David Sasaki

Some lessons about blog attacks in the spanish-language blogosphere

Writing from Buenos Aires, Jorge Gobbi starts out 2007 with a cautious tale about what recently happened to some of Latin America’s most popular weblogs and how you can prevent the same thing from happening to yours.

Indonesia: Internet Outage and Flood in Aceh

Two years after the Tsunami devastated the Indonesian province of Aceh another submarine quake - this time off the coast of Taiwan - caused Indonesian bloggers a decidedly less lethal disaster … time spent offline.

China: Cops and bikers

Having translated the dialogue to English, John Kennedy shares a video from the popular blog portal Sina.com which shows several motorcycle drive-by robberies in action, a mid-freeway chase halfway through, renegade motorbikers resisting arrest, and how municipal police work to catch them.

Kazakhstan: where are we going to be in 15 years?

“15 years ago we came into existence,” writes Leila Tanayeva about her native country, Kazakhstan. She is referring, of course, to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent emergence of independent Central Asian nation states. But what will Kazakhstan look like 15 years from now? Thanks to Tanayeva’s translations you can read the optimism, analysis, and forewarning of both English-language bloggers interested in the region, and by Russian-language local Kazakhs.

Saddam at the Iraqi Blogodrome…

Iraq’s arrival to 2007 is truly the mark of a new era. Saddam Hussein - General, dictator, modernizer, U.S. ally, U.S. enemy, secularist, and convicted human rights offender - was executed by hanging on Saturday, Dec. 30. But will post-Saddam Iraq face a brighter future? Here is what Iraqis themselves have to say.

The Iranian Blogestan on Saddam Hussein’s death

While one Iranian blogger imagines the headline “Four Less Dictators for 2007″ another argues that “killing a dictator is not the solution: dictators die, but dictatorship goes on.” Hamid Tehrani rounds up the reaction from the country that fought Saddam Hussein’s regime and army for nearly a decade.

Russia, Belarus: “Gazilla”

Why are some Russian bloggers posting an animated GIF image of a gigantic monster hulking over St. Petersburg’s Smolny Cathedral which links to an online game developed by a local political party? Veronica Khokhlova explains why Gazilla means bad publicity for Russia’s largest company.

The Saudi Blogosphere this Past Week

Fahad Albutairi sums up the Saudisphere best: “Sleeping blogs, zombie computers, Saudi driving culture, Saddam Hussein’s hanging, Arabic MTV, Saudi lesbian bloggers, Christmas, and more …”

Roundups

Development priorities in Trinidad and Tobago, mitigating floods in Malaysia, a ten-day typical New Year’s celebration in Russia, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

Chile: Two new Regions

The number of provinces in Chile went from 13 to 15 last week when the senate agreed to add the region of Arica and Parinacota and the province of Tamarugal. Rosario Lizana and fellow Chilean bloggers explain how the new states add new dimensions to the country’s political (and numerical) spheres.

Serbia, USA: What Serbs Think About America

Anti-Americanism is nothing new, but its widespread flourishing is. Serbian blogger Neven Andjelic has been living in the United States for four months now and his mostly-negative impressions of the country sparked an engaging discussion amongst his readership. Ljubisa Bojic kindly translates the exchange.

The Blogoma backs Nichane while the major Moroccan Media ignore it

Farah Kinani wishes us all a very merry Eid from the Moroccan blogosphere. Also, the disturbing silence of the major media regarding freedom of the press and the local rap star BIGG.

Lusosphere: Who? Me? You!? Why not Hugo?

When TIME Magazine chose ‘You’ - as in ‘you’ the citizen journalist - as the 2006 person of the year it surely counted on plenty of online diffusion. The irony, however, is that while TIME chose internet users, the internet users voted overwhelmingly for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, followed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahadinejad. According to Brazilian blogger Jose Murilo Junior, “the episode offers a good indication of the problems that the traditional media will face while trying to adapt to empowered users.”

Roundups

Reaction in Addis Ababa to Ethiopia’s war against Somalia, pork and politics in Guyana, Tahiti’s new Christmas president, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

Time chooses you, you choose Hugo Chavez.

Bolivia: Politics Falls Apart, Christmas Comes Together

Guest contributor Miguel Buitrago steps in this week to report on the latest happenings in Bolivia’s growing and ever more provincial blogosphere. A series of town halls were attended and covered by bloggers across the nation who then took a much needed break from contentious politics with some creative expressions about Christmas.

