Global Voices Online

Bob Glass says that the political party, PAC has clarified its ethics code. Professional blogger, gambler, and former Washington Secretary of State candidate, Jacqueline Passey is not happy with a new tax bill.

Bob is looking everywhere for a Paraguayan football-loving blogger, but so far has had no luck.

Ben Dangl invites readers in Vermont to attend the “Winds of Change in the Americas” conference on Sunday, March 5th while Venezuelan, Miguel Octavio informs his readers of a talk by Professor Javier Corrales on “Chavez and the Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism,” which will take place in Boston tomorrow evening.

Anna of annasblog writes about skiing in Montenegro and taking a recently installed cable road to Tirana's Dajti Mountain.

Tobias Ljungvall writes about the beginning of the election campaign in Belarus, the backlash against the opposition, and the atmosphere of fear reported by Gunnel Arbin, a Swedish journalist who has recently traveled to Belarus. Among the scare techniques used by the regime is a new article in the criminal code, which makes “discrediting” Belarus in the foreign media a crime.

Mat Savelli of Roma Roma and a commenter named Owen discuss implications of the impending lawsuit against Serbia and other issues relevant to the region's stability.

Less than a month before the election, Oleksandr of Messages From Canada assesses Ukraine's major political parties' presense on the Web and their platforms: he's unsatisfied and bored with what he learns. LEvko at Foreign Notes discusses campaigning styles of the three major parties and predicts an increasing support for Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc. Neeka's Backlog has photos from Tymoshenko's mega-campaigning on Kyiv's Khreshchatyk this past Sunday.

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man In Tirana visits local markets selling mobile phones and electronics (many of which are either stolen or fake), doesn't buy anything, and is “thankful” for being “wealthy enough not to have to choose between going without or going illegal.”

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man In Tirana writes about the city's garbage disposal problems - and the locals' dislike of stray dogs.

Alwyn Thomson of Our Man In Tirana posts a Tirana To-Do List: “Experience the last outpost of post-communist chaos while you still can.”

Fabiola Bazo has a pdf file of the latest national poll just five weeks before Peruvians elect a new president. Un Lobo en Perú points out that “in the recent past, opinion polls have proven to be notoriously bad guides to electoral behaviour.”

I'm your huckleberry feels democracy has given a better choice of presidents to Indonesia.

On rosesnchaos' Livejournal blog, she talks about how she feels her English has deteriorated because of the hodgepodge of Chinese, Malay and English she hears around her: “It's the speech of lay society, but it's just so common here in Malaysia, even among educated folks. Speaking proper English will come across as being pompous.”

Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia is experiencing tulan (read his post to see what it means): He's discovered someone named Vivian Chew submitted a photograph he took to a local newspaper and won some money. “BLOODY HELL! Who is this Vivian Chew? Makes me wanna chew Vivan Chew.”

Singaland senses in the latest government budget a step backward for Singapore: “The most telling sign is the decision to build 2-room flats for sale. The government had stopped building two- and three-room flats for sale in the 1980s as Singaporeans became well off and wanted to live in bigger flats. But in 2004 many of us lost our jobs and needed to downgrade to smaller flats, the government then started to build 3-room flats for sale. And now some of us can only afford a 2-room flat. Are we not back to the pre-1980s days?”