Stories from 20 May 2011
Zimbabwe: Action Alert: Women Arrested for Protesting
Six WOZA (Women And Men of Zimbabwe Arise) women have been arrested for protesting about electricty supplies in Zimbabwe: “The members were arrested by police officers who accused them of painting messages on the road. The messages read- ‘power to poor people’ ; ‘no lengthy load shedding’ ; ‘prepaid meters...
Russia: Billionaire Gives Up Business After Publishing a Video On Bank Fraud
Alexander Lebedev, Russian tycoon, said that he will give up his banking business and join pro-Kremlin People's Front, after he published a video clip [ru] on corruption in Federal Security Service and Central Bank in his blog, Gazeta.ru reported [ru]. The video has been removed shortly after its publication, although...
Azerbaijan: Armenian Eurovision boycott dilemma
Following Azerbaijan's success in Eurovision, Eurotrash or Eurotreasure comments on speculation that Armenia might boycott next year's event to be held in Baku. Locked in a bitter stalemate over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, the blog says that the international music competition could provide both countries the opportunity to...
Afghanistan: Partition of the country as a sensible solution
Soraab Ferozgar opines on the current state of affairs in Afghanistan, saying that recent events as well as past historical tribulations have illustrated that the only solution for Afghanistan is separation.
Afghanistan: “Attorney General Dancing Drunk” scandalous video
The Rumi posts a YouTube scandalous video with Abdul Jabar Sabit, former Afghanistan Attorney General, who “jailed many people in Kabul for calling it crime against Islam”.
Uzbekistan: Presidential daughter launched twitter account
Abulfazal writes that a few days ago Uzbek Internet community has probably got the first twitter account for a well-known high-ranking figure, Gulnara Karimova, the Uzbekistan president's daughter, but the question on whether it is a real account or a fake one remains.
Uzbekistan: Anti-Turkish campaign deepens
Ataturk Street in downtown Tashkent is about to be renamed, and in the view of neweurasia’s Avicenna, it’s the latest signal of Turkey and Uzbekistan’s rather bipolar relationship. “It’s obvious that this crisis is probably more serious than anyone thought,” he writes.
North Korea: News Resources
Adam Cathcart from Sinologistical Violoncellist has complied a list of North Korean news items on China, cultural diplomacy, US/Japan, Middle East, Environment, and etc. It helps to understand North Korea's understanding of its relation with the rest of the world.
Ukraine: “Thugs in Parliament”
Foreign Notes writes about yet another fight in the Ukrainian parliament, this time between the deputy speaker and one of the MPs.
Russia: “Work and Shelter in Migrant Moscow”
Madeleine Reeves writes at OpenDemocracy.net about migrant workers in Moscow and their “daily struggle […] to stay ‘legal’, and survive.”
Macedonia: “Very Different Survey Results”
Belatedly, a link to the explanation by Razvigor :-) of why the results of a telephone survey on Macedonian political parties differed significantly from a similar personal in-home survey results.
Russia: Moscow Schools and Migrants’ Children
Window on Eurasia writes that “an increasing number of Muscovite parents are doing whatever they can to ensure that their children go to those schools which have few or no migrant children.”
Russia: “Violence, Death and Cover-Up in the Russian Army”
At OpenDemocracy.net, six tragic cases of hazing of new Russian army recruits: the Russian NGO Mother’s Right Foundation “used the highly popular Russian social network http://www.odnoklassniki.ru to publish selected profiles of young men who died while serving in the army. They were no longer alive, so couldn't write anything themselves,...
