Stories about Ideas from March, 2006
Japan: Kawaii culture
The Japundit takes us into a discussion on the aesthetic sensibility of kawaii. (Kawaii translates approximately as “cute“.)
China: Essential blogs
Danwei‘s Jeremy and Joel list not necessarily the best Chinese blogs and BBS’, but the ones they feel offer the best insight for those who read Chinese. On top is...
Iran: A 534 Soldiers Blog!
A group of Iranian soldiers has launched a collective blog (Persian), to make a digital bridge among 534 soldiers. Blog talks about their daily military life and their trips.
Indonesia: Polygamy, Polygyny, Polyandry
Cafe Salemba points readers to a clutch of interesting links analyzing polygamy from the perspective of economics.
China: Farmers need to consume
Marty over at The Big Yuan offers his interpretation of Morgan Stanley's just-released analysis of China's eleventh five year plan and its global implications: “The only realistic way to ease...
China: Revolutionary irony
In “So-called…,” Massage Milk blogger Wang Xiaofeng assigns labels with a contemporary context and a heavy dose of irony to Cultural Revolution-era propaganda posters. [ZH]
DRC: A Chat with Blogger Tony Katombe
Anthony Mica Katombe (Tony for short) is a blogger from the DRC who’ll “turn 39 April 13”. He has a degree in English and African Cultural Studies Education from a...
North Korea: Prison-camp musical
The Marmot Hole‘s Robert Koehler fingers North Korean apologists in the South Korean government with a look at the smash new musical Yodok Story, which portray's life in North Korea's...
China: Checking communist vernacular
China Confidential‘s Confidential Reporter notices an increasing intolerance of left-wing language on the internet in China. “From Marx to Mao, communist keywords constitute potential red flags in the eyes of...
Chile: Seeking Public Transportation Proposals
Teo Veloso is using the group blog Atina Chile to solicit a community-wide urban transportation proposal (ES) which will be submitted to the Bachelet administration.
Singapore: Staying Skeptical of Scripture
Singapore's Salt * Wet * Fish reposts a 2004 entry from his old LiveJournal that continues to have resonance: a reflection on a passage by Buddhist nun Thich Nhat Hanh...
Africa: We Can't Blame Everything on the West
Le Pangolin writes (FR): “So long as we fail to entertain critiques of our destructive ways, we will always be dominated by the West. Imagine for a moment all Africans...
Belarus: Wishful Thinking aka ‘Foreign Policy Simulation’
A Fistful of Euros reports on a weird blog called Belarus Today: A News Service Dedicated to Belarus and the Belarusian People. It covers such an unlikely event as Lukashenko's...
Jamaica, Guyana: Walter Rodney
Jebratt and Geoffrey Philp remember slain Guyanese teacher, writer and political activist Walter Rodney, on the day of his birthday.
Philippines: Linguistic Divide
Howie Severino talks about the linguistic divide in the Philippines between Tagalog a.k.a. Filipino (the language spoken in and around the capital Manila) and English (the widely-used colonial lingua franca)....
China: Illogical, comrade
Bingfeng Teahouse is surprised at the profusion of beliefs and practices–including feng shui–found among the well-heeled professional folk of Shanghai, which do not fit in with a rationalist world view.
Thailand: Rural-Urban Divide
Maytel 2020 describes the rural-urban divide in Thailand that characterizes Southeast Asian politics as a whole. “Southeast Asia has long been noted for its ‘patron-client’ political structures which many theorists...
This week on the Lebanese Blogosphere: Mom, Dad and God.
While the squabbling in the National Dialogue continues, the English side of the Lebanese Blogosphere went on about the various intricacies involved. Ur Shalim observed the similarity between the Lebanese...
Buying In, Selling Out or Scraping By: Francophone African Bloggers on Social Mobility and Education
School on Hold While Mom Scrapes By Carine. Courtesy Tony Katombe. Le Blog du Congolais shares (FR) the touching story of Carine, a 22 year-old from the DRC with an...
Philippines: Red Spectre
caffeine sparks criticizes the Philippine government's “resurrection” of Communism as a threat to national stability. She recounts meeting a real Communist and not being very scared or impressed. “I don’t...
Singapore: Meritocracy
Singapore Entrepreneurs has some thoughts about meritocracy and entrepreneurship, and how many Singaporeans have traded their passions and risk-taking in exchange for social stability.
