Global Voices Online

Christian Garbis continues his reporting on the destruction of Yerevan's pre-Soviet buildings to make way for new construction.

News From The Caravan writes about a Kazakh-American hero who saved the lives of two young boys in a small American town in the 1950s. The story is certainly a must-read if for nothing else but the image of a 60 year old Kazakh woman charging through a crowd on a comandeered police horse.

Elizabeth explains the role of the marshrutka (route taxi) in Dushanbe's public transportation and reports on tremendously bad legislation that puts the vehicles at risk.

Miguel Centallas, Briegel Busch, and Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas are all concerned by the announcement that Evo Morales will seek a new constitution that allows for reelection of the president and vice-president. Centallas reminds readers that “historically, other Latin American executives have used constitutional changes to stay in power beyond their original mandate. The names Fujimori & Chavez come immediately to mind.” But then adds that “Peru & Venezuela are not models to imitate.” Busch says [ES] that “it's not a question relevant only to Bolivia but for all the neighboring countries and the region in general.” Ruiz-Navajas is even more critical: “Future generations of Bolivians, when [the Movement to Socialism party] is (hopefully) long gone, will judge us and unanimously agree our stupidity. After all, we have had all possible warnings. We have seen what happened in Venezuela and we can be sure Evo is nothing but a puppet.”

Amira has a report on what's being said in the Kyrgyz political rumor mill.

Luke Distelhorst reports on a press conference held by Ivanhoe Mines about its operations in Mongolia, which are the subject of controversy at the moment.

Dr Juan Almendares Bonilla, executive director of the Centre for the Prevention, Rehabilitation and Treatment of Victims of Torture in Honduras now has his own weblog [ES]. Several months ago, Bolivia-based blogger Jim Shultz described “serious threats being launched against” Almendares.

Adam Isacson has a thorough review of the controversial incident on Monday, which has been officially described as “friendly fire” and mistaken identity between units of Colombia's army and police.

Following a campaign for universal broadband internet access, the web community Atina Chile is now demanding better cell phone service from Chilean service providers.

Rsschile.com is a new aggregator of all things Chilean. There is also an English-language section.

The 20th anniversary of the death of Jorge Luis Borges continues to leave its mark in Argentina-based weblogs. Roberto Bobrow cites an allusion made to Borges by Italian intellectual Umberto Eco. Jeff Barry, meanwhile, is already on day five of an ambitious series called “30 Days with Borges.” It seems useful to those as of yet unacquainted with the Argentine literary giant as well as those who would like to dig deeper into Borges' life, works, and impact.

Alvaro Ruiz-Navajas has a helpful collection of links about last weekend's presidential debate. Jorge Bazo Escudero writes [ES] that Amnesty International “has condemned the blatant ignorance of both presidential candidates with respect to human rights issues.” And, away from politics, Peru Food has fresh content with a translation of an article about eating well in Lima's port city, “el Callao.”

Andriy Yushchenko, president Yushchenko's son, seems to be making trouble again: this time, he, allegedly, almost caused a car crash, verbally abused a high-ranking law enforcement official and didn't prevent his bodyguard from shooting the man in the leg with a rubber bullet. LEvko of Foreign Notes reports on this and comments on the president's reaction to his son's behavior last year: “Last time Andriy made a fool of himself, the Pres. called the journalist from ‘Ukrainska Pravda', who ran the story, ‘a hired killer.'” Scott W. Clark points out that “anybody with connections or money will do the same thing. Life is cheap here and any consequences for risking it or taking it can disappear through the magic of money or of the right contacts. Get to the right person and pay the right fee and it will be as though it never happened.”

David McDuff of A Step At A Time has posted an interview with himself, in which he talks about what it was like to work with Joseph Brodsky on his poetry and prose translations: “I think it needs to be remembered that for Joseph the process of translating his own poems was in many ways not ‘translation’ in the usual sense at all. He used to talk of ‘throwing away the original, as it’s not important now’. The idea was to create a new poem in English – and that was going to involve reliving some of the same existential tensions that had led to the writing of the Russian version.”

Brigid of Laughter in the Dark writes about the well-meaning but racist director of Krasnodar’s archive; a Krasnodar woman whose dream is to move to the United States; and a Kuban State University historian who would really love to have a map of the world made in the United States. Brigid also posts a few photos of Krasnodar's makeshift open-air markets and of people waiting for a tram.

Ukrainian-American blogger Stefan of Dykun now has a vlog, but he'll be cross-posting Ukraine-related entries to his blog. The first two videos - both shot in Sept. 2005 - have to do with West Ukrainian farming and village life: an old woman feeding fowl in Ternopil region and villagers gathering harvest.

Yuri Mamchur of Russia Blog writes that four participants of a Russian reality show might get drafted because of a letter to the Russian minister of defense from a group of angry elderly women: “Mrs. Vrubel has a 17 year old grandson who is due for his mandatory army service next year. The pensioners wrote to Ivanov asking him why the reality TV stars were not doing their duty. […] The pensioners are very satisfied with the Defense Ministry response. ‘They read our letters and care about the nation’s opinion' – said Mrs. Vrubel.”

