Stories about International Relations from February, 2010
Global: The Tiger's Year And Tiger Farming
Wildlife activists and organizations around the world are determined to make sure that this is really “The year of the Tiger”. They have seized this opportunity to step up their activities and bring global attention to this majestic, yet severely endangered species in the ever diminishing animal kingdom.
Armenia: Diplomatic Academy
Armenia: Higher Education & Sciences reports that a Diplomatic Academy supported by the EU, OSCE and UN has been opened in Yerevan with the purpose of creating future career diplomats. The blog notes that several among the first intake were women.
Greece, Germany and the middle finger of Venus de Milo
In the continuing drama of the Greek financial crisis, a row erupted last week because of a German magazine cover that depicted ancient Greek statue Venus de Milo flipping a middle finger at the European Union.
Russia and US to Broaden Collaboration Online
Vesti.ru wrote [RUS] about the visit of the U.S. “innovation delegation” [EN] led by America's Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra [EN]. The plans of the Russian-U.S. cooperation include launching e-government Web sites and visits of Twitter, Cisco and Mozilla representatives to Russia in June 2010.
India, Bangladesh: Protest On Killings In Bangladesh
Musings Of A Chakma reports that “the members of Chakma ethnic community living in Delhi held a huge peaceful protest demonstration in front of Jantar Mantar, New Delhi from 11 AM to 3 PM on 25 February 2010 to protest against the attacks on Chakmas and other indigenous Jummas in...
Global: Concerns About Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
The last meeting of negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) has provoked the protest of online communities against both its content and the circumstances of their negotiations
Haiti: On Beauty
“The problem is not lack of food. It's lack of money. Put people to work. Pay them enough to support the local economy. Pay them enough to eat good local food”: Chronicles of an Unplanned Return writes an uplifting post about “beauty, lightness, and good things” in Haiti.
Greece: Bloggers respond fiercely to financial crisis
Greek bloggers react with uncommon drama, spirit and gravitas to the financial crisis facing Greece. The socialist government elected last October is battling currency speculators while trying to avoid defaulting on the country's debt.
China: CNN Poll on Tibetan Independence
C. Custer from ChinaGeeks blogs about anti-CNN members’ recent mobilization to spam CNN poll on Tibetan independence.
Montenegro: The Language Issue
“Not content to watch Serbia and Croatia fight it out over Serbo-Croatian, Montenegro now wants its own language,” Eternal Remont reports.
Russia: New Military Doctrine
Irina Filatova comments on Russia's new military doctrine at the Guardian's Comment is free.
Russia: PM's Figure Skating Comment
The Ivanov Report analyzes the Western media response to the Russian prime minister's “Vancouver Olympics quote/misquote” and concludes: “Attaching his name to a piece of ‘analysis’ helps sell this questionable product as efficiently as attaching the name of another celebrity to a product that consumers would be reluctant to buy...
Italy, Russia: Berlusconi's Russian Style
IZO links to LJ user maratguelman‘s post (RUS) and writes: “Silvio Berlusconi travels round Rome in a Russian-made VAZ-Patriot car and likes to wear a commando jacket given to him by Putin.”
Russia: New Military Doctrine and Information Security
The new Russian military doctrine provides an interesting opportunity to evaluate the role of information from security perspective. This may apply to the issues of cyber security and Internet, as well as other information platforms.
Barbados, Haiti: The Widening Gap
Barbados Underground says that “the recent catastrophic earthquake which rocked Haiti has exposed one of the weaknesses of modern civilization; the failure to narrow the gap between rich and poor countries.”
Ukraine, Russia: The Plight of Chekhov's Yalta Museum
Rosamund Bartlett, Anton Chekhov's English biographer and director of the Anton Chekhov Foundation, writes about the plight of Chekhov's house-museum in Yalta, Crimea, at OpenDemocracy.net.
Coup in Niger: Bloggers sigh in relief at the ousting of President Tandja
On Thursday, February 18th a coup d'état took place in Niger, in which President Mamadou Tandja was captured after a gun battle in the capital. A few months ago Tandja illegally changed the constitution to allow him a third term in what was generally considered a mass fraud referendum. Bloggers react to these latest developments.
Estonia: Lessons of the Ukrainian Election
Itching for Eestimaa writes that “the underwhelming victory of Viktor Yanukovich over Yulia Tymoshenko last week has caused all sorts of soul searching in Estonia and, in general, the West”: “Indeed, there are lessons to be learned.”
Bulgaria: “The Bulgarian Guantanamo”
Maya Markova of Maya's Corner posts videos and translates parts of the documentary The Bulgarian Guanatanamo, by Bulgarian journalist Ivan Kulekov. (An earlier GV roundup item on this issue is here.)
Singapore: Foreign workers
According to a finance committee report, Singapore will continue to welcome foreign workers. Foreigners comprise more than a third of Singapore population
Belarus, Poland: Situation With the Union of Poles
Updates on the tensions between Belarus and Poland – at Belarus Digest: here, here, and here.
