· November, 2008

Stories from Quick Reads from November, 2008

Armenia: World AIDS Day & the Armenicum Fiasco

  29 November 2008

Armenia: Higher Education & Sciences prepares its readers for the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day and highlights the situation with HIV infection in the country. The blog also notes that this year marks the 10th anniversary of Armenicum, a locally produced drug which the authorities initially announced could cure...

Mexico: High Service Fees for Radiohead Tickets

  29 November 2008

In Mexico, there are complaints regarding the high Ticketmaster service fees tacked on to the price of Radiohead tickets for the concerts to be held in Mexico City in March 2009 writes El Nahual of México Para Los Mexicanos [es].

Armenia: Chess, Karabakh and Turkish Relations

  29 November 2008

West of Igdir comments on the latest developments in Armenia including a second victory for the country in the International Chess Olympiad, speculation over negotiations to resolve the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh and last week's visit to Istanbul by the Foreign Minister.

India: Advice from a Sri Lankan

  29 November 2008

The Under Dog at the Sri Lankan citizen journalism initiative Groundviews has this to say to the Indians on the Mumbai terror attacks: “Here’s a word of advice from a Sri Lankan to our big neighbor. Don’t go down the path we have taken. Don’t be tempted to sacrifice the...

India: Interview With The Mumbai Terrorists

  29 November 2008

Bangladeshi-American blogger Mash at Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying posts a transcript of the interview with a Mumbai terrorist (translated from Hindi) which was broadcast in an Indian TV channel.

Japan, S. Korea, China: the Second International Congress of Asian Hemp Industry

  29 November 2008

Blogger Takashi reports [jp] on the Second International Congress of Asian Hemp Industry (第2回アジア大麻産業国際会議) held in Donghae (Korea) at the Hangzhong University from the 20th to the 23rd of November, 7 years after the first congress took place. Participants from Japan, China and South Korea [jp] debated the hemp industry...

China: Chinese students inform on political science professor

  29 November 2008

David Bandurski from China media project quoted from South China Morning post on a news about two Chinese students reporting to the police on a professor at Shanghai’s East China University of Political Science and Law concerning his “anti-government” speech. The incident has been widely discussed in local forum, such...

The Balkans: Tragic Legacy

  29 November 2008

Cafe Turco writes on the inaccuracies in Resolution 819 film and posts a translation of Hasan Nuhanović's article that challenges “the veracity of some scenes.” Srebrenica Genocide Blog writes on a recent exhumation of “50 complete and 883 partial human remains of Srebrenica genocide victims” and links to a documentary...

Central & Eastern Europe: A Roma Roundup

  29 November 2008

A few Roma-related posts: Inside Albania muses on the U.S. election and concludes that having a Roma PM in Albania will remain “pure fantasy” for quite a while; Romano Them links to a report on the situation with the Roma in Kosovo; Hungarian Spectrum reported on Nov. 20 that “[i]n...

Ukraine: “orange revolution” vs “Orange Revolution”

  29 November 2008

A note on the difference between “orange revolution” and “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine – at Leopolis: “The former represents the current state of politics: disappointment, disillusionment, distrust, financial crisis, brawls in parliament, corruption, broken promises. There is no reason to celebrate the ‘orange revolution.’ But the latter recalls an amorphous...

Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan: Calling Attention to Tragedy

  29 November 2008

Window on Eurasia writes: “Kyiv’s efforts to call attention to Stalin’s terror famine on the 75th anniversary of that tragedy and especially its moves to gain international recognition of it as a genocide against the Ukrainian people has generated much criticism by Russian officials from President Dmitry Medvedev on down...

Bolivia: Used Batteries End Up in Regular Landfill

  29 November 2008

The city of Cochabamba launched a campaign to collect waste, such as used batteries which were supposed to be disposed of properly, but Gustavo Cardoso of Observancia [es] notes with pictures that they ended up in the regular landfill defeating the purpose.

Latvia: The Crisis and Freedom of Speech

  29 November 2008

Free Speech Emergency in Latvia wrote on Nov. 22: “A university lecturer was arrested for two days for making comments at a public discussion of the economy, while a musician was questioned for joking about taking money out of a bank during a concert.” More coverage of the situation –...

Colombia: Pitching In for Suso

  29 November 2008

Xady of Expresate [es] provides the latest update on the campaign in the Medellín, Colombia neighborhood of La Loma, where local bloggers from the Convergentes project are pitching in to build a house for one of their community members, Suso.