Global Voices Online

Onnik Krikorian writes that this will be his last winter in Armenia in a letter from Armenia that describes the cold, the difficulties of safely heating one's home, and other reasons to be less than enthusiastic this winter.

Alexa of A Year in Mongolia writes about witnessing domestic abuse in her apartment building, and says that because physical abuse of women is so common in Mongolia, centers are popping up to offer women a place to stay away from their abusers.

A Fistful of Euros wonders whether readers consider Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan to be European or not. Only Georgia and Azerbaijan are partially within Europe geographically, but the latter is usually considered Asia and Armenia considered European for cultural reasons. Registan.net says the geographic distinction between Europe and Asia is meaningless and wonders where aspiring European countries like Kazakhstan, which is partially within geographic Europe, should fit.

Onnik Krikorian looks at how Armenian bloggers spent their time during the holiday season.

Armenian Poetry Project posts “Because” by Mariné Petrossian (HY) with an audio clip of the author reading the poem.

Joshua Wanyama, who blogs for African Path, writes about Africa in a post titled, Ten “This is Africa” Thoughts: “With the New Year beginning, different trends are being set in Africa either affected by globalization, growth of democracy or the breakdown of society. I have compiled my list of thoughts regarding Africa.”

Reacting to the election of a new president Gaston Tong Sang, Tahitian blogger SamsonPointCom surveys the political landscape (Fr): “Turncoat politics are a national sport, even more so than rowing. There are basically two opposing equally-sized blocs in the Assembly: the independentist “Blues” (socialist affiliated but who have National Front politics) and the autonomist “oranges” (affiliated to the UMP) and in the center, the … non-affiliated who have formed a new party and who flip flop from one camp to the other.”

From Uruguay with photos of Montevideo's famous La Rambla: “It's the favorite place for montevideans to chill out, have a beer, or mate with bizcochos along with friends, or family, specially in spring and summer time. It's also a great place for doing some sports, like: jogging, biking, fishing, beach volley, beach football, or just walk.”

Ecuadorean blogger Milton Ramirez says he is switching from Spanish to English as a 2007 blog resolution.

Iria Puyosa presents [ES] Polis Venezuela [ES], a customized Google Co-Op search engine which searches through 25 Venezuelan weblogs that discuss politics.

With the bold assertion that “the history of Brazil is the history of the persistence of slavery,” The Wolf Report dishes out some statistics about the Portuguese slave trade.

Hugo Chavez announced that Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel will be replaced by former President of the Electoral Board, Jorge Rodriguez. Miguel Octavio says the decision is “another sign that the revolution is about to deepen and will be more radical.” Alex Beech is astonished by the appointment, adding that “Minister of Interior and (Justice?) Minister Jesse Chacon will be replaced by one of the most colorful characters in Venezuela: Pedro Carreno. (As some of you know, I like to remind Venezuelans that Carreno once warned “el colectivo” that Direct TV was spying on us through those little boxes it places on our TV sets.” For those who would like to see the video of Rodriguez's appointment for themselves, El Espacio de Lubrio has it [ES]. Finally, Oil Wars pauses to give brief approval of the change.

Creative Commons Peru announced to readers that the [ES] polyphonic chorus of La Inmaculada college in Chiclayo, Perú has released its album with an attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives Creative Commons license.

Alejandro's recent visit to Lima coincided with the annual Ricardo Palma Book Fair. He ended up buying over 30 books, some of which he reviews here.

Tim Muth takes a look at some of the results from the recent annual Latinobarometro poll and concludes that “the significant lack of satisfaction with government in El Salvador makes the ARENA government susceptible to defeat at the polls in 2009. Yet there is no evidence at all that a significant portion of Salvadorans see the FMLN as offering an alternative that they want to follow, beyond the hard core 30% support which the FMLN has in virtually every poll.”

Robert Wright takes a look at some of the clever ad campaigns of Gancia, “a local brand of vermouth that gets mixed with everything fruity.”

The horrifying case of the murder of children in a place called Nithari has the media bursting with stories. Don't Trust the Indian Media! says “But honestly, the media and political circus around Nithari is becoming a bit sickening. Mikes, cameras and dictaphones being shoved into peoples faces. And as usual, one important point is being missed. I learnt this the difficult way in Gurgaon and in Mumbai.”

