Stories about Politics from October, 2007
Russia: Artists for Khodorkovsky, Against Putin
Robert Amsterdam reports on a classical music concert in Paris in support of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other political prisoners, and on the anti-Putin part of the Russian community of “cultural figures.”
Russia: Campaign Singing
Elections in Russia reports on the singing dimension of this year's campaign.
Poland: Roman Giertych's Out of Politics
The beatroot is wondering who he is going to “write about for the next two years,” now that Roman Giertych has been forced out of politics, along with his party, the League of Polish Families, which “got a miserable 1.3 percent in Sunday’s election.”
Armenia: The Numbers Game
After Friday's opposition rally during which Armenia's first president, Levon Ter Petrosian, said he would run again for office, Oneworld Multimedia raises concerns with how different media outlets reported the number of people in attendance. Interestingly, the blog notes that bloggers at the rally came up with roughly the same...
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood
Tarek Amr shares with us the thoughts of an Egyptian blogger (Ar) about Islamic political parties in this post, which sheds light on the Muslim Brotherhood, its ideologies and impact on Egypt.
Israel: When Yigal Murdered Rabin
Last week marked the 12th anniversary of the murder of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Gilad Lotan translates a blog from Hebrew which sheds light on the celebrations which broke out at an ultra-orthodox community when the news was announced.
Georgia: “Radical” Opposition
TOL Georgia takes exception to a recent article published by the Jamestown Foundation on what the publication terms the “radical opposition.” The site questions why the author, well-known analyst Vladimir Socor, is using such phrases and challenges many other points made in the article.
Armenia: Parliamentary Killings Anniversary
The Armenian Observer remembers the 27 October 1999 terrorist attack on the Armenian National Assembly which left the prime minister and seven other senior officials, including the Soviet era leader of Armenia, dead. Eight years after the incident which allowed the incumbent president to consolidate power in the country, many...
Jamaica: Slave Mentality
“Sometimes I wonder if to be black in this world is to be absolutely unaccountable. For anything.” Marlon James picks apart the slave mentality.
Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados: Song for Burma
The Bajan Reporter discovers a wonderful new song recorded by Trinidad and Tobago calypsonian David Rudder in support of the people of Burma.
Philippines: Bribery scandal
Political analysts believe the Philippine government is desperately trying to cover-up an alleged bribery incident which happened inside the Malacañang presidential palace two weeks ago. Mong Palatino covers Filipino blogs commenting on this.
Japan: Halloween Train vs. Netizen Rage
James from Japan Probe reports on a clash between foreigners and Japanese netizens over a Halloween Train party .
China and Hong Kong: Translation Politics
Many bloggers in Hong Kong pointed out that the criticism against Martin Lee's article in Wall street is a result of translation. An example given by erynnyes from Those were the days, is the translation of “press for” to “give pressure to” (zh). The blogger also points out that China...
China and Japan: Japanese AV in Rural China
Japan AV girl, Nonami Takizawa, came to rural China for shooting adult video. The promotion clip is up at Todu, and netizens from China reacted strongly to the “pollution” bought by Japanese to China. Hegelchong comments that the criticisms are nationalistic and have very strange imagination of rural China (zh)....
China: Olympic Lie?
A video on the human rights condition in China with hot debate in the comment section.
Touring Libyan Blogs: October 26 -The Black Day and the Security Council
Why is October 26 called "Day of Mourning" or "Black Day" in Libya and how is it commemorated? Libyan bloggers tell us more about the occasion in this post by Fozia Mohamed.
China: Rules of Olympic engagement
Leading Hong Kong Democrat Martin Lee calls for increased dialogue on China's human rights record as the Olympics approach and gets labeled a traitor, quite possibly due mainly to a mistranslation which some are saying is too large to have been an accident.
South Korea: Presidential Poll
Andy Jackson from Marmot's Hole blogs the presidential poll result and the former Seoul major Lee Myung-bak is in the lead.
Armenia: Bad News Day
Raffi K at Life in Armenia says that Friday was a day full of bad news for Armenia. However, he doesn't know which was worse — former president Levon Ter Petrosian running again for office, the postponement of a bill to recognize the Armenian Genocide in the U.S. Congress, or...
Armenia: Doing Business
British ex-pat consultant Bruce Tasker reports from Yerevan on the trials and tribulations facing local businessmen who usually have to maintain close links with senior officials to ensure their livelihood. Go Armenia has more of the story, while on his second blog, Blowing the World Bank Whistle, the self-proclaimed whistle...
Armenia: Former President Makes Political Comeback
In what can be considered one of the most important political developments in the short 16-year history of Armenia as an independent former-Soviet republic, the country's first president, Levon Ter Petrosian, announced his intention to run again for office in the presidential election to be held early next year. Ter...