Global Voices Online

neweurasia writes about corruption in Mongolia.

Matt Jay asks whether or not Kyrgyzstan is on the brink of political chaos in light of recent political developments and plummeting public confidence in the country's president.

Nessuna writes at Oneworld Multimedia about the rise in racist attacks in Russia against people with darker skin and how Armenians have reacted to the stabbing death of a 17 year old Armenian in Moscow.

Luke Distelhorst reports that Mongolia is worried about all the ships flying its flag on the high seas. Mongolia's has long been a “flag of convenience,” and the government is now concerned that the ships flying it may not be safe.

Andrew of Comings Communiqué has posted a video a talented saxophonist he encountered at a church service in Northeastern Brazil. The verdict? “Kenny G, has nothing on this guy!” I most certainly concur.

Martin Varsavsky, himself an Argentine immigrant living in Spain envisions “political parties made of immigrants joined by native citizens who felt that to them humanity was a stronger concept than nationalism.” In fact, he says it's already happening: “As the May 1st walkout is proving, America would suffer very badly without the hispanic participation. And when all the other immigrants join in, Asians, Eastern Europeans, Africans, it will be time for mainstream political parties that something must be done to end the tremendous unfairness of people working every day who are treated as criminals.”

Eduardo Ávila has posted the entire Spanish text of Supreme Decree 28701, which explains - in nine articles - the details of Bolivia's nationalization of its natural gas resources. Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas has collected reactions from news outlets across the world. We'll have more on this story in a feature post tomorrow.

Brandan compares Maradona's recent donning of a Brazilian football jersey to “Michael Jordan wearing a CCCP warm-up during the Cold War.” Meanwhile, Argentine journalism professor Julian Gallo says that blogger and author Leandro Zanoni has published a book about Diego Maradona's life in the media. In a followup post, Gallo clarifies that “the post … about the launch of the book about Maradona doesn't show any sympathy for its subject.” Then, “according to the emails I received yesterday and the comments so far, the level of fanaticism that many Argentineans have with this ex-football player is shameful.”

“Our economy was never prepared for the changes which I’m certain somebody must have seen coming,” says Matthew Hunte in his all-encompassing rant against the state of things in St. Lucia,

Blogdai on the culture of democracy, the place of youth and younger citizens and taking to the streets - “These protests represented the interests of the 7-party alliance, not the majority. In fact, without elections, how does one know exactly where the majority opinion lies? Majorities are keepers of the democratic process– they represent and maintain the system.”

The politics of Eelam and Sri Lanka in London, as Tamil candidates try to woo the electorate with Tamil Specific promises at Lanka Page.

Moju in conversation with Delon Weerasinghe - “Chatting with Delon brought back memories of College drama and a renewed sense of hope for a resurgence of good English theatre in Sri Lanka through a new generation of playwrights.”

Even as the Tamil Blogosphere grows, Gilli has been aggregating and highlighting noteworthy posts. Kaps writes on how English and Tamil blogs can complement each other.

myHimachal Blog profiles Sanjeev Dixit, a folk singer from Himachal.

Entrance to the Shrine profiles Fizzah Shah an animal lover and animal rights activist.

Russia Blog reports on the May Day demonstrations in Moscow: “Zyuganov and police officials were asking the three thousand-strong crowd to refrain from carrying fascist flags, but the Russian skinheads claimed free speech and proceeded with to wave their banners and posters anyway. The crowd screamed in ecstasy ‘Christ has risen!', ‘Risen Indeed!', ‘Moscow, May, Gaustarbeiters – Get Out!', ‘Russia for Russians, Moscow for Muscovites, Others – Leave Now!', ‘Beat the Jews and the Blacks!', ‘Death to Queers!'.

Andy H of Csikszereda Musings writes on how Romanians and Hungarians treat their diacritical marks differently: “A few days ago, for example, I wrote a post entitled Happy Paste. Now ‘Paste' was the way I had seen the Romanian word for Easter written, and it amused me that it was paste. But I also knew that it was pronounced not ‘paste' as the English word, but Pash-tay (more or less), and so it began to dawn on me that it was probably actually spelt ‘Paşte'.”

There is a growing sense of uncertainty in dealing with the Iran issue, even among the anti-war movement itself. This is what the “catch-22 discourse” portraying the Iranian situation looks like:

Preemptive strike = an Iraqi-style backfire
But
no strike = a Nuclear Iran

Raed trying to answer the question: Is there an Iran “Dilemma”?

On the eve of the Press Freedom Day, the press in this, as well as virtually the whole Middle East, are in shackles, with parliaments aiding and abetting the press and its workers’ incarceration, utilising that ever-present fillip: religion, to justify imprisoning journalists and anyone else who dares to speak their mind and challenge a preconceived notion, Mahmood said.

As Khalaf closes his article describing the economical situation in Jordan: “Two things go unnoticed; the whoring of the rich and the death of the poor.”

The story is about government small raise of the minimum wages in the country, which didn't cover all labors, and the demonstration of recruit agents who recruit labors southern Asia, while Khalaf wonders how much of this workforce is actually necessary?

Following talk of the democratic way in which a Chinese ‘Idol' was selected via text message in last year's wildly-popular television program Super Voice Girl, Super Voice Boy has been cancelled, reports Fon Tuinstra from China Herald. Auditions for SVG 2 began this week in cities across China.

complexvertigo

Eastern & Central Europe