17 October 2007

Stories from 17 October 2007

Serbia: BlogOpen

  17 October 2007

Belgrade 2.0 writes about BlogOpen, “a historical, traditional, second bloggers’ and readers’ meeting in Serbia in Serbia’s short history”: “Help create a buzz in the English speaking world, because the Serbo-Croato-Bosniako-Montenegro-Macedono-Sloveno speaking world is already buzzing!“

Slovenia: “Polhanje!”

  17 October 2007

Piran Café tries some polh, or the fat dormouse, “a species fairly common from Spain to western Russia. They look like small gray squirrels, but with big dark sexy eyes and long brooding tails.”

Ukraine: UPA's 65th Anniversary

  17 October 2007

Ukrainiana posts a comprehensive entry on the history and the 65th anniversary of “Ukraine’s underrecognized Insurgent Army” (UPA): “Attempts at re-educating and reconciling elderly people contrary to their beliefs should be abandoned. But revisiting Ukrainian history and recognizing, for future generations, the people and events misrepresented in Soviet textbooks makes...

Haiti: Quelling the Floods

  17 October 2007

Haiti Innovation thinks that some of the severe flooding that is plaguing the island can be reduced in the long-term through reforestation efforts.

Cuba: Press Freedom Index Ranking

  17 October 2007

Referring to the Reporters Without Borders annual index rating of the level of press freedom around the world, Uncommon Sense says: “Cuba's specific rating almost is irrelevant. What counts is the company it keeps at the bottom of RSF's rankings each year.”

Bahamas: Engaging the Americans

  17 October 2007

“Engaging the Americans, our most important trading partner and neighbour is a good thing,” writes Rick Lowe at WeblogBahamas.com, on learning that the island's Prime Minister will address The Caribbean-Central American Action organisation at their Miami Conference on the Caribbean Basin in December.

China: Why Focus on Clapping?

  17 October 2007

Liu Xiao-yuan wondered while mainstream media in China was interested in how many times people clapped during Hu Jintao's speech in 17th Party Congress (zh). The blogger criticized such kind of formalism in China politics. His original post was deleted in sina (zh) while there is no problem in posting...

China: Reporting 17 Party Congress

  17 October 2007

Rose Liu compared reporters’ concern on the 17th Party Congress (zh): western media's concern is more substantial than Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau's media. The former pay attention to economic and political reform, while the latter concerned about Hong Kong and Macau policy… as for me, I felt that the...

China: Depoliticalization

  17 October 2007

Rensj669 from Tianya (via 1510) commented that depoliticalization is the governing politics of the present day China: When people have given up politics, they don't concern about social environment and humanitarian issue anymore. We work for the present, without dreaming for a more ideal future (zh).

Saudi: Back Entrance for Women

  17 October 2007

Saudi blogger Rasha draws our attention to the huge gap between the treatment of men and women in her society – where women have separate entrances to their homes, crumbling segregated university campuses and even a smaller praying area in Mecca.

Iraq: Teens Work to Help Families

  17 October 2007

Alive in Baghdad brings us the latest from a war torn Iraq, where at least 50 per cent of the population are under the age of 18. “Despite the ongoing impact of violence and terrorism that affects all Iraqis, children must even risk their lives to get to school, and...

Former Soviet Union: Pyotr Grigorenko's Centenary

  17 October 2007

Window on Eurasia writes about the “neglected centenary” of General Pyotr Grigorenko: “People like the late general are a rarity. Anyone who met him – and I was fortunate enough to do so – counts himself privileged. But even more, all those living in the post-Soviet states now are his...