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Israel: Voices against the violence · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

The Hebrew blogosphere is battling over right and wrong, support vs. opposition and what it means to be patriotic to your own country, while at the same time condemning its actions. In this post, I translated four different entries which highlight their writers’ struggle with the grave outcomes of a war. A war where news is biased; where one side is considerably more powerful than the other; where innocent civilians are used as human shields and where the death toll is steep.
In the first post, Raviv Druker reacts to the online petition posted against TV news anchor Yonit Levi in reaction to her stating an opinion while presenting the news:
The petition against Yonit Levi is ugly and disgusting. Every round of fighting displays an odd sense of “patriotism”. In the second Intefada, Ariel Sharon refused to continue  because he allowed to broadcast an interview with Yasser Arafat on the national channel 1. The interview, BTW, brought immense damange to Arafat's image, who sounded like a dazed old man. From this round, we will probably remember this petition. Its members write, with hypocrisy, that this is not an issue of left and right. That she cannot state her opinions (of course she can only if they match the petition creator's opinions) and that she conveyed compassion towards the Palestinians. God forbid. Where is her heart? How can she think about another nation when we are suffering so badly? Even if hundreds of civilians were killed there.
In such a period, people expect you to take the IDF reports as trustworthy, or at least better than the Palestinian version. We've all been through many events where we believed, and believed, until it became clear that we were misled. Sometimes with carelessness. One time, the qassam that was taken on an ambulance, turned out to be a strecher. Another, the homes that IDF promised not to destroy in Rafah, were destroyed. A third time, a journalist was killed, not in the circumstances that IDF insisted upon. There were some more incidents, that etched a notion of skepticism in my consciousness towards the IDF spokesman. Also this operation is not lacking doubts. The truck that was bombed, believed to have been carrying Grad missiles, actually carried oxygen tanks. A school was bombed because missiled were shot from it, and those who shot the missiled, according to IDF spokesman, were killed from the bombs and hidden by the Palestinians. I really wanted to belive this, because the civilians who died there weighed heavily on my conscience. Yesterday there was a small notification (I think in Haaretz) that the IDF investigation found out that those who shot the missiles were in a street adjacent to the school. The IDF's bombing in reaction to the shooting took into consideration a possibility of deviation from the target. I think that there was someonewho did not want to shoot, but finally decided to, and hit the school. IDF claims 7 were killed there. The Palestinians claim 40. I wish I could believe IDF.
Yoav Karni highlights how in his eyes, Israeli politicians are doing a terrible job at justifying their actions to the rest of the world:
Roughness, defensiveness and lack of sensitivity has always portrayed Israeli public speakers. One can understand why. They encounter walls of incomprehension and hatred. It is so clear to them that their listeners don't get it. Tzipi Livni complained this week in an interview with an un-sympathizing BBC reporter about “the difference between the impression of what we really are and how we are presented”.
She was wrong. People do not like to listen to self-pity from a country that drops one hundred tons of bombs one morning on a densely populated city. People tend to doubt being righteous. Ms. Livni should not continue to brag about our “values”. We all know what she means, but self-enthusiasm over the IDF's values is not accepted these days.
Not when five young Palestinian sisters lay dead on front pages. Not when young, anxious parents carry infants from the smoking rubble (BTW – this was probably the most popular photo in the world during the first 48 hours of operation “cast lead”).
Not when journalists continue to emphasize the “disproportion”. The British Guardian, one of Israel's greatest journalistic enemy in the Western world counted this week the Palestinian losses, dead and wounded, and stated: “this is a reaction to hundreds of rockets fired by Hamas militants, who killed one Israeli in the past six months.” But the equations is always this way.
Always this way.
Which, obviously, raises the question – how many Israelis need to die until the Guardian's journalists will recognize Israel's right to protect its’ citizens?
Eyal Gross describes  how one can still be patriotic and oppose the war:
To oppose the war doesn't mean not recognizing the fact that firing qassam missiles towards Israeli citizens is a terrible, atrocious and despicable act.
To oppose the war doesn't mean one does not recognize Hamas’ grave responsibility towards the current state of suffering brought upon us and the Palestinian people.
To oppose the war doesn't mean one must ignore the suffering of Sderot residents along with the rest of the south, who have tolerated qassam rockets. I am saying the opposite.
Opposing the war comes from a belief that fighting and violence will not solve the qassam problem, nor will it fix our ties with Hamas. Just like the missiles during the second Lebanon war and the Iraqi scud missiles in 1991 could only be stopped through a cease-fire agreement.
Opposing the war comes from realizing that since in the end, there will be a cease-fire agreement anyways, we will return to the initial point, only with more death, hurting and hate on both sides.
Opposing the war comes from thinking we need to try other ways.
Opposing the war means opening our eyes and realizing how many innocent Palestinian civilians we are killing. Look at the human rights document describing the killin of students in the UN facility and describes the killing of children. I believe that this killing is morally wrong, and will create so much hate, that will only raise the violence towards Israel.
I think there is an easy explanation. When a qassam is fired towards Sderot, everyone in Israel agrees that this act is evil, sad and atrocious. This is also the case when an innocent Israeli civilian is hurt. However, there is a wide concensus in Israel that attacking Gaza is alright, and when we kill innocent Palestinians, if at all that is reported, it is usually portrayed as legitimate. Usually there is no need to write the obvious, meaning = “I am also against qassam missiles” – of course I am against them like every single Israeli I know. We need to voice the not so obvious opinions along those that are not mentioned.
And finally Mishka reacts to the harsh number of dead reported from Gaza:
The ratio between civilians and armed Hamas militia is harsh, even according to the IDF's statements. Yes, I know very well that Hamas is cynically and deliberately using children and civilians as human shields. And yes, I know that during a war, civilians are hurt. But when the fire stops, and the black smoke clears from above the Gaza strip, we will remain with our conscious; with pictures of destruction and death.
I apologize to you readers for not posting Israeli perspectives over the past two weeks. I have been absent and recently returned. As I sift through the Hebrew blogosphere please feel free to send me links to posts you believe should be highlighted.

