Stories from Quick Reads from September, 2006
Iran:Ayatollah Khomeini's letter and nuclear bomb
Kamangir talks about Ayatollah Khomenii's letter that was published after 18 years. We read in media, a letter from 1988 in which Iran's top commander says Iran could need a nuclear bomb to win the war against Iraq has come to light in Tehran. The blogger adds I do not...
Philippines: Darkness after Xangsane
Mr. Fuji in Manila describes the situation in downtown Manila in the wake of Typhoon Xangsane. “looking out from my manila hotel room, makati is dark, right to the horizon. it’s eerie to see a city that was full of lights now sleeping. there a little flecks of light here...
Guyane: Cruelty to Iguanas
Cafe Creole is upset (Fr) that people are eating iguana stews in French Guiana and posts a picture of live iguanas destined to end on someone's plate. The author goes on to explain that while consumption of wild animals was understandable in the past, modern access to alternative sources of...
Senegal, Chad, Belgium: Where Will Hissene Habre be Judged?
Generation Consciente, Un Autre Afrique explains that (Fr) after a 5-year negotiation between Senegal, Belgium and the African Union on which of the two countries should host the trial of former Chadian leader Hissene Habre, “Abdoulaye Wade has decided at the African Union summit in Banjul that former Chadian leader...
DRC: Tshisekedi Should Save the Nation by Supporting Mbemba
On UDPS Liege, Florent Mukonkole writes(Fr): “Any Congolese with any sense of nationalism should rally around Mbemba [in the upcoming runoff against Kabila]to save the nation.” He then asks Etienne Tshisekedi, leader of opposition party UDPS, to do the same and implies that a recent press release by the leader...
Botswana: the plight of living near diamond mines
The San people of Botswana would like you to boycott Botswana diamonds until they are allowed back into their ancestral land, writes Ethnicloft, quoting an advocacy group supporting the San’s opposition of their eviction.
Africa: a web 2.0 application from Africa
African technology firm, Incubeta, has built a web-based application,which allows you to build websites without having to know HTML, reports My Africa: “I’m glad to see that they were able to get such great exposure early in their beta, since it will bring a lot of eyeballs to their site(s)...
Kazakhstan: Breaking 50
At neweurasia, Adam says that if Kazakhstan is to reach its goal of being one of the 50 most competitive economies, it must do more than “polishing” its macroeconomic indicators and relying on high oil prices.
Armenia: Dusty Yerevan
Christian Garbis says that a Soviet era song still played occasionally on Armenian radio, “Clean Yerevan,” is totally removed from reality, that not only is there lots of litter, but that Yerevan is plagued by dust.
Trinidad & Tobago, Bahamas: The Bahamas at Carifesta
Nicolette Bethel has a series of posts (1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5), reporting on the experiences of the Bahamas contingent at Carifesta, the Caribbean arts festival taking place in Trinidad and Tobago this week. She posts some nice photos as well.
Tajikistan: Dushanbe-Moscow Train
Vadim of neweurasia writes about the ill-fated Dushanbe-Moscow train and the hardships faced by those who take the journey.
Kazakhstan: Nazarbaev in DC
Registan.net looks at media, editorial, and blog coverage of today's visit to the White House by Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev.
Kazakhstan: Crossing the Line
KZBlog says that comedian Sasha Baron Cohen has crossed the line in his latest stunt as the character Borat by directly mocking the president and government of Kazakhstan in his phony press conference in front of the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington D.C.
Poland: Coalition-Building Crisis
The beatroot reports on Poland's government crisis: “So even the Peasants don’t want to get into bed with PiS, it appears. Which shows how bad the image of the government has become: in the past 17 years since parliamentary democracy began in Poland PSL have been known to get into...
Poland: Elevator Graffiti Transformation
Boo writes about an anti-Semitic graffiti in a Polish elevator that was later replaced with a message of tolerance.
Belarus: Protest Diaries and Opposition Leader
Ivan Lenin of Rush-Mush reports that the online diaries of a Belarusian protester Dasha Kostenko have been published in Moscow. He also criticizes the opposition leader Milinkevich: “It's a big shame that the brave Belarusians who were risking their health, their freedom, and their very lives didn't have a better...
Serbia: Kosovo Is (Not) Changing
Wu Wei observes the changes that are taking place in Kosovo and those that aren't.
Serbia: Torture Story Retraction
Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic has found out that a heartbreaking story about “the Sri Lankan-American Buddhist who was tortured by her Serb captors while on an aid mission during the Bosnian war, [was] fictional“: “I regret posting the story when my verification was incomplete. But I also believe that...
Russia: Open Letter on Orphanage Child Abuse
Russia Blog posts an open letter from an American mother of three adopted Russian children: “While looking for articles about the orphanage abuse that occurred in late July, 2006 in Krasnoyarsk, I came across your story about the “Boys for Sale“. It has had a profound affect on me. Thank...
Bangladesh: Theatre
imperfect world 2006 points out to a review of theatre in Bangladesh. “He discusses, amongst other things, theatre as a tool of protest and theatre as an expression of resistance. He also touches on the great diversity of plays being performed – many of which are of overseas origin.”
India: Child Marriage
Even as Child Marriage is illegal in India, parts of India continue the practice of child marriage. Especially on certain auspicious days when the practice intensifies. A flickr photo set by John and Sarah on the same.
