Global Voices Online

Toadi from interlocals.net has translated a recent report from Huaxia Times(zh) on the operation of a blood collection station in Shanxi where blood plamas is extracted from rural pleasants like a factory to supply a pharmaceutical manufacturer in Beijing.

Siberian Light runs an interview with La Russophobe.

Vilhelm Konnander writes about Tallinn's Bronze Soldier monument: “Why is it that a WW II-monument repeatedly sparks bilateral crises between Estonia and Russia?”

Sean's Russia Blog publishes a reader's comment on the torturous registration process
in Russia.

Scraps of Moscow translates a recent Vladimir Vladimirovich™ episode: “Once upon a time, Vladimir Vladimirovich™ Putin was sitting in his Kremlin office and waxing his Presidential skis.”

Copydude writes on “why Russian women don’t marry Russian men.”

Photos of the long-forgotten Soviet soda machines, at Russian Kafe.

The Arabist highlights what it describes as the “latest Israel Lobby initiative to sully the image of Middle Easterners” in the US here.

Egyptian-born actor Omar Al Sharif, 74, is a bully, writes Issandr El Amrani following news reports that Sharif, who starred in Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia, punched a Guatemalan immigrant and called him a “stupid Mexican” in Beverly Hills.

Algerian blogger Lameen Souag reports that an ancient Semitic scribe containing a spell against snakes was finally deciphered. The spell was found in the Pyramids in Egypt.

Indi.ca has a post on identity in politics, now at centre-stage because of Obama in the US. “Obama is in many ways like myself, a product of the modern age of communications and international travel. By a different shuffle he could be Kenyan, Indonesian or any number of things, but he ended up in Illinois. His sister married a Chinese/Canadian, making his identity that much broader. In many ways this seems un-American, one thinks an American is white and landed in the MidWest, but that is just the temporary view from what is actually a moving entity.”

Swajana profiles a man who sells brooms. “Once a family business has been started it will very likely be handed down from generation to generation. Our video here is about one such enterprising young man who sells brooms and mops - going from house to house - he uses his lung-power to advertise his business.”

The politics of terminology and the other way round explained at Madhesh Blog. “From historical point of view, the identity “Madheshi” connects people living in Madhesh with their thousands years of history of living in Madhesh, whereas identity “Nepali” refers to their 200 years of history since the conquest of the region by Shah rulers. So people living in Madhesh are Madheshi first (thousands years of history), and then Nepali (mere 200 years).”

Black and Gray in conversation with Raman Mundair. “All these things are aspects of me and I have many aspects. I am also human, artist, British, Sikh, Indian etc. I find it difficult to reduce myself to one singular identity. My strength is in my multiple identities. Of course I am painfully aware of the way that some people choose to reduce my identity and see me merely as ‘a woman' or just another ‘South Asian writer' etc. “

Cuckoo's Call on building positive peace between the Hindu and Muslim communities. ‘Positive peace’ is rooted in shared recognition by Hindus and Muslims of the all-round destructiveness of the communal divide, and the need to act purposefully to address this. Positive peace goes beyond tolerance, to embrace ongoing dialogue, mutual respect, and joint endeavours to build a better future for all citizens.

Islamic clergyman Yousif Al Qaradawi is urging women to refrain from masterbating in this link provided by Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif.

CRD/TI Armenia Election Monitor 2007 reports on Gagik Tsarukian’s Prosperous Armenia part. Tsarukian's party is popular with the poor for its charity, which critics label vote buying.

At neweurasia, Gulru writes about water pollution in Tajikistan, saying that there Tajik citizens can be part of the solution.

Isolated Serenity, from Kuwait, has an interesting array of photographs, with goodies for her family and friends, here.

Kuwaiti blogger evolution is excited about the opening of a new mall, which will bring much sought after brands closer.

Armenian Libertarian-Socialist Movement argues that Armenia's political structure is institutionalizing politics ruled by the military and oligarch without any real alternatives in sight.

Chong translates a cultural critics Zhu Dake's comments on Zhang Yimou's film (director of the Curse of the Golden Flower) and the aesthetics of power that colours Chinese modernity:

It is a problem of Chinese culture. We have a passion for sickness and aesthetics of power rather than ordinary people's aesthetics. In Sichuan province, a small township government even built a Tiananmen Square. People there are poor and starving but the local government spent so much money in it. Some local governments even built squares bigger than Tiananmen Square. They only want to show off their power to occupy space or to build a high building…

Onemanbandwith puts up a series of photos to show how people carry a dozen pigs, tens of chicken, hundreds of eggs, etc in bicycle or motor cycle.

Positivesolutions blogs about how China Daily plans for the 10th anniversary of the death of Deng Xiaoping. The blogger feels that, under the present context, the China Daily story looks at best unfortunate, and at worst deeply cynical.

A new website www.greatfirewallofchina.net has been set up for testing whether a url is blocked in China or not.

Debito posts GAIJIN HANZAI editor Saka's comment in his blog and reply to him point by point. In his conclusion, he said: Again, I thank Mr Saka for making his ideology so plain. He comes off as a crybaby who sees other people going about their business, gets angry because the people there remind him of someone who stole his girlfriend in grade school, then puts up posters accusing the people there of ruining his neighborhood. Then wonders why people get angry at him, and accuse them of violating his freedom of expression when they pull those posters down.

Ampontan blogs about the tradition of cross-dressing show business in japan.

Mr.6 comments on the effect of (zh) David Reid’s blog post on the “kiss and ride” road sign near Hsinchu station of Taiwan High-Speed railway. The discussion about the use of “kiss and ride” in David’s blog entry has been picked up by many English newspaper both in Taiwan and abroad in the form of cultural dialogue. Mr. 6 thinks that Taiwanese bloggers who are mainly blogging in Chinese should have more conversation with the English bloggers, while David told Mr.6 that a new startup produced by David and his Israeli geek friend will soon be on the table.

April Howard, detailing the recent protests in Camiri, draws an interesting parallel between how Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Bolivian President Evo Morales are redefining the term “nationalization.”

Andres Duque describes the case of Alvaro Orozco, a 21-year-old Nicaraguan who is fighting deportation proceedings in Canada after an immigration court deemed that, according to Duque, “he wasn't gay enough.”

Posthegemony on the short story, “Las Hortensias” by Uruguayan author, Felisberto Hernández [ES].

Boz shows how Mexico's drug war is spilling over onto YouTube. Xeni Jardin has links to the actual videos at Boing Boing.

Guillermo Castro points readers [ES] to Regiopedia [ES], a Wikipedia-like site focused on the industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico.