Stories from 26 June 2006
Algeria: China, America, and the Arabs
Nouri Lumendifi writes about officials speak Arabic. Nouri says that the US can compete with China in the Arab World. All it needs to do is get in the ring and change some time honored traditions like staffing embassies with people who can speak German or Italian but not Arabic....
Egypt: Journalist sentenced to one year
Hossam reports that Ibrahim Eissa, the liberal editor of Al-Dostour (Egyptian newspaper), has been sentenced today to one year in prison, for “slandering” President Mubarak.
Iraq: Reconciliation initiative, born dead
LadyBird commenting on latest developments in Iraq said: Maliki’s initiative for dialogue and national reconciliation included many positive points such as the disarming militias, stop torture and the release of detainees, but it is not expected to achieve any results in terms of halting security deterioration because the plan was...
Israel: What Gilad's father is thinking
Commenting on the latest news coming from Israel, David Bogner writes: “Since hearing about yesterday's attack on an IDF position near Gaza in which two of our soldiers were killed and another taken hostage, I'm embarrassed to say that I've had few thoughts for the dead. Quite simply our government...
Palestine: So how many Palestinians will be killed tonight?
If you have been busy watching the World Cup, here is something else packed with action and excitment you could watch tonight. Well, what happend is that some Palestinian militants attacked an Israeli post, killing two soldiers and kidnapping another. So the Israeli Forces right now are gathering hundreds of...
Jamaica: Female Don
“Sasha Payne (what an appropriate name) is being hailed as the next don for the troubled Havana community in Arnett Gardens. She is so notorious that the police have put her on their Most Wanted List,” writes Leon Robinson.
Poland: “Sex Slaves” Rumor
The beatroot writes that despite the worries of “Polish nuns, green feminists and George W. Bush,” there are no 100,000 East European “sex slaves” servicing the World Cup fans in Germany: “Sex slavery exists, for sure, but 100,000 women being imported into Germany? Surely most of the fans there are...
Poland: Hungary In 1956 Vs Iraq Now
The beatroot writes about “the major difference between Hungary back then and Iraq today”: “Hungarians led the uprising, which was later crushed by a Superpower. In Iraq today, a Superpower has ‘liberated’ Iraq and is now experiencing an insurgency by some Iraqis (and a few cross- border terrorist weirdos).” He...
Serbia: Football and the EU
Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Serbia's poor performance at World Cup and the country's slim chances of getting into the EU anytime soon.
Russia: Ethnic Chinese in the Soviet Union
J. Otto Pohl writes about the fate of the ethnic Chinese in the Soviet Far East.
Ukraine: Oil Stocks; Gas Situation
Wu Wei writes about the gas situation and implementation of “an EU system of oil stocks” in Ukraine.
Gambia: apologising for slavery
Home of the mandinmories reports on the descendent of an Eliazabethian buccaneer who has made a formal apology for slavery to the Gambian people. Mandinmories wonders why?
Ghana: Celebrations
The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen...of Ghana has a video celebration of Ghana's win over the US “Enjoy” as he says.
Aruba: Dia di San Juan
Roosters are no longer harmed when Aruba observes Dia di San Juan, notes ArubaGirl, who appreciates the fact that the festival “celebrates how two cultures merged and produced something new.”
Barbados: Criticising the opposition
The Barbados Labour Party uses its blog to slam the opposition party for allegedly arriving late for sittings of the House of Assembly and being unprepared for debates.
Barbados: New drivers’ licences
Barbados Free Press is concerned that the integration of of fingerprinting technology into the new drivers’ licences the Barbados government has commissioned from a US company may have “far-reaching implications for human rights and freedoms.”
Bermuda: Stained glass ceiling
Bermuda's Anglican Bishop Ewen Rattray's continued opposition to the ordination of women doesn't surprise the Limey, who takes the opportunity to air his own views.
Trinidad & Tobago: Rewarding the Warriors
Jeremy Taylor at the Caribbean Beat Blog outlines the rewards heaped this past weekend upon the Soca Warriors, Trinidad & Tobago's football team, on their return from the World Cup. “Just imagine what they would have got if they'd won a match or scored a goal,” he says.
Voices from Zimbabwe and the Great Lakes
Zimbabwe: The Interception of Communications Bill is having a pronounced toll on the Zimbabwean blogosphere. Posts from domestic bloggers have slowed down noticably over the last two weeks. Despite this tragic reality, several cyberactivists continue to chronicle the largely unheard Zimbabwean story. The unceremonious death of Tichaona Jokonya, the minister...
South Africa: Revisiting democracy
Floyds Perspectives writes a piece on Democracy in South Africa....”Juxtaposed to other democracies, say in Europe, South Africa’s is not organically participatory and/or deserving, as per a different conceptualisation, to be “new tyranny”. In 2005, the French peoples successfully rejected the adoption of the European Union Constitution, despite the political...
Nigeria: Youth Forum
Nigerian Technology blogger, Oro comments on the Nigerian Youth Council which he hopes to rescue “from its destructive path”….I began the week with an opportunity-turned-sour involving a Presidential Youth Forum that was eventually turned into a circus of political psychopancy — and a show of shame of what unbriddled tongues...
