Global Voices Online

Sohoxiaobao has collected more criticism on the movie The city of Golden Armor. This time the criticism came directly from local film makers, some accused that the film was spreading “spiritual pollution” (zh). However, the movie has already made 23.72 million yuan (around US3 millions) in the ticket offices all over the country.

myspace.cn is now under construction, it belongs to a company called Mai Sibei (Putonghua pronunciation of Myspace). More information from DANWEI.

Seckasysteme comments on the end of a national strike in Guinea last week that resulted in the signing of an encouraging agreement with the Lansana Conte regime (Fr): “The 17 days of violence with their arrests, killings, persecutions and sacrifices of all sorts were worth it for the valliant people of Guinea. Forever and especially since 1957, date of the Independence of Guinea, never have Guineans been so close to the end of the tunnel after 50 years of dictatorship by Sekou Toure and Lansana Conte.” (No permalink available; link is to blog home page.)

Says Generation Consciente (Fr): “I'm not sure if I should laugh or cry about the French giving ethics lectures to the Chinese presence in Africa, urging them to encourage democracy and peace, as France itself hasn't ceased doing so for a half century through coups, killings of nationalist leaders and the bailing of Eyadema and son, Sassou Nguesso, Biya or Deby!”

Katuali is (Fr) organizing a meeting of New Caledonian bloggers and proposes a tentative March 3rd date.

Tony, from Palestinian Pundit, posts a poll conducted by Al Jazeera, on whether there will be a civil war in Palestine or not.
“With more than 1,500 responding so far, here is the breakdown:
Yes……..33%
No………67%” he wrote.

Omani blogger Lym celebrated Oman's victory in this year's Khaleeji (Gulf) Football Championship in style. She joined street celebrations and had “so much fun watching happy people celebrate, dancing on the streets, and waving the Omani flag.”
“The only thing I don't condone is when I see guys sitting on the windows, with half their bodies outside or worse yet, when they place children on the roofs of their cars or on the window,” she wrote.

Atout-Guadeloupe explains that Guadeloupe has been invited to Brooklyn's West Indian Day parade in 2007 and notes (Fr): “It is an important event for Guadeloupean culture to be parading in Brooklyn, NY in 2007! Since October 2006, 5 carnival bands have converged into a single association , “K'Ribeens” to prepare for the event!”

Lebanese blogger Mustafa says using Photoshop is the best way to discredit any political opponents.
He welcomes con artists to “express your talents here in The Beirut Spring. Forgery is serious matter in the real-world.”

Lebanese blogger Anton Efendi objects to Hassan Nasrullah's Ashura speech, saying that the
Hizbulla leader “is intent on taking the country to war.”
“What was his message to the Shiite community and the Lebanese? It was one of war, death, and suicide. This was best crystallized in a truly disturbing historico-religious analogy he offered his audience. He told them that when Imam Husein
led a “reformist” charge, like Hezbollah today (according to Nasrallah), he was faced with two choices: surrender, or death. And he chose death,” he wrote.

Writing in Jewish Sans Frontieres, Mark Elf, reports that Canada is granting residency to growing numbers of Israeli asylum seekers, including ethnic Russians, ultra-orthodox Jews and political dissidents who say they are victims of political or religious persecution in Israel.
He also wonders why why the presence of more Jews in Canada is “upsetting …. members of the Jewish community in Canada?”

Israeli blogger Judy, at Adloyada, is is confused with today's responses by Palestinian groups to the latest suicide bombing in Eilat, which has so far claimed three dead.
Getting mixed reactions, she wants to know who should be the real spokesman for the Palestinians.

Ukraine List writes about a Ukrainian-Romanian dispute over Serpent Island: “The island itself is just a small chunk of limestone (.17 km sq.) with a layer of topsoil. […] The geo-political history of the island is a bit complex […].”

Illyrian Gazette writes about the interview with the Serbian rock singer Bora Djordjevic.

From Orange Ukraine, a roundup of Ukrainian political happenings.

