· January, 2010

Stories from Quick Reads from January, 2010

Ukraine: Salo

The Pickle Project writes about salo, “the adored raw pork fat enjoyed on its own and in many of timeless Ukrainian dishes.”

31 January 2010

Belarus: LGBT Issues

BelarusDigest quotes from a chapter on Belarus that was included in the Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide earlier this year.

31 January 2010

Haiti: The Homeless Situation

Potoprincipe expresses [Fr] bewilderment at Haitian president Preval's decision to live under a tent in front of the ravaged Presidential palace, in solidarity with his people, when solutions need to...

31 January 2010

Tajikistan: Power Plant as a National Idea

TajikVoice posts (and Andrey translates) stories of real people in Tajikistan, telling how they are being forced to “voluntarily donate” money to the construction of the Rogun dam and hydroelectric...

31 January 2010

Tajikistan: Judges seek to silence press

Alpharabius posts a story of the Tajik high-level judges, who conspired to punish three independent newspapers for publishing a sensational story about unlawful conviction practices at the courts.

31 January 2010

Afghanistan: Fresh Data Sources

Nick Fielding reviews new publication on negotiating with the Taliban and recommends a great source of stats on security, governance, socio-economic indicators and polling information.

31 January 2010

Kazakhstan: Glutting the Wheat Industry

Joshua Foust reviews the situation in Kazakhstan's wheat industry, noting weak professionalism of the agriculture officials in managing market price fluctuations and food crisis risks.

31 January 2010

Afghanistan: Behind the London Conference

Dafydd watches the London international conference on Afghanistan and opines that the organisers’ new strategy for this country involves buying off low level Taliban fighters and cutting a deal with...

31 January 2010

Sri Lanka: ‘Lanka E news’ Banned

Journalists For Democracy In Sri Lanka blog informs that “the office of the ‘Lanka e news’, a prominent news website operating from Sri Lanka, has been sealed off by the...

30 January 2010

Tunisia: Language Choices

In this post entitled Arabic, French or English: for “whom” the bell tolls? the Third Ijtihad talks about the use of languages in speaking with others.

30 January 2010

Pakistan: Depleting Water Resources

Owais Mughal at All Things Pakistan discusses about the depleting water resources of Pakistan and urges the decision makers to “invest in Pakistan’s Water Resources for the stability of the...

30 January 2010