Global Voices Online

Sean Roberts discusses former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray's role in debates over Western foreign policies towards Uzbekistan, arguing his point of view is an important addition.

Zarchka reports on Onnik Krikorian's photo exhibition for Habitat for Humanity of Armenia. Examples of his stellar photography for Habitat for Humanity can be found at his blog.

Alexa looks at wealth disparities in Mongolia.

GI Korea blogs about the protest organized by the conservatives against Roh government on September 2. They urged the government to postpone the transfer of wartime operational control and revision of the private school law. The blogger thinks ” it was a real shock to many that America would be willing to pack up and leave so readily and this massive protest is a response to that. “

Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translates the whole text of Ching Cheong Verdict into English. The Chinese Verdict is published by Singtaonet.com as an exclusive document.

Laowiseass puts up a foreign journalist notes on his interview with Panyu government official regarding Taishi village: “They refused to let me use the restroom in privacy saying they were concerned I might fall into the toilet hole or slip and break something”.

Richard from Peking Duck points out that purging Mao from Chinese textooks is a Maoist thing.

fiLi's world reports that some tourists travelling in China with the latest Lonely Planet book were asked to hand in their very expensive book at the border-crossing because the colour of China and Taiwan are different, and therefore political.

Enanga’s pov reviews the book Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust, a survivor’s personal account of the genocide. Holding the sustained memory of the Jewish holocaust as a point of comparison, blogger Rosemary states that despite the many books written about Rwanda, there will never be enough.

Nightshift reports on his visit to Haiti, where he notices an abundance of cellular service antennas and where family members tell him to “tell my family members in the states that Haiti is not as nightmarish. . . as they think.”

A newspaper report about a group devoted to helping convicted criminals who are deported back to Jamaica inspires Francis Wade to try and get involved.

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes about the opposition to construction of a monument to Peter the Great in Estonia.

Srebrenica Genocide Blog begins to repost “a list of over 800 Bosnian Serbs who allegedly participated in the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995, and are still believed to be in positions of power.”

TOL's Belarus Blog reports on the recent discussions taking place in the Belarusian blogosphere.

Novala, Europa closes the virtual Balkan journey with a Sarajevo war story: “There are millions of them, and this is just another story of war.”

BalkanCities writes that Plovdiv, the second-largest Bulgarian city, “may (or may not) become a destination for young Turkish females desiring to escape the ban on headscarves in educational institutions” in Turkey.

J. Otto Pohl writes about the 1941 mobilization of the Russian-German men aged 16-60 in Ukraine into construction battalions.

Laurence Jarvik has found a story by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti on “how weblogs are helping to save lives in Russia”: “Internet against cancer.”

Steven Taylor describes his visit to the Amazon where he observed the cultivation of coca: “Some coca cultivation is legal in Peru and other Andean nations. Indeed, everywhere I stayedd in Peru had coca leaf tea–which tasted no different than a standard green tea and provided less punch than a weak cup of coffee.”

Celebrating Blog Day 2006, Liz Henry has a wonderful collection of links from

Bolivia and Peru.

It seems that Mexican politics have gotten beyond comical. To capture the tension of outgoing President Vicente Fox's state of the nation address, Ceci Connolly recommends a cartoon by Luis Carreño and Ricardo Carreón recommends the work of cartoonist, Paco Calderon. Eduardo Arcos liveblogged the address. Boz considers the conflict “as a positive development for ending the current round of protests.” Finally, Ana Maria Salaza on the “Constitutional Basis for an ‘Alternative Government'.”

Edward Lucas, the Central and East European correspondent of The Economist, writes about a “non-vote” that is taking place in a “non-country” - Transdniestria - on Sept. 17.

Two new education weblogs based in Buenos Aires: Red de Escuelas Medias (ES) (”Network of Middle Schools”) is part of the new government-run Blogs de la Ciudad while Educación (ES) by Aurora Kochi and Jorge Apel was just started by Clarín.

Juan Luis describes this year's World Cup of basketball, won by Spain, as the most exciting sporting event he had seen in quite a while (ES). Ecuadorean blogger Christian Espinosa would seem to agree (ES).

Amer reports that the Kuwaiti government didn't exactly embrace the idea of thousands of people dismissing “controlled” newspapers by flocking directly to raw, uncensored, blunt political analysis and footage concerning corruption and the fight for constitutional freedoms on sites such as “Safat Square,” among many other excellent websites. Therefore, they have decided to “regulate” the internet by imposing even more restrictions on free speech by discussing ways and means in which the “Press and Publications Law” can include clauses that will limit internet freedoms.

The “summer rains” that began falling on Gaza over two months ago are continuing. On 2 September the Northerly winds of the Israeli Occupation Forces swept through the town of Beit Hanoun unleashing its full might killing a father and son and injuring his two daughters. It appears that these low lying clouds have moved on to other parts of the country over this period of time. It seems the storms which were solely supposed to be headed for Gaza have shifted a bit and begun heading towards the West Bank where many folks have been stranded at checkpoints, oftentimes pregnant women trying to get to hospitals, Christopher Brown said.