author: Gilad Lotan


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Israeli newspaper Haaretz: Free speech or hypocrisy? · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

Parole de democrate posts a screenshot from the Haaretz website, a left-leaning Israeli newspaper, which features an editorial with the headline “The IDF has no mercy for the children of Gaza nursery schools” alongside an IDF advertisement urging readers to “Support the soldiers today”.  Parole thinks, “This attitude casts strong doubt on whether Israelis sincerely want peace” [Fr].

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Jennifer Brea


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Korea: Your 17 habits which cause your skin to age faster · Global Voices
Hyejin Kim

I introduce a post that gives interesting (or funny) information: the 17 habits you have which age your skin.
값비싼 화장품이 피부를 유지해준다!? 이런 마음가짐으로 고급 화장품만을 믿고 피부에 관심을 덜 가지게 되면 5년 후에는 “아줌마! 화장품 뭐 썼길래…” 라는 말을 들을수도 있습니다.
피부는 관리가 중요합니다. […]피부노화를 가속화시키는 몇가지 원인을 공개합니다.
How to take care of your skin is important. […]will introduce several causes to lead  to aging.
초콜릿과 케이크를 입에 달고 산다
같은 탄수화물이라도 당분이 많아 몸 속에서 산화 작용이 많이 필요한 케이크나 초콜릿 등은 피부 노화를 촉진시키는 주범. 대신 포도당으로 변하는 속도가 빠른 구운 감자, 흰 빵 등을 섭취할 것.
애교스러운 눈웃음이 특기다
연구결과에 따르면 눈웃음을 짓는 사람은 그렇지 않은 사람보다 눈가 잔주름과 표정 주름이 더 많다. 피부 탄력이 떨어지기 시작하는 20대 이후부터는 습관적인 표정이 굵은 주름의 원인이 될 수 있다. 눈보다는 입으로 웃는 연습을 할 것.
현기증 날 때까지 운동한다
적당한 운동은 건강과 피부 미용을 위한 필수 덕목. 하지만 운동선수들이 운동을 접는 그 순간부터 쭈글쭈글해진다는 사실을 알고 있는가? 게다가 격렬한 운동을 할 때 표정을 일그러뜨리는 습관은 잔주름을 듬뿍 만들어줄 것이다.
옆으로 누워야 잠이 솔솔 온다
잘 때 생기는 슬리프 라인(sleep line)은 눈가 주름의 주범. 베개는 반드시 뒤통수 쪽으로 베고 자야 한다. 너무 높거나 낮은 베개도 금물. 목과 턱살이 겹쳐 주름이 생기고 얼굴이 붓게 된다. 팔을 괴고 자거나 엎드려 자는 것도 마찬가지.
담배 없이는 못 산다
담배는 피부에 공급되는 산소량을 적게 하고 노화의 원인이 되는 래디컬(유해산소)의 형성을 촉진시킨다. 흡연자가 주름이 생길 확률은 비흡연자의 3배. 그러나 비흡연자도 안심할 순 없다. 담배 연기에 자주 노출되면 각질층의 수분 함량이 떨어져 피부가 건조해지기 때문.
눈을 자주 비빈다
이 무의식적인 습관은 눈가 잔주름과 다크서클을 촉진시킨다. 잦은 눈 화장 역시 잔주름의 지름길. 눈 주위의 연약한 피부에 자극을 주기 때문이다. 눈썹, 쌍꺼풀 사이에 낀 화장 잔여물도 노화의 원인이 되므로 순한 아이 전용 리무버로 깔끔하게 닦아내자.
눈가에도 스킨을 촉촉하게 바른다
