Stories from 4 August 2008
Ukraine: Political Optimism After Flood Disaster
Ukrainiana comments on the optimism over flood disaster reconstruction expressed by Ukrainian President Yushchenko and Prime Minister Timoshenko, and interprets it as influenced by the upcoming presidential elections.
Lithuania: Romuva Religious Renaissance
Vilnius Blogs writes about a visit to Moletu, homestead of the Lithuanian pagan religion Romuva, which is currently experiencing a renaissance.
Georgia: While World Eyes Turn Away
Itching for Eestima fears that now may be a time for the Russian-Georgian conflict over South Ossetia to escalate, while the world's attention is turned to the Olympics and the US presidential elections.
Russia: Academic Politization?
LJ user fesstagere claims (RUS) that Moscow State University (MGU) – the biggest in the country – is becoming increasingly politicized to serve the interests of the ruling United Russia party.
Russia: State Internet Monitoring
Information Policy reports that the Russian government is creating a special agency, based on Federal Security Service (FSB) Internet resources, to monitor and analyse contents published on the Internet.
Iran: International Campaign to Support Jailed Physicians
As the XVIII International Aids Conference started on August 3 in Mexico, two internationally recognized Iranian HIV/AIDS specialists who were supposed to attend the meeting, are being held in prison accused of planning to overthrow the Iranian state. The two physicians, Kamira and Arash Alaie, are brothers, and have pioneered...
China: Olympic sign taller than the Great Wall
“1st thing I see as I ascend the wall,” writes Flickr user Moonage Daydreamer, “slogan for the Beijing 2008 Olympics…could be seen everywhere in China: on bumper stickers, sides of buses and buildings, even on the Great Wall.” More photos of the sign from different angles can be seen here.
India: Music from South Asia
Why isn't South Asian music more popular in the West? More at Sepia Mutiny.
Pakistan: The IT Sector
The Pakistani Spectator on the challenges faced by the IT sector in Pakistan.
Pakistan: Another PM?
All Things Pakistan on the rumours that the current Prime Minister – Gilani may be on his way out of office.
Bangladesh: Working in Kuwait
a bengali in TO points to the case of Bangladeshi workers being ill-treated in Kuwait in the context of pan-Muslim movements.
Barbados: Petition for Maloney
AfriKa CRY BLOOD, the blog created to promote awareness of the strange circumstances surrounding the death of Barbadian I’Akobi Maloney, reports that the boy's mother “wept openly in front of Prime Minister David Thompson and other Government officials” at the recent Emancipation Day celebrations, while onlookers “lined up to sign...
Jamaica: Blog Deletion?
“Who would have thought that Google would have reached out to a quiet corner of the Internet and threaten deletion? And yet, it happened to me”: Jamaican litblogger Geoffrey Philp explains.
Guyana, Barbados: New Species Found
New rain forest species have been discovered in Guyana – Living Guyana links to the story, while Barbados Free Press makes tongue-in-cheek parallels between the world's smallest snake (which has been discovered in Barbados) and the country's politicians. Living in Barbados adds: “I'm very happy to play my part in...
Aruba: Where Everybody Knows Your Name
“In a small community, everyone knows you…”: arubagirl wants to tell “the crop of young adults who eagerly boarded their flights to go continue their studies abroad” that “to plunge in headfirst in independence…is not as easy as it looks.”
China: Olympics fatigue
It's one thing to say that people in Beijing and other places around the country are getting tired of the disruptions the Olympics have brought, but Xiao Qiang at China Digital Times translates a Sohu blogger's post which outlines just what some of those disruptions are.
China: On parachute reporting for the Olympics
Last week tech blogger Thomas Crampton looked at the issues faced by foreign journalists “parachuting” into the Olympics, such as getting a scoop vs. getting a source in trouble. A post today from Adam at Shanghai Scrap almost makes you wonder if the latter is unavoidable.
Paraguay: Nobel Prize Winner Stiglitz Wants to Advise New President
The winner of a Nobel Prize in Economy, Joseph Stiglitz will be in Paraguay later this month to participate in the inaugural events of incoming president Fernando Lugo. He also indicated that he is very excited at the possibility of advising the new head of state. Local bloggers wonder what Stiglitz will say about the state of the nation's economy and what might be some possible solutions.
Japan: Toyota's Just-In-Time System and the Akihabara Killings (Part 2)
In the first part of this two-part series, we translated the first half of a blog entry by blogger boiledema, who presented a very personal perspective on the Akihabara massacre on June 8th. In this second half, boiledema elaborates further on Japan's temp worker industry, expresses his frustration at Kato's actions on June 8th, and provides further details about Toyota.
Russia: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Gulag Archipelago, has died on Sunday. He was 89. Reactions to Solzhenitsyn's death are already beginning to appear in the Russophone blogosphere, and here's one post on the writer's legacy, by LJ user markgrigorian.
