Stories about History from April, 2006
Guyana: History without mercy
MediaCritic links to a “brutal historical account of Guyana”. An excerpt: “The present-day Republic of Guyana is an insignificant remnant of the old British Empire, the only possession Britain ever held on the mainland of South America, uneasily resting between Venezuela and Brazil and adjoining two other fragments of European...
Hungary: History Book Reviewed
Doug Merrill of A Fistful of Euros reviews the English-language edition of Paul Lendvai's The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat.
Voices of African women – this week
Fleur writes about the harrowing case of 7 soldiers sentenced to life for rape and crime against humanity for the rape of 119 underage girls in Congo. The government of Congo has also admitted partial responsibility and financially compensated the family of the victims. Fleur says ….it sends an important...
Russia: Komsomol
Sean Guillory writes about Komsomol and its influence on today's political youth movements in Russia.
Serbia & Montenegro: Posters of War Criminals
Eric Gordy of East Ethnia writes how two Danish artists have responded to the neofascist posters supporting war criminal Ratko Mladic in Belgrade. He also replies with dignity and sarcasm to an abusive anonymous commenter. Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic has received a mock poster of another war criminal, Radovan...
Comoros: History & politics
Passion of the Present has a commentary and some historical background on the Island of the Comoros with a roundup selection on the elections from the mainstream media.
Filipino influences in Mexico
Spanish trade routes helped the exchange of ideas and influences between the colonies in America and Asia. Milkphish visits Mexico and finds things that originated in the Philippines.
China: Blog censorship
Chinese blogger Nick Wong discovers yet another blog has been cut down: “From time to time I check out the A Space Neither Big Nor Small blog, but suddenly I can't get to it. I go around the firewall and see there's something about Tank Man. Naturally, 89-6-4 (there's no...
Mexico: Pre-Colonial Immigration Policy
TlachuiloPilo sticks to the theme of applying pre-colonial history to current events when taking a look at Techotlalla's welcoming treatment towards immigrants.
Views from the Horn of Africa and Sudan
Ethiopia is one of only four African nations that were never colonies of a European power. Though independent, Ethiopia was subjected to Italian occupation from 1936 to 1941. ethiopundit takes us back in history—110 years ago—to the Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopian forces defeated the technologically superior Italian colonialists:...
Barbados, Trinidad: Maritime dispute settled
Linda Thompkins reports that the maritime boundary dispute between Barbados and Trinidad has been settled by a tribunal convened under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Argentina: Ernesto Sábato
Cartoonist Bob Row uses his artistic pen to honor the Argentine humanist, Ernesto Sábato. You can learn more about Sábato on Wikipedia.
Historical fort restoration
Wormie wants a recently excavated colonial fort in Singapore to be turned into a national monument. The authorities are planning to re-bury the fort as they don't expect the restoration to be economically viable.
Happy year 2549
Today is the first day of the year 2549 in some South East Asian countries. Lao ocean girl describes the calendar system used in these countries.
Coinciding festivals
Toe, a Filipino blogger now living in Cambodia tries to figure out why the holy week, the Cambodian new year and several other events from different cultures coincide around the same time of the year.
Estonia: Russian Coverage of Desecration of Holocaust Memorial in Estonia
As a Russian news agency reports desecration of a Holocaust memorial in Kalevi Liyva, Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa bemoans the fact that “such a small country” as Estonia “should find itself a graveyard of monuments for lost causes.”
Ukraine: Taras Shevchenko
Aussiegirl of Ultima Thule writes about her maternal great-grandfather's extraordinary reverence for Taras Shevchenko, Ukrainian national poet, the man who “was born a serf” and whose “freedom was purchased by the sale of an auctioned portrait by some noblemen and artists who recognized his talent.”
Latvia: Aivars Lembergs
Bob Granico of Publius Pundit highlights the persona of Aivars Lembergs and his political background and aspirations: mayor of a Latvian port city Ventspils for 18 (!) years, he is sometimes likened to Aleksandr Lukashenko, but is actually very popular with the residents of the city he's managed to keep...
Ecuador: Ecuador in the 60's
Mysterious as it is informative, the weblog The Wolf Report continues its series of “The Importance of Being Ecuador.”
Russia: VDNKh
Snowsquare.com posts pictures and text from the All-Russian Exhibition Center in Moscow, formerly known as VDNKh.
China: Documented human rights abuses
Ten years in the making, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights’ ‘Report on China Mission of Special Rapporteur on Torture‘ came out last month. Donald C. Clarke of the Chinese Law Prof blog gives a review and two links. “It is a sober and comprehensive treatment of many aspects...
