Stories from 21 August 2007
Bahamas: The Value of Culture
An international take on a Bahamian song leads Nicolette Bethel to muse about “the general dismissal of culture in general (and, by extension, of our culture in particular)”, stating; “most of us…are missing the point when it comes to cultural discussions.”
Kuwaiti blogger Bashar Al-Sayegh released!
It has been reported that Bashar Al-Sayegh, the Kuwaiti blogger who has been arrested earlier this week for comment posted by an anonymous on his forum, has been released.
Tajikistan: New legislation
At neweurasia, Madina lists several of the new laws and regulations that were stipulated by the Tajik government recently. Many of them are absurd and remind Madina of an 18th-century caliphate.
Central Asia: Which port to choose?
As a landlocked region, Central Asia is reliant on other countries’ maritime infrastructure to integrate with world markets. On Registan.net, Kayumars Turkistani evaluates two potential seaports, Gwadar in Pakistan and Chabahar in Iran.
Kazakhstan: Sham elections
Arthur concludes that Kazakhstan's parliamentary elections which took place this weekend were seriously flawed, both because of irregularities on voting day itself and, equally important, because of skewed media coverage of the poll's contestants. Plus: Bonnie Boyd writes a great backgrounder on the elections.
Georgia: Special Economic Zones
Social Science in the Caucasus agrees with a columnist that Georgia does not need Free Economic Zones.
Azerbaijan: Soviet Funk
English Russia posts a vintage video of famous Soviet-era singer Muslim Magomaev. The clip, besides showcasing a great example of Soviet funk music, also features a lot of footage of Azerbaijan's capital Baku made during these times.
Afghanistan: Situation in Herat deteriorating
Barnett R. Rubin retells a conversation he had with Homa Sorouri, a student from Western Afghanistan. According to Sorouri, the situation in Herat is deteriorating, and close family friends are affected.
Armenia: Sport fights
Both Zarchka and Onnik Krikorian originally expected to see exciting basketball games when they went to see the matches Glendale-Istanbul and Yerevan-Cairo respectively: But unfortunately, both games, which are part of the 4th Pan-Armenian Games, were the scene of fist fights between the opposing teams, casting a negative shadow on...
African writers criticize Sarkozy in open letter
Jean-Luc Raharimanana, a Malagasy writer famous for his influential works on French colonialism, recently authored an open letter to French president Nicolas Sarkozy in response to the now infamous message to Africa and Africans he delivered in Dakar, Senegal. Nearly a month has passed since Sarkozy's speech, but its effects...
India: Food names and sexual harassment
Blank Noise Project has a list of food names that women get called by street harassers.
Bhutan: A brand called Democracy
For A Democracy takes a closer look at the brand of “democracy” where powerful families appear to hold on to their power, and comments on what democracy in Bhutan might end up being.
Pakistan: Arms Race
The Pakistani Spectator on the Arms Race, and what Saudi Arabia's strategy should be.
Bangladesh: Dhaka University
Rezwan points to blog reactions on the trouble in Dhaka University, sparked by “comments passed by an armed forces personnel during a soccer match on the university gymnasium ground where an army camp is situated.”.
India: Wedding Rituals
Doing Jalsa and Showing Jilpa has a wonderfully flippant and thought provoking post – on challenging rituals and traditions that go into a wedding.
Peru: Slideshow of Destruction in Pisco
C.J. Schexnayder posts images and a special slideshow on his blog Andean Currents documenting the destruction in the city of Pisco.
Iran:A Young Filmmaker got Electroshocked
Mostafa Karimi, a young filmmaker, was electroshocked and lost his two hands when he was filming a scene.It seems security measures were not respected.A blog was created to support him.Help Karimi[Fa] blog updates news about him and his needs.
Indonesia: Beauty
Fatih Sayud in Indonesia writes how his perception of beauty has changed as he has grown older. The blogger asks readers for their criteria of how they would define a person pretty or charming.
Jamaica, Cayman Islands: After Hurricane Dean
As Hurricane Dean continued its devastating progress across the Caribbean, bloggers in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands reported on emergency preparations, and post-hurricane images uploaded to Flickr showed damage to be significant but not as severe as feared.
