Global Voices · Citizen media stories from 2008 August 31

31 August 2008

Daily archive · 6 posts

Stories from 31 August 2008

Americas: Celebrating BlogDay

Written by Eduardo Avila · Latin America

August 31 is BlogDay around the world, which is an event where bloggers recommend 5 blogs to be discovered by others. The Latin American team from Global Voices Online is participating by collectively recommending 5 blogs from across the region.

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Egypt: Respecting Traffic Lights

Written by Eman AbdElRahman · Middle East & North Africa

What does people's attitudes towards crossing the road have to do with where their country stands in the world? Egyptian blogger Egyptian in the USA brings us the answer in this translation from Arabic.

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Blogger of the Week: Siniša Boljanović

Written by Solana Larsen · Eastern & Central Europe

Siniša Boljanović had never blogged when he volunteered to report on Serbian blogs for Global Voices in 2007. He read an article about Global Voices in a Serbian online magazine and was so hooked on the idea of contributing, he taught himself to write in English and use Wordpress for the first time in spite of one additional obstacle: Siniša is blind.

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Libya: The Ramadan Special

Written by Fozia Mohamed · Middle East & North Africa

Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting, begins in all parts of the Islamic world. Depending on where you are located, it could have either started, will start tomorrow or even Tuesday in some areas. Fozia Mohamad shares the Ramadan spirit from Libyan blogs in this post.

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Ecuador: Abortion a Controversial Topic in New Constitution

Written by Milton Ramirez · Latin America

In a deeply religious country like Ecuador, the topic of a woman's right to choose an abortion is of concern and may determine some voters' decision in the upcoming Constitutional Referendum. Bloggers provide some views about how this controversial topic is seen by the country.

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China: gold medals=a great power in sports?

Written by Bob Chen · East Asia

51 gold medals, a comment of "truly exceptional" from IOC, and spectacular images left to the world, China held a real party of sports in 16-day Olympics. But does this achievement necessarily mean China has been a super power in sports, and even common people could fully enjoy the glory and health brought by sports?

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Updates from 31 August 2008

Russia

Marilisa Lorusso's Blog comments on the conflict between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia and says that the military solution has brought the world closer to a new Cold War. However, the blog notes, while the Georgian president continues to survive defeat on the battlefield, a political solution would have led to a situation that benefitted more of those involved — and not least hundreds of thousands of IDPs without homes in Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

• Onnik Krikorian

Turkey

Kurdish blogger Rasti questions the motives behind Turkey's nuclear program: “Although there has been no official proof that Turkey is actively building a nuclear weapons, some experts on Turkey's nuclear program have recounted their support, suspicious that the energy program is a cover for a weapons program.”

• Deborah Ann Dilley

Egypt

Egyptian Blogger Zeinobia, wrote her reactions regarding the recent news stating that a group of high class Egyptian ladies led a protest all over Marina against the Imam of Marina’s mosque after his attack on the Turkish TV series “Nour”.

• Eman AbdElRahman

Russia

Security in the Caucasus, a new blog established by a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics currently undertaking field work in the region, says that the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia was largely the result of a major miscalculation by Tbilisi. The blog also says that the confrontation was one by proxy between the West and a re-assertive Russia.

• Onnik Krikorian

China

LJ user olegpanfilov2 links (RUS) to a newspaper story (ENG) on Michael Lee White, a China-based U.S. citizen whose passport was allegedly stolen “during a flight from Moscow to New York” in Dec. 2005. Last week, “a Russian general […] displayed a blown-up photo” of the passport and claimed that it was found in Georgia. PM Putin said in a CNN interview that “the passport gave him reason to suspect U.S. military involvement in the Russia-Georgia conflict over South Ossetia.”

• Veronica Khokhlova

Georgia

While discussing the plight of unrecognized states, blog Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus states that “If Russia does decide to recognize Georgia’s two separatist regions, they’d be in a diplomatic situation similar to North Cyprus.”

• Deborah Ann Dilley

Russia

LJ user tema is one of the many Cyrillic bloggers who are unhappy with how the new LJ ads interrupt the flow of their posts; he shares a screenshot (RUS) of his blog to illustrate his point. Others are sharing a way to get rid of LJ ads in their posts; LJ user hydrargentum is one of them (RUS). At least 18 posts in today's Top 30 at Yandex Blogs (RUS) are about LJ ads and what to do about them. LJ user horinalex writes (RUS): “If they had introduced LJ ads on Aug. 8 (the day the war started in S. Ossetia), there would've been no war, everyone would've been discussing ads!”

• Veronica Khokhlova

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