· January, 2010

Stories from Quick Reads from January, 2010

Ukraine: “Bring Your Skates”

  30 January 2010

Greetings from Kyiv posts an update on the situation on Kyiv's sidewalks: “This year, Kyiv City Services decided not to clean up the snow so the snow on the sidewalks turns into a very slippery ice rink. The fact that cars use the sidewalks as parking lots adds to the...

Russia: Consumerism

  30 January 2010

St Petersblurb sees “the whole EU exactly through the eyes of a Russian” ex-girlfriend: “It’s just a retail chain with branches in different languages.”

Russia: CJR Piece on the Media

  29 January 2010

Robert Amsterdam recommends Adam Federman's article on the Russian media, published in Columbia Journalism Review: “[…] Federman focuses on the remaining mechanisms and political dynamics for freedom of press and the conditions in which genuinely good investigative journalism can still occur in today's harshly repressive media environment in Russia.”

Russia: Potential iPad Pricing and Sales

RuNet Echo  29 January 2010

Svetlana Gladkova of Profy writes that “representatives of one of the local retailers that is now negotiating iPad sales in Russia expect to be able to sell iPad at the price that will be twice as high as it is in the US”: “Now can anyone explain me why Apple...

Azerbaijan: Democracy is…

  29 January 2010

Önər Blog [AZ] posts a video [EN] made by the OL! Azerbaijani Youth Movement for the Democracy Video Challenge. OL! has been exemplary in its use of new media in the region and was co-founded by now imprisoned video blogging youth activist Adnan Hajizade.

Syria: A Short Story

  29 January 2010

Medad blog published a sarcastic short story [ar] depicting a Muslim cleric and a Christian cleric passionately discussing virtue and interfaith understanding as each of them tries to claim a spot that allows them to peep through a crack in the wall of a women's bathhouse.

Trinidad & Tobago: iThink, therefore iPad

  29 January 2010

“When iHeard Apple called the device iPad, iImmediately thought of tampons and iAm a man. iThink Apple has unwittingly provided fodder for stand up comedians and may have to change the name to something like iTouch-Big, iMoses or iAintKnow”: Trinidad and Tobago's This Beach Called Life has a lot to...

Africa: On Homophobia in Africa

  29 January 2010

Responses to Homophobia in Africa by Sokari: “I’m writing this post in response to number of articles on the prevalence of homophobia in Africa and to try and give some perspective and historical context.”

Eritrea: Remove current regime quickly

  29 January 2010

According to Mohammed Hagos, democracy project in Eritrea has to start with the removal of the current regime: “The hurdle preventing the Eritrean people from having their say is the Issayas regime. The path to democracy thus starts with removing the Issayas regime as quickly as possible…”

Japan: Micro-gardens

  29 January 2010

Palmsundae from Tokyo Green Space blogs about the micro-gardening practice in old Tokyo neighborhood.