Global Voices Online

Luke Distelhorst reports on talks over coal and energy cooperation betwee Mongolia and China.

Leila discusses ties between Kazakhstan and Iran in the wake of a meeting between delegations of the two countries.

Registan.net writes about pressures on Turkmen musical traditions in Afghanistan and the influence of Western pop and hip-hop on music throughout Central Asia.

Jeremy, who is on his way to Armenia, sings the praises of Borjomi, Georgia, known to many in the Soviet Union as a summer retreat, the source of the country's famous mineral water, and a candidate for the 2014 Olympics.

Tinta Digital introduces (ES) “La Voz del Centro”, a radio show on Puerto Rican and Caribbean history and culture whose episodes are also archived online.

JT at the Caribbean Beat Weblog celebrates Zadie Smith's winning the Orange Prize for Fiction: “Zadie Smith is British but counts as Caribbean on account of her Jamaican mother and the multicultural world she lives in. . . . Don't worry about the critics who make much of this book being a homage to E.M. Forster and Howards End: it works in its own right. What's so impressive about it is the way it dramatises the cultural divide between younger and older generations, between whites and African Americans, between liberals and conservatives, and the internal divide that haunts everyone of mixed-race, mixed-cultural birth.”

Luis Carlos (ES), Jorge Letralia (ES), Zinnia Martinez (ES), and José Roberto Duque all partook in the event “Blogjournalism: Your Voice on the Web” at the Central University of Venezuela on Saturday.

Inka writes on Journal Peru that Ollanta Humala will not lead the UPP party. Humala ran under the party banner when his own Nationalist party failed to officially register in time.

Blog de mi Guatemala has an informative post on the Casa Mima Museum (ES) in the historic center of Guatemala City.

David of A Ride for the Climate left his hotel on election day in Colombia and took some pictures around Cartagena. He even conducted his own, surprisingly accurate exit poll.

Leandro Zanoni is finally going to university. Well, at least for a day to take part in the Blog Conference at the University of Palermo on June 29th where he will be joined with Luis Majul, Darío Gallo, Gastón Roitberg, Mariano Amartino, Alejandro Rotizchner, Julio Lagos, Julián Gallo, Laura Ubfal, Pablo Actlas, Pablo Mancini, Gastón Terrones, Dolores Pujol, Irene Fernández, Jorge Gobbi and Alejandro Piscitelli. Talk about an all-star cast.

United We Blog! comments on Prachanda, the leader of the Nepal Communist party on television. “Prachanda said that first Maoists should be incorporated in the interim government and the country should talk about developments and bringing in help packages from abroad.”

Legal News from Nepal on the need for an interim constitution - “Legal experts stressed the need for an interim constitution to legalise the recent achievements of the movement and the declaration of the House of Representatives (HoR).”

Jabberwock comments on an advertisement. “…dapper-looking Mahendra Singh Dhoni turns to the camera and tells us, “I decided not to be ordinary. I chose to shine.” Cut to close-up of shoe-polishers looking up at Dhoni in adoration and subservience; looking, essentially, like buffoons who have “chosen” their lot, chosen to be “ordinary”.”

Jodi at Asiapages wonders if Singapore could serve as a model for South Korea's aspirations to be a international business hub. “What struck me most about Singapore though was how I have heard people talk about how Korea is striving so hard to model itself into something sort of like what Singapore is. “

Ashok questions why the story of Silappathikaram is considered reflective of Tamil culture or zest for justice, when clearly it is about a woman who tolerates the waywardness of her husband.

A Malaysian politician, currently on a trip to Europe asks on his blog “Why is it Malaysians can match person-to-person the Europeans, but lose out when it comes to nation-to-nation?”

Mythicaldude has posted more pictures of people from his street in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Indcoup in Jakarta find the latest issue of Indonesian Playboy rather tame and figures out an alternative “adults” magazine that is doing well in Indonesia. Since its introduction, Playboy has seen protests by various groups trying to close it down.

