Global Voices Online

“I can't stand girls with low self esteem.
I can't stand shallow people who need to constantly be complimented.
I can't stand people who play with others' feelings to make themselves feel better.
I can't stand weak people.
I can't stand LIARS!!!
I can't stand fakes.
I can't stand people who think they are fooling everyone.
I can't stand people who can't stand up for themselves.
I can't stand people who think they own the world,” rants Dotsson from Saudi Arabia.

Abdulrahman from Qatar posts a video showing Israeli troops shooting at a Hebron family here. WARNING: The material may not be suitable for all viewers.

“The Hamas-Fatah deathfest continues in Gaza and elsewhere, with 17 people being killed since Monday morning. Today's tally so far: 3 dead, 14 wounded. Things are happening at a bloodcurdling pace, and it is very hard sometimes to keep track of all the terrorist vs terrorist goings on. Thus as a special service for Israellycool readers, I have summarized today's events in an easy-to-follow manner. No thanks needed, I'm a giver,” writes Aussie Dave from Israel.

“I thank my friends who expressed concern about my fate. Well, my life and that of my family is in a state of great upheaval and flux at the moment. I have at last succumbed to a life long temptation that I have resisted for many, many years. At last I had to give in, mainly for the sake of my children and their future. I leave more than just property and belongings in Baghdad. I leave memories, not all bad, and above all I leave with a bitter feeling for a great opportunity missed, that could have worked. However, I am by no means despondent of all possibility of change for the better. It is just that I and my family need some respite,” writes Iraqi blogger Ala, who is immigrating to Canada.

“22% of the Egyptian People are infected with Hepatitis C Virus or virus “C” as it is common between us in Egypt according to the WHO.
Egypt is the 3rd country in the world to have the highest rate of cancer between Children and it will achieve a higher position soon insh Allah for the adults soon.
One third of the Egyptian population is suffering from depression with its different kinds and degrees and most of them don’t know they got depression.
Is it me or Egypt is in danger as its people are in a great danger of extinction,” writes Zeinobia from Egypt.

“Tomorrow is 83 (almost 84) year old Shimon Peres's great day. He may finally win an election. That is if party discipline holds strong in the democratic secret ballot for Israel's President. Now, “party discipline holds strong in the democratic secret ballot.” Wow! That's an oxymoron in the lexicon of political science,” writes Batya from Israel.

Libyan blogger Khadija Teri attended a wedding and gives us a sneak preview of what was on offer here. “I survived the wedding.. it was actually kind of nice because my friend asked that the music not be so loud and for the most part you could actually have a conversation. One of my most favourite ex-students was there and I enjoyed catching up on her life. Also saw lots of friends that I haven't seen in ages. The food was wonderful and way too much to ever finish no matter how hard anyone tried - and of course the aroosa (bride) was beautiful, masha'allah!” she notes.

Sad About Gonu is a new blog in town - which aims to aggregate information about the deadly tropical cyclone Gonu, which hit the shores of Oman.
“It is very unfortunate that large international media organisations such as CNN and the BBC (!) have failed to provide the public with decent coverage of such a catastrophic event, except for detailed analysis on how their oil supplies might be affected. It appears that their priorities are to serve the idiotic masses who are more interested in knowing what happens to a false celebrity and her imminent charges for drunk driving,” writes the anonymous blogger.

Ola Eleiwat, from Jordan, is enraged at the extend of child abuse.
“As adults, sometimes we forget what it feels like to be a kid. Worse yet, somewhere in the back of our minds, we think that we have the right to take it out on them whenever we feel like it. Be it anger, frustration, worry, you name it. Sometimes we even recruit them in our battles against other adults. They become a scapegoat for something they have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with. Why? Because we can, and they have to be “good” kids and obey,” she writes.

The Kerala Articles on the the movie Sholay. “The movie was later declared a superhit and went on to become the highest grossing film in Indian movie history. Some claim that it still is when you consider inflation and other factors. It created history when it ran in Bombay’s Minerva theatre continuously for 5 years. In its wake several films were released that tried to cash in on the trend of multi-starrers and male bonding. But none of them were able to recapture the magic of Sholay.”

Desidabba on Orkut, and why it keeps getting into trouble. “It is difficult to curb sites like orkut which has such huge following. What can be done about those who form groups with wrong intention is to report the site as bogus. This is an option which orkut provides. If a certain number of users report it as bogus, the group will be removed. One other thing that can be done is, to set a lower cap on the number of users who can join a group. If a group can boast of 500 members, then it can be made public. Else it shouldn’t be.”

For A Democracy on why the Wangchuks will find the future harder than they imagined. “In the sponsorship of wangchuks, a survey had said Bhutanese are the happiest of all Asians and now the survey by government body itself, created by inventor of GNH for Jigme’s sake, has revealed that only 60 people out of 100 are happy. Ironically, the mock survey asked 350 people in mass of 700,000.”

indi.ca on what being terrorized means “Sri Lanka is fundamentally different from the LTTE in that we do have systems and freedoms to enable a moral or at least decent state. The danger is that the spectre of the LTTE causes us to lower our own moral standards, until being better than terrorists is all we aspire to. It is not, and it should not be. Sri Lanka is better than that.”

