Stories about Weblog from July, 2008
India: A Trust Vote, and a Nuclear Deal
It’s not time yet, for the ruling party to gloat over their sensational yet marginal victory over the ‘Indo –US Nuclear Deal Issue’ which has long haunted their very existence. But they have emerged as the winners nonetheless. Lok Sabha TV drew eyeballs off the internet to engage many Indians...
Slovakia: Refusal to Recognize Independent Kosovo
The Slovak government announced some months ago that they will not recognize Kosovo's independence. Furthermore, the Foreign Ministry has stated that the Slovak government will not recognize any documents from an independent Kosovo, including a Kosovar passport. Below are some Slovak bloggers' views on the issue.
Abkhazia, Georgia: “Home”
As everyone seems to be talking about an impending war over Abkhazia, here is a translation of a post by LiveJournal blogger cyxymu, a Georgian who spent his childhood in Abkhazia but now lives in Tbilisi, having become an "internally displaced person" during the hostilities in the early 1990s.
Iranian bloggers react to Israel-Hezbollah deal
While the Iranian government rejoiced at the release of Lebanese prisoners from Israel, bloggers were quick to ask about the fate of Iranians captured in Lebanon, writes Hamid Tehrani, who sums up the reactions of Iranian bloggers on the Lebanon-Israel prisoner swap in this post.
China: Bus-bomb attack creates panic and indignation
The bus-bomb attack on 17 shocked not only the city but also China, that people suddenly feel how close terrorism is. The attack is characterized by that it is against innocent people rather than the authority, making it special among the recent unrests. Is it a harbinger, or just another ramdom event?
Mourning A Sexually Harassed Egypt
Two-thirds of Egyptian men harass women showed a survey reported by Reuters. The survey of more than 2,000 Egyptian men and women and 109 foreign women said 62% of Egyptian men reported perpetrating harassment. 83% of Egyptian women reported having been sexually harassed. 98% of foreign women saying they had...
Cuba: Cyber-Citizens?
“Never having become citizens in the real world, it is hard for us to behave as citizens on the web”: Yoani Sanchez at Generation Y shares her thoughts about the virtual Cuba.
China: No “Go China!” banners at the Olympics
Those attending the Olympics this year will be subject to the standard rules: no outside food or drinks, no sporting of commercial logos of any kind…but among all those is one rule which seems to have struck a nerve among many netizens, as evidenced by it having become the featured...
China: Search for the Kunming bus bombers
Following the bus explosions in Kunming yesterday, a report from a local news website there on the armed police roadside ID checks has been made a feature story on Netease's news page, photos included: While there isn't space for comments on the original Kunming-based Cailong China story, the number found...
Serbia: Local Bloggers Discuss the Arrest of Radovan Karadžić
Just a few days after the 13th anniversary of the massacre in Srebrenica, in which over 7,000 people, most of them Muslim civilians, were killed, Radovan Karadzic, former president of Republika Srpska, is arrested. Many bloggers from the Serbian blogosphere were surprised by the news. Below are the first reactions from some of them.
Bangladesh: Corporate culture and employees’ privacy
A Bangladeshi writer who works in a bank for her living and also keeps a blog writes a post to shed light to the ever demanding corporate culture in Bangladesh, which is taking toll on the private lives of the employees.
Malaysia: Sex, lies, murder, and politics
Malaysian politics are sizzling with sex intrigues, murder accusations, scandalous lies and intra-party squabbles. The political crisis has angered many young Malaysians, especially bloggers.
The Balkans, Russia: Radovan Karadžić
According to reports, former Bosnian Serb leader and one of the world’s most wanted war criminals Radovan Karadžić has been arrested in Serbia on Monday night. Below are some of the initial reactions from bloggers.
Israel, Lebanon: Russophone Bloggers Discuss Prisoner Exchange Deal
While some bloggers from the former Soviet Union take interest in the Middle Eastern affairs out of idle (or not so idle) curiosity, for others Israel is home, and so it's not surprising that the July 16 exchange of prisoners between Israel and Lebanon did not go unnoticed in the Russian-language blogosphere.
Syria: Nudity and Moral Decay
How much nudity on television can be considered as art, and how much of it contributes to moral decay? Syrian blogger Emad [Ar] tries to answer this question in the following post.
Saudi Arabia: Segregation on the blogroll?
It is well known that segregation of the sexes in Saudi Arabia exists in everyday life - but what about online? Can the names of male and female bloggers exist together on a blogroll? One Saudi blogger is amused at the thought.
Japan: Communist Party gets boost from Nico Nico Douga
It is a long time since the Japanese Communist Party had any luck in Japanese politics, but with help from no other than Japan's popular video sharing site, Nico Nico Douga, this may be changing. A 51-minute video of a February 8th speech by Chairman Kazuo Shii of the JCP registered over ten thousand comments on the video sharing site, and there are now reports that interest in the party among people in their 20s and 30s is way up.
Kazakhstan: Astana Anniversary
Bloggers discuss how the celebrations of the anniversary of Astana, the capital city of Kazakhstan, went. They were so widely advertised and loads of public finance was spent on the tenth anniversary of the capital, that most of the citizens - and bloggers - sighed with relieve when the whole fuss was over.
India: All about the Theatre!
A bunch of IT professionals, with a hectic weekday schedule, are keeping themselves busy even during the weekends. They have been smitten by the theatre bug. ‘Rebelz’ as they are otherwise known, formed this group with just one purpose in mind.
Kazakhstan: Olympics Blogwatch
On the eve of the Beijing Olympiad, the Kazakhstani bloggers discuss what chances their country has to performs decently in summer sports.
Ecuador: Interest in Literature Continues
The ExpoLibro 2008 (Guayaquil Book Fair) recently came to a close, which according to organizers, drew hundreds of thousands of visitors with more than 210 stands. This proves that the reading is not dead, as had been predicted with the arrival of the internet. Interest in literary works is alive in well in Ecuador and during this past week, four authors contributed to the culture and literature of the country.
