Global Voices Online

Salon Chingon has posted a 47 minute high resolution documentary titled “Atenco: Breaking the Siege” about the violence that erupted there in early May. The website explains that “While an English-language version has not yet been released (but will be posted here as well as soon as it becomes available), the images in this 47-minute documentary speak for themselves.”

Boz offered advice to both Calderon and Lopez Obrador before tonight's presidential debate. Among the livebloggers of the event: Alfredo Sanchez (ES), Rodrigo Aguiar (ES), Eduardo Arcos (ES), José Luis López, Chilanga Banda (ES), and “Enigma” (ES).

Christian Garbis says that he fears war between Armenia and Azerbaijan will resume in the wake of the failure of the two parties to make progress on reaching a peace deal over Karabakh.

Tourism in Batumi is flourishing, and as a result, refugees living there are being paid to move on, notes Hulegu's Campaign.

Onnik Krikorian notes that the deadlock over Karabakh between Armenia and Azerbaijan continues and wonders how long the international community will continue tolerating the inability of the two sides to sign a peace deal.

neweurasia reports on the recent large number of closures of NGOs in Uzbekistan.

Notes from Hareinik congratulates Armenia's chess team for taking first place in the 37th Chess Olympiad in Turin.

The Limey praises local paper the Bermuda Sun for publishing a story on last Friday's demonstration on its web site the same afternoon, prompting the Royal Gazette to retort that “its reporters and editors were busy getting Saturday's paper out.” But the Limey doesn't buy it: “in my opinion, the problem is that the RG (and the MON) do not place as much importance on their website as the Sun is starting to do. There have been other occasions when the Sun has broken a story on its website while the RG has been content to wait until the next day. Even after the RG's reporters and editors have produced a version of the paper, it's not unusual for it to fail to appear online. . . . Elsewhere in the world they’re talking about “Web 2.0”. Here in Bermuda, it sometimes seems like we're stuck in the pre-Web 1.0 era.”

Aruba's unions and political parties have been protesting the government's economic plan, but “since this is Aruba, not even our protests can be done efficiently,” says ArubaGirl.

Barbados Free Press speculates on why the Barbadian press might have forgotten to mention that June 4 was the 17th anniversary of the Tianamen Square massacre. Could it have had anything to do with the fact that the Vice Foreign Minister of China “was on the island for a visit”?

At the Trinidad and Tobago World Cup Blog Stacy-Marie Ishmael riffs off the musings of commentators ranging from a Muslim blogger to Kofi Annan, in an eloquent and free-flowing meditation on the meaning and uses of football.

On the occasion of Barbadian poet Edward Kamau Braithwaite's winning the Griffin Poetry Prize, Geoffrey Philp celebrates by “re-purposing” material from the Griffin Prize web site in a post on which the poet himself leaves the following comment: “My dear Master Blogger, Since yr fabulous b/day present to mwe in May, the spirits have been walking w/me and i guess by now you kno/have heard that i win the Griffin Prize in Tor a few nights agoa. Pl let de massif know. i give Tanks -Kamau”.

La Polla Mundial (ES) is a worldwide contest which will award a new MacBook to whoever predicts the outcomes of the most World Cup games on their blog. The contest also has it's own blog (ES).

Sachiniti on Eunuchs and the notion of integration. “The picture that comes to mind on hearing the term “Eunuch” is spontaneously one of a garishly dressed, overly madeup, loud gestured err.. person.”

Some diplomatic visits covered at United We Blog! “After American Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, it was today the turn of Nepal’s Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to be received by the Indian Prime Minister at the New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in the recent memory.”

More comments on the tax imposed on more wives taken in Rajshahi at imperfect world 2006. “It was the women who had to fork out for the privilege of marrying. In one case, the woman, a 38 year old, parted with her entire life’s savings of 50,000 takas.”

Determing future, and what forgetting means in a war and conflict situation at The Blind Critic. “Well.. it's upto us to forget this war.. to move on.. To not even look at the younger generations of ours and tell them of this sick hate our ancestors brought upon this lovely country. “

A communist government can sometimes leave out common people in their race to please the trade union leaders. Dog's Own Country comments on how head-loaders in Kerala appear to be appeased by the government, even as they hold people to ransom by not doing the work, or not allowing others to do the work.

