Stories from 21 May 2007
Ukraine: Deportation of Crimean Tatars Anniversary
Belatedly, a link to J. Otto Pohl's post on the deportation of the Crimean Tatars on May 18, 1944: “The NKVD and NKGB took the unsuspecting Crimean Tatars to rail stations and stuffed them into train wagons designed for the transport of freight and live stock. The Soviet security organs...
Russia: “Broken Slav-O-Meter”
Moscow-based Darkness at Noon writes about foreigner detection skills: “In a country that was trained for 70 years to view foreigners with skepticism, it's no wonder they're good at rooting us out.”
Russia: Blog Ranking
Krusenstern, host to the Blog-Carnival Russian Media (in 11 days now!), posts a ranking of Russia blogs (in German), and Siberian Light writes about it in English.
Russia: Chechnya Documentary
A Step At A Time links to a Zarema Mukusheva’s Crying Sun: The Impact of War in the Mountains of Chechnya documentary on Google Video.
Poland: Roma Photo Exhibit
“Strolling through the Saski Park in Warsaw this morning, by pure accident, I came across wonderful open air photo exhibition on Polish Roma,” writes Olia Yatskevich of TOL's Romantic and posts some photos.
Russia: A Tale of Two Women
Moscow-based expat blogger Laura Citron shares “A Tale of Two Russian Women” over at nEUrosis.
Iran:Violence against Women Goes On
According to[Fa] Kanoune Zanan,Iranian police continues its crackdown on women’s dress and there is a new victim.A young woman was beaten by police in Tehran. A citizen could take a few photos of her.People could make her got rid of the security forces who wanted to force her in their...
Romania: Impeachment Referendum
Transatlantic Politics and Edward Lucas – on the referendum on president Traian Basescu's impeachment.
Moldova: Travel Diary, Part 5
The Economist's Edward Lucas posts the final installment of his Moldova travel diary.
Bulgaria: Euro Vote Results
Dr Sean's Diary reports on the results of the European Parliament elections in Bulgaria.
Lebanon: Violent Clashes and an Explosion
The clashes between the Lebanese army and the organization of Fatah al Islam, as well as the explosion in Ashrafieh (Beirut), took precedence over all other news and blog posts in almost all of the blogs during the past two days, reports our Beirut author Moussa Bashir. Read the full article to digest the size of calamities in Lebanon in the eyes of its bloggers.
Africa: Afrigator gets better
Afrigator update from Mike Stopforth: “When we launched Afrigator – Africa’s first social media aggregator – a month and a bit ago, truth be told, we knew there was much we had not had enough time to perfect. However, the decision between it not being perfect and us losing out...
Mali: revisiting traditional medicine
Timbuktu Chronicles: Revisiting traditional medicine; “In the capital Bamako there is a laboratory where researchers spend their working days studying the medicinal effects of plants brought in from around the country – selected on the advice of traditional healers. The laboratory has been established by the Malian government which is...
Algeria: Election Results
Algerian blogger Nouri updates us on the results of the Algerian elections here. “As would be expected, voter turn-out was low with only 6.6 million votes cast out of an electorate of some 19-odd million Algerians (36.51%). Of those votes cast, 14.5% were spoiled,” he notes.
Syria: Bombing Nahr el Bared Camp
Blogger Golaniya from Syria announces: “My friend Ashraf, a Palestinian refugee in Rashydyeh Camp in the South, has recently launched his blog, and posted about the current Uncovered situation of Nahr el Bared camp.”
Qatar: Pro-US Coup at Al Jazeera
Friend of Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite television station, Karim, links to news which claims that there has been a pro-US coup at the station.
Sri Lanka: On the Hijab
Married With Kids on wearing the Hijab and the changes in people's behaviour towards her. “My family, as a whole is not overly into religious identity, and stuff, and opt for a more secular look. I did too, but, somehow, a change within, was happening for quite a while when...
Qatar: Rising Cost of Living
Writing from Qatar Serendipity links to a news article about the rising cost of living in the Arabian Gulf state. “When it was just affecting expats, the companies didn't seem to care too much, but now that inflation is biting at the Qatari population too, does this mean employers are...
Bahrain: Deform Process
Bahraini blogger Jadd William (aka Abdulhadi Khalaf) provides links to Bahraini blogs which discuss the political situation in Bahrain here.
Oman: Friday-Saturday Holiday?
Omani blogger Sleepless in Muscat updates us with plans to introduce a Friday-Saturday holiday in the Sultanate.
Kuwait: Iraq Invasion Home Video
Lebanese blogger Mark posts links to two home videos made by a Kuwaiti mother, which bring back a chilling reminder to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
