Global Voices Online

Social Science in the Caucasus examines divorce rates in Georgia, noting that at least there, the popular belief that marriages break up after seven years is simply not true.

Michael Hancock writes about the Women's Day celebrations at the school he teaches at in Sayram, Kazakhstan.

Onnik Krikorian posts photos of Gelati and Motsameta, two religious sites in Georgia's Imereti region. The former is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Armenian Economist examines growth in Armenia's construction market. Growth in construction accounts for much of Armenia's recent economic growth, and the blogger argues that the new construction will spur other growth.

Le Pangolin posts [Fr] a press release by the Syndicate of Information and Communication Professionals of Senegal stating that a recent Reporters Without Borders report on the Senegalese elections was “selective” in its interest and “approximative”. The report goes on to say that the RSF report used “nebulous methodology” and “abusive generalizations”.

Liberia Ledger blogs about a giant floating hospital in Monrovia: “giant floating hospital has arrived in the Port of Monrovia, carrying 400 staff for the purpose of repairing cleft upper lip & palate, crossed eyes, flesh-eating diseases, and other important surgeries that most Liberian hospitals can't do. Of course, this is a great thing, and they should be commended.”

According to Lebanese blogger As'ad AbuKhalil, today is Hummus Day in Lebanon. “On this auspicious occasion, I am providing Hummus to my readers–for free. To enjoy, please pour olive oil generously over your keyboards, and you shall have Hummus oozing from the monitor,” he suggests.

Russian Kafe links to a Flickr set of photos of Moscow power plants by Flickr user elephantr.

Russia in the Media disagrees with the Washington Post's Op-Ed Columnist Fred Hiatt on his assessment of Russia's current problems: “[…] who's to blame for losing Russia and what's to be done about it? While he did not manage to come up with any coherent answer to the first question, except general disingenuous whining about the allegedly sad state of affairs in Russia, his recommendations on what's to be done were so downright silly that I simply could not ignore them.”

Darkness at Noon guest-blogs at La Russophobe about the distinction that has to be made between powerful and powerless critics of Putin's regime: “If you are a critic of the state and possess enough power (whether measured as money, influence, actual political power, readership, or sensitive information) to make the state feel threatened, you are not safe in Russia. Even more disturbingly, you are not safe abroad either. If, however, you are an ordinary citizen, you are more or less safe from the state.”

Darkness at Noon visits the “House on the Embankment” Museum in Moscow and shares his thoughts and observations on the history of Stalin's Soviet Union: “The Great Terror of 1937-38 took an enormous toll on the upper echelons of the Soviet hierarchy, and nowhere was that toll more apparent than at the House on the Embankment. It is estimated that one-third of the building's residents (about 700 individuals) were victims of Stalin's repressions.”

maaskva: nashimi glazami links to YouTune videos of Moscow's Sokolniki Park.

Bolivia's Constituent Assembly is traveling around the country to collect the opinions of everyday citizens on how the constitution should be re-written. As Miguel Buitrago explains, they were in for a surprise on their first stop at the small border city of Cobija.

“You can now read for yourself the notification from the Vatican to Father Sobrino declaring that certain propositions in his writings ‘are not in conformity with the doctrine of the Church.'” Tim Muth links to the full text.

Every cloud has a silver lining. Or, in this case, a rainbow. Following Bolivia's devastating floods, Eduardo Avila posts a photo of a rainbow arching over Cochabamba's attractive skyline.

Upon discovering the passenger list of the ship Federico that sailed from Genova, Italy to Buenos Aires in March 1961, Jeff Barry asks his readers for personal accounts of anyone who immigrated by ship from Italy to Buenos Aires. Luis Cella, the Argentine grandson of Italian immigrants who now lives in Vienna, lends his critical eye in a comment.

Now here's a pro-active way to celebrate International Women's Day. Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard wants men to change their attitudes about domestic work.

Egyptian blogger Whispers of Madness is still laughing at the Falafel and Hummus war going on between his Palestinian and Jewish friends.

Opposition bloggers Miguel Octavio and Daniel Duquenal on the competing hemispheric tours of US President George Bush and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Approximately 15% of beggars under the age of seven are hired workers and are paid between 50 and 100 dirhams per week to beg for their employers, writes Samir in The View From Fez.

Or Does it Explode reports to us how Tunisian officials blocked a prison visit recently here. “(A) delegation of the Tunisia Monitoring Group - an international alliance that tracks repression of free expression in the land of Ben Ali - tried to visit imprisoned lawyer Mohammed Abbou. Readers may recall Abbout as the lawyer who denounced torture in Tunisian prisons and was summarily sent to jail. In protest, he sewed his own mouth shut,” writes the blogger.

