Stories about Governance from May, 2007
Iran:Neo-Cons To Plot Iran Strategy Amid Caribbean Luxury
Thanks to Sibil Tala we get information about a “Neo-Con” led conference about Iran.According this information the workshop, entitled “Confronting The Iranian Threat: The Way Forward,” is to include “30 or so leading experts who will analyze the implications of Iran’s activities, the diplomatic challenges, military and intelligence capabilities, the...
China: Infected Pig Statistics
Chris O'Brien blogs about the confusing statistics about Pig disease in China: Xinhua: 300, Hong Kong media report: 1,300, Reuters: a million.
China: Land Requisition in Hubei
Xueyong posts a protest letter against a forced land requisition in Hubei. The requisited area is 616.42 hectares, affecting 3,032 people. However, the compensation is just one eighth of the national requirement. (zh)
Japan: Listen to the voices of the Tokyo fire bombing victims
112 people, including the victims and their families of the 1945 Tokyo fire bombing, are suing the Japanese goverment for an official apology and 1.2 billion yen compensation. On March 24, a trial hearing was held at the Tokyo District Court and blogger tokyodo-2005 urges that more attention should be...
Ukraine, Serbia: Investigating Political Murders
Taras Kuzio writes about political assassinations and pursuit of justice, and compares Ukraine to Serbia: “Ukraine’s fragile democracy is closer to Serbia’s democratising state than to Russia’s autocracy.”
Latvia: Presidential Candidates
Marginalia and All About Latvia write about the presidential candidates, including the governing coalition's Valdis Zatlers, “the nearly unknown medical doctor.”
Belarus: More on Student Rallies
More on the recent student protest and the “official” opposition at TOL's Belarus: “Student protests have not been that successful – and official opposition media have mostly failed to deliver appropriate reports from them. An action on the 20th of May has gathered round 250 people, whereas an action on...
Iran:what do people when they are worried about being arrested?
In recent weeks several Iranian-Americans including Haleh Esfandiari were arrested and have no right to have a lawyer.View From Iran writes what do people when they are worried about being arrested:Here's the drill:1. Sell all the alcohol.2. Backup everything on the computer and then reformat the hard drives.3. Call people...
Join the Debate on Darfur 10am (EST) TODAY!
Further to our earlier post, here's a quick update on the Reuters Newsmaker event on Darfur, which takes place in New York starting at 10am EST today. Our Sub-Saharan Africa editor Ndesanjo Macha will be live-blogging the event at his blog, Jikomboe, so you'll be able to follow the proceedings there. Reuters will be tossing to the GV team from time to time for questions and feedback, so please leave any comments you may have either on this post or on Ndesanjo's blog. In related news, Reuters Alertnet this morning released the results of its poll on the situation of Aid workers in Darfur (full coverage here).
Iran: Iran-USA Negotiations, the Chinese Model and Expulsion of Afghans
Iran accepted a U.S. offer last Thursday for direct negotiations about conditions in Iraq. It can be viewed as a historic moment as it is the first time that Iran has agreed to bilateral talks since the United States broke diplomatic relations in 1980 after American diplomats were taken hostage in Tehran. Negotiation between these two countries becomes even more interested when we take into consideration that Iranian officials have called the USA "the Great Satan" while Washington still considers Iran to be a member of the so-called axis of evil.
Russia: Documentary on Litvinenko at Cannes
Sean's Russia Blog writes more on the Litvinenko case – and on the documentary on the subject to be shown at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday.
Belarus: Students’ Rally
TOL's Belarus translates two posts – here and here – by Belarusian bloggers on a student rally against cancellation of discounts for students and war veterans.
Belarus: The Opposition's Failure
TOL's Belarus has some harsh words for the Belarusian opposition: “The opposition party leaders will make fools of us for as long as we allow it. All of them should have resigned back in 2001. They had a last chance to rehabilitate themselves in 2006. But now they have seized...
Bulgaria: Rainy Days
“Dusty Sofia becomes muddy Sofia,” writes Sofia's Hidden Beauty. But – “While nature is ravaging the capital and the region, politicians are suffering overheating after the end of the elections day for Bulgarian members of the European Parliament.”
Estonia: Demography and Ethnicity
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's demography and interethnic relationships: “Still, the reality for Estonia is, no matter what historical spin you put on it, there will be a large Russian-speaking community in Estonia for many years to come. Because of recent events in Tallinn, many are wondering what can...
Latvia: Karlis Ulmanis
Peteris Cedrins of Marginalia writes about Karlis Ulmanis and his legacy: the man who, “seventy-three years ago, slightly over six years before Stalin destroyed [Latvian] Republic, […] destroyed [Latvian] democracy.”
Iran:Islamic Bicycle
Iran is to start manufacturing “Islamic bicycles” for women that conceal their figure.Balouch writes[Fa] with irony that it took 30 years for regime to be able to go to war against “international economy”.
Iran:Islamic Bicycle
Iran is to start manufacturing “Islamic bicycles” for women that conceal their figure.Balouch writes[Fa] with irony that it took 30 years for regime to go to war against “international economy”.
Serbia: Homophobia
Belgrade 2.0 writes about Serbian homophobia: “[…] Some Serbs consider being gay completely ok and there’s nothing wrong with it, but are absolutely against gays adopting kids, because kids can also become gay (which is, if you look at the beggining of the sentence, completely ok and there’s nothing wrong...
Romania: Referendum's Low Turnout
Csikszereda Musings writes on the results of the impeachment referendum and offers a few reasons for a low turnout: “This huge defeat to the sponsors of the referendum was, however, not as conclusive as it might have been (though to my mind it is pretty damned conclusive) because the turnout...
China: Internet Police Recruitment
Tufeiwan blogs a recruitment ads of 96 internet police in a county level town in Sichuan at a monthly payment of 1,300 yuan per month. Annual expense for internet police for the town would be 1,497,600. In China, there are 2,000 counties, the total expense for annual recruitment of internet...