Ali Mazroi, reformist politician & blogger, writes that investment is needed to solve country's economic problems such as poverty and unemployment. The blogger adds at present only government investment is possible. Foreign investors and non governmental domestic investors prefer to quit country or wait to see what is happening in Iran (Persian).

VillageIdiotSavant blogs about the island life he observed on his bike trip around the Island of Panglao in Philippines.

Dathana at Nyein Chan Yar blog introduces other blogs by Myanmar bloggers both inside and outside the country.

A post from the Journal of Intercultural Learning blog looks at ‘Chinese Internet Lingo‘:

“Controversies around these cultural phenomenon are naturally raised as to what extent it can be tolerated to ‘challenge' this language characterized by using only characters, and the debate has been focused on the question of the purity of the Chinese language. While a ban was proposed for use of internet lingos in government documents, and books are published talking about the Crisis of Chinese Language, Others regard it as something that ‘embodys the netizens' intelligence and creativity.'”

The Chinese government only lets twenty foreign movies make theaters each year, but now it seems those are being blocked too. “Interesting, writes the Black China Hand blogger. “Might it be that the Chinese High Command is linked to the Opus Dei and their plan to eliminate the Priory of Sion?”

After lenthy speculation and several extended delays a merger deal has finally been reached between Hong Kong-based airlines Cathay Pacific and Dragon Air, writes blogspot blogger Sun Bin.

Reporters Without Borders declared Google and Gmail blocked in China earlier this week. AsiaPundit's myrick suggests that might not be entirely the case:

“There are problems with Google's service,” myrick writes, “but these are being massively overstated by RSF. Google and G-Mail services are still working fine here at AsiaPundit Global Headquarters in Shanghai. There were intermittent outages last week, but there was nothing of the sort that indicated a firewall-level block. Beijing residents had a more prolonged outage, although AP understands that this has largely been resolved.”

A Shanghai journalist sues the municipal government for denying him an interview, a move which stands to set a foundation for freedom of information law in China.

“It is the first time a reporter challenges the government in court,” writes China Herald blogger Fons Tuinstra, “and other media are speculating that this might be the beginning of a radical change in China's media.”

Crosstalk certainly doesn't appear to be dead, as seen in part of a script written down and blogged by Will at Imagethief.

On the eve of the 2006 World Cup which starts tomorow in Germany, Kenyan blogger, Mshairi posts a list of rules to “the men of this world” concerning their behaviour during the 4 week tournament. “From 9 June to 9 July 2006, kindly note I will be unavailable for football talk. I don’t want to hear explanations about what team or player is doing what – one Ronaldinho is very much like another Ronaldo………………”

Zimbabwean Pundit writing on Enough is Enough points to a series of links covering all the Zimbabwean blogs - blogs that would come under threat if the proposed IC Bill goes through

Ethiopian blog LELA-TENSAE - ETAMoonlight writes a piece on discrimination, ethnic differences and race/racism Ethiopian style -

Nigerian blog Cyblug asks if it is possible for Nigeria to have a female president referring to Nigeria's finance minister Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala

My Hearts in Accra points to an NPR commentary and analysis on the history of US relations with Somalia.

Yebo Gogo reports that Somali warlords fleeing the Islamic militia that have taken over Mogadishu are running out of places to run to as Kenya operates a “zero tolerance” attitude towards the warlords.

The Bearded Man comments on the increasing cost of living of basic food products in Zimbabwe and the start of an outreach programme by Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the MDC in Zimbabwe.

Ethiopian Life writes a defense of the “Alliance for Freedom and Democracy” (AFD). He goes into detail about the purpose and meaning of the alliance.

Carpe Diem Ethiopia has more to say on the blocking of blogs in Ethiopia and the low number of internet users in the country.

Ore of Ore's Notes blogs about the Nigerian “Youth Empowerment Forum for Digital Revolution” which took place two weeks ago in Lagos.

