Stories from 8 February 2007
Serbia: “Serbiality”
South East Europe Online explains what “Serbiality” is: “So, I came up with the word Serbiality to define the Serbian reality (or realities), based on concensus instead of fact. So, for example, if Serbs agree that there was no genocide attempt by Miosevic in Kosovo, then there wasn't. Or, if...
Slovenia, Croatia: No Love
Neretva River writes about sour relationship between Slovenia and Croatia.
The Balkans: Iraq Jobs
Neretva River reports on an American firm recruiting the unemployed in the Balkans “to carry out various jobs assisting the US military in Iraq in fields of work ranging from truck driving to engineering”: “One 22 year old prospective KBR employ noted that his family were praying that he wouldn’t...
Kurdistance: A Medley
Welcome to this week's edition of Kurdistance, where we will roam the world over to see what the Kurds are discussing. Diaspora News Most of the Kurdish bloggers are Diaspora, but this week we are going to look at the areas in which they are talking about. Vladimir, who writes...
Serbia: Forget Mladic, On to EU
Some people in the Balkans and the EU believe that “Serbia’s integration into the EU should be prioritized over the arrest of those most responsible for the worst atrocities committed in Europe since the Second World War,” writes Neretva River.
Bosnia & Herzegovina: U.S. Bosnian Serbs Deported
Finding Karadzic thinks it's a bad idea for the U.S. to go ahead with deportation of 14,000 Bosnian Serb men who “may bear a connection to war crimes” – primarily because it “serves as a distraction in our efforts to catch the real bad guys. You know, the ones with...
Serbia: Ahtisaari's Kosovo Report
“Kosova has been given the blessing of the international community to begin proceedings for independence in earnest and with the sincere belief that their country will be recognised.” More on this at Balkan Baby.
Albanian: Monument to the WWII Germans
Our Man in Tirana posts photos from the German WWII Memorial located in a park in the Albanian capital; an anonymous Albanian comments: “I find the nazi memorial insulting, to be honest. These people came to our country to kill and burn and we're raising them a memorial? My grandfather's...
Albania: More Election Posters
Our Man in Tirana posts more photos of election campaign posters: “Why bother with one poster when you can put up 20 or 30 or 50?”
Nuclear Crisis and Shadow of War at the Iranian Blogosphere
Several Iranian bloggers, inside country and abroad, have written about their country's nuclear crisis and the anticipated dark future which awaits it. For most, they see the situation becoming worss and the Iranian government moving in the wrong direction. For Alpar,a very active blogger in Tehran, the situation is one...
India: On Parzania, Gujarat and Hate
Indian Muslims comment on the refusal of movie theatre owners to screen a movie. “So, Parzania would not be screened in Gujarat. Not anytime soon at least. It seems the entire state is being held hostage to a particular ideology and anyone protesting against it would be silenced. All sighs...
Pascua Lama, Chile: Moving Three Glaciers
Can you imagine moving three glaciers covering the driest desert in the world in order to extract gold and silver? Would you approve of a law that allows a private mining company to have economic power over a border between two countries? This is the sad story of Pascua Lama....
India: Feminism, marrying trees and rituals
A famous actress indulges in a little harmless piece of superstition that has some people in arms. Amardeep Singh explains. “Aishwarya Rai, who has been in the news lately because of her engagement to Abhishek Bachchan, has apparently been ritually married to not one but two trees before her real...
Sri Lanka: Human Rights and Independence
groundviews on why democracy is undermined by the lack of respect for human rights, and why Sri Lanka needs to get together the case for fighting violation of human rights. “There is no way in which effective human rights monitoring can be conducted by national institutions. The National Human Rights...
Nepal: Life in the middle of a political conflict
Life in the Terai gets harder. An account of the days as they go by in the middle of the Madheshi Movement, and the impact on the lives of people at My Vision.
Bangladesh: Can Dr Yunus do it?
He may have won the Nobel, but could he win the Bangladeshi elections? Journal of a Disturbed Mind on Dr Yunus contesting the elections. “He may find 300 honest and competent candidates, but will he find even 150 popular candidates from different seats to win the next election. Very difficult,...
Tajikistan: Energy Crisis
neweurasia reports that Tajikistan's energy crisis has gotten worse as a hydroelectric station serving the Pamir region has just gone out of service.
Central Asia: Why It Matters
Joshua Foust argues that Central Asia should be given more attention by Western policymakers.
Georgia: Minority Youth
Social Science in the Caucasus reports on the findings of research on minority youth in Georgia, including recommendations on integrating them into public life.
Taiwan: name-rectification
Mutantfrog blogs about the politics of name-rectification in Taiwan. Michael Turton from the View from Taiwan believes that “in any normal postcolonial state these monuments to the previous power would be either rehabilitated or destroyed. That is the process that the DPP is attempting to carry out“.
Japan: what's wrong with Gaijin Hanzai Underground files
Gaijin Hanzai Underground Files is a comic book in Japan about “foreign crime”. Many foreigners complained that the book has full of racial discrimination and distortion. Debito explains the details of the distortion.