Raffi Aftandelian of maaskva: nashimi glazami took a “river tram” down the Moskva River, part of the Moscow Cultural Walks initiative, and wrote about it both in English and in Russian: “The boat was just spilling with interesting people. I met a post-production sound man, psychologists, journalists, some delightfully out-there kids, photographers, social workers. A full house! The tram played an excursion developed by a Moscow State University psychologist over a speaker system. The title: “The History of Moscow in Color.” As we “walked” down the Moscow River, we listened to how color, history, and architecture are connected.”

Stephan of Everybody I Love You writes about his “extreme Russia” adventure: dacha, banya - and problems at the Russian-Ukrainian border caused by a misspelled name on his Russian entry visa.

Megan Case muses on what it's like to be a female Russophile living in Russia.

Konstantin Dlutskiy of Russian Marketing Blog post a photo of a curious item he stumbled on recently: Zhirinovsky Tea - named after and made for one of the most notorious Russian politicians, Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

Collaborative blogging and now collaborative music. Blogswara bring out music in three languages where “Everything is done by the bloggers themselves. Lyrics, Music, Orchestration, Vocals, Recording and Mixing. Everything is done online. Everybody works from their own place that is in different parts of the world.” The songs can be heard and downloaded here.

Windy Skies takes a trip on Konkan Rail through Goa and has a lot to share on things seen and felt through the journey.

What are the Maoists upto in Nepal? What outcomes do they desire? United We Blog! comments “While the country is readying itself for the first round of peace talks with the Maoists, the rebels are continuing the activities, some say, they are best known for: extortion, intimidation and abductions.”

Nepali Netbook comments on the seeming tough times for the Maoists and their stand on Monarchy. “The thing to measure in the days and weeks ahead, therefore, will be Prachanda’s malleability in his references to the monarchy.”

Drishtipat provides an update on the ongoing labour strike in Bangladesh by the textile workers.

Dili-gence reports that East Timor's President has requested for external help in dealing with the recurring violence in the country. The blogger also analyzes the various parties involved in the conflict.

Our Man in Hanoi gets a surprise gift from the popular photosharing website Flickr.

Sidney Snoeck has portraits of young “kalutang” musicians. The “kalutang” is a folk musical instrument made of two pieces of wood and originates from Marinduque province of Philippines.

Brand New Malaysian finds that one can actually find the video CDs of the banned movie “Lelaki Komunis Terakhir”. The blogger also links to another post that has background information on Chin Peng. The movie features some of the places where Chin Peng lived in and operated from.

News Corp. founder Rupert Murdoch and Saudi-Lebanese Rotana founder Prince Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz are moving even closer together, lebanon.profile said.

Are people leaving Dubai because of the risk of death on the roads? Find out at One Big Construction Site.

Mohammed writes about the new oil policy and opening the door for investments from countries that “stood with Iraq”.

Olmert plans to remove the smaller settlements and puts it in such a way as if he’s doing the Palestinians a favour! Bush says he accepts the larger settlements (which are illegal under international law) since he considers them “facts on the ground”. So basically the criteria for making a land grab legal is take as much of it as possible so that it becomes a “fact on the ground”, Nas said.

With another gay-themed cruise ship about to berth at Grand Cayman, Cayman Bobby is amused by the lyrics of a new song by local artist Barefoot Man recounting Caymanians' attitudes to the last gay cruise to land on the island and points to some local double standards. Cayblogger disagrees, however, about the quality of the song, which he calls “an abortion of music and lyrics set to the Beach Boys’ “Sloop John B” in which barefoot tries to poke fun at the gay cruise ship situation in Cayman – a topic which, by the way, has grown quite old.”

What approach should nations adopt in relation to Cuba? Pondblog crafts an argument from the following ingredients: an article by the director of the Council for Hemispheric Relations (COHA), a US State Department report on state sponsors of terrorism, and a quotation from former Czech leader Vaclav Havel.

US Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's podcast may not be gripping, but according to the Limey, “what's remarkable is that he's doing this at all.” In Bermuda, he adds, “. . . no politician has yet seen the need to have his own blog. The idea that any of them would take the time to produce a weekly podcast responding to residents' questions is laughable.”

ITIran blogger talks about what he heard in a meeting in Ministry of Information concerning blogs. This blogger says it seems government is discussing a project to oblige people to ask licence from Ministry of Islamic Guidance before launching blog or site (Persian)!

Laowiseass‘ Lalaoshi looks back on his former life as a columnist for China's English-language weekly 21st Century and being banned then from mentioning homosexuality.

“Over the past year,” he writes, “other columns in the same paper have mentioned the topic. It looks like the letter writers and the columnists can say whatever they want about homosexuality. I will try the same with the next relevant letter I get.

“When I met with a Chinese friend, about 25 years old, along with three of her friends earlier this month, we talked about gay rights in China. My friend's comment: ‘I want a gay friend. It's in style.'

