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India: Reverse Migration · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Ramesh has a wonderful and warm post on returning to India.


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Israel, Lebanon, Palestine: The road to war · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

“To punish the people of Gaza and Lebanon because their governments haven't figured out how to control these outfits would be a bit like bombing the Vatican as retribution for the violence of the IRA,” writes Trinidad & Tobago blogger Jeremy Taylor, as he weighs in on the situation brewing in the Middle East.

source: news-globalvoices

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

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Jamaica: Hypersexuality · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

At The Pan Collective, Mikaila writes about the “hypersexuality” of Jamaica.


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Mexico: Calderón on Recounts and Speaking English · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ceci Connolly points to a Washington Post interview with Felipe Calderón, emphasizing that “he would accept a partial recount but that a complete recount would be ‘absurd’ and illegal.” Ana Maria Salazar clarifies that, although Calderón insisted he needs to practice his English, “we have heard Felipe speak English, a couple of times, on my radio show Imagen News. He did quite well…”

author: David Sasaki


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Mexico: Podcast on Electoral Citizen Journalism · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Trespuntocero has an excellent podcast review of citizen journalism during the Mexican elections (ES). English speakers with an interest in Mexico should check out the podcast Here From Mexico.


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Nepal: Capitalism for the ailing country · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Getting Nepal back on its feet via BlogDai. “That's right shoppers, each of you tell ten of your friends that one of the best ways to defeat oppressive Maoism and breathtakingly remedial governance is good old fashioned capitalism.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pakistan: Birds on International Migratory Birds’ Route Number 4 · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Shirazi on the rendevouz with birds. “Pakistan receives a large number of migratory birds from Europe and Central Asian States every year. These birds spend the winters in Pakistan and go back to their native habitats in the summers. The route these birds take from Siberia to Pakistan is known as International Migratory Birds’ Route Number 4.”


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Peru: Cuisine Today and Yesterday · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Diana Zorrilla Ríos takes a look at how Peruvian food has evolved over the past century (ES).


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Russia: Basayev Might Have Been Killed by Daghestani Terrorists · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean's Russia Blog continues to follow the story of Shamil Basayev's death and discusses a new theory of what caused it: “[…] Basyaev’s death was possibly carried out by the Dagestani terrorist group Shariat. The theory is based on the fact that forensics now believes that a bomb was indeed planted in the car Basayev was traveling in. His “alleged body” […] had wires and shrapnel that are the signature of Shariat chief Rappani Khalilov. The bomb was far too crude to be the work of the FSB.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Chechen Views on Basayev’s Death Translated · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

David McDuff of A Step At A Time translates a Prague Watchdog report on how ordinary Grozny residents react to the news of Shamil Basayev's death: “It is possible that those who believe that the guerrilla movement is now broken are slightly more numerous than those who are certain that the war is not over.”


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Russia: Papa John’s Pizza vs Russian Police · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Konstantin Dlutskiy of Russian Marketing Blog posts pictures of a Russian take on Papa John's Pizza Delivery's “guerilla marketing trick.”


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Ukraine: “But You Never Know” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about three different ways in which, according to experts, the situation in Ukraine may develop. “But you never know” seems to be the key phrase now, however.


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Ukraine: Lebanon-Israel Connection · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

It may not seem so – but it's a very small world. To know that someone we hold dear is directly affected by what for us is nothing but a headline is one way to feel this smallness.
As the conflict in the Middle East escalates, a Ukrainian LJ user parasolya reacts to the sad news by telling the stories (UKR) of two of her friends: George, a Lebanese foreign student, and Polina, a Ukrainian-born Israeli.
Lebanon-Israel-Lebanon-Israel-Lebanon-Israel
What follows is lengthy and somewhat confusing
There were two Lebanese students at my department – a boy and a girl. They rarely interacted with each other. I think they belonged to different social strata and different religions.
The girl resembled an Italian: dark, curly hair, good-looking, dressed like a European. I think she was Muslim. When she finished the year, she got married to one of our classmates, the sweet Sean, a Canadian.
The boy's name was George, we all loved him. When I say “we” I mean the Slavic girls (Ukrainians and Russians). He was the only boy in the class, but we loved him not because he was a hot guy, but because he was really sweet. Sometimes we called him Zhora, sometimes Goga. He wanted to learn our words, was spending much time with the Slavs, used to go to museums with us. Once, when I put on a Ukrainian headscarf, he said it looked a lot like the headscarves worn by women in his country. and he was about to order a batch of these headscarves for his mama and sisters :). He was a very good friend. He looked a bit like a character out of [a famous Soviet film] “Mimino” – like someone from the Caucasus. He liked to brag. The way we brag about [brothers] Klitschko or Milla Jovovich, that they have a direct link to Ukraine – and he was bragging about Shakira like this :). He was Christian. Used to tell us about his country, said that Christians constitute nearly 50 percent of Lebanon's population. Was wondering why on holidays or on other occasions, the Slavs passed through police cordons without problems, but he always had his passport checked.
It hurt to listen to him when he was saying that in Lebanon, when he was little (and we are of the same age), there was war and kids couldn't walk in the street just like that. He was happy to live in his country in peace.
[…]
….
I finished high school in 1995. That same year, one of my classmates left for Israel. I didn't even know she was Jewish (no, I don't know how to “detect” it).
Her name was Polina. She was bright, cheerful and sincere.
She lived with her mama and grandma. Grandma died of cancer a year before we finished school. Her mama got married to our former co-citizen and left to join him. Even then they knew her mama had lung cancer. She was a music teacher. I remember that Polya came to our graduation ceremony just to get her certificate – in her thoughts, she must have left already. But she invited me to the good-bye dinner. Besides her and her mama, there was another classmate, Katya, and one more family – as far as I understood, they either bought their apartment or were arranging to sell it before their departure.
Polya left and then wrote a little to me, but more to Katya. The news wasn't very happy. In a year or two, her mama died. Polya worked and studied chemistry. She had begun to study the language while still in Ukraine. In Israel, she spent some time living in her stepfather's home, then went on to live on her own. Met Borya, also our former co-citizen. They got married some five years ago. They have a child. All's well, Polya works, Boris works, too. There's just one tiny problem – he is in the military.
What a strange life.
It seems that often all people have to do is look at their lives from aside. No political whim, […] no national idea is worth fighting a war. Or, as Mr. [Tolstoy] used to say, tears of a child. Even though I am a militant atheist, but – we are all walking under god. […]
Enough of the slogans. On to reading the news from Ukraine.
A lengthy, very informative and at times impassioned discussion of the Middle Eastern politics and history follows in the comments section [RUS]. Part of it will most likely be reposted to a Ukrainian LJ community svit_ukraini: “Meet the neighbors. Our neighbors – other countries of the world.” LJ user parasolya, who currently lives in France, is one of the three “maintainers” of this community.
Here's the last comment, from LJ user tani_flint, a Ukrainian journalist (RUS):
I was in Lebanon this past winter. Such a nice country.
Unbearably painful.
They were rebuilding Beirut exactly the way it used to be before the bombings. By 2006, about 80 percent has been rebuilt. A very beautiful city.


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Uruguay: Sad Day for Cinema · Global Voices
David Sasaki

A.K. explains why today is a sad day for fans of Uruguayan cinema.


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Venezuela: Looking Towards the Elections · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Oil Wars applauds the CNE for announcing that “both the European Union and the Organization of American States will be sending observation teams to oversee the Venezuelan presidential elections this coming December 3rd.” Francisco says the opposition needs to focus on the recent increase in crime.


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DRC:  Asking for Louis Michel’s Resignation · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Le Blog du Congolais posts a Belgian petition asking for Louis Michel's resignation and says (Fr): “Certain Belgians are courageous enough to denounce the neocolonialist behavior of Louis Michel in the Congo. We encourage and support the courageous initiative of Mrs. Anja Vanduysen asking for Loulou's resignation.”

author: Alice Backer


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China: baidu space · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Williamlong has an initial analysis (zh) on baidu space. There are several inadequacies as blog platform, including 1. its encoding system is not UTF-8; 2. very long url; 3. cannot export blog content; 4. uploaded pictures cannot be shared by other websites; etc.

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: reporter sentenced for two years · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Glutter puts up the news concerning China government sentenced reporter Li Yuanlong to two years in jail earlier last week (July 13). ESWN translates an article “On Becoming an American Citizen in Spirit” written by Li so that westerners can make their own judgement whether his article is “inciting subversion”.


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China: the most beautiful reporter in China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN puts together forum posts and news concerning how a woman reporter Cao Aiwen put her work aside and tried to rescue a drowned girl. She was then crowned by netizen the most beautiful female reporter in China.


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China: Visa problem · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ma-yue talks about his experience in visa application to other countries (zh) . He complains that although China is blooming in economic development and considered as a big nation, however, its passport is less useful than many other small countries.


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Hong Kong: patriotic education · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The Voyager discusses a news headline in a Hong Kong newspapers: Cutter Youth: No Regrets For Anti-Japanese / Nine Intimidation Letters; Fanatically Patriotic Heart. The news is about a youth threatened Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe with death if he visited the Yasukuni Shrine.  The writer then comments that “now Beijing must accept that Hong Kong people are patriotic enough to have democracy.”


