Global Voices Online

In less than 500 days, Beijing Olympic will begin. Wang Xiaofeng has some wild thoughts (zh) about the Beijing city: 1. half of the population will leave the city to give space to foreigners; 2. the city will become very clean with a mixture of real and plastic flowers; 3. no more traffic jam; 4. people will become polite… 7. the sky of Beijing will turn blue; 8. audiences will cheer for both teams; 9. crime rate drops to zero; 10. all sport news, no more social news.

Says Blog de Moi[Fr]: “I am not sure that young women of today are fully aware of what they owe an author such as Simone de Beauvoir and to feminism in general given how hard some of them work to distance themselves from it.”

“March 22, 2007 was World Water Day. And guess what? Sunday we had no water! How ironic. Or how prescient.” So begins La Gringa's reflections on water resources in rural Honduras.

Did or didn't Abe apologize for Japan’s wartime use of sex slaves? Oftenover from Japundit comments on the news about Prime Minister Abe's recent apology on sex slaves issue.

Lee from Tokyo Times blogs about Japan fashion and fetishism by refering to the recent “Mask Idol”.

The CRIDEM blog points to a press release by Ould Maouloud stating [Fr}: “The March 25, 2007 election happened in good conditions marked by transparency, civic duty, responsibility and serenity. The Mauritanian people and its democracy are only better for it… In this occasion, I want to pay homage to the 48% if Mauritanians who have … voted for really change.”

Robert Koehler from Marmot's Hole reports that: There are currently an estimated 40,000-60,000 Koreans illegally residing in Japan. Of these, 30,000 are believed to be working in the sex trade. And the number of Korean men in Japanese host-bar is increasing rapidly.

Jamie from Two Koreas has an update about the FTA negotiation and anti FTA protest in South Korea: The march was also able to march into Gwanghwamun unobstructed, which was even more of a surprise.

Matt from Gusts of popular feeling blogs about the recent government policy in filtering out foreign porn sites in South Korea: We're also told that the government “will block around 180 such foreign sites by the end of May”. Wow. All 180 of them. They really aren't kidding around this time, are they? I guess that's the end of porn in Korea.

Michael Hurt from Scribblings of the Metropolitician has a lot to complain and criticise about the South Korea education system.

neweurasia posts photos of children taking part in Uzbekistan's cotton harvest and translates some discussions on LiveJournal blogs of the use of child labor to harvest Uzbekistan's white gold.

Ben Paarmann says that the Kazakhstani government's newfound interest in stricter environmental regulation of the energy sector may all be a way for them to justify not meeting stated production goals.

Bonnie Boyd says that the Tajik president's decisions to drop Russian endings from surnames potentially has foreign policy implications for Tajikistan. She says that the decision does nothing for Tajikistan but satisfy a presidential whim.

At neweurasia, Leila reports on Kazakhstan's upset win over Serbia in Group A of the Euro 2008 qualifiers. This is Kazakhstan's first victory in a competitive match and second victory overall since joining the Union of European Football Associations in 2002.

At the Armenian Socialist-Libertarian Movement blog, Sasuntsi Anarchist says that the timing of the Armenian prime minister's death is suspicious.

Onnik Krikorian reports on public mourning of Armenia's recently deceased prime minister and the political uncertainty that has followed his death.

Very Russian Tochka Net thinks Vladimir Putin should stop writing articles for publication in the West: “Confused, placatory stuff whose only effect is to make a bunch of smart-arses think we’re trying to suck up to them. At least this time he didn’t say we’re European.”

The Turkish Invasion posts non-touristy pictures of Moscow.

The Turkish Invasion reports on the deadly fire at a Moscow strip club.

White Sun of the Desert reports on the beginning of the springtime thaw in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk: “Bereft of any kind of drainage system, the melting snow first forms a brown slush which lies ankle-deep on every pavement, and later turns to lakes of dirty water which straddle entire roads and covers a car in filth within minutes.”