Lebanon: Foreign Intervention and Economics

In the midst of Christmas, Eid Al Adha and the New Year, Moussa Bachir points out several posts this week that provide a multi-faceted look at foreign intervention in Lebanon. Other bloggers examine the secrecy of banking and the persistent vulnerability of the Lebanese economy.

China: Ping…ping…pfft

The only way to realize how dependent we have all become on the internet is to go a day without it. Which is precisely what much of Asia is experiencing this minute as an “earthquake near Taiwan last night which snapped six underwater internet cables, seems to have left a large part of Asia, particularly the Northeast, struggling for an internet fix.”

Russia: Moscow Half a Century Ago

One man’s trash is another man’s … nostalgia-inspiring blog post, reveals Veronica Khokhlova who has translated some of the appreciative comments on a post with 60 scanned photos found in a Moscow dump.

Roundups

Two years after the Tsunami, sharia police in Aceh, Kenyan music videos, comedy, and documentaries, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

A New Shuffle to the Mix- A More Personal Account of the 2006 Global Voices Summit

Over the past two weeks we have been presented with summaries from the various sessions at Global Voices Summit Delhi 2006. Now Deborah Ann Dilley takes a break from her usual coverage of the Turkish and Kurdish blogospheres to offer this pleasant reminder of why and how so many dedicated volunteers from across the world have come together to create such an amazing resource and community.

Iran: Interview with Omid Memarian, Blogger and Human Rights Activist

Hamid Tehrani interviews renowned Iranian blogger and journalist Omid Memarian who describes the difference between writing in English and Farsi, the impact of Iran’s internet filtering, and what he did with video of naked American university students running through a library.

Libya: A view into the blogging scene

Fozia Mohamed sheds light on Libya’s burgeoning, “rich and diverse, but quietly apolitical” blogosphere. Politics or not, creativity abounds as several Libyan bloggers participate in a challenge to portray their country with video.

Bloggers on the new US Congress and the US policy on Cuba

The results of the recent mid-term elections in the United States could provide more than a domestic political sea change; Cuban bloggers are also assessing the new balance of power in Washington D.C. and how it might affect the long-standing economic embargo and travel ban imposed against Cuba.

Roundups

Re-branding the Middle East, propaganda and the Ethiopian-Somali war, the Chinese word of the year, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

Beggars and choosers.

Turkmenbashi’s Death: Bloggers’ Reactions

Says Nathan Hamm: “Turkmenistan’s authoritarian and, to put it lightly, eccentric President Sapurmurad Niyazov died suddenly of a heart attack in the early hours of December 21st.” Central Asian bloggers react with serious and not-so-serious analysis.

Chilean Christmas Consumer Behavior

Partisan politics hits Christian consumerism this year as t-shirts with the images of Pinochet and Allende are stuffed in Chilean Christmas stockings.

This Week’s Saudi Blog Roundup

Fahad Albutairi sweeps the Saudi blogosphere and finds that: “The Human Rights Watch visit to Saudi Arabia is still making headlines, 80 rats were found on a Saudi Airlines plane, a Bible was denied entry into Saudi, the Quran is now recognized as the second-most wanted Christmas gift in Denmark, and Sheikh Dot is back.”

GV Summit Delhi ‘06 Session Two: Outreach

In the last session summary from Global Voices Summit Delhi ‘06, Jennifer Brea walks us through some of the issues, ideas, brainstorming, and models to evangelize blogging throughout the world despite the everyday social, economic, and technical obstacles that have so far restricted the activity to mostly urban upper-class youths. Come join the conversation and share your ideas.

Somali-Ethiopia conflict looms over Ethiopian blogosphere

Trying to discern the confusing and contradictory headlines coming out of Northern Somalia, neighboring Ethiopian bloggers are trying to understand what is prompting rumors of war and how the conflict is affecting ethnic Somalis living in Addis Ababa.

China: Nary Xmas?

And we end our special Christmas-day digest in China where a “group of PhD students at several of China’s biggest and best universities came together last week to release a letter calling for Chinese to boycott Christmas—a holiday they see as representing waning interest in traditional Chinese culture—and all the rest of non-native cultural trends.”

Roundups

1960’s Cambodia, compulsory pre-marital HIV testing, news headlines via SMS in Zimbabwe, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

I've often wondered just who I'm ripping off how much as well. I'd like to balance out my digital karma one of these days.

Ethan has long been one of my favorite bloggers and the Daily Show has long been my favorite TV show, but never did I think the two would meet.

This is how I should have gotten rid of my books back in San Diego.