Kafila on the politics of oppression and media representation. “The dearth of Dalit journalists in the Indian media is worrying, particularly in the context of increasingly activist role adopted by the media. “

Democracy For Nepal on the potential role of the organisation that is built online in politics. “Hamro Nepal thinks of the internet as its nerve system, true. But it does not bar its members from doing any of the offline stuff. “

Sadiq M Alam on Keith Ellison, Thomas Jefferson's Quran and America's embrace of diversity. “The news has significant on a number of grounds when it comes to embracing diversity, and also the controversies point to the fact of mental block in the so called ‘conservative camp'.”

imperfect world 2007 has a translated elegy for Dhaka. “Described unsentimentally, sceptically, passionately and dispassionately and even prophetically. Sharper than a photograph, and only faintly but excusably narcissisticDescribed unsentimentally, sceptically, passionately and dispassionately and even prophetically. Sharper than a photograph, and only faintly but excusably narcissistic”

Aung Htin Kyaw has an interesting post that traces his family's history in Myanmar. The blogger laments the loss of old architechture as the country starts to modernize by rebuilding over old colonial buildings.

Mike Abundo writes about Filipino bloggers taking over some of the visible international blogs. “Filipinos are the best English communicators in Southeast Asia, heartily embracing social media and flat-world economics. Expect more of our best minds to follow these local pioneers to the world stage.”

Mr. Wang in Singapore has to fill in his ethnicity before submitting the warranty card for a electric fan. The blogger asks “After all these years, why do we still not realise that for most things in life (including the administration of home-appliance warranty certificates), the person's race is simply irrelevant.”

May Hnin Phyu in Fiji comments that it will not be so easy to address the new leader of Fiji. “I’m wondering how are they going to address him - “The Honorable Commondore Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, Sir”. Whoa, what a long title. I need some water.” Frank Bainimarama recently took over the power in a bloodless coup in Fiji.

irfuny blog has published several photos of Iranian women playing rugby football in Iran.

Mr.Behi writes about digital and internet development in Tehran. He says city is full of adds for ADSLs and electronic payment is becoming a regular thing. The only thing that gives a big crash to all of that is the fact that international banks do not operate here. That means by living in Iran, you are excluded from the convenience of having a simple international credit card! He says purchasing on internet has become impossible.

Africa 2.0 reflects on the future of African postal services (Fr): “Under other skies, postal companies occupy a choice spot in the rise of electronic commerce … In Africa, most postal services are sluggishly lagging behind. They've been destabilized by new technologies, the loss of monopoly… competition from … DHL, Chronopost … and Western Union for money transfers. We need to react and competently so, to reconquer a glorious past.”

Africa 2.0 posts (Fr) a list of African stock exchanges with links.

The beatroot writes about hysteria in the Polish tabloids: “Simon is pleading not guilty, of course. It's like one of those off-the-peg stories Polish tabloid journos dream of: ‘Black African artistic seducer infects innocent Polish girls with HIV!!! Knowledge about HIV – and Africans, for that matter - is very limited here. Just ripe for a scare story.”

George Michael received $3 million from Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin for a New Year's Eve concert - but then lost much of his costly equipment in a fire allegedly caused “by a crewmember playing with leftover pyrotechnics” - reports La Russophobe.

A Step At A Time writes about efforts being made in Estonia's capital to find a permanent home for the Dmitry Shostakovich's legacy.

Foreign Notes writes about two former adversaries - Victor Yushchenko and Victor Yanukovych - about to “walk hand in hand.”

Carpetblogger offers some tips to help foreigners blend in while in Kyiv: Babushka Sigh, Devushka Stare and Dnipro Denial.

Chenette posts several well-captioned photos on Flickr of foods traditionally associated in Guyana with the Eid-Ul-Adha observances, including Guyanese vermicelli and Maleeda.

Leon pays tribute to the Jamaican actor and comedian Charles Hyatt, who died on January 1. Hyatt appeared in several films, including Cool Runnings, The Mighty Quinn and Club Paradise.

Ria Bacon reports that two landfills in Jamaica have been making the news lately, one for having been the dumping site for the bodies of a pair of murder victims, the other for enveloping parts of Kingston in a miasma of débris-scented smoke.

Háblame de música (ES) posts a list of “artists who revolutionised my thinking in 2006″.

Tinta Digital (ES) uploads the logo of a Puerto Rican political party to Wikipedia, and gets caught up in a debate about fair use.

Adele weighs in on the Saddam Hussein execution video: “The camera phone shall continue to have a great deal to tell us about ourselves, our news and our reality. The very serious issue here is whether we can turn back the hands of bad taste now that nothing is sacred.“