Stories from 29 October 2007
Russia: Litvinenko With MI6?
Sean's Russia Blog writes on the newly revealed “spy vs. spy” dimension of the Aleksandr Litvinenko case.
Russia: Artists for Khodorkovsky, Against Putin
Robert Amsterdam reports on a classical music concert in Paris in support of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other political prisoners, and on the anti-Putin part of the Russian community of “cultural figures.”
Russia, Ukraine: Corrupt Traffic Police
Mark MacKinnon writes about a recent encounter with corrupt traffic cops in Moscow and links to a New York Times story on one man's attempt to stand up to the law enforcement's unlawful behavior. English Russia reposts a Ukrainian blogger's cell phone pictures of how Ukrainian drivers “express their disagreement...
Russia: Campaign Singing
Elections in Russia reports on the singing dimension of this year's campaign.
Poland: Roman Giertych's Out of Politics
The beatroot is wondering who he is going to “write about for the next two years,” now that Roman Giertych has been forced out of politics, along with his party, the League of Polish Families, which “got a miserable 1.3 percent in Sunday’s election.”
Poland: Islamic Cultural Center in Krakow?
The beatroot writes about plans to build an Islamic cultural center in Krakow.
Bahrain: Three Journalists Fined
Bahraini blogger Abduljalil Al Singace links to a Reporters Without Borders article about the fining of three journalists sued for comments which appeared in an online publication.
Armenia: Gender Politics
With several examples in mind elsewhere around the world, Unzipped: Gay Armenia wonders if Armenia shouldn't have a woman president. Despite the patriarchal nature of Armenia and the Caucasus itself, the blog says that a female head of state might succeed in easing “tensions in our society and act as...
Bahrain: Designer Items
Bahraini Diva explains why she buys expensive designer merchandise in this post.
Algeria: Daniel Pipes Talk
Algerian blogger Nouri, who is based in the US, attended a talk by Middle East expert Daniel Pipes at Tufts University. Read his take on the talk here.
Brazil: “Haiti is here, Haiti is not here”
Haiti has become a regularly commented on issue on the Brazilian blogosphere. The special connection between Brazil and Haiti was initiated in 2004, when Brazilian troops started to participate in MINUSTAH — the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti. Last week the UN decided to extend its presence in the...
Armenia: The Numbers Game
After Friday's opposition rally during which Armenia's first president, Levon Ter Petrosian, said he would run again for office, Oneworld Multimedia raises concerns with how different media outlets reported the number of people in attendance. Interestingly, the blog notes that bloggers at the rally came up with roughly the same...
Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood
Tarek Amr shares with us the thoughts of an Egyptian blogger (Ar) about Islamic political parties in this post, which sheds light on the Muslim Brotherhood, its ideologies and impact on Egypt.
Lebanon: Arts and Artists
The Lebanese blogosphere is not solely composed of political blogs you know, and thank God for that. Some artists are using blogs to display their paintings, music and other artistic creations. Moussa Bashir tours the blogosphere, opening up a whole new world of culture and arts.
Israel: When Yigal Murdered Rabin
Last week marked the 12th anniversary of the murder of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Gilad Lotan translates a blog from Hebrew which sheds light on the celebrations which broke out at an ultra-orthodox community when the news was announced.
Turkey: An Armenian in Istanbul
Despite warnings from fellow Armenians, Lara Aha at Life in Armenia visited Istanbul in Turkey last week to attend a seminar on women in conflict zones. The Diasporan blogger now resident in Armenia says not only did she feel more at home in Istanbul than Yerevan, but that she also...
Georgia: “Radical” Opposition
TOL Georgia takes exception to a recent article published by the Jamestown Foundation on what the publication terms the “radical opposition.” The site questions why the author, well-known analyst Vladimir Socor, is using such phrases and challenges many other points made in the article.
Morocco: Stop Internet Censorship!
In March of 2006, Livejournal, the popular blogging site, was blocked by the state-controlled telecommunications provider Maroc Telecom (a subsidiary of Vivendi International), depriving Moroccan citizens of access to the roughly 2 million blogs the service hosts. On May 25, 2007, Maroc Telecom blocked access to YouTube for few days. In August 2006, Google Earth was added to the list of major websites being blocked. And as expected, Maroc Telecom didn’t give any justification for this instance of censorship.
Armenia: Parliamentary Killings Anniversary
The Armenian Observer remembers the 27 October 1999 terrorist attack on the Armenian National Assembly which left the prime minister and seven other senior officials, including the Soviet era leader of Armenia, dead. Eight years after the incident which allowed the incumbent president to consolidate power in the country, many...
Pakistan: Weeping for the Fatherland
A moving post at Truth Spring on the lives that are lost in Pakistan as violence strikes frequently.
Burma: Internet and the Monks
Sacred Media Cow on how the Junta controlling the internet may have actually helped the Burmese monks. “The little fragments of information that did manage to get through got elevated to a level of ennunciative power that would not have existed had the internet not been shut down.”
