Global Voices Online

Afghanistanica examines whether or not the controversial and outspoken Afghan legislator Malalai Joya is a hero or a reckless idealist.

Tolkun Umaraliev reports that he must pay a bribe to have any hope of receiving top marks on an upcoming university exam.

Sun Leaf says that it would be wrong to legalize opium production in Afghanistan.

Shari at My So-Called Japanese Life has a thoughtful piece on the way in which Japanese people, as compared to Americans, view marriage. She writes: “It's always been my impression that the Japanese set the bar “lower” when it comes to the romance part of marriage and “higher” when it comes to each party fulfilling their mutually-agreed upon roles.“

The owner of iblog, Mark Garbers, invites the leader of Independe Democrats in South Africa to create an iblog: “Dear ibloggers,
Although I don’t normally personally invite people to create an iblog, I thought that in light of the coverage that blogging is receiving, inviting Patricia De Lille to sign up for an iblog would be the right thing to do. So that I am completely open and honest with all of you, here is a copy of the email sent to Ms. De Lille…”

Ingrid at Sudan Watch on the Debate on Darfur: “Heh. Rock on Drima! Why no webcast? If there were a transcript, I'd mull over John Prendergast's commentary in the hope of getting some understanding of the rationale behind his warmongering stance on Sudan.”

Oprah Winfrey will be paying Israel a solidarity visit, announced isRealli - a blog project of the Israeli Consulate in New York City.

“Fateh Al Islam has accepted a government offer of a ceasefire.
They say they will stop attacks if the army does not attack them. The army has responded by saying they never fire first.
Humanitarian organisations say it's vital to have a break in fighting to get food and water to the 40,000 (Palestinian) refugees trapped inside the camp.
Residents say there are dead bodies all over the streets, and wounded people are also lying on the roads, unable to get help. No-one can leave the camp because the soldiers have blocked the entrances,” writes Syrian blogger Sasa.

‘“We are fed up!!” That is what all Lebanese are saying these days. Past two days, I asked many lebanese people in Kuwait what they think of whats going on, all of them have given up any hope they had for our country to rebuild and all they want now is to get their families out of their and start a new life elsewhere. As much I hate to admit it, I am starting to believe they are right,” writes Kuwait-based Lebanese Fonzy in reaction to the latest fighting in Lebanon.

Lebanese blogger Mark reports that a lion is on the run in Kuwait and is being hunted by police. “I just heard there is a lion loose in Kuwait. It seems it escaped from a Sheikh's (member of the Ruling Family) residence in the Fintas area and now the cops are trying to catch it,” he writes.

As fighting in Lebanon continues between the Lebanese Army and Fateh el Islam, Tom Felle takes a look at the toll:
“As witnesses said there are bodies strewn on the streets inside the camp, the body count from the deadliest fighting to hit Lebanon for two decades hit 80 yesterday.
Lebanon’s army resumed their bombardment of the camp early yesterday morning after a lull overnight. Militants inside the camp responded with machine gun and mortar fire.
The Red Cross, the UN and other international agencies spent he day trying to broker a ceasefire so they could enter the camp and evacuate casualties and more than 30,000 Palestinian civilians trapped inside.
Conditions inside the camp were descried as dire with no electricity, limited food supplies and water fast running out.
More than 200 people have been wounded in the attacks, and dozens of homes and buildings in the camp, in Tripoli and in Beirut have been damaged or destroyed.”

“Gunbattles erupted between Lebanese troops and Islamist militiamen around a Palestinian refugee camp today, the third day of fierce fighting that has killed dozens of people.
Black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky as troops fired tank shells and artillery at positions of Fatah al-Islam, a shadowy Sunni militant group accused of links to al-Qaeda whose members are entrenched in the Nahr al-Bared camp near the Mediterranean coast.
It is the bloodiest internal feuding in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war and has triggered deep concerns about the security of a country still battling sectarian division and a months-old political crisis,” writes Leila from Lebanon.

Lebanese blogger Abu Kais updates us on the latest fighting in Lebanon between the Lebanese Army and Fateh el Islam.
“The Siniora government is waging this war with the support of the international community and the Arab League, which issued a statement supporting the army's operation. The ‘opposition', meanwhile, continues its occupation of downtown Beirut, even as the city is being targeted on a daily basis. Hizbullah today issued a statement describing the events in the north as an “American project”, and ignoring, once again, the destructive role Fatah al-Islam is playing (LBC News). As the Lebanese army storms the Islamist hell, armed with unprecedented popular support, Hizbullah stands on the other side of that hell, feeling the heat of the rule of law,” he explains.

