Global Voices Online

Claire Wilkinson discusses a report showing that medieval Islamic art shows an understanding of complex geometry that did not find mathematical expression until fairly recently. The researcher first became interested in the subject while visiting Islamic structures in Uzbekistan.

neweurasia reports on the flurry of personnel shuffling, diplomatic calls, and presidential edicts since Turkmenistan elected its new president, who, the post says, must shake things up in order to survive.

Ben Paarmann says that ChevronTexaco has long had problems with accumulating sulfur deposits at its Tengiz oil field in Kazakhstan. So why is the government suddenly threatening to punish the company for environmental damage? Ben suggests that Kazakhstan's government may be trying to get more control over the project.

At Life in Armenia, Raffi K. notes that dual citizenship is closer to becoming a reality and hopes that sticking points holding it up can be sorted out soon.

At neweurasia Peter reports on how relations between Turkey and Turkmenistan are changing in the wake of the death of the country's former President Saparmurad Niazov.

As its “historical image of the day,” Alterdestiny posts a picture of Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1901.

Teresa writes about the latest controversy in East Timor where a Timorese person was shot by an Australian peacekeeper. Both the Australian and the East Timorese recount different versions of what actually happened. Teresa hopes “Of course, this event will now be used by some to foster instability, leading to more security problems. It is a sad happening. Let's hope for a thorough analysis of the situation and that violence will be kept under control, especially now that the mission will be extended and more police forces are expected to be deployed in TL.”

In Romania, “celebrities have been barred from advertising children's food” - which makes Claudia Schiffer illegal, reports Blog Bucharest.

Chris Borowski of Traveling Life writes about the New Yorker cartoon that has offended many Poles; the beatroot responds with a childhood story.

The beatroot writes on one Polish man's right to die, on the U.S. anti-missile systems, and on the anti-Semitic writings of the Polish education minister's father. As always, the discussion area is bursting with comments.

Sopheak writes about a Cambodian pop star Pov Panha who was shot in broad daylight on Feb 23.

Unreconstructed racists the Louvin Brothers, composers of the country classic “Satan is Real”, “would have been horrified to know that just near the equator hundreds of negroes were loving their music,” writes Marlon James, in a post touching upon reggae's roots in country-and-western music.

According to Pestcentric, “Hungary has one of the lowest age-of-consents in the EU at 14 years old” - and this is causing foreign media to announce that the country is about to make paedophilia legal.

Hello Estonia writes about Estonian construction workers in Finland.

Wu Wei writes on Pancakes racing in Britain on Shrove Tuesday, Uzgavenes in Lithuania, Maslenitsa in Russia, and Kurentovanje in Slovenia. Nami-Nami shares a recipe of Estonian lenten buns.

Leon Robinson prefaces a post about a series of brutal attacks on gay men in Jamaica by saying: “Homosexuality is frowned upon in Jamaica. Not because were “homophobic” (surely we can't be afraid of them), but because it is unlawful, as our law is based upon the Bible.“

In response to a meme about books and reading, Geoffrey Philp posts his list of top ten Caribbean novels.

Gil the Jenius offers some points to ponder relating to government corruption and the new regulations requiring US citizens to have passports in order to travel: “Although Puerto Rico is exempted for U.S. citizens (meaning they can visit without a passport), many people won't grok that.“

Wu Wei writes about rubbish recycling in the UK, Lithuania, Greece and Slovenia.

Neretva River discusses a case brought before the European Court for Human Rights: “Sarajevo's Jewish community, led by Jakob Finci, is arguing that the Dayton Accords are discriminatory as they de facto bar from high public office members of minority communities that happen not to fit nicely into ‘Croat,' ‘Muslim' or ‘Serb' categories. Are Croats, Muslims and Serbs in BiH more equal than for example Roma? Have the Dayton Accords institutionalized discrimination against non-Croat, non-Muslim and non-Serb minority communities?”

Balkan Baby writes on the Kosovo “deadlock.”

Our Man in Tirana posts two more installments - here and here - on the experience of being an election observer in Albania.

Our Man in Tirana writes on the Albanian film industry.

J. Otto Pohl's “imaginary” syllabus #4: “Deported Nationalities in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.”

“The Cuban dictatorship's greatest enemy is information,” says Marc Masferrer, as three foreign correspondents are kicked out of the country.

