· May, 2006

Stories about History from May, 2006

Pakistan: Dipalpur and history

  31 May 2006

Shirazi on a town that has held the fort and been a passage of sorts. “Dipalpur is famous in the history as an outpost that has played a significant part in the defence of Delhi kingdom against Mongol invasions in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.”

Belarus, Russia: IMF Approves of Common Currency

TOL's Belarus Blog criticizes the IMF's approval of the common currency of Belarus and Russia: “Oh, yeah, IMF is not a political body and does not care or understand that ‘currency union’ has nothing to do with economics but only disquises attempt of political incorporation.”

Taiwan: History of Chinese

  31 May 2006

China's political turbulence for the larger part of the twentieth century had much more impact on the Chinese language than a mere move from traditional to simplified characters. A growing resource guide from Mark Swofford at Pinyin News aims to set the record straight on just where the language has...

Estonia: “The Hole” Review

David McDuff of A Step At A Time reviews The Hole, a study on the sinking of Estonia, “a giant passenger and car ferry in the Baltic Sea in September 1994 which involved the deaths of nearly 1,000 people in the space of 35 minutes.”

South Africa: Corrupt apartheid regime

  30 May 2006

South Africa comments on the report “Apartheid Grand Corruption : Assessing the scale of crimes of profit in South Africa from 1976-1994” – Was the regime corrupt? “Yes! Are many of those who profited from the morally bankrupt system of apartheid still free and living off their ill-gotten gains? Yes!

Hong Kong: Tiananmen massacre remembered

  29 May 2006

Photos, translation and analysis from EastSouthWestNorth blogger Roland Soong look at the declining attendance of Hong Kong's annual commemorations of the 1989 military crackdown in Beijing which saw many students, workers and Beijing locals shot dead on the streets.

China: June fourth buildup

  29 May 2006

Chinese authorities get a little anxious around this time every year, says Celia at China Activist Weekly, and this year is no different.

Jamaica: Family history and chicken soup

  26 May 2006

Geoffrey Philp reminisces about Struie, the small village in Westmoreland, Jamaica, where his mother grew up, and provides a “Jamaican-Miami” version of a traditional family recipe for cold-curing chicken soup.

Belarus: Dzerzhinsky Monument Opens, Airspace Closes

Iryna of TOL's Belarus Blog writes about tomorrow's opening of a monument to Felix Dzerzhinsky at the Military Academy in Minsk: “Throughout his 12 years in power, Lukashenka has paid homage to “the best” that the Soviet Union had to offer. He does it to feed the nostalgia for Soviet...

Puerto Rico: Independence cretinism

  25 May 2006

Gil the Jenius defends his right to describe as “cretins” those who consider “El Grito de Lares”, a revolt which took place in 1868, as an important event in the Puerto Rico's movement towards independence.

Kazakhstan: A Kazakh-American Hero

News From The Caravan writes about a Kazakh-American hero who saved the lives of two young boys in a small American town in the 1950s. The story is certainly a must-read if for nothing else but the image of a 60 year old Kazakh woman charging through a crowd on...