Stories from 18 February 2008
Ukraine: Baloha's New Project; Rudkovsky's Crime
Foreign Notes reports on a new political project of president Yushchenko's chief of staff Victor Baloha, and on how Mykola Rudkovsky's alleged crime – “misappropriation of state funds and flying abroad on private visits” – is actually pretty common in Ukraine's governing circles.
Slovenia: Keeping Quiet in China
Dr. Filomena reports: “A few days ago, Slovenia’s Minister of Education and Sport Milan Zver apparently recommended , in an interview for the Associated Press, that Olympic athletes avoid talking about human rights while they are in Beijing. By today, his words have been quoted in over 300 sources online.”
Czech Republic: Klaus Re-Elected
Rather belatedly, a link to the post by The Czech Daily Word, announcing that the Czech president Vaclav Klaus won the election: “Klaus got 141 votes, which is exactly the threshold he needed.”
Poland: U.S. Satellite Fears
A discussion of whether or not Poland is “in danger from exploding US spy satellite” – over at the beatroot.
Russia: Medvedev's “Vision”
Sean's Russia Blog writes about Dmitry Medvedev's “vision” – “a vision that when boiled down doesn’t look to rock the boat too much.”
Saudi Arabia: No Coffee for Women
From Saudi Arabia, Lalla Mona posts two pictures of signs: one from 1931 America which says “Public Swimming Pool: Whites Only” and the second from modern day Saudi Arabia which says “Following the directives of The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, offering coffee to women in...
Morocco: Fun Day at the Fair
From Morocco, Maryam takes her little one to the fair – and shares some pictures with us.
Jordan: Injaz Al Arab
Mohammad alQaq, from Jordan, draws our attention to Injaz Al Arab – which aims to empower one million Arab students annually by 2018.
Bahrain: Stupid Blogs
Bahraini Mohammed Al Maskati rants about stupid blogs in this post.
Jordan: Traffic Woes
Saleem Ayoub Quna writes about Jordan's traffic woes.
Qatar: Who Speaks for Muslims?
PM, from Qatar, shares with us a digest of a talk she attended entitled Who Speaks for Muslims.
Editorial Transparency in Qatar
A misunderstanding around the safety of bottle water in Qatar (it's fine!) has led to an interesting conversation about the quality of the English language press in Qatar. Comments were passed back and forth between between a commenter on Qatar Living (tallg) and the Managing Editor of a local English newspaper in Qatar, writes Mohamed Nanabhay.
Iran:A film about “friendly” violence
Jomhour from Iran, has published a film that shows that violence has become for some people an entertainment.
Sri Lanka: Not Obama
Deane's Dimension from Sri Lanka on why rooting for Obama is all fine, but why one really needs to look at his foreign and economic policy.
Pakistan: Voting, Elections and Counting
As people in Pakistan were out voting today, the blogosphere discusses the elections. All Things Pakistan, is following the elections and urges its readers to share their accounts. We are especially interested in hearing reports from our readers in Pakistan about what they see on the streets, what their own...
South Asia: Against domestic violence
Out Against Abuse – dedicated to discussing issues of domestic violence affecting the South Asian community urges readers to share their stories.
Bahamas: Thoughts on Bribery
“One of the clichés about the so-called third world is that nothing can get done without some money–personal money–changing hands. One of the fortunate things about living in The Bahamas–so far–is that that kind of corruption is not a pervasive feature of our society”: Nicolette Bethel blogs about bribery and...
Trinidad & Tobago: Vision for Development?
“You turn old Port of Spain into a slum, you block off the city from the sea (you leave the sea in such a mess that no one would want to be exposed to it anyway), and you build enormous faceless towers, and you call it development”: Jeremy Taylor rails...
Madagascar: Cyclone Ivan Wrecking Havoc.
Tropical Cyclone Ivan has landfalled in the Northeastern region of Madagascar on February, 17th and it is now categorized as a category 4 Hurricane. (via meteo france) Even though Madagascar is better prepared for cyclone season, having already taken the blunt of many cyclones (most recently cyclone Fame), the region...
Palestine: Internet is Racist
“So, someone sets up a blog about things white people like one month ago, and already it is getting more hits than our blog, which is basically about what Arabs like. It just lists anti-white stereotypes such as their supposed affinity for natural medicine (which the Arabs invented), recycling, and...
Abu Dhabi: Picture of Development
Tom Gara shares a view from his window in Abu Dhabi.
