka singer, Jero, has become the talk of the Japanese blogosphere the past weeks as he made his debut with the single “Umiyuki (Ocean Snow)”.  The single came in fourth on the Oricon music chart, setting a record in the enka as well as Top 10 charts for a debut enka single.
Jero, born as Jerome White Jr. in Pittsburgh, developed his passion for enka as he grew up listening to the music with his Japanese grandmother. As soon as he graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in information science, he moved to Japan with a dream to become an enka singer. While working as an English teacher and later as an IT engineer, through performances at local karaoke competitions, he was discovered by a record label and eventually rose to fame in Japan.
1ko2ko3kon writes that Jero has breathed new life into enka:
もう、ジェロがマンネリに陥って沈滞している演歌界に新しい息吹を吹き込んでいます。
実にすばらしいことです。ジェロ演歌の魅力に刺激され、作詞家、作曲家、歌手たちが、新しい歌謡曲の領域を開拓してくれんことを大いに期待します。
演歌歌手を目指し苦労している皆様、後から来たジェロが瞬間に抜いていきました。もう見えません。マンネリ演歌を引き継いでいては、永遠に目は出ません。聞き手に訴える新しいものを創造しチューニングしてください。必ずや花開くでしょう。
Dan Markoff, an American actor trying to establish himself in Japan, sees some similarities between himself and Jero and wishes the singer success.
On the other hand, this blogger is not quite convinced:
音楽でもアートでもジャンルが色々あるのには
生まれでてくる背景が色々あるからで
なんも関係ないところからスタイルだけを
真似たものがぽっとでてきても
人の心をうつかな、長続きするかな
とも思います。
なぜ彼が冬の日本海を歌わねばならないのか？
mario in bonn  presents a different view. She says that Japanese people are obsessed with their own “Japanese-ness”:
インターネットを見ていたら、最近デビューした
黒人演歌歌手ジェロ、という歌手にぶつかりました。
私と同い年！歌も上手！若い人が演歌を好きで歌いはじめる
というのには新鮮味を感じました。
どこかの番組で歌っているビデオもみましたが、
大体どこでも
「全然日本人に見えないのに演歌！」
とか
「日本人じゃないのにすごく上手」
とかそんなコメントばかり。
これって日本人であることをすごく「特別視」しているのでは？
日本人じゃなくたって日本の文化を日本人以上に
わかっている人もいるし、日本人にみえなくたって
日本語を完璧に話す人もいるし、このグローバルな世の中、
そういうのは普通です。
日本では、この「日本人にしか日本の文化はわからない」
という考え方がとても強いように感じます。
I saw videos of him singing in some TV shows, but in most of them there were comments like
“he sings enka and he does not even look Japanese!”
or
“he is really good even though he is not Japanese”.
Does that mean they think of being Japanese as something special?
In this global world, there are people who are not Japanese but who understand the Japanese culture better than Japanese people do, and who do not look Japanese but who speak perfect Japanese.
This kind of thing is not unusual.
It seems that Japanese people strongly believe that “only Japanese people can understand the Japanese culture”.
私はドイツにいて、ドイツの文化とか風習とかいろいろ
学んできましたが、「ドイツの文化はドイツ人にしかわからない」
なんて言われてたらドイツを知ろうという気には
ならなかったかもしれません。
ちょっと逆カルチャーショックをうけました。。。
This was a bit of a reverse culture shock…

author: Hanako Tokita


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Japan: Eat Whale And Save The Planet? · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

James from Japan Probe blogs a survey from the pro-whaling group which argues eating whale is more environmental than other meat. There is a poll attached in the post.


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Japan: Editorial or fiction? · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Bones at Bones’ world dissects a blog post by well-known activist Arudou Debito about the treatment of a non-Japanese crime suspect in a case of hit-and-run, arguing based on Japanese-language sources that the post is “pure fiction”.

author: Chris Salzberg


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Japan: Sentaku: Choose Clean! · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ampontan traces the political and historical origin of the new citizen group, Sentaku (meaning choose and clean), back to 1850s modernization period.


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Japan: Supreme Court declares registration system constitutional · Global Voices
Chris Salzberg

Economist and blogger Ikeda Nobuo comments on a Supreme Court decision [ja] declaring that Japan's Net registry system (Juki Net) is constitutional. He argues that a decision against the registration system would have constituted a control on freedom of expression. He also points out that Japan's four major newspapers were excluded in the proposed law, and thus that the move was specifically targeted at free expression on the Internet.


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Kazakhstan: J.Lo Still Can Come to Astana · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Arman tells the readers that although the Kazakhstan president ordered to curtail pompous celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Astana amidst the liquidity and growth crisis, Jennifer Lopez still may come to Astana and sing it out.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Kosovo: Celebration Pictures · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belatedly, Prishtine: Independence and Kanun posts pictures from the celebration of Kosovo's independence.


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Kuwait: R.I.P Ahmad AlRubi’e  · Global Voices
Abdullatif AlOmar

Kuwaiti bloggers lament the death of leading intellectual and politician
Dr Ahmad AlRubi'e. Many bloggers posted condolences to his family on their blogs and some others wrote passionately about how connected to him they were.
Krakatoa q8 talks about AlRubi'e in this post:
Enter-q8 too writes about his relationship with Dr AlRubi'e. He says:
Ansam over at Gather ye rosebuds while ye may posts some information about Dr Ahmad AlRubi'e. She writes:
Last night, Kuwait lost one of its prominent men! A politician, an educator, an academic, a mentor, an amazing writer, and a dear friend to many people. A man loved by a large number of people! He died but did not leave us! He will always be remembered by many of us!
• Born in 1949.
• Graduated in 1976 from Kuwait University – Philosophy.
• PhD in 1984 – Harvard.
• Member in the Council 1985.
• Member in the Council 1992.
• Minister of Education and Higher Education – 1992 – 1996.
• Member in the Council 1999.
• Active member in the Press – Al Seyasa – Al-Watan – Al-Qabas – Middle East
Picture Credit : Shurouq

author: Abdullatif AlOmar


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Laos: Lao Fashion Show Video · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Lao Voices has posted a video of a fashion show in the rapidly developing South East Asian country.

author: Preetam Rai


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Lithuania: Stats on Women · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lituanica writes about Lithuanian women: “more educated, earn less but their role is increasing.”


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Malaysia: Happy Voting Day · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Susan Loone is wishing Malaysian Voters a Happy Voting Day tomorrow.


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Pakistan: On Dowry · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

All Things Pakistan on the menace of dowry that affects millions of women across South Asia.


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Pakistan: On Tolerance · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Pakistani Spectator on the sheer lack of tolerance in the country.


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Peru: Bloggers Provide Thoughts on U.S. Elections · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