Shahram Kholdi reports about riots in Tehran University. He says riots at Tehran University were in response to the forced resignation of five Professors who resigned under the pressure of the university officials. According to this blogger about 800 to 1000 students are conducting a sit-in in front of the Faculty of Law of the Tehran University today.

A lengthy and thorough post from China Matters‘ China Hand looks at cooling Sino-German relations and the global role the two countries now play, set against German Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent visit to China:

“So China—the world's most populous and vibrant economic power, which hasn't engaged in military aggression since its disastrous border dispute with Vietnam 25 years ago—must still content itself with second-class world citizenship; listen to the self-serving lectures about responsible global citizenship from the same group of nations whose sins of commission and omission created the geopolitical and human disaster in Iraq; and accept that the White Nations' Club + Japan denies China has the right to arm itself and chart its military and foreign policy destiny without outside interference as befits a world power and Asian empire.”

Software piracy in China, blogs China Law Blog's Dan Harris, is on the decline:

“A few days before Chinese President Hu Jintao dined at the Gates' Mansion across the lake from Seattle, the Chinese government announced all Chinese governmental agencies would be required to use only legal software. It will be interesting to see what effect this mandate will have on China's software piracy figures for this year.”

The Bank of China went public this week, blogs Jeremy Goldkorn at Danwei, and brought in $9.7 billion with its long-anticipated IPO.

“Despite the fact that everyone knows China's state-owned banks are wobbly and burdened with numerous non-performing loans,” Goldkorn writes, “it seems that investors have confidence in the Bank of China.

“With good reason: the Chinese government would probably give Taiwan away sooner than let the Bank of China collapse. A possibility that seems more remote now that their coffers have swelled by an amount of money greater than the GDP of a small country.”

Photos of China's People's Liberation Army preparing for last week's typhoon Chanchu which swept through the south-eastern corner of the country in The PLA Blows at myrick's Asiapundit. (via We Make Money Not Art)

A significant amount of research went into the AngryChineseBlogger blogger's lengthy post looking at Israeli aviation technology company and defense contractor Emit's recently-uncovered selling of hi-tech equipment to China, which concluded with company executives being arrested Monday.

“They might have moved 1.3 million people, flooded archeological wonders and more,” says Simon at Simon World with a post on and a link to photos of the recently-completed Three Gorges Dam, “but it's quite an achievement.”

Cruise ships will land whopping 20,000 passengers in Barbados on the day of the Cricket World Cup final in April 2007. “While this will obviously provide taxi drivers, shops, island vendors and restaurants with an considerable increase in business,” writes Linda Thompkins, “one also has to wonder if 20,000+ cruise passengers arriving on the same day can actually be serviced.” Also being prepared in time for the Cricket World Cup is a medical facility at Barbados's newly renovated international airport. While acknowleding the facility's necessity, Thompkins remarks that “This will add to the cost of the multi-million dollar renovation that has been plagued by delays and cost over runs.”

In light of the revelation that a Florida sheriff being investigated for corruption had business dealings with the Barbados Police Force, Barbados Free Press is demanding answers to several questions.

“The old colonial idea advocated by one resident that the government can just hand things down from on high is no longer acceptable in the Bahamas,” says Sir Arthur Foulkes in his appeal for the development of a “culture of consultation” in the Bahamas. In the same post Sir Arthur suggests that the Bahamas explore the idea of re-christening some of the “family islands” with their Arawak names: “Some of the Family Island names reflect this history and beauty, including Bimini, Exuma, Eleuthera, San Salvador, Inagua and Mayaguana. But two of the most beautiful islands in the chain have the most unflattering names – Cat and Crooked.”

Blogger Kangni Alem contends that (Fr) “no national treasures (…) were taken from Togo by the Germans” but rather that “what colonization generally speaking stole from the Togolese is their soul.” Nevertheless, he plans to tour German museums this summer to test his theory and cautions “do not count on me to bring back the Kokomba arrows.”

“Some experiments in census taking started last thursday in six towns of Cote d'Ivoire, where disarmament of the loyalist army and of the rebellion forces that was to happen simultaneously did not take place,” says (Fr) Remwi Abidjan. However, both are prerequisites for elections due to take place on October 31.

Semett announces (Fr) an upcoming forum taking place from May 25 to May 28 in Dakar entitled “20 years Later: the Intellectual and Scientific Legacy of Cheikh Anta Diop and the Challenge of the Building of Africa in the 21st Century.”

Registan.net discusses Western missionaries in Uzbekistan in the wake of convictions of employees of an aid organization for proselytizing, a crime in Uzbekistan.

Stavros explains how one determines nationality in the former Soviet Union.

Luke Distelhorst notes that Mongolia is set to boost trade with California.

Nessuna writes about an event presenting the Armenian-language publication of the first volume of Richard Hovannisian's history of the first year of the first Armenian Republic, and notes that the book restores historical truths locked away during Soviet times.

Yulia writes about freedom of the press in Kyrgyzstan and discusses ways to achieve journalistic independence for the media.