Global Voices Online

A post by Courtney Henry on the Talk Antigua blog expressing serious doubts about the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME) and its usefulness to Antigua sparks off a lively comment thread.

Guangzhou city mayor recently claimed that, according to local household registration data, the GDP per capita will be over US$10,000 this year. William long notices that such claim is a kind of “impractical boasting” (zh).

Frank Yu from One Billion users comments on the recent McDonald's poster featuring Yao Ming with horns with a subtitle: “beef makes you strong”, but the whole image conveys a totally different message to foreigners:

Peijin Chen from Shanghaiist has written a review on the recent movie: curse of the golden flower.

Nazarian writes about hearing country music while listening to Voice of America as a child in Armenia and not understanding what it was or who listened to it until living in the United States two decades later.

Leila surveys the opinions of public figures regarding 2006 in Kazakhstan at neweurasia.

Registan.net discusses “sacred Turkmen traditions” (which are, in actuality, policy stances but called such in homage to the former president's constant citing of tradition in lawmaking) that the interim president is pledging to keep and, in welcome news, break.

According to Webna,a blog service provider,Mihan, announced the authorities asked them to filter about 597 blogs at the same time [Fa].

Sotho writes a short, but thought provoking piece titled, Castrating Africa: Pascal Sevran is a French TV host. In his latest book, “Le Privilège des Jonquilles,” he says, “The black man’s dick is responsible for hunger in Africa.”

Tunisian blogger Sami Ben Gharbia on the Global Voices summit recently held in Delhi, India (Fr): “A will to build a francophone version of Global Voices and to spread the Global Voices China experiment was expressed. The first objective consists in translating in French what is written in English on GV … That initiative, approved by the two co-founders of GV, Ethan Zuckerman and Rebecca McKinnon was proposed by Alice Backer, Jennifer Brea and myself. We hope to have an independent space soon, something along the lines of francophonie.globalvoices.org …”

Mental Acrobatics honors the African grandmother, “The group of people that symbolise above any other group, this unselfishness, this sacrifice for community, the group that is the rock of African societies up and down the continent, that provides a family home, a sympathetic ear, a lesson in discipline”

Ukraine List writes about Ukraine’s pagan tradition.

Metroblogging Mumbai reflects on an incident where a girl was assaulted by a mob of 50 men during New Year celebrations in the city. “There is always an age-old argument between my out-of-town friends, namely Delhi that Mumbai is a much better city to live in than any other in the country.”

The 3rd World View on uncertainty in Bangladeshi politics. “And why should people trust their faith in the electoral process even overseen by a caretaker government when you can rent a rally and good candidates do not get the chance to run for the election.”

Lankawatch on LTTE tactics given the heavy defeats in hands of the Sri Lankan military. “In a sickening revelation witnesses have said that the LTTE repeatedly filled up buildings used as training camps with school children ahead of an imminent air attack.”

Democracy for Nepal has footage of violence and conflict. “The video shows the Pahadis went on a rampage in Nepalgunj. They attacked many Madhesi business establishments at the heart of that town.”

Sebastian Delmont, a Venezuelan living in New York, was pleasantly surprised by a New York Times article [ES] about the archipelago of Los Roques, which he describes as “one of the most beautiful places in Venezuela.”

Panamanian chef Melissa de León makes mouths water with a “a pictorial tour of some glorious sweetness from Buenos Aires, Argentina.”

Miguel Buitrago takes a look at six recent developments in Bolivia's government that he calls inconsistent.

Liz Henry writes that G2G, a women-only group, will be going en masse to the 8th International Free Software Forum, April 12-14, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The Head Heeb on police and vigilantes in Kenya, “The police in much of Africa have a bad reputation. In many countries, police forces are still living down the image they acquired as enforcers for repressive governments, and even in democracies, they are commonly perceived as compromised by corruption.”

The African Uptimist writes about universal access to clean energy in Mali.

Traveling Life writes about an appointment that resembles “another remake of a Polish classic.”

Hungary is a country to be watched this year, and here's why, according to Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar: “Yes, [BBC's John] Simpson is right to put Hungary on his watchlist for this year,alongside the usual suspects of Iraq, Iran, Israel etc. But the reason is quite straightforward and logical and not at all strange, at least for those who live here. The previous last three governments have spent money which wasn't there. It's now finally payback time.”

My Czech Republic Blog reports on the very belated beginning of the skiing season.

Wu Wei reads the Crimes/Accidents section of the Sakhalin Times: “All the usual stuff: bribery, corruption, prostitution, drugs, alcoholism, bombs on planes plus a few local issues: ‘Heavy Winds blow buses off highway' […], ‘4-year-old falls into manhole, escapes unharmed' […], ‘Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk resident found guilty of selling worm-infested candy.' Et cetera.

Neretva River writes about those really expensive watches that Croatian politicians choose to wear.

Neretva River writes about Russia and the issue of Kosovo's independence.

Music and Life - Everywhere! writes about unreliability of the Vilnius taxis.

Mayvelous has some questions on Myanmar's independence day. “Are we celebrating?, Are we happy?, Are we independent?”

Former Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Basdeo Panday has assumed leadership of the UNC, the country's main opposition party, once more. Keith Francis has this to say: “And so, according to the UNC's National Executive, there is absolutely no-one else to lead the UNC but a lawyer who seems to have spent more time as a defendant in the Court than as a practising attorney, and one who has not only been convicted of a charge but has even more charges pending.”

Unspun complains about the lack of crisis management training in Indonesia after observing the way the authorities handled the crash of an private airline plane. Relatives were given conflicting messages on the status of the plane by different parties. “The first rule of anyone handling a crisis-like situation is to establish the facts. You establish the facts by verifying reports from several sources before going public with it. This is what the Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa failed to do when he blindly announced that the wreckage of KI 574 had been found and that there were 12 survivors.”

In An African Minute announces the 1st Ugandan Blogger Happy Hour, “The development of blogging communities has a tradition in East Africa, with the Kenyan Blog Webring and the Tanzanian Blogger's Virtual Conference. I think the Ugandan blogosphere has huge potential for 2007, so this informal gathering is the start of a conversation about where we are headed as a community.”

The swanker comments on the news that Myanmar government released over 3000 prisoners (but not Aung San Suu Kyi) to mark the country's 59 independance day. “Why are a bunch of tough military men, with an army behind them, scared of a frail, little old lady?”

Kanchai comments on the quick execution of a criminal Qiu Xing Hua who had found guilty of murdering 11 people. The blogger is convinced that Qiu is guilty, however, the fact that the court had refused a mental evaluation reflected the lack of confidence for the judiciary system (zh).

Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole introduces Kim Swoo-geun (1931-86), one of the fathers of Korean modern architecture, to the readers.

Owen from Korean history group blog introduces the debate on revisionism concerning the president Roh's comment on Korea War as civil war.

A blog post from Asiapages about the relation between business and politics: How much do politcal country relationships matter?

Juan Arellano announces that the Peruvian Scientific Network [ES] is now offering its own WordPress-based free blogging platform called YachayBlogs [ES].

Armenian LJ user bekaisa writes about the segregated world that expatriates live in, inspiring some interesting comments. Onnik Krikorian responds, adding that Armenia's expatriate community is different from neighboring ones in that it includes Diasporan Armenians who have moved to Armenia whom, Onnik notes, many native Armenians do not see as any different from other foreigners.

Onnik Krikorian publishes the latest edition of his parliamentary election monitor, rounding up the latest in news on Armenia's coming parliamentary vote.