Stories from Quick Reads from October, 2007
Singapore: Blog Advertising
Pricilla Tan does not want to place ads on her blog and discusses blog ads with fellow Singaporean bloggers.
Tajikistan: Cultural Starvation
C opines on the cultural environment in Tajikistan after visiting a concert of the new pop-band and says that cultural life in this country is stewing in it own juice and lacks diversity.
Kyrgyzstan: One-Party System Looming?
The Azamat Report reviews recent developments on the eve of parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan, saying that the authorities are seemingly trying to establish a one-party system, similar to Kazakhstan with Nur-Otan and Russia with United Russia today.
Kyrgyzstan: Modern Horse Games
CXW takes a look at the new type of sports entertainment in Kyrgyzstan, a horseball, which is a modern version of the local traditional sport of kok boru.
Kyrgyzstan: Police Stopped a Car with Oppositionists
Bboyd informs about an incident that followed the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry’s roadblock to catch armed criminals, in which police stopped a car with three opposition party officials instead.
Afghanistan: Karzai Wants U.S. to End Airstrikes
Afghanistan Watch quotes reports on the President Karzai’s primetime appearance on CBS last Sunday, where he repeatedly called for a rollback of airstrikes in Afghanistan.
Trinidad & Tobago: New Politics?
Coffeewallah has some advice for Trinidad and Tobago politicians: “Here’s a novel idea guys, why don’t you assume we all have brains, focus on the issues and tell us exactly how you’re going to deal with them.”
Afghanistan: Private Military Contractors
Afghanistan Watch quotes an online foreign policy daily World Politics Review, which has published a piece devoted to the private security contractors in Afghanistan. As reported, the media has generally interpreted the authorities’ actions to shut down the contractors as a “crackdown”, but apparently the truth is more complicated.
St. Kitts & Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago: The True Caribbean
“Being born a West Indian means that I am less likely to succumb to the palm trees, blue sea, white sand, standard tourist pitch. The Caribbean islands are so much more complicated…” My Chutney Garden reveals what she loves about Nevis.
Trinidad & Tobago: In Search of Lessing
Jeremy Taylor can’t find copies of Doris Lessing’s work – in fact, “no one had even heard of her…what's going on here? Has the Nobel Prize become irrelevant, even to today's frenetic marketeers?”
Guyana, Jamaica: The Power of Money
Guyana-Gyal knows that money isn’t everything, while Moving Back to Jamaica wonders: “How much would it take to buy my happiness for a day?”
Barbados: Answering the Call
Living in Barbados hears the call of ancestral voices…
Cuba: UN Motion
Both Child of the Revolution and The Cuban Triangle blog about the outcome of the UN motion for the United States to lift its long-standing embargo against Cuba.
China: Facebook
Kenneth Tan from Shanghaiist reports on facebook's plan to enter China and sums up bloggers’ comments on the move.
China: Online Discussion Control
Josie Liu from China in Transition reports on the tightening up of online discussion control.
Hong Kong: City of Sorrow
Yesterday the Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung visited Tin Shui Wai, a new town with the highest frequency of family tragedy. Erynnyes criticized Cheung did not give any hope(zh) for the new town as the government did not provide any solution to the structural problem in the...
Japan: Life of a Homosexual Foreign Male
David Markle from Japan Probe interviewed Scott, a homosexual foreign male, about his life in Japan.
Korea: Denuclearization
Jae Young Lee from Ohmynews reports on the North Korea path to de-nuclearization.
Jordan: Blogging in English Back
Jordan Watch is back in English, writes Jordanian blogger Batir Wardam.
Trinidad & Tobago: Political Agenda?
Jumbie's Watch is not impressed by the Trinidad and Tobago opposition's latest maneuver, while KnowProSE.com thinks that the political parties “seem to be catering to the lowest common denominators – and those denominators are appallingly low.”
Japan: Chinese spectators boo Japanese team, arouse national debate
Ampontan discusses the booing of the Japanese national team by a crowd of Chinese spectators at the Women's World Cup. After losing the game, the Japanese team displayed a banner that read: “Thank you China” in three languages, a gesture which Ampontan describes as “the gold standard for behavior in...
