Stories from 4 December 2006
Turkmenistan: Reality Czech
Peter explains how the grounding of a Czech military plane carrying the country's army chief of staff and deputy defense minister by Turkmen authorities is a bad sign for regional stability and military cooperation.
Haiti: Reflecting on Insecurity
Yon Ayisyen writes (Fr): “As we approach elections, officials cannot afford to admit that they are loosing the fight against insecurity, hence they tell us that the situation has improved and that they are making progress.”
South Africa: new way to rent DVDs
Chilibean writes about Pushplay, a South African version of Netflix, “A new way to hire DVDs has launched in Cape Town. The service is called Pushplay and the way it works is that you sign up, pay between R89 and R139 per month for up to 3 DVDs. The DVDs...
Bolivia: Land Redistribution
On Tuesday night, writes Nick Buxton, “the Bolivian Government completely unexpectedly passed an amended land reform bill that aims to redistribute up to a fifth of the country, land that it designates as ‘unproductive’ land in the hand of a small minority of rich landholders. It passed the law, the...
Burkina Faso: Ouaga 2000
Togo-based Expat French blogger Marie visited Ouaga 2000, a neighborhood in Burkina Faso's capital of which she writes (Fr): “Ouaga 2000 is a neighborhood in which you find only mansions … There, you don't feel like you are in [Burkina Faso capital] Ouagadougou. The mansions are built by ministers, people...
Honduras: Unpaid Government Employees
“La Gringa” surveys the unpaid government worker in Honduras.
Honduras: World AIDS Day
Peace Corps blogger Melanie in Honduras describes how she commemorated World AIDS Day.
Venezuela: Chavez Re-elected
“Chavez is president and Venezuela is 61% red and 39% blue. Which is to say, morado (“purple/bruised”) writes Sebastian Delmont in a post titled “Venezuela es #9D0062″, after the hexidecimal representation of purple in HTML. Daniel Duquenal is poetic with his late-night reflections: “It is around midnight. A soft rain...
Mexico: President Calderón's Newest Cabinet Appointees
Ana Maria Salazar looks at newly inaugurated President Felipe Calderón's latest cabinet appointees. Colin Brayton criticizes the human rights record of Secretary of Governance Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña.
Ukraine: Introduction to EU Legislation
Wu Wei writes about the process of adopting EU legislation and other developments in Ukraine: “There is a whole change of culture needed in Ukraine. New laws are regarded as little more than bits of paper if they get in the way of businessmen and the government, so they aren't...
Bosnia & Herzegovina: Air Mail
Novala, Europa reports: “Austrian Airlines offer a new feature: Air Mail. Sounds kind of natural, but not quite since they offer the service in the lunch/dinner boxes. The lid of the card board box is a postcard. You can tear it off, write it and hand it over to the...
Ukraine: Politics Now and Then
Europhobia posts a comparative roundup of Ukrainian politics.
Slovenia: Anti-Roma Bias
Neretva River writes about anti-Roma bias on Slovenian TV.
Estonia: “What Freedom Is and Isn't”
Itching for Eestimaa explains why he disagrees with the new Estonian “law banning the use of Nazi and Soviet symbols in public places.”
Estonia: “Poisonous” Putin
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Litvinenko's murder, the image of Russia and the meaning of the recent developments for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Belarus: Absent-Minded Opposition
Belarusian opposition leader got detained recently, and – surprise, surprise – his detention was justified: he went to Latvia on his son's passport. More on the implications of such absent-mindedness at TOL's Belarus Blog.
Belarus: Media on Blogs
“‘Belgazeta’, ‘Salidarnasc’, BDG (‘Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta’), naviny.by – all of them publications with critical and objective approach – ran a piece in the past months describing blogs as the new alternative information source, as a major trend in mass media, or speaking about their vulnerability to desinformation.” Read more on...
India: Dignity and Sanitary Napkins
Cuckoo's Call on making sanitary napkins for women more affordable. “The key challenge is to design an appropriate product and define the manufacturing technology and business model. I would prefer localised production across the country, with poor women in villages and urban slums securing gainful employment from this.”
Ethiopia: coffee trademark
“So … the whole Starbucks – Ethiopia affair boils down to a corporate shakedown of Meles Inc. against an honest corporate citizen. Does anyone out there really believe that a single Ethiopian peasant would have seen a cent of money from coffee any more than they see any results from...
Bangladesh: Take Back Bangladesh and Democracy
Journal of a disturbed mind on the Take Back Bangladesh forum and event. “So far the concert was a great start for young generation’s involvement in encouraging clean democracy. The performers performed for free to support this new movement.”
India: Energy Needs
Satellite pictures of the earth at night reveal a lot about energy consumption and economic activity. At The Indian Economy Blog, a post on India's energy needs and its likely growth. “Japan looks like a shining moon in the middle of the pacific. The southern part of the Korean peninsula...
