Global Voices Online

Blog from Bolivia links to a new poll which has Jorge Quiroga firmly in the lead for December's presidential election.

The Devil's Excrement does not yet seem convinced of the quality of Telesur's programming.

Daniel of Venezuela News and Views makes his predictions for this Sunday's municipal elections.

Tomas Sancio of Venezuelan Politics covers the reaction and controversy which followed after U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield distributed free baseball equipment to poor youth in the capitol city, Caracas.

Some expats living in Nicaragua, joke about “the price of Terror.”

Matt Lawrence of Havana Journal has some statistics on detentions of Cuban illegal immigrants so far this year.

At the five year anniversary of Plan Colombia, Boz has some excellent and optimistic observations about his latest trip to Colombia/a>.

Cyril Mychalejko has his third and final post on Upside Down Blog about his trip to Guatemala where he observed a miner's union.

Tim says it's that time of year when most Salvadorans enjoy their vacation time including some 65,000 that will visit Guatemala.

The Zimbabwean Pundit points out an interview with “reviled media henchman Tafataona Mahoso”, where he explains why there's no such thing as journalism that has Zimbabwe's interests at heart.

Omeka Na Huria is pleasantly surprised that the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), one of Singapore's few opposition parties, has started podcasting. However, Mr. Brown is, in his own unique way, somewhat skeptical of the endevour. And Wannabe Lawyer actually reviews the content–well, kinda…

Torn and frayed in Manila mourns the death of former presidential candidate Raul Roco: “Philippine politics has lost perhaps its only intellectual heavyweight of recent years.”

Referencing a Nature article, Jeff Ooi wonders what ever happened to BioValley, Malaysia's purported biotechnology research center.

Mentalacrobatics celebrates the fact that the Kenyan Blogs Webring has grown to more than 100 members.

Macam-Macam reports that former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has recieved an apology from the man who beat him while Ibrahim was in police custody in the late 1990s. Wikipedia has more information on the politically-motivated charges that originally landed Ibrahim in jail.

EastSouthWestNorth reports on the story of an entrepreneur, involved in a dispute with the local government, who disappeared after leaving for a meeting with a “reporter”. As far as anyone can tell, he was arrested by public security officials who had been posing as CCTV producers.

The Australian blog Rank and Vile digs into the rivalry between world football (aka soccer) and Australian Rules Football.

Registan.net catches a US State Department official desperately trying to put the best possible spin on US relations with Tashkent.

Black Star Journal applauds the fact that the African Union has condemned the coup in Mauritania, but wonders where the rest of their priorities are.

A review of the book, The Democracy Advantage on Samudaya.

Amardeep provides perspective on Hanif Khureishi's idea of Multiculturalism, and Islamic Schools in Britain.

Synchroni-Cities has a post on faith-walkers called the Kanwarias, and comments on communal mobilization through mass media technology. More about the Kanwarias here.

The Olive Ream offers a perspective on John Robert Bolton's appointment as the Ambassador to the United Nations.

Insights on the presence of South Asians at the 2005 Asian Queer Conference in Bangkok on DesiQ.org.

BloggerCorps gives the background on the current political crisis in Nepal.

Desert Island Boy asks: Charges have been filed against lobbyists for Israel. Does that make them spies, and does it make their employer a foriegn agent?

Hammorabi is talking about the failure of Talabani-Aljafari-Alhakem coalition and state that it is not only failure in the security issues and preventing the terrorist attacks but in producing successful regional and international healthy relationships.

Roba is expressing her pleasure of attending Rum concert, which was held at Al-Hussein Park as a part of the Jerash Festival program.

Reacting to Al-Jazeera clips of Ayman al-Zawahiri yesterday, Abu Aardvark is asking: Why are so many conservative analysts so insistent on taking bin Laden's side in intra-Islamist debates?, and Sabbah is calling the ‘Prophet' Al-Zawahri who Promises the Impossible, and asking him “go to hell.”

Lebanese Political Journal is giving an interesting overview of the relation between the Lebanese Shi'a and Syria and how they became such monoliths that only massive turmoil could topple them.

marsden wonders if the four “ISRAELIS” who happened to be non-Jewish, killed by Israeli solider will be listed on Israeli websites, or the Jerusalem Post on its tribute page for victims of terror!

In humorous way, Laila (A Mother From Gaza) is observing the Palestinian life this week celebrating Israel withdrawal, wearing “Victory Pants.” The pants will actually be blue jeans, to be worn with white T-shirts.

The Tunisian blog Subzero Blue is happy to introduce “BKM” or Burger King Muslim, which he hopes to rival “McDo” and “KFC” with a gut appeal to France large Muslim minority.