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Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome · Global Voices
Salam Adil

As the old Chinese curse goes “may you live in interesting times”. And this week we have been witnessing some interesting times indeed. I am not going to play ‘my war is better than yours’ but it is enough to say that by Iraqi standards the whole crisis in Lebanon still seems more like a walk in the park. But as time goes on and the heat rises, I can only wonder if Lebanon will see the same sad scenes and massive tragedies as Iraq.
Today I give the Iraqi blogger's reactions to the crisis in Lebanon; you can read about the other war that is still going on in Iraq; in The Week in Politics, find out why America may now be supporting the Baathists in Iraq; and you must read to the end to learn about the way Iraqis celebrate a wedding.
If you read no other blog post today read these
“I read your words and I broke inside.” came one comment to HNK's monumental post this week. She writes:
I know you were worried about me, and I also know that you are sorry about what is going on in Iraq. I know all that just because I heard it over and over again till I wear your shoes and forgot that I am the one who is living this life, till I felt that I am sorry for me, my poor wounded soul. … Right now I concider myself half human. … I spent a very bad and hard days since I wrote my last post.The situations is deteriorating rapidly, I don't know from where I should start, many things happened I can't number them.
She gives an example of how American soldiers, after being shot at, made her father and all other people in cars around them stand, in the daytime heat, outside their cars with their hands on their heads for an hour and a half. She concludes:
I am not a man and I am not strong. When the danger is around me, my family or around my friend I can't sit watching. It's not war against Sadam or against the terror only; it's a war against us, it's a psychological war. To live or not to live this is the question.
Bye bye peace of mind, see you in heaven: maybe
I also recommend Zeyad's post about the state of the Iraqis living in exile in Jordan.
It’s a very distressing experience to hear the stories of Iraqis living in Amman. Concern for relatives back home, residency problems, and the quest for employment or a third country offering sanctuary to fleeing Iraqis, are principal conversation topics.
Lebanon: Into the Fire
A couple of Iraqi bloggers managed to get stuck in the middle of the danger zone. Hala_S was on one of the last flights into Beirut airport. She writes:
“My first impression was how elegant and beautiful Rafik Al Harir's airpot is! It didn't take me more than one day to blow it up and with it my family's arrival this morning.”
Whoops! Now she is stuck in Beirut and her mother is stuck in Damascus. So to kill time she went on her own for a tour around Beirut until 1am.  What was odd about this? Hala explains: “For some who don't know, a woman cannot do this in any Arab country. But this is Beirut! isn't it? Here you see a woman covered from top to toe walking aside another with nearly no clothes on.” Hala goes on to give her own opinion on why Beirut was bombed:
Israel is jealous, it might sound silly but they are dying to get people to their country and establish any kind of tourism. This will never happen.
Truth About Iraqis is in Syria. He reports: Much talk of imminent attack on Syria itself, possibly Damascus. … Refugees from Iraq and now refuges from Lebanon, thousands of Lebanese, Arabs and other tourists trying to escape fighting in southern Lebanon and southern suburbs of Beirut.”
The disconnection between Iraqis and the rest of the Arab world becomes more obvious as Omar scans the BBC Arabic forum talking about the crisis in Gaza.  He writes:
About three dozens of comments were made by Iraqis.. and all these comments were supportive of Israel or at least against Hamas..  except for only three comments; .. the opposite ratio is true about the comments by the rest of Arabs.
The reason for this? “Perhaps our problem is that we in Iraq are evolving politically faster than we are doing when it comes to economy, security, etc. that we are even ahead of countries like Egypt or Kuwait in holding real elections and having a permanent constitution and fair representation of all the segments of the people.”
The last word goes to Neurotic Wife. Her sister is stuck in Beirut. And she has words for everybody.
Hezbolla:
I blame Hezballah for not taking any consideration the safety of their people…Didnt Nasrallah know what his action will trigger???
The Arab Leaders:
they met at an emergency summit, saying that they are not happy about the situation…Is that all??? Not happy??? Words…WORDS…WORDS…Big Deal, you aint happy do something about it…Intervene, be the peacekeeper…Dont just sit there and play the blame game …Try and put out the fire that has errupted…The damn thing happened…People are getting killed  .. The BS of politicians is really beyond me…
and Israel:
TWO soldiers, TWO soldiers were kidnapped and a whole country gets bombed… Why did they bomb the airport??? Why bomb bridges and roads…How can people get away…There are tens of thousands of tourists…What kind of tactic is this??? Did the airport have terrorists too??? or the roads???or the bridges??? Is this fair??? Oh I forgot Life aint fair nor is politics…
..
The innocent children that are being injured for the sake of two soldiers who are held in captivity…Couldnt Israel make a deal with Hezballah for the exchange of these soldiers than wage a war on a whole country…on a whole nation…Is the Arab blood that cheap??? This is the New Age…The New Age Democracy….
Back to the other War Zone
And I must start with my deepest condolences to Fatima whose Uncle F. was assissinated in his shop by unknown gunmen. She writes “Uncle S and the rest of the family are torn up over his murder. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon. May he rest in peace and may his murderers receive their justice soon.” I also sorry to hear of the death of Riverbend's close friend, T. I will describe the tragic circumstances with her own words:
T. was a 26-year-old civil engineer who worked with a group of friends in a consultancy bureau in Jadriya… He usually left the house at 7 am to avoid the morning traffic jams and the heat. Yesterday, he decided to stay at home … T. was making his way out of the area on foot when the attack occurred and he got two bullets to the head. His brother could only identify him by the blood-stained t-shirt he was wearing. …
It's difficult to believe T. is really gone… I was checking my email today and I saw three unopened emails from him in my inbox. For one wild, heart-stopping moment I thought he was alive. T. was alive and it was all some horrific mistake! I let myself ride the wave of giddy disbelief for a few precious seconds before I came crashing down as my eyes caught the date on the emails- he had sent them the night before he was killed. One email was a collection of jokes, the other was an assortment of cat pictures, and the third was a poem in Arabic about Iraq under American occupation. He had highlighted a few lines describing the beauty of Baghdad in spite of the war… And while I always thought Baghdad was one of the more marvelous cities in the world, I'm finding it very difficult this moment to see any beauty in a city stained with the blood of T. and so many other innocents…
This week in Baghdad the sectarian fighting took on a new dimension with more killings and reprisal killings of innocent civilians by sectarian militias. Nabil gives an idea of the scale of the violence:
in the last few days, at least 150 people were killed (AT LEAST), because they were sunnis or shiite, and where are the Iraqi army and police from these incidents????… no one knows… The Iraqi prime minster goes on TV, and he say (the situation in Iraq is improving though its coverd with the smell of the iraqi blood), what the hell is that??????……!!!!!..
The Week in Politics
The blogs this week announced the failure of the latest government initiative to secure Baghdad called Operation Forward Together, or as TAI prefers to call it “Operation Come Up With Fancy Names Because We Are As Impotent As Eunuchs But Can Fool The US Public With Hollywood Titles.”
Mohammed of Iraq the Model points out  that the militias have an intelligence advantage over the Iraqi government: “and it looks like the current security operation did not deal seriously with this defect, on the contrary the gap seems to be even growing giving advantage to the militias and insurgents. Again I feel I must point out that security operation of the government is still not doing much to deal with the escalating violence.”
And he reports a growing disconnection between the government and the people.
As a reaction to the escalating situation in Baghdad president Talabani addressed the people urging calm and warning them from being dragged into sectarian violence. I really don't know why would Talabani ask the people to remain calm and this message doesn't make sense because the ordinary people in their vast majority look for peace, they don't carry arms neither they take part in the violence. … The people need no advice from the government, they only seek protection.
Baghdad Connect analyses the current situation in Iraq concludes that, just as in the times of the Cold War, when America backed the extreme Islamist Hekmatyar against the Communist Russians, they are preparing to back Baathists against, their common enemy, Iran and al Qaida (aka the Tafkiris). The reasoning:
The current US admin have recognized that the Baathists and the western tribes were born, raised and staying in Iraq. And if they have lost the battle of 2003 then they are far from losing any war here. So why not the US bet on those who can deal with and control these neo-Takfiris than swinging the cradle of those whose main crying agony is for some history figure that died in the seventh AD [or the Shia]?
And the signs are there:
The US forces have all of the sudden pulled out of Fallujah! And there is a major battle taking place in Ameriyat Al Fallujah between the elite tribes of Albu Essa and the Takfiris [in other words the Baathists have started attacking al Qaida in Iraq]
BC concludes by saying “This ‘Nero’ reality is underway and has already been institutionalized. The world community should understand that there will be a day when a Saddam alter ego is democratically elected in power. Ample similar examples are found today in central Asia.”
With news of the rape of 14 year old girl by American soldiers, Hammorabi explains why this is such a big issue in Iraq even though worse may already happening in the country:
This crime not less than the crimes of the terrorists and it will lead to extremely serious consequences for the American soldiers in the region. The reaction against such crimes will be very serious and the tribes and local people will make every effort to avoid such soldiers and even make them as targets as much as they can. …
Crimes from the kind mentioned here will turn all the Iraqis into the resistance against the occupation especially with the failures achieved over the last three years.
And Finally…
In all this darkness there is a beacon of light, and it no coincidence that this beacon is called Sunshine. She describes beautifully the way weddings are traditionally celebrated in Iraq.
Every country has it is own traditions and it is important to be enlightened about them before we judge.
I wanted to write about that because many people think that we have the arranged weddings, the kind that the guy sees his bride in their wedding day! I got a letter from a reader asking me if it is true. That was in the past 100 years ago.
Our weddings are similar to the others’ except that we have more parties.
And relates a story on how weddings go on now in Iraq:
My friend “J” talked about her relative's wedding party:
“I went to D's house 2 days before her wedding day , to help them , in the wedding day , we went to a nearby salon in the morning , when a heavy shooting began , the bride was nervous, ,then we thanked god the shooting stopped , I didn't have my hair done , we wanted to got home as fast as we can , anyway we went to the house and D was about to cry , my mom and sister arrived , after they spent 2 hours stuck in the roads! we didn't tell D at all , the groom and his family didn't came at the exact time , we called them and they said that they were trying to find an open road , they couldn't because the neighborhood was sat dawn by the US troops , they found an open road before the stroll bans in about 30 minutes !! ( few months ago the situation was really bad that is why the stroll bans was at 8 pm) , we postponed the wedding for a week, imagine the bride's condition !! she kept crying all night long “.
in my country, the bride not just worry about her cloths and make-up only, she worry about the groom arrival in the exact time ( alive ) as well!!!. .
Until next week, keep shining.

author: Salam Adil


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South Korea: Anti-American sentiment · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Micheal Hurt in Scribbings of metropolitician talks about the growth in anti-American and nationalistic sentiment in South Korea in both soccer and anti-FTA.


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South Korea: citizen journalism · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Ohmynews’ international citizen reporters’ reports on Ohmynews conference July 12-14.  Gregory Daigle reports on Citizen Participation and Technology; Alexander Krabbe writes on Where Do You Head, Citizen Journalism?; Ronda Hauben on Exporting citizen journalism; David Michael Weber reports on Ohmynews Japan ready to launch; Roberto Spiezio on Bridging the digial divide; Perrier Joo writes about Worldwide initiatives make citizen journalism a reality; and Michael Lomas on Citizen reporters praise Ohmynews forum.
Readers can also read the report in parallel to Ethan Zuckerman's series of forum notes in My heart's in Accra.


