Archive for
April 6th, 2007
Stories
The UK-Iran Maritime Crisis Comes To an End
· 21:22
On Wednesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the release of 15 detained British sailors in a gesture meant to “show the Islamic affection of the Iranian people.” During a news conference, he declared that although Iran had every right to try the Britons on charges of trespassing in Iranian territorial waters, it would forgive and release them.
At the same time that British soldiers arrived home on Thursday and said they were ill-treated in Iran, SkyNews broadcasted the captain in charge of the 15 marines detained in Iran admitting that they were gathering intelligence on Iran.
What did we finally get?
Akbar Montakhabi [Fa] asks what Iran got at the end of the story? He says that Iran asked the UK government to present excuses to Iran before releasing the sailors but the British government refused.
1 comment · »»Holy Week in Guatemala: Antichrist Not Welcome
· 19:31
Guatemala, as a former Spanish colony, has a heritage that includes not only Catholicism, but also the many Spanish traditions involved with it, including its most sacred expressions and traditions during holy week, or “Semana Santa.”
Blogger Victor Arriaza has a topical blog which covers all of the Catholic traditions in Guatemala with daily updates in “Cuaresma y Semana Santa in Guatemala” where you can see his pictures and El blog del Cucurucho.
In Antigua Guatemala the city is celebrating its “World famous Holy week” with religious displays and bright colors, as you can see at Antigua Daily Photo, which also goes into some of the week's traditions. You can find out what a “cucurucho” is, or why guatemalan “carpets” are so important.
4 comments · »»The making of carpets from sawdust, pine-needles, flowers, vegetables is a community-forming tradition. People get together by block or near-by neighbors to create the carpets on which the processions will pass by. Sometimes the making of the carpets is done at night, all night so they are ready for next day's procession.
The adventures of Phatry Derek Pan in Cambodia
· 19:24
Now settling in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, without close relatives to accompany him, where unlike his Seattle home there is no local McDonald’s, Phatry Derek Pan adapts to a new pace of life. Slim and charming Phatry speaks fluent English and holds an American passport. Wearing a T-shirt and Khor Chev, (long pants popular among Cambodian farmers), and speaking broken Khmer, the 27-year-old does not look foreign to Khmer people, and he doesn’t see himself as a foreigner amongst Khmer. Phatry is an extrovert young man. He makes friends easily and gets to know people from every walk of life. To finance his three-year stay in Cambodia, the home country of his parents, he earns a living through his story-telling talents, mainly writing. In the United States, some of his friends and people he encountered nicknamed him ‘Mr. Khmer-connection,’ because he is famous as an American skilled at Khmer communications.
In 1979, at the largest Cambodian/Thai border refugee camp, Kao I Dang, Phatry was born to a well-to-do family, where he spent his early years before his family migrated to the United State via Philippines to escape from a prolonged nightmare. Phatry, at age 4, was raised, educated, and acquainted with American children as well as other Khmer refugee families growing up in a small town named Kelso before moving to Seattle, Washington, when he was 18. There, he learned Khmer from older neighbors, but couldn’t catch up easily. His father, once a businessman in agricultural productions, thought his young son rather learn English than Khmer. When he was a teenager his curiosity grew tremendously for his parents' native country, which his father seldom spoke about. In college, he began to learn the Khmer language, traditions, and history, in particular. Studying Cambodia as an American student, was probably the most fascinating thing for him, says Phatry. His family held one thing in common with other Cambodian-Americans: Cambodia is their history; the U.S. is their future.
In which Phatry journeys home
It took the Cambodian-born American two and a half decades before visiting his parents' home for the first time. Phatry believes his three-year residency in Cambodia will enable a first-hand understanding regarding his immediate ancestry rooted in a land known for its contradictory and tumultuous history of cultural glory and ethnic peacefulness until most recently, Pol Pot's violent genocidal chapter scarred and still shadows present-day Cambodians.
