Global Voices

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The world is talking, are you listening?

Responding to an assertion by Gerald Knaus…

Athens and Skopje face a [prisoner's dilemma]: if neither side believes that a solution is possible, and acts on this, both will lose.

…Zarko Trajanoski wrote on Facebook:

However, the analogy with “prisoner's dilemma” is not only false, but very offensive: Athens is not a prisoner, but a prison guard and perhaps a political torturer in this case. And the outcome of this political torture, aided by Sofia as well, is the rise of the Macedonian ethno-nationalism and the decline of the liberalism, democracy and human rights.

He later provided an elaborate explanation in a blog post [mk].

Photo by Edilson Lima on Facebook (2,156 shares).

Brazilian journalist Mariana Alvanesi (@morrodovidigal) was assaulted by the police while covering a demonstration by dwellers of the Vidigal neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, on December 13, 2012. The dwellers were trying to impede the demolition of a sports court. Dulcilene Guiri recorded the moment in video.
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The cheeky Tumblr blog International Relations as Depicted by Cats suggests North Korea's reaction to their own missile launch.

WTF it worked? North Korea's Nuclear Launch. Image from IRCats

Marie, 14, was forced to move to Lebanon by her aunt to become a maid. Once there, she was regularly raped by her employer. When he realized she was pregnant, he threw her out the house. After giving birth alone, she threw her baby from the 8th floor of a building.

Assanatou Baldé investigates [fr] the plight of young Malagasy girls migrating to Lebanon to escape the social crisis in Madagascar. Other testimonies of torture and physical abuse are collected in the report, including recurring insults, overwhelming working conditions and forced intercourse with animals.

Great news: Timor-Leste reduced corruption more than every other country in the world! But is it true? We have a rapidly growing state budget, a minister facing prison, reports about corruption in the media every day and falling scores from other rating agencies.

La'o Hamutuk reviews the corruption indicators given to East Timor in the latest report of Transparency International

Pambazuka.org published a letter [fr] from players addressed to the president of FIFA, Joseph S. Blatter :

Some sixty professional footballers, for the most part African, wrote a letter to UEFA in protest at the decision to entrust Israel with the organisation of the European Under-21 Football Championship (June 5-18, 2013). In doing so, they argue, European football is turning a blind eye to the recent Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.