Tuesday Global Blogs Roundup · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Middle East
Hoder reports that the mood at the headquarters of Iranian presidential candidate Moin is quite upbeat in the wake of recently-released polls. He also asks that his visit not be blogged about in Persian for safety reasons.
More fallout from the recent Lebanese parliamentary elections: Beirut Spring profiles General Aoun, tagging him “a natural”; Raja at Lebanese Bloggers looks at the root causes of his victory.
Crossroads Arabia points to a BBC piece that interviews young Saudi women about their lives in the kingdom.
Omar from Iraq The Model talks about his brush—and subsequent disappointment—with the BBC: they interviewed extensively, by both phone and email, him for a piece called “One Day in Iraq”, yet subsequently failed to include him in the finished piece.
Photograph by Martin Sercombe
Africa
The Kenya Democracy Project posts a lengthy, illustrated analysis of the debt relief package that manages to tie Clint Eastwood westerns together with the work of economist Joseph Stiglitz.
South African President Thabo Mbeki fired deputy president Jacob Zuma today. The popular Zuma, who had been Mbeki’s heir apparent, had been implicated, though not charged, in a corruption scandal. South African blogs have been impressed and surprised by Mbeki’s decision. Commentary.co.za says “It was the smart decision as well as the morally correct one. And Mbeki deserves credit for it.”. Politics.za suggests that the firing was a message by Mbeki to the ANC membership.
Sokawanele has quietly collected a list of abuses and “assaults on freedom and dignity” in Zimbabwe, including police, in search of foreign currency, performing body searches on civilians. The blog also reports on the fuel crisis; apparently fuel tankers are not being allowed to drop off their cargo.
The Zimbabwean Pundit analyzes why the general strike called for last week flopped. He also asks who was worse: Mugabe or Ian Douglas Smith? The answer may surprise you.
Jangbalajugbu, a Nigerian blog, wonders why more Nigerians don’t blog.
East Asia
New Mongols analyzes some numbers on political rights and civil liberties worldwide and concludes that Mongolia is embracing western-style democracy enthusiastically.
Photograph by Robbed
South-East Asia
Bloggers.SG 2005, an upcoming mini-conference for Singapore bloggers, is looking for volunteers and panelists for the July event.
Thai Blogs, a group blog about Thailand, writes briefly about its history and what it’s trying to do. They also have a post about a young woman coming to terms with her place in Thailand’s long tradition of women warriors.
Inside PCIJ continues their muckraking work in the Philippines by assembling a list of the scandals that have involved the Arroyo administration. They also have audio files of the tapes at the heart of the latest scandal available for download.
South Asia
In Nepal, United We Blog writes about the important role that a free press plays in the political process, and why the Nepali royal family fears it.
Latin America
A Venezulean-oriented blog called The Devil’s Excrement has a pop quiz to “prove if you are a true Chavista”.
Europe
In Hungary, Pesticide.hu has a fun interview with Marton Bede, creator of a bomb-throwing Hungarian-language ezine called Matula Magazin.
Finland For Thought congratulates Michael Quarshie and Klaus Alinen, two young Finns who’ve earned NFL roster spots this fall.