The Pakistani Spectator on a ‘planned emergency'. “If we take a look upon proceedings of post 9th March scenario, and analyze the situation deeply the question blinks in mind ‘Are we being headed towards a planned and engineered state of emergency’. In past eras, emergency in any country was declared due to agitation by the general public. This may be the first time the emergency (if declared) will be imposed to extract some favourable and desired results.”

In Kdmahmoudsalehi we read[Fa] that Mahmoud Salehi, a labour activist got arrested two months ago.Mahmoud Salehi was last arrested on April 9, 2007 and transferred to a prison in the city of Sanandaj. The Kurdistan Province Appeal Court has sentenced Mahmoud to one year imprisonment and also a three year suspended prison sentence, and the verdict was carried out immediately without prior notice to Mahmoud, his family or his lawyer.

Darkness at Noon writes about knockoff fashion in Moscow.

Russian Spy reports on why Russian women aren't too eager to have kids: “Delivering a baby in a hospital that provides services on commercial principles usually costs a minimum of 25,000 rubles (about $1,000). The amount of a monthly child benefit paid for 18 months has now increased more than twice, up to 1,500 rubles (about $40) – a sum big enough for buying two packages of good-quality throwaway diapers for a baby. The state would cough up a bit more for you to buy 4 packages a month in case you are willing to have a second child.”

“There are so many blogs out there churning out good stories that sometimes I just can’t keep up,” writes Siberian Light and posts a few quick links to his current favorites.

Two-Zero writes about his favorite Moscow coffee house: CoffeeMania on Bolshaya Nikitskaya.

Sean's Russia Blog is not impressed with the LA Times' vision of this past Monday's Dissenters' March in Moscow: “Kasparov addressed the crowd with his usual ‘we need a different Russia' message. The crowd of 2000 chanted their usual slogans–'Russia without Putin!' Yawn.”

“If there is a god then the speck of dust on his eye that is Nairobi must have gotten too big. This morning he blinked.
A product of the nineties, my fondest memories of my childhood include sneaking out of home to watch Bruce Lee and Jean-Claude van Damme movies at the neighbors. We were enchanted by violence.
Today, as news of this morning's bombing in the central business district unravels, though alarmingly inaccurate, I find I no longer have a stomach for violence. I feel like I’ve been trying to drink the sea. It is simply too much,” KenyaImagine writing about yesterday's bomb explosion in Nairobi.

Sokwanele in Blogpower Awards: “We are finalists in the Blogpower Awards. Thanks to The Pub Philosopher for initially nominating us.”

Togolese writer Kangi Alem has a short tribute [Fr] to famed Senegalese filmmaker and novelist Ousmane Sembene who passed away this weekend in Dakar. “I used to read the greats of African literature in my literature textbook in the 1980s, and I imagined all these authors were dead. What it shock it was to see the man with the pipe [Sembene Ousmane] in a classroom in Lytoko. It's all come full circle. Life later made me a writer, and I think of Sembene each time that I come across students who tell me, “we didn't know that we could meet you Mr. Alem.” May the smoke of his pipe precede him to the paradise of believers!”

Alexcia announces the death of Ousmane Sembéne: “Known to kenyan as the author of “God's Bits of Wood, London : Heinemann, 1995.” Senegal's Ousmane Sembéne has died at the age of 84.”

Eyes on Darfur via AfroSphere: “In June 2007, Amnesty International launched a human rights project and accompanying web site called Eyes On Darfur, which uses high resolution commercial satellite images of villages in the Darfur region. It features before and after satellite images of destroyed villages and villages at risk, as well as documented reports and personal accounts from the victims of the genocide and ethnic cleansing.”

Parlons Tahiti writes charlatans who sell alternative or traditional remedies [Fr] for exorbitant prices and claim to cure everything from leprosy to AIDS.

Conservative journals in Iran criticized the former president,Mohammad Khatami,for having shaken hands with several women in Italy.There is a video film on YouTube that shows he is shaking hands with a few ladies.The film was visited about 17000 times.Khatami's office talks about conspiracy against him and said he did not shake hands with women. Many clerics and religious people in Iran do not shake hands with a non-Mahram lady because it is considered a sin.A man is Mahram to his wife, daughter, sister, mother, and a few other relatives.Khatami's vice president,Mohmmad Ali Abtahi [Fa]writes in his blog that Khatami did not even shake hands with Mrs.Merkel when she was an opposition leader a few years ago.

This Beach Called Life writes tongue-in-cheek about why he wants to be a journalist: “Journalists are quite unique and have the power to save the world in one column, but only after editing.”

The Haitian Eclectic links to the trailer of a Haitian film that “follows two gang leaders who took over a slum in Haiti right before Aristide's 2004 forced exit.”

“Most people in Guyana are very tolerant of the religious beliefs of others. Which is why this whole thing is so hard to swallow.” Stella Ramsaroop tries to get her head around the alleged involvement of Guyanese nationals in the JFK terror plot.

