Stories about Western Europe from February, 2009
Battisti: The Italo-Brazilian Imbroglio over Shadows of the Past
Brazil vs. Italy friendly football match in London today was under threat amid the diplomatic row over Cesare Battisti's extradition process. Brazilian blogs delve deeper into the controversy.
Italy: In Defense of the “Right to die”
A legal battle over a young woman's 'right to die' after 17 years in a coma has spurred both vast online commentary and activism in Italy. Mostly in defense of "Eluana Englaro's choice", Italian netizens have signed petitions, organized protests, and made YouTube videos of their own 'living will' testimonies, in defiance of both prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and the Vatican.
Russia-EU: Relations at a low
Russlandblog comments on [GER] deteriorating relations between Brussels and Moscow following Russia's war with Georgia and its gas crisis with Ukraine.
Russia: Vegetarian Borscht
Russian Blog shares a vegetarian borscht recipe.
Palestine: Shoe thrown at Israel's ambassador to Sweden
Palestinian Laila El Haddad links to a video and story showing protesters throwing a shoe at Israel's Ambassador to Sweden Benny Dagan, during a talk at Stockholm University.
Brazil: The (r)evolution of Lusophone music
LabCult provides a torrent link of a documentary about Luso-Afro-Brazilian music and sounds: “Lusophony – The (R)Evolution“. From hiphop to rock, visiting the Portuguese fado and Angolan and Caboverdian rhythms like the kuduro and the morna, the doc compiles Lusophone music from the colony days till today.
Martinique: The last masters of the islands?
As the two-week-long-protest in Guadeloupe continues, the other French Overseas Departments of America - French Guiana and Martinique - are thinking about their own contribution to this deep thinking and massive mobilization. In the midst of this brainstorming, the French-encrypted and sometimes trouble-making channel, Canal+ is seasoning up the debate with a sizzling hot documentary about the tight relationships between certain ethnic groups and economic domination on the French island of Martinique. The Martinican blogosphere, naturally, has been buzzing...
Europe: “Who Needs the Euro?”
Andrei Tuch of AnTyx writes at Th!nk About It: “So, for the eleven member states who still use their own currencies – and especially the more developed ones, whose economies might have some chance of standing on their own without leaning on the European Central Bank – the question is:...
Italy Seethes over Brazil's Extradition Refusal
Italians are still debating a controversial decision of the Brazilian government to guarantee political asylum to convicted felon Cesare Battisti, in spite of an extradition request by the Italian foreign ministry. The decision to grant asylum is currently being considered by the Brazilian supreme court.
China: More reactions to shoeing incident
ESWN translates a post from a nationalistic BBS reacting to the shoeing against Wen Jiabo in Cambridge University. Fauna from ChinaSMACK also picks up and translates a number of local reactions.
