Global Voices Online

Nepali Netbook on the Maoist anti-feudalism masquerade. “It took a formerly pro-Maoist writer and platform to point out the incongruity of Nepal’s much-hyped anti-feudalism fight.”

Dateline Bombay has a post with tips on surviving India's budget airlines. “And its not the time factor only. Be ready to confront bawling babies, stressed out mothers, countless parents scurrying after restless children, family members shouting for each other and minor bruising from baggage trollies as they brush past you.”

DeeDee, A young Cambodian blogger posts images from a recently held personal information technology workshop in Seam Reap, the second largest city in Cambodia. “We’re very happy to see that many students there now know about blog and are interested in the workshop. Sooner or later, we hopefully waiting to see more and more blog by Cambodians.

Rasyad A. Parinduri at Sarapan Ekonomy blog is urging readers to think of a better entry for Indonesia's economy on Wikipedia. The blogger feels that the current entry is “lame and outdated!”

drishtipat on the killing of people 35 years ago 35 year ago to intellectually cripple the new country of Bangladesh. “Most destabilizing discovery was that of Rayer Bazaar. All of our national top doctors, professors, linguists, scientists were among the eviscerated dead bodies found here.”

imperfect world 2006 on being caught in a bandh (strike) in Calcutta. “My brave taxi driver was scolded mercilessly for breaking the bandh by a bunch of CPM lumpens comrades”

Michelle Knisley writes about driving habits of Ukrainian drivers. Petro of Petro's Jotter provides this info in a comment: “Ukrainians are registering 35,000 cars per month […]. 33% of those are in Kyiv and 30 days in an avg month yields, incredibly, 385 cars registered in Kyiv each day. This is 91% more than prior year.”

Michelle Knisley writes about yet another horrible case of healthy newborns being stolen from the mothers after delivery in Kharkiv: “In a culture where everything can be bought for a price, it seems as if children are paying the ultimate price.”

Foreign Notes writes about Ukraine's new minister of emergencies: Nestor Shufrych, a man “described as a walking ‘Emergency Situation' himself.”

Copydude believes that Litvinenko's lethal poisoning could have actually been “a smuggling accident.” Also, here's his overview of Russia's unfriendly relations with its neighbors and the West: “Poland has a beef ban and an energy problem. Poland has a port blockaded by Kaliningrad. The lifeline Odessa-Plok pipeline has just been shelved. Estonia has a fish ban from Russia, Lativia a sprat ban, Georgia and Moldova a wine ban and assorted sanctions. Lithuania has an oil ‘delivery problem’ to its major refinery.”

The beatroot offers more flashbacks into Poland's martial law years - here and here.

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's relations with Sweden.

TOL's Belarus Blog reacts to the newly-introduced Russian export quotas for oil shipped to Belarus - and to the U.S. State Departments response.

Neretva River writes about one more reason not to allow the Balkan states to join the EU: “…meetings are simply becoming too large and the EU is unable to cope with the demand for translators.”

The-malaysian looks at the intrigue behind the murder case of a Mongolian fashion model in Malaysia. The model was involved romantically with a well known Malaysian defence analyst. The analyst is currently the prime suspect in the murder.

Thai-blogs has a post on Thai people's fascination with finding lucky numbers to help them win at lotteries.

Despite Guyana Providence Stadium's Christmas Wish, it seems like Guyana is not the only Caribbean territory behind schedule for the ICC Cricket World Cup: Barbados Free Press quotes their Local Organizing Committee's Chief Executive Stephen Alleyne, who says that “Kensington is still a construction site.”

The Trinidad and Tobago Government intends to proceed with the TT$15 billion rapid rail project, despite calls from several construction industry interest groups for Government to put a halt to the initiative: Juhel Browne posts an update at ttgapers.com.

Thebookmann reviews artist Che Lovelace's Amateur Poster Series exhibition.

Carlos Chang of BlogsPeru congratulates Elizabeth [ES], author of the blog Mujer de Lluvia for winning the “oral memory” category of the Iberoamerican Andres Bello Memory and Thought Prize. “She has sought out testimony of numerous voices of residents around Lima's international airport … the work transmits a special perception of their social and cultural life.” Spanish readers can also check out a recent interview [ES] with Elizabeth by Juan Arellano.

Manicou weighs in on Trinidad and Tobago's justice system and the rumoured return of Basdeo Panday as political leader of the opposition UNC party, among other things.

Elspeth Duncan is thrilled to have discovered a labyrinth on the grounds of a cathedral in downtown Port of Spain.

As John Compton is elected Prime Minister of St. Lucia, coming out of retirement to a resounding win over the Kenny Anthony-led government, Abeni cautions: “Incumbent governments must beware of complacency. No matter how glitzy you make the campaign, the bottom line is if the populace feels its needs are not being met, then they will show you the door.”

Gil the Jenius wants his “Craven” theory to be proven wrong in light of James O'Malley's post about recent changes in Puerto Rico's tax code.

It's been a long fight, but it seems that the pulp mill battle between Uruguay and Argentina might be resolved. From Uruguay writes “today Argentinean minister, Fernandez, along with and the new president of ENCE, Arregui, announced the relocation of the pulp mill to be built in Uruguay by the spanish corporation. The construction will be carried out in a location closer to the Rio de la Plata river, in Colonia.”

Caracas Connect on colors and Communism in Venezuela.

“…Sales people often seem to be actively working against closing the deal; in this sense, we can call it an ‘anti-service' culture,” writes Stet as she offers fascinating examples of this Jamaican phenomenon.

Guillermo Parra comments on Rafael Arráiz Lucca's history of Venezuelan poetry, El coro de las voces solitarias. “As the last two decades have proved, Venezuela still hasn't transcended certain key problems that have plagued it since its foundation, including militarism, corruption and a deeply flawed educational system. Poetry is not an antidote to any of these problems, but it can sometimes offer an alternative to ignorance.”

According to an article by Tim Slinger in The Nation newspaper, a Barbadian company has struck a deal with the Guyana government to use over 400,000 acres of land for a palm oil plant project to produce bio-diesel. This could herald cheaper fuel prices in Barbados, but MediaCritic wants to know what's in it for Guyana.

Water woes cause GuyanaGyal to battle with her entrepreneurial spirit.

“Cubans and music go back a long way”: Luis M. Garcia examines the Cuban connection to singing and dancing in light of an article from The Economist.

The Caribbean Beat blog posts two interesting entries: The first admires the music of young trumpeter Etienne Charles and the writing of Niala Majarah in what Beat calls “a major new Caribbean novel”; the second examines the Six Degrees of Separation theory in a Caribbean context.

Fatih Sayud relates his experience with his own blog and tries to answer what kind of support a new blogger needs to stay motivated to continue blogging.

Mongkol links to videos of land eviction in Cambodia and says “It pains me to see how bad our poor people have suffered and how serious social inequality is getting”. The Cambodian government is ignoring the interest of the people and clearing land eying the investment it might bring in.