Stories from 16 December 2007
Myanmar: Getting Harder for Japanese to Visit
A Japanese passport usually enjoys hassle free entry to most countries in the world but now it has become more difficult for a Japanese citizen to visit Myanmar.
Georgia: Misha is Cool!
The BBC's Matthew Collin writes on This Is Tbilisi Calling about the latest attempt by the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, to woo voters ahead of January's election. A song, Misha is Cool, has been recorded by a former boy band member, now a regional governor.
Mozambique: Voice of Free Africa 1976
Moçambique para Todos [pt] publishes a link to an article in English about African clandestine radio stations, among them Voice of Free Africa, from 1976. You can listen to the stations in MP3.
Georgia: Military Buildup in Abkhazia
Steady State comments on reports that Russia is building up its military presence in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. Moscow instead says what is happening is nothing more than a regular rotation of peacekeeping troops.
Korea: Upcoming Election
Only a few days remain until the presidential election in Korea. While one candidate is much more popular than other candidates according to statistics from major media, a TV panel program, Chujeok 60 Minutes, showed something else. The least popular candidate got the first ranking after analyzing election pledges and...
Armenia: The Kurdish Question
In response to a post by Paul Goble on the apparent belief that Armenia's Kurdish minority is obstructing a peace deal with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, Oneworld Multimedia identifies a number of inaccuracies in the analysis.
Japan: Final Report on Internet Regulation
The idea that a country boasting one of the world's most active net cultures would attempt to regulate online content within its borders may appear to some as infeasible. But plans unveiled earlier this year by the Japanese government aim to do exactly this, targeting a broad range of content that includes blogs and personal homepages.
Russia: Voting in Grozny
According to dubious Central Election Commission's data, over 99 percent of Chechnya's 580,918 eligible voters showed up for the Dec. 2 parliamentary election - and 99.36 percent of them voted for Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. Journalist Timur Aliev - was both a voter and a candidate in this election. Read his somewhat surreal account of what it took to exercise his right to vote in Chechnya's capital Grozny.