사용설명서에는 바르지 말라고 되어 있지만 아이크림도 따로 안 바르는데 빼먹으면 어쩐지 섭섭해서…. 그러나 알코올이 함유된 스킨을 눈가까지 바르면 눈가 피부의 유·수분 밸런스가 깨지면서 주름이 생기기 쉽다.
극세사 타월을 매일 사용한다
피부가 매끈매끈해지는 즉각적인 효과 때문에 스크럽 대용품으로 널리 환영받는 극세사 타월. 그러나 너무 자주 사용하면 피부 보호막인 각질층이 손상되어 피부가 건조해진다. 제거해야 하는 건 오직 ‘묵은’ 각질. 건성피부는 주 1~2회, 지성피부라도 3회 이하로 사용하자.
안 해본 다이어트가 없다
각고의 노력 끝에 결국 뼈와 가죽만 남은 당신. 권장 섭취량보다 절대적으로 적은 칼로리 섭취로 비타민, 미네랄, 필수 지방산 등이 결핍되어 윤기 없이 푸석푸석한 피부가 되어 있을 게 분명하다.
화장품을 얼굴 전체에 비벼 바른다
항상 아래에서 위로 가볍게 쓸어 올리듯 바르는 습관을 기르자. 위에서 아래로 밀어내거나 무자비하게 비벼 바르는 버릇은 피부를 처지게 만든다. 불독 강아지 같은 심술보를 갖고 싶지 않다면 당장 바르는 습관부터 바꿀 것.
자외선 차단제를 과감히 생략한다
자외선은 멜라닌 색소를 자극할 뿐 아니라 콜라겐과 엘라스틴까지 파괴한다. 자외선을 받은 피부 혈관이 늘어지거나 비정상적인 혈관 가지들이 생성되어 주름과 기미로 진행된다는 최근 연구결과에도 주목할 필요가 있다.
젖은 얼굴로 쏘다닌다
날씨가 덥다고 세수한 다음 물기도 닦지 않고 밖을 마구 쏘다니는 건 자살 행위다. 젖은 피부는 마른 피부보다 자외선 투과율이 4배까지 증가한다. 운동 후나 세안 후에는 빨리 물기를 닦아야 한다. 젖은 머리로 외출하는 것도 삼갈 것.
선탠광이다
바다보다 모래사장을 더 좋아하는 당신이라면 일광이 강한 오전 11시부터 오후 3시까지만큼은 피할 것. 한낮에 자외선 차단 크림도 없이 태닝을 즐긴 후 몸을 찬찬히 관찰해보라. 눈가 잔주름이 두 배는 늘었을 것이며, 없던 점이 몸 여기저기에서 발견될 테니.
물은 밥 먹을 때만 마신다
수분 섭취량은 피부 노화와 보다 직접적인 관계가 있다. 20대 초반이라면 촉촉한 수분 크림과 하루 1L 이상의 생수만으로도 탱탱한 피부를 유지할 수 있다. 당신이 흡연자라면 적어도 하루 1.5L 이상의 물을 마셔야 함을 명심할 것.
에어컨 온도를 18°C 이하로 맞춘다
에어컨이 가동되는 건조한 실내에 오래 있으면 피부 수분을 공기 중에 빼앗겨 노화가 가속화된다. 겨울에 난방 온도를 높이는 것도 마찬가지. 실내·외 온도가 심하게 차이 나지 않도록 냉방 온도를 조절하고 피부에 건조감이 느껴지면 워터 스프레이를 뿌려주자.
곧 죽어도 더운물로 샤워한다
계절에 관계없이 온수 샤워는 10분 이내로 끝내야 한다. 피부에 필요한 유·수분을 급속도로 빼앗아가기 때문. 미지근한 물로 재빨리 샤워한 후 보디 미스트 등으로 수분을 공급해주자.
잠자는 시간이 중구난방이다
밤 시간에 잠을 자지 않고 깨어 있으면 낮 동안 손상된 피부가 재생되지 못해 피붓결이 거칠어지고 탄력도가 떨어진다. 밤샘 후 피부 유·수분도를 측정해보면 수분은 15~18% 감소해 있고 유분은 20%나 많아져 있는 것을 알 수 있다.

author: Hyejin Kim


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Latvia: Book Publishing VAT Up From 5% To 21% · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Very belatedly, links to Peteris Cedrins’ reporting and musings at Marginalia on the history of book publishing in Latvia and the outrageous VAT increase on books from 5 percent to 21 percent.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Latvia: Rioting in Riga · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

