Stories from 21 May 2008
Ukraine: Vote-Buying
Kyiv Scoop reports on vote-buying in Kyiv.
Slovenia: The Diaspora vs Croatia
Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about the Slovenian Diaspora: “You see, people of Slovenia and Croatia lived in peace throughout history. We may say bad things about each other, but in the end Slovenes like Croatian seaside and music and Croats like Slovene mountains and shops. And both hate each other’s...
Saudi Arabia: Dhahran Under Siege
Saudi Arabia hosted the Gulf Cooperation Council's Summit in its Eastern province, bringing the leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and the UAE under one roof - and holding the residents of Dhahran and Dammam hostage for the duration of their meeting as all the main highways leading to and from the city were shut.
Serbia: “The Other Serbia”
Gray Falcon writes on “the Other Serbia.”
Serbia: More on Eurovision
Anegdote comments on Eurovision: “But gay in the original sense of the word: happy, cheerful, was Bosnian song, which gets all my regards for not being a yet another stupid once-upon-a-time-turbo-folk-now-ethno-pop cry for euthanasia.”
Armenia/Azerbaijan: Eurovision Success
After yesterday's success enjoyed by the Armenian and Azerbaijani entries in this year's Eurovision Song Contest, Unzipped posts a photograph of Armenia's Sirusho celebrating. In the comments section of the post both myself and the blogger agree that the reason we like the photograph is that “she looks lovely” and...
Russia: Circassians
Window on Eurasia writes about Circassians’ “100-year-long resistance to Russia’s southward advance.”
Azerbaijan: Eurovision Debut
The Long Aye-lander in Glasgow comments on the first semi-final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The blog pays special attention to Azerbaijan's debut entry and says that with “a guy in huge angel wings, gyrating girls in leather dresses and ear-splitting falsetto” there's no point in...
Russia: Champions League Final
Robert Amsterdam's Blog and Two-Zero – on the Champions League final in Moscow.
Russia, Latvia: Young Russia vs Edvīns Šņore
Latvian Abroad writes about Young Russia's protest against The Soviet Story, a documentary by a young Latvian director Edvīns Šņore.
Poland: Photoblogs
Polandian reviews Polish photoblogs.
Bahrain: Class of 2008
Bahraini Naz, who studies in Melbourne, Australia, celebrates the graduation of her sister and friends from a university in New York, US.
Iraq: Are the Refugees Returning Home?
Alive in Baghdad updates us on the conditions of Iraqi refugees in Syria in this video post. Are the refugees returning to Iraq? Click on the link to find out.
Kuwait: Sad for Hadeel
Kuwait blogger Rawan mourns the death of Saudi blogger Hadeel - and writes [Ar]: “I don't know why I cried a lot over a person I never knew. Why did I tell my mother and brother and a lot more people about her? Why I did not sleep and continued...
Estonia: Arnold Meri's Trial
Itching for Eestimaa writes about the trial of Arnold Meri: “On Voice of America he's an ‘ex-officer.’ On Russia Today he's a ‘war hero.’ And on the BBC, he's a ‘Soviet war figure’.”
Serbia: Belgrade Cab Drivers; Eurovision
Inno & Irja Blog – on Belgrade's cab drivers and the Eurovision Song Contest.
Croatia: Feral Tribune's Editor Wins Award
From the Frontline writes that Drago Hedl, editor and journalist with the Croatian political weekly Feral Tribune, has won the Outstanding Merits in Investigative Journalism Award for 2008. (GV's Sinisa Boljanovic wrote about Feral Tribune last year.)
Macedonia: Greek Pacifists’ Visit
Anastas Vangeli posted his impressions of the anti-nationalistic and anti-militaristic Greek-Macedonian Dialogue which took place last Saturday – in Macedonian and English. The participants were branded as traitors in the Greek media, and the Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Church put an anathema on them in his Sunday sermon.
Georgia: Election Observation
On the occasion of today's parliamentary election in Georgia, Social Science in the Caucasus calls for an overhaul of how international election observation missions work in the country. While new technologies have emerged in the election process, the blog says that international observers are often poorly trained and need external...
South Africa: What can bloggers do about the Xenophobia crisis?
Stii suggests what South African bloggers can do about the xenophobia crisis in South Africa: “My idea is to have like a trust fund, NGO or something to which bloggers/technology people can contribute to financially. I’m more than willing giving money to any organization, but it would be nice to...
South Africa: Bloggers, let's do something
Mike calls on South African bloggers to do something about the violent attacks against foreigners: “It’s on that note that I’d like to encourage you, my fellow bloggers and business people, to join me in doing something about it. We know we have the collective influence to make a big...