The primary elections in the United States has aroused interest all over the world. Peruvian blogs are not foreign to that interest and are concerned with the subject in many ways, such as simple references, casual commenting, analysis of the situation or just by reproducing things that have appeared on the web. In this post, I'll talk about some of the original content I've been able to find about it:
Melisa Marin, a Texas-based Peruvian, tells us about her experiencies with the ongoing campaign, as well as the comparison, with quite a bit of humor, of both the U.S. and Peruvian electoral systems in her post Obama-tar de un Susto from her blog Crónicas de Tripas y Frambuesa [es]:
Ayer fueron las elecciones primarias aquí en Texas, el “pre” de las verdaderas elecciones, la pregunta es pa’ qué? que si igual nadie vota? Ni se sabe joven, ni se sabe! El tema es que esta reñidísimo entre mi zambito sacalagua Obama y la tía cachudita Clinton. Ambos están que pasan comerciales como aburridos tratando de cautivar a el voto latino, que por cierto, aquí en Texas es súper importante; hasta han aprendido sus tres palabritas en Español para dizque “dentrarle” a la Hispanidad. Por otro lado, los republicanos un tanto piconcillos, dijeron que los Latinos son muchos en Texas, pero que la mayoría son ilegales y no votan je-je! Que bueeeena!
El tema es que fuí a un supermercado y de pronto ví a gente votando en unas cabinitas con un lapicero unido a la mesa por un alambre enclenque, es decir para nosotros los Peruchos la cámara secreeeeta amiguitos!. Mi amiga Charlotte me pregunto si yo quería votar,y como consideré demasiado para explicar junto a la sección de toallas higiénicas el tema de las visas, residencias y ciudadanías, simplemente le dije que no me provocaba. Bueno la cosa es que mis ojitos buscaban como locos el pomito de tinta morada pues señores! Caracho, no hay dereeeeecho! Donde esta la tinta indeleble para no votar dos veeeeeces!, aquel científico y electroniquísimo método Peruano! además donde estaba el papelito higiénico de preferencia rosado carmesí o verde hospital militar?, ese papelito que con alevosía y desprendimiento nos lo entrega una mano amiga llamada”personero” después de la votación. No señores así no se pueeeeeede!
Yesterday here in Texas, the primary elections were held, the preview of the real election, the question is what's that for? anyway nobody votes? Don't know, man, don't know! The thing is pretty-much tied between my knock-kneed Obama and that cheated-on ma'am Clinton. They are both broadcasting boring ads trying to capture the Latino vote, which by the way, here in Texas is greatly important; they have even learned their three Spanish words in order to, supposedly, enter into Hispanity. On the other hand, Republicans in a not-knowing-how-to-lose mood, said that there a lot of Latinos in Texas, but most of them are illegal, they don't vote, ha, ha! That one was gooood! The thing is I went to a supermarket and all of a sudden I saw people voting in some little booths with a pen linked to the table by a puny wire, which is for us, Peruchos, the secret voting cabiiiiin, my little folks! My friend Charlotte asked me if I wanted to vote, and as I felt it was too much to explain alongside feminine pads, the visas issues, residence permits, and citizenships, I simply didn't fancy doing so. Well the thing is my eyes went crazy looking for that purple ink little flask, my dear fellows! Hell no, that's not fair! Where is the indelible ink to prevent us from voting twice!!!, that is the scientific and electronic Peruvian method! besides, where was the toilet paper, preferably crimson pink or militar hospital green? that piece of paper which is handed to us with treachery and open-handedness by a friendly hand called “solicitor” after the election. No man, that is not the way to go!
Carlos, better known as Peruanista, is another US-based Peruvian, and in this post: Video – Obama and Clinton have a say about illegal immigrants he expresses what he expects from the election process, regardless of who the winner is:
As a migrant in USA, I know one or two things about the tragic problem of illegals in this country. That's why I hope there may be soon a reform to that obsolete American immigration law system. Today I wrote about it in my English blog. Good thing about the current US election process, both possible Democrat candidates support a reform to the immigration law. Even the Republican candidate may support it too. But the success or failure of this true revolution falls on the hand of the American people. The candidates are talking about change, but as it has happened in the biggest human steps, a real change depends on the people itself, their communities and the leaders of this nation.
On the other hand, Nomadandrea in the post Election in the US.: Why to vote or not to vote for a woman? Opinions from two young feminists shares her views about this dilemma:
Entonces, ¿el ser mujer o el ser miembro de una minoría étnica da la garantía de un gobierno justo? Yo creo que no y Condoleezza Rice es un buen ejemplo de ello. … En ninguna eleccion se debería apelar a un “victimismo” de minoria, como es el ser mujer o el ser “negro” (o inmigrante, minusválido, etc.) pues se estaría cayendo en el primer caso en una especie de sexismo, y en el segundo ( Obama), en una especie de “endo racismo victimista” ( racismo hacia adentro). … Por lo tanto la mayor encrucijada en la que se encuentra el hermano pueblo estadounidense es el evitar tener un presidente regido por pasiones religiosas o belicistas que nada bueno traerán al mundo en que vivimos, en donde la postura de la feminista/activista pro Obama Aubre Carreon Aguilar, resulta ser la postura mas realista y objetiva, pues antes de ver el “color” o el sexo de los candidatos, se deberia ver las propuestas y en qué creen, para dar cara así a las elecciones definitivas entre republicanos y democratas.
So, being a woman or being a member of a ethnic minority assures us a fair government? I don't think so and Condoleezza Rice is just a good example of that… In no election, no one should appeal as a “victim-like” minority, such as being a woman or being “black” (or immigrant, handicapped, etc.) because they'be falling into some kind of sexism in the first case, and in the second (Obama), is some kind of “endo-racist victim” (racism inside). … So, the biggest crossroads, in which our fellow U.S. residents are in is to avoid having a president ruled by religious or belicose passion, which does not help the world we live in, where the stance of feminist activist pro Obama Aubre Carreon Aguilar, happens to be the most realistic and objective, and before seeing the “color” or the gender of the candidates, one should consider their positions and their beliefs, in order to face the definitive election between Republicans and Democrats.
José Talavera of Bloguiarquía on his post Elections in the US.: pause for the trade agreements, briefly mentions the consequences that the election process is having in the trade agreements signing process with other countries.
El libre comercio, una de las banderas de las dos gestiones de Bush, es un elemento a tener en cuenta también en las elecciones de este año. Y más todavía si tenemos en cuenta el contexto actual, en que la gran potencia parece entrar definitivamente en una recesión, y el tema de la economía es un punto sensible para el electorado norteamericano. … Si bien para el Perú no conlleva grandes efectos, si para otros países, como Colombia, o incluso una economía importante como la surcoreana.
Free trade, a banner of both Bush admnistrations, is a element that must also be considered in this year's election. Furthermore if we consider the current context, in which the biggest power seems to be entering into a recession, and the economy is a sensitive matter for the American electorate. … Although for Peru this may not represent big effects, it may for other countries, such as Colombia, or even an important economy, such as South Korean.
Journalist César Hildebrandt in the post A brilliant mind, comments statements by Nobel Prize winner John Forbes Nash about the future Democrat presidential tandem and the real Republican danger:
es evidente lo que Nash ha querido decirles a Obama y Clinton: sigan así y el “fiscal” McCain se saldrá con la suya. El matemático, que contribuyó a la aplicación de la Teoría de Juegos a la guerra fría desde la ultraconservadora Corporación Rand, ha llegado más lejos todavía y ha propuesto que Obama y Clinton junten sus figuras en una sola fórmula, de modo que la vicepresidencia norteamericana “esté asegurada en cuanto a su idoneidad”. La verdad es que cuando uno escucha a los candidatos demócratas decir lo mismo con distintas inflexiones y afirmar cosas semejantes con ademanes de otro color, existe la impresión de que este es un ardoroso debate entre una Coca Cola en lata y una Coca Cola en vidrio reciclable. O sea, el dilema del prisionero encarnado del modo más vivaz. Y es bueno que un hombre como Nash haya echado un chorro de sentido común al avispero inexplicable del partido que Franklin Roosevelt llevó a la gloria y Bill Clinton condujo, puro en mano, a la promiscuidad con lo peor de los republicanos.
it is evident what Nash wanted to tell Obama and Clinton: continue what you are doing, and “sheriff” McCain will get his own way. The matematician, who contributed with the application of the Game Theory on the Cold War from the ultraconservative Rand Corporation, has gone beyond and suggested that Obama and Clinton must join each other in one only tandem, “is assured” of the vice presidency. The truth is that when you listen to the Democratic candidates saying the same things with different inflections and asserting similar things with another colorful gestures, there is the impression that this is a debate between a can of Coca-Cola and a Coca-Cola in a recyclable bottle. This is the prisoner's dilemma embodied in the most lively way. And it is good that a man as Nash has poured some common sense into the wasp's nest of the party that Franklin Roosevelt took to the promised land and Bill Clinton drove, with a cigar in one hand, to promiscuity with the worst of the Republicans.
And it is interesting what reader richardaqt comments on this same post:
Que tan malo podia ser un gobierno de McCain? Siendo republicano ha sido un critico de Bush y a diferencia de él es un heroe de guerra veterano de Vietnam, y precisamente los presidentes que fueron a una guerra son los menos propensos a iniciar una. En cambio Hillary Clinton apoyo la infame invasion de Irak y no mira mal un ataque a Iran, podria ser la Thatcher americana. Barack Obama es muy idealista e ingenuo como Kennedy que desconocia el lado oscuro del poder americano, por eso fue asesinado. Realmente los democratas, que tenian todas las de ganar, debieron escoger un candidato menos polarizador que una mujer o un negro para enfrentar a los republicanos. Si MaCain aprovecha esta debilidad democrata y se distancia de Bush bien podria llevarse la presidencia.
How bad could a McCain administration can be? As a Republican, he's been critical of Bush and unlike him, McCain is a war hero, Vietnam veteran, and precisely those presidents, who have participated in a war are the ones less prone to start one. On the other hand, Hillary Clinton supported the infamous invasion of Iraq and is not against an attack on Iran. She could be the American Thatcher. Barack Obama is too idealistic and naive, just like Kennedy who wasn't aware of the dark side of the American power, and that's why he was murdered. Really the Democrats, who had everything to win, should have chosen a less polarizing candidate than a woman or a black to confront the Republicans. If McCain takes advantage of this weakness of the Democrats and distances himself from Bush he can take the presidency.
In the blog El contraataque de Woody [es] they are rather concerned with lesser-known candidates than Obama and Clinton in the post Two freaks in the primary elections:
Las elecciones primarias de Estados Unidos me provocan cierto tedio: entre azules y rojos, los pre candidatos más populares se empeñan por suavizar las diferencias y hacerse presentables entre los electores del bando opuesto (en los años ochenta, Devo satirizó esta rara manera de elegir y los nostálgicos o los que nunca entendieron a qué se refería aquella canción, lo pueden recordar o notar aquí). En Estados Unidos los candidatos punteros no buscan la polarización. Comprendo la táctica política, pero no deja de resultarme aburrido. No todo, sin embargo, es tan monótono. Hay al menos dos auténticos “raros” en uno y otro bando y cuyos nombres no son visibles: Ron Paul, por el Partido Republicano y Mike Gravel (pronúnciese “gravél”), por el Partido Demócrata. Como la información que tengo sobre ellos es bastante superficial, prefiero no entusiasmarme. En todo caso, es interesante anotar que ambos responden a tradiciones libertarias (una conservadora, otra ‘liberal’) con notoria presencia en la cultura estadounidense.
Primary elections in United States bore me: between blues and reds, the most popular primary candidates insist on softening the differences and make themselves presentable among the voters from the other side (in the eighties, Devo satirized this strange way of electing, and those nostalgic or those who never understood what that song meant, can recall or see it here). In the United States, the top candidates don't search for polarization. I can understand that political tactic, but it is still boring to me. Not all, though, is that monotonous. There are at least two authentic “freaks” on both sides and whose names are not that visible: Ron Paul, for the Republican Party and Mike Gravel (accent on the last syllabe) for the Democratic Party. As the information I have about both of them is quite superficial, I'd rather curb my enthusiasm. Anyway, it is interesting to note that both have traditions of libertarianism (one conservative, the other one ‘liberal’) with important presence in the American culture.
Well, I'll keep on looking more posts on this matter.
Translated from spanish by Gabriela García Calderón.

