Stories from 30 December 2008
Egypt: Down sizing Car factory
In the middle of everybody's talk about Gaza's siege and Israeli brutal attack on Palestinians, Egyptian blogger Zeinobia is asking people not to forget Egyptian internal affairs. In her new post, “Don't forget the inner line” , she highlights the Government's new decision to downsize the Nasr Car Factory as...
Egypt: Solidarity with Palestine
Since they’ve heard, Egyptian Bloggers expressed their immediate solidarity with their Palestine brothers against the brutal attack. Everybody condemned the Siege, as well as the blind Israeli bombings that does not differentiate between killing militants or civilians, women, children and men. Mostafa launched a Jaiku channel to pass news about...
India, Bangladesh: Explaining South Asian Politics
Santosh at Über Desi explains the results of the Bangladesh parliamentary election: “Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League party won because it was time for a change. The last elected government was formed by Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Yes, politics in South Asia can be explained in such simplistic terms.“
Pakistan: Remembering Benazir Bhutto
Adil Najam at All Things Pakistan wonders if Benazir Bhutto had not been killed would things have been different for Pakistan?
Bangladesh: A Landslide Victory Is Not A Mandate For One Party Anarchy
Shada Kalo reminds the Awami League led Grand Alliance after their win in Bangladesh elections held yesterday: “A landslide victory does not mean a license to mess with the constitution or the civil rights of people.”
India: A Guide To The Biggest Moments in Indian blogging History
Pramit Singh at MediaVidea provides a guide to the biggest moments in Indian blogging history.
India: The Top Five Newsworthy Events in the Indian Blogosphere in 2008
Gaurav Mishra at Gauravonomics digs into the Indian Blogosphere to find the top five events in 2008, in which the Indian blogosphere itself became newsworthy.
Burning the Year Away: New Year Traditions
In many South American countries, it has become a tradition to burn human shaped representations of the previous year, as a way to get rid of everything bad that the year brought, and leave way for the new. The following videos show some of these traditions and some of the controversy soome of them have sparked.
Ghana: Tired of dirty politics
Omanba of Ghanaconscious criticizes politics in Ghana as pressuring people with “with negativity and scandalous innuendos”. For him the recent presidential elections have brought “the worst of humankind in Ghana”.
Israel: Debunking Israeli arguments about Gaza
Mo-ha-med, who is based in Israel, outlines why he believes all the “pre-packaged pseudo-arguments” for attacking Gaza won't stand up.
Palestine: “In Gaza it's 9/11 every hour, every minute, everywhere”
In this post, a Gazan blogger far from home, seeing the death and destruction taking place there, asks, "Who was born in bloodied Gaza today?" And an Italian human rights activist describes a woman searching for her husband in the morgue, who recognised the wedding ring on his hand - all that was left of him.
Lebanon: Solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza
“In Gaza There is a Boy Standing and Waiting to go to Sleep” these are the words that Mazen Kerbaj chose to summarize the situation in Gaza in one of his cartoons. Taking a second look, the cartoon seems to say: “In Gaza There is a Boy Standing and Waiting...
Syria: More on the Israeli Massacre in Palestine
Diana Ghazzawi, a Gazan blogger who is now based in North America, shares with us her worries that she might not meet her relatives in Gaza one day, if they don't get lucky from the strategic Israeli shelling on the Gazans: This is not about politics. It's not about specifics...
Syria: Myths about Israeli Attacks in Palestine
Our coverage of Syrian bloggers reacting on the ongoing Israeli war in Palestine continues. Israel is still proceeding the attacks in Palestine for the forth day causing 385 civilian deaths and leaving 1700 injured. Yaman Salahi, a Syrian blogger based in the US, has posted a note on his Facebook...
Cuba: Letter to Castro
Cuban diaspora blogger Uncommon Sense links to an open letter [ES] to Fidel Castro, written by a political prisoner.
Trinidad & Tobago: The Goings-On in Gaza
Notes from Port of Spain examines the situation in Gaza: “In terms of resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it is a total waste of time and of life. It is a big step backwards.”
Cuba: Subsidies
As “Raúl Castro reaffirmed the idea of ending subsidies”, Generation Y observes: “Between the symbolic price of a pound of rationed rice, and the enormous ‘slice’ of our salaries taken by those who govern us, we are more the givers than the receivers of subsidies.”
Cuba: Wishing for Freedom
Cuban blogger Retazos [ES] shares some of her wishes for 2009.
Barbados: Football Match Mayhem
As four people are shot at a football match, Barbados Free Press says that this is “what happens when you combine no rule of law with no effective police force and a top-down culture of corruption in government…”
Nepal Facing Energy Crisis
Saving energy, finding environmentally friendly source of energy is being actively discussed around the world. For developed nations and their developing counterparts, energy is quickly turning out to be one of “the” issues. Fear of energy starved future is now being seriously discussed-from Washington to Riyadh. Nepal, one of the...
Southeast Asia: Controversies and tragedies of 2008
In the previous post (Southeast Asia: Newsmakers of 2008), I wrote about the major events that took place in Southeast Asia. In this article, I will highlight other stories which became controversial as well.