· February, 2007

Stories about Ideas from February, 2007

Egypt: What If Anna Nicole Smith was Egyptian?

  28 February 2007

Freedom for Egyptians wonders what if Anna Nicole Smith was Egyptian! “This woman was into the playboy world of fame, however there was no one single story judging her based on morality, religion or ethics…There are three men who are claiming to be the daughter’s father. This means that the...

Egypt: Nawal Al Saadawi Show

  28 February 2007

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia accuses Egyptian feminist and writer Dr Nawal Al Saadawi of coming up with an annual gimmick to ensure her name remains in the news. “(I)n 2004 she wanted to be a president ,in 2006 she came and her daughter with the new idea that people to be...

Singapore: Having kids

  28 February 2007

Coffee and Cigarettes invites comments on why should Singaporeans have kids? after listening to a radio show that focussed on the reasons why Singaporean are not having kids.

Indonesia: Citizen Diplomat

  28 February 2007

Maverick Indonesia blogs about meeting an Indonesian diplomat and his ideas of a citizen diplomat. “But most important is what Aula calls the second track diplomacy. Any Indonesian can be the ambassador of the country, through interactions with people from other countries. Thus, every Indonesian must understand the nation’s foreign...

Arabisc: A Pictorial Tour of North Africa

  28 February 2007

There is one word to describe this picture taken by American blogger Cory Driver, who is based in Morocco, and it is wow! Not being a photography critic, however, I am reserving my exclamation for the amazing work Driver is involved with in Moroccan villages, including that of Tattiwin, located...

Haiti: Who Was Louis-Jean Beaugé?

  27 February 2007

Haiti d'Outre-Mer shares some delightful folk anecdotes about legendary Jérémie native Louis-Jean Beaugé and his descendants. The mythic figure's name has become a Haitian Creole expression to designate people who are fierce. The blog explains that (Fr): “Louis-Jean Beaugé was an officer in the Jérémie garrison in the beginning of...

Tunisia, France: How To Wash the Dirty Laundry At Home

  27 February 2007

Mouwaten Tounsi deplores (Fr) that ex-Tunisian diplomat Khaled Ben Saïd is being judged in France for torture. He would have liked Ben Saïd judged in Tunisia. He proposes a reconciliation-based justice. The process would focus on indemnification of torture victims by the government rather than on prosecution of officials who...

Trinidad & Tobago: Young and black

  26 February 2007

London-based Trinidadian Sinistra launches a series of posts about being “young and black” with a piece on being “Young and black in Babylondon”.

Africa, China: The Role of Local Governance

  23 February 2007

Sanaga Peregrinations disagrees (Fr) with commentators who believe Africa is going towards a recolonization by China, suggesting that the point is not to worry about the consequences of Chinese investments but rather to bring local leaders to better manage all foreign investments. She quotes and endorses Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda:...

UAE: The Giant Wheel of Hatred

  23 February 2007

Dubai-based blogger SS is disgusted with the lack of tolerance he is witnessing around him. “Today, I found myself being attacked… for I spoke about the grace of life and kindness. If kindness and goodness is only something you share with your group/sect/herd/religion – then what's the point of living...

Venezuela: 21st Century Socialism?

  21 February 2007

“No serious debate about socialism can be developed as if we were still in the XIX century, when there still hadn’t been any concrete experience of it anywhere. Not now. It is impossible, at the dawn of the XXI century, to talk about socialism while making an abstraction of what...

Africa: Manifesto for the United States of Africa

  20 February 2007

Le Pangolin posts (Fr) a Manifesto for the United States of Africa written by the Working Group of African Students in France. The document was presented to Alpha Omar Konaré, the President of the African Union Commission, in March 2004 and was inspired by other country unions around the world...

Arabisc: Pictorial Tour of the Middle East

  19 February 2007

Fed up of all the politics in the Middle East? Me too. This week we will take a pictorial tour of the region, making stops in Qatar, Bahrain, Tunisia and Lebanon, to name a few. There are real amazing photographers out there and the scenery and mood quickly changes from...

Syrian Blogsphere in a Week

  18 February 2007

We start off with a very special goodbye from Brian Anthony… Brian has lived, taught, and blogged from Damascus for more than two years, he returned to the US a couple of months ago… We all want to wish him the best of luck. This was his last goodbye post...

La Réunion: After Decolonization, Responsibility

  17 February 2007

La Réunion local official Eric Fruteau writes (Fr): “After the end of slavery in 1848, after departmentalization in 1946 and all the other fights to end colonial misery, instaure the great social laws that have marked our island, after the achievement of social equality, we must now anticipate and prepare...