author: Juan Arellano


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Poland: East German Real Estate · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian reports: “Poles trying to get onto the property ladder are flooding across the border into the former East Germany where prices are lower and the living is easy.”


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Poland: “Inside Warsaw: A-F” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian writes about Warsaw cats, donkeys, flowers and more in the first part of the “Inside Warsaw” series.


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Romania: Electoral Reform · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Dr. Sean's Diary writes about the electoral reform in Romania.


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Romania: NATO Summit and Air Travel · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csíkszereda Musings reports on air travel problems that may arise in early April when Bucharest will be hosting a NATO summit.


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Russia: Maslenitsa · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Russian History Blog writes about Maslenitsa, a holiday aka Russian Pancake Week, Russian Butter Week, or Cheesefare Week. Josefina of Russian Blog provides a recipe for traditional Russian pancakes.


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Russia: Medvedev’s Future · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Siberian Light examines the issue of whether Dmitry Medvedev will “wield actual power” – or whether he'll “just be the right hand man of outgoing President Vladimir Putin.”


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Russia: Putin the Richest Man in Europe? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander thinks Vladimir Putin would fail a polygraph test if asked whether he was the richest man in Europe.


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Russia: Underwater Archaeology in Novgorod · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis writes about archaeological excavations at the bottom of river Volkhov in Novgorod.


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Saudi Arabia: Women Driving .. Or .. · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“There are certainly more important issues than (women) driving that need to be dealt with,” writes Nzingha from Saudi Arabia.


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Sri Lanka: Women and Agonies · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Moving Images, Moving People! on the often unheard stories of women from Sri Lanka.


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Syria: We Stand Against Occupation · Global Voices
Razan Ghazzawi

I am excited to join Global Voices Online Middle East and North Africa team and will be happy to cover the Syrian blogsphere alongside Yazan Badran. GVO is one of my favorite websites and I am happy to be part of its Global Voices Advocacy and Lingua Arabic projects as well. I hope my posts would be fairly representative to both of the Syrian bloggers and to their readers.
Yaman Salahi, an undergrad student of UC Berkeley and an active member of Students for Justice in Palestine club there, has posted a series of reactions to the club's die-in protest that took place on campus few days ago in solidarity with the 116 Palestinians killed by the Israeli army. You can view pictures of the die-in protest on Isabel's Flickr account.
The Daily Californian's covered the die-in protest publishing this photo and these words:
Yaman criticized the newspaper's tagging of the protest as “stand[ing] against conflict” and addressed the newspaper as follows:
Actually, Daily Cal, yesterday [3rd of March] students participated in a die-in in solidarity with the 116 Palestinians that the Israeli army killed over the weekend in Gaza. We did not stand against “conflict,” but the Israeli occupation. Can you say those words, or is that a little too informative?
One of the commentators disapproved of Yaman's use of the word ‘occupation’ and thus accused him of being “anti-semetic.”
Allison, another commentator, responded to this accusation as follows:
Calling Yaman an anti-Semite and assuming he finds Haifa and Tel Aviv to be occupied is really low. There is nothing in what he has written that would suggest those were the things he was thinking or intending. If so he would have been involved in a great big “free occupied haifa and tel aviv” demonstration where he would announce himself as a Jew-hater. The reality is that the demonstration was to recognize the loss of life that has occurred due to the excessive, unequal use of force by Israel, on Palestinians. You only jump to those conclusions as an attempt to discredit him and show him to have violent intentions. Those are your words, not his, he is talking about a government sanctioned military occupation over a civilian population, not irrationally hating or wishing harm to Jews.
116 people died in the past few days and that pains us; we lay on the ground to grieve, we lay on the ground out of compassion for human life. None of which is anti-semetic.
In another post, Yaman  writes about a counter-protest to the die-in protest held by HaTikva: Students for Israel. He notes:
Their counter-protest consisted of a sign displayed ahead of our protest that read, “Victims of Palestinian Terror,” meant to confuse passers-by as to the purpose of our action.
Yaman expresses his worries of the students group's rhetoric when they ignore the civilian deaths of the Palestinian side, categorizing all of the dead under “terrorists”:
According to B’tselem on March 3 (before the death toll rose by another dozen), over half of those killed by the Israeli military in Gaza were civilians. According to Maan News, at least 1/3rd were children. On the other hand, according to Tikvah …Israel “eliminated about 110 terrorists.”
Tikvah’s message is clear: all the Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, be they children, be they unarmed civilians, are terrorists. Further, Tikvah has dehumanized Palestinians to the extent that they do not even die. They are not killed or murdered; they are not even casualties. Like pests, they are “eliminated.”
Finally, Yaman concluded his post by asserting that the real issue is not whose lives are more valuable in both sides’ deaths, but stopping the violence is. He explains:
To stop the violence, step back from it. Recognize the legitimate grievances of all people in Israel and Palestine. The United States will not solve this issue; there will be no impartial or neutral arbitrator or judge who will issue a verdict that all people will follow. Cheer-leading squads for Israel like Tikvah will do nothing that can even change the status quo, let alone construct a path towards resolution and reconciliation. It is up to us to escape the suffocating influence of state narratives and to create opportunities and possibilities for the future with our own hands.

author: Razan Ghazzawi


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Thailand: Blogging In English · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Isriya says blogging in English needs more effort but the benefit it offers is worth the effort.


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Thailand: Social Network Site and Monk · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Andrew Biggs wonders if the Thai authorities will ban the popular Hi5 social network after a monk used the network to pick up women.


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Thailand: Weapons Trader’s Arrest · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Bangkok Pundit translates and comments on a Thai news paper story on a Russian arms dealer. The dealer was hoodwinked by Thai police and American agents who posed as the member of Colombian militant group FARC.


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Trinidad & Tobago: UWI Regression?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Leslie at Trinidad and Tobago News Blog thinks that by hosting The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, “The University of the West Indies, at the helm of Caribbean intellectualism, has exposed its backwardness as an institution of higher learning.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Turkey: Pepsi or Coke?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

“When you go to your favorite restaurant (even if it's a fast food one — I know you're out there), do you insist on a Coke or Pepsi, and are you disappointed when they only offer the other one?” asks Turkish blogger Metin.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Uzbekistan: Won’t You Be My Friend? · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Patrick Frost reviews the recent developments in the Uzbekistan's foreign policy regarding the Western community, and says that US policy in Uzbekistan and the Central Asian region as a whole has become more pragmatic and less democracy promotion-driven.


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Why hasn’t Algeria recognised Kosovo?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

From Algeria, The Moor Next Door explores some of the reasons that may have contributed to Algeria's refusal to recognise Kosovo.


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Yemeni Fast Food  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jeffrey Black introduces us to Yemeni fast food in this post.


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Armenia: Hypnosis & 2013 · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Armenia Now comments on statements from the Armenian Prosecutor General that opposition supporters had been “hypnotized” by former president, Levon Ter-Petrossian. The entry on the new blog also questions various actions and statements by opposition, government and international representatives and hopes that a leader worthy to lead the country will emerge by the time of the next presidential election in 2013.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Armenia: Internet Domains Suspended · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Nazarian comments on moves taken by the National Security Service (NSS) in Armenia to suspend certain .am internet domain names during the current post-election state of emergency. The blog says that as critical as he is of the United States, it is hard to imagine that the FBI or CIA could do the same as the former KGB in Armenia has without a court order.


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Armenia: Women’s Day Demonstration · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Unzipped reports that a demonstration was held today in Yerevan to mark International Woman's Day by approximately 30 women relatives of some or all of the victims that died in last week's clash between the opposition and authorities.


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Bahamas: International Women’s Day  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Bahamian blogger Womanish Words acknowledges International Women's Day.


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Barbados, USA: HIV Impact · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from Barbados, Gallimaufry quotes AIDS activist Masimba Biriwasha on the potential impact of the Caribbean HIV/AIDS epidemic on the US.


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Brazil: Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and the besieged Latin America · Global Voices
Daniel Duende

There was a lot of talk about the ‘Border Crisis in Latin America’ on the Brazilian blogosphere in the last few days. Brazilian people suffer from an endemic form of ‘know-it-all syndrom’ and, thus, many of us were talking — a lot — and taking sides about the impending conflict.
Fortunately the whole issue came, apparently, to a reasonable solution. But many of us, know-it-all as we are, think that's not the whole point. Some say that Chavez should be expelled or ‘neutralized’ somehow for being ‘dangerous’ to the peace on Latin America. Others say that the US and Uribe, their Colombian host, are the real villains of the Latin soap opera. Among the radical speeches and the media echoing, we could find some very reasonable voices in the Brazilian blogosphere shedding some welcome light on the entire matter.
Andre Deak blogs about an article he wrote to Agência Brasil[PT] back in 2006, about the US military bases at Ecuador and Colombia, titled “Geopolitics of the Siege”, and makes some considerations[PT]…:
“A maior base norte-americana na América Latina, a base de Manta, fica no país governado por Rafael Correa. Presidente que publicamente é contra a política dos EUA para a região, e disse que não renovará o acordo para manter essa base.”
“The biggest North-American military base in Latin America, the Manta base, stands in the country ruled by Rafael Correa. The president that publicly stood against the US policy for the region, and declared that he will not renew the treaty to keep that base.”
… and quotations in his blog post about the conflict and it's unspoken background:
” ‘A partir de 2002, Colin Powell garantiu uma verba adicional de 731 milhões de dólares para financiar a participação do Equador, Bolívia e Peru no Plano Colômbia. O papel do Equador era central, principalmente porque os Estados Unidos utilizavam a estrutura da Base de Manta, com capacidade de controlar o espaço aéreo da região Amazônica, do Canal do Panamá e da América Central. A eleição do presidente Rafael Correa interrompeu o apoio do Equador ao Plano Colômbia, já que uma de suas principais medidas foi anunciar que não renovaria o acordo com os Estados Unidos para o controle da Base de Manta’, conta Maria Luisa Mendonça.
[…]
Outra leitura interessante vem do Beto Almeida, no texto Colômbia: Israel sul-americano?: o assassinato de ‘Raul Reyes, conhecido por sua característica de exímio negociador político, também deve ser entendido como um alerta ao governo de Sarkosy para que não se meta em negociações que contrariem a linha estadunidense de militarização da região amazônica’.”
” ‘Since 2002, Colin Powell has guaranteed an additional funding of 731 million US Dollars to pay for the participation of Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru on the Plan Colombia. Ecuador played a central role, mainly because the United States used the resources of the Manta Base, capable of controling the entire Amazon, Panama channel and the Central America's airspace. The election of the president Rafael Correa interrupted the Ecuador support to the Plan Colombia, once one of [the president's] first measures was to announce that the treaty that gave to the US the control of Manta Base was not to be renewed’, says Maria Luisa Mendonça. […] Another interesting view [on the situation] comes from Beto Almeida, in his text Colombia: South-American Israel?: ‘the murder of Raul Reyes, known for his caracteristic of being a great political negotiator, may be understood as an alert to the Sarkozy government, that it shouldn't meddle with negotiations that are contrary to the US line of action of militarizing the Amazon region’.”
João Vergilio writes, in an article[PT] sent by Luis Nassif to the blog Projeto.br[PT], about the connection between this crisis and the hipocrisy surrounding War on Drugs and the drug traffic issue:
“Insisto: enquanto não pusermos sobre a mesa a questão do narcotráfico, todas as discussões ficam sem lastro. É em torno do tráfico e da política antidrogas americana que todas as questões desse conflito estão articuladas. Sem essa insana War on Drugs patrocinada pelos EUA, não haveria as Farc, nem Uribe. E Chávez não passaria de um reformador social um pouco voluntarista e desastrado.”
“I insist: until we don't agree on discussing the drug traffic issue, all the other debates become meaningless and unrooted. All the issues on this conflict are wrapped around the drug traffic and the US anti-drugs policy. If it weren't for the insane War on Drugs sponsored by the US, there would be no FARC or Uribe. And Chavez would be nothing more than a somewhat blunderous and a-little-too-willful social reformer.”
In the same article, Hugo Albuquerque is rather pessimistic about the motivations and the resolution of the conflict, and calls our atention to the possible US plans for Colombia in the near future:
“Não creio que a situação acaba por aí.
A Colômbia, que dos anos de 90 pra cá se tornou o cavalo de tróia dos EUA na região, fez essa ação para intimidar a Venezuela, não o Equador.
Isso é o indicativo de que se os EUA tentarem algo contra a Venezuela isso se dará via Colômbia do mesmo modo que o Iraque foi usado nos anos 80 para combater o Irã.”
“I don't believe the situation is really over. Colombia, that in the nineties became the ‘trojan horse‘ of the US in the region, took this line of action to intimidate Venezuela, not Ecuador. That is indicative that if the US will try anything against Venezuela, that would be made using Colombia as a proxy in the same way the Iraq was used [by the US] in the eighties to fight against Iran.”
Pedro Doria considers the complexity of the situation and of the world, and stands in a certain neutrality, criticizing both sides with almost the same severity[PT]:
“Enquanto o mundo anda mais complicado do que jamais foi, esquerda e direita abraçam velhos conceitos. Não importa a evidente violência com que agem as Farc, tampouco o fato de que a sociedade colombiana está exausta delas. Se é uma guerrilha, ainda mais com discurso de esquerda, há de ser bom. Não é. São só golpistas assassinos, torturadores. Uma gente que prende outras por anos a fio. Já passamos desta fase na América Latina. Seria bizarro o suficiente se não houvesse pelo mundo gente à direita que jura combater um comunismo inexistente e que, além de se embaralhar na bandeira religiosa, age com um anti-cientificismo grosseiro.”
“As the world becomes more complex than ever before, left and right embrace old concepts. It's doesn't matter how evidently violent are the FARCs, or how tired have the Colombian society grown of them. If it's a guerrilla and, better yet, a guerilla with a leftist speech, then it must be good. It's not. They're only scheming murderers and torturers. People that kidnap and imprision others for many years long. We're all over this phase in Latin America. That would already be bizarre enough, if there wasn't in this world so many people at the right that swear to God they're fighting a communism that doesn't exist, entangling themselves into religious flags and acting with a gross anti-scientificism.”
Considering that there are no easy, maniqueistic, answers in these times, Doria stands against illegality and power abuse and, thus, views both sides with suspicion:
“Não é difícil ter problemas com Uribe e com Chávez ao mesmo tempo. Basta não achar que qualquer ilegalidade é justificada para combater o outro lado.”
“It's not that hard to have qualms about Chaves and Uribe at the same time. It's just a matter of not thinking that any illegal measure is justified to fight against the other side.”
This is, indeed, a very complex world living very complex times. Although many are still pursuing and repeating easy answers and shallow judgements about the situation, it's becoming clear that we must make a deep reflection before saying anything or taking sides. There is a lot of misinformation trickling along the unnending lines of political lies and media supported babble. I think Andre Deak says it all when he closes his above quoted post remarking that…:
“O momento não pode ser lido apenas pelo que contam os jornais. A primeira vítima desse conflito, como em todos, é a verdade.”
“This moment can't be read only by what the newspapers are saying. The first victim of this conflict, like in any other, is the truth.”
What should we do when we can't be sure about what is happening around us? Maybe the solution is listening to as many voices as possible, be it thunderous and loud like the voices of governments and big media outlets or whispered like the voices of common people, and try to make out who, and why, is trying to fool us. This is as close to the truth we can get. That is why Global Voices Online exists. We're listening. Are you?
Article written in colaboration with José Murilo Junior.

