Stories about International Relations from December, 2006
Russia, Belarus: “Gazilla”
There's a distinct sense of deja vu this New Year's Eve: Gazprom, Russia's largest (and state-controlled) company and the world's biggest extractor of natural gas, is in the spotlight again, both locally (due to an ambitious and controversial construction project in St. Petersburg) and internationally (due to a dispute over...
Russia: More On Litvinenko's Death
Aleksandr Litvinenko's case is probably off everyone's radars by now, but Sean's Russia Blog offers a latest news roundup.
The Balkans: EU Enlargement
Did Romania and Bulgaria manage “to get on the last train to Europe” or will the EU enlargement continue? More at Neretva River.
The Balkans: Main 2006 Stories
Ed of Balkan Baby lists the most important regional stories of 2006: “Slovenia moves towards Eurozone,” “Croatia and Serbia Disappoint at World Cup,” “Croatia Stop-Start its way towards EU,” etc.
Dominica: Respect the Caribbean consumer
Kenny Green of Dominica berates multinational companies for failing to create advertising and marketing campaigns that specifically target the Caribbean consumer, reserving some praise for Irish telecoms services provider Digicel: “I would love to see some multinational, be it LG or Pepsi or Starbucks or someone credible actually show Digicel...
Somalia/Ethiopia: Ethiopia's invasion a good idea?
Writing about Ethiopia's invasion of Somalia, Ethan Zuckerman asks, “Does anyone outside of the Bush and Zenawi administrations think this was a good idea?”
Barbados: Caribbean integration
Barbados Free Press takes issue with an ex-diplomat's comments about Caribbean integration.
Iran:Meeting with Hanieh
Mohammad Ali Abtahi,former Vice President and reformist politician,writes in his blog that he and some other political personalities had been invited to Embassy of Palestine in Tehran when Mr.Hanieh,Palestinian Prime Minister,was there. Abtahi says Hanieh praised financial help coming from Iran and Qatar but it seems Bahrain did not help...
Latin America: “The year that was supposed to be awful”
Ricardo Carreón (who is also trying to organize a Latin America Blogroll) begins the first post of an ambitious series: “This post starts a series of articles of Latin America during 2006. The year that was supposed to be many things, most of them negative, but ended up being a...
Serbia, USA: What Serbs Think About America
In his blog post called “America is shaking”, Neven Andjelic shares his opinion on the United States (SRP): This big country is shaking. A number of events have caused the current condition. None of them has anything to do with my arrival to Berkley four months ago when I first...
Latvia: Ahistorical View of History
Marginalia writes about Latvia's WWI battles and the ahistorical approach of some observers.
Belarus, Russia: Gas Problems
TOL's Belarus Blog writes that the Russian gas monopoly Gazprom “is not going to tolerate Lukashenka’s bluff and proceeds from warnings to direct actions.”
Bulgaria, Libya: Tripoli Six Death Sentence
Declan Butler writes about the Tripoli Six death sentence: “That is despite the fact that this was not a fair and impartial trial, and that the court refused to hear the considerable body of international scientific evidence that could exonerate the medics, and show that this is a typical hospital-borne...
Lebanon: Foreign Intervention and Economics
The Lebanese bloggers are united this week in wishing their readers all the best during Christmas, Al Adha and the New Year. Some of these bloggers have taken up the issue of foreign intervention in the region as a subject of reflection while others highlight the sad state of economy...
Barbados: Condoning human rights abuses
Barbados Free Press is horrified that Barbados abstained from a UN vote citing Iran for human rights abuses, then went on to vote to protect Iran against sanctions.
Ukraine, Poland: Traffic Jam
Abdymok writes about a neglected story of “a 20 kilometer-long line of cars, buses, and trucks trying to make it back to ukraine before the new year . . . polish border guards with machine guns. eye witnesses say little kids are sick and dying. they say the crossing zone...
Russia: “No Bears, Only Beauties” in St. Pete
Russian Marketing Blog writes about a St. Petersburg promotion campaign: “It would cost the City Council about 1 million Euros to place 300 billboards in London, Amsterdam and Paris till the middle of December.”
Croatia: War Crimes
Neretva River writes: “As exhumations begin at Osijek's central cemetery as part of the Croatian judiciary's investigation of war crimes committed against Osijek's non-Croat civilian population during December 1991, 2006 could prove to have been the year that domestic courts in Croatia demonstrated that they are serious about prosecuting war...
Haiti, US: President Bush Signs HOPE law
Of President Bush's signing of the HOPE Law (Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act), Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr): “We find ourselves compelled to welcome with enthusiasm this law which seems to be designed to favor job creation via textile subcontracting. We would like that leaders in that...
Bloggers on the new US Congress and the US policy on Cuba
Not much has been said in the blogosphere about how the results of the recent mid-term elections in the United States, which put the Democrats in control of Congress back in November, can affect the future of current US policy regarding Cuba. The truth is that several Democratic representatives (and...
Pakistan: Musharraf and Kashmir
President Musharraf's statements on Kashmir with respect to Pakistan and India have quite a few reactions. Light Within on some fundamental issues. “The first one is that how can a single man – military dictator – claim to speak for the nation of Pakistan? Number two, what becomes of our...