“I have waited for more than 25 years,” said Phatry, “Today, I will set foot for the first time on the soil of my parent's home province of Battambong.” In response to family, friends, and former girlfriends in the States, he claims that “…life in Cambodia has blessed me with the opportunity to travel more— to see the beauty and darkness that fills every corner of my country.” Staying in Cambodia by himself, even at his age, concerns Phatry's parents because he is the youngest son in the family of seven children. Not only is this his first time venturing into a foreign, post-war country— additionally, he has no living local relatives to ask for support, especially in emergency.
(more…)
Chile: Bachelet, Transantiago and student protests
· 14:58
Michelle Bachelet has had a difficult time since she was inaugurated as Chile’s first female president just over a year ago. She has endured corruption scandals in her own leftist coalition, student protests expressing angry dissatisfaction with the education system, and now, the collapse of Santiago’s costly new transportation system. This big project was started during the Ricardo Lagos presidency, known for its large investment into transportation infrastructure.
“The severely ailing transportation reform in the capital city of Santiago called Transantiago has begun to generate its political costs,” writes Tomás Dinges who includes a number of links to comparisons between Transantiago and Bogotá’s Transmilenio, which served as a model for the project.
Transantiago is kicking her ass, and unfortunately it wasn’t even a problem of her design. This new system is based on Colombia’s TransMilenio and was designed over a period of five years under the administration of Ricardo Lagos. It is now cultivating bad moods, lack of confidence and frustration by the people outside the government, while creating instability within her government. The idea that she is a president of the people, the head of a “gobierno ciudadano,” which can have a real effect on people’s “hogares,” or homes, as she refers to in speeches, is coming under severe and dangerous questioning reflected in polled popularity levels tracking steadily downwards, a five point drop since early March (51-46) with an increase of people unhappy with her administration (36 - 41).
Since Transantiago first opened, a lot of commentary has poured forth. Plataforma Urbana [ES] wrote a critique about the government’s latest announcement of improved operation of Transantiago and summarizes the emotions of the citizens reacting to it:
A nadie le sorprendieron las medidas anunciadas para corregir el caótico estado en que se encuentra operando, pero muchos echamos de menos el cómo se arreglaran los problemas a largo plazo, sobre todo en lo que concierne a la operación del plan a través de los años. A casi 2 meses de su implementación, qué es lo que nos deparará Transantiago y qué tanto hay que esperar de las medidas anunciadas.
Habiéndose nivelado el servicio en general -la gente ya está acostumbrada al nuevo sistema- es ahora donde aparecen los problemas estructurales dentro del sistema, aquellos que no se solucionan con más buses ni con renegociación de contratos. Si bien el aumento de buses permitirá contar con una mayor capacidad -y por ende, poder subirse a los buses repletos-, el gran problema es cómo controlar las frecuencias y ajustar los recorridos y micros a la demanda real de pasajeros. Esto porque obviamente el diseño debe ser ajustado en función de la variación dinámica de la demanda conforme a la ciudad crece y genera nuevos viajes.
Having the general service leveled out – the people are now used to the new system - is now when the structural problems appear inside the system; the ones that aren’t solved by re-negotiating contracts or adding more buses. Even though more buses will allow for a greater capacity and permit people to actually enter board the crowded buses, the major problem is how to control the frequency and adjust number of buses to the real demand of passengers. Obviously the design has to be adjusted to the changing demand and in accordance with the growth of the city as it requires new routes.
The government announced that to repair the operation they will need US $34 million. And a local newspaper, published an article revealing that the government spent US $12 million to research the impact of the project before the operation. So, what happened with the studies? Were they well made? Why do we now have a new budget to repair the mistakes of the system?
All of these issues are focused on the capital, Santiago, where Transantiago operates. But what about the rest of the country?. Chile.com has an article [ES] that reviews reactions from other regions that shouldered some of the expenses:
La parlamentaria por la Sexta Región agregó que “cuando Santiago tiene problemas el ministro no los tiene para abrir las manos, pero cuando es en regiones no vemos lo mismo. Necesitamos recursos para agua potable, caminos, educación, defensas fluviales; no podemos permitir que se saquen de los que ya están asignados para solucionar los problemas del Transantiago.