Lyndon of Scraps of Moscow writes on the latest get-together of the pro-Putin youth group Nashi (the post includes a lovely Russian-language paraphrase of Aleksandr Pushkin).

A Step At A Time translates an article on street children in Chechnya.

A Step At A Time links to incredible pictures from Grozny, Chechnya, taken by LJ user kunstkamera.

Get to know the faces of Ecuadorean bloggers with this hyperlink captioned photo from the last “Blogs&Beers” in Quito.

“Since last Sunday, when Peru’s U-17 youngsters (barely) qualified for the 2007 World Cup hosted by South Korea in August and September, Peruvian football pride has been restored.” Wolfy Becker has more on the football frenzy welcoming back Peru's national youth team. You can see a video of highlights of Peru's game with Argentina at NoSeas.com.

Jordan-based Iraqi blogger Confused Iraqi Kid, who ran away from home after a scuffle with his father yesterday and endured the night sleeping on the floor in an Internet cafe, is back home.

Conversations with Dina discusses if blogs will kill focus groups in qualitative research. “Because blog conversations are viral on the other hand, and often there is no way of ‘checking' back on the demographics. Its difficult for an ‘outsider' (read marketer who isn't into blogging) to trust this conversation then, although some smart marketers believe, “bloggers' unsolicited opinions and offhand comments are a source of invaluable insights that are hard to get elsewhere”.”

Iraqi blogger Lady Bird claims that the US dictates on Arab leaders what to say in their closing communique released at the end of their Summits.

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia draws attention to some foul play on Egypt's entry on Wikipedia. “I don't know who did (it) but this is rudeness,” she writes.

cerno isn't impressed with the Sri Lankan Blogosphere's opinions on the ongoing conflict. “Perhaps we might spot the rarest beast in the Sri Lankan blogosphere: a discussion on how badly the rulers of the north and south need this war for their survival. And the sheer absurdity of expecting them to even seriously considering anything that might end the war.”

indi.ca reflects on the recent LTTE attack on an airport. “When I say terrorism as communication, I mean that terrorists don’t usually occupy land as much as media. Al Qaeda didn’t start any occupation of New York with 9/11, but they have occupied the media from Fox News to clerical mix-tapes ever since.”

Egyptian-based blogger Issandr El Amarani links to an article in which Human Rights Watch (HRW) criticises Egypt for its heavy-handedness in dealing with protesters demonstrating against amendments to the constitution. The changes, said HRW, “effectively remove basic protections against violations of Egyptians’ rights to privacy, individual freedom, security of person and home and due process.”

Unheard Voices points to the experience of tourism in other countries and warns of similar consequences in Bangladesh. “I fear Bangladesh faces similar fate like the neighboring countries as tourism develops there unless measures are in place to deter child sex trade catered to foreign tourists. Based on a report by Global March, there are already about 20 thousand children involved in street prostitution in Bangladesh though I suspect the actual number being much higher.”

Shahidul Alam, a photographer talks about “1971, as I saw it”, an exhibition of photographs taken as Bangladesh declared independence. “Today, those photographs join them in protest. Peering through the crisp pages of the newly printed history books, they remind us, “No, that wasn’t the way it was. I know. I bear witness.””

Egyptian blogger Nora Younis, who is based in Washington DC, US, reports on a rally she helped organise in DC to protest against the constitutional amendments in Egypt. “We met with Mr. Wael Aboulmagd, Deputy chief of Mission..Mr. Wael said expressing our concerns and debating the amendments was very healthy. When I told him its a shame this can only happen in USA while fellows who were doing it in Egypt last night were kidnapped and beaten by security agents; he said ‘you don’t expect Egypt to change overnight. It will take more time for Security apparatus to change mentality',” she wrote.

Blogger Issandr El Amarani watched the movie 300 and gives us his thoughts about it here.

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif admits that the Constitutional Court in his country works, after the court issued a decision negating the constitutionality of a Law by Decree which dealt with the appropriation of land by the government for “public interest”.

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