12 September 2010

Stories from 12 September 2010

Armenia: Army Hazing

  12 September 2010

Unzipped comments on a video originally posted on YouTube showing what appears to be hazing in the Armenian military. Taken down after 246 Facebook shares and 669 comments, it has since appeared on Daily Motion. Given other cases of deaths and mistreatment in the army, the blog says that the...

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Social Networking and Conflict Resolution

  12 September 2010

Global Chaos details the hacking of the personal Facebook page of one young ethnic Armenian by someone presumably in Azerbaijan. Although new and social media tools are increasingly being used in peace-building initiatives to resolve the long-running conflict between the two countries over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the...

Japan: Drinkommunication, when drinking alcohol is a social obligation

  12 September 2010

Alcohol in Japan it is often used as a social lubricant in a society that still sees a gap between one's real feelings and intention and what one says on social occasions. And according to many, it is with a glass of beer or sake in hand that a new type of franker communication may occur, or a 'drinkommunication'.

Nigeria: Call for NGO Participation in Electoral Process

  12 September 2010

“Accident Prevention and Rescue Initiative (NGO) is calling on all Non-governmental Organizations, Civil Societies and faith based organizations in Nigeria to meet and take a position towards positive and active participation in the 2011 elections,” Prince Fidelis Nnadi reports.

Russia: Pluses and Minuses of Putin's Regime

RuNet Echo  12 September 2010

Blogger rusanalit sums up [RUS] 10 years of Vladimir Putin's direct and indirect (after president Medvedev's election) reign. Pluses, among others, include: creation of the Stabilization Fund [EN], finishing Chechen war [EN], paying off $100 bln of state debt by raising the oil taxes. Minuses: making corruption a core principle of...

Ghana: Football and the white coach myth

  12 September 2010

Nana's analysis of white coach myth in Ghana's football: “Ghana's biggest achievements in football have come from local coaches ONLY. Unless we want to say that a quarter-final debut is bigger than the Nations Cup trophy, we must listen to the voice of Sankofa.”

East Timor: Managing oil resources

  12 September 2010

A facebook commenter reminds Australia to respect the right of East Timor to manage its oil resources. “It is the right of Timorese people to determine where their resources should be processed for the people's best interest…”

East Timor: History of Atáuro Island

  12 September 2010

Return to Rai Ketak refers to the proposal to house a detention center in Atáuro Island in East Timor for those seeking asylum in Australia as “insensitive” to the controversial colonial history of the place.

  12 September 2010

The editorial team of the music, art and tech blog Puerto Rico Indie [es] organized a virtual “musical” round table in which writers, editors, contributors and friends recommend a song on occasion of 9/11. The videos of the songs are accompanied by short texts in which the authors explain their...