Foreign Notes quotes from a PACE report on Ukraine: “The political reality in today's Ukraine shows that, apart from the conduct of free and transparent elections in March 2006, the promises of the Maidan to introduce clean, honest and competent governance and promote the rule of law and transparency at all levels have not been met.”

K the Kuwaiti has just come across an interesting book, which he has ordered online, provided, of course, it gets past the Kuwaiti customs!
The book is entitled Muhajababes: Meet the Middle East's next generation.
As an explanation, K tells is that:
“muhajabah noun (Arabic) a woman who veils
muhajababe noun (Arabic) a veiled and sexily dressed young woman.”

Vilhelm Konnander writes on Russia's reaction to the “US proposal to deploy a ballistic missile defence system to NATO-members Poland and the Czech Republic.”

Russia Blog drives through Moscow's posh neighborhoods and posts the pictures.

Copydude writes an open letter to Justin Penrose, a UK Sunday Mirror reporter who has written on Aleksandr Litvinenko's death.

David McDuff of A Step At A Time continues with the Marina Litvinenko's interview translation: part 6, part 7, part 8.

Haji Washington says that AFP,the American Foreign Policy Council,has sponsored and launched two ads against Iranian government on USA TV.One ad starts with Ahmadinejad's declaration against Holocaust and continues with the images of Iran-Iraq war.Then at the end, you see a key slogan:Iran ignores nuclear deadline. Ad invites you to call to White House to ask for more sanctions against Iran.

Azad Forever has an original video on the first Sufi saint shrine in the US. “Some 40 miles from Philadelphia, among the rolling hills and tall trees of Chester County, is a Mazar (a shrine), the resting place of Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen the Sufi saint and founder of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, who passed away in 1986. This original piece is a 2 part series that explores this Muslim shrine, the first in the United States.”

Wild Kashmir on wild owls. “Trust us Kashmiri's to put our own spin on things and end up on a ‘Wild Owl Chase'. If recent news reports are to be believed, an unknown person is offering a Rs. 30 lakh [approx 70,000 USD] reward for the capture of a 3-kilogram owl in Kashmir. “

Keith, a Hong Kong born New Zealand Chinese journalist on being in Bangalore during a riot. “Two blocks away, that very night, pro-Saddam mobs clashed with police while youths looted and burned stores. 40 people were injured, and an 11-year-old was killed when police fired at the crowd. In India, two blocks is a world away.”

Prosenoma goes to Pakistan, and discovers much warmth and beauty. “When we segregate people for long, the lines between fact and fiction blur. Our curiosity leads us to lap up any information thrown at us and in order to know the other, we start relying on anything offered – second-hand accounts, hearsay, stories, etc. and we create as what Amitava Kumar calls “textbook enemies.” “

Sadiq M.Alam on God, friendship and Islam. “the mainstream islam often come in clash with sufi stream of islam which interestedly emphasize a lot on the inner dimension whereas the orthodox school in most of the cases moves around the periphery of rituals, religious laws etc.”

Kamangir reports that Sepah (Revolutionary Guards) internal journal, Sobh-e Sadegh [the real sunrise], published a short article in which the author, Reza Zaker, refers to the highly-spread pattern of American presence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Pakistan, India, Africa, Latin America, and even Europe. The article threatens that “abducting Americans and transferring them to any desired location is easier than buying a bunch of Chinese crap [probably referring to the sanctions]”.

Thanks to Omid Memarian's [Fa]blog, I discovered this link where you can see a lot of fantastic photos about Tehran.It is an anti war “video.”

Sean Roberts examines efforts to consolidate political parties into and the elimination of parties in opposition to the pro-presidential Nur-Otan.

neweurasia reports that Kazakhstan has ranked third most popular destination among European countries for gap year backpackers. Borat is believed to be the cause for the jump in popularity.

The Azamat Report goes in search of snow around Bishkek and finally manages to find some for a bit of snowboarding. Video evidence is provided.

