Stories about Development from February, 2007
Poland: McDonald's Sales; Rospuda Bypass
The beatroot writes about Prince Charles’ McDonald's comment and the Polish First Lady's views on the planned Rospuda bypass.
Nepal: On funding terrorism
Madhesh Blog on funding terrorism in Nepal. “Several donor agencies who invested their time to investigate the use of their funds have found them not being used for the intended targets. For example, many grants for poverty reduction and micro-credits have not reached to the targeted grassroots, and many other...
Barbados: Draft energy plan analysed
Keith R at The Temas Blog analyses of Barbados’ draft national energy plan with a particular emphasis on its “environmental implications”.
Myanmar: A Glimpse of the New Capital City
Fifty Viss links to a post by an Indian journalist who took some pictures of the mysterious new capital city of Myanmar. The government moved the capital last year from Rangoon to Naypyidaw in a surprise move and people are still speculating over the reasons of the move.
Arabisc: A Pictorial Tour of North Africa
There is one word to describe this picture taken by American blogger Cory Driver, who is based in Morocco, and it is wow! Not being a photography critic, however, I am reserving my exclamation for the amazing work Driver is involved with in Moroccan villages, including that of Tattiwin, located...
Romania: Real Estate
Romerican writes about Romania's real estate market.
Zambia: adventures in Zambia
Laura, a peace corps volunteer, blogs about her adventures in Zambia, “My women's group is finally back on track and things are going swimmingly. We are going to start to keep bees and I have a local expert coming to teach the women how to do it. He's very local-...
Guyana: Exodus and integration
MediaCritic sees the “exodus” of Guyanese to other Caribbean territories as “likely to result in is a skewering of national identities and push those voices that trumpet and cling to narrow parochial inclinations into the background. With the inevitable cross-nationality marriages, dual-citizenships and other multi-national personalities single nation nationalistic fervor...
Uganda: Special Report on Best of Blogs
Last week, Uganda bloggers descended on Mateo's bar in Kampala for the second Uganda Bloggers Happy Hour. In addition to catching up with friends and discussing the main challenges facing the nation, the group made nominations for the first Uganda Best of Blog Awards. In a way, 2006 was the...
Touring Libyan Blogs: Between history, hair, leadership, cleaning the floor and many more stories
Most of us have studied some history, many of us think we know history, but the majority of us are really ignorant about large parts of our own history. That is why the personal accounts of travellers a la Ibn Battuta style are so important to record the making of...
China: face project in Shanghai
Peijin Chen from Shanghaiist reports about the expensive Oriental Arts Center in Shanghai as an example of face project in China.
Bahrain: ‘Terrorist Plot’ Sparks Cynicism
Following a controversial news report about the discovery of a ‘terrorist training camp’ in one of Bahrain's Shi'a villages, Bani Jamra, Bahrain's ‘blogfather’ Mahmood Al Yousif writes a sarcastic post proclaiming his gratitude to Bahrain's Ministry of the Interior for making Bahrain a safer place: I am ever so grateful...
Africa, China: The Role of Local Governance
Sanaga Peregrinations disagrees (Fr) with commentators who believe Africa is going towards a recolonization by China, suggesting that the point is not to worry about the consequences of Chinese investments but rather to bring local leaders to better manage all foreign investments. She quotes and endorses Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda:...
Hong Kong: Cyber dream
Sun bin visited Hong Kong's “Cyber port” and here is his conclusion: People were saying that HK's “cyberport” is a real estate development. I now want to put it in more specific terms, “purely residential development”. i.e. no business, no cyber, not even some decent shops or restaurants, or hotel,...
Africa: China in Africa
Afroshangai Blog posts an article about Chinese interest in Africa, “China, unlike just about every other country in the world, has a clear African strategy which is being implemented with military precision. President Hu Jintao’s visit is the third by a senior Chinese leader in twelve months…”
China: disappearing Hutong
Fang Zhen-ning blogs some photos on the disappearing Xian Yu-kou Hutong in Beijing because of urban renewal project.
Landing at the Iraqi Blogodrome
Let me clear it up for any moron with lingering doubts: It’s worse. It’s over. You lost. You lost the day your tanks rolled into Baghdad to the cheers of your imported, American-trained monkeys. You lost every single family whose home your soldiers violated. You lost every sane, red-blooded Iraqi...
Bangladesh: Celebrating the Mother Language day
Today is the International Mother Language Day, an annual event in UNESCO member states to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism. This is mostly the international recognition of Language Movement Day called ‘Ekushey February’, which is commemorated in Bangladesh since 1952, when a number of Bangla-speaking people were massacred...
Africa: Manifesto for the United States of Africa
Le Pangolin posts (Fr) a Manifesto for the United States of Africa written by the Working Group of African Students in France. The document was presented to Alpha Omar Konaré, the President of the African Union Commission, in March 2004 and was inspired by other country unions around the world...
Albania: Observing the Election
Our Man In Tirana writes about observing the election in a “chaotic” town of 80,000 people, where “strangers are a rarity.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Adventures in energy
The Liming House posts a part-allegory outlining Trinidad and Tobago's adventures in the energy trade.