Archive for
February 22nd, 2007
Stories
Ukraine: Corruption (Cont'd)
A week ago, there were about 200 comments on Yuri Zushchik's post on corruption at the National Bank of Ukraine (including an irrelevant but lively discussion of IKEA - which is yet to open in Kyiv, by the way). Today, there are 320 comments, and the following exchange (RUS, UKR) stands out in particular:
ElCooper: I'm head of a department at the National Bank of Ukraine, with 12 years of experience. Does it mean I'm a “midlevel employee” - or do you determine “midlevel-ness” in some other way? Well, okay, let's assume I am a midleveller.
In all these years, I've received no apartments […]. Neither I, nor anyone I know can buy collectible coins, gold bars and other valuables.
With loans, the situation is this. Yes, we do get benefits on loans. From 4 to 7 percent, for 2-5 years, for household needs. We have to point out what the money will be spent on and provide papers showing where the money went.
Loans to buy apartments, for 25 years, are given to people awaiting their turn, and the amount they get depends on the common fund (which is far from being limitless), with income tax payments. Some people may have gotten into this queue, I suspect, by cheating, in a rather Soviet way, on the organs that carry out registration. What does the National Bank as an organization have to do with this?
And, as state employees, we are not allowed to take loans at other banks (not just to buy an apartment, but for everything else).
So. You, Mr. Journalist, are lying and hurting me and others like me. Let's make a bet. We get in touch and meet up in real life. You search for the things I've stolen. If you find anything, it's yours. If not, you're getting a kick in the ass in public. Will this work for you?
If you want to do an objective story, don't listen to untrustworthy acquaintances, talk directly to the people who work here.
Iran: War and Human Rights Concerns
Concerns about a war between Iran and the US are growing in the Iranian blogosphere by the day.
While Iran refuses to halt its uranium enrichment programme, despite the United Nation's resolution 1737, it is also being accused by the US of sending bombs to Iraq. Iran considers the enrichment of uranium as its right and denies America's accusations of exporting bombs to Iraq. Newspapers and news sites are full of speculations about America's plan to attack Iran and so forth. Both the American and Iranian governments are calling these speculations baseless.
War Game
Nikahang, a leading cartoonist and blogger shares his idea about the current situation in this cartoon. In Persian, it says: “Our activities are not military.”
Mr Behicriticises both the Iranian government and American propaganda. He says:
I am a critique of (the) Iranian government, the way they treat human rights and freedom of speech and so many other things but at the same time, I am outraged by the way the US is trying to collect means of putting pressure on Iran or attacking the Iranian people…The US is attacking the minds of the international community…bombing the logics…targeting sane thinking…yes you can bomb me but don't you dare imagine that I will be that stupid to make my dislike of the Iranian government be the yes to militarism…don't you dare bombing our minds.
Cracker attacks the Colombian blogosphere
Lully, from Reflexiones al Desnudo, a renowned Colombian blog which has been featured in BlogsColombia as “best blog,” had her blog hijacked and sabotaged this past weekend and it has now disappeared.
Where you could previously read well written memoirs and stories with an erotic tint, a message appeared stating that the blog was closed due to its pornographic content which could affect small children browsing the internet.
The badly spelled note also went on to threaten any other blogs found defending leftist terrorism and opposing Jaime Ruiz, a writer for País Bizarro (Bizarre Country). Similar notes have been left behind other on destroyed blogs. These attacks are signed Jaime Ruiz and link to his website, a right wing blog that discusses Colombian events and politics.
Arabisc: Bloggers Rally to Kareem's Support
Egyptian blogger Kareem Sulaiman was today (Thursday) sentenced to four years in prison for defaming Islam and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak on his personal blog.
Despite a support site, petitions and demonstrations in Bahrain, London,
Stockholm, Paris, Rome, New York (twice) and Washington DC calling for his release, an Alexandria court found him guilty and sentenced him to four years in prison.
In his own words on his blog, 22-year-old Kareem describes himself and sums up his goals as follows:
I am down to earth Law student; I look forward to help humanity against all form of discriminations. I am currently studying Law in Al Azhar University. I am looking forward to open up my own human rights activists Law firm, which will include other lawyers who share the same views. Our main goal is to defend the rights of Muslim and Arabic women against all form of discrimination and to stop violent crimes committed on a daily basis in these countries.
Dreams and aspirations which will have to be put on hold for the time being I suppose.
When Kareem was first detained in early November for this writings, many bloggers in the Middle East tried to distance themselves from the case because they did they did not want to be associated with blasphemy against Islam. Today, while some condemn the sentence as an attack on freedom of expression, others believe the blogger got what he deserved for swimming against the tide.
Even his very own family disowned him a few days before his trial.
