Stories from 19 September 2005
Indian bloggers on film, books, blogging, and real life.
Apu of A Wind-up Bird Chronicle reflects on early feminist writing from the subcontinent. In the fiftieth year of Nabokov's Lolita, here's Hurree Babu of Kitabkhana imagining an aging Humbert and an aging Lolita. Mumbai's J.Alfred Prufrock (yes, we have not one but TWO Prufrocks in India) of Prufrock's Page...
Chile: Celebrating Chile's Founding
Jeanette Jalil wishes Chile Chile a happy birthday and prosperous future.
China: blogging with Chinese characteristics
EastSouthWestNorth compares blogging in China to the U.S. and Hong Kong. He explains why internet bulletin boards are more influential than blogs in China.
Brazil: US State Department Info Sheets
Atari In Rio calls it unreasonable to judge Brazil solely by the U.S. State Department’s Consular Info Sheet.
Hong Kong: WTO protests
Che at Chatter Garden posts an account of the welcome extended by the Mexican goverment to non-government groups staging demonstrations at the WTO in Cancun, 2003. Hong Kong will host a WTO round in November.
China: High suicide rate
HKDave picks up on a report about the lack of trained mental-health professionals in China, and the high proportion of rural women among the country's suicides.
Cambodia: Imported labor
Just how much, wonders Phnom Penh-based ThaRum, does Cambodia need expats?
North Korea: Translation issue
Oranckay “re-translates” the English version of the statement issued by the six-parties to the Korean nuclear talks.
North Korea: Nuke-free pledge
One Free Korea takes apart, in a point-by-point analysis, the unexpected announcement that North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons program in exchange for security and assistance guarantees from the other five parties to the China-brokered talks.
Bolivia: Social Forum
Complimenting Nick Buxton's coverage, Movimiento Boliviano de Lucha Contra el TLC y el ALCA also has a summary of the Bolivian Social Forum held last week in Camiri.
Nigeria: The bus stops here
Chippla gets ready to say farewell to the time-honored, happy-g0-lucky methods of bus-boarding in Abuja, with the advent of posh new bus-stops in the city.
Kenya: Diplomatic rape scandal
Kenya Democracy Project quotes unnamed official sources on the reported rape of a Kenyan diplomat by a Kenyan diplomat in the United States, during the visit of President Mwai Kibaki.
Kenya: Cellphone money
Bankelele has seen the future of money transfers in Kenya, and it's cellphone-shaped.
Ethiopia: Collective memory
Ethiopundit posts a long and thoughtful essay drawing parallels between Marxist thought and HIV/AIDS, and between Ethiopian political culture and The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat.
Microfinance initiative
Timbuktu Chronicles reports that major financial institutions are increasingly offering microfinancing options in developing countries.
Argentina: Unaffordable Ushaia
Travel guru, Jorge Gobbi, admits he is probably still far off from visiting one of his own country's most popular tourist destinations, Ushuaia. In part he says, international tourists have increased prices beyond what Argentinians can afford.
Mexico: 20th Anniversary of Mexico City Quake
Eduardo Arcos of ALT1040 remembers the 20th anniversary [ES] of the 1985 Mexico City earthquake.
Azerbaijan Election Monitor
Marianna Idrisova Gurtovnik has posted her latest report on Azerbaijan's parliamentary elections at neweurasia.
Ulaanbaatar's Agricultural Market
Mongolia Matters reports on last weekend's annual agricultural market in Ulaanbaatar.
Afghan Election Diary
Human Rights Watch's Afghan Election Diary has numerous reports from the field and audio reports concerning yesterday's parliamentary election.
Anti-Russian Feeling in Armenia
Onnik Krikorian discusses anti-Russian feelings in Armenia and asks whether or not Russia's days in the South Caucasus are numbered.