Onnik Krikorian has a roundup of the latest news on Armenia's upcoming parliamentary election with a particular focus on efforts to provide transparency and to educate voters, something that blogger Zarchka is participating in herself.

Yulia writes about Kyrgyzstan's new prime minister, noting his lack of experience relative to his predecessor and saying that the parliament would have voted for a donkey for the position just to avoid the president dismissing the parliament.

Manicou hits out at the “irrelevance” of the Trinidad and Tobago police force, in light of their handling of the organiser of last week's proposed national shutdown.

The latest IZATRINI.com soca podcast features 2007 tracks by several Trinidadian artists and by Japanese soca sensation Minmi.

Beyond Teresa feels that criticism of international military and police forces that they act like they are on vacation in East Timor is wrong. “From a sociological and psychological point of view: these people are away from home and friends, in a tropical climate, and some have the chance to enjoy their breaks in the beach. Can you infer that all they do is vacationing? If there are proofs of a direct connection between spending time at the beach and the lack of effectiveness in fighting violence bring them up.”

St. Vincent and the Grenadines blogger Abeni's worst fears are realised with the announcement that the merger between two Caribbean airlines will be accompanied by an increase in airfares.

The 4896 blog talks about a cruel joke that a donor played on the flood victims in Malaysia.

Puerto Rican blogger Norenid Ramírez posts an article (ES), originally written for the journal La Voz, on the current state of reggaetón.

“Havana is a city best appreciated on foot,” writes (ES) FotoCuba in a post presenting photos from a walking tour of the city.

Naija Vixen writes about Nollywood stars visiting Sierra Leone to shoot a Sierra Leonean film, Bai Bure Goes to War, “The script which was written by Abu Noah portrays the traditional and cultural values of the northern Temne ethnic group and the conflicts between local rulers and the British colonial leaders.Olu Jacobs in his remarks to President Kabbah, predicted that the proposed film was going to be a landmark in the sub region.”

Benn Loxo writes about the Senegalese musician, Chérif Mbaw, “Chérif Mbaw has the voice of a young Youssou, the guitar of Pape & Cheikh and the feel of Cheikh Lô. In other words, he sounds like everything I like about contemporary Senegalese music.”

The Bearded Man's update on Zimbabwe, “After a few exchanges, one of the women digs deeper into her handbag and fishes out some cash that she discreetly hands over to the police officer. And with that, she buys her freedom.”

Mental Acrobatics on why courage is not enough, “Courage is not enough. We saw it from the youth, we saw it from Githongo. To succeed in your goals, you need strategy as well.”

An incident at the World Social Forum illustrates the plight of being a homosexual in Africa, “The organisers threw her piece on the floor and refused to allow her to speak. Kasha stood her ground saying she, like everyone else, had a right to speak here at the WSF. Despite the harassment by the MC and organisers, Kasha took the mic and spoke. She spoke about being a lesbian, about being a homosexual. She refuted the myth that homosexuality was un-African. She spoke about the punishment and criminalisation of homosexuals in Kenya, in Uganda, and in Nigeria. She said homosexuals in Africa were here to stay.”

Chilibean blogs about the first 27Dinner in Johannesburg, “27 is a get together, held on the 27th day of each month for geeks, marketers, entrepreneurs, writers, media practitioners, speakers - well, just about anybody who is keen - to share ideas and news and opinions over food and drink. Alternating between Jozi and Cape Town, 27 is open to anyone who wants to attend (and/or contribute).”

The lunar new year of pig is approaching, Hayford at China History group blog writes about the meaning of pig in different cultures.

Matts at Gusts Of Popular Feeling discusses about plastic surgery in South Korea, for beauty or for speaking better English.

Michael Hurt at Scribblings of the Metropolitician blogs about how the South Korean society, especially schools, deal with suicide: many schools actively ban any talk of the student's actions at atl, as if it's a big secret that no one knows about.

ESWN translates a local newspapers article which analyzed the PR strategy of Parkn'shop over the codfish/oilfish label issue.