Yesterday, the students poured into the streets of the capital to protest against Transantiago. Duna [ES] writes that 228 people where detained, and almost 71% of those detainees are under 18. One of the Student Federation’s University blog (ES) corresponding to the Universidad de Chile (ES), claims than more than 1,500 people attended the rally. They also write that many were not sure where to meet or march. They seemingly admit that the protest was poorly organized and without a real sense of what they were doing.
Students are becoming accustomed to protesting just about everything and some citizens, like kurotashio [ES] have observed the consequences.
Era posible también ver el descontento de muchos comerciantes, los cuales echaban más de algún improperio a los estudiantes por causar un estado de desalojo de muchas personas, las cuales acostumbradas a sus puestos laborales deben ser corridas para que no tengan problemas por abc motivos… A pesar de ello, por la avenida principal (Alameda) circulaban buses como si nada pasara, la gente caminando, aunque temerosa, pero como si la lluvia que emanaba del carro policial fuera lo más común del mundo.
Photo of detained student protesters from Kurotashio
The Chilean people have a history of protest, but since Michelle Bachelet was elected president, difficult issues which started in the previous administration, have ended in near social collapse.
The student protests against the education system began last year and, since then, every time they have a chance - like last week - they protest. The Government is working hard on the educational issue. Bachelet created the Advisory Board for Educational Quality last June, which seeks to develop an improved Chilean education system. One of the major brains behind Chile’s educational system, José Joaquin Brunner [ES] has several documents on his blog [ES] that explain the vision and objectives they are working on.
2 comments · »»Ethiopian bloggers turn undercover court reporters
· 09:19
Ethiopia's bloggers turned undercover court reporters over the past weeks, giving daily commentary on a controversial trial of more than 100 opposition politicians, campaigners and journalists.
Leading opposition figures were arrested and charged with attempted genocide, treason and a range of other serious offences in the months following the country's last general elections in 2005.
The trial has stretched on for more than a year, with numerous adjournments and breaks and statements from scores of witnesses. Mainstream journalists have concentrated on covering the main developments in the proceedings – the arraignments, the bail hearings and the major legal statements.
But the resulting gaps in the reporting have been filled by some of Ethiopia's most prolific and politicised bloggers who managed to secure seats in the court.
Seminawork led the way over the past few weeks with a string of posts marking every twist and turn and delay in the case. His entries came thick and fast. Court adjourned for tomorrow, was followed by Postponed again, followed by Breaking news:court ruled defendants to defend their case followed by Death sentence beckons our heroes.
3 comments · »»India and its various avatars
· 00:16
India: there are many facets to the country, and in this post we present a slice of how India is perceived by different people. Each writer is looking at India from a different angle and sees a different avatar of the country. Some look at India from a comparative perspective and as the next big emerging market, while others look at rural India, an agrarian India that is struggling to keep pace, and then there are IT folks who look at India differently, this is India with its strong IT and technology hub.
Chris Devonshire-Ellis of 2Point6Billion.com is a blog about India and China, the two fastest growing economies in the world. In this post titled Comparing Governments Approach to FDI Devonshire-Ellis compares the two countries strategy to Foreign Direct Investment and writes:
Yes, both governments are on the right track and will continue to move ahead. These are significant developing countries and they will forge the way the next century looks and behaves. The US needs to adapt it’s economy, while the Brits need to get out of their shorts and into grown-up trousers when dealing with such markets.,
While Devonshire-Ellis talks about the new India and the future of India, Mr. Venkatesh looks at the agrarian crisis and wonders if there is a grand design to keep the farmers poor in India.