author: Daniel Duende


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China: We need a consistent and pro-trade US president · Global Voices
John Kennedy

In response to the news of American presidential candidate Barack Obama's stance on NAFTA, but prior to this week's round of presidential primaries, political blogger Michael Anti wrote a few words on his dusty MSN blog on what a President Obama would mean for China in ‘Meet Obama's America of (undpredictable) change‘:
本文执笔者并不是奥巴马的拥趸。事实上，如果是全世界选美国总统，中国选区的选举人票大概会投向希拉里或者麦凯恩。和路透中文网某美国专栏作者判断的不同，我们认为中国人支持奥巴马的可能性很小，更谈不上“应该”两字。
虽然希拉里在选战中，也在严厉批评中国贸易，但正是她丈夫克林顿打开了中国加入世贸的大门、亲手制定了北美自由贸易协定，而希拉里本人也因和印度外包产业的关系被对手攻击成“旁遮普邦参议员”。在席卷全球的反全球化浪潮中，看不到中国人的身影，实在是因为无论是中国政府，还是民间自由力量，都深深从这个新全球游戏中获益。全球化带来的市场化理念、资讯自由实践，以及作为全球负责任的社区成员的荣誉感，也让这个有两千年专制传统的中国，开始不再抵触世界标准，和前辈相比，全球化中的中国青年一代，有了更多的享有世界标准自由的机会。从这个意义上，克林顿王朝，对于知恩图报的中国人来说，并不是什么负面的组合。
即便是麦凯恩这个共和党老兵，中国人在接受上也没有障碍。由于中国在中东地区，无论是经济利益和战略利益上，都没有欧美俄的那种相关性，因此方便地保持中立是明智选择。美国布什政府的伊拉克战争，虽然遭到很多国家人民的反对，也遭到美国人民逐步厌倦，但从始至终，也和中国的相关性不大。中国的外交观念，在告别毛泽东时期的革命战略观之后，一直保持了地缘政治的现实主义谨慎，恪守作为地区大国的本分，不过度抵抗美国的实际超级霸权，而是保持“负责任的利益相关者”义务。在布什共和党政府执政期间，中国国家利益和民族利益，并没有受到美国政策导致的损害，相反，很多学者认为，伊战牵制了美国国力，让中国可以在朝鲜问题上有所帮助，加强了中美的战略同情。而台湾问题上，布什政府对台独的明确反对，甚至超过了克林顿民主党政府的对中承诺。
麦凯恩是反共的越战老兵，他一定会加强对中国政府人权方面的攻击。但在批评中成长，长远看对中国也不是什么坏事情。斯皮尔伯格因苏丹对北京奥运的批评，虽然在中国人眼中，实在是莫名其妙，这说明中国在具备全球化影响力的今天还是不太具备全球化的心态，不过当中国政府决定就此不断对苏丹政府施压之后，不能不说斯皮尔伯格的批评，也客观上促进了中国观念进步。相反，麦凯恩在贸易上，可以算是正宗的共和党人，拥抱自由贸易，希望取消中美贸易配额，这样的新鹰派总统，中国完全可以接受。
民调越来越证实了这样一种趋势，奥巴马不但肯定会击垮希拉里，而且可能在11月的大选中战胜麦凯恩，写下新传奇，成为美国历史上第一个黑人总统。无论这给美国人民和世界其他地区人民带来什么，给中国带来的却是变化莫测。
首先是奥巴马一直以来对全球化贸易的反对。他反对中国贸易，认为中国不但对美国输出有毒产品，更是夺走了美国的工作。他反对印度外包，因此攻击希拉里。在他几乎确定党内胜选、毫无必要再骗选票的现在，抛出重新制定北美自由贸易条款的议题，让富裕邻国加拿大都感到惊诧。如果说全球化有几个肯定的赢家的话，显然美国是属于第一阵营的，赢家反对全球化贸易，不但是一种战略上的逻辑错乱，更是未来中美利益摩擦的主要来源。虽然完全可能在他当选之后，不得不延续旧政府的贸易政策，但这等于是巨大的跳票，奥巴马如何面对奥巴马神话的压力，现在还看不出端倪。
其次是寄托了美国人各种变化心理投射的奥巴马，必然会在全球外交上有所改变，虽然亚洲地区不会是首要改变的目标，但大国游戏规则一定会受到影响，而这种改变对于身在其中的中国意味着什么，还未可知。更严重的是，中国善于应对的美国，从克林顿到布什，都是战略清晰的美国。这样，中国也可以放心地战略清晰，大国之间才可以产生基本信任，求同存异，台海局面的缓解，就是和这种清晰以及信任有相当的关系。
First off, Obama has always opposed globalization of trade. He opposes trade with China, believing that not only is China exporting poisonous goods to America, but also taking away American jobs. He opposes outsourcing to India, as a way to attack Hillary. As he comes close to securing a victory in the inner-party election, as he needlessly continues to play dirty to get votes, tossing out the idea of renegotiating NAFTA has surprised the well-off neighboring country Canada. If there could be said to be a few guaranteed winners from globalization, obviously America would be in the first camp. For a winner to oppose globalization, not only is it a sort of logically confused strategy, even more it's friction against the main source of both America and China's future interests. Although it's completely possible that after the election he'll have no choice but to continue with the previous government's trade policies, this would still be a broken election promise, so clues as to how Obama plans to deal with the pressure of The Obama Myth remain to be seen.
Next is the shifting psychological projection of Obama many Americans have, which will inevitably lead to changes in global diplomacy; although the Asian region won't be the primary target for change, the game rules for dominant powers are guaranteed to feel impact, and what these changes will mean for China also remains unknown. What's more critical is that China be good at dealing with a US with a clear strategy, as it has had from Clinton through to Bush. Only this way has China been able to relax and adopt a clear strategy and has trust been built between the powers, allowing them to get along despite differences. Easing of the situation along the Taiwan Strait, for example, is connected to this kind of clarity and trust.
但奥巴马从本性上就是一个战略模糊的高手，并不以原则底线清晰见长。这和他以一混血非洲裔美国人身份在主流社会成长的经历有关——他善于不得罪任何本身相互敌对的利益团体。在美国的政治框架下，总统和总统人马（行政当局），直接控制外交、外贸和战争政策。因此，奥巴马的美国，可能是中国极不熟悉的美国，也可能是世界极不熟悉的美国。当克林顿总统说，贸易和政治要分开的时候，中国人应该相信这就代表了未来长期的中美贸易蜜月；当布什总统说，不支持台湾独立的时候，中国人也有信心说这代表了此届美国政府在台海问题上不变的立场，甚至会到直接从华府国务院批评陈总统的地步。但未来的奥巴马总统说A的时候，我们是不是要看看，他在其他场合也说了B，其实他心里想的是C，但做出来的确是D？
作为中国人，我们在为美国人民取得黑人总统的历史进步叫好的同时，更关心中华民族的自身利益。民主在本质上是民族共同体的内部共识，他人的民主成就，不必然让我们受益。我们始终认为，中美关系，对中国人的繁荣幸福和民主发展，至关重要。在这个意义上，我们会谨慎地去观察这场发生在美利坚土地上的历史性选举。
As Chinese people, at the same time that we'd be applauding historical progress in America for having chosen an African-American president, it's more important that we look to the interests of the Chinese nation itself. Democracy in essence is the internal consensus of a national community, so the democratic achievements of others are not inevitably in our interest. We've always felt that in China-US relations are of the utmost importance for prosperity, happiness and democratic growth for the Chinese people; in this sense, we will be cautiously monitoring this historical election taking place in the United States of America.

