Global Voices Online

Cintra acknowledges the “surprising fun of the Mundial de Tango.”

Jim Shultz announces the gas and oil brief from the Democracy Center while Miguel Buitrago takes a look at Bolivia's presence on YouTube.

Erwin Cifuentes, Ricardo Carreón, Ceci Connolly, and Eduardo Arcos (ES) on the electoral tribunal's rejection of complaints made by presidential runner-up Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Andres Bianciotto has the score at USA 0 - Mexico 1 (ES) when comparing the United States' federal disaster recovery following Hurricane Katrina with Cancun's post-Wilma recovery. Steve Bridger seems to agree with, at least, the latter.

Ben Dangl survives the most dangerous road in the world to publish this update on his time in Cochabamba.

Tolkun Umaraliev writes about the low reputation and public fear of the police in Kyrgyzstan, and he solicits comments from readers about their opinions on the police.

Sean Roberts details the tensions and issues in US-Kazakhstan relations.

JJ discovers the beauties of Bishkek, “a beautiful, safe, comfortable, green, modern and very pleasant place to live.” For the employed, anyway…

Carpetblogger reports on Batumi, the capital of the Georgian region of Ajaria, saying that autonomy was far from kind to the city.

From Rwanda, expat blogger Guillaume is worried about the state of public transportation in Kigali now that motorcycles are scarce (Fr): “To my great surprise (I only thought it partially possible), there are no more motos downtown nor on any of the main highways of Kigali since last monday. Secondary roads are still authorized but who cares, neither my home nor my office are on the path of the surviving motos. So in short, traffic is becoming harder and my transportation budget is blowing up especially since car taxis have now raised their prices.”

Trivial Matters has a wonderful post on street art in India. “The question now arises that are the best and the brightest advertisers in India really the guys working in AC buildings behind their Macs or the street artists who dream up exciting graphics which are then rolled out on walls, banners and posters in India everywhere.”

A recent controversy surrounding the move to make the singing of the National Song compulsary has had some minority groups protest. Indian Muslims on what the issue with singing the song - Vande Mataram is all about.

United We Blog! on how festivals for women reinvent themselves to be more socially and politically relevant.

The energy crisis rears its ugly head, albeit in a different way. Rezwan on Coal, environment and people, pitted against each other in Bangladesh.

Is the blog block in Pakistan back? All Things Pakistan on the latest developments with a couple of theories on why this probably happened.

Novala, Europa posts pictures from one of the most popular tourist destinations in Montenegro: the semi-island of Sveti Stefan.

Our Man in Tirana writes about ‘Greater Albania' or, as it was called in a recent interview by the political adviser to the Albanian Prime Minister, the ‘Natural Albania': “Citing the example of Montenegro which chose to split from Serbia, Danaj suggested that Albanians in Macedonia and Montenegro should also have the right to choose whether to live as minorities in those countries or to join with Albania.”

Balkan Ghost of Finding Karadzic visits Trebinje and Lastva in the Republika Srpska to investigate Radovan Karadzic sightings there: “While in the west we treat Karadzic sightings with alarm, they are commonplace around Trebinje. And even if the locals wanted to talk about it, the western press and local EUFOR soldiers would be the last they would want to assist with the new information.”

Mat Savelli of Roma Roma writes about the highlight of his visit to Belgrade: Tito's Mausoleum at the House of Flowers.

Jo and Ants The Tukkers of Tuk to the Road travel from Lviv to Krakow to Auschwitz - and arrive in Prague.

Reunion Passion posts pictures (Fr) of the Malbar firewalking celebration of the Tamul Indian community which constitutes 30% of Reunion's population. The celebrations usually take place in January.

Maximilian C. Forte offers a substanial analysis of the 220th anniversary celebrations of the Santa Rosa Carib community in Arima, Trinidad, complete with audio files from the live radio broadcast.

Luis M. Garcia reports briefly on the Cuban government's irate response to “a Spanish academic who says as many as 200,000 Spaniards travel to Cuba every year to engage in what he politely termed turismo sexual.“

Mikaila discusses the ins and outs of dating in Jamaica: “I have stories that could be episodes of Sex and the City. There are so many more women here than men. Dating anywhere is difficult. Last week I watched a special Dateline on AIDS in African American communities and was shocked and saddened by what I learnt.”

“The term “intuitives”, used to describe those artists without formal training and often inspired by religious movements like Rastafarianism or Revivalism, has decisively entered the art history lexicon of the Caribbean, even as some critics debate the political, historical, and even economic consequences of the label,” writes Nicholas Laughlin, linking to an article on the Intuitives III exhibition now on in Jamaica.

Lee Vanderwalker posts some sepia-toned photos and a “technology timeline” of Caye Caulker, Belize.

Rick Lowe takes issue with the Cuban ambassador to the Bahamas's declaration that the US lacks the moral authority to criticise Cuba.

Nicolette Bethel's analysis of an African-American commentator's views on white guilt and anti-Semitism prompts her to think about Israel's position in the Middle East: “We Bahamians should take heed. After all, there is not a huge difference between the plight of the Palestinian Arab or the young men who identify with him and the plight of the child of Haitian parentage growing up in today’s Bahamas.”