“The situation is sliding into an attrition war. The broad support by all Lebanese and Palestinian faction, other than ‘Fateh al Islam', to the army and its actions against those cold blood terrorist, has been eroding rapidly…” writes Bob from Lebanon. “I think that the window of opportunity, to decisively resolve the situation, is rapidly closing, a day or two at most. A political ‘resolution will only postpone the problem and even compound it. If ‘fateh al islam' terrorists are not dealt with decisively, then a couple of month down the road we will face an even bigger explosion.”

Writing from Tripoli, Libya, Iranian blogger Mrs Behi says: “Here in Libya I haven’t seen a couple walking in the street hand in hand. It seems to me as if taking this simple act of closeness feels very strange to them! And also you can rarely see any woman at night in restaurants with their friends or families, actually the atmosphere is kind of closed compared to Iran, but there are many nice things to do and to enjoy here, as I can say I loved living here so far.” She then moves on to discuss the Hijab - a scarf Muslim women wear to cover their hair.

Michelle Knisley of Greetings from Kyiv links to two CrossRoads Foundation's videos of Kyiv's street children - on YouTube, here and here.

Olechko attends a football game in Kyiv and takes pictures of the stadium.

The Turkish Invasion writes on the 85th anniversary of the Soviet Pioneer Organization.

Arash Hassannia writes[Fa] in Hanouz that journalism is very sick in Iran.The blogger adds a few ordinary employees in Supreme National Security Council can take decision about what journalists should not write in their journals.The blogger says writing about teachers' and workers' strikes has become an unforgivable sin.Arash adds even writing about inflation means transgressing the red line.He asks why we need all these buildings,workers and journalists when a few employees from Supreme National Security Council say you what you should write.

The Turkish Invasion returns to Moscow from vacation and finds himself locked out: “All my attempts to get into my flat was vain because of a non existent door handle and a welded keyhole. I had to change sim cards to reach my landlord, who was enjoying a peaceful getaway from Moscow in Turkey (here is a concrete irony: A Russian living in Turkey rents a flat to a Turkish living in Russia) […].” Read the rest of the hilarious “how to get your plumbing fixed in Russia” saga here.

An amazing photo from Hozrmozgan, a province in the south of Iran.

“The British Crown Prosecution Service has charged Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi with the murder of Alexandr Litvinenko. The question if anything will come of it,” writes Sean Guillory.

Sudanese Thinker wishes the debate on Darfur was televised: “Told ya! I just wish this damn thing was freaking televized. I’m expecting a heated debate to go down especially since the Sudanese Ambassador to the U.N. is going to be present. I predict that he’ll get banged with many questions. It will be interesting to observe how he responds.
I’m tied up with many things at the moment but I’ll make time for this since I don’t want to miss it. Sudanese boys and girls in da house, blog your thoughts or drop a comment.”

Dateline Bombay on struggling through the queues and rush at the Delhi airport. “There is just one long line to enter the immigration area. And it takes a long time. Guess why ? Not because the immigration guys are dragging their feet. Not quite. Because for every four guys from the line that walk over, there is one who will jump it or attempt to barge through. Two familes of four with howling children were `whisked’ through as I watched. Then followed a pot-bellied guy with a `pan' stained mouth - smiling sheepishly at no one in particular.”

Dispatches from Zembla on a documentary called Protocols of Zion. “Most of the footage and interviews shown in the film are truly frightening and to ignore them as works of a lunatic fringe will be a serious mistake. Having said that, the film doesn't really get into really troubled waters, i.e. in what ways the radical left wing critics of American foreign policy and Zionism are contributing to the rise of anti-semitism and how the paranoia of Israel and jewish groups in America isn't helping matters either.”

Bhutan: For a Democracy publishes a reader's email that points to the trouble in South Asia being caused by India. “In conclusion what I would like to point is that the solution of problems in countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka should not be sought inside their boundries but they should be sought outside and it is in N Delhi we shoud be seeking it. Why N Delhi is playing this game. In the name of Democracy why N Delhi sponsors corrupt rotting outdated thugs like Girijha in Nepal and Jigme in Bhutan.”

Stunning photographs of the Layap community at Earth-Bound Insight. “My cousin, whom I’ve already mentioned as the one who took pictures of the Motithang batch, sent more photographs from his trip to Lingzhi. They had snow fall as they were crossing the pass above 5400meters above Sea level. And now he’s safely back in Thimphu.”

Metroblogging Islamabad with some insight into the not too successful Prime Minister. “Shaukee's charm failed to work its magic on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to a new biography of her. The book, titled Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power. describes in excruciating detail how Shaukat Aziz allegedly tried to impress Rice when she visited South Asia in March 2005. Mr Aziz “tried this Savile Row-suited gigolo kind of charm: ‘Pakistan is a country of rich traditions,' staring in (Dr Rice's) eyes,” the biography's author Marcus Mabry writes, citing participants at the meeting.”