Stop Iran War is a site and blog launched by Wes Clark, former NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander. He says “I believe it is critical to give voice to the vast majority of Americans who want to avoid a military conflict with Iran, and I hope you will visit StopIranWar.com to add your voice to our efforts.”

Right on track with this weekend's Oscar Awards, Mis Otros Dragones presents the Peruvian version of “The Bloggies.” Categories include “best spam”, “best meme”, and even “best avatar.”

Blog Politique du Sénégal isn't sure (Fr) whether to laugh or cry about Gambian President Yahia Jammeh's new healer functions: “[He] has taken up a career as a marabout healer. And he is coming into some success. Commercial, that is because I can't put my hand in fire for his therapeutic prowesses… Hundreds of Gambians believe, as they line up endlessly to be healed by the therapist president. Fridays and Saturdays for asthma, Tuesdays and Thursdays for HIV.”

Sanaga Peregrinations disagrees (Fr) with commentators who believe Africa is going towards a recolonization by China, suggesting that the point is not to worry about the consequences of Chinese investments but rather to bring local leaders to better manage all foreign investments. She quotes and endorses Ugandan journalist Andrew Mwenda: ” The failure of Western aid in Africa has little to do with the conditions attached to it, but a lot to do with poor governance on the continent.”

Dubai-based blogger SS is disgusted with the lack of tolerance he is witnessing around him. “Today, I found myself being attacked… for I spoke about the grace of life and kindness. If kindness and goodness is only something you share with your group/sect/herd/religion - then what's the point of living under this sky?” he writes.

Sanaga Peregrinations posts (Fr) pictures of a recent trip through “the red land of [her] ancestors”, Basaa country in Cameroon. The photo-journey takes us through Edea, Boumnyebel, the pierced grotto of Ngog Lituba and finally the entrance of her village.

Jailed Egyptian blogger Kareem Nabeel Sulaiman has been nominated for one of the 7th Annual Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards, which are intended to honour the world’s champions of freedom of expression, according to his support site Free Kareem.

Alice Backer remembers the late Haitian painter, sculptor and educator Jean-Claude Garoute, also known as Tiga.

Bahraini blogger emoodz doesn't hesitate in calling Bush ‘a liar'. “I along with the rest of the world had to live through a long orchestrated buildup of propaganda and lies to rationalize a military attack on Iraq. Like it’s insistence that Iraq carried and manufactured WMDs it is now leading an international campaign that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons,” he writes. “The whole concept of Iran being a threat to the region is just packed lies, I lived to witness two wars/invasions carried out by the Bush administration both were nothing but a total failure by all measures. Maybe I will live to see yet another one.. Just maybe.”

Fons blogs about the latest discussion about the new labour law in China and quotes from a labour law researcher on a possible outcome: In 2007, tripartite regulations will be drawn up governing collective bargaining. It struck me as a significant development, but tripartism the Chinese way. On the lawful strike to protect workers, the right to strike, they are not in favour.

Huseyin Celil is regarded by the Chinese government a Uyghur terrorist and now imprison in Urumqi awaiting for trial. Michael from the opposite ends of China reposts an article from The Globe and Mail to look at his life from another angle.

Onemanbandwidth visited Hong Kong's Disney world and explained why it did not affect the hotel occupancy rate: The Hong Kong Government, betting like they were in Macau, plowed millions of dollars more into the park than did Disney. They expected, acording to some bogus study, that the mainlanders would spend about 2.3 days (2.3???) in Hong Kong for their visit. Nope!

Sun bin visited Hong Kong's “Cyber port” and here is his conclusion: People were saying that HK's “cyberport” is a real estate development. I now want to put it in more specific terms, “purely residential development”. i.e. no business, no cyber, not even some decent shops or restaurants, or hotel, or cyber-business.

Debito starts to campaign for foreign minority's rights in Japan and posts the petition for visas for Vu Family, who have been living and working in Japan for six years.

Ampotan blogs about the poisonous delicacy, Fugu, and the research and attempt in breeding non-poisonous fugu in Japan.

Feb 22 is is Takeshima Day , but also the cat's day in Japan; as James in Japan Prob said, cat's day is more excited than the Japan-Korea dispute over Takeshima and Dokdo. The blogger also post a cat's day video on his post.

A CBC documentary talks about Iranian gays. Nikahang says that documentary talks about some issues that we,Iranians, usually ignore them [Fa].