In response to the news that the former Pakistan cricket coach died of natural causes, Barbados Underground “has found the handling of the Woolmer case to be highly incompetent given the information which has been made public so far. The international event CWC 2007 did not deserve to be tainted by the inept detecting effort of this Jamaican Police Force.”

Thomas K is thrilled to discover an underwater sculpture garden off the coast of Grenada.

Barbados Free Press is all for saving electricity - but believes that consumers should be educated about the potential risks of using Compact Florescent Lamps: “The problem is mercury - a toxic element with a long history of causing death, insanity and incurable health problems. Where will the mercury-laced CFLs be disposed of in Barbados?”

The blogger at Antidote to Burnout is impressed by the “the modernist tradition practiced by Vietnamese architects in urban houses” but wonders why the architects are not able to scale up their design skills to big buildings.

Homeyra writes about a new book:The Blood of Flowers written by Anita Amirrezvani.The blogger writes a young girl comes of age as a carpetmaker’s apprentice in 17th century Iran: “Everything about Iran-born, former Northern California dance critic Anita Amirrezvani’s first novel is meticulously designed: its nine-year creation; its hypnotic cadence and considered approach to plot and characters inspired by Iranian tales and its immaculately researched historical detail, down to its unnamed narrator.

Hong Kong government is undergoing restructuring in its policy departments. The Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau will change into Business and Economic Development Bureau. Charles Mok points out that the government is degrading the significance of technology in Hong Kong (zh).

Malaysian politician Lim Kit Siang says Media self-censorship under the current prime minister Abdullah is as bad or even worse than under the former prime minister Mahathir. “The latest example is the blackout in the local media of a survey by the Singapore American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) released on Friday that executives of United States companies in Southeast Asia say corruption is a “major impediment” to doing business in five countries in the region, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Singapore was the only country in the survey where corruption was not considered a major issue.”

Positive solution points to a mainstream report from China Daily on “Public given more leeway to disagree with gov't”. The blogger comments that: Oh well. I guess we can agree to disagree – which, happily, is now legal.

Details are Sketchy is asking Cambodia to ignore Thailand's allegation that the casinos in Cambodia near the Thai border help launder money and support drug trade. “he claims are, of course, ludicrous. The problem with Thailand is that it’s ruled by an illegitimate and increasingly paranoid military dictatorship. And as the Thai people become more dissatisfied, the junta is forced to make evermore desperate claims to try and absolve itself from responsibility for the country’s downfall.”

Mario Duran of Palabras Libres [ES] expresses his frustration at having to wait for a very long time in order to be attended to at a local bank. In an attempt to document this long wait, he was denied the chance to photograph the ticket and the time at which he was actually served by the security guard.

squareCircleZ gives examples of situations where students struggle with the way maths is written. The blogger proposes an alternative notation for the way parentheses are used in some functions.

Rob Mercatante was woken by the sounds of firecrackers that were used in the feast of Corpus Christi. He writes about the details of the celebration in Guatemala on his bog El Canche.

Zeng jinying writes in her blog that her passport was detained in the emigration office while she was departing from Beijing to Geneva for a human right workshop (zh). Since May 18, Zeng has been under the charge of “suspected violation of national security”.

Singapore's widely used electronic payment vendor has decided to raise the service charge. Mr. Brown is not too pleased with the decision. “But I'm still going to go back to cash. Cash is better anyway. You spend less, you are more aware of the money you have in your wallet (doncha just hate breaking a $50 note?) and you are less prone to impulse buys.”

Juliana Rincon of Medea Material [ES] introduces the concept of Pornomiseria (Misery Porn), which is a term to describe film that exploits poverty and human misery to make money. In Colombia, “in certain manner we always wait to hear that in Colombia there is a lot of narcotrafficking, drugs, violence, insecurity, jewels, and more drugs. And Gabo (Gabriel Garcia Marquez). Ah, and very beautiful girls.” She adds that other Latin American countries suffer through similar stereotypes.

Around the world it is estimated that 22% of the labor force works excessively long hours. Gran Combo Club [ES] found that Peru is the “champion” of working past a normal 40 hour a week job and believes that more often than not it is a result of abuse on the employer's part.

Alejandro of Peru Food chronicles the first three days of his culinary adventures to various restaurants in Lima, which includes details of his customary tradition of visiting Café Haiti for his first meal after arriving in Peru. Here he always orders the dish Lomo Saltado.

Afghan Lord reports on the murder of two female journalists in Afghanistan.

Andrea Dall'Olio explains what's wrong with bribes even when it becomes a widely accepted way of doing business using Tajikistan as an illustrative example.

Vadim reports on Tajikistan's melting glaciers.

Bonnie Boyd reports on efforts to eradicate various diseases in Afghanistan.

Gabriel Lopez caught some slack for writing about the ten things he hates about living in Uruguay on his blog From Uruguay. He then decided to look at it from the other viewpoint, which produced the post “Ten Things I Love About Living in Uruguay” that includes family, food and easy traffic, but in the end, “it's a place in the world were you can enjoy life in relative safety, make friends without much problem, raise a family, make a difference, be recognized and loved. Well, isn't that pretty much what life is about?”