MR Venkatesh of Indian Agrarian Crisis writes about the lack of food productivity in India and also makes that inevitable comparison to China. Why has the food capita not increased? And, why are farmers still poor in India? Mr. Vekatesh elaborates:
The net per capita food availability in India in 1971 was 394 gm per day. This was just after the onset of Green Revolution in India. Exactly 30 years later, in 2001, the net per capita of foodgrain availability was 396 gm per day: a princely rise of 2 gm! In effect, for over 30 years our farm growth has barely kept pace with our population growth.
And why are farmers poor? He explains:
If farmers were to succeed, it would mean the failure of our politicians and the brand of politics practiced in this country since 1947 by the Left and the Right.
And that explains why the government is keen on a failed farm sector: the idea is to merely keep it on a life support system, allow it neither to die nor to bloom. And that ensures that India remains poor, while its politicians are rich.
Sujai, an entrepreneur and a blogger in Bangalore writes about Barcamp3 recently held in Bangalore and shares his observations of what needs to be done in
0 comments · »»
Links
East Asia
The evaluation committee on public broadcast recently suggested to form a new Public Broadcast Service body in Hong Kong rather than reforming the present Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK). Lee Yui-Wah starts a blog for saving this media institute which has been critical towards Hong Kong government policy (even though it is a governmental organization).
Sub-Saharan Africa
waxspell considers movies such as Hotel Rwanda and The Last King of Scotland a form of exploitation: It is a dismay to see how these money hungry opportunists take advantage of our painful history and make it their gain! How dare we celebrate such insensitivity without questioning it? Can we (Africa and all those who condemn such) do something to prevent folks form demeaning history.
Sub-Saharan Africa
UDPS Liège is disappointed [Fr] that local elections in the DRC have been postponed to 2008. The blog regrets that they did not take place before presidential ones as was apparently discussed in international community negotiations in South Africa.
Middle East & North Africa
Stefanella's Drive Thru shows us strange footage of animal kingdom domestic violence at an Israeli zoo.
Middle East & North Africa
Syrian blogger Tajreed talks about the changes in people with the upcoming parliamentary elections: “And last thing I want to talk about are the prospects of change I notice that there is an interest in the parliamentary elections this year and while I haven't voted in previous elections I see a good number of people are getting their electoral cards and looking forward to casting their votes on the day of the elections and the ministry of interior is doing a good job in my opinion in educating people and giving them information about the elections”
Middle East & North Africa
Rebellious Arab Girl deals with the frustration of her mother wanting to find her a husband….on the internet.
Middle East & North Africa
PeaceCorp blogger 32n5w describes being mistaken for a Somali in Morocco.
Eastern & Central Europe
Mirza Basic of London Sevdah finds a long-lost classmate - and “first love” - thanks to his London Sevdah music project.
Eastern & Central Europe
Some of the subjects recently covered by the beatroot: Aleksander Kwasniewski's back (34 comments; Traveling Life has a post on the tape scandal involving Poland's ex-president); Poland's “Bono-like behaviour” (24 comments); “fast-track saintification” of Pope John Paul II that 61 percent of the Poles support (79 comments); and - “should Warsaw send Moscow its street cleaning bill?” (32 comments).
Sub-Saharan Africa
Le Rénouveau Congolais posts [Fr] pictures of a diaspora march that took place in Manchester, U.K. March 28 against recently elected DRC president Joseph Kabila.
Eastern & Central Europe
TOL's Belarus Blog writes about freedom underwear.
Eastern & Central Europe
MoldovAnn shares stories from her work-related small-town and rural travel in Ukraine's Ivankivsky and Polissky districts: “We saw storks everywhere. Their huge nests sit on top of electricity posts, water towers, lamp posts, and other tall structures. Storks are considered good luck, and disturbing one of their nests is an unthinkable act. It doesn’t matter how much their nest might interfere with or even damage a structure, if a pair of storks decide to nest somewhere, it’s their spot now.”
Eastern & Central Europe
Bloggers on the situation in Ukraine: “Political Tourists” - by Leopolis, “Ukraine Dispair” - by The Cranky RPCV, “Disillusion and Dissolution” - by Harvard International Review.
