Global Voices Online

Technorati has increased indexing of non-English blogs, writes Danwei's Joel Martinsen, going on to explain why the aggregator's indexing of many Chinese blogs will still show only—perhaps even less than—half the popularity picture.

Tajik Boy asks whether or not Russia is Tajikistan's friend or foe in the long term given Russia's treatment of states in the former USSR who pursue independent political paths.

The Golden Road to Samarqand reports on Kyrgyz universtity students' thoughts on politics in the wake of last weekend's large protest in Bishkek.

Claire Wilkinson says that Kyrgyz must seriously think about and enact changes to build a better future rather than acting for short-term benefits, which has done nothing but hurt the country.

Arsineh offers a first-hand report on Serj and John of System of a Down hunting down Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, to pressure him to bring to a vote a pending resolution on recognizing the Armenian genocide.

Harmick posts the latest on the Armavia crash at Blogrel.

A protest is being planned in Serbia on May 9, writes Belgrade Blog, and it is being advertised by means of SMS: “”In ‘92. they told us that the sanctions will last two weeks. Today, Mladic is more important to them than all of us! PROTEST - SERBIA TO EUROPE! 9.5. 17h, Republic Square, Belgrade SEND IT FORWARD.”

Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes about the dangers Russia poses as an ideology-free, “cash-rich energy empire.” The beatroot reports on Poland's defense minister Radek Sikorski likening the Russian-German gas deal to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.

W. Shedd of The Accidental Russophile writes about a Westerner's take on Soviet - and Russian - humor: “The film also makes the case that humor has dried up in Russia since the fall of communism. I'm rather skeptical of this claim […]. The targets might now be New Russians, rather than Old Communists, but the tongue is just as sharp and just as funny.”

Snowsquare.com, Scraps of Moscow and Russian Marketing Blog write about strange-looking ads that have appeared in Moscow and are part of the mobile phone provider MTS re-branding campaign.

Greg of Reflections on Ukraine shares his impressions of a book of stories by a Ukrainian author Irene Zabytko: “All of the stories are narrated by the central character, Luba, a Ukrainian in her early twenties of the post-WWII displaced persons (DP) group of immigrants who lives with her parents in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village and goes to a nearby university. Luba struggles in her desires to become an American woman while retaining her Ukrainian identity.”

Slovenia's president is fighting cancer and is a vegetarian, writes Michael of The Glory of Carniola. He also links to an interview with the president published by the Society for the Liberation of Animals.

Oscar Mota introduces (ES) readers of DesdeGuate.com to Blogs Chapines (ES), an aggregator and directory of Guatemalan blogs. Guatemala had been one of the few Latin American countries left without a directory.

Tim Muth says the eight day pro cycling race Vuelta a El Salvador is currently underway. Meanwhile, a cyclist named David is riding through Central America and blogging his journey at A Ride for the Climate.

Jacqueline Passey says she'll be setting up a blog for the Costa Rican NGO “El Puente” and asks her to help by linking to it, donating books, and helping with fundraising.

Maciej Ceglowski brings his ever-magical prose and lens to Torres Del Paine National Park in the Patagonia region of Chile.

An outing in the Belize countryside renews in Lee Vanderwalker “a sense of urgency in photographing old Belize before the cruise ships and big buck tourists “discover” that Belize is a safe and friendly country and come in and spoil everything.”

Fran J. Saavedra, writing from the Canary Islands, announces the first Podcast Marathon (ES), which will take place this Saturday with the goal of promoting more interaction between Spanish-speaking bloggers and podcasters. Likewise, Eduardo Arcos is seeking the participation of bloggers (ES) for a series on the upcoming presidential elections in Mexico.

In a new and positive development, Saudi Arabia is now issuing non-religious toruist visas. This means that people who are interested in coming to the country for purposes other than business or Hajj can finally visit the country. Aya tells us that there is things to visit in Saudi Arabia. Historical sites, natural sceneries, gorgeous beaches, entrainment resorts, etc…

Ammar talks about the interesting now celebrated phenomenon of the Kubaisi women - the orthodox sufi women movement founded by the Syrian scholar and teacher, Munira Kubaisi, a.k.a. the Miss.

