Global Voices Online

neweurasia rounds up press freedom in Central Asia.

Christian Garbis discusses what is at stake for Armenia in the upcoming talks with Azerbaijan over Karabakh.

With talks on a framework for settling the Karabakh conflict on the horizon, discontent in Armenian civil society is on the rise, reports Onnik Krikorian.

T-Moor reports that Tashkent was gripped with fear today over rumors of an impending earthquake.

Guate360 has a description and photo of a teachers' strike (ES) which filled the plaza in front of the National Palace.

Adam Isacson tells the story of Hernán Giraldo, a drug-trafficking paramilitary leader, who will be released from prison in six and a half years as a beneficiary of the “Justice and Peace Law.”

Lemuel Kolkava of This Blog will be Deleted by Tomorrow comments on the Slovak lawmakers' decision to move this year's elections from September to June 17: “Will they, won’t they, will they have early elections? (Yes) Will this influence the NASDAQ or Dow Jones indices in any way? (No)”

Volunteers in Moscow are lending their digital cameras to children with cancer this coming Sunday, so that they could spend one day photographing their lives at the Children's Clinical Hospital. This would be the second year for Moscow's little in-patients to take part in the international contest “Through My Eyes: A Day in the Life of Children with Cancer Around the World.” Yekaterina Chistyakova, who coordinates the volunteer effort, announces this year's details (RUS) on her LiveJournal. Photographs from a year ago are here (click on each child's name to see his/her work).

Pestiside.hu reports that unless more women start coming to Budapest's historical Rudas Thermal Bath, financial losses would be too substantial to continue with the “women only” and “co-ed” days experiment beyond the end of March.

Sean Guillory at Sean's Russia Blog examines the points made by Andrei Illarionov, former economic adviser to Vladimir Putin, about the direction Russia has taken in the recent years.

Musengeshi Katata comments (FR) on Amely-James Koh Bela's book on African prostitution in the West at Forum Realisance: “Can one really defend values that are everyday assaulted and eroded by poverty? … Without a battle against poverty including against western exploitation and the depravation of African economies, without a protracted battle against our incapable renegade politicians, we will get nowhere.”

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile links to an article on the controversial statements about the 2004 Beslan school siege trial made by Leonid Roshal, a Russian doctor who became famous during the October 2002 theater siege in Moscow. W. Shedd also writes about a school teacher from Vladikavkaz, the capital of North Ossetia, he used to correspond with: her perceptions of the region before the Beslan tragedy and how her life changed following it.

Remolacha.net is outraged (ES) that the Dominican newspaper El Nacional is running a photo of two dead children on the front page of today's edition, and asks: “isn't there a law to protect the children's identity?”

Kamla in conversation with Adam Greenfield (author of Everyware) at TalkNewsIndia.

Grandiose Parlor points to a bridge building project in Anhambra State in the East of Nigeria that was completed in only 60 days. The bridge “is 264 feet long and can carry a 3-ton vehicle. The most amazing fact is the construction was done without any heavy equipment! The only mechanized assistance came from a Chinese-made bulldozer used to grade the access road to the bridge.”

Renata Vieira, a blogger based in São Paulo reflects on the tight social networks of small towns and how they encourage conservative values.

Scott W. Clark does a Ukrainian news roundup at Foreign Notes: the Gongadze murder case proceedings should be open to the public; the Danish cartoons have been reprinted in a Ukrainian paper Segodnya; the Russian navy will not stay in Crimea beyond 2017; and it's cold here, so cold that nearly 800 people have died already and several hundred houses still remain without heating in a town in Eastern Ukraine.

The West Indies Cricket Blog links to a Guardian article which casts some doubt upon the Caribbean's ability to host the Cricket World Cup in 2007.

Amit goes to Peshawar and narrates some stories from the very edge of Pakistan.

In Perpetual Transition provides some perspective on the French ship headed towards Indian Waters - Clemenceau.

The rumour mill and the international press anticipate a victory by Haitian presidential candidate René Préval, but Charlito News — a blog dedicated to news about presidential candidate Charles Henri Baker — says it's too soon to tell.

Lives in Focus has a feature on a woman who worries for her daughter who is HIV positive.

On a lighter mode comments on the cheap prices of Chinese products and “thanks God for China” but wonders “will Africa continue to be consumers of goods produced elsewhere?”

Kenyan Musings adds her voice to the Anglo-Leasing scandal in Kenya.…”We need food aid for 4 million Kenyans, yet, the cabinet thinks that sending a mace to London to be polished for 2 million (it could have been done here for 20, 000 but noooooooooo! fuckers don play that!, to say nothing of denying locals an opportunity to earn 20k. Ngai!!) is of more priority than a child whose insides are digesting themselves in hunger.”

Afromusings posts her thoughts on a recent article in the N Y Times Magazine on Samburu Land which is in northern Kenya - a place she has recently visited.

Ethiopundit is serializing over a number of posts, Chapter 16: The Economy of “Revolutionary Democracy” from Dr. Theodore Vestal's remarkable book Ethiopia: A Post-Cold War African State.

Work 4 Change comments on the “forgotten flag” of Somalia which s/he came across in the empty airport in Garowe “There is NO OFFICES or people to welcome you or collect taxes from you. I was informed. although can not confirm, that this airport is used by cargo planes only”

Black Star Journal comments on the failure of the The DRC's soccer federation to inform their player LuaLua on the death of his son for over two weeks.

