Global Voices Online

Matsuli music remembers the great Malian musician, Ali Farka Toure: “Cancer claimed Ali Farka Toure's life earlier this year. I'm thankful we can continue to feel his presence in the recordings he has left behind. Nick Gold and the producer Jerry Boys captured some of his greatest moments for the World Circuit label.”

Following the recent Presidential election, the President of the Republic of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, appoints his new cabinet. Home of the Mandinmories writes about the appointment: “There is not a lot of changes. He move some pieces around on the titanic. Kanja Sanneh (agriculture) and Maba Jobe (foreign affairs) are the only new faces in the cabinet so far with four vacancies still remaining. Lamin Bajo (ex foreign affairs) may still land another post. He has always been cool with Jemus.”

Life in Armenia blogger Raffi K. says that there sppears to be a large number of burglaries in Yerevan.

A Walk on the Wild Side writes about his experience at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, “The case I was attached to is often refered to as Military II and contains two of the biggest genocide suspects the Tribunal has nabbed so far- Augustin Bizimungu (who was chief of staff of the Rwandan army during the genocide) and Francois Ndindiyilimana (who was head of the Gendarmes) plus Francois Nzuwonemeye and Innocent Sagahutu who were also high-ranking military officers. The most astonishing thing about this case is how enthusiastically the defence is completely bungling up their case. Some of the incompetence on show over the last few weeks has been a marvel to behold.

A fight broke out between Turkish and Kazakh workers in Atyrau, Kazakhstan. The Atyrau Informant has photos and a brief report on what took place.

Yulia of neweurasia sums up the week in Kyrgyz blogs.

Caracas Chronicles on what the UN Security Council vote is really all about: “Those of us focused on Venezuelan affairs will tend to examine the UN Security Council election this week for clues about Chavez's international standing. Probably, though, the vote tells us more about the way the world's governments feel about US hegemony.”

Alejandro Giacometti has a interesting comparison of fear tactics used in campaigning both in Ecuador and the United States. Colin Brayton translates an article about the “detention of the representative in Ecuador of the Brazilian E-vote company, Santiago Murray, as part of an investigation into responsibilities for the failure of the computerised system for counting votes in last Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections.”

Tim Muth links to some excellent resources to better understand the newest land dispute between El Salvador and Honduras, this time over the uninhabited island of Conejo in the Gulf of Fonseca. Muth facetiously comments, “perhaps it is for just such disputes that El Salvador needs to have its high level of military spending.”