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This week in the African women’s blogsphere · Global Voices
Nish Matenjwa

Black Looks has been given permission to publish the remarkable story of Stephanie Adaralegbe, a transgendered Nigerian, that highlights her trials and tribulations as she prepares to attend the XVI International AIDS Conference. As Black Looks says, ”the story speaks for itself. It is special because it expresses a strength and defiance against a society that not only excludes difference but in many cases is determined to destroy it”. Here is an exerpt:
“Man is chemical, man is testosterone, but more significantly Man is nothing but a chemical substance. In the words of Christine Jorgensen, America’s first sex changed Transsexual, the difference between a Man and a Woman is a slight difference in chemical composition. As a result, estrogens basically make a Woman while androgens basically make up a Man. With this knowledge, I have been propelled to write a book titled ‘The beautiful hearts are the beautiful ones ‘, which is indeed a literary explosive, very revealing and simply unputdownable.”
”Defining Myself” is the latest post by Rosemary Ekosso, an anglophone Cameroonian and a translator and court interpreter with the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. She writes that “when I think of how people see me as an African woman, the following words come to mind”: ”victim, mother, whore”. Rosemary deconstructs these definitions and says:
“If I am a whore, then I hope to be the kind of whore that no one can afford. I remember a respectably married woman saying to some fifteen years ago: “we are all prostitutes; that is what we do”. I do not give myself to a man. I share part of myself with him for as long as he behaves himself, mainly by sharing part of himself with me. That is all the exchange I ask, and as it is generally a lot less than what he is asking of me, I am not a whore. If I take money from him, it is because the particular social structure in which we live has given the men almost exclusive custody of the fruit of our joint labour, and it is only by negotiating with him that I can get some of my own back. So I am not a whore. I am a negotiator. But one day, I shall stop negotiating. I shall put my foot down”.
Uaridi, whose name and blog means ‘rose’ in Kiswahili, writes about her habit of stopping to admire people’s gardens and beautiful flowers and asks her blog readers to ”take time to smell the roses and give thanks to God for the beauty that surrounds us and the hearts and eyes to appreciate it”.
Afromusing, the Kenyan Blogs Webring’s resident solar power guru has written a fascinating  and information-filled post on how she tested a Solar Ipod Charger I. Although she says her “schedule did not afford me more than 2 hours of direct sunlight”, she has more or less been successful.
”The Five Senses of My People” is the title of a beautifully poetic post by Chereka. The senses are sound, sight, taste, smell and touch. Regarding the sense of touch, she writes:
“It's the touch and feel of my people, that warm embrace with an old friend or a relative, the gentle re-assuring touch and caress of a friend, a loved one, or a lover. It's the warm feel of rubbing elbows and shoulders as you chart your way through a sea of gorgeous faces and huggable bodies, relaxed and not too guarded but not clumsily rude either. It's a touch and feel of brotherhood, sisterhood, fatherhood, motherhood and lasting friendships.”
adefunke tells a funny story regarding a pick up line which apparently is most successful one in current use.
Soul has created a scrumptious-sounding smoothie called Soul’s Citrus Adventure which looks fairly easy to make. Yummy!
More from African women on the African Women's Aggregator……..

author: Nish Matenjwa


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Turkey is Typing…. · Global Voices
Deborah Ann Dilley

This late edition of “Turkey is Typing” is brought to you by the lovely people of Silt Colorado and the broken alternator fan belt of my car that left me stranded there.
In the wake of Israeli aggression in Palestine and Lebanon, Turkish bloggers have been voicing their concerns as well.  Amerikan Turk posts photos of anti-Israeli protests in Istanbul and Talk Turkey muses on whether or not to consider Israel a terrorist state. Aydin.net asks where is the UN throughout this conflict?
However on to another topic of international proportions, many of the Turkish bloggers have been trying to resolve the World Cup of soccer.  Gulay, Galatasaray and the Dogs asks “How what it for you?”.  The Round Ball in Ankara gives their list of the top ten moments in the 2006 World Cup. And Erkan's Field Diary covers the streakers and anti-racism campaigns of the competition.
In the “oddly enough’ category, there have been several reports of tick-bourne viral illnesses in Turkey that are slowly reaching epidemic proportions; several people have died and the government is making sure to put out information to people to protect themselves.
Moving into the realm of the more individual blog coverage:
Amerikan Turk gives his reactions to the controversial film “Valley of the Wolves Iraq”.  Mustafa Akyol from The White Path has a new article out about Islamocapitalism: Ibn Khaldun & Tax Cuts. Idil from Ignore Me If You Can, talks about some of the cultural accepted gifts of a Turkish wedding. Talk Turkey has a rather controversial piece entitled “Was Ataturk Jewish?”.
Metroblogging Istanbul gives a listing of the local news stories, some travelogue stores about the Hagia Sophia, Sultan Kayiks, eating Cemre Kebab and being stuck on a Dolmus (it is a type of public bus).
Erkan's Field Diary gives coverage of the recent conference he attended on Communication in the Balkans, it is in three parts, the second and third can be found here.
In the beginnings of this Turkish Blogosphere coverage, I included links to unusal sites, etc and I have gotten away from that, much to my own personal dismay.  So here are the top three links of interest from the Turkish Blogosphere:
1. If you would like an alternate version of the Turkish Blogosphere write-ups, check out Amerikan Turk.
2. Athanasia Daily has a list of interesting Turkish blog-site links, some of them we have covered here before, but it is always nice to be reminded.
3. Mavi Boncuk has a link to a translation engine for Turkic languages.
That's all for this week, take care!

author: Deborah Ann Dilley


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African Migrants: EU conference · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

And Githush also writes about why  the EU – Africa immigration conference offers lessons useful to the immigration debate in the United States.

author: Luisetta Mudie


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Albania: Links to Essay and Short Stories · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man In Tirana quotes from an essay about coverage of Albania by the British press and announces the upcoming publication of a collection of Albanian short stories.


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Azerbaijan: Heydar · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Denise writes about the omnipresence of Heydar Aliev, the former president of Azerbaijan whose name and image can be found all over the place.

author: Nathan Hamm


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Bahamas: Theatre photos · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Ringplay Productions blog posts photos from its production of the Bahamian play “You Can Lead a Horse to Water”.


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Bangladesh: Freedom fighters in business · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

imperfect world 2006 on doing business with a freedom fighter. “Basically he was saying that a freedom fighter loves his country and would therefore never defraud or cheat anyone. A kind of shorthand for declaring one’s personal integrity.”


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Bangladesh: Spirituality Roundup · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sadiq Alam roundsup spiritual blogging from around the world.


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Belarus: Relationship With the EU · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about a paradox: some EU officials think that visa sanctions against Aleksandr Lukashenko's government officials are inefficient; others think opposition leader Aleksandr Milinkevich is spending too much time in the West.


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Belarus, Russia: Ways (Not) to Develop · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog shares his views on what Belarus is and what it's not, as well as what it should not do if it wants to turn into a “a much-improved version of Russia.”


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Bermuda: Tackling racism · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

The Bermuda government has rejected two proposals for tackling the issue of racism, on the basis that they fail to “solve the problems of human emotions”. The Limey wonders what alternatives the government has in mind.


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Big six-O, Brunei in July · Global Voices
Maurina H

15th July, 2006 marks the Sultan of Brunei's 60th birthday. Let the celebrations begin! Nonnie has a post in her blog, Spiritual Garden about Bandar Seri Begawan, the Brunei's capital in celebration mode.

author: Maurina H


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Burkina Faso: No Big Macs · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“Blessed are the poor,” writes missionary blogger Keith at Under the Acacias, “for they shall not have a Big Mac.”


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China: AIDS orphans · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhen Jin yan writes about how AIDS orphans (whose parents were diseased by AIDS) in China were rejected by social institutes, such as hospital and orphanage (zh), even though the government's has officially annouced to give special care to these orphans.


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China: Blogsphere · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Lyn Jeffery in Virtual China reports on China Market research's finding in Chinese blogsphere: “CMR estimates that 80% of Chinese online urban youth 18-25 (50 million people) are actively blogging OR participating in BBS. “


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China: cruel news · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Zhao mu puts together a bunch of descriptions used by some mainstream newspapers reports to show the indifference and cruelity of news language (zh).  For example, to describe the suicidal act of desperate worker with the term “highrise jumping show”, to describe car accident hitting the victim's head as “winning the first (head) prize”.


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China: death of a mother · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

ESWN translates a forum post on a new mother leapt to her death 15 days after delivering a baby girl.


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China: tell me what’s wrong with China · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Last week Danwei‘s Joel Martinsen translated an article from the New Century Weekly by Sun Yafei titled America through Chinese eyes – a columnist living abroad reports on ugly Americans.  The post has attracted many comments, including Sun Yafei's own. Jeremy Goldkorn in Danwei puts Sun's invitation for debate, tell me what's wrong with China,  in a separate thread to further the discussion.


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Guyana: Migration and family · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Guyana-Gyal contemplates migration and familly ties: “Them countries that got the best of my family…them countries just don't know how they lucky.”


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Haiti: Grateful to Wyclef for his World Cup Performance · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Collectif Haiti de Provence points to a Le Nouvelliste article thanking (Fr) Haitian-American hip hop star Wyclef for his representation of Haiti at the World Cup closing ceremony: “Wyclef Jean did everything to associate Haiti to his performance. The Haitian flag served as a bandana that covered his head (…) He even removed his jacket and screamed: “Haiti, Haiti.”(…) Thank you Wyclef Jean! (… ) We are proud of you!”


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India: Blocking access to Blogs on Blogspot and Typepad in India · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

I have been exercising considerable restraint before posting on the issue of blocking of Blogspot.com, Typepad.com and Geocities.com in India. It all started around the 13th of July, when some people complained that they weren't able to access their blogspot blogs. Since the service is known to have been down on previous occassions, it was only on the 15th that the issue picked up some momentum. Mridula, unable to access a particular blog called up the service centre
I contacted the Spectranet callcenter and this is big, they confirmed that they have blocked the site because they have a letter from Ministry of communication! I wish I had heard it worng. Call your ISP providers that are blocking it and check it out for yourself.
Initially, a lot of bloggers dismissed these claims, but over the weekend more such reports began streaming in. DesiPundit has been tracking the blogs with posts on the issue. Saket writes about the Indian Government doing a Big Brother.
To be honest, blogs don’t really matter that much in India. The blogosphere hasn’t matured enough to have any real impact on Indian society. I’d like to imagine that most bloggers and blogsurfers are young urban folks. The sorts which make noises at times, but can never be a significant threat to the government. The government can do what it pretty much wants to do. If they don’t like it, bloggers can babble as much as they want to. Nobody cares.
A very comprehensive guide to seeking information from the government on the issue on basis of the Right to Information Act. Dina Mehta shares the letter she wrote to her ISP and CERT-IN (Indian Computer Emergency Response Team). Amit has a post on circumventing the block – for publishing as well as reading. He also does a quick FAQ for bloggers and blog-readers on the block. Sepia Mutiny tells us why the terrorists have won. Ultrabrown points to the inherent danger in relying on some of the web-based services.
These repeated incidents are also a cautionary tale about the dangers of relying on Web apps centralized on a small handful of domains. What’ll you do when your government blocks Gmail?
A hilarious post by Anand at Mdeii Life on how he discovers how the blogs on his blogroll are all written by terrorists.
Apparently, (it is as yet unconfirmed) but people generally are of the opinion that, the government is indeed blocking blogs in a crackdown on terrorists. I really never knew terrorists blogged, that was until now. I quickly ran through my blogroll and started reading many blogs between the lines, and horror of horrors, quite a few of them are in fact… terrorist! (The Horror! The Horror!) … I wholeheartedly support the government's crackdown on terrorist-blogging. By severely curtailing free speech, we shall forever be free from fear and terror…. Let us show our middle finger to blog-terror in the full confidence that they will never be able to use proxies to circumvent this very astute act of Indian intelligence.
What appeared to be on the 15th just some ISPs blocking access, on Monday, in a matter of about two hours, five to six more ISPs started blocking the above stated sites. People could still publish to their blog via Blogger.com, but not see their blog at Blogspot.com. Shivam shares his experience, calling up government officials to get some sort of response from them.
Finally I managed to get through to Dr Gulshan Rai. He was downright rude. He said he
couldn’t understand what my problem was, and in any case he could not solve it on phone.
Me: “So should I send you an email?”
(which, btw, I already did last night, to CERT-IN)
Gulshan Rai: “Do whatever.”So that’s that for now.
Ethan writes on India joining an elite club. Vijay Rao wonders if the block is restricted to major cities only. A little more humour and irony to the rescue via Dhoomketu.
Secondly, I must also thank you for ignoring Livejournal and WordPress. Those are second-rate platforms and I am happy that by banning Blogspot you have clearly showed that those other two platforms don't matter. Somewhere, Larry Page and Sergey Brin would be smiling a lot.
Brough wonders why the Mainstream Media in India is not reacting. Meanwhile, I am doing pretty regular updates on my blog Within / Without (shameless plug). Patrix questions the logic in blocking technology or anything else because terrorists use them.
Let us take the government’s argument a bit further and help them in curtailing the menance of terrorism by blocking or banning stuff. Let them outlaw all use of cell phones because if you have seen RGV’s Company, you know that you can run an entire gang from Malaysia. Terrorists use cars to make a hasty retreat so lets ban cars in major cities.
Many Indian Bloggers are now collaborating here to find ways circumvent the block and address the issue by working together to figure out how the block can be lifted. I find it particularly interesting that one of the ways of accessing blogs is to go to http://pkblogs.com, which was set up by Pakistani bloggers to help them circumvent the block in their country. Check this wiki for updates on the ISPs and what bloggers are saying.
Tomorrow is another day and a different IP. Hopefully though the block would have disappeared. Someone do the rope trick. Quick!


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Indonesia: Tsunami Updates · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Angelo Embuldeniya at worldwidehelp blog is monitoring the latest Indonesian tsunami news. “According to sources on the ground, a local tsunami measuring 2m in height hit a West Java resort where 5 people are confirmed to have died and officials have stated that the threat of the tsunami being widespread is highly unlikely.”

author: Preetam Rai


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Indonesia: Tsunami · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Crisismesh blog is reporting on the Tsunami in Indonesia caused by an eartquake in Indian Ocean. The blogger at WideImaginations feels the quake in Jakarta.


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Iran: Back to Tabriz · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Razeno reports about his conservations with people in Tabriz about the cartoon affair. The blogger says all people whom he talked, considered the cartoon just a pretext to revolt. They said they do not want to be separated from Iran and they want to be respected like other places such as Meshad, Isfahan and Rafsanjan (Persian). The blogger adds during the riots Farsi speaking population stayed at home and there were rumours that Lebanese Hezbollah have been sent by government to repress the demonstration.

author: Fred Petrossian


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Iran: Bloggers & Zahedan · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Nedaye Emrouz says there are only 25 blogs in Zahedan and all of them are run by university students. The blogger adds that in reality only 9 of these blogs are active (Persian). Nedaye Emrouz writes articles in Zahedan magazines about the importance of blogs and informs his countrymen that internet is not only about chat. It seems the bloggers in this city come together time to time.


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Iran: Conservatives vs. Reformists · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Ali Mazroi, blogger & former reformist deputy in Parliament, writes that conservatives ( fundamentalists) accused him and several former managers from reformist side, of the most important financial scandal in Iranian stock market history. The blogger calls such an accusation false and he adds absolutists (conservatives) are afraid of reformists even when they are in their homes  (Persian). The blogger says he is waiting to see a proof about this accusation.


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Israel condemnation and the Cause of War and Conflicts · Global Voices
A. Fatih Syuhud

Many Indonesian bloggers respond to the current brutal and terror act against civilians in Palestine and Lebanon with disgust and condemnation.
Indra Pramanawho is very concerned about the current escalation of tension in the middle-east, especially the use of  excessive force by Israelis against civilians in Palestinian territory and Lebanon, questioning the actions of the Jewish state and the silent voice of the world on the events:
I still don't understand, why Israel has to kill a lot of innocent civilians, including children, only because they want to save two of their soldiers which are being captured by Hezbollah militants. Why they have to bomb the Beirut international airport? Why they have to sacrifice the life of a lot of Lebanese civilians, including children?
Why all countries around the world did not immediately condemn the attack? When North Korea did a “show-off” with its missiles, most of all countries around the world immediately condemned the move. When terrorists strike Mumbai's rapid transportation with several blasts to its trains, all countries immediately condemned the attack. Why up to the moment, it's quite difficult for most countries around the world to condemn the Israel's attack? Why so far, only Indonesia condemned the attack, while the Philippines only issued Lebanon travel ban for its citizens? And why the UN Security Council finds it difficult to come out with a resolution to condemn the attack?
I really hope that the international community can immediately look into this matter. This matter is obviously more serious than the North Korea issue. North Korea only performed a show-off, while in this case, a lot of civilians, including children, has been killed by the brutal attacks. I also really hope that the international community can do the necessary to stop Israel's attacks, so there's no further innocent people become victims.
While many Indonesian bloggers condem the acts of the Israelis against Lebanon and Palesine, Romi Satro Wahono highlights more on the root cause of conflicts happens in any parts of the world including in the Middle East where he elaborates three major factors  of conflicts and war  that happen throughout the history of   the world adding a note that it's the US who has waged the most wars:
First,  ambition to show off and gain recognition on the part of more powerful countries  with all possible pretext to support the action.
Second, war as a very profitable business. You can see the table in his blog on the top five countries who export and import weapons and its values in US dollars
Third,  poverty, injustices, and big social gap between the haves and the have-nots.
Some commenters seem to agree with him.  Arif Widianto, for example,  comment that:
Saya tidak terkejut kalau Amerika merupakan negara yang terbanyak terlibat dalam konflik (perang) internasional. Industri senjata di negara tersebut merupakan industri yang besar dan harus diserap. Kalau pasar tidak menyerap, minimal negara sendiri yang menyerap. Boleh dilihat, setiap kali Partai Republik berkuasa di Amerika, dijamin bakal akan ada perang di suatu belahan dunia karena Partai Republik disokong oleh industri senjata. Lihat George Bush dan George Walker Bush sebagai sedikit contoh dari penguasa yang berasal dari Partai Republik. Kedua orang ini menggelar perang yang cukup dahsyat di akhir abad 20 dan awal abad 21.

author: A. Fatih Syuhud


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Ivoirians in Paris: Church Anniversary · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Voyage en Cote d'Ivoire posts (Fr) festive pictures of the anniversary of Paris’ Ivoirian church.


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Kenya: Stockbroking licenses · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Bankelele examines whether or not the granting of more stockbroking licenses by the Kenyan government will simply mean a license to print money for the country's banks.


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Kyrgyzstan: Week in Blogs · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Yulia rounds up the week in the Russian-language section of the Kyrgyz blogosphere.


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Lebanon: Collective Punishment & Death or Total Submission · Global Voices
Moussa Bashir