The Passion of the Present reports on the jailing of “A pregnant reporter has been jailed in Ethiopia for more than two weeks”…..”Press freedom advocates have criticised the arrest without charge of online journalist Frezer Negash, who works for the U.S.-based Ethiopian Review website, which is critical of the government.”

Cameroon blog Scribbles from the den reflects on Cameroon’s National Bilingualism Day - “Yes, that is the real Cameroon where the English language and English Speaking Cameroonians are treated like inconvenient step-children who are barely tolerated.”

The Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly Arrived Denzien comments on the outbreak of Avian flu in Nigeria which he says shows Africa is a high risk from the disease.

Afghan Lord reports on demonstrations in Afghanistan over the Danish Muhammad cartoons.”

Andrés Duque writes that the Latin American release of Brokeback Mountain is inspiring new reflection of sexuality and homosexuality in Argentina.

Baghdad Treasure is shocked how Iraqi children's games have turned into enactments of the violence seen on the streets of Baghdad: “I remember seeing Yousif imitating a security contractor guarding a convoy and pointing his gun at his friends … Dhuha, his 5-year-old friend imitated a woman scared and running in the street while Younis, his 5-year-old brother … imitated an insurgent carrying his rifle and calling his friends to chase and kill another friend, Omar, who was imitating an American individual.”

RazaTaina is intrigued by the assertion by the widow of Puerto Rican independence activist Filiberto Ojeda that Puerto Rico considers itself more a part of Latin America than the US. The 72 year-old Ojeda, who was wanted in the US, was killed last September in an FBI raid.

Colonialism still hinders the Bahamas, writes Andrew Allen. “For so long as a royal face is on our money and our Governors General continue to bow on our behalf before an English monarch, then real nationhood . . .  will be incomplete.”

Petro of Petro's Jotter reports on an unlikely prank: the highway sign at the entrance to Kyiv - a 3-D word ‘Kyiv' in huge letters and the Soviet-time ‘hero city' underneath it - used to be blue but turned orange overnight. On the picture, it looks rather neat this way.

Simon World points to an amusing new study published in People's Daily (the official propagand mouthpiece of the Chinese government) today. The study, conducted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, concluded that “China is still a less developed country that is 80 years behind the US, France, Sweden and Germany“, in terms of social and economic development. Of course, the study did not discuss political development at all.

The Western media are condemning Yahoo! again for handing over the personal account information of Li Zhi to the Chinese government. Li Zhi was sentenced to 8 years in jail for ‘inciting subversion'. In September 2005, Yahoo was accused of helping Chinese authorities identify Shi Tao, a dissident who was sentenced in April to 10 years in prison. ESWN argues that the reporting “is completely blowing the role of Yahoo! in this case out of proportion“.

On Chinese Chic, hcpen cites a comprehensive review article of gay life in Japan from the Japan Times, and contemplates on why a Westerner “could get guys ‘way beyond his league' in terms of looks and age” in Japan.

Mehrangiz Kar (Persian), US based human rights activist & blogger, says not only extremist forces inside Iranian State don't want any direct negotiation with US but some other Iranians reject this idea because, for them, it will reinforce Islamic State. Blogger thinks under huge pressure of their public opinion, extremist forces in US & Iran will acceptto negotiate directly with each other. For Mehrangiz Kar it is the only solution.

Jee's Life comments on the news that the Malaysian police shaved the heads of 10 senior citizens caught playing mahjong on the second day of Chinese New Year: “It’s a pantang and prohibition for Chinese to shave their head bald during Chinese New Year, it’s just like asking a Muslim to eat and drink when they are fasting during Puasa.. it’s so humiliating!'

The brutal beating of a black British tourist at the hands of St. Lucian police officers is the catalyst for a rant on the complexities of black-on-black racism by St. Lucia-based Trinidadian blogger Alien in the Caribbean.

tumbleweed in timor lorosae summarizes a film about the process of reconciliation in East Timor that had been banned from the Jakarta Film Festival. Until 1999, East Timor was occupied by Indonesia

Bewildered in Brunei describes the regular run from bone-dry Brunei to a Malaysia border town to shop for alcoholic beverages. “Tedungan is the Malaysian equivalent to Calais. The only reason for going to either place is to fill up with cheaper alcohol than you can get at home.”

A cross-cultural discussion at Sepia Mutiny, sparked by results from a BBC World poll that showed that the Philippines, among 33 countries, had the most negative impression of India. Manish thought it was because India and the Philippines are global competitors in the services sector, the Unlawyer in Manila is puzzled because locals pay little attention to India while one Filipino commenter believes it's because Indians in the Philippines are associated with moneylending.

On Indonesia's Press Day, Yosef Ardi wonders who will pay for good journalism.

KenJJ.com discusses the odd practice in Malaysia of calling plain water “sky juice.”

A worm's perspective wonders if Singapore is really such a mature society.

Brain farts (and other inane crap) has a scary, unexplainable encounter in her school bathroom after the death of a professor. “What I DO know is that I totally believe in ghosts now. I swear I will never laugh at another ghost story again. “

Registan.net sounds a discouraging note on Uzbekistan's near future.