Stories from 14 May 2007
Japan: A Report from the Henoko Protest
Jeff at his Okinawa Blog reports on his experience “Living Dangerously on Okinawa's Coral Sea”, protesting environmental surveys for a new base at Henoko Bay. Jeff writes: ” It's a landmark day […] It is to be the first day in which the Self-Defense Force — the Japanese army —...
Japan: Skepticism about Government plans to switch to Linux
Andreas at Chosaq expresses skepticism about reports that the Japanese government is planning to move ahead with plans to promote the open source operating system Linux in government agencies from July. A story originally published in Nikkei Shimbun “says a consortium of major IT firms including IBM (IBM), NEC (NIPNY)...
Europe: Balkan Blogs on Eurovision
A small roundup of the Eurovision-related posts from the Balkans: Pustolovina: Adventure in Serbian writes on the victory for the “new Serbia” and on “a night of belonging”; East Ethnia writes on the complex politics behind this year's Serbian winner Marija Serifovic; Bosnia Vault writes about the contest's youngest participant...
Albania: Religion
Our Man in Tirana posts pictures of a new Orthodox Christian cathedral being built in Tirana; a discussion of religion in Albania is underway in the comments section.
Russia: Blog-Carnival Russian Media
Krusenstern announces Blog-Carnival Russian Media – in 17 days now!
Russia, USA: Patriotism
Tim Newman pinpoints the difference between Russian and American patriotism: “Americans love their country and hate those who don’t agree. Russians don’t love their country and hate those who agree.”
Russia: May 9 in St. Pete, Moscow and on Sakhalin
Belatedly, a link to Tim Newman's photos of May 9 celebrations at the other end of Russia, in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Also, Apricotflan.com's notes on the celebration in St. Petersburg. And, Flickr user Leonid V. Kroujkov's photos from the celebration in Moscow.
Estonia: 1994 Ferry Catastrophe
Vilhelm Konnander writes that the 1994 Estonia ferry catastrophe, which took 852 lives, may have been caused by an explosion.
Ukraine: Deportation of Crimean Tatars
J. Otto Pohl writes about the history of the beginning of Stalin's deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944.
Serbia: Council of Europe Presidency
Europhobia and Balkan Baby write about the beginning of Serbia's presidency of the Council of Europe.
Slovenia: EU Presidency “Agreement of Cooperation”
As Slovenia is preparing to take over the EU presidency on Jan. 1, 2008, Marko Bucik writes about the “agreement of cooperation” between the country's politicians.
Iran:Head of a leading blog provider was arrested
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former vice president and blogger, says[Fa] that Mehdi Torabi,a top manager of Persian Blog,a leading persian blog provider,was arrested a few days ago.Abtahi said we have not understood the reason of his detention.He adds Persian blog provides services for more than 170,000 active blogs.
Russia: Deripaska Invests in Canada
Oleg Deripaska – the man “seen as the closest to the Kremlin of Russia's remaining oligarchs, largely because he often does the president's bidding” – is investing $1.54 billion in the Canadian auto-parts giant Magna International. More at Mark MacKinnon's Blog.
Russia: Anti-Estonian Rallies
“Estonian Ambassador dressed as an SS guard” graffiti and other observations from the anti-Estonian rallies in Moscow – by Laura Citron of TOL's The nEUrosis.
Russia, EU: On the Eve of Samara Summit
Time to study Russian, again, writes Jonathan Newton of Tales from the European Underbelly: “I would have had much use for such skills today, as I seem to be surrounded by Russian-speaking colleagues at the EU Council’s Press Centre, where the EU’s foreign ministers and assorted colleagues will wriggle around...
Russia, Estonia: Cyber-Attack
“Estonia has faced down Russian rioters. But its websites are still under attack,” the Economist‘s Edward Lucas reports.
Czech Rebublic: Politics
“Czech politics is deadlocked” – but in no way neglected at Dr Sean's Diary.
Europe: Easternization of Eurovision
“… the West is likely to continue getting locked out of Eurovision,” predicts A Fistful of Euros. “Next year in Belgrade!”
India: Bloggers on art, morality, government and freedom of expression
In what looks like more than mild disagreement between the moral police and the artists, a student from a university in Baroda was arrested for displaying “obscene” works of art. The student, Chandramohan at Maharaja Sayajirao University was first assaulted by “goons” and then arrested. Chapati Mystery reminds us that...
Africa: Is this the end of Blacklooks.org
Is this the end of the winner of BOBS Awards 2006, Black Looks?: “Somewhere along the way things got lost. the bottom line is that really very few people actually give a fuck. SandMonkey was right after all – we live in a world of EXTREME APATHY. Who gives a...
Bolivia: The Work of the Constituent Assembly and Government Regulations
After nine months, the work of the Constituent Assembly, which has been charged with writing a new constitution remains stagnant. In addition, the government has began to place restrictions on the import of used clothing and on the export of wood, and bloggers weigh in.