The Israeli widespread and indiscriminate attack on Lebanon was the focus of all blogs about Lebanon the past few days. Regular updates, personal accounts, analysis, photos (not for the faint hearted) and ways to help were posted on most blogs. It is very difficult to mention all of them and all the important posts they have. Following are the few English blogs that I could review, considering that where I and my parents live was under direct attack and considering the difficulty of connecting to the internet most of the time.
Anarchistian at Blogging the Middle East  responding to Sec Rice invites her to come to Beirut :
“A’athir man anzar”
“Excuse the one who warned”
Oh! Isn’t that supposed to be HezbAllah’s line?
And Condie has said, immediate ceasefire will not solve anything. Maybe she should come and sit in southern Beirut, that might solve her idiocy perhaps.
Update @ 4:34 pm: Schools in Bint Jbeil completely leveled. A drone flying over southern Beirut. 13 bodies […]
In one of a series of posts by the Lebanese Blogger Forum   we read:
The impunity of Israeli attacks against Lebanese civilian infrastructure says something about Israeli objectives.
These objectives go beyond merely pressuring the Lebanese government into “reining in” Hizbollah. They are calculated to demoralize the Lebanese people and debilitate their economy. The attacks amount to collective punishment, in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Cold Desert gives a math lesson about Israel
•	An eye for an eye raised by 2 orders of magnitude= For 1 Israeli eye, 50-100 Arab eyes + 10 bridges + 3 airports are required in exchange
•	We Israelis are dangerous don't step on our toes, don’t even come close to our toes… Hell don’t think of dreaming of having your shadow step on our toes!!! (Capisce!)
•	We're strong (with a roar)
•	We’re lethal and we mean it
•	Ah yep, the world's only superpower is 100% behind us, coz the US is 100% behind the lovers of freedom and democracy and human rights and who else than Israel in this whole pathetic excuse of a Middle-East, mollests freedom and democracy and human rights as good as us… daily (out of pure love & lust)… ooohh yeah!
•	Did I say we’re strong? Ah yep, yep, we are strong and don’t you forget that
In one Angry Arab many posts  observes a sudden affection for Arab ministers by the US government:
I find it interesting that Arab ministers and officials have historically always been mocked in the US press. But lately, when they have become far more vocal in their servitude to the US government, they are now treated with respect and affection. Suddenly, the House of Soud has emerged as a fountain of wisdom. It is all about how they handle the Israel question, I argue.
He also mentions the following letter from a western correspondent in Beirut:
“Dear As'ad:
The more they bomb, the more determined I am to stay. J.'s internet cafe has a subterranean level where I am holed up and will probably remain at least for tonight. One of the schools nearby is filled to the brim with displaced persons from Dahiyeh and other neighborhoods. I am boiling with rage to the point where I am calm. Nothing, absolutely nothing (and by nothing I guess I mean nobody) is going to stop them from doing this. Did you expect that they would go this far, even further? So they bombed the al-Manara lighthouse, but they are killing scores, dozens, hundreds of people. Our cleaning lady this morning was crying because she saw dead children in Dahiyeh (that's what I understood, at least. It doesn't help that neither she nor I have a very good command of Arabic). I told her to stay with us tonight. I really hope she knows I'm serious. These are small silly remedial gestures, but what more can I do?
I don't know what to write, I don't know who to write for.”
Jamal’s Propaganda Site featured a series of reflections predictions and analysis. The following is a quote from on of them:
The Israeli propaganda machine is trying to paint this war as an Islamists war on Jews. Playing the anti-Semitism card is always the way out for Israel when they have nothing else to legitimize their killing machine. Especially after their terrorism card stopped being effective considering the only terrorism being practiced currently is that of the Israeli Air Force on Millions of Lebanese
From Letters Apart  an observation and a plea:
Lebanon is falling under real fire. The rest of the world is falling under the lies of the media. What has CNN reported of the 100+ civilian deaths, except as having that fact as a passing remark? What have others said?
Expats, if they can't do anything else, can do something to change this. CREATE AWARENESS. WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES IF YOU ARE A US CITIZEN
Beirut Spring  posts a code for bloggers that can be used to help the thousands of Lebanese refugees and displaced.
Beirut to the Beltway  analyses the situation in a series of posts among them is one that states:
The United States and Israel will not end their bloody campaign in Lebanon unless the Lebanese government takes on Iran and Syria. That's, in essence, what can be concluded from statements by Rice today, and from Israel's refusal to enter into negotiations or observe a cease-fire.
Starting with Rice, she said
“I'm not going to try to judge each and every Israeli operation or each and every Israeli attack.” The only way to resolve the situation, Rice said, “is to deal with the extremists, isolate the extremists, and put in place moderate democratic states”.
And this:
“The Israeli government is a good and democratic government,” she stated
So what is this? Regime change Syria and Iran by destroying Lebanon? Or is Lebanon expected, with no bridges or power, with people massacred, with people angry, to take on those regimes on behalf of Israel and the US? […]
War always works. It creates unity that can sustain dictators and failed leaders. This war also worked very well for Hizbullah, Iran and Syria.
Michael Totten stopped comments on his blog because:
Insulting my personal friends while they are driven out of their homes as war refugees is not acceptable. My old neighborhood is under attack. My friends are terrified and in danger. How on earth do you…
Lebanon.profile blogs on his personal experience while under blockade and attack:
I was supposed to leave at 6am. Then, 8am. It's now been delayed for a few more hours.
My Syrian taxi driver said three passengers on their way to Damascus were targeted by an Israeli missile and killed. He planned to use the very road they were on.
Yesterday, an American friend in a taxi was on the road when the Israelis struck it. She survived.
And here too:
What I feel now, as a citizen, and what everyone feels is disappointment, anger, anxiety, frustration. We’re scared and locked up at home. War came in a day. War in one day. All the books I’ve read about war, the daily news on Afghanistan and Iraq, how we were saying ‘how terrible the situation was in Gaza’—and now I’m living it.
Vox observed that:
Responding to the kidnapping on this scale was a mistake. The Lebanese government is very fragile and Lebanon could become a failed state anytime. Palestinan guerilla and al-Qaida are still active in Southern Lebanon. If what remains of the government's authority collapses, Israel would regret the days when Hezbollah imposed some (very relative) discipline on the border.
In a post titled “Yahweh’s Glorious Sicaris Playing a “Persian” Cat-and-Mouse Game Over Lebanon” Dr. Vic in Middle East Memo   writes a very interesting post inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Jij interpret the Israeli actions against Lebanon as a message that says:
This is what Israel is saying: “Look, you can’t resist. We know we occupy your land and breach your sovereignty whenever it pleases us. We know we illegally operate in your country, assassinate people, and kidnap fishermen, and murder entire families “by mistake”. We don’t give a fuck. We’re much, much stronger than you. You can’t exercise your legal right to resist our injustice. If you dare resist, we’ll break you. You have to shut the fuck up and live by our own terms. You have to disarm your own resistance, and ensure our own security.”
Sophia at Les Politiques  writes the following:
My country, Lebanon, will be taken once again in the spiral of the violence the Israeli state has created in the region and as the Iraqi adventure, which is another tragedy created by the Neo-cons in order to set the conditions for a total reddition of all hostile Arab regimes to the will of Israel and to tolerate in the middle east only puppet regimes, nobody knows how and when it will end, nobody knows how much dead civilians and destructed infrastructure this final job will take, nobody knows how much suffering the Zionist state is going to inflict on the region in the name of this farce called ‘Israel's right to defend itself’.
Who is going to ask Israel for accountability and when? The world has asked Germans for accountability but Germans were not the victors in WWI. If they were, nobody could have ever asked them for accountability for the suffering and the atrocities Nazis inflicted on people and on Jews. I fear Israel is not going to account for the atrocities it is committing now because history stands always with the victors!
Dove’s Eye View  makes a comparison with Gaza in one of many posts:
Behind the operations in Lebanon and Gaza is the same foolish idea about pressure on the population leading to political changes that Israel wants. In the history of the Israeli-Arab conflict, that concept has only led us from one disaster to the next. We “cleansed” southern Lebanon of Palestinians in 1982, and what did we get? Hezbollahstan instead of Fatahland. Hamas won't fall because Gaza is in the dark, and not even because we bombed the Palestinian Foreign Ministry building at the weekend – another nonsensical move; Hezbollah won't be smashed because the international airport in Beirut has been put out of commission.
Pierre Tristam at Candide’s Notebook  has regular updates and analysis of the situation in Lebanon.
Finally, for now, at UrShalim (my blog) you can find regular updates and on the ground photos and personal accounts of what is happening during the attack on Beirut.

author: Moussa Bashir


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Lithuania: New Prime Minister · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Vilhelm Konnander writes about Lithuania's new prime minister and the legacy of the outgoing one.


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Mexico: Election Inspires Online Creativity · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boli-Nica once again measure the online support behind Lopez Obrador and Calderon and includes a hilarious parody Barney parody.


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Mexico: “Mexico Deserves Better” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ricardo Carreón gives a historical view of Mexico's electoral process and explains why the country deserves better. León Felipe Sánchez, noting the surge in demand for a full recount, worries that the peaceful civil resistance could soon turn violent (ES). Finally, Wave Making makes some interesting Mexican Reflexions from Abroad: “At a macro level, reading the situation of the country, the injustice, the nepotism, it's just so tiring. Not that it isn't tiring when you are living in Mexico but you get numb about it.”


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Mideast conflict: Reaction · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Former Rwanda-based blogger George Conard posts an e-mail from a friend currently in Beirut, which points out the gaps in one MSM organization's handling of events there.


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Mideast: Reactions · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

London-based Soul on Ice and U.S.-based Githush share two markedly different reactions to the continuing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.


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Monglia: Circus · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Tom Terry files a report from the circus in Mongolia complete with photos.


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Nepal: Democracy in Crisis · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samudaya.org covers Arundhati Roy speaking on democracy. “Asking what was the right thing to do in a democracy, in which an armed dissent is crushed by military power and unarmed dissent simply ridiculed and brushed aside, Roy confessed her depleting faith in democracy itself.”


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New Caledonia: Best Coca-Cola · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Valesdir.net points to an article announcing (Fr) that New Caledonia produces the best Coca-Cola in the world.


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Nicaragua: Herty Lewites and the American Left · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Marc Cooper, lamenting the lack of coverage on the death of Nicaraguan political veteran  and presidential candidate Herty Lewites, starts a heated discussion on the American left's general lack of interest in the country. Russel takes Marc's challenge and offers six links about Nicaragua in the “lefty press” from the last five years. Inmer says that Lewites was trying to establish a new left in Nicaragua (ES) and that he “centered his presidential campaign on the promise of ending the strongman system of governance.”


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Panama: El Día del Niño · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Don Ray took pictures of a pony ride in front of a supermarket in David, Panama which was set up for El Día del Niño or “Children's Day.”


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Reunion: International Procrastination Day · Global Voices
Alice Backer

LSZ Blog celebrated International Procrastination Day (yesterday July 16) by… procrastinating. He wrote (Fr): “I was thinking of writing a great article on procrastination but today is Sunday, not a good day to write an informative article on the subject.  Maybe tomorrow…”


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Russia: Oppositional Disarray · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Konstantin of Russian Blog criticizes the coverage of what the “Western media pictured […] as a ‘democratic’ challenge to Putin”: “Few mentioned the fact that at this forum Kasparov gathered almost all extremists both left and right. Like, Limonov’s National Bolsheviks (their flag is an exact copy of Hitler’s banner only swastika in the center is replaced by black hammer and sickle) and Anpilov’s Working Russia – an ultra Stalinist organization that promises to hang millions of “democrats” on every tree in Russia if only it gets to power.”


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Senegal: Rabat Conference on International Migration · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Blogger and Ziguinchor mayor Robert Sagna reflects on the recent conference on migration that took place in Rabat, Morocco (Fr): “Faced with the ample phenomenon of migration, Europe and France (…) are shivering. The paradox is that it is that very Europe that provokes immigration. If immigration hopefuls were sure not to find work in host countries, they would not try their luck.”


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Singapore: India Travel Tips · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Singapore's intrepid traveller gets the better of Indian custom officials on her recent visit to the country. The post has couple of tips for travellers going to India. “I was told by someone that in order to fend for myself as a woman, and as a foreign woman, in India, the key was to be aggressive. Apparently many Indian men, especially the rickshaw drivers and touts, don’t know how to handle an aggressive woman, except by backing off.”


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Singapore: Remembering Capitol Cinema · Global Voices
Preetam Rai

Singapore's heritage blogger Lam Chun See remembers the golden days of a 76 year old cinema hall. The unused cinema might end up like other cinemas in Singapore – developers tearing them down to build shopping complex or hotels.


