14 July 2008

Stories from 14 July 2008

Armenia: Diaspora Survey

Social Science in the Caucasus comments on its research on difficulties faced by ethnic Armenians from the Diaspora when they relocate to Armenia. The blog notes that there is often competition between local and foreign-born Armenians as well as differences in mentality and values.

China: ChinaBounder back with a book

  14 July 2008

ChinaBounder, the country's first major (English-language) male sex blogger, is back after a prolonged blogging absence with a China-bashing book, excerpts of which will be released each day from now through to the end of the Olympics. See Jeremy Goldkorn's post at Danwei for more revealing info.

Bangladesh: An Expensive Wedding

  14 July 2008

A wedding is considered the most important event of a Bangladeshi girl's life and an integral part of the local culture, however these celebrations are getting more and more expensive. See a this post about typical weddings in Bangladesh.

Iran: A disabled man talks about blogging

Radio Zamaneh [Fa] has an interesting interview with a disabled man who discovered blogging. He discusses how blogging made him feel less isolated and opened him up to a whole new world. As a result of this experience, he has set up all sorts of others in Iran with their...

Iran: A man with a mission?

Jomhour, Iran based blogger has published several photos of Hooshang Amirahmadi, the founder and president of American-Iranian Council, in a hotel in Tehran. Many believe he came to Iran with a mission: to encourage Iranian politicians to start negotiation with Americans.

Mongolia: National TV Censured for Political Bias

Tom Terry informs the readers that the Mongolian National Television (MNTV) was censured by the Permanent Committee of Legislation in Parliament for it's failure to ensure journalistic independence during the riots and subsequent State of Emergency declared by the President.

Afghainstan: Gender Debates

Sanjar says that “women’s question” in Afghanistan provides a vivid illustration of ongoing emotional and sensitive debates on universalism versus cultural relativism, individualism versus tribalism, secularism versus religious state.

Iran:Jahan News site was filtered

Several Iranian blogs and sites reported that Iran based Jahannews (means world news) site was filtered last week after it published a letter, written by an Iranian parliament member, criticizing Saeed Mortazavi, Tehran's chief prosecutor. The main issue in this letter was about corruption in one of Iranian universities.

China: Olympics and Politics

  14 July 2008

Kang Guo-ping (康國平) felt that the Beijing Olympics is getting more and more politicized because of the fear of terrorists attack.

China: On Olympic Design

  14 July 2008

Chong translated excerpt of Ai Wei Wei's (艾未未) interview on Beijing Olympic design. The full article in China can be found here.