Stories from 12 February 2007
Serbia: A Comment on Kosovo
Estavisti writes about Kosovo – as well as the U.S.: “It’s important to realise that the bombing of Serbia set the stage for the present US doctrine – ‘we can do whatever the fuck we like, whenever the fuck we like, to whomsoever we fucking choose’.”
Serbia: Emir/Nemanja Kusturica
Belgrade 2.0 writes about Emir Kusturica, the Serbian filmmaker who has been awarded with France’s Order of the Knight of Arts and Literature of the first degree. Kusturica's name, by the way, is no longer Emir, but Nemanja: the name change occured after his baptism.
Hungary: Terror and the Fence
Pestcentric reports: “The big news now in Hungary is that there may be a big terror plot being planned against the parliament building, which is why the fence […] needs to be kept in place until March 15th. March 16th is apparently the day when terrorists hibernate for the summer,...
Serbia: A Rocky Balboa Statue
Pestcentric wishes good luck to a village in Serbia that hopes to solve its (many) problems by erecting a statue of Rocky Balboa.
Latvia, Russia: “Borderlands”
Marginalia continues to muse over the issues inherent in Latvia's border dispute with Russia.
Russia: Kaliningrad's Prussian Castle
Copydude reports on the plans to rebuild Kaliningrad's old Prussian castle, which was “firebombed by the RAF in 1944″ and “then levelled in 1969 to build the ill-conceived ‘House Of Soviets‘.”
Russia: Ethnic Rights Activist Assaulted
A Step At A Time reports on the beating of an ethnic rights activist in Russia’s Mari El Republic.
Iran:Music for Peace
Amin Rasooli,a creative blogger and musician, has composed “The future of ground”, a piece of music for peace.
Iran:Oil,Britain and Iran
Forever Under Construction talks about an exhibition of images partly inspired by Emily Johns, British artist and publisher, recent peace delegation to Iran, in May 2006.According to the blogger, images dealing with the complex relationship between Iran, oil, and Britain. The work weaves together the larger international dynamics, the mutual...
India: Conservativeness and Kerala
Dog's Own Country on conservativeness and Kerala. “The picture the media in Kerala, which I guess reflects the mentality of the people and what they like to read, gave any corruptible youth in Kerala (oh yeah they are so corruptible in Kerala, especially after their training in school and college...
Nepal: On anon blogging
Nepali Voices on anonymity in the Nepali blogosphere. “For SNS, anonymity provides sincerity. When Zade began blogging, she was afraid of revealing identity in the internet because she was a ‘girl’ but nevertheless for her also being anonymity gave the ‘total freedom’ in ‘expressing herself’.”
Sri Lanka: Ethics of comment moderation
Indi.ca writes on the ethics of comment moderation. “There is some law of numbers in the world. In science you call it random error, in email it’s spam, in politics it’s terrorism, and in blogging it’s the combo of spam and trolls. For every 100 people you get 1 crazy.”
Bangladesh: An open letter to the country
Drishtipat has Dr Yunus's open letter to the country. “Dr. Yunus sends an open letter to the public asking for their opinion on his entering politics. You can send the letter directly to him and also can post a copy at the comment section below for us to see.”
Bangladesh: Can the power of one save the nation?
The hottest topic in Bangladesh now is that the Nobel Laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus has expressed his intention to start a political party and run for the next election. In an open letter he has asked the people to provide their support and feedback to him and suggest how he...
Jamaica: The role of the Caribbean artist
Prompted by a blog post which raised the question of why black actress Thandie Newton didn't get better roles, Geoffrey Philp considers the role of the Caribbean artist and his/her audience: “An artist needs time and space to think through a creative problem, which means a certain amount of aesthetic...
The Puerto Rican dilemma
Roberto Hernandez contemplates the large question of Puerto Rico's future: “Obviously the solution is not to be found in any of the ones offered by the current agendas.“
Bermuda: A black caucus
Christian S. Dunleavy ponders the logic of re-establishing a black caucus within Bermuda's opposition party.
Egypt: Sand Monkey Alive and Kicking
Egyptian blogger Sand Monkey is not dead.. but is stealing his neighour's wifi connection to blog! Desperate times call for desperate measures.
Indonesia: Virus Samples at a Price
Slashdot.com is hosting a discussion on Indonesia's decision to sell the Avian Flu virus samples to a biotech company rather that passing it freely to the World Health Organization. Notes the original poster “They feel slighted when they give away such samples, but then cannot afford the patented vaccines.”
Arabisc: Jordanian MPs Having a Ball!
Jordanian blogger Batir Wardam doesn't mince his words when he says that Jordan's Members of Parliament are in for a great weekend. After all, for a few hours of work, they enjoy the perks of being amongst the highest paid civil servants in Jordan. سوف تكون نهاية اسبوع سعيدة للسادة...
Recife, Brazil: Trumpeting 100 Years of Frevo, and Musical Innovation on the Eve of Carnival
Recife is the capital city of the state of Pernambuco in the northeast of Brazil. The pulse of Carnival has been growing in a crescendo in recent days, justly honoring it's fame of being among the three cities with the hottest festivals, along with Rio de Janeiro and Salvador. Recife...