Stories about Governance from October, 2009
Ukraine: Swine Flu (and Some Election Politics)
On Oct. 30, after a few days of alarming reports on an outbreak of respiratory illness in western Ukraine, the first swine flu-related death was confirmed, and PM Tymoshenko ordered Ukraine's schools closed and public gatherings banned for at least three weeks.
Bangladesh: Daylight Savings Time Confusion
Last June Bangladesh implemented Daylight Savings Time for the first time in the country. Expat blogger Meandering Memos writes about the confusion created among the citizens as the government has decided not to revert to the old timing.
Trinidad & Tobago: National Pride?
Trinidad and Tobago bloggers react to news that a massive flag erected at the National Stadium may have cost TT $2 million.
Russia: “Twitter Against Tyrants”
Oleg Kozlovsky links to and quotes from the text of a briefing held by US Helsinki Commission/Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which included “a few recent examples of how we utilized Web 2.0 to spread information about electoral fraud” in Russia.
Russia: Riot Police vs “Senior Citizens”
Oleg Kozlovsky reports on a scandal that broke out after riot police used – during a drill – “water cannons, shock grenades, and tear gas” to disperse “a group of senior citizens that protested social injustice and blocked a federal highway.”
Slovakia, Hungary: “Linguistic Discontents”
Edward Lucas writes about the Slovak-Hungarian relations, including the “linguistic discontents.”
Slovenia, Croatia: Updates on Border Dispute
Sleeping With Pengovsky posts updates on the recent developments in the Slovenian-Croatian relations – here and here.
Egypt: The top 10 most influential people
Gamal Mubarak, son of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak -- who is expected to succeed his father -- was among the 2009 TIME 100 Finalists. Egyptian bloggers have their say in this post.
Maldives: The Price Of Environmental Activism
Maldives hosted the first underwater cabinet meeting to make people realize the threat of global warming and its effect on the country. Applauding the intention and activism behind this initiative Mohamed Nasheed opines that this will also hurt the tourism industry in Maldives as insurance premiums on investments have been...
Anguilla: No News is Bad News
“Six members of the Royal Anguilla Police Force arrested in the last five years. Traditionally, the Anguilla public administration operates under the assumption that any bad news is better not published”: Corruption-free Anguilla is “simply disgusted at this state of affairs.”
Jamaica: Police Corruption
“News of police corruption is sadly no surprise”: Letter from Jamaica wonders whether “we get the constabulary we deserve.”
Russia: Khodorkovsky's Case, 6 Years On
In The Huffington Post, Robert Amsterdam writes about Mikhail Khodorkovsky's case, six years on.
Ukraine: Charity
Scenes From the Sidewalk writes about an encounter with one of Kyiv's many homeless children – and posts photos from actress Olga Kurilenko's visit to a CrossRoads Foundation/ChildRescue's rehabilitation center. Wild World of Sean's Blog reports on a charity visit to a Kyiv hospital for children affected by the Chernobyl...
Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia: “Dumping Grounds for People”
Dumping Grounds for People is a blog devoted to the results “of a four-months long journalistic investigation, conducted mostly undercover in ten institutions for adults with intellectual disabilities or mental illnesses in Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.” A Flickr photo set, by Yana Buhrer Tavanier, is here, along with this note:...
Ukraine: Interview With A Drug Addict
David Sasaki shares thoughts on “engaging, not exoticizing human rights” and posts a video interview with Pavel Kutsev, a self-described “average drug addict” and “the co-founder of Drop-In Center, a Ukrainian organization which advocates for the rights of the injection drug user communication and for better national policy related to...
Hungary: 1956
Hungarian Spectrum writes about an online collection of testimony (HUN) on the events of 1956, which “helped the western powers understand the Hungarian situation, not just events that occurred during the revolution but more importantly the reasons for the outbreak of the uprising.” Remainder of Budapest wrote this on the...
Hungary: Dual Citizenship
Hungarian Spectrum writes about “a recurrent theme in Hungarian politics”: dual citizenship.
Hungary: Update on ‘Nap-Kelte’ Talk Show
Hungarian Spectrum posts an update on the situation around the Nap-kelte political talk show – and is “trying to make sense of Hungarian legal thinking.”
Cuba: Contemplating Change
“I think that for Cuba to transition to an open society from a society ‘with some emergency exits’, some of the people now occupying positions of power in the government could take a long vacation…”: Octavo Cerco contemplates what's needed for meaningful change in Cuba.
Martinique: Debating over the statutory change
Martinican MontrayKreyol discusses the popular debates [Fr] over the change of institutional status of Martinique as a French overseas department.
Reunion: Creole becomes second official language
In the midst of the International Creole Month, Guadeloupean blogger CaribCreoleOne discusses [Fr] the now official use of Creole language alongside French in all the administrative procedures and places, in the city of Le Port in Reunion.
