· October, 2008

Stories about Politics from October, 2008

Russia: Chinese Laborers

  31 October 2008

Window on Eurasia writes that “ethnic Chinese working and living in the Russian Far East find their surrounding social and political scene far more congenial than do their co-ethnics living in Moscow or other cities in European Russia but are far less interested in remaining there permanently than the latter...

Ukraine: Update on the Economy and Politics

  31 October 2008

Leopolis explains in detail the current economic and political situation in Ukraine: “The stakes are high: Ukraine's economic health, its image for international investors, and a risk of default. Just as the Ukrainian stock market has seen 75% of its value wiped away, the current political crisis may undo every...

Georgia: McCain Endorsement

  31 October 2008

Ahead of next week's presidential election in the United States, This Is Tbilisi Calling says that while most people would prefer a Obama victory, Georgia is firmly behind McCain and posts a photograph of the country's Minister for Refugees to prove it.

Zambia: Allegations of Vote Rigging

  31 October 2008

Was there rigging in yesterday's Presidential election in Zambia?: “Meanwhile, allegations of vote rigging and administrative chaos have dominated Zambia's presidential by-election. Concerns of vote rigging reached fever pitch with opposition candidate Michael Sata pointing a finger at the police and the army.”

Trinidad & Tobago: Building Walls

  31 October 2008

As the government of Trinidad and Tobago begins construction on a wall they say is part of a beautification project, but which many view as a tactic for hiding the squalor of a disadvantaged community, Attillah Springer says: “Build walls because, yes, this is what the nation needs. More division....

Japan: Response to Obama “Put down the Wii Remote” Ad

  31 October 2008

Comments from Japanese net users respond [ja] to an ad by U.S. presidential nominee Obama in which viewers are told to “put down the remote and go vote“. “Why Wii?” one asks. Another writes: “Anti-Japan policies before even becoming president?” And one person wonders: “Does Obama despise Japan?”

India: Assam blasts

  30 October 2008

India's troubled north-eastern Assam state was rocked by a series of coordinated blasts today. Praful reports that 60 people were killed and more than 200 injured. “Although ULFA’s involvement in the serial blasts in Assam is suspected, the intelligence sources believe that Bangladesh-based HuJI could be behind the blasts,” opines...

Trinidad & Tobago, U.S.A.: Eye on the Prize

  30 October 2008

“Let’s compare politics with sports. You’re in the home stretch. A smart athlete – a well-trained one – would keep his eyes on the prize and concentrate on running his own race. But what is McCain doing? Looking over at the other lane, more concerned about the competition than he...

Trinidad & Tobago: The Price of Progress

  30 October 2008

Maximilian Forte, writing at Review of the Indigenous Caribbean Center, posts a video of Trinidadian calypsonian King Austin's song Progress, which he calls “a critique of the ideology and practice of progress, from the vantage points of environmental unsustainability, exploitation, inequality, and the resultant social strife.”

Jamaica: Missing Children

  30 October 2008

YardFlex refers to “some shocking figures that indicate 65 per cent of the 1,112 people reported missing in Jamaica since January 1st 2008 are children.”

Palestinian Football History

  29 October 2008

Palestinians made their own football history, being the only team - in the words of one blogger - with a stadium but no country. It was a day of national pride and despite the setbacks, bloggers hailed it as a day of victory.