Stories about Governance from June, 2006
Yemen: Presidency Next Seven Years
Omar Barsawad admire and respect his President, Ali Abdullah Saleh. Yet, Omar felt both frustrated and relieved at Saleh's decision to run again for presidency. “Frustration, in that: by not standing he would have done an unprecedented, unheard of thing in the Arab World! And become a pioneer and role...
Barbados: Not just the Opposition
Barbados Free Press responds to the Barbados Labour Party's critique of the opposition party's behaviour in the House of Assembly with a call for greater overall transparency with regard to the activities of the House.
Panama: Forgotten Issues . . . reminder
A (very musical) blog called Asi es la Vida en Panama has a short list of forgotten cases and crimes that have not been solved yet, this is probably a wake up call for our Panamanian government's delays. Don't be surprised if there's a James Blunt song in the background.
Turkmenistan: A Lesson to Others
Breed discusses the foolishness of doing business in Turkmenistan as a foreign investor.
Malaysia: Dissapointing Answers from the PM
Malaysian politician and blogger Lim Kit Siang has five reasons for feeling disappointed at the Malaysian prime minister's response to his question on the implementation of the independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission
Indonesia: Papua's Economy
The blogger at Sarapan Ekonomy asks who is to blame for Papua's low economic growth. Papua is a mineral rich province in Eastern Indonesia.
Ukraine: Oil Stocks; Gas Situation
Wu Wei writes about the gas situation and implementation of “an EU system of oil stocks” in Ukraine.
Barbados: Criticising the opposition
The Barbados Labour Party uses its blog to slam the opposition party for allegedly arriving late for sittings of the House of Assembly and being unprepared for debates.
Barbados: New drivers’ licences
Barbados Free Press is concerned that the integration of of fingerprinting technology into the new drivers’ licences the Barbados government has commissioned from a US company may have “far-reaching implications for human rights and freedoms.”
South Africa: Revisiting democracy
Floyds Perspectives writes a piece on Democracy in South Africa....”Juxtaposed to other democracies, say in Europe, South Africa’s is not organically participatory and/or deserving, as per a different conceptualisation, to be “new tyranny”. In 2005, the French peoples successfully rejected the adoption of the European Union Constitution, despite the political...
Latest in French-Speaking African and Indian Ocean Blogs
PAN-AFRICAN Homosexuality in Africa Not a Myth France-based Togolese blogger Kangni Alem reflects on a homophobic movement in Cameroon that sees homosexuality as a suspect new “religion” and concludes: Evidence des temps, l’homosexualité ne peut plus être perçue comme un mythe en Afrique. même moi je l’ai cru longtemps, jusqu’au...
Iran: Death of Intellectualism
Andishe No, talks about that many university professors have been forced to be retired. The blogger writes the most important protest voice comes from universities and Iranian government's priority is to make universities quiet (Persian). The blogger adds it is the death of intellectualism and it started when a cleric...
China: Four months later
Beijing or Bust blogger and documentary maker Hao Wu has now been in prison for four months for a crime that has Chinese authorities have yet to announce. More than a month ago, Hao's sister Nina was informed that her younger brother would be denied legal representation.
China: When studying hard doesn't get you into college, there's always corruption
The obsessive amount of attention paid to Gao Kao (高考)—China's university entrance exams—each year suggests either collective national psychic trauma or an education system ready for some reform. Although the majority of related blog buzz could be seen surrounding the two days of testing earlier this month, in which eight...
Caribbean Heritage Month
“I have to admit that I find myself wondering what took them so long,” says Karen Walrond, discussing the US government's designation of June 2006 as Caribbean Heritage Month.
Cuba: Foreign students deprived of internet access
Medicina Cubana reproduces a news agency article stating that foreign medical students at the Morón School of Medical Science have had no internet access for the past several weeks. The article also notes that “in general, Cubans are not allowed access to the Internet.”
Barbados: The election will be wired
Citing a Wired article about Rupert Murdoch and Barbados’ status as one of the Caribbean territories with the highest internet penetration, Barbados Free Press predicts that “the internet, citizen journalism, online networking and the Barbados Free Press” will play a key role in the country's upcoming general election.
Ukraine: Football and Politics
Dan McMinn of Orange Ukraine writes about Ukraine's World Cup victory over Saudi Arabia – and a no less important event: the “re-formation” of the “orange coalition.”
Russia: Butovo Land Dispute
The recent land dispute between Moscow city authorities and residents of Butovo, a suburb just outside the capital's beltway (MKAD), included such dramatic elements as a tent camp, bulldozers and riot police. Ilya Yashin (LJ user yashin), leader of the youth wing of the Russian social-liberal party Yabloko, writes about...
Nigeria: Finance minister redeployed
Exodus comments on the firing of Nigeria's finance minister Mrs Okonjo-Iweala…..”I knew it! I knew the administration had tampered with the foreign reserves (and I suspect to the ignorance of Ngozi). The people in the Senate must know what they are talking about. OBJ don chop money; probably used it...
Madagascar: Which Sector to Develop Economy
Madagascar Croissance asks (Fr): “Which sector will develop the country's economy?” and, after a comparison with nearby Mauritius, concludes: “The best solution is the development of entrepreneurship in the countryside.”
