27 March 2007

Stories from 27 March 2007

China: 500 days

In less than 500 days, Beijing Olympic will begin. Wang Xiaofeng has some wild thoughts (zh) about the Beijing city: 1. half of the population will leave the city to...

28 March 2007

Martinique: Owing De Beauvoir

Says Blog de Moi[Fr]: “I am not sure that young women of today are fully aware of what they owe an author such as Simone de Beauvoir and to feminism...

28 March 2007

Honduras: World Water Day

“March 22, 2007 was World Water Day. And guess what? Sunday we had no water! How ironic. Or how prescient.” So begins La Gringa's reflections on water resources in rural...

28 March 2007

Japan: Apology Problem

Did or didn't Abe apologize for Japan’s wartime use of sex slaves? Oftenover from Japundit comments on the news about Prime Minister Abe's recent apology on sex slaves issue.

28 March 2007

Japan: Mask Idol

Lee from Tokyo Times blogs about Japan fashion and fetishism by refering to the recent “Mask Idol”.

28 March 2007

Mauritania: Successful Election

The CRIDEM blog points to a press release by Ould Maouloud stating [Fr}: “The March 25, 2007 election happened in good conditions marked by transparency, civic duty, responsibility and serenity....

28 March 2007

Korea and Japan: Sex Trade

Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole reports that: There are currently an estimated 40,000-60,000 Koreans illegally residing in Japan. Of these, 30,000 are believed to be working in the sex trade....

28 March 2007

South Korea: FTA

Jamie from Two Koreas has an update about the FTA negotiation and anti FTA protest in South Korea: The march was also able to march into Gwanghwamun unobstructed, which was...

28 March 2007

South Korea: blocking foreign porn sites

Matt from Gusts of popular feeling blogs about the recent government policy in filtering out foreign porn sites in South Korea: We're also told that the government “will block around...

28 March 2007

Uzbekistan: Picking Cotton

neweurasia posts photos of children taking part in Uzbekistan's cotton harvest and translates some discussions on LiveJournal blogs of the use of child labor to harvest Uzbekistan's white gold.

28 March 2007

Kazakhstan: Green Cover

Ben Paarmann says that the Kazakhstani government's newfound interest in stricter environmental regulation of the energy sector may all be a way for them to justify not meeting stated production...

28 March 2007

Tajikistan: Implications of -ov

Bonnie Boyd says that the Tajik president's decisions to drop Russian endings from surnames potentially has foreign policy implications for Tajikistan. She says that the decision does nothing for Tajikistan...

28 March 2007

Kazakhstan: Serbia Defeated

At neweurasia, Leila reports on Kazakhstan's upset win over Serbia in Group A of the Euro 2008 qualifiers. This is Kazakhstan's first victory in a competitive match and second victory...

28 March 2007

Armenia: Something Smells Fishy

At the Armenian Socialist-Libertarian Movement blog, Sasuntsi Anarchist says that the timing of the Armenian prime minister's death is suspicious.

28 March 2007

Russia: Putin's Article in the Times

Very Russian Tochka Net thinks Vladimir Putin should stop writing articles for publication in the West: “Confused, placatory stuff whose only effect is to make a bunch of smart-arses think...

28 March 2007

Russia: Thaw

White Sun of the Desert reports on the beginning of the springtime thaw in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: “Bereft of any kind of drainage system, the melting snow first forms a brown slush...

28 March 2007

Russia: Svyaznoi Prezidenta

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow writes on the latest get-together of the pro-Putin youth group Nashi (the post includes a lovely Russian-language paraphrase of Aleksandr Pushkin).

28 March 2007