Global Voices Online

Le Blog de [Moi] reflects (Fr) on nudity and her taste for it: “Yes I confess, I am a fan of nudity. Not nudism mind you but nudity. When I come home from work, the ritual is the same: long hot shower and afterwards I dress like Eve. I.e. I don't wear anything. What pleasure. Then I lay down on the bed to practice my favorite activity these days… blogging. What did you think it would be?”

Of the eastern DRC's 85% vote for Kabila, UDPS Liege writes (Fr): “They are free to make that choice. (…) The eastern DRC opted to align themselves with the Rwandan subject to pillage the Congo and all those who collaborate with him will pay dearly for betraying the people.” The blog posts pictures of FARDC soldiers killed in the city of Sake on August 5 and construes them as evidence that Kabila will not necessarily bring peace.

Madagascar Croissance is looking for a way to vacation in Mahajunga, the “in” vacation spot, on a local's budget in Madagascar (Fr): ” All in all, with 51 euros, one can spend a standard vacation in Majunga (excluding superficial expenses of course) … But unfortunately that sum … represents the monthly salary of a simple government worker.”

Robin Thom has a lovely Flickr photoset called “HavanaWomen” — the title is self-explanatory.

Mora at Babalu Blog applauds Costa Rican president Oscar Arias's call for the democratisation of Cuba.

Eugenio Martínez Rodríguez receives an invitation to a meeting to discuss the establishment of Creative Commons Puerto Rico.

The blogger at Timorsunshine blog blames gossip for reoccurring trouble in the country. “It's strange that i should be saying this - but i think what the government needs is a great mouthpiece to spread its propaganda - or in a less biased way - spread INFORMATION. There's a lack of accurate information dissemination in this country - lots of people rely on LIA ANIN (”windy words”) or GOSSIP - and statements repeated through a chain of whispers until they become distorted and incendiary in some cases.”

Riffing off the Adidas jacket in which Fidel Castro was photographed this weekend, Luis M. Garcia mentions a friend who e-mailed to remind him that “when she was a teenager in Cuba - such capitalist attire was strictly forbidden at school. Wearing an Adidas t-shirt, let alone a jogging suit, was enough to have you branded “ideologically deviated”. Which was bad news.”

The Manicou reports that Trinidad & Tobago has won 72 medals in the World Championship of Performing Arts in Hollywood, California, adding “I have to admit though, I've never heard of the competition before.”

Jenny Carrasquillo wrote a blog post on a subject that most people don't talk about… How to Travel In Panama…good advice, really interesting. Business people investing in Panama and general tourists will appreciate what this article has to offer specially if you're a Real Estate investor which spends a lot of time going to the airport and travelling around, even if you're a backpacker you will appreciate these observations.

The Panama Real Estate blog has an interesting article about how Donald Trump has fallen so much in love with Panama that he is building a $220 Million, 65 story (2.4 Million square foot) hotel/condo monoliths called the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel & Tower in a posh Panama City neighborhood. Why is Trump doing this in Panama of all places? Read the article.

Vadim rounds up news about recent news from Tajikistan.

Nick of neweurasia points out that the arrest of an Uzbek militant in Pakistan provided the trigger for the recent arrests in the UK of those accused of plotting to blow up airliners headed to the United States.

A Bengali in TO on why a recent movie makes one take a second look at the institution of marriage.

Hardly Innovative … on terrorism, Islam and the State. Reflecting on Musharraf's military ambitions, the blogger think its time the army returned the barracks.

Ruminating on the Greatest Indian post Independence in the country, Nilu talks of the man credited with assuring food security in India. “In terms of that thrust in public domain, in a country that was living on foreign aid of wheat not long ago, no one can even come close to the contributions of Dr MS Swaminathan. “

Independence Day gets bloggers digging into archives of the past. Kamla Bhatt presents a wealth of media from India in the 1930s and 40s. Varnam talks of the mutiny that pre-dated the one more popular in academic and public memory - the Vellore Mutiny.

On the occassion of India's Independence Day, Mahanandi has an Indian food parade with dishes from other bloggers to mark the day.

Carpetblog walks into a cathedral in the town of Brasov, Romania, and discovers one of the best European collections of Anatolian carpets of the 17th and 18th century.

Warsaw Station and the beatroot write about Poland's complex relationship with Germany.

Tim Newman of White Sun of the Desert writes about “the myth of Russian women” - which seems to be as popular among some as the myth of the “mysterious Russian soul.”

Stefan of Dykun writes about the Ukrainian Left and other players on Ukraine's political “playground.”

LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about Ukrainian journalists protesting against what may be the return to censorship.

Blogday Peru (ES) is the official blog of, you guessed it, Blog Day 2006 in Peru. On August 31st various members of Peru's blogging community will gather at Instituto San Ignacio de Loyola to celebrate.

Mariano Amartino introduces (ES) the new blog “Escuela Nº 22 D.E.3 (ES): “The ‘official' blog of a capital city school … Claudia Samat and Alejandra Dodero, instructors at the school, publish articles with the approval of Mrs. María Alejandra Villalba, director or the school, who also participates.”

Proletarium celebrates (ES) the launch of Wordpress.com in Spanish (ES).

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, former Vice President reports that this Thursday a seminar on Religion and Modernity will be held in his Dialogue Between Religions Institute. The blogger says several Iranian scholars will participate in this one day seminar and several writings from some other Western or Iranian academics will be distributed [Fa].

Pouyan writes about steel market in Iran. The blogger says last week the new government ended the free market in steel which was established a few years back. The free metal market had ended the rent of steel merchants in Bazar but finally they got the rent back through the political lobby. As usual there was no serious objection from politicians or academic scholars.

Jamie from Two Koreas discusses about the politics of naming of apartment complexs: “What is so curious about it is that the names used are actually pretty crass and offensive.”

Robert Koehler in Marmot's hole writes on the implication of Japan's president Koizumi Junichiro visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Korea politics and history.

Michael Turton is inviting initiatives in setting up a group blog on Taiwan politics.

Recently Taiwan Yahoo! auction announced that all users will be charged 3% of transaction fees on most of the items. Eroach comments on whether such policy has violated the monopoly law in Taiwan(zh).

Sidekick comments that bloggers has invaded mainstream newspapers (zh), while, Florence from Over the rainbow notices that there are more and more mainstream reporters in Hong Kong getting their information sources and stories from blogs and internet bbs, however, it would be difficult for netizens to get the “journalist” status (zh).

DANWEI sums up the issue of Peking University's attempt to fake the number of sea turtles (Chinese overseas scholar returing back to China) teaching in the University but in fact has nothing to do with the school.