Stories about North America from October, 2006
Kyrgyzstan: Akaev & US Politics
Sean Roberts explains how Kyrgyzstan's former president could become a political issue in the United States.
Mexico: The last moments of Bradley Roland Will
Journalism seems like a precarious profession to practise in Mexico. It's ranked by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist. The latest tragic example of this came on Friday 27th October, in the southern state of Oaxaca, with the shooting...
Mexico, USA, EU: Open Borders
Argentine-Spanish blogger Martin Varsavsky wonders if one day more Americans will be moving to Mexico than vice versa.
Vojaĝo tra Esperantujo / A trip through Esperanto-land
Only two months until Esperanto Day! In this, our second roundup of the Esperanto Blogosphere (missed the first?), I will lead you on a tour of some of the different kinds of blogs you find in the Esperanto community. Nur du monatoj ĝis la Esperanto-Tago! En tiu ĉi, nia dua...
Barbados, Canada: Life's not fair
“Dog luck aint cat luck”, says Jdid at Doan Mind Me, quoting an old West Indian saying. In other words, different strokes for different folks. An encounter with a man “just smokin off some weed out in the open” in Toronto, ignored by the police, makes him wonder how some...
Cuba, USA: 44th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis
Luis M. Garcia notes that today (October 16) is the 44th anniversary of the Cuban Missile crisis, and explains how the event which affected even his little hometown of Banes, Cuba.
Arabisc: Unemployment, personal attacks and the birth of a new author
Like many parts of the modern world, unemployment is a plague attacking Arab countries. Anonymous blogger Alloush writes about a discovery he made while surfing the world wide web. The Arab blogger found an online forum bringing together unemployed people from across Saudi Arabia – which he is quick to...
Arabisc: Ramadan, War, Freedom and Other Issues
With all Muslim countries marking the Holy Month of Ramadan, UAE blogger Bin Kerishan, wonders why people fast. كل العبادات تسبب للانسان الاما و معاناه كالحج و الصلاه و الصيام و الاخير من اقساها و اكثرها ضررا على صحته.. لماذا لا يكون الطقس الديني مسليا؟ كالذهاب لملاقاة الاصدقاء في المقهى...
Congolese Writer Alain Mabanckou on André Schwarz-Bart
Alain Mabanckou, a novelist and poet from Congo-Brazzaville now living in California, pays tribute (Fr) to Polish-Jewish writer André Schwarz-Bart, author of Le Dernier de justes who passed away last weekend. Schwarz-Bart, who grew up in France during the German occupation, lived in Guadeloupe with his wife, writer Simone Schwarz-Bart.
Trinidad & Tobago: Different strokes
“While the rest of us are lining up for visas, being groped by security guards, having our fingerprints taken and our eyeballs photographed (not to mention having our phone numbers, credit card numbers and meal preferences sent ahead to Homeland Security if we're crossing the Atlantic), US citizens are still...
Barbados: USA eats crow
“Will Mr. Barbados give up that new Oriental girlfriend and go back with the rich man’s daughter?” asks a cheeky Barbados Free Press, contemplating the USA's attempts to woo back Caribbean nations who have been accepting gifts from China.
Kangi Alem on American Empire
Togolese writer Kangi Alem discusses (Fr) Noam Chomsky's Hegemony or Survival: The Imperialist Strategy of the United States and the dark side of America's international role. Alem calls the U.S. “a highly original form of democracy that imposes itself with arms, bombs and artillery” and says that “the hegemonic pretentions...
US secret detentions: from hotel room to squalid prison cell
When President George W. Bush confirmed in a speech last month that the CIA has been operating a programme of secret detentions on foreign territory, it was portrayed by the United States Government as part of its efforts to “bring terrorists to justice”. Yet this programme, along with the controversial...
Russia, Georgia: Unfriendly Relationship
A Tbilisi, Georgia, spice seller: “I was taking some photos in the Tbilisi's market and this lady, instead trying to sell me something, she asked me a portrait.” – by tomaradze Georgia (population approx. 4.4 million) arrested four Russian soldiers last week, charging them with espionage. Russia (population approx. 142.4...
Cuba, USA: Swiss cheese embargo
“The embargo has more holes than a chunk of processed Swiss cheese,” concludes Luis M. Garcia, as he analyses some of the facts and figures behind the commercial embargo imposed upon Cuba by the USA.
Barbados: Marketing to US tourists
Barbados Free Press asks why Barbados’ efforts to market to American tourists are failing; Linda Thompkins provides an answer.
Jamaica: Belonging
“I love being honked at by people I barely know. I enjoy feeling that I belong to something even when the guy selling newspapers, and the one hawking hub-caps, and the nearby gardener all ask me for school-fee money for their kids,” writes Francis Wade of the daily interactions that...