Barbados's opposition leader gets the chance to take a enviable swipe at the Prime Minister, who's apparently been cagey about the five year-old daughter he has with the woman he recently married. “Maybe it’s a low blow,” says Titlayo, “but you can’t say it isn’t a solid punch.”

While Senegal commemorated the Senegalese riflemen who assisted the French in WWII, Senegalese blogger Semett remembered (Fr) their forced labor, involuntary conscription and drew comparisons with the triangular slave trade. He seemed unconvinced with President Wade's sincerity in facing the realities of the riflemen but also that of the youth of today who perish in the Atlantic in their quest for a better life.

Senegalese blogger Semett worries that (Fr) not much has changed for communities of color in France since last year's summer riots: “Despite the temporary emotions, we don't get the impression that anything has changed since. Our brothers and sisters continue to live in unsanitary and dangerous conditions. Whether it is workers' homes, state-run housing or transitional housing, it seems unacceptable that a country such as France, which calls itself the home of human rights, could continue to provide housing that violates human dignity to its people.”

Seckasysteme posts (Fr) an audio excerpt of Baaba Maal's Senegal-Cheri.

The Head Heeb analyses the partial results from the Democratic Republic of Congo's National Assembly election which took place alongside the better-publicised presidential poll. It's already clear that the incoming parliament will be highly fragmented,” he concludes.

Tobian Thinktank asks why Ethiopia's army is bothering with its military manoeuvres in Somalia while foreign troops are having to come into Ethiopia to help flood victims. We've people and villages getting swept away, lives being taken and destroyed by the hundreds and what is the Ethiopian army doing?

“The Amateur Gamers Association of South Africa (AGASA) has created the first official online national gamers' league,” reports Tectonic.

The Concoction reports that Darfur women are still being raped three months after a key peace deal in Sudan. “Fetching fire wood or water often ends up in the women being raped. Just imagine running to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk and there is a very high possibility of you being raped.“

“In Kenya corruption is such a way of life” writes Girl in the Meadow as she describes an encounter with a bribe-taking policeman.

Mshairi had a dig at a new HIV/Aids fundraising campaign that uses posters of celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow wearing face paint and beads next to the slogan “I am African”. “If she is African, I am Plutonian,” she commented.

Whispering Inn joined other Kenyan bloggers welcoming the visit of Barack Obama, the USA's only black senator, to the country. “[Obama has been] chewing out president Kibaki for State-sanctioned corruption, encouraging folks to fight AIDS by getting tested, advocating media freedom at the Standard Newspapers, touring Kibera, and giving a lecture on good governance at the University of Nairobi,” he summarised.

Grandiose Parlor highlighted the 2006 Index of Economic Freedom report which claimed Nigeria's economy remained “repressed”. “The various economic programs and policies of President Obasanjo's administration seem to have not made any meaningful impact,” he said.

A notorious South African Apartheid-era security minister hit the headlines after he washed the feet of an anti-Apartheid campaigner in an act of contrition. South Africa Logue dismissed the gesture saying: “[Adriaan] Vlok’s act - which strikes Your Correspondent as deeply offensive to many a South African’s sense of justice - has been roundly lambasted and scorned“.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has been on a spending spree, bulking out his motorcade with brand new outrider motorcycles and Mercedes saloons. “Now, in a country where there is no war, no threat to his life as he has such a tight control over everything, is it necessary to travel in such a fashion,” wonders The Bearded Man.

Vietnamese God vists Halong bay - one of the popular tourist destinations in Vietnam. The bloggers posts some pictures and reflects “It was so quiet, nothing much happening around, just the boat engine going sometimes on and off. Sitting on the top of the boat in that peaceful atmosphere made me feel life is so nice and I just forget about the busy stress of normal life.”

Via Tomorrow.sg comes a post where a teacher in Singapore is talking about what makes her hate her job as a teacher.

Vutha in Cambodia is upset with people who are causing disruptions in a community web portal project. The project known as the Community Information Center Webportal Cambodia (CIC webportal) was inactive for a while and the blogger is helping it become active again. “Finally, I am not sure whether CIC portal will be running properly like before or not. If it wont work, it is very sad for me. Its datas stored are important for Cambodians to use and develop community. I appeal for all people who are Khmer, they should stop creating destructive ideas.”

Ktemoc covers the latest attempt by former Malaysian prime minister Mahatir to claim back the centrestage in Malaysian politics. Mahatir was one of the longest serving leaders in the world. He retired from active politics after handing over the power to Ahmad Badawi [AAB] couple of years back. Recently, Mahatir became actively campaigning against Badawi after Badawi canceled one of Mahatir's pet projects.

Joel Martinsen from DAWEI reports that “Peking University,” which has endured since 1912, will eventually give way to “University of Beijing.” The school official claims that it is to make the university more grammatical correct.

Simon World has an interesting posts on the monoploy of gambling industry in Hong Kong and Macau: You hear that, you nasty Americans? Stanley's going to call on Beijing to take control if they don't stop being so, umm, capitalist.

Ohmynews Japan was launched yesterday with 1,000 citizen reporters in position. Korean Ohmynews Citizen reporter, Ronda Hauben, has a follow up report today, stressing the “‘political and ideological neutrality” of Japanese Ohmynews.