Global Voices Online

Hungarian Spectrum offers more analysis of the current political crisis and writes about SZDSZ, the Alliance of Free Democrats – the Hungarian Liberal Party, “a deeply divided party.”

The Czech Daily Word writes about Paris Hilton's visit to Prague - here and here.

Srebrenica Genocide Blog marks a “grim anniversary”: “five years since the first Srebrenica genocide victims were buried” in the village of Potočari.

A roundup on the Macedonia-Greece name dispute: Balkan Baby writes that posters in the capital of Macedonia “featuring a customised version of the Greek flag in which the cross […] was replaced with a swastika” did “nothing but shoot Macedonia in the foot”; A Fistful of Euros examines “one of those perfect Balkan storms where you have obnoxious and stupid behavior that leads to even more obnoxious and stupid behavior”; Say: Macedonia pledges to call Greece “‘the Former Macedonian Province of Greece', or FMPG for short” from now on; Greater Surbiton mocks the Greek Foreign Minister; The Board, a blog written by the New York Times editorial board, notes that “tiny Macedonia doesn’t threaten Greece under any name.”

Cinencuentro [es] writes about the Nomadas project, a traveling film company that is currently located in the Southern part of Peru. Its objective is to promote Peruvian cinema and participates in health campaigns through the use of audiovisual tools.

A roundup on Ukraine and NATO: A Fistful of Euros reads Yushchenko's address and isn't surprised “other NATO countries are balking”; Mark MacKinnon writes that granting membership to Ukraine might lead to “further internal strife”; Eternal Remont highlights the Communists' “sophisticated and highly nuanced policy position”; Ukrainiana posts a video of another Ukrainian political group greeting Bush; Orange Ukraine posts a note on the four years of NATO's words and deeds regarding Ukraine's membership, writes about the “craven capitulation of Germany and France to Russia,” and reports on this year's pathetic April Fool's Day in Odesa, followed by an anti-NATO rally: “Since Odesa has been dragged down into the leaden stupidity of politics, the citizens can't muster the light wittiness that made the city so unique.”

A Fistful of Euros questions the credibility of B92's report on “Kosovo as the ‘heart of [the] Balkan drug route'.”

Alfredo Rivas of the Nicaraguan Report states that President Daniel Ortega is proposing to suspend local elections in order to allow regions to recover from Hurricane Felix. However, Rivas believes that Ortega may disenfranchise voters because their potential results would be unfavorable to his party.

Over 12,000 kg of meat is set to be on the barbeque, when Uruguayans aim to enter into the Guinness Book of World Records [es] at an event that will take place on April 13. They hope to top the previous record set by Mexican BBQ aficinados who grilled over 8,000 kg of meat, writes Martin Balao.

Window on Eurasia says that while oil and gas pipelines through the region attract more attention, railroads might have more geopolitical significance. In particular, the blog examines what plans for a new railroad linking Iran and Azerbaijan might mean, and not least on Russian and NATO interests in Eurasia as well as the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh.

Al Kags writes about digital villages project: “The project to launch digital villages across the Kenya has kicked of with the Kenya ICT Board calling for applications for entrepreneurs who would like to run digital villages to apply for the training support, which is phase 1 of the Digital Villages project.”

Harara is the rumour capital of Zimbabwe: “Our only non-state daily newspaper was bombed so the people’s paper is the people’s stories, nyayas that circulate like a whisper at a bottle store. Mugabe has fled to Malaysia. Morgan has 68% of the presidential vote. Mujuru has lost her seat. Morgan’s win is being broadcast live on TV. A people starved of truth begin to manufacture their own.”

Comrade Fatso writes about political jokes in Zimbabwe: “Anyone know someone with a truck? There's a guy wanting to move all his stuff from State House to Zvimba. The jokes spread as text messages refer to our aged dictator relocating to his rural home. People really do believe this is a general election - because our generals decide who gets elected. Another joke walking the streets of Harare is that the only difference between an election and an erection is that you can't rig the latter.”

Kubatana blog publishes views of ordinary Zimbabweans: “Here is more of what ordinary Zimbabweans want to see change in a free Zimbabwe. This information comes from feedback from a Kubatana.net email newsletter in which we asked for ideas . . . “

HelloJi writes on the concept of son preference, still prevalent in India and how it contributes to the phenomenon of “missing women”.

Feringhee has photographs of the Pro-Tibet protest outside the Embassy of China in Nepal.

Five Rupees has an interesting take on the nature of intra-state conflict management in India and Pakistan.

Blogian posts some fascinating photographs of Armenian women who were kidnapped from their families during the 1915 Genocide and assimilated into Turkish and Kurdish families. Eventually married off, the women in the photographs bear various tattoos as custom dictated. However, the blog says, despite outrage at what it considers to be an early form of human trafficking, the Armenian government does nothing to stop the trade today.

A deep disconnect between policy and the people's aspiration explored at Unheard Voices in a post aptly titled “No country for young men”.

The Armenian Gay & Lesbian Association of New York (AGLA) responds to an email from a LGBT person in Armenia requesting information on immigration and asylum procedures in the U.S. The blog responds, but also offers its assistance in helping LGBT people in Armenia find others in order to feel less isolated and vulnerable.

Geert Wilders’s film, Fitna, has provoked rallies in Indonesia. Many Indonesians were offended by the anti-Islam message of the film.

