Archive for
January 1st, 2007
Stories
Poland's Pulse: “This year was…”
Polish bloggers are having a holiday break. Stuck between family and tons of food (both are obligatory parts of Christmas celebrations here), some only posted best wishes, and many didn't even bother to do even that.
Among these who managed to update after all, a great number seems to have been struck by the “recapitulation plague.” This disease, a type of melancholy, is particularly rampant around the end of the year. Its main symptom among the blogging community members seema to be a need to summarize and somehow evaluate the past twelve months.
Almost every post started with “This year was…”
The bloggers of Salon 24 (more about this initiative at a later date) seem to compete in summarizing. Its host, Igor Janke, in his Janke Post, proclaimed 2006 to be the lost year (PL):
This was a year of disappointments in the public arena. After the last elections I, like millions of Poles, expected a great renaissance. I counted on Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Donald Tusk and their parties. Both have wasted their chances. PiS maybe wasn't doing as bad as many were predicting. They did introduce some reforms. But they also introduced (populist) Giertych into the government. They introduced minister Jasinski, who's blocking privatization. They introduced minister Fotyga, who's not doing a thing. They make deal, split and make deal again with Lepper and his pathetic band. The levels of political discord have reached previously unknown heights. Although the economy is, thankfully, doing fine, I'm disappointed. From the politicians that were supposed to make a breakthrough I'd expected much, much more.
UN Sanctions Against Iran
The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to impose sanctions against Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment. The Iranian government announced that it will continue its nuclear policy. Here's what bloggers had to say as they shared their thoughts and feelings about the sanctions, the government’s reaction and the consequences.
Nasime Dasht says that it is a very important organization that approved sanctions against Iran, and all members are obliged to follow its decision.The blogger adds that , while the authorities say that nothing happened, many things in fact did happen, and the authorities have forgotten the national interest [Fa]. Nasime Dasht writes
sanctions will create more difficult conditions for investment and investors will run away. World banks will refuse to give Iranians credit and USA will try to enlarge the specter of sanctions.
The blogger also says that the radical and baseless slogans of Iranian leader Ahmadinejad helped USA to push its agenda in United Nations, and advises that incapable authorities leave the scene to others for the benefit of the country and to preserve national interest. (more…)
Libya blogs: The Last Week of 2006
The main themes dominating the Libyan blogs during this last week were, New Year, Christmas and Eid greetings, whith Khadijateri posting about the Eid Al Adha celebration and using photos for illustration.
Libyan bloggers were also concerned with new pets, such as AngLibyan who brought a tame budgie home.
Meanwhile , On Tripoli continued to review the interesting places for eating out in Tripoli. His recent post covers the fast food outlet “pizza pizza”.
However, like their colleages in the Arab world , Saddam Hussein's demise insinuated itself into the moslty mundane blogging topics. of the Libyans. For example, Highlander , Safia Speaks , Lebeeya says and Braveheart were all disgusted and shocked at the poor taste in picking the date of Saddam's death, and firmly believing there is some purpose and symbolising to the choice of executing Saddam in such a hurry and on one of the most special occasions in the Islamic calendar.
Happy New Year and Eid Mubarak !
Links for Mon, 2007-01
“Writers who do not read have no right to write,” states Jamaican novelist Marlon James, in his meditation on reading and writing-cum-review of the novel Absurdistan by Gary Shteyngart.
Nicolette Bethel posts a detailed review of this year's Junkanoo festival in the Bahamas.
Holding his tongue, León Felipe Sánchez shows a screenshot from the website “Legitimate Government of Mexico,” the so-called parallel government by runner-up candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Cultura Libre - the Peruvian chapter of FreeCulture.org has an English-language year in review of what they have accomplished and what they hope to accomplish in 2007.
Creative Commons evangelist Ariel Vercelli reminds his readers that Fernando Casale has been collecting albums of Argentine musicians released under a Creative Commons license. Casale has already mentioned over 30 albums, nearly all of which can be downloaded for free.
Andres Guadamuz - who usually focuses on issues involving tech and law - recently returned to his native Costa Rica where he commented on Bridging the Costa Rican digital divide and two posts about the ever-controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement.
The Global Game has pieced together an incredible and inspirational biography of the 5′3″ Brazilian 20-year-old prodigy Marta Vieira da Silva. Here's just a glimpse: “Marta’s background [is complex]: the perennially water-challenged “backlands” area, more than 1,000 miles northeast of the country’s political and tourist centers, that provides her cultural backing and character; the ever cycling narrative of displacement and reunion; and the negotiations with identity required by excelling as a woman at a male-dominated sport, accentuated by knowing that soccer for women in Brazil was banned until 1979—seven years before Marta’s birth.”
Both Randy Paul and Boz applaud Costa Rican President Oscar Arias' commentary on the similarities between Fidel Castro and Augusto Pinochet. Meanwhile, Venezuelan blogger Afrael comments on the celebrity look-alikes (including Winston Churchill!) of Fidel according to the site MyHeritage.
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