Cherian George in his Singapore: New Media, Politics & the Law blog attempts to answer the question “What is next for Citizen Journalism” in Singapore.

The blogger at Touched by an Angel finds a local telecom company's billboard not only irrelevant for the product it is supposed to promote but also distasteful. She wonders why the authorities allow such advertising.

“Japan has an AIDS problem that is not getting the attention it deserves,” writes Japundit's JP, with a post looking at recent HIV infection statistics. “One expert says,” blogs JP, “that the number of people who actually have AIDS is four to five times the level being officially reported.”

Are there over 150,000 political prisoners in North Korea? Are You NKay? blogger kyochan says so: “It's numbers like these that scare people away from helping. But I've emphasized many times, that is no excuse to be a bystander to tragedy. Understand that even if only one person is saved, it makes a huge difference to that person. Eventually, those numbers accumulate into something more encouraging. But that will never happen if one is overwhelmed by such figures.”

Has Microsoft started playing hardball in the fight against software piracy in China? China Herald correspondent-blogger Fons Tuinstra's post ‘Microsoft might kill millions of PCs‘ blogs some serious new developments:

“Panic is hitting Chinese users of Microsoft's Windows. I just received a message from people in China who claim that a change in Microsoft's updating policy might kill millions of PCs that are using illegal software. Unlike in the past, Microsoft is pushing you to their website for updates and recognizes whether you have a legitimate key to the system or not.”

In response to news that North Koreans are still starving to death, The Korea Liberator's Joshua looks in ‘Stolen from the Bellies of the Starving‘ at where the aid money might be going and rests his gaze on the North Korean navy.

“That's 18 submarines in 2 years. During those same years,” writes Joshua, “the world was called on to feed North Korea's people, one third of whom may have been dependent on international aid. Little of that aid was effectively monitored, and as much as 30% of it was diverted before it got to those who needed it.”

Celia at China Activist Weekly attended a speech by Duihua Foundation founder John Kamm last week. Aside from summing up his message, Celia gives some background to the man, his work, and why it has been so effective:

“First of all, who is John Kamm? He is the former president of the American Chamber of Congress, an extremely successful businessman who had a revelation in 1990 at a banquet in Hong Kong while being toasted at a banquet by a top Beijing official. He interrupted the toast and asked China to release a specific prisoner of conscience. His action not only created quite a scene, it changed his own life (and that of the prisoner, who was released).”

Scott W. Clark of Foreign Notes writes about Kyiv's new controversial mayor and his populist move to give up “his mayor’s paycheck for it to be used to buy apartments for Kiev citizens who don’t have them”: “That’s a nice gesture though it will probably not amount to much given the rise in apartment prices here in the past couple of years. I don’t think the mayor gets paid all that much relatively speaking so it will be a drop in the bucket.”

Scott W. Clark of Foreign Notes writes about last week's coverage of “dozens” of anti-NATO protesters in Crimea.

LEvko of Foreign Notes looks into the situation with Russia's claims to Crimea.

Nancy Case of Case In Point writes of her escape from the “gilded cage” (Moscow's Golden Ring Hotel) - and into a 14th-century monastery (Sergiev Posad).

Viktor of Belgrade Blog writes that Serbian “Jelen” beer almost won in the German “Stern” magazine's blind test - it came in second: “[…] officially our last good score at a competition as Serbien und Montenegro :) […]”

In Sargashte, a lesbian Iranian, writes that many people think homosexuals only want to satisfy their sexual desires. Blogger adds homosexuals & lesbians like heterosexuals are after a love relationship. She says recently in a magazine she found out about 10to 12 percent of a population can be considered as homosexuals. Blogger says I am not that alone in Iran (Persian).

Amshspand says he has discovered a suspicious site ( Global Voices) which is supported by a big university in the USA. Blogger writes this site is updated very fast and following important things in details (Persian). He adds these are reasons that this site is suspicious.

Ktemok explains why some Malaysian professors use the longish title of Professor Doctor before their names.

Blogging Bugs reads an Global Voices post about Chilean students coordinating their protests using social web tools and asks students in Philippines who are facing similar problems to follow the Chilean example.

The blogger at Dili-gence cautions people thinking of returning to strife torn East Timor to think again. It really is a mixed bag. There is no one answer, but I would suggest that anyone thinking that they can just come to “help” to think again. Right now, one more spare prick at a wedding is not what is needed.