Global Voices Online

Yulia of neweurasia reports that Kyrgyzstan's constitutional commission has finally presented three draft constitutions to the public and revealed the disagreements and political wrangling that were involved in their drafting.

Sean Roberts discusses the curious and shocking case of the arrest of a prominent Kyrgyz opposition politician, Omurbek Tekebaev, for smuggling drugs into Poland.

The Long and Winding Road reports on the latest developments in the trial of Dadahon Hasanov, a musician on trial for writing a song commemorating the massacre of civilians during the May 2005 protests in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon.

Akhtamar, blogging at ArmYouth Blog, writes that he and his friends decided to show their national pride while attending the recent football match between Armenia and Belgium by painting the Armenian tricolor on their faces. He reports that this was met with plenty of shock and confusion.

Waheed says that if NATO forces really want to defeat the Taliban in Afghanistan, they must pressure Pakistan to take action against Afghan militants based there.

Guyanese are everywhere, observes a wistful MediaCritic: “Lost, gone, no more. Building other nations, building a brighter future overseas.”

Guyana-Gyal hasn't heard from her brother in over week. “I hope them aliens ain't kidnap he again,” she says.

The Limey kindly makes available on his weblog downloadable copies of the draft Sustainable Development Plan documents that the Bermuda government appeared be having trouble with at their own newly launched blog.

“Behold the stubbornness of the politician. The arrogance and blindness and stupidity of the species,” writes British-born Trinidadian blogger Jeremy Taylor, examining Tony Blair's refusal to step down. “It's a lesson that some parts of the Caribbean have yet to learn. Everyone has their sell-by date, after which the product begins to stink.”

Trinidadian blogger saucydiva, who's been making the rounds of the “mas' camps” in Port of Spain in search of a Carnival costume, pays a visit to the headquarters of Pulse 8, whose “Wicked Waitress” costume is priced at US$400.

Luis M. Garcia reports that the Cuban National Ballet is receiving mixed reviews on its tour of Europe and notes that a visit to Cuba by Evo Morales has been reported on Cuban television.

Malaysian blogger Volume of Interactions watches a documentary on trafficking of women while on a visit to Australia. The blogger is disturbed by the fact that most of the trafficking transits through Malaysia. “What irks me so much is that these things are happening right now within our very borders, perhaps no further than a stone's throw from where i work. Its an issue of terrifying proportions yet i had to travel to a foreign country to learn and listen from a frank discussion of the problem. Why don't we hear about these things in our local news? “

Collectif Haiti de Provence links (Fr) to a metropolehaiti.com article explaining the hurdles that parents and children alike faced today in going back to school. Namely, according to the Minister of Education Gabriel Bien-Aime, only 10% of schoolchildren will be able to start school this week, a number lower than usual. He cites the lack of security as a major hurdle in neighborhoods affected by gangs. He also announced the government's plan to decrease discrimination in book distribution; the plan entails favoring the neediest schools and the most remote areas.

Faced with evidence that the French soccer team wore blue jerseys in 1998 and 2000 when the team had better World Cup luck, Le Blog de [Moi] theorizes (Fr) that the team's choice of a white jersey for this year's World Cup final was unwise.

Robert Mayer of Publius Pundit interviews a 22-year-old Belarusian activist who now lives in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Le Blog de [Moi] marvels (Fr) at the amount of attention her blog received for a video of an Ursula Martinez act at the Juste Pour Rire festival in Montreal. She says: “I was linked to from all countries and in all languages.”

All About Latvia writes about Sandra Kalniete, the newest candidate for president: “Kalniete’s biography represents Latvian history before and after the fall of the Soviet Union.”

Bored in Brno writes about trams and records a tram ride soundscape/podcast.

My Czech Republic Blog writes about the annual ritual of obtaning a phone book in Prague.

TOL's Belarus Blog reports on a World Bank's “Doing Business 2007″ survey: Belarus has ranked 129 this year, right after Ukraine.