Kikuyumoja’s realm begins a series of posts about art and artists from Kenya

Thinkers Room has a rant at Kenya's MP who he describes as “schmucks.”.……”These yahoos would have us believe that they will stop being the same tribal cabals. That they will suddenly become nationalists. That they now will be smart enough to hit the water if they fell out of a boat.”

Nigerian blogger Chippla comments on Gaddafy who has “berated the Nigerian government for handing over Charles Taylor to the Sierra Leone war crimes tribunal”. Chippla wonders whether Gaddafy is concerned about possible revelations by Taylor which could implicate him?

The Passion of the Present points to two reports on the Darfur rebels who had initially refused to sign the Abuja peace deal as now changing their minds.

The Voice of Somaliland - Diaspora Ottawa writes on the attacks on Somaliland by supporters of former Somali leader Siad Barre. He believes the supporters are using the present instablility in Somalia to undermine the gains made by Somaliland towards global recognition

Serbia and Montenegro will play as one team for the last time in this year's World Cup. Doug Muir of A Fistful of Euros and Srdjan Cvijic of The TransAtlantic Assembly write about the team's chances.

Vilhelm Konnander writes on how the Ukrainian government tries to accommodate the people's need to watch the World Cup, to which Ukraine has qualified for the first time since independence: “[Prime minister's] recipe is to adjust working hours to avoid collisions with matches. Another viable alternative would be to put TV-sets at workplaces. Why? Yekhanurov explains: ‘We can expect an epidemic of various diseases. People will simply report sick in multitudes'.”

The Russian parliament may pass a law banning price-setting in foreign currencies. Vilhelm Konnander comments on the implications of such a law: “Banning public use of dollar or euro denominations will have absurd consequences. Looking only at president Putin's recent annual address to the State Duma, it would have rendered him a considerable fine, judging from the number of times he used the “d” word. The new law may also create considerable confusion at the upcoming G8 Summit in Petersburg, as the Duma has recommended the Russian delegation only to use rouble denominations when presenting financial data.”

Vilhelm Konnander disagrees at length with Carlos Pascual, former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, who has written a piece for the Washington Post entitled “Chernobyl's Lesson: A State's Lies Threaten its People and its Sovereignty”: “To be quite blunt, Pascual needs to cut the crap. He does not tell a lie, but he is surely twisting the facts, although he should know better.”

J. Otto Pohl explains his support for an academic boycott of Israel: “The state of Israel currently harbors a number of Stalinist war criminals guilty of abusing, torturing and murdering innocent men, women and children in the Baltic States and Poland. Foremost among these criminals is Solomon Morel wanted for trial in Poland. Israel has twice rejected extradition requests from Poland. They claim that the statute of limitations has run out. No other country in the world has a statute of limitations on crimes against humanity and Israel does not apply this limit to Nazi crimes against Jews.”

Omid Memarian, blogger & journalist, says I think the best option for the Islamic Republic is to suspend nuclear activities for such a short time and try to build trust among the International community and then follow the nuclear plan under the IAEA watchdogs. It is better to get off the isolation than enrich 1 gram uranium a month with 164 centrifuge.

Our Man in Hanoi encounters aircon politics while trying to beat the rising temperatures in Hanoi. “Worst of all is air con politics at work. Us Tays would like to shiver in 16 degrees. Locals like it somewhere around 28. My Vietnamese colleague who wears little t-shirt and skirts in summer says she will be sick if I turn the air con down again. But I've tried to explain that my long trousers and shirt is the very least I can wear. But she could wear a cardigan. “Why would I wear a cardigan,” she says. “It's summer”.”

Hanny has posted pictures from a street market from the North Malaysian state of Kelantan. The market is mostly run by women entrepreneurs which is interesting as Kelantan is often considered as one of the more traditional places in Malaysia. Hanny says “The women there are famous for wearing a lot of gold bangles.. So when I was there, I was looking for a lady who wear gold bangles up until her elbow hehehe but I cant find any..”