Stories from 19 September 2006
Trinidad & Tobago: Dear Jack Warner…
Jeremy Taylor writes a letter to Trinidadian FIFA Vice President Jack Warner: “What a horrendous time they've been giving you in recent years, Jack. There was that hearing earlier this year into an alleged conflict of interest in the alleged sale of World Cup tickets, and now this alleged affair...
Bermuda: Botanical gardens
Bermuda blogger Sean Soares makes a case against the destroying of Hamilton's botanical gardens to build a hospital.
Belize: Iguana recipe
Lee Vanderwalker posts a dialogue between herself and a Belizean called “Bushman” about how to catch and cook an iguana.
Bahamas: Crime and collapse
A gang-related murder leads Bahamian Adrian Gibson to wonder “How far are we now behind Jamaica and Trinidad?“
Bahamas: Challenges of nation-building
Sir Arthur Foulkes outlines the challenges faced by the Bahamian “nation” as the country seeks an appropriate model for development.
Cuba: Transport conference
Luis M. Garcia finds it ironic that Cuba, “a country with one of the worst transport systems on the planet,” has been chosen as the venue for an international transport conference.
Cuba: Raúl's title
Cuban news daily Granma calls Raúl Castro, “President of the Council of State”. “Probably a simple sub-editing mistake,” says Luis M. Garcia.
Thailand: Thaksin victim of Southern Unrest?
The blogger at Blowing In the Wind says that Thaksin may be the first Thai Prime Minister to fall partly because of the unrest in Southern Thailand.
Thailand: First day of the coup
Rumors of a coup had been circulating in Bangkok for weeks, and foreigners like me had been ‘warned’ to be careful, don’t stay out late, move in groups, keep updated with news reports, watch the cable TV. So when it happened last night (Tuesday, Sept 19), I was hardly surprise....
Slovenia, Croatia: Border Disputes
Michael Manske of The Glory of Carniola is guest-blogging at A Fistful of Euros about border disputes between Slovenia and Croatia.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Richard Gere in Karadzic Movie
Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic writes about Richard Gere's visit to Sarajevo to film a movie about war criminal Radovan Karadzic: “The press was abuzz with speculation about whether Karadzic is caught in the movie.”
Czech Republic: Brno Not “Next Prague”
NvB: Bored in Brno? recommends a post about Brno by the Four Bees blog: “While a great introduction for any visitor, the essay has some great insight into the urban character of Brno.”
Moldova: The Matrix and Cleopatra Stratan
Peter Myers of Adventures in Moldova writes about Cleopatra Stratan, a 3-year-old pop star, and about the dubbing of The Matrix into Moldovan: “No, not Romanian. No, not Russian. Dubbed in Moldovan, a mix of Romanian and Russian words and phrases with the most vulgar words from both languages mixed...
Belarus: News Roundup
TOL's Belarus Blog writes about the new arrests of the opposition activists and about the “extreme and absolutely unacceptable” conditions, in which, according to the Belarusian government, Belarusian students live in the United States. Also, there's a translation of a Russian-language post about the regime's ominous reaction to an innocent...
Lebanon: Pope, Politics, Post-War Casualties and Circumcision
This week Lebanese blogs discusses circumcision, the environment, the Pope's quote on Islam, Lebanese politics, post war hardships and suspicions among other things. Let us start this weeks sampling by answering these questions: What if Google was used to settled battles … who would win? Interested in knowing? Lazarus has...
Thailand: Liveblogging the coup
At least two blogs have been set up solely to cover the unfolding military coup in Thailand – a group blog 19sep which is in English and revolution.blogrevo which is in Thai. Video copies of coup-related announcements are appearing on YouTube. Below is the first televised announcement of the take-over...
South Asia: The Pope and Academia
Chapati Mystery on the controversy and the difference between the last pope and the current one. “The central irony of this controversy is that the thesis of Three Stages in the Program of De-Hellenization treats the futility of spreading faith through violence. Indeed, the quote that most infuriates some Muslims...
India: What the Pope was trying to do
Falstaff summarizes the controversy around the Pope's remarks with a good deal of sarcasm thrown in. “The pope, delivering an address at his old University, decides to use a quotation from a discussion between a Byzantine emperor and a Persian scholar, on the theory, presumably, that any discussion of contemporary...
Sports, Health and Politics in West Africa
We begin this week's blog round-up with sports. The Trials & Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen…of Ghana blogs about the selection of a new coach for Ghana's senior national football team, amongst other issues: As the Week Draws to a Close in Accra:: Regulation? What Telephone Regulation?; CAN 2008 is...
Nepal: What does the Monarch want?
Is the Monarch in Nepal campaigning for himself? What is the role of the political parties to ensure that the ideals of democracy are upheld? Democracy for Nepal says “The eight parties still have the option to do away with the monarchy right away through a political decision. And they...
Pakistan: Dear Pope
iFaqeer requests the Pope to please stop feeding the bears. “What he's done is a gift to the people who'd like Muslims to follow their extremist, fanatic attitude. And as I was saying here in the last few days whether he did it out of naivete, ill-advisedness (“stupidity” seems inappropriate...