The movement which began in the early 60s in Damascus is now an international one with centers all over the world operating quietly, almost clandestinely sometimes, albeit, hey are so far pretty apolitical and, as such, has no connection to any terror groups or activities. Find out more of what is this movement all about.

Violence taking over democracy again in Lebanon. This time inside one of the Lebanese universities. Cedar-Guardian has some details.

Cayblogger is outraged at the legal precedent set by a Cayman Islands' Grand Court which ruled that “that if a man has sex with a 12-year-old girl, the ‘but she looked 16-years-old'. . . a conviction of statutory rape can be avoided.” As the title to Cayblogger's post says, “Ignorance And Stupidity [are] Viable Defense Strategies In Cayman Courts.”

Reporter Kevin Sites is on assignment in Haiti for Yahoo. Alice Backer is prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt, but is still keeping a close watch to see whether he lapses into “Christiane Amanpour-style reporting”.

Taran Rampersad recounts a story about the good old days in Trinidad and Tobago–when not having a license for your home-made bicycle could land you in court.

“Guyana's secret “Plan B” for the 2007 Cricket World Cup has been leaked!” writes Nicholas Laughlin in a post pointing to a Stabroek News humour piece on the country's continency plans for hosting visitors during next year's cricket tournament. “It includes the creation of special DWZs (Designated War Zones) in Georgetown, a Downtown Chaos Initiative, a major conceptual art project by Christo, and the establishment of an SRC squad.”

Sir Arthur Foulkes and Larry Smith weigh the environmental impact of the The US Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Centre, an the American naval facility on the Bahamian island of Andros. Sir Arthur: “Experience has shown that neither the Americans nor the British can be trusted to make judgments in favour of Bahamian health and environmental interests when their own interests conflict.”

Celia at China Activist Weekly blogs on the naming by Time Magazine of women's rights activist Chen Guangcheng as one of the one hundred people shaping the world. Following harassment and a severe beating by the Chinese police, Chen Guangcheng disappeared in March. Here's what Celia's doing on his behalf.

Samantha is writing in from Dili in East Timor where the situation continues to be tense after last week's violence. “Food supplies are running low as people panic buy and fresh fruit and vegetable sellers who normally come in from the districts have stopped bringing in produce. Petrol prices have soared from 80 cents yesterday to $1.25 a litre today with long queues at petrol pumps.”

According to Freedom for Ganji blog, Akbar Ganji, writer and journalist who was released from jail recently, received Golden Pen Prize of Freedom of Speech in Tehran. According to blogger, Ganji said in a county where civil society has no meaning and government has not recognised private sphere, everything becomes a political issue. He added that, at present government, has put nuclear energy on jouranlists agenda (Persian).

Singapore's nostalgia blogger Lam Chun See writing at the goodmorningyesterday blog talks about his childhood Kampong(village) badminton playing days.

Indonesian couple Alfa and Aldo are inviting their friends to participate in an art exhibition during their wedding. They feel that such a concept would be more exciting compared to the regular wedding photo shoot. The artwork can feature anything that the participant likes about the couple. The post features some of the early submissions.

In ‘Scenes from a Dysfunctional Democracy,' Simon at Simon World notes some absurd politicking in Hong Kong's Legislative Council. “With a democracy like this,” he retorts, “who needs voting?”

The fault for the weak link between major blog aggregators and non-English blogs, says China Herald blogger Fons Tuinstra, lies not with the aggregators but with the ignorance of the local bloggers themselves.

“It all boils down to pinging the Technorati servers,” writes the Shanghai-based China consultant. “When you cannot be bothered (like many Chinese webhosts), Technorati will not list you. We actually had to explain [to] a participant in India what a ping is.”

