n+1 magazine has an excellent albeit idiosyncratic two-part review of the year 2010 as seen from various places, both in the real world and online. The first part is here. The second part is here.
On India:
“And so, as a parting gift for 2010 (…) comes a court decision from the central Indian state of Chattisgarh. After having kept an elderly doctor called Binayak Sen in prison for two years, the court has decided that Dr. Sen’s sympathies for the Maoist guerrillas in Chattisgarh and his tendency to offer free medical services for the deprived and brutalized indigenous population of the state counts as sedition against the Indian state. The penalty? Life Imprisonment.”
On Denmark:
“A one-legged boxer from Belgium accidentally exploded a bomb in a hotel bathroom, injuring only himself. His target was supposed to be the Copenhagen office of the newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which published the Mohammed cartoons. In an electronics store a few blocks away, I watched the event unfold on dozens of HD TVs. Oprah visited the city and was amazed, ‘The more you earn, the more you pay in taxes? Wow.'”
If you are interested in culture, especially as it relates to politics, do yourself a favor and take a look at n+1’s website. I don’t always agree with its contributors, but I always enjoy their writings.