Stories about Governance from October, 2006
Kyrgyzstan: Akaev & US Politics
Sean Roberts explains how Kyrgyzstan's former president could become a political issue in the United States.
Poland: News and Opinion
The beatroot writes about media freedom in the EU, the fear of the Polish plumber (again; 70 comments so far), a Sudanese woman giving birth on a bus in Warsaw, and a few other matters.
India: Capital Punishment, Afzal and Santosh
National Highway reflects on capital punishment. “For the simple reason that the desire to see his life extinct reflects society’s desire to disown his act of crime as being ‘inhuman’. But what Santosh did was very human, born out of human impulses, and has to be resolved within the parameters...
China: Writings on the walls
Back in the day, big character posters were mostly used for vile purposes, so when they started popping up recently on shop fronts in a remote corner of China's Yunnan province, it's no surprise mention was made at major Chinese forum Tianya. From Tianya blogger Big Reporter (大记者): 云南石林县惊现”大字报” Shilin...
Lebanon: Political Uncertainty and Men
Many Lebanese blogs are reflecting the internal political bickering that is creating an atmosphere of uncertainty about the future of the country. Most of the posts in this weeks review are bleak with little hope for the future. This is something that is very unusual for a people who take...
Barbados: Who's your First World daddy?
Barbados Free Press takes issue with Barbados Labour Party strategists’ designation of Prime Minister Owen Arthur as the “Father of First World Barbados”.
Swahili Blogosphere: Madonna, power rationing, and illiterate thieves
Chemi Che Mponda sums up her feelings about critics of Madonna's adoption of a Malawian baby, David Banda: David Banda kazaliwa katika umaskini, lakini leo anaishi katika utajiri. Na lazima kuna watu wanamwonea wivu! David Banda was born poor and became rich overnight. Some people must be jealous of him....
Hugo Chavez in the Iranian left-wing blogs
Hugo Chavez, the leftist Venezuelan President, has developed a very friendly relationship with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian Islamist President. Iran even awarded the Venezuelan President its highest state medal for supporting Tehran in its nuclear standoff against the international community. This alliance was discussed a couple of months ago among...
Jamaica: Striking it rich
Francis Wade considers what could happen if Jamaica were suddenly to strike it rich.
Bermuda: Dr. Brown's opportunity
Valentine Michael Smith leaves aside satire for a moment and considers the opportunity that lies before Bermuda's newly elected Premier, Dr. Ewart Brown.
Mexico: The last moments of Bradley Roland Will
Journalism seems like a precarious profession to practise in Mexico. It's ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist. The latest tragic example of this came on Friday 27th October, in the southern state of Oaxaca, with the shooting...
Kazakhstan: Social Business Corporations
KZBlog reports on Kazakhstan's plan to found “social business corporations” in the country's regions to drive economic growth and meet social needs. Though the idea behind them is seemingly similar to “social entrepreneurship,” KZBlog notes that no one seems too interested in the social end of the things with the...
Kyrgyzstan: Corruption in Education
Tolkun Umaraliev reports on corruption in Kyrgyzstan's education system.
Violence and Misinformation Abound in Oaxaca
The usually tranquil Southern Mexican tourist town of Oaxaca – with its large, shaded plaza and gallery-lined alleys – had transformed into a political pressure cooker over the past few months in what began as a seemingly routine teacher's strike in late May. The lid then blew straight off yesterday...
Serbia: The Referendum
Blog coverage of the referendum on the new Serbian constitution: at East Ethnia, here and here; at South East Europe Online, here; at Belgrade 2.0, here, here and here; at Dictionary of the Serbian Mess, here; and at Estavisti, here.
Voices from Zimbabwe
Following recent reports chronicling the decline in Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS prevalence, the spotlight has now been turned on to the effect anti-AIDS campaigns have wrought on traditional Zimbabwean morals and values: Zimbabwe's lead in condom use and condom sale worldwide has produced mixed reactions, with some sections of society welcoming the...
Zimbabwe: church releases national vision document
The Bearded Man posts latest news from Zimbabwe, “A church-authored national vision document could be the start of efforts to end Zimbabwe’s fast deteriorating crisis but analysts say it fell short of directly putting the blame on President Robert Mugabe’s government and questioned the veteran leader’s commitment to implementing its...
Iran: UN Resolution Targets Iranian Students
Iranian Truth discusses the current draft Security Council resolution on Iran which states, in part: “all States shall prohibit specialized teaching or training of Iranian nationals, within their territories or by their nationals, of disciplines which would contribute to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile program”, The blogger says the expansive...
IGF in Athens: searching globally for the Internet's common ground
The first meeting of the Internet Governance Forum – IGF, which aims to be a a place for a “multi-stakeholder policy dialogue”, starts tomorrow, going from 30 October to 2 November in Athens, Greece. The idea of the forum emerged during last year's meetings of the World Summit on the...
Bangladesh in Turmoil
Bangladesh is going through turbulent times as the row over an interim caretaker government chief persists who will lead the country towards the upcoming parliament election in January 2007. This unique caretaker government (CTG) system adopted in Bangladesh constitution worked in past three elections. However this time the opposition parties...
Russia: LJ and Politics
On October 25, International Herald Tribune published Evgeny Morozov's opinion piece on the recent developments in the Russian blogosphere. On his blog – Sharp & Sound: Perspectives On Modern Politics – Morozov wrote: […] I’ve been surprised how little coverage the story has received in the Western media…Hm, virtually none…...
