· April, 2007

Stories about History from April, 2007

Russia: More on Mstislav Rostropovich

Another personal reflection on Mstislav Rostropovich, written by an anonymous contributor to Robert Amsterdam's blog – “who as a young musician had the distinct honor of personally meeting the great...

30 April 2007

Japan: Media has its eyes wide shut

Ampontan posted a detailed and scathing attack on American media (notably CNN and AP) for their failure to catch the “story staring them in the face”: “In the past two...

30 April 2007

Turkey is Typing: The Killings in Malatya

"A handful of monsters walked into a Bible publisher in the Turkish city of Malatya the other day," writes one blogger, describing one of the tragedies which stunned Turkey this week. The brutal killings of three Christian missionaries at a Bible publishing house in Malatya has bloggers across the nation mourning the display of violent intolerance and contrasting the established sanctity of nationhood with the dire need for multi-religious acceptance.

28 April 2007

Papua New Guinea: Remembering The Veterans

On ANZAC day, Islandbaby remembers the unacknowledged veterans who fought the Japanese in the Second World War. “And this year I Remember. I remember those who fought with the ANZACs...

27 April 2007

Japan: Thoughts on the Abe “apology”

Japan, Beyond the Tamagawa reminds readers, with respect to recent comments by Prime Minsiter Abe Shinzo about the Comfort Women issue, that Abe “didn't intend [his comments] to raise such...

27 April 2007

Kurdistance: A Week Like Any Other

The news coming out of the Kurdish blogs this week is as varied as the landscape of Kurdistan itself. From predictions on Syrian Kurd alliances with Israel, to censorship in Turkey; from explorations of Northern Iraq, to essays on intolerance, the Kurdish bloggers cover it all. But for this week, I think we will begin with why, to Kurds, April is considered as the "Bride of the Year".

27 April 2007

Syrian Independence Day and Elections

Syria celebrated it's independence and Parliamentary elections with a lot of official fanfare, but very little excitement from bloggers as a reported two per cent of the constituents turned up at the polling stations. Yazan Badran sums up the reactions as bloggers debate the results and updates us about the jailing of a prominent human rights lawyer.

26 April 2007

Hong Kong: Queen's Pier Last Night

Plastichk has written a citizen report on the last night of Queen's Pier and criticised the government's refusal to preserve the pier in situ (zh). The Pier is a colonial...

26 April 2007