Global Voices

English

The world is talking, are you listening?

Kenya

Kenyan Pundit introduces the blog Kenya Today, the first blog by a mainstream Kenyan journalist. At the moment, John Kamau, the author, is in Scotland, covering the G8 summit.

On Safari with El Jorgito reports from Kigali that rumors coming out of the Democratic Republic of Congo show a deteriorating situation in the city of Goma. Have any bloggers heard any reports on what the situation on the ground is?

Having been pressured by the United Nations, the African Union has finally sent an observer to Zimbabwe, reports the Zimbabwean Pundit. However, officials in Harare are apparently demanding that the emissary be recalled, placing AU officials in an embarrassing bind.

Iran

The Silly Bahraini Girl is more than a little frustrated by Bahrainis who have trouble with the fact that many email addresses in the Kingdom end in ‘.com.bh'.

The Big Pharaoh, in his trademark sarcastic style, finds where Egypt's Christian and Muslim communities have some common ground.

Iranian Prospect posts a long entry on the implications of the Belgian beer fiasco. Some background can be found here and here.

Hoder's article about Iranian youth and Ahmedinejad's electoral victory has been published in English at OpenDemocracy.net. Here's the German original.

Kuwait Blogs reminds its readers that the monthly Kuwaiti bloggers' meetup is scheduled for tomorrow.

China

Tomorrow.sg announces that Bloggers.sg, the upcoming Singaporean Blogger Conference, has a new venue, as the old one was too small. They also posted an updated conference schedule for the July 16th event.

Also in Singapore, Mr.Brown deconstructs the MRT's fare hike adjustment poster.

Mongolian-North Korean detente? New Mongols points to an interesting interview with North Korea's ambassador to Ulaanbaatar.

Malaysia brings us two automotive-related stories. First, Jeff Ooi looks at how the Malaysian press covered Dr. Mahathir Mohamad's press conference about Proton, Malaysia's national car manufacturer. Dr. Mahathir had been the country's leader for more than 20 years and is still regarded as an important figure. Second, Brand New Malaysian asks his fellow countrymen (and women) to stay rational in the face of impending gasoline price hikes.

Chatter Garden notes that the Chinese-language newspaper Ta Kung Pao featured a story that was very favorable to the Sharks Fin Trade Merchants Assocation; is this the first salvo in a PR offensive by the oft-maligned sharks fin soup industry?

CCTV, China's national broadcaster, has announced that they are going to be broadcasting television versions of the Four Great Classic Novels (Dream of the Red Chamber, Outlaws of the Marsh, Journey to the West, and The Romance of Three Kingdoms) for summer vacation. Danwei wonders, since TV versions of all four classics are being broadcast almost constantly, if CCTV's real motivation is to get kids to turn off the TV.

Riding Sun, a blog by a Westerner living in Tokyo, passes on the news that Japan may join the ranks of countries that monitor and filter the internet. Via Asiapundit.

India

Sri Lankan blogger Indi Samarajiva says that the Live 8 manifesto, if implemented, will simply turn the third world into a giant welfare state.

Vantage Point points out that the Delhi water board will start limited privatization of the water supply soon; he hails this as another crack in the wall of state monopolies.

Kiruba Shankar brings us news of Gizmo, a competitor to Skype in the internet telephony market. Two of the biggest distinguishing points is that Gizmo users can receive calls from the traditional phone network without paying a fee, and the Gizmo application has call-recording built-in to the application.

Chapati Mystery takes a crack at trying to figure out ex-cricket star Imram Khan, and also notes that the mainstream press is starting to pay more attention to him.

Photograph by Stephanie Booth

Poland

The Russian Dilettante points out that the roots of the Solidarity movement in Poland were profoundly nationalistic and that if it were to rise again, the Western press would probably dismiss it as “right-wing”.

An updated travel warning for Uzbekistan was issued over the weekend, notes Registan. They believe that the updated warning indicates that things in Tashkent has calmed down since the Andijon massacre.

And on the light side, Siberian Light passes along the strange tale of a young man who was disguised as his sister in order to pass a college entrance exam. Apparently the Princeton Review hasn't yet opened their Moscow office…