“His father, a retired mathematics teacher, has demanded applying the Sharia [Islamic law] ruling on him by giving him three days to repent, followed by having him killed if he does not announce his repentance.
The father of the Al-Azhar student, who is accused of contempt of the Islamic religion, harming the reputation of Egypt, and inciting to disrupt the peace and to overthrow the regime, has decided to rescind from boycotting his trial hearing sessions. [He has decided] to attend the court verdict session with his four brothers, who completely memorized the Holy Quran, to announce disowning the accused Abdul Kareem inside the court room, in order to reduce the embarrassment and pressure that civil rights organizations are applying on the court panel.”
Egypt: FOUR Years Prison Sentence for Blogger
Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabil Sulaiman made history today by being the first Egyptian to be sentenced to jail for articles he wrote on his personal blog.
An Alexandria court found him guilty of insulting both Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and sentenced him to four years in jail based on his writings on the Internet, according to media reports.
A blog set up by supporters just announced the following:
Dalia Ziada, a human rights activist and blogger, informs us that Kareem is sentenced to FOUR years in prison: three years for contempt to religion, and one year for defaming the president.
His appeal will be launched on Saturday by his lawyers, but we are told that it won’t do much. Hopefully it will shorten the sentence.
This is bad news for all of us, and we’d just like you all to know that this fight for his freedom will still continue until he is freed.
Global Voices had earlier covered Sulaiman's ordeal here, here and here.
Charges cited against Sulaiman, who has been in detention since early November awaiting trial, included: incitement to hate Islam, spreading malicious rumours that disrupt public security and defaming the Egyptian President.
Fellow blogger and Bahraini activist Esra'a was lost for words when she heard about her friend's fate.
“My friend Kareem has been sentenced to 4 years in prison. 3 years for his stance against Islam and 1 year for ‘defaming the President.’
I have nothing further to say. I don’t know whether to cry or to kick something in anger….He really doesn’t deserve this,” she writes in anguish.
Stay tuned.. more reactions to come…
The Global Voices Valentine's Day Poetry Contest - The People's Choice!
OUR CONTEST JUDGE has spoken, and very beautifully too. And now we have the far easier task of announcing the People's Choice winner.
There were 54 votes in all. Leading, with 16 votes, was “l’Amour ‘MoraMora'” by Harinjaka. Congratulations, Harinjaka!
In a close-ish second place, with 13 votes, was Geoffrey Philp's “Bachata”. View the full results of the voting here.
Many thanks to all who participated in the Global Voices Valentine's Day poetry contest!
And here's the winning poem in full: (more…)
Links for Thu, 2007-02
World of Pablo is congratulating the builders of Blogging Nation, a new blog directory for Brunei bloggers.
Diana, a Singaporean meets a person from mainland China on a boat journey in Cambodia and talks about the lives of an overseas Chinese and a mainland Chinese. “Her generation is debating these issues and trying to understand what it means to be Chinese. I told her it’s the same for me, trying to figure out what it means when I say I’m Chinese. In Singapore, I consider myself Chinese first and Singaporean second, but when I’m overseas, I think of myself as Singaporean first, and Chinese second.”
Israeli blogger Rahel literally shows us where women stand at free bar mitzvah services at the Western Wall, offered by the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, here.
“The Western Wall Heritage Foundation offers free bar mitzvah services at the Western Wall. Nice of them. What do they offer to girls who want to celebrate their bat mitzvah? Zip, zero, nada, nothing,” she writes.
Today it is Abdel Karim - tomorrow it could be you!, warns Israeli blogger SnoopyTheGoon. “This is another case when an oppressive regime takes a petty revenge on a blogger. This is another case when all bloggers, no matter of what race, age, gender or political affiliation must spread the word of protest,” he writes here.
Israeli Blogger, from Thoughts from Israel, describes the latest escalation between the Arabs and Israelis over Al Aqsa as a “predictable misunderstanding.” “And so, once again, a stupid and inconsiderate action of some office in the Israeli government is perceived by Arabs as warmongering, thereby causing Arab panic and violence, which is in turn interpreted by the Israeli public as proof that Arabs are terrorists,” he writes here.
Tim Newman of White Sun of the Desert posts photos of winter in South Sakhalin - and gets interviewed by Siberian Light.
Siberian Light's interview with La Russophobe turned out to be quite a hit: read the heated discussion in the comments section as well as a note from Andy on why he decided to do this interview.
Sean's Russia Blog posts a transcript of the briefing by a high-ranking Russian migration service official: “As I’ve already indicated, the adoption and enforcement of the January 15 migration law has caused confusion among administrators, police, officials, and foreigners alike. Nothing points to this confusion more than the following transcript of Vyacheslav Postavnin’s briefing with the American Chamber of Commerce on February 8.”
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