Stories from June, 2008
Facebook's Armenians for Obama
Just as there are Canadians for Obama, South Asians for Obama, and even Madagascar for Obama, there are Armenians for Obama. This group consists of both diasporic Armenians and those in Armenia, and the group's members are quite active in their support of Barack Obama. Berdj Orange, speaking in April,...
Facebook's Canadians for Obama
Living within such close proximity to the United States, Canadians are more affected by the U.S. elections than many. Canadians for Obama, a Facebook group featured on Voices without Votes in April, has been having a lively discussion of Obama's merits, with many participants lobbying from the other side of...
If Venezuela could vote…
What if Venezuela could vote in the U.S. elections? Link TV's Dear American Voter series allows citizens of other countries to share their opinions on the upcoming elections. Francisco Toro of Caracas Chronicles does just that, giving viewers a sense of how the U.S. elections could affect Venezuela.
China: Is the West afraid of our patriotism?
Are there factors informing your perception of China circa 2008? Novelist-blogger and researcher of worldly affairs Yang Hengjun moves on from "How did America cover up the truth of the bombing of our embassy in Yugoslavia?" to his post last week, "Are Western countries afraid of the Chinese people's patriotic fervor?"
Global: “I'm Voting Republican”
“I'm Voting Republican“, a short film created by Charlie Steak and SyntheticHuman Pictures, has quickly gone viral and created quite a stir on the internet. A sample quote from the parody: I'm voting Republican because I think new drugs should be made available immediately, whether they've been tested properly...
Lebanon: Condoleezza Rice's Surprise Visit
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced, five-hour visit to Lebanon on Monday, June 16. She declared her government’s support for the newly elected Lebanese president, as well as for the Lebanese government, the parliament’s speaker and the democratic system in the country. Rice last visited Lebanon during...
Morocco: Dreaming of a Muslim President?
Despite what the U.S. (and some foreign) media might say, it seems that, rather than call Obama an apostate from Islam, some Muslims would prefer to call Obama a fellow Muslim. Such is the case in Morocco, where American expat North Africa Notes says that “most Moroccans know more about...
Brazil: The Black President Before Obama
The sweeping Obama phenomenon has caught Brazil, and it comes as no surprise in the country with the world's largest population of African descendants. An especially notable thread is the one reporting on the resurgence of a weirdly interesting 1928 Brazilian sci-fi novel — ‘The Black President' — that predicted a US election matching a black, a feminist, and a conservative candidate in the then remote year of 2228.
Palestine: Obama on Jerusalem as Undivided
Barack Obama's pledge on June 11th to AIPAC that Jerusalem should be Israel's undivided capital has angered Palestinian officials. President Mahmoud Abbas made a statement that Obama's pledge is “totally rejected,” while Saeb Erekat, an Abbas aide, said that Palestinian negotiators would continue to insist upon East Jerusalem as the...
What About Obama's Race? The Turkish (and Other) Perception of Obama
On June 6, 2008, Michael Rubin, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal in which he referred to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as “Turkey's Putin” and a dictator. The piece, re-posted on the Middle East Forum, refers to the...
