Stories about Western Europe from June, 2007
Russia, Sweden: Lavrov and Georgian Wine
Vilhelm Konnander reports that the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov was drinking Georgian wine banned in Russia during his recent visit to Sweden.
Ukraine: A Spanish Embassy Ordeal
In an ideal world, there'd be no need for travelers to waste their time and money obtaining visas: buying a plane ticket and booking a hotel room would suffice. Tanya Kremen, a Ukrainian journalist, studies Spanish but feels that a plane ticket to Latin America costs too much. So she decided to go to Spain. She had a valid visa - unlike the two of her friends who wanted to go along. What follows is the story of their frustrating visit to the Spanish Embassy in Kyiv, posted by Tanya on her blog at Korrespondent.net.
Martiniquian blogger on “Fleurs du Mal”
Le blog de [moi] celebrates the 150th anniversary of Fleurs du Mal (Fr) by posting “Le Vampire” and explaining her attraction to Baudelaire's poetry: “Baudelaire speaks of death and women like no other. I really understand his fascination with the two…I open [the book] rarely because it always brings out...
Poland, Germany: “Stepmother of Europe”
Publius Pundit quotes from a BBC piece on the Polish-German relations and reproduces the controversial cover of the Polish weekly Wprost, featuring a computer-generated image of German Chancellor Angela Merkel breastfeeding Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and President Lech Kaczynski.
Morocco: Telecoms, The Blogging Grand Prix, and Reactions to Salman Rushdie's Knighthood
Blogging has indeed become a popular Moroccan pastime, with new blogs cropping up every day. Pointblog.com (fr), a self-described magazine of blogging, reports on the first Grand Prix des Blogs:” Une centaine de blogueurs marocains a participé au 1 er GrandPrix des Blogs organisé par le portail Bayn. Khadija Housni,...
Europe: “Baltic” and “Nordic”
Itching for Eestimaa browses through the Time Magazine archives “to discover how those two loaded terms, Baltic and Nordic, were used in the 1920s and 1930s.”
Estonia, Russia: Echo of a Childhood War
Itching for Eestimaa looks at the European leaders’ childhood years, in order to find an explanation for some of their current policies: “The young Putin learned that Estonians were fascist betrayers. Can anyone wonder why Russia now sees Estonia in the light, even though to most of us the concepts...
Europe: Prominent Roma Scholar Dies
TOL's Romantic pays tribute to the recently deceased prominent Romano scholar Jan Kochanowski.
Palestine: Kidnapers Afraid to Release Johnston
Palestinian blogger Haitham Sabbah links to an article which explains why the captors of kidnapped British journalist Alan Johnston are afraid to release him.
Hungary, France: Imre Nagy Memorial
Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar finds himself at the Imre Nagy memorial at Pere Lachaise in Paris.
Soviet History: Speeches Made on June 22-23, 1941
De Rebus Antiquis Et Novis posts four speeches – by Adolf Hitler, Vyacheslav Molotov, Winston Churchill, and Sumner Welles – that were delivered on 22-23 June 1941.
Egypt: Blair Special Envoy?
From Egypt, Issandr El Amrani announces that outgoing UK Prime Minister Tony Blair may become a special Middle East envoy.
First Night Against Françafrique
Vous reprendrez bien un peu d'humanisme? announces “‘First Night Against Françafrique” (Fr) on Zalea TV.
Russia, EU: Visa Regime
As the EU eases its visa regime with Russia, TOL's Steady State writes about those who don't seem to appreciate this initiative.
Europe: Roma Art at Venice Biennale
TOL's Romantic writes about the Roma Pavilion at the Venice Biennale: Paradise Lost, an exhibition that presents 16 contemporary Roma artists.
Phénix, Défi Liban, a collaborative blog for Lebanese and French middle school students
Phénix, Défi Liban is a collaborative blog between two middle schools, one French, one Lebanese, that seeks to “symbolize and make concrete the desire for peace that animates us.” [Fr]
Serbia, Finland: Marija Serifovich's Infamous Quote
Belgrade 2.0 posts a video of a press conference with Marija Serifovic, who won this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, at which she makes the following remark about Finland: “erm, the country didn’t particularly suit me, and I don’t like those yellowish, “see-through” people… I despise them…” Bloggers discuss...
Jordan: Swedes In Love With Lebanese Food
Rami, a Jordanian blogger who lives in Sweden, links to an article about how the Swedes are heads over heels in love with the Lebanese cuisine.
Gabon: Libreville mermaid hoax (via St. Petersburg, Florida)
Association des gabonais d'Amiens dispels a mermaid hoax [Fr]. Photographs of a mermaid supposedly discovered dead on a beach in Libreville were actually downloaded from an eBay auction for a mermaid sighting in St. Petersburg, Florida. The St. Petersburg photographs sold for US$1500 to a French natural history museum.
Egypt: Elections Rigging Videos, US Aid Cuts and A New Blog by Talented Movie Director
In this week’s round up from Egypt, bloggers write about domestic issues as well as Egypt-US relations and I am also introducing new interesting blogs about movies, photography and liberal youth, writes Freedom for Egyptians.
G8 Summit: Is the world a better place yet?
The G8 (+5) met in Heiligendamm, Germany last week. The world's richest countries came to agreements on climate change and poverty in Africa that are unlikely to satisfy most critics of global capitalism. Global Voices has linked to comments from India, Russia, and Africa in the past week. And people...
