Stories about Governance from February, 2009
Bangladesh: Why The BDR Massacre?
Shada Kalo analyzes the motives behind the BDR (Border guards) mutiny in Bangladesh and discusses the intelligence and negotiation failures as the horror of massacre of army officers by the mutineers came to light today.
Colombia: Restrictions and Curfew in Medellín
In Medellín, Colombia, Juan David Escobar is critical about the new restrictions for male passengers on motorcycles and a city-wide curfew for bars outside of designated areas [es]. He points out that in spite of what the government has been saying over the past 10 years about the arrival of...
Mexico: Criticizing Wasteful Government Spending
The Mexican federal government recently updated information about its expenses and its budgets for various public institutions on their transparency portal. Using this public information, many bloggers have identified expenses for questionable recreational activities that have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of pesos.
Uganda: Fire destroys Owino Market
A massive fire gutted Kampala's Owino Market early Wednesday morning, seriously injuring five people and destroying thousands of stalls. As many as 25,000 traders, mostly women, are estimated to have suffered losses.
Guyana: The Ripple Effect
The far-ranging effects of the CL Financial failure have now reached Guyana. One blogger has been assiduously following the latest developments...
Japan: Bloggers on the Nakagawa affair
Over a week has passed since now-infamous footage of Japan's former finance minister Shōichi Nakagawa stumbling through a 20 minute speech at the G7 meeting in Rome made world headlines and hit the top of YouTube charts. In this post I feature a handful of responses to the speech by Japanese bloggers.
Kyrgyzstan: Hard Time for the Opposition
Elena writes a history of the persecution of the oppositional movements in Kyrgyzstan.
Bangladesh: Mutiny Is Over, But Question Remains
Yesterday it was a tensed day in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The 33-hour long mutiny and siege by aggrieved lower rank officers of paramilitary forces BDR ended as they surrendered their arms in the evening at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters. According to news paper reports seventeen BDR members...
Nepal: Load Shedding Woes
For a country where there is an average daily power cut of 14 hours it is hard to carry on with normal life. Bibek Paudel discusses the challenges Nepal is facing and who are responsible for this.
Pakistan: Déjà vu 1971?
“Zardari is doing exactly what Bhutto had done in 1971 – eliminating all challenges that may come in his way to become another “Civilian Martial Law Administrator”, comments Teeth Maestro while discussing the recent “verdict that refuses to give the democratically elected government its right to function.”
Martinique: Violent clashes in Fort de France
Martinican bloggers Imaniyé and Bondamanjak both note the recent degradation of the social conflict in Martinique, as clashes between the police and young people took place in the capital city of Fort-de-France, on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
Aruba: Calling the Socialists
“Some Arubans are also affected because they invested in Stanford's company and are now, as we say in quaint Dutch, sitting with the baked pears”: Arubagirl examines her government's reaction to the Allen Stanford story and wonders where all the socialists have gone.
Taiwan: CECA, economic elixir or poison?
CECA? Neither a new game console from Japan nor another evil science project that is going to bring this world to an end? But according to the Government, CECA is coming to save Taiwan's economy from drowning in global financial crisis and the greatest recession in 50 years. However, most people still have no idea what CECA is, and like all the other issues, it is quickly politicized as a new media battle ground set for the continuous fight between KMT, the ruling party, and DPP, the major opposition party. Bloggers again try to ask key questions and explain the issues deeper on their own.
Arab Bloggers Rally Against the Judaization of Jerusalem
As Israeli authorities evict Arab residents and demolish their houses in Jerusalem, Arab bloggers are set on not letting this pass unnoticed. Another blogger calls for designating a week to blog for Jerusalem.
Egypt: 10,000 days of Mubarak
Egypt marks its 10,000 day under Hosni Mubarak's rule. Mohaly briefs us about two books which discuss the occasion.
Pakistan: Sharif Brothers Declared Ineligible For Election Whilst Governor Rule Imposed
The Supreme Court after prolonged hearing of Sharif brothers’ electoral eligibility case, finally declared today that the two leaders of Pakistan's most prominent political party Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz group have been deemed ineligible to have contested the elections a year back on 18th February 2008. Although it must...
Singapore: Amended law to allow filming of “factual” political rallies
Individuals who use their mobile phones to film illegal rallies can be arrested under an amended law in Singapore. Live film recordings of political events are allowed but the events being filmed must first be held in accordance with the law.
Pakistan: Corrupt Traffic Police in Karachi
Kashif Aziz at Chowrangi posts a video showing corruption of traffic police in Karachi.
Zimbabwe: How Mugabe Steals
Denford Magora reveals how Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe amassed wealth during his tenure. I promised a few days ago to share with you information from impeccable sources on just how Robert Mugabe amassed a fortune during his tenure, “Few people know that, when Mugabe travels overseas, the Chief Secretary to...
Ukraine: Politics on Twitter
Ukrainian president Victor Yushchenko has an official Twitter account; his tweets mirror daily schedule announcements and latest news items that are featured on the official website as well. There is also a Yushchenko impersonator on Twitter. Former speaker Yatsenyuk seems to have a Twitter account, too, but his political movement's press service would not confirm it.
Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago: Injunction
Barbados Free Press finds it “interesting” that the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank and the Colonial Life Insurance Company Limited (CLICO) have been granted an injunction against CL Financial.