Martiniquian Le Blog de [Moi] writes that under the new French cabinet, the Ministry of Overseas Territories has been abolished, or rather, folded in with the Ministry of the Interior to create the Ministry of the Interior, Overseas Territories and Collectivities.  This is a good thing, writes Le Blog de [Moi], since the old ministry was a holdover from the French colonial administration, and no distinction should be made between overseas French and those living in France proper.

What is your blood type? That's a big deal in Korea. Why? Your personality can be inferred from your blood type at once. lyh809 is one of the most serious bloggers with cartoons. Look at why blood type A is timid, how each blood type reacts to sadness, seven behaviors you should not do toward blood type B, and personalities associated with each blood type[ko].

Agence Togolaise de Presse Atop, the Togolese press agency, celebrates its 32nd anniversary and the first anniversary of its new director, Claudine Assiba, the first woman to ever head a public media organization in Togo. In an interview (Fr) she says, “men and women have the same rights, the same education, and so what would be more normal than to offer them the same opportunity to manage the affairs of our country?”

Anger of residents at I-cheon in South Korea. The Ministry of National Defense announced that military units will move to I-cheon from Songpa due to its new-city development plan. About 1,300 local residents at I-cheon got together and held a wild demonstration[ko].

“The case on releasing Ayman Nour based on medical grounds were up in court today. The judge of the administrative tribunal postponed it until a new medical committee from the justice ministry could examine him further. The next court date is set for 12 June,” writes Ibn Al Dunya from Egypt.

‘Another, other, other, depressing slide downward in the Middle East:

“Hamas declared open war on Israel yesterday, pledging to renew suicide bombings after Israeli leaders vowed to kill senior politicians from the militant movement, including Ismail Haniya, the Palestinian Prime Minister” (The Times)

Is it just me, or wouldn't a more accurate opening paragraph be “Hamas declared open war on Israel yesterday, after Israel declared open war on Hamas”?' writes Cairo-based blogger Tom Gara.

Israeli blogger David Bogner isn't happy with candy he bought at a local store. His advice to his readers is: “Look, a word to the wise. Stay away from ‘Klipp Klapp ACE-FIT' candies… and for G-d sakes, stay the hell away from anything containing Isomalt. Unless, of course, you enjoy feeling like that guy in the movie ‘Alien' just before the space monster came poking out of his stomach!”

Israeli blogger Yael is having trouble with her household appliances. “The only things that haven’t broken in any way that I got from that place is the microwave which hasn’t really had a chance to break since it has been largely used as a convenient cabinet that the cats can’t get into at all rather than actually being turned on and the dryer. The dryer is doing great but I shouldn’t say so or I will jinx it and it will break tomorrow,” she notes.

In May, French Polynesia, where even the smallest island communities host their own beauty pageants, choose a new Miss Tahiti, a Miss Pirae, and a Miss Dragon. The islands have seen a proliferation of pageants in recent years, including a “Miss Hinano,” named for a Tahitian beer, and a “Miss World Polynesia.”  Fenua Blog has photographs and an interview with Miss Tahiti 2007.

Bahraini blogger emoodz jumped the gun and accused a daily paper of censoring ‘flesh'. He later amended his error when another blogger Cradle of Humanity pointed out that American anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan in fact dressed up in long sleeves.

“Trinidad and Tobago has to be the most exciting place on earth without a war”: Trinidad and Tobago girls, politics, sports, technology, carnival and lifestyle examines recent political scandals, adding that the whole sordid affair “reads like an episode of ‘Allo Allo'”.

According to the Chairman of Trinidad and Tobago's Environmental Management Authority, Cedros, a village on the island's southwesterly coast, is sinking. Club Soda and Salt thinks “it’s likely to take more than this for the government to formulate a real environmental policy.”

Kakaluigi posts an open letter (Fr) from COJESKI, an umbrella of Congolese youth organizations, demanding President Joseph Kabila: end the incursions and occupations of Congolese villages by foreign troops from Angola, Burundi, Congo-Brazaville, and even as far afield as Chad, the Sudan and Central African Republic; end the pillaging of forest and mineral resources; reform public enterprises; push ahead with legal reform; devolve power to the provinces; reduce government spending; create employment opportunities for youth; end impunity; and protect children's rights.

Koluki posts a picture worth a thousand words: “THE STORY IS: about the degradation of Angola's capital city, with its lack of infrastructure, effective public services and basic sanitation. To make things worse, because of the war, whose social and psychological effects are still present and unresolved everywhere, people from all over the country moved into the capital and started building everywhere and anywhere… and, without any maintenance services, most areas, including the urbanised areas, cannot cope with heavy rains and floods such as those occurred in the last few months in Luanda and the rest of the country.”

Internet problems cause Guyana-Gyal to “dig into living good and proper.”

