Stories from Quick Reads from December, 2006
Iran:A Happy New Year?
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, reformist politician and blogger, says probably situation in Iran and many other parts of the world, in 2007 won't be better than previous year. He adds, but there are events in the world that you can never predict.The blogger writes,we live in hope, happy new year to...
Haiti: Government's Tougher Stance on Insecurity
Reacting to a Christmas speech by Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis announcing a tougher stance on gang-driven kidnappings, Deky Lakyel from Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr): “Not so long ago the stance was still to negotiate with the bandits. Today the approach and the discourse are more a-propos to...
Trinidad & Tobago: Smeltdown
The Trinidad and Tobago government's decision to re-locate a controversial aluminium smelter project prompts Jeremy Taylor to raise numerous questions about some key development decisions taken by the current administration: “Would we really need a rapid-rail system costing TT$15 billion if a bit more common sense was applied to the...
Malaysia: Failure in Disaster Management
Opposition Malaysian politician Lim Kit Siang asks “why the authorities were caught off-guard despite the availability of sophisticated early-warning systems about the massive floods in the south of the country”. Southern states of Malaysia have seen record levels of rainfall and massive flooding in the last couple of weeks.
Malaysia: Saddam's Execution
Ktemoc comments on the execution of Saddam Hussein and calls the execution as “unnecessary” and is concerned about more violence. “The Iraqis would be better off locking up Saddam and throwing the key away.”
Haiti: Competition for AA on Miami-Port-au-Prince
Jojo of Collectif Haiti de Provence is happy (Fr) that Spirit Airlines is offering a Miami-Port-au-Prince flight in addition to American Airlines’ but cautions: “Spirit Airlines is welcome so long as it doesn't align itself to the detriment of the public with American Airlines’ practices. $370 for a 2 hour...
Uzbekistan: Russia Moves In
At neweurasia, Kamron discusses Uzbekistan's decision to allow Russian military planes to land at the Navoi airport, saying that the government is filling the vacuum left by the expulsion of the US Air Force last year.
Russia: A Typical New Year's
Snowsquare guides the readers through a typical New Year's celebration in Russia (a ten-day affair, by the way!) Happy New Year, everyone!
Russia: More On Litvinenko's Death
Aleksandr Litvinenko's case is probably off everyone's radars by now, but Sean's Russia Blog offers a latest news roundup.
Romania: A Fire
Brasov fire department ignores a minor fire, local residents have to cope on their own, Romerican reports: “Without the help of paid city officials, they began dismantling burning objects from the fire with their bare hands and rolling each hot item in the dirt until the flames subsided. Then, they’d...
The Balkans: EU Enlargement
Did Romania and Bulgaria manage “to get on the last train to Europe” or will the EU enlargement continue? More at Neretva River.
Iran:Ahmadinejad after defeat in Council of City Election
Pro Ahmadinejad's forces got defeated in city council election. Digital Kelachinkov analysed the outcome of this defeat. He says“Populist-fundamentalist” is probably the best term for describing Ahmadinejad and his group. This group has a theoretic wing and also a populist one recent defeat of their supporters in the elections may...
The Balkans: Main 2006 Stories
Ed of Balkan Baby lists the most important regional stories of 2006: “Slovenia moves towards Eurozone,” “Croatia and Serbia Disappoint at World Cup,” “Croatia Stop-Start its way towards EU,” etc.
Africa 2.0: Important New Sites
Africa 2.0 shares (Fr) two new links: Makossa TV, a self-described media center for African artists and Ouestaf, a West African news site.
Iran:Internet Sites in Iran
FaryadNameh says blogging has become popular in Iran due to the lack of free media, but internet,in general, has not been really developed in country.The blogger says it is rare that we find an institution in country with an active website[Fa]. The blogger adds even very popular sport clubs don't...
Iran:Sleepless Dictators
Futurama says if you listen to one of Saparmurat Niyazov's, former Turkmenistan President, speech, you find out he had never thought about his death. The blogger says the day of Niyazov's death, all dictators in the world were sleepless[Fa].
Dominica: Respect the Caribbean consumer
Kenny Green of Dominica berates multinational companies for failing to create advertising and marketing campaigns that specifically target the Caribbean consumer, reserving some praise for Irish telecoms services provider Digicel: “I would love to see some multinational, be it LG or Pepsi or Starbucks or someone credible actually show Digicel...
Bahamas: Police brutality
Lynn Sweeting calls for an immediate investigation into police brutality in the Bahamas: “I call on the police force to recognize the enormity of this crisis in their ranks, and to assume that most men and women applying to the college are the products of violent homes, and to make...
Trinidad & Tobago: In praise of coconut bake
Trinifood sings the praises of the “simple, unleavened bread” known in Trinidad and Tobago as coconut bake, and posts a recipe.
Trinidad & Tobago: Corporate responsibility initiative
Karel McIntosh reports that a chamber of commerce in Trinidad has become the first indigenous signatory to United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate responsibility initiative.
Cuba: Christmas traditions
Cuba-based blogger Kaloian Santos Cabrera posts an excerpt from a book on traditional Christmas observances in San Juan de los Remedios, Cuba, plus some photos.
