Global Voices Online

Window on Eurasia writes about shortage of insulin in Russia.

Window on Eurasia writes about the FSB's attempt to ban jokes about Putin in Novosibirsk.

Window on Eurasia writes about “the tangled history of Moscow’s involvement with the Kurds during World War II and in the last years of Stalin’s reign.”

Window on Eurasia writes about the growing anti-Crimean Tatar sentiment in Crimea: “…the two incidents this last week suggest that tension in the Crimea are almost certainly going to increase. And to the extent that happens, neither the Ukrainian authorities nor the Crimean Tatars who are trying to make a life for themselves after returning from their Central Asian exile will benefit.”

The Turkish Invasion takes pictures of the bums sleeping in Moscow subway trains, of the Monorail and the Ostankino TV Tower.

Mark MacKinnon compares Mikhail Saakashvili's policies to those of Victor Yushchenko: “The people still own the streets in Ukraine, for better and for worse. That's no longer so in Georgia.”

This year, Nov. 7 marks the 90th anniversary of the 1917 revolution in Russia. Sean's Russia Blog writes about the events leading up to the Bolshevik's ascent and suggests that, by some definitions, they “came to power democratically”; he also writes about the Russian opposition's wrong reading of history. MoscowThroughBrownEyes writes about the current substitute for Nov. 7 - the National Unity Day, marked on Nov. 4 - and about the Russian Marches that took place on that day. A Soviet Poster A Day merges the Russian flag with the old Soviet one and offers a few interpretations.

Siberian Light writes that the Japanese have voted Vladimir Putin the world’s fifth most attractive politician.

ExecutedToday.com writes about Richard Sorge, a spy whose “signal achievement was establishing, as a foreigner in a highly xenophobic Japan, a spy ring that for years penetrated the highest levels of the Japanese government and the German embassy, giving Moscow an inside look at Axis planning” - and who was executed on Nov. 7, 1944.

Last year, Father Bill Haymaker of Moldova Prisons documented the heartbreak and humiliation of prisoners' lives: 20 boys living in a cell designed for 12; 18 girls packed into a similar cell; two women, each mother of a 4-month-old, sharing a room “so small I could not extend my arms completely” - here and here; rats that are “larger than cats, and almost the size of small dogs.”

The Washington Realist draws comparisons between events in Tbilisi with Pakistan and Russia. The blog concludes that it will be interesting to discover U.S. reaction to what is happening in Georgia as opposed to other countries.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi,former vice president, says that it is months when American officials are trying to convince public opinion of the world to launch a war against Iran.

FreeSolouki blog[Fr] covers all news about Iranian-French film maker,Mehrnoush Solouki.Solouki is due to go before an Iranian court on November 17. She faces charges of intending to make antiestablishment propaganda.

CASMII is an independent campaign organisation with the purpose of opposing sanctions, foreign state interference and military intervention in Iran.

Jomhour says [Fa]that there is a growing pressure against media,journalists and civil society in Venezuela.The blogger writes that this country looks like Iran more and more.

GreatBong comments on the case of Rizwanur Rehman, a young man killed because he married a girl from a family much richer than his. “if the families were woefully maladjusted economically, then the union was doomed to ultimate failure”

Groundviews discusses the intricacies of democracy, given “‘Democracy’ and ‘Crisis’ are words we have come to associate them in the same sentence.”

Open Maze points to a photograph of Thamilselvan's coffin being carried, featuring a ten year old child soldier.

Kamat's Potpourri on how “Mehendi” or “Henna” - which is traditionally associated with North Indian weddings has become an integral part of the wedding rituals in the South.

Just Bajan.com posts a recipe for “conkies”: “a corn-based Barbadian delicacy…traditionally made during the month of November, celebrating independence.”

As the debate over the homosexual lifestyle heats up in Guyana, Stella Ramsaroop says: “Sexual preference continues to be at the forefront of the ‘get rid of them because they are different' battle simply because there are so few who wish to accept the fact that a person’s sexuality is as ingrained as a person’s race or gender.”

“An easy way to begin to reclaim one's Jamaican-ness…is to be enumerated, and to be placed on the Voter's List,” writes Moving Back to Jamaica.

AfricanLoft publishes an article about a Nigerian University using MIT Open Courseware: “The Osun State University, Osogbo [Nigeria], has launched a virtual library and OpenCourseware that will enable its students and faculty members to have access to the lecture videos, notes and audio lessons of lecturers at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States of America.”