Kushtrim Xhakli writes about a movie about the missing persons of the war in Kosovo.

D.R. Fairday of A Yugo in the US is blogging about stereotypical Serbs in the United States - and about himself: “*You have 17 consonants and 2 vowels in your last name. Close. It's 6:4, but Amers can't pronounce two of them, and they never put the accent where it should go.”

Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes about the dispute over whether Romanians and Bulgarians should have the right to work in the EU: “Few subjects stimulate sillier discussion and worse economics than migration from poor countries to rich ones.”

Luís Afonso Assumpção interviews the grandson of Cuba's first president.

to2blogs (todos blogs, or “all blogs”) looks like an excellent (ES) alternative (ES) to the no-longer-active Veneblogs.com (ES). The to2blogs weblog describes (ES) the project as a “vertical directory of Venezuelan blogs.”

Alejandro of Peru Food comments on Joan Cirillo's AP article about the explosion of Peruvian cuisine.

Alvaro Ramirez calls the Colombian launch of Creative Commons “a complete success” (ES). Colombian project lead, Carolina Botero, is asking readers to help translate and subtitle (ES) the presentation of Lawrence Lessig at the launch.

Jim Shultz asks: Is Bolivia in the midst of a national meltdown or just emitting the loud noise of political change?

Ian Mount has a couple snapshots of “Gay-Positive Stencils in San Telmo” while Robert Wright takes a chronological look at the restoration of Argentina's Supreme Court and Casa Rosada.

Liz Henry points to videos of “Punk rock warrior women from Mexico City.”

Luis Gustavo Lira has an English-language press release on Software Freedom Day, which will take place on September 16 at Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru.

secretdubai wonders why vaginoid homo sapiens can't have the same rights and privileges afforded to others?

See how Ahmed (you might) received his books parcel after Ministry of Information returned it from a routine censorship unit at the ministry without finding anything dangerous.

We in Iraq need no special occasions to remind us of terrorism; the front is still on fire and the daily confrontation leaves no place for doubt in our minds about the aggressive nature of terrorism against everything that opposes its ideology even when the opposition is represented by an Arab or Muslim trend whether Sunni, Shia or any other variation, let alone the Christians, Jews, Buddhists or non-religious people, say Mohammed.

What if you try to enter the US borders without a passport? SillyBahrainiGirl can tell you the experience.

Society for democracy has published several photos showing poverty in Sistan region.

Myanmar blogger Moe Moe has a question for women in her country “Burmese girls and women, honestly, do you think that just because you can wear a halter top or a see through (ugly!) pants/skirt that you are free and you are independent? That you have gained a step into the world of liberation?”. Moe Moe's question comes in response to photos of a concert she found in another blog. The blogger wonders if modernity allowed in Myanmar is only superficial with youngsters copying western fashion and music but not being allowed “freedom to think, ask, write discuss, vote, to gain knowledge, to have a say in anything, to choose not to be corrupt, to maintain one's pride and dignity”

ESWN translates three controversial articles in defense of EasyFinder's position of refusing to apologize for pop song singer Gillian Chung backstage photographs.

Simon World puts together two toilet stories, one from Beijing (bomb proof toilet) and one from Hong Kong (golden toilet).

Wang Xian-feng explains what is positive report: if we say “coal mine explosion in Shanxi caused 40 death” it is negative report and will have very negative effects on the society. So, how should we change it into positive report? we can change the headline to “coal mine explosion in Shanxi, 60 people were rescued”(zh).

Recently, the education department claims that the Mencius' Mother private school in Shanghai is against the spirit of education law. Some of its accusation is concerning its curriculum, i.e. lacking of patriotic education. Xueyong writes in his blog in defence of the school and the development of private eduation in China (zh).

Photos showing the picking of fragant pears in Xianjiang in the opposite end of China.

Dan Washburn in Shanghaiist investigates whether Lonely Planet is actually banned in China, or it is just another urban myth?