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This Week In Palestinian Blogs: The Vocabulary of War  · Global Voices
Naseem Tarawnah

The word ‘peace’ has never seemed further from the recent realities that have gripped the region. Instead, the word ‘conflict’ seems to dominate the undertones of every blogger who’s been keeping track of the developments in Palestine; and even ‘conflict’ feels like a euphemism these days.
Fayyad at Kabobfest looks at “today’s word…root cause”, a term promoted by world leaders such as George W. Bush, but always seeming to stop short of a comprehensive search of the actual ‘root causes’.
Speaking of being less than comprehensive, the media has been showing two sides of the war according to Christian Sunni of Palestinian Pundit, while Fadi at Kabobfest fills us in on the words you won't hear on CNN.
Um Kahlil has some more talking points for the media, while Shaden is changing the channel.
An alarming message left by the webmaster of Rafah Today on July 14th reads “Mohammad was struck with shrapnel as he was taking those photographs. Thank God he was wearing a bullet proof vest.” Hopefully Mohammad is safe and sound although his latest photos are quite telling of the situation in Gaza.
“Cowards” and “Puppets” is how Ola describes the reaction of some Arab governments. While the Arab League has admitted to being “Impotent”, Shaden has a better word for it (in all three regional languages).
And slowly the words begin to form questions…
Questions such as: ‘Why is Israel always right?’, asks Haitham Sabbah. And Does Gaza = Iraq? ‘War’ and ‘Hatred’: which one breeds which, wonders Lulu. ‘The Right to Defend Itself’ has been another popular talking point for world leaders this week. Naseem Tarawnah of The Black Iris wonders what it means to defend one's self, while Ola offers a promising (re)definition.
“Safe”, does it have an address? A question Laila El-Haddad poses when she reassures her son Yousuf that the loud thunder outside their residence in the U.S. is not the gunfire and shelling he’s accustomed to hearing outside their home in Gaza.
And while the borders of Gaza has been closed off by Israel since June, supplies are running short and people are stranded; thousands are left waiting to go home. Often in such conflicts casualties become numbers and we tend to think in abstractions but in a post alternatively titled “Love, Borders and Desperation” one of those waiting is Laila’s friend Yasmin: a bride trying to go home just to get married.
It must be a troubling time for the mothers of Gaza, as the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that of the 82 reported deaths during the first 12 days of July, 22 are children. Mona and her daughter Sondos in Gaza cannot get a full night’s sleep without being awakened to explosions and sonic booms; blogging during those few hours when the electricity returns before disappearing into the darkness that has descended upon Gaza lately. She also visits the Attar family north of Gaza to hand out presents to 50 children. Their home was partly destroyed and then occupied as a base for Israeli snipers during a 3 day operation in the area.
The attention of so many has been turned to Gaza and more recently Lebanon. But turmoil lives on in the West bank as well. In the village of Bil’in, Iman tells us of a bride and groom who decided to hold a patriotic wedding ceremony by joining a peaceful protest against the Israeli wall. They were both part of the 26 demonstrators injured by batons, rubber bullets and tear gas of Israeli soldiers.  The village was eventually invaded.
Elsewhere, in Jericho an ISRAA kindergarten that hosts 150 children was raided by the Israeli army who took off with four computers and a scanner. Some local youths tried to stop the soldiers by hurling stones at their jeeps but the response they received came in the form of rubber bullets and live ammunition, injuring five.
Katie describes her trip to Jerusalem in the midst of the chaos in Gaza. Wanting to visit the Al-Aqsa mosque she finds it inaccessible. Instead she goes home with quite a story after being trampled on by an Israeli policeman on horseback for asking the wrong question. West Jerusalem however is another story: “The surreality of the contrast between Arab East Jerusalem and Jewish West Jerusalem was even more astonishing than it usually is.”

author: Naseem Tarawnah


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Trinidad & Tobago, USA: Caribeana Imperia · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Caribbean Free Radio releases its 44th podcast, which comprises a series of interviews with the members of Trinidadian rapso band 3canal about the theatrical production “Caribeana Imperia”, which is now playing in Washington DC.

author: Georgia Popplewell


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Ukraine: “Devushka Style” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Carpetblogger muses on fashion in the former Soviet Union, posts some pictures and dissects what she calls “Devushka Style“: “I will stick to my original word choice – “hyper-feminine” — to describe Devushka style. “Ho” is a cultural construct to which I will not subscribe. Women who don't cover their heads in Muslim cultures are often believed to be whores, an assumption I find medieval. Along the same lines, if a Ukrainian woman wears a skirt that reveals her tampon string, it's just as medieval of me to assume she's a hooker. She just likes to show off her body. And, she would probably respond that western women dress like men. It's a draw.”


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Ukraine: Eating Out in Kyiv · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

WuWei writes about eating out in Kyiv: “We had breakfast in the Kofe Haus cafe near the Opera, which was friendly though its pricing seemed odd. You could have a croissant, coffee and fresh orange juice as breakfast for 19 gryvnas or you could have fresh orange juice for the same price.”


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Uzbekistan: Civil Society · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Olesya translates a post about NGOs in Uzbekistan in which the author argues that the country's NGOs should not be surprised to find themselves in their current situation because of mistakes they made in the past that have weakened them relative to the government.


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Uzbekistan: Happy Planet · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ben Paarmann reports on Uzbekistan's fairly high rank on the Happy Planet Index. He notes that Uzbekistan's score (as well as those of neighboring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan) are not a result of government policies though.


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African Union: Presidential decision · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Black Star Journal picks up on a Francophone media report which says that Alpha Oumar Konaré will not seek a second term as president of the African Union commission, after “three frustrating and tiring years governing the ungovernable,” according to Jeune Afrique.


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Americas: Googlear · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The English translation of “googlear” should be easy enough to guess: “to google.” According to one article, the first reference in a Spanish paper belongs to Spanish blogger Enríque Dans (ES).

author: David Sasaki


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Argentina: Music: ElectroKant – Vol. 1 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Santiago Candegabe has released a new album of electronic music called ElectroKant – Vol. 1, “centered around the image of the german philosopher.” The 13 song album can be downloaded for free and is published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.5 license.


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Argentina: Rappers on Skateboards · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tired of reading about Tango? Adam takes a look at some of Argentina's lesser known musical sub-cultures.


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Belarus: Music and Censorship · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about music and censorship in Belarus, and about an upcoming Belarusian music event – to be held in Poland, “not so far from the border, in ethnically Belarusian territory.”


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Bermuda: Government Ministers’ spending spree · Global Voices
Georgia Popplewell

Bermuda bloggers The Limey, Sean Soares and Christian Dunleavy all take on the hot-button issue of government minister's travel expenses. Sean Soares also reports on the latest mugging of two men in downtown Hamilton and the general escalation of these sorts of incidents in the country.


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Bolivia: “Pink Floyd at the US Embassy” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Pink Floyd's “I Wish You Were Here” at the US Embassy in La Paz and an homage to Che Guevara requested by wealthy bankers: Ben Dangl's latest dispatch from Bolivia is description by juxtaposition.


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Central Asia: Eurasian Islam · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Ataman Rakim argues for a Eurasian Islam that would unite Muslims of the former Soviet Union under a common identity and serve not so much as a formal set of religious and political ideas but instead as a catalyst for social initiatives.


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China: How do you say RSS feed in Chinese again? · Global Voices
John Kennedy

One day soon, when content flow between Chinese and English websites reaches a reciprocal balance, when newspapers, textbooks and bloggers everywhere go bilingual, how well-positioned will you be? It's not an easy question to answer, and keeping a foot firmly planted on the ground on both sides of the fence won't ever be an easy stance to maintain.
The Chinese aren't waiting for the rest of the world to figure this riddle out, however, and keep things progressing—particularly the internet—at pace with if not quicker than the English side. Sinosphere behemoth Sina.com has just announced its Blog 3.0 [zh] service, the blogging love bubble seems to have burst [#048], and, as journalist-blogger Priest Liu writes, the word blog itself seems so last quarter [zh].
Blog是个过渡期？
在百度的新空间上开了个镜像（http://hi.baidu.com/priestliu），不是我多喜欢百度，而是比较喜欢这种简洁的web2.0风格。
现在据说流行blog不叫blog，改叫spaces。因为blog的分众广告模式已经走到了尽头，远比不上web2.0社区所能囊括的spaces功能来的整合性更强，商业价值更高。我计划中的IT产业调查久拖未开，只好看看别人的调查报道，隔靴搔痒一下。从目前的产业形势看，如果blog服务商不能及时转型为web2.0社区服务器，那么后续投资就很难搞到，VC们大多已经不再相信blog能够带来稳定的现金流——换句话说，纯粹blog商业模式已经宣告失败。从业内哥们那里了解到的信息，blog的失败案例典型如和讯，在其blog分众广告规模固定且增长潜力有限的情况下，其blog社区化带来的管理和经营成本却是以几何数的规模上涨。虽然我一直觉得和讯的blog做的很有特色，内容不错，但不赚钱的模式一定不可能生存下去。这是资本主义的硬道理。
Another hard truth of capitalism is all the gaping holes it has left in China's social infrastructure. Where the government lacks in welfare programs, in some cases Chinese media step in, telling the afflicted's stories and offering viewers ways to do their part. China Central Television (CCTV) human interest news program Focus told one family's story yesterday, but as seen on Peking University law professor He Weifang‘s blog—and on many others at many different times—bloggers can also play a similar role:
远远先生的呼吁
为了那位坚强的母亲能永远微笑
为了那位小妹能继续学业
今日央视的共同关注，让我泪在眼眶里转，某种力量强烈的冲击着我坚强的心。面对镜头，丧夫的女人，两个孩子的母亲，年老病残的共、婆的媳妇，肩扛沉重债务的农家主人，始终微笑着。这位母亲的微笑，有如一把尖刀，把我的心绞得鲜血淋漓。这位母亲的长子即将跨入大学的校门。在共同关注的关注下，这孩子的大学梦肯定能圆。我关注的是，为了哥哥上学而辍学的这位母亲的女儿段兴秀。她的哥哥说，妹妹在劳作之余，坚持看哥哥的书，且在辍学之前是优等生。
我是个地道的烟民，每天消耗两包半到三包中等香烟。我是个必须承担很多责任的人。我无力独自资助那孩子上学，但我应该做点力所能及的事。我尚有八盒香烟在，现在也是吸着烟敲这些文字。我承诺这八盒烟吸完后不再吸烟了。我想我的烟的消费能为这个孩子解决些问题。我正在联系这个孩子，如联系上了，我会把联系方式贴在我的博客里。我祈求有能力的网友，为了那位母亲能永远微笑，为了那位女儿能继续学业，做点力所能及的事。那孩子家在云南，我老家在安徽，现在北京谋食。我与这个孩子没有半点瓜葛，除了一点良知。网友们如有资助那孩子的意愿，请关注7月17日的央视共同关注的重播，方便时，请在文下评论栏或留言栏说话。我想，那伟大的母女俩会感激！我不能在敲字了，手在颤抖，泪要流——-(这是我今天贴在自己博客的文字，我的点击率低，只好借先生的宝地转贴。祈望先生和网友们谅解。）
Updating his blog today, He writes:
敬告网友:
大瑶县教育局刚刚告诉我段兴秀邻居的电话：0878-6385388。我用这个电话和她的哥哥段兴杨通话：他妹妹因其上大学，已外出打工。他会尽快与妹妹联系，妹妹若想继续学业，他会很快和网友联系。段兴秀的通联方式：用上列电话请户主喊段兴杨接听。地址：云南省大瑶县新街乡新街村段家组。邮编：67407
我虽是呼吁者，但如段兴秀不能上学，我就不会资助。如其继续学业，我肯定尽力而为。
段兴杨委托我向关心他妹妹的贺老师及所有的网友表示感谢并敬意！
From the impoverished Southwest of the country to the more affluent East coast, Sohu.com blogger Wa Qing expresses educational concerns of his own:
你的大学是地狱，还是天堂？
看题目，或许觉得有些怪，稍加解释就不难理解了。某些大学，特别是山东的某些高校，实行的还是山东高中的那一套管理制度。刚从三年地狱高中爬出来的考生们，本想上了大学能呼吸一下自由的空气了。没想到，又过了四年的地狱生活。我拿某事重点高中的作息时间表来举例。
早自习，5：00开始，上午，六节课。
午休，全校强制睡觉一个小时。
下午，四节课。
晚上，五～六节晚自习。晚上11：00下晚自习，11：30熄灯。
PS：每节课45分钟。
每周日下午，休息半天，打扫个人卫生。必须填写每人的人生目标，即XXX大学。
五一、国庆休息三天，元旦一天，春节五天。
三年高中生活，我认为可以用地狱来形容。
再以山东某些高校的作息来举例，早晨7：00，早自习，晚上11：00熄灯。晚自习期间，凡有事出教室者，必须在黑板上写明姓名，事由，出去的时间，预计何时回来。全班目标一致，考研。
在这样的大学里上了四年，也就相当于又过了四年地狱般的高中生活。某些高校甚至禁止学生谈恋爱，我就知道一个，我高中同学就是青岛大学师范学院毕业的，2000年我去她学校，她就明白的告诉我，为了不被系里的老师、主任等怀疑，我俩各走路的一边，出了校门，才能并排走。我听了，当时以为自己到了古代。说明一下，青岛大学没有这种规定，也没有这种做法。青大跟青师虽然合并，但校区之间隔着一条路。可以说路的一边是‘天堂’，一边就是‘地狱’。
现在青师是否有此种‘人性化’的做法，本人不清楚，也懒的去打听。但是至今很庆幸当初是去省外读的大学。但是，相信诸位清楚自己学校的作息时间表，对比一下，你是生活在地狱，还是天堂？
Youth and blogs. Blogs and youth. Fresh high school graduate and socially-aware All About Ahom blogger Ahom Kwok has taken on the task of translating updates on the case of blind female reproductive rights activist Chen Guangcheng. Chen, who was abducted by police earlier this year, will have his day in court Thursday, July 20.

