Global Voices Online

Nick Fielding reflects on the the question of who is running the so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and who are the members of the so-called the Quetta Shura, the Taliban's leadership.

Recent Links also in Central Asia & Caucasus

AdnanEmin's Blog, Prison Diary, a new blog from Azerbaijan, has been set up to republish letters sent from prison in the oil-rich former Soviet republic by Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli, two detained video blogging youth activists sentenced last week and considered by Amnesty International to be prisoners of conscience. The first post carries a message from Milli after his sentence.

Brave New Foundation posts a petition and YouTube video with young veterans asking Obama not to send more troops to Afghanistan.

Musafirbek says that the president of Uzbekistan officially thanked the cotton-growers for gathering the harvest of this strategic product for Uzbekistan. However, those who sweat away, collecting this cotton (including children) were not mentioned in the president’s address.