Black Cush on special envoys to Sudan: “How many special envoys will it take to bring peace to Darfur? 10, 20, 50? All the ones there are no good enough, or just not doing enough. Any country with a conscience wants to be seen doing something for Darfur by having an envoy there.”

Both Babalu Blog and Child of the Revolution weigh in on the controversy surrounding an Iberia Airlines ad promoting travel to Cuba that has been pulled following “public complaints from a Spanish consumer advocacy group which argued that the promotion was sexist and demeaning to Cuban women, and promoted 'sex tourism'”.

Kubatana blog on Zimbabwean police: “How’s that! All SADC citizens. Presumably this includes Zimbabwe where the police recently beat up a group of lawyers in downtown Harare. One of them being a most amazing woman called Eileen Sawyer, otherwise known as gogo, (meaning grandmother) because of her age - 80. Eileen is the director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum.”

Following a comment from a cruise line president that stated “one island is pretty much like another”, Barbados Free Press examines the large promotional spending the cruise lines are doing in Europe and wonders: “What are they spending in their largest market, the Caribbean?”

The Tunisian journalist and blogger Slim Boukhdhir was assaulted as he left an Internet café in Tunis after blogging about the responsibility of Houssem Trabelsi, brother of Tunisia’s first lady, in the deadly concert stampede in Sfax (Star Academy concert) on 30 April, in which seven young people were killed.
After loosing his job as journalist in the “Akhbar Al-Joumhurya” (News of the Republic) newspaper on August 2004, Slim Boukhdhir started blogging on the Arabic Blog Service: Maktoob Blog. He is continuously being harassed, assaulted and threatened by both plain-clothes police and gangsters close to President Ben Ali’s brothers-in-law.

Blog Politique du Senegal, Naomed describes a visit to a profitable garden in Casamance, where women produce vegetables for market. He notes that there was not a single male older than 10 in sight and all of the work was being done by women. One reader praises the bravery of these hardworking rural women, saying that in town because of feminism, women are no longer willing to work. This leads Naomed to retort, “Without women…Senegal would die of hunger. The problem of feminism in Senegal is that there is no feminism.” (Fr).

WeblogBahamas.com thinks that the PLP's decision to go to election court to contest four seats won by the FNM in the recent General Elections is “both peculiar and unprecedented”.

Nigerian blogger, Omodudu, writes, “I dropped the ball on Darfur“:
I have rocked a banner or two or even made a post on this blog to push the save-Dafur-message. But beyond that I have been so uninformed about this conflict.
I assumed the Dafur conflict was one and the same as the North-South civil war of the '90's. I learned today that the Dafur conflict is not the same as the Sudanese civil war that I read about as a youngster. This is different and much more venomous.

Edo from Pink Tentacle introduces an ice aquarium with 40 large ice blocks containing 450 specimens (80 varieties) of local marine life — including squid, crab, bonito and saury — which appear to be frozen in mid-swim.

Zhaoshilong wrote a very elaborated report(zh) on the environmental disasters (earthquakes, drought, warming effect etc.) as a result of the three Gorges dam project.

DANWEI puts together and translates reports, commentaries on the recent attempt by Beijing Mayor Wang Qishan in harmonizing property Ads: advertisements should be cleaned up because they revealed a massive wealth disparity and threatened social harmony.

A Chinese open-source software programmer is suing China Telecom because his website was blocked by the Great Firewall. This trial will be held in Shanghai at 9:00AM (Beijing time, zone of UMT+8:00) May 29th. The place is No. 611 Ding Xiang Road, Pu Dong New District, Shanghai, China.– Via Ya, I Yee

Fons Tuinstra from China Herald quotes comment from Hu Shuli, the chief-editor of the famous financial magazine Caijing, about the policies in cooling down of mainland stock market bubble.

Tolkun Umaraliev reports on Uzbekistan's new law that makes it more difficult to obtain alcoholic beverages.

KZBlog reports on reforms in Kazakhstan's higher education system, noting that there is an apparent lack of emphasis on some major components of any stellar education system.

Artur says that there is a silver lining to Kazakhstan's recently passed constitutional amendments.

neweurasia reports that a village claiming to have had its water supply tainted by an oil spill are turning to independent experts to make their case against the oil company responsible for the accident.

New Central Asia blog Non Pon reports on recent news regarding the Russian and US military bases Kyrgyzstan hosts, including the formation of a social movement dedicated to closing down the American base.

Vadim reports that a new political party representing Tajik citizens who have emigrated to find work could become a serious political force.

Afghanistanica discusses how bad behavior on the part of foreigners working in Afghanistan breeds resentment.

Joshua Kucera has photos from a Yerevan market that he calls “the best flea market in the world.”

Miguel Buitrago of MABB wonders why the Catholic Church in Bolivia chose to