Global Voices is an international community of bloggers who report on blogs and citizen media from around the world. Learn why »
@globalvoices deserves an award for their coverage of the middle east protest movements. They provide such a critical service.
In Consent of the Networked, internet policy specialist Rebecca MacKinnon argues that the purpose of technology is to serve humanity, not the other way around. It’s time to wake up and act before the reversal becomes permanent.
Buy your copy through this link and support Global Voices! »
Blogger Ulrika Lejnarová, highlighting air pollution data from the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute [sk], wonders [sk] why Slovakia, while often paying attention to the critical conditions in Hungary [en], is doing little to inform its own citizens of the domestic situation adequately, in order to avoid health complications.
GV Author Filip Stojanovski posts pictures of Skopje's snowy and icy streets and reports on his blog: “[…] the pavements and the side streets in the municipality of Centar remain icy. Some are covered by layers of ice or re-frozen slush, by old frozen snow, or an unevenly hardened mash of snow and 'salt.' Fokus daily claimed that the authorities avoid declaring nationwide state of emergency in order to ‘prove' that they were prepared for the snow.”
On February 9, 2012, following the widely-discussed leaks of pro-Kremlin mailboxes, LiveJournal, where the leaks were published, became temporarily unavailable, Lenta.ru reported [ru]. Russian representative of Anonymous group @OP_Russia, suggested [ru] that it was a DDoS attack to hide the evidence of massive wrongdoings (including corruption, thievery, political provocations, and cybercrime) [ru] by Nashi youth movement. Later that day @OP_Russia took responsibility for taking down 3 websites of United Russia party: mos-partya.ru, er-region.ru, and er-kaluga.ru.
At OpenDemocracy.net, Olesya Gerasimenko talks to the parents of three young neo-Nazi men who were convicted of race murders: “One has adopted the views of their only child and says that violence is necessary. One blames the politicians that have incited adolescents to street fighting. One cries, convinced of the innocence of his son. They are all different, but they have all asked themselves one and the same question: ‘am I to blame for what happened?’”
While the authorities in Macedonia remain silent on the country's stance on the ACTA, bloggers, such as Airborne, emphasize the need to gain more knowledge [mk], as the traditional media mostly ignore the issue: “Maybe, one of these days, we'll just simply wake up in the ACTA-ruled world.” The new media attempting to fill this gap in local languages include Metamorphosis and IT.com.mk. Endek blog advocates [mk] standing up for Internet freedom by joining international protest movements.
Alexander Ovechkin is a Russian-born NHL hockey player who is surrounded by controversy due to his aggressive style of play, but who remains... More »
Please sign this petition, ask your friends to sign as well and help save Hamza:
Freedom of speech and expression does not give any individual the right to insult...
The most important aspect however is that the DEREGULATION OF HEMP, as I prefer to...
May Allah protect Syria and Bashar from Evils: US and israel
This site is licensed as Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Please read our attribution policy to learn about freely redistributing our work.
Based on the Wikipedia list of countries, details.
My partner is an alcoholic. I know a bit about alcoholism. Ukraine wouldn’t be the only country with a rising alcohol problem.
For teenagers I think one of the major causes is a disaffection by the young with prospects in life.
If there is little or no perceived hope a teenager will drift towards drink innocently and one day find that he has lost the choice whether he drinks or not at which point he was crossed the wire and become alcoholic. he will never go back over the wire. All he can hope for is to control it.
The Ukraine should look at programmes to improve the life prospects of the the young, combined with access to alcohol being more difficult (through price for example).
Then throw in training awareness of the dangers of alcoholism (it creeps up on you). Plus look at parenting. Some obligatory training may be needed there too.
Whilst I agree there is a problem with alcohol and tobacco consumption in Ukraine I think the link between Akhmetov who own a brewery and the problems associated with Alcoholism is based more on political bias then anything else. I would not claim that Akhmetov is promoting the consumption of excessive alcohol by virtue of his ownership of a brewery. No more then the number of politicians who own casinos or gaming venues are encouraging gambling. (Both sides of politics would be at fault as they all have some role or ownership in these industries) The same goes with alcohol and tobacco.
