Stories about International Relations from April, 2007
Bangladesh: Water Bully
The 3rd World View on the Farakka Barrage. “Construction of the Farakka Barrage was started by India in 1960 unilaterally violating the international norms of any construction for diversion of water on any international river. It was completed in 1974 to divert Ganges River water into the Bhagirati-Hooghly River in...
Japan: Media has its eyes wide shut
Ampontan posted a detailed and scathing attack on American media (notably CNN and AP) for their failure to catch the “story staring them in the face”: “In the past two days, Prime Minister Abe and the government of Japan just issued its Declaration of Independence from the legacy of World...
Japan: Interview with Sankei Shimbun Editor about Comfort Women Issue
Trans Pacific Radio reports on an interview with Sankei Shimbun Editor Yoshihisa Komori, conducted in late-March for the PBS series Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria, on the “Comfort Women” issue. TPR notes that “three things struck me [about Komori]: He looks off camera quite a bit, he brings up every...
Iraq: Why are the Democrats Doing This?
Iraqi blogger Omar doesn't mince his words when addressing the Democrats. “Why are the Democrats doing this?” he rants. Instead of trying to come up with ideas to help they try to halt the sincere effort to stabilize Iraq and rescue the Middle East from a catastrophe. I am Iraqi...
Israeli-Egyptian Bloggers Meet
Yaba Yaba, an Israeli blog, updates us about a meeting between an Egyptian and an Israeli blogger here.
Ukraine: Politics Roundup
Dan McMinn's roundup of recent Ukrainian political developments gets a life of its own, as usual, as the comments start coming in (31, so far).
Moldova: Coverage of Transdniestria
A comprehensive overview of coverage of the situation in Transdniestria, over at Scraps of Moscow.
Estonia: “A Russian Rebellion”
As Tallinn seems to have entered the second night of rioting over the removal of a Soviet war memorial, here's a blogger's recap (with photos, RUS, by LJ user mrprophet) of what happened the previous night: A Russian rebellion Today I've been to a true Russian rebellion, senseless and relentless....
Nepal: The Diplomatic Act
Nepali Netbook attempts deciphering diplomatic due processes. “The fact that Chinese Ambassador Zheng Xianglin became the first foreign envoy to present his credentials to Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala contained much symbolism. The normally reticent official Chinese media, too, highlighted how this development broke the tradition of ambassadors presenting credentials...
Iraq: Al Maliki Snubbed by Saudi Arabia
Iraqi blogger Ladybird debates why Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki was denied a visit to Saudi Arabia. While some claim it was for ‘technical’ reasons others say that he was snubbed because of his support for the Shia.
Armenia: British Election Scandal
Onnik Krikorian discusses an Armenian election scandal involving the British embassy.
Korean bloggers on Virgina Tech shooter Cho Seung-hui
Since the Virginia Tech massacre on April 16, 2007, it’s not hard to guess that the South Korea-born shooter, Cho Seung-hui, and what he did are among the hottest issues for Korean bloggers. As the visual shock of the mass murder is fading from the headlines, the angle from which bloggers are viewing the case has been changing.
Pakistan: Roadmap to Peace
At The Pakistani Spectator, an Indian living in Doha talks of the roadmap to peace. “In my conversations with both Pakistani and Indian taxi drivers is that both Indians and Pakistanis are fed wrong ideas about the others by their respective governments, My interactions with Pakistanis from Peshawar or Lahore...
Russia: Kasparov's Foreign Funding
As the Kremlin begins looking for Gary Kasparov's foreign sponsors, Sean's Russia Blog reports that a reporter for an expat paper in Moscow may have already completed the job.
African Journalists on Franco-African Relations
African journalists working in France are calling on the two remaining French presidential candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, to begin a new chapter in Franco-African relations (Fr), according to the blog of the Alliance for Democratic Progress. “We have to reconsider everything, make a fresh start, a sort of...
Syrian Independence Day and Elections
Syria celebrated it's independence and Parliamentary elections with a lot of official fanfare, but very little excitement from bloggers as a reported two per cent of the constituents turned up at the polling stations. Yazan Badran sums up the reactions as bloggers debate the results and updates us about the jailing of a prominent human rights lawyer.
China: Olympic Politics and Protests at the Roof of the World
The Granite Studio brought into focus Beijing's plan to include the summit of Mt. Everest as a stop for the Olympic torch. Some Tibetan activists staged a protest at the roof of the world in response to such move.
China: IPR is not a Real issue
Andrew has written a good analysis of the Intellectual Property Rights negotiation between U.S and China. The conflict is not so real as IP theft hurts Beijing's state-run media machine and control over internet media: Washington is pushing Beijing into reluctantly doing something it probably wanted to do anyway.
Japan: Abe apologizes to US media, not Asian people
On the apologies made by Abe in an interview last weekend with Newsweek, Amaki Naoto, a former Japanese diplomat who resigned protesting Japan's involvement in the U.S. attack on Iraq, comments that in apologizing about the Comfort Women issue Abe was “putting aside his political belief” in order simply to...
South Korea: U.S-Korea FTA on Copyright
Some details and discussions about the U.S-Korea Free Trade Agreement on Coyright at interlocals.net.
Arabeyes: Palestinian Jordanian Anyone?
Jordanian blogger Hareega is furious that people avoid discussing racism in his society. He is particularly angry about the discrimination Jordanians of Palestinian origin go through in a country he claims they have helped build and project to the level it is today. يبدو أن الناس بشكل عام تتفادى الخوض...