author: John Kennedy


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Environment: Elephant Culling and Crisis in The Mara · Global Voices
Juliana Rotich

In this issue of Global Voices environment, we check in with various blogs around the world. The themes are varied, and some are of global concern with commentary from Kenya about elephant culling in South Africa, commentary from Europe on “Eco-colonialism” in Botswana, Brazil, DRC, Patagonia and other countries.
Lets begin with South Africa (SA), where Elephant culling may soon return as a way to control the population of elephants in National parks. This was a banned practice, and it is still banned in other countries like Kenya. Richard Leakey of Wildlife Direct explains his position on the question
Is culling imminent for South African elephants?
Reducing elephant populations may therefore, be a necessary part of population management, and this will be done in a humane and considered manner. South Africa intends to reserve culling as a last resort after all other options such as translocations, fertility control have been exhausted. Though I find elephant culling repugnant, I can see the sense in it in some scenarios, as I imagine many others do also
He adds his recommendations to SA conservationists based on his vast experience working with wildlife in Kenya.
If culling is deemed necessary, then I would personally like to see the management authority ensure that entire families or bond groups are removed intact to eliminate or minimize the emotional trauma to remaining individuals, and secondly, to maintain smaller populations using the tested and approved fertility control. It means that the authorities have much work to do in terms of studying the family and bond groups and maintaining good records. If done well, removing or culling entire bond groups would reduce cases of rogue elephants and could eliminate or reduce the frequency of further culling in the future.
While we are still in South Africa, we get a March Update with pictures from the Cobhouse. The house is unique because it is constructed using sustainable timber, straw and clay.
Rory Williams of Carbon Copy considers the question of transportation and carbon emissions in the post  “getting old clunkers off the road”.
There are three key challenges to reducing the carbon impact of transportation. One is reducing the need for motorised travel (by, for example, restructuring cities so that jobs and homes are closer, or encouraging telecommuting), another is encouraging a switch to public transport (or alternatives like ridesharing) where nonmotorised transport isn't an option, and the third is bringing to market more environmentally benign vehicles.
Andreas posts on a helpful map that can help South Africans answer the question
“Do you know if there are any trial fields for genetically modified crops near where you live?”
On Indonesia's challenge dealing with the aftermath of the devastation wrought by the tsunami, the Changing Climate blog looks at initiatives for protecting future generations.
“The casualties from the tsunami showed the vulnerability of children to disasters in the area, and the multistakeholder Committee is dedicated to identifying and addressing threats to the young ones. While these committees were formed as a response to the tsunami, the groups have now widened their scope to work for the protection of children. The villagers have enhanced the role in children in community in the post-tsunami rehabilitation, and have raised awareness that protect children against any other threat, including drought, floods, famine, or even issues related to children rights.”
John vidal writes on China Dialogue, about the The great green land grab
From Britain to Botswana, the Philippines to Patagonia, individuals and organisations are buying up vast areas of land in the name of protecting environments. But is private ownership the way to save them?
Richard Leakey posts on the recent post election crisis in Kenya, (covered by Global Voices on this special page) and its effects on the conservation efforts in the Trans Mara region.
Crisis looming in the Mara – please help:
Sadly my beloved country Kenya has been in the news a great deal in the past few weeks, and the news has not been good. We have problems and these were triggered by the outcome of the Presidential election where the result was close, and where there is plenty of evidence for rigging. The dispute led to violence which has deteriorated into inter-ethnic fighting in certain parts of the country. Tragic scenes and news fill the media and a sense of doom, gloom and fear is palpable. The violence is not directed against foreigners or tourists in any way and much of Kenya is untouched by it. The main airports are functioning normally and the National Parks, the Game Reserves and the wildlife sanctuaries are perfectly safe from this fighting.
The sense of normality in the wildlife areas is unfortunately deluding. Foreign tourists and the tourism industry has all but collapsed. Many, many people are losing their jobs and critical funding for the protection of the wildlife areas has essentially dried up. Revenue from tourism has been providing the bulk of the funding for conservation, and without these funds, patrols and essential activities will cease. In these circumstances we can expect a real upsurge in poaching; for bush meat and commercially valuable species such as rhino and elephant.
From Kenya's neighboring country Uganda, Moses Paul Sserwanga writes: MR PRESIDENT, STOP THE MABIRA GAMES:
President Yoweri Museveni is at it again; this time around reminding the country that the controversial proposal to give away Mabira forest which led to the death of three people about six months ago, is not yet resolved after all.
His remarks while meeting the NRM Parliamentary Caucus last week in effect mean that government could still go ahead a give away part of the tropical rain forest to a private investor, the Lugazi-based Mehta Group, in total disregard of public opinion.
He adds…
The negative effects that await the country once Mabira is given away, can also be prescient too. Over the years, there has been too much destruction of our forest cover and the ramifications for this obliteration have been clear for all to see including the unprecedented severe weather conditions experienced in the country this year.
The unpredictability in climatic conditions that threaten the survival of mankind, have led to the development of a basic international environmental precautionary law principle to protect and conserve nature for the benefit of present and future generations.
Is it still disinformation if the speaker believes it's true?  On the Gristmill blog, Joseph Romm debunks US President Bush's statement
“… we're in the lead when it comes to global climate change.”
meanwhile a continent away, Phil of KE Environment News posted some statistics; Global Warming by the Numbers
“Global warming is the most serious environmental threat of our time. As these facts show, affordable options are available. And America cannot afford to fall behind any more in the race to invent clean, renewable energy sources.”
Not to leave you on a sad note, but from Basawad's Safari notes Omar is saddened by a report of  Sea Turtles dying in Kenya.

author: Juliana Rotich


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Estonia: Surviving Winter · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Cafebabel – Tallinn posts a video about things that keep Estonians from committing suicide in winter.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Guyana: The Art of Living · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana-Gyal has not blogged since the massacre in Lusignan, but she's back, stronger and braver than ever before:  “…Though I am furious about them murders, though I am full of grief, I ain’t feeling that horrible, heart-thumping fear that does grip me.”


