Stories from 8 September 2012
Kyrgyzstan: Two Years After the Conflict
Much like physical marks the conflict left on the city, the damage left in individual lives and on the city as a community is healing in many places—and where it doesn’t heal, it seems at least to fade into the background of other scars, other challenges. Noah Tucker on Registan.net...
Tajikistan: Xenophobia on Facebook
[O]ur society – to be more exact, that part of our society which has internet access and actively uses social networks – is increasingly witnessing the expansion and strengthening of unhealthy nationalist beliefs. Blogger Harsavor ponders [ru] the rise of xenophobia in Tajikistan, particularly among the country's Facebook users.
Tajikistan: Bribes and Neckties in Universities
Now students pay bribes to be admitted to universities, study only to get their [diplomas], but happily wear neckties to classes… Temur Mengliev summarizes [ru] the changes that have taken place within Tajikistan's colleges and universities over the recent years.
Cuba: Police Detain Blogger, Disrupt Independent Scholarly Forum
Well-known Cuban author and blogger Orlando Luis Pardo Lazo was recently detained by state police on September 1, 2012. Pardo Lazo had been slated to moderate a session of Estado de SATS, an independent, informal scholarly forum in Havana later that day.
Saudi Arabia: Reformist Figures Refuse Secret Trial
The third hearing session in the ongoing trials of two prominent Saudi human rights activists was held earlier today, September 8. Mohammad al-Qahtani and Abdullah al-Hamid, who are among the co-founders of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, are facing charges that include inciting the public to protest and impeding the country’s development. When the judge insisted on holding the session behind closed doors, the activists decided to leave.
Jordan: What Happened to Education?
Roba Al Assi shares a video of the opening of the University of Jordan in 1962 on her blog And Far Away. She writes: As a graduate of the the institution myself, it is funny looking back 50 years, at a time when education actually mattered in Jordan. How did...
Lebanon: A Virtual Museum for Censorship
Lebanese non-governmental organization MARCH has launched the country's Virtual Museum of Censorship, which seeks to document censorship cases in Lebanon from the 1940s to date.
Russia: Dreaming About Better Roads
Prime Minister Medvedev ordered the government to auction a construction contract to build another section of a still-incomplete toll road between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. By signing the decree, Medvedev awakened a debate about the highway's negative environmental impact that only recently seemed to be subsiding.
Myanmar: Increase in Insurance Buyers Due to Natural Disasters
Ko Ko Aung blogs [my] about the increasing number of insurance policy buyers due to natural disasters in Myanmar, although numbers remain relatively small compared to other countries.
