Stories about International Relations from August, 2009
East Timor: Tour de Timor
Tour de Timor has 300 registered competitors, 50 International volunteers and thousands of Timorese volunteers. The race was organized to promote peace.
Caucasus: Peace Corps blogs on Twitter
With most bloggers located in the capitals of the three South Caucasus republics, U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) have been indispensible in posting entries from the regions of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. However, with old PCVs being replaced by new ones when their service ends, it's often been difficult to...
China and Taiwan: Dalai Lama's visit, inevitably political
Yesterday Dalai Lama arrived in Taiwan on a visit that has been denounced by China. The trip, requested by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to President Ma Ying-jeou, aimed at comforting victims of Typhoon Morakot. Dalai Lama explained in the airport that “I'm a monk. I was asked to say prayers...
Myanmar: Tension in the Sino-Burmese border
ESWN collects news reports on the military conflict between the Burmese government and the Kokang Ceasefire Group near the Sino-Burmese border. The situation has been getting worse in the past few days and thousands of Burmese refugees fled to China. Last Friday, a bomb fired across the border killed one...
Hungary: St. Stephen
Hungarian Spectrum writes: “Because there are so many references to St. Stephen nowadays in Hungary I thought I ought to write a post on what ‘Hungary’ looked liked in his days.”
East Timor: “Happy Day” of freedom vote
Timorese bloggers have celebrated the 10th anniversary of the popular referendum which led to the territory's formal independence. One commemorates the "happy day", another recalls his determination to drive out the Indonesian military occupiers, and yet another uses the day to question the current moment in Timor.
Japan: We will not forget Hiroshima and Nagasaki
64 years ago, on the 6th and the 9th of August, atomic bombs were dropped by the U.S. forces on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over 200,000 people died and every year, ceremonies are held to commemorate those victims and to remind humanity of the horrors of war and of the use...
Arab World: Young People Gather to Learn Social Media Tools
Young people from eight Arab countries and Sweden met last May to learn certain leadership and organizational skills, and how to use the tools of social media to advance social change. Now, they are preparing to meet again in November.
Azerbaijan: Washington DC protest for detained activist bloggers (updated)
With detained video bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli now facing an additional charge in their native Azerbaijan, The Collegian says that support for the two imprisoned youth activists yesterday transcended the digital world and spilled out thousands of miles away onto the streets of Washington DC.
Ghana: Ghanaians wont be chewing their chicken bones
Ghanaians will not be chewing their chicken bones!: “It turns out the Ghanaian parliament and U.S. Congress are working on passing a Bill known as the “Biosafety Act” which will allow the introduction of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) into Ghana's food chain.”
Japan: Marines and Okinawa
Peter Ennis at NBR Forum explains [en] the “role” of the U.S. Marines in Okinawa. “The US Marines are so heavily based on Okinawa for one reason:Budget. Japan picks up most of the bill. War plans for the Korean Peninsula virtually do not include the US Marines.” [via Tobias Harris,...
Bahamas: Economic Priorities?
“Rumour has it that cash flow is hard to come by for the government…yet the country opens a consulate office in Atlanta, Georgia”: Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas wonders what on earth the government could be thinking.
Azerbaijan: Washington DC demonstration in support of detained bloggers
Melissa_Ys tweets that a protest demonstration in support of detained video bloggers Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli is set to take place outside the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Washington DC tomorrow at 4pm. The two youth activists have so far spent 51 days in pre-trial detention and...
Maldives: Defense Arrangement With India
Mohamed Nasheed, a Member of Parliament, writes in his blog how and why he initiated a motion in the Maldives parliament pointing out the need to make sure that the recently proposed Defense arrangement with India conforms to the Maldivian constitution and has the prior approval of the parliament.
Bahamas, Jamaica: Thoughts on the IMF
Rick Lowe at Weblog Bahamas takes issue with an article in a Jamaican newspaper which laments the fact that the country “now has to pay the piper (IMF)”, saying: “Of course I am no fan of the IMF, but to suggest that a country ignore its debt is simply irresponsible…it...
St. Vincent & the Grenadines: R.I.P. Walter Porter
And Still I Rise remembers Walter Porter, “a son of the Vincentian soil, calypsonian, musician and unfortunately the person seated in number 25C on Pan Am 103.”
Pakistan: Bloggers Vs. The US Citizenship And Immigration Services
Talkhaba informs that “a newly formed network of Pakistani Bloggers namely Union of Patriotic Bloggers for Sovereign Pakistan (UPBSP) has started (the) ‘Containment of USA’ Campaign which aims at containing US and confining it to its diplomatic role guaranteed under the international law.” Their first target was to take the...
Ted Kennedy And The South Asian Immigrants in the USA
Sepia Mutiny, a South Asian diaspora blog from USA remembers how Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy affected the lives of South Asian immigrants by playing an active role in passing the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.
Bangladesh: Mourning Senator Edward Kennedy
Senator Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009), the second most senior member of the US Senate, died of cancer last Tuesday. Bloggers recall him as a true friend of Bangladesh and explain why Bangladeshis will remember him forever.
Russia: August 1991 – 18 Years On
Scraps of Moscow writes about the August 1991 coup and how it is remembered 18 years later.
Caribbean: Climate Change Concerns
The threat of rising sea levels is of concern to CARICOM [the 15-nation Caribbean community]. Repeating Islands explains.