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Israel, Soviet History: Pictures From the Exhibition on Refuseniks · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Pictures from an exhibition on the Soviet refuseniks at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv – by LJ user mozgovaya (Israeli journalist Natasha Mozgovaya). (Text in Russian.)


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Jamaica: Homophobia · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

“What’s at the crux of such bigotry? Our homophobia can be so extreme that a man who has only one woman is suspect. And there in lies the subtext, that our Homophobia is not really homophobia at all but a crisis in manliness”: Marlon James dissects the issue of homophobia in Jamaican society.


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Korea: Korean Students in the U.S. · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

There are more than 100,000 Korean students in the U.S. It was the main news in Korea the last week. The increase of 10 percent every year helped Korea remain the top student-sending country in the U.S. for a second year, ahead of India and China. Korean students at Harvard University are the third most after Canadian and Chinese. This number from the U.S. National Security Department on the 4th of this month seems to have generated netizens’ opinions actively since the new Korean administration pushes the importance of English education in Korean schools and attempts to introduce English-led classes in normal Korean schools.
Most netizens focus on the money Koreans spend for education in the U.S. and ask how important English is in their lives.
요 뉴스 접하면서 ‘나도 나갔다 와야 하는거 아닌가?’ 생각이 들었다. 근데 이건 순전히 미국 본토로 영어를 배우거나 교육을 위해 들어간 사람들의 수치로 동남아나 유럽, 호주 등으로 어학연수 등을 다니러 가는 사람까지 포함하면 정말 -_-;무역해 벌어들이는 수익이 모두 이런 것때문에 술술 빠져 나간다고 생각하니 좀 안타까운 생각이 든다. 물론 이들을 탓할 순 없지만 국가 교육이 얼마나 중요한지를 여실히 보여주는 대목이 아닌가 싶다. 교육에 대한 열정이 높은것을 탓할 수 없고, 보다 나은 환경에서 배우고자 하는 욕구를 말릴수 없지만 엄청난 비용을 들이면서까지 외국가서 공부해야만 할까? 배우고자 하는 사람의 의지만 있다면 솔직히 어느 곳에서 공부하던 큰 영향을 미치지 않는다는 것이 개인적인 생각이다. 물론 물가에 있는 말이 물을 더 쉽게 먹을 수 있겠지만 말이 물을 마시느냐 마느냐는 순전히 말의 의지에 따르지 않던가! 물론 나도 미국가서 2년정도 공부해 보고 싶은 마음이 있다. 물론 돈도 없어 실현될 가능성은 희박하지만 공부를 꼭 영어권 국가가서 해야 겠다는 생각은 들지 않는다.
가장 좋은 것은 바로 영어에 매달리는 사회적 풍토가 바뀌어야 하지 않을까 생각한다. 영어가 필수가 아니고 선택이 되었으면 하는 것이다. 세상 살면서 어떻게 모든 사람이 다 영어를 잘할 수 있고, 다 관심이 있을 수 있는가! 자신이 좋아하는 분야, 정말 관심있는 분야 공부하기도 힘든 판국에, 더불어 자신의 적성을 찾아 일자리 구하기도 힘든 판국에 무슨놈의 영어에 목을 매는가!물론 영어의 필요성은 느끼지만 요즘 한국의 작태는 정말 정도를 넘어선것 같다. 한글도 제대로 못하는 아이들에게 영어를 가르치는 현실이 안타깝다.[…]인적자원이다 인재다 강조는 하지만 정작 한국의 사회적 풍토에선 결국 사람이 돈으로 보이는 몹쓸 생각은 계속 변함 없으리라 생각한다[…]
운동 선수는 운동만 잘하면 되고, 학생은 공부만 열심히 하면 되는 대한민국. 언제나 실현될까? 과연 실현은 될까?
The most important thing is that the social characteristic to cling to English so much should change. English is not essential, but is a choice. How can all people speak English well? And how can all people be interested in it? It is hard to find a field that we would like to study and it is difficult to find a job we would like to study. And how can we stick to English? Of course I know the necessity of English, but now it is too much. It’s painful to look at the reality that tries to teach English to children who can’t even speak Korean well[…] We emphasize human resources and human talents, but our society regards humans as money[…] Korea, where athletes need to be good at athletics and students need to be good at studying. When can it be realistic? Can it be realistic?
There are many short comments to express what they think instantly.
증말 속터지는 한국적 현실..무엇이 사람들을 이토록 영어에 미치게 하는가?
미국유학에 미치게 하는가?
이러니 대한민국이 미국이 숨겨진 [주]라는 소릴 듣지
The news definitely seems not to make netizens happy.
1. 어제 뉴스 보니 재미 한국 유학생이 10만명을 넘어섰고, 미국에 유학생을 보낸 나라 중 순위가 1등이라고 한다. 인구도 4,700만명 밖에 안되는 나라가 인도나 중국, 일본을 물리치고 또다시 세계적인 쾌거를 달성한 것이다. 일단 뭐든 1등은 좋은 것이다. 한국에서는 일단 1등이 최고니까..
2. 미국에서 유학하고 있는 학생들의 유학비용으로만 한 해에 50억달러가 넘는 돈이(공식 통계로만 잡힌) 송금되고 있다고 하니, 누구 말마따나 자동차, 반도체 팔아 힘들게 번 돈 다 유학비용으로 날리고 있는 셈이기도 하다. 그런데 놀라운 점은 10만 3천명의 재미 유학생 중 대학 이상에 유학하는 학생수가 6만 2천명이고, 나머지 4만 1천명 정도는 조기 유학생이라는 사실이다. 4만 명 이상의 미성년자를 미국에 조기 유학 보낼 수 있는 한국의 경제력도 놀랍고, 이렇게 어린 아이들을 기꺼이 미국으로 보내는 한국 부모들의 용기도 놀랍다.
3. 얼마 전에 어떤 모임이 있어서 교수, 국책연구원 박사, 공사 부장 등등과 같이 저녁식사를 한 적이 있었는데.. 그 중 2명인가 제외하고는 모두들 자식 중의 한 두명은 모두 미국에 있더라는 사실.. TV에서 조기 유학이 어떻고 기러기 아빠가 어떻고하는 뉴스를 들을 때는 마치 먼나라 이야기처럼 들렸는데, 막상 옆에서 조기 유학에 대해 너무나 당연스럽게 이야기하는 걸 지켜보니 정말 실감이 나는게 아니라 오히려 현실이 더 생경스럽더라는… 그 분들의 이야기를 듣다 보니 미국의 어떤 도시들은 마치 한국의 전라도나 경상도 어딘가에 있는가 아닌가 하는 착각이 다 들기도 하더라. 너무나 자연스럽게 이야기들을 하시니…
4. 한미 FTA 협상 시의 재밌는 에피소드 하나. 당시 협상에서 교육인적자원부는 미국의 교육시장 개방 요구만은 반드시 막겠다고 내부적으로 마지노선을 설정했었다고 한다. 하지만 막상 협상을 하니, 미국은 한국 교육시장 개방에 별다른 관심이 없었다는 사실.. 한국 교육 시장 개방해서 한국에 학교 짓고 투자해서 얻는 이익보다 그냥 한국 학생들이 미국으로 유학오도록 내버려둬서 이 유학생들이 미국에서 쓰는 돈이 훨씬 크기 때문이었다는… 공식 통계로 1년에 50억달러이니 비공식적으로는 1년에 70~80억달러나 되지 않을까 싶다. 별다른 투자도 없이 이 정도 수익을 1년에 낼 수 있는 산업이 얼마나 될까?
5. 미국으로 유학 가는 이들을 뭐라고 탓할 수도 없다. 그들이나 그 부모가 똑똑한 거니까.. 나는 요즘 사실 한국에서 살면서 내가 지금 사는 곳은 어디일까 하고 헷갈릴 때가 많기도 하다. 요즘 영어못하면 한국에서도 생활 못한다. 우리는 서울 SH공사(도대체 뭐의 약자인지도 모르겠다.)가 만든 아파트에 살며, 서울메트로(나는 처음에 서울 지하철에서만 배포되는 무가지인 줄 알았다.)에서 운영하는 메트로전철을 타고, 서울시에서 개최하는 Hi Seoul 페스티벌에 참석하며, ex 하이웨이를 Hi-Pass로 신속통과하고 K-Water(수자원 공사의 새 브랜드다)를 마시고 코레일 KTX를 타고 오린쥐를 까먹으며 Feel 경남으로 놀러 가니까..
6. 이게 우리의 자화상이다. 이런 현실에서 영어로 국사도 가르치고 국어도 가르치자고 하는 건 너무나 당연하고도 자연스러운 발상이다. 아니, 미국으로 송금되는 50억달러가 넘는 돈을 줄이려는 너무나도 애국적이고도 경제학적인 발상인 것이다. 그리고 10만명이 넘는 유학생들이 모두 미국에서 취직을 하는 것도 아닐텐데 미국에서 취직이라도 안되면 유학생들이 나쁜 길에 빠져서 제2의 조승희가 될지도 모르는데, 이런 학생들을 한국으로 유인하기 위해 영어만 잘하면 군대도 면제시켜 주고 교사자격증도 주어야 하는 것이다…