Blogger Babasiga reports about a project that collects bras for the women in rural areas of Fiji.

The blog, Peace and Justice for Guam and the Pacific, aims “to provide information about the US military in Guam, with the hope of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity.”

Reacting to a news report that the Palau president was stranded in a Philippine airport, a reader of okedyulabeluu’s blog suggests that it's time to purchase a plane for the president.

The blog of Australian Brian Gorrell is among the most popular blogs in the Philippines today. Even mainstream media is interested in Gorrell’s blog.

Blogger preMEDitated is embarrassed and ashamed over the decision of an airline to frisk the Palau President in a Philippine airport

The blog of the detained Saudi blogger Fouad al-Farhan has been blocked today in Saudi Arabia, along with Freefouad blog.

“A large amount of investment and political will is needed if the hunger problem alone is to be solved”: Wadner Pierre at HaitiAnalysis.com explains.

Blogging from Havana, Circles Robinson Online says that religion in Cuba is “not what you think”.

Barbados Free Press, Barbados Underground and Keltruth Corp. blog about the pros and cons of a multi-million dollar land deal.

“The anti-website censorship website freeyemenportal.org was officially launched today by Mideast Youth and YemenPortal.net as part of an ongoing campaign to free yemenportal.net from a two-month long ban imposed by the Yemeni government,” reports Mideast Youth. Global Voices Advocacy has previously reported on the block here.

Egyptian Arima introduces us to the Shia blogs of Egypt.

From Egypt, Elijah Zarwan updates us with news from the political scene in Cairo. They include defections from the main political party, the creation of a splinter group of the Muslim Brotherhood, the release and possibly more detentions of Muslim Brotherhood members and more.

“In this post 9/11 world it is hard to brush off any incident,” says Can a Jamaican take Cali? as blogs about the alleged Jamaican bomb-maker.

Algerian Nouri the Moor takes on the Angry Arab News Service's Dr Assad Abu Khalil and his references to the White Man. “When the Angry Arab repeatedly rails against the White Man and those who seek to please this White Man, he tells us something about Arab Americans,” he writes.

Scores of Jordanian bloggers marked Jordan Day with posts celebrating their country and its achievements. Qwaider provides links to the posts here. “This day, wasn't supposed to be so emotional, but emotions were pouring, the day was full of heart and heart felt articles and wonderful comments by amazing people… It was an amazing festival of light, sharing, loving and selfless promotion. I caught my self many times, speechless,” he writes.

Guyana-Gyal solves the mystery of the walking tree.

Socialist Students in Shiraz University has published[Fa] a letter in its blog and warned about the danger that Mahmoud Salehi,a leading wroker activist,faces in prison in Iran.

Hamid Saidi, an Iranian photo blogger, has published a photo of Haji Firouz,the traditional herald of Norouz.

Iranian.com has published several photos from Persian/Iranian parade in NewYork in last Sunday.

Dumisani explains why election results in Zimbabwe are not coming in fast: “The mistake most people are making is that they see the result outside one polling station, take that as the overall result and then cry “that results are out. Why are they not being announced” and are completely ignorant of the process that must be taken to ensure that all parties involved at that local level are satisfied.”

Dumisani is critical of global media coverage of Zimbabwe elections: “It is shocking how the media in South Africa and that emanating mainly from countries in Europe and North America has gone ahead and made bold declarations about Zimbabwe’s recent election without paying much attention to the legal proceedings that dictate the unfolding of events here.”

Chris O'Brien explained the production of Xinhua commentaries, in particular the case of Tibet riot.

Matt Alt at Neojaponisme translates a 1983 article by Japanese essayist Nakamori Akio, the first part of the “Otaku Research” series entitled “The City is Full of Otaku”, referring to the “obsessive” subculture in Japan associated with manga and anime.

Ad Blankestijn from Japan Navigator wrote about the bottle tea business.

James from Two Koreas compared the economic policy of former and present South Korea President Roh and Lee.

Nyura reports that Kazakhstan's first “experimental neo-traditional ethno-rock” band, Roksonaki, is finishing up their Nauryz 2008 tour in the Washington D. C. area, where they have done 3-4 day residencies at several different universities, visited schools, and most of the concerts have been free.

Patrick Frost opines on the participation of two important Central Asian guests, Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov and Turkmenistan’s leader, President Berdymukhammedov, in the NATO Summit in Bucharest.

Margarida C. collects reactions to the “Most Racist Article of the Year” award given to the newspaper La Nación of Paraguay, which had “compared Paraguaya Indians to a ‘dangerous cancer' and described them as ‘filthy'.”

Vivir México [es] writes that the Mexico City government is considering raising public bus fare in accordance with inflation, but wonders why the government does not consider improving service at the same time.

A movie about the life and times of Colombian drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar based on the book “Killing Pablo” has received the green light. Good Times in Medellín, Colombia writes that the director Joe Carnahan received permission from Escobar's son to go through with the film.

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif calls upon his country's 40-member parliament to resign.

“As prospects of true peace in Palestine look as bleak as ever, mainly because of Israeli intransigence and American complicity with the Zionist state, peace-loving people in the Middle East and around the world are once again affronted by yet another disingenuous visit to the region by US Secretary of State,” writes Khaled Amayreh, from Palestine.

From Egypt, Sandmonkey comments on Al Arabiya's coverage of the Arab Summit in Syria.