author: John Kennedy


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DRC: Can a Finger Free the Congo? · Global Voices
Alice Backer

UDPS Liege posts pictures (Fr) of Didier Bongeya and the finger which was allegedly severed from his body during a recent march in the DRC. The blog post is titled “The finger that will free the Congo.”


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DRC: Diaspora excluded from electoral process · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Prince du Fleuve du Congo  points to (Fr) a  program for the Congo by Alain Matumona that deplores the USD 50,000 deposit required of presidential candidates and the exclusion  of the Congolese Diaspora from the electoral process.


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Ecuador: Eruption of Tungurahua Documented by Citizen Media · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Christian Espinosa has compiled the abundance of citizen photography (ES) documenting the eruption of Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador. The comments section has become a forum of citizen reporting.


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Guatemala: “A Difference Of Perspective On Guatemala City” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Patrick comes to the defense of Guatemala City.


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India: Naxal Violence · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Terrorism from within at A Muslim Indian's Speak – on Naxal violence and more. “Thousands of tribals are living in camps in Southern Chhattisgarh in India's centre just because the state has failed to protect them. A government-sponsored army of poor tribal villagers (known as Salwa Judum movement) who have been given guns are thrown in the front to fight the heavily armed Maoists.”

author: Neha Viswanathan


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India: Text on your phone · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Indian Government appears to be using mobile texting in innovative ways. Weather alerts on the phone at Ultrabrown.


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Iran: 700 Clerics  Bloggers · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

In Haftan we read that according to ISNA ( Islamic Students National Agency), Religious Blog Development Office in Qom has already trained 700 clerics as bloggers (Persian).


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Iran: Ganji & Regime Change · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

Hoder, Canada based blogger, says things have been changing in the past few days for Akbar Ganji, dissident journalist. The blogger adds since he arrived in London, he's started using the term ‘regime change’ more often and also, despite what he had previously said, it's very likely that he meets with Bush. So I suspect he's now joined the “Regime Change” campaign.


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Kazakhstan: Internet Development & Regulation · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Leila reports on internet regulation and development in Kazakhstan. She notes that e-government is being explored in the country.


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Mexico: Election Update · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ceci Connolly has a thorough update on the state of Mexico's contested election including a recent poll which found that “about 60 percent of Mexicans do not think there should be a recount, while 37 percent believe one should be conducted.” Ana Maria Salazar has a more general update of news from Mexico including President Fox's meeting with US President George Bush in St. Petersburg, Russia. Mark in Mexico translates an excerpt from an interview with Lopez Obrador which he considers a direct threat to Felipe Calderon's family.


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Mexico: Folklore Festival Postponed · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Mark in Mexico has an update on the teacher's union standoff in Oaxaca, noting that “the annual Guelaguetza Festival has been “suspended” but would be re-initiated once the labor problems with the teachers’ union is settled.”


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Mexico: “Publicidad a Huevo” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

“Publicidad a huevo” (ES), which means both “publicity, of course” and “egg publicity” is an exceedingly clever pun by Raúl Ramírez about the news that several companies including the American TV network CBS will begin advertising on egg shells.


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Mongolia: Ulaanbaatar · Global Voices
Nathan Hamm

Stacey of soupy says writes about how different Ulaanbaatar is from other places in Mongolia.


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Nigeria, Ethiopia: Lebanon evacuations · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Ethioblog takes note of a report that Nigeria has begun evacuating its nationals from Lebanon, and is also  helping Ethiopians, Ghanaians, Senegalese and citizens of other African countries to leave.


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Pakistan: Israel and the Arabs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A view of the Middle-East from Pakistan via Hardly Innovative. “Israel seems to believe that a bigger and better aresenal is what they need to survive. Some Arabs seem to believe Israel is an occupying force. At the same time, Israel seems to want to continually expand their borders, which isn't helping their image with the Arabs either.”


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Polish Blogosphere Update · Global Voices
Jordan & Maria Seidel

Better late than never… That's what PolBlog hopes bloggers will think in response to its latest foray into blogging technology.  Its new “Talk Back Attack” features an audio comment option to put “a voice to the text.”  This is how PolBlog explains the new feature:
Audio-commenting, as we call it, adds another dimension to blogging — think of it as audio SMS.
The topic for the inaugural Talk Back Attack (TBA) is the very hot issue of the Polish brain drain. PolBlog pontificates:
While Poles working abroad are now what one could call economic refugees, in the nearest future they may very well be followed by their diseffected brethren, the political refugees. How to put a brake on it? Oddly enough, there won't be any religious refugees as Poland stands to become a country of unemployed, educationally undistinguished (and indistinguishable), Catholic zealots.
And speaking of the devil(s), religious zealotry may be just what Poland needs if Edward Lucas is correct in his latest report pinning much of the blame for Poland's fall from EU grace on the twins currently serving as President and PM:
It is easy to argue that the Law and Justice party has done disappointingly little in the nine months since it won Poland's parliamentary and presidential elections. But in one respect it has done a lot: once a regional heavyweight, respected in America and around Europe, the country now attracts ridicule and condemnation. The main culprit is the president, Lech Kaczynski.
The twins of Polish politics are providing tons of newfound grist for the satirists. The Real Warsaw waxes instrumental, anticipating a potential windfall of success should the ‘wonder twins’ fail (or succeed, depending on the POV):
…it would be impossible to set Poland any lower on the world respect ladder. good news for me…I want this country to fail so I can prosper.
But would-be emigrants don't think about flipping the bird to Poland just yet. Giving the finger is now more than an aggressive, pseudo-phallic, primal gesture — it is a passport requirement, according to Poland IP  law news and resources: “A fingerprint will identify the document holder. New law will come into force in the end of August 2006.”
And while my fingers are still unpoliticized, it just wouldn't be a Polish Blogosphere Update without typing something from the diligent, far from vegetative beatroot. Perhaps in a story to give pause to the open-armed Londoners when it comes to Polish workers, the infamous Jack the Ripper may have been Polish!
The Ripper was a Polish Jew. That was the opinion of the head of the investigation into the Whitechapel murders in 1888, according to ‘evidence’ released today.
Clearly, there's been alot of ripping into Polish politics throughout the blogopshere recently, and so a change of direction is welcomed. As the Warsaw Crow Flies informs us that the blog has re-prioritized to focus mainly on “…stories about everyday life in Warsaw.” We look forward to future posts from the Crow.
And now, from the Polish language blogging scene…
The holiday season has taken hold of Polish bloggers. “As far from daily newspapers as possible” – exclaims Kurczeblade. And rightly so, for the recent news doesn't really help us to relax. As the situation in the Middle East heats up, you can tune into Polish Orientophile hub – Arabia.pl for recent news from the region as well as hot comments from Poles living there.
Most of the native bloggers seem to be in the state of detachment though, as the infamous “cucumber season” settles in. The daily absurdities of life in the “Land of the Ducks” (now in double role of President/Prime Minister) instigates the usual rants – from the authors of “Krótkowzroczność“, “To oko” – among others who'd been seeing double lately.
One subject managed to get more feedback from seething internauts – our dear nationalistic-radical-turned-minister-of-education Mr. Roman Giertych's recent plan to pardon these poor unfortunate youth/lazy bastards who managed to fail the so called “maturity exam” at the end of this high school year. Effectively granting them a passing score – and the right to get to college. M. Karnowski writes:
[Giertych's decision] damages the law, the state, youth’s upbringing. It strengthens kids’ already prevailing belief, common for the Poles, that everything is relative, everything's negotiable. Even “matura” can be called off afterwards – the minister just did it. Let the exams go their way, the score's going to be what we want it to be!
At least Polandia managed, in accordance with their motto, write “something positive about Poland” for the summer. An article about Kraków's “Crazy Guides” – a merry band of entrepreneurs offering western tourist an alternative to the well-known landmarks – tracking the remnants of communistic Poland among the blocks of Nowa Huta. Herring and vodka, tacky music by the local band, a tour aboard 1960′ original red city bus, and for the de luxeclients – a visit in an authentic private flat “from the era” for a serving of traditional Polish hospitality – and equally traditional Polish sour soup.
If you're ever in Kraków, try it out!
That’s the Poland blogopshere update! Until next time – Do widzenia i powodzenia!

author: Jordan & Maria Seidel


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Racism: France and Zidane · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

“The politics of head butts in French racist discourse are presented via La Plage, a group of young Africans who put together the song “Coup de Boule” on Monday afternoon,” writes Black Looks.