Trent Reznor, lead singer of one of the greatest bands of this generation, Nine Inch Nails, rocks the kuffiyeh (black and white head gear associated with Palestine) in his latest video - “Survivalism”, writes Nadeem at Kabobfest.
“Given the fact that he's a well-known/outspoken anti-war activist who's already both hip and controversial, I'd be willing to bet anyone 5 shekels that he actually knows the meaning behind the scarf…” he writes.

According to Khorous a few hundreds security agents repressed teachers' demonstration in front of Parliament[Fa] and several of them were arrested.Teachers have asked for a salary raise but their negotiation with government failed.

Jordanian blogger Roba got more than she bargained for when she posted a photograph of some yummy ice-cream. Read the comments section to see why.

Egyptian Kangaroo links to an article which says that Palestinians have kidnapped a BBC journalist. “Now how does that help their case , I don't know , what do they gain by doing this , again I don't know,” says Kangaroo.

Abu Aardvark (Marc Lynch) spends some time looking into the past, present and future of Arabic channel Al Hurra - a US-based satellite TV channel, which is sponsored by the US government.

Lebanese blogger Mustafa sheds some light on the political scene in Lebanon , after the arrest of a terrorist network. “While the March 14 media was celebrating the capture of a “Syrian-based terrorist network” and the March 14 Minister of Interior was busy pointing his official finger at Syrian intelligence, the Syrian-apologists immediately began casting doubt,” he writes.

Dubai-based blogger Sans feels there is a hint of racism in a car sale ad.

A recent move proposing that street dogs be killed has It's a Dog's Life blogging devotedly to save the dogs. “And this is what we do to voiceless creatures. I wish they had the power to vote! What is more sickening is the religious angle being added to it. A community, they say, wants dogs to be killed. Which religion, which messanger, which Prophet on earth ever said kill helpless animals? Can we please keep religion out of this?”

iFaqeer on the political developments in Pakistan. “You see, one thing I have always said about Pakistan is that one of the problems we have in keeping our governments honest and our military in its barracks is that we don't, as a rule, do street protests about actual government high-handedness–or bread riots. And on the other hand, like everyone else, we're not very fond of lawyers as a profession. And judges, like a lot else in Pakistan, are just dismissed as part of the whole corrupt system.”

Nepali Voices reports on a blogger being threatened. ” Umesh Shrestha, the blogger behind hugely popular MySansar.com, has been threatened of ‘action within 24 hours if he publishes anything that directly or indirectly supports Maoists or terrorists’. An email with subject line reading ‘last information’ by Maoists Defense Group, not known so far, has threatened him. “

An article in a mainstream media publication has sthreeling reading between the lines. “Why is it a work-home balance struggle only for the woman? Not once does she consider suggesting that men share or should share the responsibility of the household. While evaluation of general work culture will help no doubt, how much impetus is a consumer-driven industry going to provide if it affects deliverables and time lines?”

The Orkut-Mumbai Police issue results in a wide range of opinions. Rashmi Bansal appears to think it's not such a bad idea. “Personally, I believe it may be a good idea to take action in a few cases to set an example for which deters future juveniles (in age or thought process).”. Confused disagrees and writes about Freedom of Speech.

Caribbeancricket.com's Ryan Naraine is interviewed (audio) by CaribUpdate about the West Indies team's win over Pakistan in yesterday's opening match of the Cricket World Cup.

Photographer Karel Donk posts photos and a short report on a recent shoot involving the winner and first runner-up in the Miss India Suriname pageant.

In response to media reports that ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro has participated in a conference call, Ziva asks: “So where is he? I know he's not the Pope, but if he has an ounce of life, shouldn't he address the Cuban people? Surely he could be wheeled out to some balcony to at least wave to his anxious supporters.“

Luis M. Garcia reports that plans are afoot to build a theme park in Cuba. Val Prieto wonders “what the hell would a communist Cuba theme park consist of?”, and gets some interesting suggestions.

Micheal Hurt posted a video done by Bum Lee, which is a tribute to the art of Daechuri. The village has been struggling against forced demolition and the construction of military base.

Bigbrainwave writes down his telephone conversation with a newspapers reporter who requested him to comment on social and political issues so that she could quote from it (zh)! Bigbrainwave complains that if the commercial media want proper commentary, they should pay.

More historical background on the preservation campaign of the Losheng Sanatorium written by Liu Kwang-Yin at interlocals.net.

Onemanbandwidth has a nice article on egao (spoofing) culture.

A photo essay to explore the rural problem in China by Lung at inmediahk.net (zh).