Mongster's nest does not like the media using the broad term “militant” to identify street protesters. He asks the media to “name groups for what they seek to represent”. The blogger talks about the wrong impression that such reporting might give to a foreigner “Imagine a foreigner reading a news article on inq7.net about militant groups staging a rally near Mendiola. He/she may deduce how chaotic the situation in our country given the fact that ‘militant’ (terrorist) groups are able to assemble near the seat of power.”

Lyn Jefferey at Virtual China gives some background on China's week-long May Day holiday and translations of comments from an online discussion on the state of laborers in the pseudo-socialist country, including the comments that are quickly being erased.

A call for papers has been sounded, blogs Hunjangûi Karûch’im's Antti Leppänen, for the third world congress of Korean studies set for October this year.

“There doesn't seem to be any DPRK involvement this time,” he writes, “which I must tell is fortunate, considering the experiences from the 2nd ‘world' congress of Korean Studies which took place in Pyongyang in 2004,” in which South Korean scholars were refused entry.

China Doll's Holly Molly blogs on a new tool which helps fight back against spammers.

As Digicel is expanding its reach in the Caribbean, Haitian telecoms are reacting to Digicel's presence in Haiti. Says (FR) Radio Kiskeya: “The arrival of Caribbean operator Digicel triggers a counter-offensive from its Haitian competitors.” Haitel and Comcel, aided by [local telecom regulatory body] CONATEL are crying foul at a commercial pamphlet issued by Digicel that offers trade-ins of non-compatible devices. CONATEL has criticized the pamphlets alleging the naming of competitors in advertizing is not welcome in Haiti.

Today, as the technorati blog pointed out that in its Top 100, Chinese Blogger Xujinglei became NO1 in the chart. It just followed a newly released report from Technorati which claimed that Chinese is the thrid biggest language in the global blogosphere, with explosion of non English blogs. Here is the screenshot.

plus. Technorati is blocked again in Mainland China after few days of unblocking, according to Danwei.org.

Black Star Journal points to an interview with a DRC presidential candidate broadcast on NPR radio…”Dr. Oscar Kashala. A Congolese ex-pat practicing medicine in Boston, Kashala is running for the poisoned chalice of the presidency of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.”

Timbuktu Chronicles points to the Wazobia open source project that was developed by Nigerians, Segun Oni and Bolaji Onibudo. “The OS is accessible in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo and English, to make Nigerians feel more at home in their computing environment…”

Nigeria:long & difficult history; corruption, greed & murder of the innocents! writes on the power of oil and the country Nigeria could have been and uses the shape of the Benue and Niger River which with their intersection makes a Y shape. “Foreign capital was rolling in at close to $90 million a year, in our first four years of independence. Despite our 250 tribes and tongues, Africa's most populous nation, linked by an expanding economy and a growing network of roads and power lines.”

Ethnic Loft reports on a Cameroonian couple that have launced what sounds like a tasty spicey sauce for those in the Diaspora missing African food.…”Ulimate Seasonsings”

MentalAcrobatics writes on racism in European football and points to a newly formed group “the African Council” based in Berlin, Germany who plan to “publish a guide warning about areas where there have been racist attacks”

Jewels in the Jungle reflects on his online views of China and is concerned that they may appear ” xenophobic and racist toward the Chinese people”. He into considerable detail on US/China and Africa/China relations.

Hamed Ghoddusi in his Hot Cuppa blog talks about a new coming wave in Iranian labour market. He says a new wave of entering into the market by women in the next few years would be expected. Blogger adds this wave is the result of rapid increase of women’s share in the higher education system. Since 2003 the girls outperformed boys in the tough entrance exams of the universities. The last year statistics says that 65% of the new enrolment in the universities made by women.

Afghan Lord says that the only thing that makes people suspicious of and pessimistic about the government are the deals and agreements which are signed in secret. He adds that such deals change citizens' attitudes towards their government.