Archive for
December 13th, 2006
Stories
Russia: Caucasus Hatreds, and Peace
The First Chechen War began twelve years ago, in December 1994; the Second Chechen War followed five years later. Still, Chechnya remains part of the Russian Federation.
Timur Aliev - LJ user timur_aliev, a native of Grozny, an ethnic Chechen, a journalist, editor-in-chief of The Chechen Society newspaper, the Chechnya editor of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) - muses (RUS) on why it is possible that after all the suffering and bloodshed of the recent years, Chechens and Russians manage to continue to co-exist; in his musings, timur_aliev reaches well beyond the issue of the Russo-Chechen relationship and, among other things, touches upon a largely ignored issue of the Ingush-Ossetian confrontation:
Why Chechens and Russians do not hate each other
Went to [the capital of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania] [Vladikavkaz] the other day. Stayed there […] till it got dark - till 5:30 pm. Came to the bus station - turned out there were neither marshrutkas [mini-buses], now taxis left. Asked one of my local friends to order a taxi for me, but only to the checkpoint at the border with [Ingushetia] - no taxi driver agrees to go further.
The taxi arrived, we set out [to the border]. I got to know the driver - an ethnic Georgian from Kazbeg district, works in Ossetia, as there's nothing to do in the mountains in winter. I offered him to take me to [Ingushetia's former capital Nazran]. He agreed, called the headquarters on his portable radio transmitter, to find out how much he should charge for this trip. They asked him if he was sick of being alive that he was going to Ingushetia. One of the taxi drivers from that company must've heard the conversation and offered advice: they were taking 5,000 rubles [about $200] for a trip like this yesterday (a totally inappropriate price - normally, cab drivers from the bus station charge 350-400 rubles [about $15] for this trip, and a marshrutka ride would have cost 20 rubles [less than a dollar]). My driver smiles and comments: “Ossetians are scared to take this trip, and me, I don't care.”
South Asia : People, Prayers, Movies and Politics
The latest buzz from different blogs from South Asia:
Bangladesh:
- Mezba of a Bengali in TO, a Bangladeshi expat living in Canada describes why is it beneficial to sacrifice an animal back to his country during Eid-ul-Azha.
- Rumi of Drishtipat predicts the fate of Bangladesh's future if the current political situation prevails.
Bhutan:
- Kuzu Bhutan Weblog features Tara the Buddhist Deity and prays for the writers and readers of the Blog.
- Kuensel Online reports that after a four decade long process the demarcation of the international boundary between India and Bhutan has been completed and finalized.
India:
* Chanakya tells in Desicritics - 4 Billion Tickets Sold and 1000 Movies made Each Year in Bollywood, the Indian movie industry going (more…)
Chilean Ex-Dictator Augusto Pinochet Dies
The dictator has died this past Sunday. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, born into a middle class family in 1915, a late-comer to coup plotting in 1973, and subsequent figurehead of the military coup ousting the democratically elected Socialist Salvador Allende, was dead 30 minutes after losing consciousness. He was hospitalized last week after suffering from a serious heart attack.
That comes from Chilean-American journalist Tomás Dinges who is based in Santiago and goes on to emphasize the symbolism of Pinochet's death on December 10, International Day of Human Rights.
Lorena Pizarro, the long-time president of the Association of Families of the Detained and Disappeared, said in comments to the local paper La Tercera, “Who knows what is the story, Pinochet dies the 10th of December and maybe its because all of humanity told him that it was enough.”
The tenth of December is the anniversary of the United Nations approval of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which asserts that human rights and dignity are “the foundations for liberty, justice and peace in the world.” It is also the day in which Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon dictated the court motion to prosecute him in 1998 for responsibility in genocide, torture and terrorism involving 3000 people, as well as the 84th birthday of his wife Lucia Hiriart, whose hand he clasped upon his final breath.
Links for Wed, 2006-12
Pierrot Dupuy writes (Fr) about the crisis in the local University: “The State, politicians, economic and social actors cannot let the status quo prevail. Things are falling apart at the University: each file is affected, each meeting turns into a power struggle, each decision is subject to calculations that have nothing to do with the public interest.”
Mad de Madagascar delves (Fr) into the history that brought samoosas (however spelt and prounouced in the region) to the Indian Ocean (Reunion, Madagascar, Mauritius) from India. The blogger then offers a video of a French chef's recipe and adds that in Reunion, cousins have emerged made with cheese or pineapple.
According to UDPS Liege, (Fr) Zacharie Babaswabe, a spokesperson for President Kabila, recently said on national television that: “If [diaspora Congolese] continue to threaten us in Europe, we are going to attack their families [who live in the Congo].” The blog concludes: “The killings at the hands of the UPI and the GSSP that we became used to during the transition period are now becoming institutionalized.”
The Trinidad and Tobago government has plans for a $15 billion rapid rail project intended to ease the nation's traffic congestion, but as guest writer Driselle Ramjohn writes at ttgapers.com, industry experts as well as the local arm of Transparency International are calling for the procurement process to be put on hold until research and feasibility studies are carried out.
Ninad Gujar is looking forward to the “47 days of World Class Cricket” that the 2007 Cricket World Cup (being held in the Caribbean) will provide. He outlines the format of the tournament and posts photos and statistics of previous winners.
KZBlog looks at several environmental issues in Central Asia, ranging from the decline of the Aral Sea to gas burning in the oil-rich Caspian region.
Peter reports, along with pictures, that Turkmen President Niyazov has officially inaugurated a theme park named after himself.
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