Stories about History from June, 2007
Pakistan: Enroute to Attock Fort
All Things Pakistan with a tragic story from 1922 as a train carried prisoners to Attock Fort.
Lebanon: Legends of St George
Lebanese Laila Abu Saba shares her research on St George in this post.
Grenada: Three of “13” Set Free
Notes From The Margin is appalled that three of the Grenada 13 who executed former Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and members of his Cabinet in 1983 have been set free.
Ukraine, Russia: Serhiy Taftay's Guitar
uaMuzik tells the tale of one Ukrainian musician's legendary guitar.
Ukraine: Erotic Symbolism in Folk Songs Lecture
A Ukrainian Diaspora ethnologist will give a lecture in Kyiv on Aug. 25 on the erotic symbolism in Ukrainian folk songs, Nash Holos reports.
Eastern & Central Europe: Feral's Back; Czech Lustration
Illyrian Gazette posts an update on the fate of Feral Tribune (it's back and financially secure), and writes about lustration and music in the Czech Republic.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Miroslav Lajcak
Balkanizer posts a lengthy and detailed post on the legacy of the outgoing High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina: “[…] an unrefined and unedited thinking about the departure of the old High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Christian Schwarz-Schilling) and the arrival of new HR – Slovakian diplomat Miroslav Lajcak.”
Russia: Rewriting History
Kosmopolit blogs about Putin's attempts to re-write Russian history.
Poland: BBC on Lustration
Dr. Sean's Diary links to a BBC program on “on lustration and decommunization issues in Poland.”
Bangladesh: Rediscovering cultural roots, facing challenges and acknowledging successes
“How effectively a society is able to cope with the challenges it faces depend largely on its culture.” Shahzaman Mazumder tries to find the cultural roots of Bangladesh and provides a good analysis on the Bangladeshis: “Mostly fishermen, weavers, potters, and small farmers inhibited the territory that is today called...
Singapore: Singapore's Hit Band from the 1960s
The mod-ified music blog features audio clips of an interview with two of the members of a popular 1960s local band .
Martiniquian blogger on “Fleurs du Mal”
Le blog de [moi] celebrates the 150th anniversary of Fleurs du Mal (Fr) by posting “Le Vampire” and explaining her attraction to Baudelaire's poetry: “Baudelaire speaks of death and women like no other. I really understand his fascination with the two…I open [the book] rarely because it always brings out...
Egypt: Books, History and the Holocaust
The Big Pharaoh finds a interesting book at a street vendor in downtown Cairo. Click here to read more.
Bahamas: Reinventing our Image
“People are people, and fundamentally people are all the same. The differences are superficial; underneath, we are more alike than we think.” Nicolette Bethel calls for a reinvention of “the images of savages” that have subconsciously defined the people of the Caribbean.
Russia: Monument to the Defenders of Leningrad
Darkness at Noon posts pictures from the Monument to the Defenders of Leningrad.
Croatia: Marko Perković Thompson
Illyrian Gazette and Balkan Baby write about the controversial Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson and his recent concert in Zagreb. In the same post, Balkan Baby also writes about Tito's birthplace and football.
Poland, Germany: “Stepmother of Europe”
Publius Pundit quotes from a BBC piece on the Polish-German relations and reproduces the controversial cover of the Polish weekly Wprost, featuring a computer-generated image of German Chancellor Angela Merkel breastfeeding Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and President Lech Kaczynski.
Russia: Volga Cars
The Turkish Invasion writes about and posts pictures of the Russian-made Volgas: “So you thought that the only machines Soviets built were Ladas and Tanks, but indeed they also had a superior brand called “Volga”, named after the biggest river in Europe (and also the farthest frontier the Germans ever...
Serbia, Russia: “What About the Russians?”
Jasmina Tešanović guest-blogs at Boing Boing about what may appear as Serbia's misguided trust in Russia: “Back in 1999, Russians didn’t veto the bombing of Serbia. The Russians are using the Kosovo issue in order to reclaim ex-Soviet territories with Russian populations. Serbs know that the Russians have their own...
Jamaica: Personal Space
“From the beginning of slavery, there has been a war fought over black bodies and black space and because we have been victims in the past, we have conceded our space and our right to that space and it has had a debilitating effect on our self-esteem.” Jamaican Geoffrey Phlip...
Syria: Margat Castle
Syria Winks takes us on a pictorial tour of the historic Margat Castle.
