Stories from 18 September 2007
Egyptian blogger arrested and prevented from covering a taxi drivers strike
Mahmoud Chachtawi, Egyptian blogger and reporter of abna2masr.com website, has been arrested during a taxi drivers strike he was covering. After detaining him for four hours, the police released him and confiscated his camera, mobile phone and ID card. According to a twitter message left on the blog, it seems...
Tunisia: Fifth Wedding Anniversary
‘To my sweet and lovely wife: “Love” is but a fraction of the feelings I have for you. Thank you for making my life as beautiful and complete as it is today,’ writes Subzero Blue from Tunisia, in a post dedicated to his wife on their fifth wedding anniversary.
Syria: Corporate BS
“Nothing pisses me off more than Corporate Bullshit. I’m not sure why Corporate Bullshit (CBS from here on in) works me up, but then again, people have the weirdest pet peeves. If you worked for a big company then you know what I’m talking about,” rants Syrian blogger Omar in...
Syria: Fish Recipe
Abu Fares, from Syria, shares Ramadan's spirit with his readers and dedicates to them a famous fish recipe.
Syria: The Destruction of Old Damascus
Rime Allaf, from Syria, links to an article on the destruction of old Damascus.
Russia: Ingushetia Not Chechnya-II
Window on Eurasia explains why the situation in Ingushetia “is not Chechnya-II but possibly something worse.”
Russia: Demography
Window on Eurasia writes about the lack of improvement in Russia's demographic situation: “…the small rise in the number of births reflects instead a temporary increase in the number of Russian women of child-bearing age.”
Europe: Romani Culture
TOL's Romantic writes about Lojze Podobnik, a Slovenian author whose works focus on Romani culture. Pesha's Blog links to Professor Steve Balkin's compilation of online resources on Romani culture.
Moldova: Transnistria
Douglas Muir of A Fistful of Euros writes about Transnistria, “a sort of post-Communist gangster state”: “Travellers unanimously agree that Transnistria is weirdly fascinating for the first hour or two, then just depressing and boring.”
Czech Rebublic: Reinventing Masaryk
Dr. Sean's Diary writes about Václav Klaus’ multiple views of Czechoslovakia’s first president T.G. Masaryk.
Ukraine: Prostitution and Feminism
Natalia Antonova writes about Ukrainian prostitutes and Ukrainian feminism.
Ukraine: Car Accidents
Petro of Petro's Jotter writes about car crashes that he sees regularly during his morning commutes in Kyiv.
Russia, Ukraine: “Fiddling” With Voters’ Lists
Elections approach both in Russia and Ukraine, and politicians start “fiddling” with the numbers of registered voters’ – or accusing their opponents of doing so. Window on Eurasia reports that “members of the entourage of Kaliningrad Governor Georgiy Boos are thinking about combining his district with the Adygei Republic or...
India: Faith and Science
nanopolitan on the faith-based attacks on science and the reluctance of the Indian scientific to comment.
Nepal: Regional Politics
Nepali Netbook on regional politics, and how India's aspiring relationship with China affects the one with Nepal.
Bangladesh: Accessing Google
E-Bangladesh on whether Bangladesh's government is blocking access to Google.
Iranian bloggers stirred over cockroach cartoon
About a week ago, a Chicago newspaper, The Colombus Dispatch, published a cartoon that depicts Iran as a sewer with cockroaches crawling out of it. The cartoon has created intense discussion among Iranian bloggers, especially those living in North America. Iranians as cockroaches Iranian Truth says, it is no small...
India: On “Movements”
Siddhartha Shome on new social movements that “claim to represent the “people” – the downtrodden Indian masses, without, however, subjecting this claim to the test of democratic elections”
Internet Governance, Global Privacy and IGF-Rio
The global debate on Internet governance will once again gather people from all over the world at UN's IGF, this time in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The process was started last year in Athens, when more than 1,200 participants focused on discussion of the overarching issues tied to the future...
Russian LiveJournal blogger could face three-year sentence
The 23-year old Russian blogger, Dmitry Shirinkin, who wrote a fiction story on his blog inspired by the Virginia Tech shooting, could face up to three years in prison. In an interview with Russia Today (watch the video on GV Advocacy), Shirinkin said “I didn’t expect that a short writing...
Iran:Iranians have access to Google and BlogFa again
Accroding to[Fa]Free Keyboard,Iranians have access to Google,Gmail and Blogfa,a leading Perisan provider of blogs,again.The blogger says “it seems that people who blocked these sites,found out that they did a stupid thing!” These three sites were blocked for 24 hours.The blogger informs us how we can go beyond filterting and read...