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Romania: “Ask a Romanian” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Owlspotting are introducing a new “(hopefully) weekly” Q&A feature, Ask a Romanian. The first question answered is on whether “Romanians drink vodka tonic.”

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Russia: Failure to Join WTO · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog writes on why Russia hasn't joined the WTO.


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Russia: G8 and Coverage of Crackdown · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sean Guillory of Sean's Russia Blog reports on results of the G8 Summit and criticizes the coverage of crackdown on protesters: “The methods that are being used in St. Petersburg—preemptive arrests and detention, restricting protests and protesters, caging them in, preventing foreign activists from entering the country—are not new in any way to anti-globalization activists. […] Making Russian actions seem any different, or worse, than protests in the past, whether they were held in Western Europe, the United States, Asia, or Latin America, is laughable. The news coverage of the repression, though welcomed, is rather startling. One suspects that the portrayal of Russia as exception is perhaps a way to mask the rule.”


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Russia: Lyudmila Putina’s Style · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user plushev is wondering (RUS) who is responsible for the tacky dresses of Putin's wife (photos attached): “I've heard a fantastic version that this is the work of Kremlin's imagemakers – this way they are said to win women's sympathy for Putin: women unconsciously pity the president who's got such a terrible wife. No matter how incredible, I don't see any other, more logical, explanation.”


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Russia: “Senseless Brutality” in the Army · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog writes about “senseless brutality” that keeps occuring in the Russian army: “This time one of the victims is 19-year old Radik Habirov from Kazan, who was brought in to a local hospital weighing only 65 pounds and is now in a coma. This is the worst case of documented abuse in the Army since the case of Pvt. Sychev six months ago.”


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Rwanda: Gorillas Without Mist · Global Voices
Alice Backer

Guillaume, an ex-pat working  in Rwanda, went on a road trip (Fr) to Gisenyi where he visited and took these snapshots of luxury hotel the Kivu Sun and then to Ruhengeri where he took these pictures of the gorillas for which the area is known.

author: Alice Backer


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Serbia: Kosovo Policewoman · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

KosovaReports reposts an article about a Kosovo policewoman who has managed to bring order to a “troublesome” town.


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Serbia: Symbols of the 1990s (2) · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Viktor of Belgrade Blog posts part 2 of the series about the 1990s in Serbia: “Walking down some streets all you could hear was buzzing and see money switch hands, dinars for deutch marks, deutch marks for dinars, depending on peoples needs. Why buzzing, you may ask yourself. Well, Dileri used Serbian word ‘devize’ meaning ‘foreign currency’ to let people know they are in bussiness. ‘Devize, devize’ soon turned into ‘d’vizzze, d’vizzze,’ than to ‘vizzze, vizzze,’ only to become simple ‘vzzz’ in the end.”


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Slovakia: Ruling Coalition · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Slovakia's new government: “It is rather, well, nationalist socialist.”


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South Africa: Call for circumcision · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Yebo Gogo calls on South Africa to catch up with international best practice in HIV/AIDS prevention and un-ban male circumcision, because the procedure can help prevent the spread of the virus.


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Sri Lanka: To the passport office · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Scourge on a visit to the passport office. “Walking in to one of the Saivarr Kades in Punchi Borella, I looked around for free tables. There weren’t any; the place was full of government servants having breakfast.”


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Tanzania: Organic wine company · Global Voices
Luisetta Mudie

Timbuktu Chronicles discovers a new wine organically produced in Tanzania by a company called Cetawico, which aims to “create employment, stimulate local initiative and develop new agricultural skills.”


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This week in Israel: War?! · Global Voices
Lisa N. Goldman

Israel is at war and the Israeli blogosphere is on fire. There are so many posts to mention that I can hardly think where to start. Since the events of the past week turned Israelis’ reality upside down literally overnight they are trying to make sense of it all – and many are doing so online.
As I wrote in this post, this is probably the most blogged conflict in the world. The post contains links to Israeli and Lebanese blogs that are hosting ongoing conversations between commenters and bloggers from both sides of the border. This is possibly the first time in history that citizens of two countries at war are able to maintain direct communication and express their feelings to one another in real time. I quote Shachar, an Israeli who commented on Lebanese Bloggers Forum:
I'm an  IDF soldier stationed at the Lebanon is border, but got back home for a funeral of someone I knew.
We can’t see all the bombing on Lebanon here from Israel (naturaly we’re focusing on bombs at Israel), so you’re pretty much updating me on what’s going on.
I don’t want to start arguing about who’s right and who’s wrong, the finaly word is that it’s not right that civilians get hurt in the process, from both sides.
I’m sending you my best wishes from here, and hope that you and your family will be strong and be alright until this horrible situation will be over.
At the same time Ami, an Israeli blogger who switched from Hebrew to English in order to reach an international readership, is hosting an open thread for Lebanese commenters on a blog post called Hello Lebanon, Hello Israel (scroll down for English). He invites Lebanese commenters to comment with the words,
I don’t know what will come next, but I was thinking to my self_ maybe we could take advantage of the Blog power and open a channel to…all
Bloggers analyse tactics and goals
Yael sums up the Israeli and Lebanese positions in this post and notes that they are remarkably similar:
So to sum up: The Israelis want Hizbullah gone. The Lebanese want Hizbullah gone.
Why don’t the Lebanese army and the IDF team up to jointly squash Hezbullah like a bug??!!
If this was coordinated between them the strength of each could counter-act the weakness of the other for success with very little loss of civilian life.
In a starkly worded post called A Difficult Lesson, David recalls a vicious bar fight between two sailors that he witnessed whilst serving in the US Navy. One soldier was constantly provoked by another, who was much smaller than him; in the end the smaller soldier, who turns out to be a very strong fighter, beats the larger sailor until he begs for mercy. David describes the fight in vivid, painful detail and uses the incident as a metaphor for the current situation between Israel and Hezbollah.
Robert, a veteran journalist and author who writes excellent daily opinion pieces at his blog/newsite Ariga, wrote a must-read analysis and background piece on July 13, one day after the incident that provided the catalyst for a wider conflict:
Until the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the businessman-politician who financed much of the reconstruction of Beirut, it was impossible to imagine a Lebanese government taking action against Hizbollah, because of its Syrian patrons. But the assassination unleashed a powerful anti-Syrian movement in Lebanon and something deeper, a sense that the time had come for Lebanese, rather than sectarian interests to rule. Hizbollah, the last of the ethnic-religious militias, is an obstacle to that newfound sends of Lebanese nationalism said to be the new mood in Lebanon. Thus, the declared goals of the Israeli military moves, as enunciated this morning by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, is to make the Lebanese government send its army to the Israeli border to replace the Hizbollah positions there. If Beirut won’t do so, he said, Israel would make sure that Hizbollah does not return to the border.
Imshin posts a translation of a letter to Maariv newspaper that describes the French Army's violent reation when nine French soldiers were kidnapped in Cote d'Ivoire in 2004. The letter compares France's actions to Israel's response to the Hezbollah incursion and implies that French President Jacques Chirac is being hypocritical when he says that Israel's military actions are disproportionate.
Taking the national pulse
Shai, who stopped blogging a few months ago, has written a post called A New Reality, in which he describes the atmosphere in Tel Aviv for the Guardian’s newsblog.
Here in Tel Aviv the situation is relatively calm, albeit grim and angry. While people in the north sit in their bomb shelters, those of us in the centre can do little more than check the news every five minutes.
……….
After each round of missiles you wait to hear if anybody has been killed. You wait for the evening news to see if anything has moved on the diplomatic front. You wait to see whether the Israeli Defence Force will decide to send in ground troops.
Allison is back to power blogging, with constant updates and anecdotes written in her typically breezy, amusing and insightful style. I recommend checking her blog several times a day. Some of my favourites include having to clean out the bomb shelter in her home, her response to the Home Front Command’s instructions to “be alert”, and a description of the forced togetherness created when residents of the north seek shelter with friends and families in the south.
The group blog Kishkushim is by a group of Haifa University students who are providing live updates of what life is like in their city as the missiles fall. Like Allison, they are updating constantly and providing some very insightful, intelligent perspectives. Recommended.
Here is an amusing description of a conversation overheard between two Arab-Israeli students in the university library.
And here is a live-blogged description of taking shelter (with the laptop, of course!) as the siren announces incoming missiles.
And here is a roundup of news reports from the Arabic language media after an Israeli fighter plane was mistakenly reported shot down.
Karen Alkalay-Gut (July 17 entry) describes the feeling of unity that war brings:
One strange result of this strange situation is that most people are relatively united around here. That old idea that if there are two Jews together there are three opinions doesn't seem to follow now. Even though I would have liked to handle a lot of things differently in many of the events we've been through in the past 30 years, I am at the moment, along with almost every one else, behind the government, behind the army.
New Israeli blogs
Several new blogs have popped up to blog the conflict:
Live from an Israeli bunker is by a 17 year-old Haifa resident who describes his blog, which has already gained the attention of the Washington Post,  thus:
A live blog from an Israeli bunker via laptop and wifi. Provides a unique and unprecedented insight into the rapidly escalating situation in the Middle East. Experience the events thru the eyes of the people who live them, and perhaps get an idea of how it's really like over here. This is much more human and accurate then the major news channels.
2jk, a veteran Hebrew blogger, has started a blog in English because he believes in discourse. In his first post he describes attending an Arab Israeli dialogue group in Malta, several years ago:
We engaged in discussions with all other members there and exchanged ideas. Especially the Israeli and the Palestinians, since my former party, Meretz, and Fatah were in good relations. The problem was with the Lebanese. The four girls from Lebanon refused to acknowledge us and did not talk directly towards us. I felt really ashamed of the horrible crimes committed in Lebanon, where some of them were my country’s, but i couldn’t understand why aren’t they even yelling at us? I wanted some way to talk with them, some mean to be able to communicate.
But nothing.
In order for discourse to exist, there needs to be two sides who are willing to talk. I’m not sure that my government is, but I am.
Ouriel, who previously blogged exclusively about hi-tech, switched over to political blogging with a post called Enough is Enough. His sharp criticism of Hezbollah resulted in so many responses that he felt compelled to write a follow-up post called A blog war will not happen here.
And Tel Aviv resistance dedicates the first post of his new blog to the Lebanese bloggers.

author: Lisa N. Goldman