Stories from 21 March 2007
Mauritania: First Arab Country to Hold a Second Round in a Presidential Election
The blog of Convergence Républicaine pour l'Instauration de la Démocratie en Mauritanie (CRIDEM) points to a La Tribune d'Algérie article stating [Fr]: “Long considered a back-country, Mauritania just proved to its neighbors and to the world that when it comes to democracy, the country can now be an example. Never...
Armenia: Economic Developments
Armenian Blog Review reports on various developments in the Armenian economy, including a natural gas pipeline linking Iran and Armenia and poor localization for Windows XP, as discussed on Armenian blogs.
Morocco: El Bicho and Darga Perform April 1st
Chadstoune is happy Moroccan band Darga and Spanish band El Bicho will be performing in Casablanca on April 1. Says the blogger: Says the blogger [Fr}: “El Bicho is one of the best bets of flamenco fusion based on daring mix of music! ” and “Darga is a group united...
Kyrgyzstan: Svetlana Nazarenko
Tolkun Umaraliev reports that Svetlana Nazarenko, a native of Bishkek who is the lead singer of the Russian band Gorod 312 (ru), has been awarded the honorary title “Honored Artist of the Kyrgyz Republic.”
Uzbekistan: Mosque and State
Registan.net discusses how the government of Uzbekistan is using the state-sanctioned Islamic religious establishment to back its policies and ideology.
Afghanistan: Nowrouz & Signs of Spring
Safrang writes that spring has become associated with renewed fighting in Afghanistan in recent years and takes the liberty of changing an old folk song associated with Nowrouz (the holiday celebrated on the first day of spring) to urge a different mullah to come join the festivities.
China: Book banned prior to printing
Prior to a recent reprinting, ‘A Narrow Escape From Death: My ‘Right-wing’ Life’, a book from retired Xinhua journalist Dai Huang was banned from being published by order of China's General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP), in which Dai recounts the years during which he was cast as a...
Estonia: Tallinn and Narva
Itching for Eestimaa writes about a day spent in Tallinn (11 comments) and the city of Narva (35 comments).
Estonia, Russia: Football and (Lots of) Politics
An upcoming football game between Estonia and Russia inspires Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa to write a lengthy post on all the complex political matters that stand between the two rival teams and their fans.
Serbia: Neo-Nazis
Belgrade 2.0 writes about Serbian neo-Nazis and their web presence.
Serbia: Milosevic and the Internet
Belgrade 2.0 predicts a new war, over Milosevic: “Even though the online group of Milosevic-haters is by far bigger than the group of his supporters, it seems as if the supporters are louder and manage to create a balance. How long can this go on i wonder?”
Serbia: “Deveti Mart”
Belatedly, a bit of contemporary Serbian history, via Belgrade 2.0: on March 9, 1991, Belgrade became the scene of large protest rallies. “This was the first sign that the citizens were not so satisfied with Milosevic’s rule, already after two years of his reign.”
Serbia: Belgrade Zoo
Belgrade 2.0 reports on the sorry state of the Belgrade Zoo.
The Balkans, Japan: War Re-Enactment Games
Photos of a group of Japanese men clad in Croatian and Serbian military uniforms has caused a scandal in the Serbian blogosphere, Neretva River reports: “…these men were participating in a re-enactment of the recent wars in a ‘capture the flag’ style game which apparently had different scenarios, one apparently...
Ukraine: Soviet Currency Places
MoldovAnn discovers a couple places in Kyiv where the Soviet-time currency – rubles and kopeks – still survives.
Latvia: Ukrainian and Russian Folk Music
Dykun posts a video and writes on a Ukrainian and Russian folk music performance in Riga, Latvia: “they performed together a show of russian and ukrainian wedding songs and rituals, with the structure of a ukrainian cossack marrying a russian bride. […] presented are typical wedding songs and a re-enactment...
Russia: Subway Dogs and Manners
Darkness at Noon writes about the Moscow subway – its dogs and the etiquette.
Russia: “Whack the Blogs”
Heribert Schindler of Rossijskaja Federazija “whacks” Russia blogs of a certain category: “My entry ‘Whack the Blogs’ is admittedly inspired by a most rabid and fascinating phenomenon of blogosphere, by a persuasively US based group of spin doctors who vehemently try to convince me of them being one single hateful...
Costa Rica: Cafta, Point of Discord
Roy Rojas on the intense protests against the Central American Free Trade Agreement in Costa Rica: “what has happened in countries that have ratified the agreement, for example Nicaragua and El Salvador, is that exports to the US have gone up significantly and there has been no loss of employment...
Latin America: Bush vs Chávez
Calling George Bush's visit to Latin America, “a meaningless show”, Robert Borbow sketches a cartoon to show Bush and Hugo Chavez competing for influence in the region.
Chile: Censorship, Victor Jara and Los Tres
In his inimitable style, Tomás Dinges ties together the popularity of Mexican Rancheras and American hits, Chile's feudal history, the oppressive days of the dictatorship, the brutal murder of Victor Jara, and the censorship of video images by the producers of the massive concert recently held by Chilean folk-rock superheroes...