Stories about Politics from January, 2008
Citizen Uganda: Smart and very, very pretty
Citizen Uganda is the best new online source of information about Uganda, and it's also very, very pretty. To scroll down the main page of Citizen Uganda is to indulge in a visual symphony: carefully selected photos align harmoniously with well-crafted blocks of text. Thick lines in complementary colors separate commentary from current events.
Senegal to hold local elections
Blog Politique au Senegal writes about local elections in Senegal [Fr], claiming that the dominant parties want to limit the number of political parties in the country and that no party is able to clearly enunciate their ideologies and plans.
Lebanon: Did the civil war really end?
French Eagle on the recent terrorist attack in Lebanon writes in a post entitled “Human Stupidity” [Fr]: “Civil war? Did it ever really end? Perhaps the Syrian occupation was a local anesthetic and its end liberated the old demons…”
Lebanon: Deconstructing Hassan Nasrallah
Heuristiques Libanaises muses over an image [Fr] of Hassan Nasrallah‘s raised finger and furrowed expression, wondering if Lebanon is at the sunset of Hezbollah's “divine victory” or merely its dawn.
Barbados, Bermuda, USA: Standing for Change
Cheese-on-bread! notices a similarity between the new Barbados government's campaign slogan and Barack Obama's – and hopes that the “rallying cry will work for him as well as it did for PM Thompson et al…”; while Politics.bm thinks Bermuda's government “represents everything Obama rejects.”
Afghanistan: Border with Pakistan is changing westward
Afghanistanica says that the Pakistan-Afghanistan border seems to be moving westward, and reviews the reactions of blogosphere on the matter with many Afghans being quite unhappy about this.
China: The Anger of the Weak
On his way to the office, Zengying saw a hawker running away from the city control team. He warned the powerful not to neglect the anger of the weak and press them into fighting back.
Serbia: Choosing Between Tadic and Nikolic
Sinisa Boljanovic translates two Serbian bloggers whose views are representative of those who support Boris Tadic and closer relationship between Serbia and the EU, and are opposed to Tomislav Nikolic's nationalist policy.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Against Division
Balkanizer comes up with “an argument against the division of Bosnia-Herzegovina.”
Belarus, Latvia: “Ploshcha”
Marginalia watches Ploshcha (“The Square”), a film about the March 2006 mass protests in Minsk – “and watching it is a good way to mark Ceauşescu's birthday and Suharto's death” – and muses on freedom in Latvia and the lack of it in Belarus.
Poland: New Government's Problems
The beatroot reports: “‘Civic Platform are clueless.’ That’s what many are saying of Poland’s still fledgling government. It must be the shortest political honeymoon in history.”
Slovenia: Janša, Janša, Janša
Adventures in Wheelville writes about “the new (and rather mysterious) art group Janša, Janša, Janša, a group of artists who'd recently changed their names to that of the Prime Minister for reasons which they would not divulge to the public.”
Serbia: Belgrade's Past
Belgrade 2.0 muses on Belgrade's past and posts some old videos.
Ukraine: Tymoshenko's Ideologies
Ukrainiana is somewhat confused about Yulia Tymoshenko's position: “Here we go again, cruising the ideological avenues of the world: from solidarism to Thatcherism; from pondering membership in the Socialist International to praising Sarkozy; from advocating aggressive privatization to promoting the idea of mild government-subsidized mortgage rates. How does it all...
Nepal: Madheshi and Federalism
Bahas on the issue of Madheshi movement in Nepal – perhaps becoming a separatist threat rather than a federalist struggle.
South Asia: Islam and Democracy
Pickled Politics takes a closer look at Islam and Democracy, particularly in South Asia.
Paraguay: An Introduction to a Growing Blogosphere
Muna Annahas, a Paraguayan blogger, writes her first Global Voices Online post and provides an introduction to the Paraguayan blogosphere. She provides examples of interesting academic, political, cultural, personal, and bridge blogs written by Paraguayans at home and abroad.
Afghanistan: Lord Ashdown Steps Down
Afghanistan Watch reports that Lord Paddy Ashdown has withdrawn his name from consideration as the UN envoy to Afghanistan, after President Hamid Karzai and other officials expressed opposition last week, concerned about the extent of his power.
Bermuda: Police-Blogger Suspended
Bermudan Police Officer and blogger Allan Palmer reports that he is officially “on suspension” following a blog post that he wrote.
Bahamas: Secret Ballot?
Craig Butler at Bahama Pundit thinks that “the voting process in the Bahamas is not secret”.
Armenia: Opposition Rally Beating
Following the beating of a heckler at a pre-election campaign meeting by Levon Ter-Petrossian, one of the former president's supporters, Nazarian, instead attacks Armenian Public TV H1 for covering the unfortunate incident.