author: Hyejin Kim


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Kuwait: At the Paris Fashion Week  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Confashions from Kuwait was at the Paris Fashion Week and brings us the goodies in this post.


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Kuwait: Farewell Dr Al Rubaie · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Kuwaiti blogger A3sab pays tribute to her country's former Education Minister Dr Ahmad Al Rubaie, who passed away this week. She recalls a quick encounter she has with him while she was a student in Egypt.


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Kuwait: The Meaning of Life · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

The M Code from Kuwait discusses the meaning of life in this post.


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Latvia: Hate Speech vs Free Speech · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A “self-described neo-Nazi” gets an 18-month jail sentence in Riga, and All About Latvia muses on hate speech and free speech.


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Lithuania: Music Censorship? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Babel in Vilnius reports that “music censorship in Lithuania is very lax.”


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Poland: “Inside Warsaw: G-K” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

God, herring and more – in Polandian‘s second installment of “Inside Warsaw.”


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Romania, Hungary: Response to Bigotry · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Andy H of Csíkszereda Musings describes part of his “life as a blogger”: “Every now and then for my pains I get a tirade of abuse from some rabid nationalist psycho.”


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Romania: Restaurant Scandal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Csíkszereda Musings writes about Romanian food and a recent restaurant coverage scandal.


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Russia, EU: Blog Roundup & Directory · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Russia blog roundup from Siberian Light, and an EU blog directory from Nosemonkey's EUtopia.


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Russia, EU: Views on the Election · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A discussion of the Russian election and certain European politicians’ reactions to it – at the Economist's Certain Ideas of Europe.


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Russia: Natalia Morar’s Domodedovo Ordeal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Here's an excerpt from a news alert issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Feb. 28 regarding the case of the New Times’ journalist Natalia Morar (LJ user natmorar):
[…] A citizen of Moldova, Morar was barred from entering Russia in December on a secret Federal Security Service order and deported to Chisinau. A month later, Russian Embassy officials in Chisinau presented her with a one-paragraph statement that explained her deportation by citing a 1996 law, which says that authorities can refuse entry to foreign nationals “for the purpose of ensuring the defensive capability or security of the state or public order, or protecting the health of the general public.”
Last week, Morar married her colleague Ilya Barabanov, a Russian citizen, and tried to enter Russia yesterday as his spouse. She was denied entry again and placed in the airport’s transit zone. Authorities told Morar she was not allowed to enter Russia but provided no legal documents to justify the detention; they only kept referring to an “order from above.” Barabanov, who is allowed to enter, decided to stay with his wife. […]
Due to Morar's health problems, she and Barabanov (LJ user kotoeb) decided to return to Moldova on March 1.
Below is the translation of Morar's first blog post since her departure from Russia (RUS), published on March 4:
Now this whole story seems totally distant and not about us.
I will not repeat everything – honestly, I don't want to at all…
I'm very tired. For the majority of those who kept trying to pour shit over me all these months, and especially over Ilya and me these past few days, this is nothing but a matter of politics and pseudo-patriotism. “Don't shit where you've been given shelter” and other things like that.
You are talking of politics, you are talking of the state's sovereign right, you are making bold statements – anonymously, however – and meanwhile I cannot comprehend the simplest of things…
I still haven't received an answer from anyone as to why I cannot live in a country that has long become my home. My dearest person and my closest friends are here… I can't understand this at all.
I'll just say this – our marriage with Ilya is not fake, we've been together for a long time. The Domodedovo story was not a staged in advance PR action for the New Times magazine, we were acting on our own behalf, we are two adult people. Many are asking me now why we had to do this show. I won't try to make them change their minds. It was not a show for me. For me, this is the country in which I am not allowed to live. For me, this is the person I'm not allowed to be with. For me, this is the magazine I'm not allowed to work for.
If I had been stronger, I would have stayed at Domodedovo for a month.
I'm feeling better. Mama is feeling worse. We had two anonymous phone calls to our home phone number, with threats against me. Both were placed at night. Both times mama answered the phone. Yesterday we had to call an ambulance to resuscitate her. This I will never forgive. I could've forgiven other things, but this – never.
A huge thank you to all those who were close and who are with me now. There are still more of you than all of them added together.
This post has received 243 reader comments so far.


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Russia: Political Jokes · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Over at La Russophobe, Dave Essel writes about Soviet and contemporary political jokes. Here's one: “Putin’s Reform Programme: 1. Make people rich and happy; 1a. List of people attached.”


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Russia, Venezuela: “Exxon Strikes Back” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes about how “international oil and gas companies are not as completely helpless in the face of politically contrived domestic disputes as most would think”: “ExxonMobil is currently demonstrating rather effectively how an international oil company can remove the dispute from the domestic arena into the international, where the national government does not hold a monopoly on decision making and cannot order the use of force whenever it likes.”


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St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Bomb Scare · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Blogging from St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Abeni is horrified that “patients and staff of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital had to be hurriedly evacuated” because of a bomb scare.


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The Baltics: “(Dis?) Unity” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marginalia muses on “Baltic (Dis?) Unity.”


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Trinidad & Tobago: Tourism Leader?  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As a new study reveals that Trinidad & Tobago is set to show the greatest tourism growth in the region, Discover TnT Blog says: “What we all hope is that T&T – promoted as the ‘true Caribbean’ – does not dilute all that makes it unique in order to compete for tourism dollars.”


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Ukraine: Yet Another Election? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Orange Ukraine reports on the possibility of a new parliamentary election in Ukraine, the third one in three years.