Yes there is more that can and should be done. Russia for example has just banned the advertising of Tobacco and will soon consider adopting Western practice of baning smoking in public places.
Whilst alcohol and drug abuse is a problem in Ukraine I think there is a growing awareness of the implication of excessive consumption of alcohol. Many of the young people I meet and talk too do not drink or if they do only on special social occasions (New year birthdays etc.) Women in particular shy away from alcohol.
Ukrainian youth sadly drink excessive amounts of beer, which they consider to be more like a soft-drink then an alcoholic beverage. Similar to wine.
Whilst alcohol consumption is a problem I think gambling is even more so. When I first visited Ukraine few people could afford to gamble and the cosmos and gaming venues were empty, just occupying unused space. Now I am noticing more and more Ukrainians trying their luck as the gaming industry begins to turn a profit.
With rising inflation and cost of property out of reach those that manage to earn more tend to spend it on social activities then savings. Here and now rather then looking towards the future.
With the increasing availability of credit ad high interest rates, low salaries, high property prices it will not be long before banks need to foreclose on housing loans. In the past they were underpinned by a property boom. A boom which has reached its peak and may very well soon collapse.
Is Akhmetov to blame for all these problems facing Ukraine? No more so the Yushchenko or any other person in authority or a position of wealth. It is time Ukraie takes collective responsibility to their problems and not pass the buck or place blame in one particlar area or person.
Of course, Ukraine is not the only youth alcoholism-stricken country.
But it is certainly the #1 country according to the World Health Organization study. And much of the disaffection with prospects in life that you mentioned comes from Ukraine’s poverty.
Last, but definitely not least, we don’t put “the” in front of “Ukraine.”
Hi Tara
Sorry about “the” in front of Ukraine. It must be an old way of saying it. Somehow it was in my head. I’m sure poverty is a major contributor to the alcohol problem. Not every poor country of equal poverty has the same problem so maybe in addition to gradually making the country more prosperous (I hope the politicians are doing their best), perhaps booze if too accessible and/or there in not enough for the young to do to occupy their minds.
There may be parenting issues as well.
Freddie
Yes your are right “the” is only used when their is more the one and you are trying to specify that one in particular such as the Crimean peninsula because there is more then one peninsula and you want to nominate the Crimean peninsula as opposed to a peninsula. The use of the article “the” tales up many pages in English grammar books but i think this is a simple explanation their is only one Ukraine but you can say the Ukrainian republic as there is more then one republic.
I am a Native American-Indian descent person. I can relate to Ukrainian acholism because our Native communities typically suffer the same problem as rural ukrainian communities. Both Native Americans and Ukrainians have been victum of colonization of a more elite country,(Britain agaist us natives and Russia against the Ukrainians) These colonizations has brought never ending cycles of poverty and drug abuse to both rural populations. So I know what there going through.
“For teenagers I think one of the major causes is a disaffection by the young with prospects in life.”
“I’m sure poverty is a major contributor to the alcohol problem.”
“Both Native Americans and Ukrainians have been victum of colonization of a more elite country,(Britain agaist us natives and Russia against the Ukrainians)”
Good grief! Use your brain! You know, that thing between your ears? Alcohol is an addictive drug. That’s all there is to it. When you blame someone or something else for your addiction to a poisonous substance (it is poison because you barf when you have a lot of it – your body saying ‘Why are you poisoning me?’), then you are simply rationalizing or justifying your own continuing use of that drug.
“Whilst alcohol and drug abuse is a problem in Ukraine I think there is a growing awareness of the implication of excessive consumption of alcohol. Many of the young people I meet and talk too do not drink or if they do only on special social occasions (New year birthdays etc.) Women in particular shy away from alcohol.”
Hello? What is “excessive use” of an addictive drug? Do you say “excessive consumption of heroin?” Anyone who is drinking a little today while be drinking a lot tomorrow. It is an addiction, which demands steadily increasing doses.