Geoffrey Philp's Blogspot features a new book whose Caribbean contributors include George Lamming, Derek Walcott, Earl Lovelace, Jamaica Kincaid and Edwidge Danticat.

Naijablog writes about the Lagos Comics & Cartoons Festival 2007.

SynthaSite is a South African application that allows people withouth technical background to publish websites online: “The structure of the site is geared more around making it easy for users with no technical (html & css) knowledge to create Websites in simple, trouble-free style. What this means is, you can create a website , have and an assortment of goodies in the body of your website all in easy drag ‘n drop fashion.”

Roi Kwabena blogs about the upcoming Hindu festival of Divali.

Sokari shows an example of clear misrepresentation of African history: “I have been posting a series of pieces on untold African histories but as we see from these two photos, it is not just our histories that are not being told. Often when they are told they are rewritten to exclude us in some way, whether as in this case to make the statement that the ancient Egyptians could not possibly have been Black.”

Nicholas Laughlin comments on the results of the Trinidad and Tobago election: “An eleven-seat majority for Mr. Manning, but thankfully two seats short of the 28 he needs to start tinkering with the constitution…I hardly need say that things will probably get worse before they get better…”

Kenny discusses development aid perception towards Africa: “As you read through the article, many of the project objectives seem worthy enough - access to clean water, healthcare, education and so on - but the headline the newspaper chose doesn't do anybody justice, least of all the inhabitants of Katine. “Can we, together, help one African village out of the middle ages?” it reads.”

The blog, Africa Ready for Business, is one year old: “I just noticed that this blog has now passed the one year mark. It is my hope that you have enjoyed this 1st year of blogging on Africa Ready for Business. What we have tried to do here is to illustrate how Africa's free market economies have been on the rebound…”

Xueyong blogs about the value of triangle site where Peking University's public notice board was placed: without the triangle spot, Peking University is not Peking University (zh).

Liu Xiao-yuan blogs about his recent harmonious experience (zh): a few guys in uniform stepped into their law firm and gave advice to them not to mind others' business; his landlord suddenly refused to continue the contract.

The Azamat Report reviews an article on Kyrgyzstan in The Economist, and says that although the article is well written, its expatriate author lacks understanding of some intricacies of political playground in the country.

Central Asian Borders reflects on the Western studies about the tragic massacre in the Uzbek city of Andijan, saying that in Uzbekistan, many people don’t know what the Westerners know about Andijan.

KZBlog reviews a new book by Struan Stevenson, a Scottish Conservative Member of the European Union, who has spent a lot of his career trying to bring public attention to the tragedies surrounding Soviet-era's Semipalatinsk nuclear test ground in Kazakhstan.

Bboyd informs of the first visit that Turkmenistan's President Berdymukhamedov is paying to the EU, receiving a “cautiously upbeat welcome”. The EU has earmarked 30 million euros ($43 million) for the period through 2010 if Ashgabat is to upgrade the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.

Carl Robichaud reports that today a relatively peaceful northern city Baghlan has suffered one of the worst suicide attacks in Afghanistan's history. The attack targeted a delegation of 18 MPs visiting from Kabul, killing at least two dozen and injured many more.

Truth Teller from Iraq warns of Iranian-made Insulin suspected of being tainted with the deadly HIV Aids virus in circulation in Iraqi hospitals.

Iraqi blogger HNK has a difficult decision to make: what to study in university?

Blogger and journalist Dahr Jamail travelled to Iraq and here's his story from Fallujah.

Murat Altinbasak, from Turkey, links to a news article which says that Turkey is “bowing to EU concerns that it overly curbed free speech.”

Tunisian blogger Amin reports that bloggers are being recognised as a group at the First Arab Youth Forum being held in Egypt from November 19 to 22. “This group of bloggers will prepare some material (brochures, presentations…) to introduce blogging culture to the others participants/guests/visitors/potential partners,” he explains.

Nissim Dahan reflects on the status of women in the Arab world in this post on Mideast Youth.

Elijah Zarwan, from Egypt, links to a news article about the execution of an Egyptian in Saudi Arabia, accused of practicing magic and sorcery as well as adultery and desecration of the Holy Quran by putting it in a bathroom.

Tunisian blogger Samsoum links to an Amnesty International report commemorating human rights abuses in the country over the past 20 years. “President Ben Ali’s two decades in office have been marred by a continuing pattern of human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials, harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders and curbs on freedom of expression and association,” says the report.

Tunisian blogger Subzero Blue points us to a new Tunisian auction site in this post.