Archive for
December 22nd, 2006
Stories
Turkmenbashi's Death: Bloggers' Reactions
Turkmenistan's authoritarian and, to put it lightly, eccentric President Sapurmurad Niyazov died suddenly of a heart attack in the early hours of December 21st. Niyazov renamed himself Turkmenbashi, the Father of the Turkmen, penned a spiritual work called the Ruhnama, which became required reading and which he said guaranteed access to heaven if read aloud three times, renamed months after his family member, and enacted a long list of strange decrees and construction projects that often made Turkmenistan a source of unintentional and tragic comedy in the international press. (Many news agencies are getting in one last hurrah listing his odd edicts.) Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, who is rumored to be Niyazov's illegitimate son, has taken over as acting president after it was announced the constitutionally required successor has had criminal charges brought against him.
Bloggers who cover Central Asia were quick to comment.
Bertrand looks at Turkmenbashi's legacy and notes that while the future of the country is hard to predict, it stands to reason that many governments will try to influence Turkmenistan's course.
Given the country’s location - not to mention its energy resources - one can expect leaders in the West, Moscow and the Middle East will be watching carefully, and probably, trying to influence Turkmenistan’s future. There may also be implications for the other Central Asian states, with whom Niyazov’s relationships have ranged from indifferent to cool to sometimes prickly.
Costa Rica Blog Wrapup: CAFTA, Christmas and arts.
Highlights from Costa Rica's blogs these past weeks. We have more on the CAFTA, complaints on Christmas, and posts on artistic and cultural events.
We'll begin with a touch of humour:
Lachi in Prueba de Artista posts a video taken during an Anime-manga event where they got an undesired dose of preaching from a Christian minister who took advantage of the event to damn them all into hell.
La Sardina Albina was also there and wrote about the religious invasion to their privacy.
Damian comments about a costa Rican custom of getting a psychic to cleanse offices from negative spiritual forces.
Christmas season kicks off:
Amorexia gripes about the early start of the Christmas season:
The saddest thing could be how desvirtuated the celebration has become, besides antiesthetic. Two examples of why kickstarting Christmas so early is not right: this morning, walking to work, I saw at least three christmas trees which were already dried up thanks to the lights, and we are still not in December!… and the other day I heard a little girl say that Christmas is the day when Santa saved the world from the Grinch. Please!
Lo más ingrato puede ser lo desvirtuado de la celebración… y antiestético, dos ejemplos mas de por que adelantar tanto la navidad no esta bien, esta mañana camino al trabajo, vi por lo menos tres arbolitos de navidad que ya estaban secos por las luces, y aún no es Diciembre! … y el otro día escuche a una pequeña niña decir que en la navidad se celebraba la fecha en que Santa salvo al mundo de el Grinch! Por favor!
Links for Fri, 2006-12
Urbano dela Cruz writes about South Korean capital Seoul's bold restoration of a river and a park by demolishing a highway in the city centre. The blogger says that Manila city should learn from Seoul's example.
Cakap Tak Serupa Bikin asks couple of questions after reading about the proposed introduction of sex education in Malaysian schools. “Since the education minister is adamant that sex education will be incorporated into these subjects and will begin by January 2007, would the teachers have sufficient time to digest the knowledge and skills to impart them to the pupils who are school children?”
Sopheak blogs about the former Cambodian police chief Heng Pov who was brought back to Cambodia from Malaysia to serve his 18 years sentence for the murder of a judge. Heng Pov denies his role in the murder and was seeking to leave Malaysia for Finland where he was granted asylum.
The Daily Brunei Resources blog looks at the ills of credit card economy.
As the Bermudan government forges ahead with plans to open its own television station, A Limey in Bermuda maintains that “watching TV to find out about Government services makes about as much sense as entering the Tour de France on a unicycle.”
Russia From The Inside tells of the “strange things” that began to happen to the mayor of Arkhangelsk after he decided to run for president of Russia in 2008.
According to FreeKeyboard the word “women” is not any more filtered in Iran [Fa].
A blogger from Hamedan is among the elected ones in City and Village Councils election.Mrs.Mehrnoush Najafi wrote a post on her election story with “kind hands of people” as its title [Fa].
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