February, 2006

Stories from February, 2006

Costa Rica: Political Ethics, New Tax Bill

  28 February 2006

Bob Glass says that the political party, PAC has clarified its ethics code. Professional blogger, gambler, and former Washington Secretary of State candidate, Jacqueline Passey is not happy with a new tax bill.

Venezuela, Bolivia: Latin American Conferences in US

  28 February 2006

Ben Dangl invites readers in Vermont to attend the “Winds of Change in the Americas” conference on Sunday, March 5th while Venezuelan, Miguel Octavio informs his readers of a talk by Professor Javier Corrales on “Chavez and the Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism,” which will take place in Boston tomorrow evening.

Belarus: Elections and the Atmosphere of Fear

  28 February 2006

Tobias Ljungvall writes about the beginning of the election campaign in Belarus, the backlash against the opposition, and the atmosphere of fear reported by Gunnel Arbin, a Swedish journalist who has recently traveled to Belarus. Among the scare techniques used by the regime is a new article in the criminal...

Ukraine: Pre-Election Observations

  28 February 2006

Less than a month before the election, Oleksandr of Messages From Canada assesses Ukraine's major political parties’ presense on the Web and their platforms: he's unsatisfied and bored with what he learns. LEvko at Foreign Notes discusses campaigning styles of the three major parties and predicts an increasing support for...

Peru: Reliabiligy of Peruvian Polling

  28 February 2006

Fabiola Bazo has a pdf file of the latest national poll just five weeks before Peruvians elect a new president. Un Lobo en Perú points out that “in the recent past, opinion polls have proven to be notoriously bad guides to electoral behaviour.”

Malaysia: Learning Language

  28 February 2006

On rosesnchaos’ Livejournal blog, she talks about how she feels her English has deteriorated because of the hodgepodge of Chinese, Malay and English she hears around her: “It's the speech of lay society, but it's just so common here in Malaysia, even among educated folks. Speaking proper English will come...

Malaysia: More Plagiarism

  28 February 2006

Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia is experiencing tulan (read his post to see what it means): He's discovered someone named Vivian Chew submitted a photograph he took to a local newspaper and won some money. “BLOODY HELL! Who is this Vivian Chew? Makes me wanna chew Vivan Chew.”

Singapore: Leap Backward

  28 February 2006

Singaland senses in the latest government budget a step backward for Singapore: “The most telling sign is the decision to build 2-room flats for sale. The government had stopped building two- and three-room flats for sale in the 1980s as Singaporeans became well off and wanted to live in bigger...

Singapore: Missing Singaporeans

  28 February 2006

Littlespeck.com wonders where are all the missing Singaporeans. The number of new registered voters has risen slowly, despite a rising population, leading to the conclusion that many Singaporeans are going overseas to work, study or do business.

Vietnam: Visiting Pagodas

  28 February 2006

Our Vietnamese God describes visiting pagodas in Vietnam. “Food served at pagodas is usually good, really healthy but a wierd thing is that sometimes they make it into animal shapes, which I'm still confused about.”

Venezuela: 17th Anniversary of Caracazo

  27 February 2006

Oil Wars remembers the tragic massacre which took place 17 years ago today when “the government of Carlos Andres Perez sent the army into the streets to put down, with bullets, the huge popular protests against his stringent economic package which involved increasing fuel and transport prices.”

Venezuela: 90's Poetry and the Magic Middle

  27 February 2006

Venepoetics links to an anthology of Venezuelan poetry from the 90's. Iria Puyosa says she is little impressed by the top 100 blogs according to Technorati (ES) and is much more a fan of the “magic middle.” She offers readers her own top 25.

Bolivia: Support for Morales, but not Courts

  27 February 2006

Eduardo Ávila links to a survey which says that 79% of Bolivians approve of new president, Evo Morales so far. Meanwhile, Miguel Buitrago points to the large distrust of the Bolivian justice system, asking, “is this a crisis of the democratic sistem or is it a realignment?”