5 November 2007

Stories from 5 November 2007

China: Different views on the Dalai's medal

  5 November 2007

Despite the current Dalai Lama‘s officially illegitimate status within China, bloggers nonetheless took notice when American president George Bush awarded him with a Congressional Gold Medal last month. Blogspot user Master Zhong has written a fairly typical criticism post—as typical as all the other posts which discuss the futility of...

Bulgaria: Halloween

  5 November 2007

KGrady of What's Going Down? regrets they don't celebrate Halloween in Bulgaria – but dresses up anyway, as a 10-Leva bill. His wife, Petya of BigHead, dresses up as a “Bulgarian school-teacher on strike” – and posts some pictures.

Russia, UK: Sidney Reilly – “Executed Today” – in 1925

  5 November 2007

ExecutedToday.com – “a blog of history, sociology, biography, criminology, law, and kismet — an unrepresentative but arresting view of the human condition across time and circumstance from the parlous vantage of the scaffold” – writes: “On this date in 1925, legendary British spy — and subsequent James Bond inspiration —...

Pakistan: Media, Reactions and the Emergency

  5 November 2007

A guide to understanding the state of emergency in Pakistan, has now been posted courtesy of The Emergency Times, which gives us another interesting perspective: Well, for starters, the entire constitution has been put in abeyance (read suspended). This is more synonymous to a martial law, which is not provided...

Georgia: Opposition Politics

  5 November 2007

TOL Georgia reports on the plans of the opposition following this weekend's protests in Tbilisi. With attendances at the rallies quickly tapering off, the site says that it looks as though the opposition has failed in its attempt to force a parliamentary election in the spring.

Croatia: Election Singing

  5 November 2007

A month or so remains until the election in Croatia, and, according to Illyrian Gazette, “no sign, as yet, of the media's usual pre-election obsession: which singers will be performing at whose election meetings.”

Serbia: A Trip to Kosovo

  5 November 2007

Novala, Europa writes about his trip to Kosovo: speaking “the language of the opponent” – Serbian – with an Albanian family; a drawn-up map of Pristina; photos from a farmers market; school uniform street fashion.

Albania: “Washing” in Tirana

  5 November 2007

Some think it's hilarious, others hate it: a creative way to decorate an apartment building – whose tenants have no choice but to continue living there, even if they don't like it. Belatedly – photos by Our Man in Tirana, posted back in August (link via Albanian Blogger).

Former Soviet Union: Migration Syllabus

  5 November 2007

J. Otto Pohl shares a syllabus for a Migration and Borders class that he will be teaching at American University of Central Asia in Spring 2008. Topics covered include the 1943 deportation of the Kalmyks, the expulsion of the Germans from Czechoslovakia at the end of WWII, and the 1944...

India: On being Sexual

  5 November 2007

Confessions from the Closet on the labels on sexuality – bisexual, lesbian etc, and on admitting to be a “sexual being”.