Stories from 15 May 2006
Voices From Zimbabwe and the Great Lakes
Zimbabwe:A whirlwind tour of Europe by Arthur Mutambara the leader of the “pro-senate” faction of Zimbabwe's oppposition the MDC was the center of the nation's largest “cyber controversies” over the last two weeks. In an attempt to reach out to Zimbabweans in the diaspora, Mutambara, the robotics scholar-cum-politician stumbled into...
Oil Pipeline Blast in Nigeria as Nigerian bloggers see it
A devastating oil pipeline blast hit Nigeria yet again, last week resulting in the death of over 200 people. I have compiled the perspective of some Nigerian bloggers about the sad event.
Belarus: Ice Cream-Eating Flash-Mobbers Detained
EM of TOL's Belarus Blog thinks it'd be better for the Minsk flashmob community to move underground: “The problem with all of that is that KGB is reading those online communities as well, so there are usually security people present at the flashmobs even before they start. […] Or is...
Iraq: News From Ramadi
Brian posts first hand accounts of the ongoing war in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.
Russia: Relations With Europe
Tobias Ljungvall writes about Europe's relations with Russia: “At a time when Russia is reviving the Cold War the EU pretends to be seeing positive signs, as if there is no conflict neither in interests nor in values.”
Iran: Terrorist Attack!
Sibestan writes about gunmen who have shot dead 12 people on a road in a remote part of south-eastern Iran. Blogger says these groups started to use same methods in Iraq and its effects will be visible even in Tehran soon (Persian). He adds terror is sign of cancer!
Russia: (Fighting) Fascism
Daut at Ufa Blog posts two banners of the Russian Movement Against Illegal Immigration and writes: “Fascists claiming the legacy of the defenders of Leningrad. Child killers declaring themselves protectors of children. These people live in opposite land.” Megan Case writes about swastika graffiti in St. Petersburg and her own...
Russia: Tamara Ivanovna From Apt. 14
Brigid of Laughter in the Dark posts a wonderful vignette about Tamara Ivanovna, an elderly Russian woman she met at a cafe in Krasnodar: “‘Tell me,’ she inquired, ‘how much did you just pay for that teensy little salad?’ ‘100 rubles.’ ‘And your coffee?’ ‘Eighty.’ ‘My, my, my! I can...
Russia: Public Transportation and the Roma
Brigid of Laughter in the Dark describes a ride in a Krasnodar tram – “a fast-moving game of Twister inside a sardine can”- and an encounter with two Roma women and their children: “Half-way home, I suddenly hear a young woman whispering in my ear, ‘Young lady, be careful! You...
Russia: Siberian Adventure, Part 3 & 4
Jane Keeler of From Russia With Blog posts the third and fourth installments of her Siberian travelogue: “Adventures on Olkhon Island” and “Olkhon to Irkutsk to Moscow.”
Russia: Eggs Ads
Russian Marketing Blog and Snowsquare.com both write about eggs: the former posts a picture of a box of quail eggs, a “masterpiece of DIY advertising and design;” the latter writes about the secret of “mysterious” ads featuring eggs recently revealed.
Poland: Controversial New Minister of Education
Students and teachers protested this week in Poland against the appointment of Roman Giertych – “catholic-nationalist, arch-conservative” – as Minister for Education, the beatroot reports – and then muses on what “Polish education curriculum [would] look like if [Giertych] had a free rein to do what he liked.”
Estonia, Finland: Trade Unions Sign a Deal
Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes that Estonian and Finnish trade unions have signed a deal to ensure that workers’ rights in both countries are not violated.
