Stories about International Relations from December, 2011
China: Comments on South Korean Protest Against Coast Guard Incident
Anne Lee from China Hush blogs about local media outlet Netease's feature story on South Korean protest against the coast guard incident.
Russia: Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the 2012 Presidential Election
Incarcerated since 2003, Mikhail Khodorkovsky is once again in Russia's political spotlight as presidential candidate Mikhail Prokhorov vows to pardon him if he's elected next spring. Donna Welles reports.
Brazil-Bahrain: Tear Gas for Repression “Made in Brazil”
Brazilian cartoonist Carlos Latuff reveals on Twitter that the tear gas devices used for repressing the civilian population of Bahrain is manufactured [pt] in the city of Nova Iguaçu, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and adds he feels ashamed [pt] for his country exporting such weapons.
Armenia: The British Ambassador's Facebook Diplomacy
An interactive Question and Answer session on Facebook by the British Ambassador to Armenia highlighted both the potential for social media as a tool for engagement as well as some its deficiencies.
Historical Link between Brunei and Nanjing, China
The Daily Brunei Resources traces the historical link between sister cities Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei and Nanjing, China.
Trinidad & Tobago, Belize: Gay Rights
Globewriter notes that some of the more homophobic nations are getting “their knickers in a twist” over the Obama administration's statement at the UN “that it is standing up for the rights of LGBT people worldwide”, calling the Belizean Prime Minister “about as enlightened to human rights as a lamppost…so...
Jamaica: So What About the Spy Plane?
After reading a newspaper editorial which was nonchalant over the presence of a spy plane during the country's state of emergency, Active Voice says: “The big deal…is that 73 people were killed under unexplained circumstances during that Tivoli Gardens operation. This spy plane has video footage of what happened…and the...
North Korea Warns South Over Lighting of Christmas Tree
North Korea has issued a warning to South Korea over lighting up of Christmas trees near the border, defining the act as “initiating psychological warfare”. Liam Kruger wrote a short commentary on it.
South Korea: Former Comfort Women Held 1000th Protest
South Korean former ‘comfort women’ who were forced into Japan's wartime military brothels held their 1,000th weekly protest and placed a statue of a sex slave outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. South Korea's citizen media, Wiki Tree consolidated twitter photos of the rally.
Armenia: More Online Diplomacy
Following the recent Question & Answer session on Twitter with the UK's new Ambassador to Azerbaijan, his outgoing counterpart in neighboring Armenia, Charles Lonsdale, is due to answer questions on Facebook on Friday 16th December.
Brazil: A Book on Fraudulent Privatizations
Brazilian filmmaker Jorge Furtado comments on [pt] a book that he considers to be the best of 2011: “Privataria Tucana”. The title is a play with words that links piracy, privatization and toucans, the symbol of the Social Democrat Party (PSDB). The book exposes policies of privatization carried out during...
Australia: Comment on the Palestine Boycott, Divestment & Sanction Campaign
Crikey's NAJ Taylor gathers five of Australia's Middle East diaspora to write about the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction of Israel campaign. How effective is it at “balancing the competing harms”? How “useful is [it] for members of the Israeli and Palestinian, as well as Jewish and Muslim, diaspora”?
Indonesia's ‘Soft Power’
Awis Mranani believes Indonesia should enhance and maximize the full potential of its cultural ‘soft power’ in order to gain more influence in the region and the world.
Ukraine: Grand Theft Auto
LEvko of foreign notes discusses reports that Ukraine's Minister of Justice, Oleksandr Lavrynovych, owns a Mercedes luxury car which was reported stolen in Germany nearly two years ago.
Brazil: Youth Demands for “Real Democracy Now”
Brazilian journalist and blogger Lucas Morais analyzes [pt] the revolutionary movements that have spread throughout the world in 2011 and says that “this youth has increasingly become more aware of the limits of capitalist democracy, and not for nothing, it is fighting for a ‘real democracy now'”.
Palestine: Mourning Mustafa Tamimi
For more than two years, protests have taken place in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. This past Friday, activists experienced tragedy when demonstrator Mustafa Tamimi, 28, was killed by Israeli forces.
Ukraine: Football Fans Consulates
Odessablog's Blog argues against a recent idea by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to have fans organize their own consular services for the upcoming Euro 2012 soccer championships in Ukraine.
Belarus-Poland: Ex Presidential Candidate Arrested in Warzaw
According to LJ user artem_ablozhei [ru], former Belarus presidential candidate Ales Michalevic earlier today was arrested at Warzaw airport by Polish police acting on an extradition request by Belarus authorities.
Jamaica: Spy Games
Active Voice blogs about “the spy plane the government didn’t see” and the effect that the admission of its existence is having on the ruling Jamaica Labour Party.
Caucasus: Frozen Conflicts, Forgotten Lives?
Marginalized by society and deprived of a voice by the mainstream media, can new media offer an alternative to refugees and IDPs in the South Caucasus?
Iran: A famous pilot talks against sanctions
Captain Hooshang Shahbazi, Iranian pilot who got famous after he successfully landed his Boeing 727 without the nose gear in mid October 2011, has launched a campaign [Fa] in his website against “civil aviation sanctions” on Iran.