Central Asia & Caucasus
Steady State discusses the dispute between Georgia and Azerbaijan over which country owns a an important monastery through which the two countries' border runs.
Central Asia & Caucasus
Kazakhstan's president has determined that Kazakhstan needs Nobel laureates, reports Ben Paarmann, who notes that though initiatives to improve science funding will be good for Kazakhstan, the kind of science Kazakhstan needs is not the type that wins Nobel prizes.
Central Asia & Caucasus
News from the Caravan takes readers on another culinary adventure, making the popular Central Asian dish laghman.
Central Asia & Caucasus
Bonnie Boyd reports on how climate change affects Central Asia.
Central Asia & Caucasus
Onnik Krikorian interviews Tamar Palandjian, proprietress of ArmYouth Blog and one of the organizers of a recent even that encouraged youth to discuss and become engaged in Armenia's coming parliamentary election.
Central Asia & Caucasus
Safrang says that France has little choice but to make some kind of bargain to secure the release of two French aid workers and three of their Afghan colleagues who were kidnapped by the Taliban and that such a deal will make such kidnappings more likely.
Sub-Saharan Africa
Ethan Zuckerman writes about the rise of the African aggregator: “Questions about ranking aside, one of the reasons aggregators are so popular is that the African blogosphere continues to grow, adding new voices and perspectives every day.”
Sub-Saharan Africa
Once Upon Ish writes about
Bahrain's Silly Bahraini Girl talks about what she can expect when she goes back home to Bahrain on holiday: “I will be able to eat without having to worry who cooked the food or who will wash the bloody dishes; go out without having to worry whether there is fuel in the car…” Middle East & North Africa
Middle East & North Africa
Iranian blogger The Adventures of Mr. Behi tells us how he navigated his way home in the Libyan desert by using the moon.
Middle East & North Africa
Iraqi blogger Dahr Jamail gives us a slideshow presentation about the recent 3rd Annual Al Jazeera Conference in Doha, Qatar.
Middle East & North Africa
Start the morning off light with the Turkish version of Batman and Robin given to us by the Turkish blog The Thinking Blog.
Americas
Barbados Free Press reprints excerpts from Mike Selvey's “obituary” for Caribbean cricket: “If I shut my eyes, I can still sense the spirit…that existed here before the International Cricket Council got hold of it, ran it out of town, then sanitised it out of existence.”
Americas
The Good Friday tradition of beating bobolees (effigies of Judcas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Christ) has inspired a call by Rights Action Group T&T for the dedication of community bobolees to any of the traitors “who've sold out our country for thirty pieces of aluminum.”
Americas
Stephen Kangal at Trinidad and Tobago News Blog thinks that Basdeo Panday is making a mockery of Parliament with his “current tantrums of wanting to serve his constituents of Couva North”.
Americas
Some thoughts on Good Friday from Abeni.
Americas
Gil the Jenius compares Puerto Rico's education system with a D-grade student who “can choose to become better…the basic choice that needs to be made, is not about curriculum, or educational theory or de-unionization: It's about totally separating politics from education.”
East Asia
A Whole New World writes that several bloggers in Malaysia came together to discuss the formation of an alliance. The bloggers are facing increasing criticism from the mainstream media and some politicians.
East Asia
The Lost Boy has details on the latest block on YouTube in Thailand.
East Asia
Mukamo Philippines lists the winners of recently concluded 2007 Philippine Blog Award winners. The awards included categories such as Best Home and Living Blog, Best Socio-Political Blog, Best Podcast, Best Travelblog and Family blog among others.
East Asia
Hegelchong translates parts of a comment written by XiaoWu on the Nail House report: Imagining the victim as a heroine of human rights is only a wishful thinking of ordinary people. … …
East Asia
Yunnan Film Festival was suspended because of the nomination of documentary “Though I am Gone” (我虽死去). Danwei contacted the organizers of the festival: they said they did not yet know when they would be able to reschedule it. However, the entire film is on youtube now.
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