Israeli kids were once raised on the legends of the Zionist pioneers who braved the evil British Mandate and risked their lives to establish the early kibbutzim and moshavot! Those same kids are now the “establishment” and somehow absurdly are repeating history but from the other side. They are trying to destroy Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel, Batya said.

Rami wonders: “Why do we always surrender to the notion that we are too small to change the world, if you and I did not change the world then who will? It is a simple equation, when you don't like the world you live in, then change it, all those who did before were no more than humanbeings like you and I,” he said.

Culture in Palestine is the legacy that makes up a large portion of the cultural identity that interacts with all the classes of the Palestinian society. It conveys an image that reflects the suffering and oppression of the people caused by the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The Municipality of Gaza in particular worked on consolidating and promoting Palestinian culture. It made the construction of cultural centres a priority as it supported the Arts and Crafts Village, the Children’s Welfare Garden, the public library, the Holst Cultural Centre and the Rashad Ash-Shawwa Centre, Iman said.

Education in Pakistan needs far more involved intervention. All Things Pakistan on a high school with one student. “Little wonder that the evident failure of formal school system is giving way to the proliferation of madrassahs. Southern Punjab has turned into a hotbed of sectarianism.”

Say Na Something on being a woman and celebrating Tij. What it means to have a society's expectations burden you to look and behave a certain way - especially if you are married.

Indicast has a podcast on the festival of Ganesha Chaturthi. “eople from all age groups participate in programmes to exhibit their talent on millions of different stages across the country. India is immune to blaring loudspeakers at 12:30 in the night during these 10 days!”

Given the large number of Bangladeshis in the Middle East, imperfect world 2006 scans the mainstream media to get a sense of what issues are connected with Bangladeshis there.

Salam Dhaka has a curious idea about bribes - the good ones and the bad ones. The ones that keep the money as part of a better economic cycle and the ones that just make the money disappear.

Mentalacrobatics experiences the good, the bad and the ugly of the voter’s registration process in Kenya and questions regulations which may discourage the political participation of many.

Adam sees the Ghanaian government’s decision to ban a gay and lesbian community conference as understandable yet paradoxical in a country that is otherwise usually progressive.

The Girl in the Meadow gives a citizen’s account of the state of the nation covering crime, employment, investment opportunities and micro-finance enterprise including her personal “jua kali” (informal) tips on stock trading.

In adventures in international development, P’s rants about corruption in Lesotho’s ruling LCD party and wonders whether “there is no act of corruption too blatant to get away with”.

A blog dedicated to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa discusses the impact the event is set to have on the infrastructure of South African cities.

In light of the UN Security council’s approval of a peacekeeping force in Darfur, observing increasing insecurity and fearing that the greater region is in danger of a destabilization of Congolese proportions, the Head Heeb discusses a nation in a Catch-22.

Puerto Rican blogger Fausta Wertz reviews the Sony Classics film “Quinceañera”, which is set in a Mexican community in Los Angeles.

Cuban television has broadcast more video of ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro being visited by his friend and ally, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, reports Luis M. Garcia, who gleans two key messages from the footage.

The Manicou applauds a new Drug Abuse Prevention policy proposed by the Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Education aimed at making all schools smoke and drug free, but wonders what effect this could have on the fundraising parties held on the premises of certain schools

Irane Emrouz invites Ahmadinejad to debate with five bloggers in Iran rather than hoping to debate with American President. The blogger says in Ahmadinejad's eyes everything is either white or black. According to the blogger, in Ahmadinejad's letters to Bush or others, people have no place and he just invites other powers to join him! [Fa].

T-Salon has put up a summary of local mainstream reports and blogs post on Ching Cheong's 5 years Verdict.

One Man Bandwidth reports that Shaolin KungFu is becoming a big business in China.

Recently a vice president of Peking University said that university should train blue collar workers, Xueyong elaborates such debatable proposal in his blog by showing the contraditions in the inmagination of university education and the position of China as a world factory (zh).

In respond to a comment, Hu Jia writes a very detailed post reporting what the AIDS activists have been doing in China and how they have been harassed by national security polices (zh).

Joshua in Korea Liberator tells people how to break the blockade and access to alternative information to North Korea.

Daniela Thompson remembers us that “Brazilians are the most notorious music pirates in the world, and that the age of broadband makes it possible for almost everyone to indulge in musical nostalgia at no cost”. Check out the various links and detailed description about the audio files reservoirs hosting “from sublime classics and little-known jewels to curiosity items and discs with special-interest appeal”. Here are other links related to online discographies and webradios. Precious references for Brazilian Music lovers.