In his post about the Jan. 13 peaceful anti-government protest followed by rioting in Riga, Aleks Tapinsh of All About Latvia wrote that Ivars Godmanis, the Latvian PM, had “told the people in his New Year’s Eve address how penguins deal with severe winter – they huddle together to stay warm – the same way as Latvians ought to do when going through the economic turmoil.”
What happened in Latvia's capital on Tuesday has thus been labeled by some as the “penguin revolution.”
Below are some of the accounts and opinions from the blogosphere.
More from All About Latvia‘s post linked to above:
Shattered glass. Blue paint on the building. Broken plastic bottles. Cobblestones. Ninety-eight detained.
[…]
But it started all so peaceful. Around 5 p.m. several hundred people had already flooded the Dom Square in the heart of the capital of Latvia. People of different ages, ethnicity, backgrounds appeared united in their disdain for the ruling coalition, and – more importantly – the culture of political cynicism.
Following the 90-minute event mostly young people moved toward the Saeima building. They tried to get in. Prevented from doing so by the riot police, they began throwing anything that they could lay their hands on – from snowballs to street cobblestones. […]
An English-language interview with a protester, conducted by Aleks Tapinsh, is here. The man believes that “new people” should be allowed into Latvia's politics for the country to prosper and talks about the effect that the ongoing crisis has so far had on his business.
A selection of relevant photo and video reports – at a Russian-language blog on the disturbances of Jan. 13: http://lvrevolucija.blogspot.com/.
Juris Kaža of Free Speech Emergency in Latvia offers this assessment:
[…] On one level, the ruling coalition in Latvia had this coming to it. Regardless of what the law and the book of etiquette says, a riot is a form of political struggle, though less focussed and clear than a well-defined non-violent protest. Seeing eggs and rocks fly at the Saeima building as a symbol of the ruling elite and Latvian politicians  made not only me but many others feel that they had this coming.
If there is more severe repression against future protests, it will most likely escalate to the West European model of periodic clashes between the police and young streetfighters.
While this is unfortunate, especially for those suffering collateral damage — looted stores, injured police and bystanders — it now seems inevitable that street violence will become part of the political scene here and the threat of such violence — a likely excuse for curbing non-violent expression. Post-Soviet authoritarian thinking in Latvia is strong, and it will not diminish but find some self-justification after the Riga riots.
A pre-protest roundup on the political and economic situation in Latvia – defaulted bank loans, corrupt politicians, legislative chaos – in earlier posts at All About Latvia, here and here.
Juris Kaža, in a Jan. 16 post, reports on the Riga City Council's decision “[to deny] permits for two politically-oriented gatherings in Riga's Old Town” on Saturday and Sunday:
[…] There are comments and appeals circulating on the internet asking people to defy the ban on gatherings in the Old Town and hinting at a repeat of the January 13 disorders if the police attempt to disperse or interfere with any unsanctioned public meetings. […]
A reader, however, refutes the information about the banning of the rallies in this comment to Juris Kaža's post:
[…] Blanket ban of assembly in Old Town would, of course, be wrong and unlawful, and even ban on particular kind of gatherings would, I think. No such ban has been established, public comments of officials proposing to ban particular kind of gatherings notwithstanding. […]
Riga-based LJ user xzirnisx posted several pictures and wrote this (RUS) the morning after the disturbances:
In all kinds of tourist booklets, they've always liked to call Riga the “small Paris.” Last night, the city turned into a small Athens, and I'm incredibly happy about it, because I used to think that for our people, who are patiently enduring all the troubles and deprivations, there is nothing that can force them to drag their behinds off the couch. But, it turns out, there is something.
Naturally, the mass media are trying to turn everything into farce, emphasizing the fact that the “vandals have looted the Latvijas balzams (liquor) store,” but for some reason failing to mention the [five dozen] injured protesters, faces of girls adorned with running mascara and bruises, and pensioners who've also got a taste of black rubber.
Over a hundred people are now huddling at [police] stations all over the city. Most of them are not vandals. I still can't get through to my brother. The PM said that “there'll be no more actions on the territory of the Old Riga.” Here it is, the true face of our pseudo-democracy ;)
In response to a reader's question, LJ user xzirnisx listed some of the reasons (RUS) for the people's discontent:
[…] We currently have the highest unemployment rates in the EU. In December, some 300 people were losing jobs every day – this with the population of 2 million. Per capita GDP is the lowest in the EU (or [it's the lowest] in Polans, which places us on the second place from the end). And what are the measures that the government is taking? They are raising the VAT to 21 percent and cut [state employees’] salaries by 15 percent. In the private sector, salaries have also gone down – by about [a half] since October. In addition to all this, public transportation has become twice as expensive this year and costs Ls 0.50 ($1). They've also raised [natural] gas prices – and they are selling it to us at four times (!!!) the price that Russia is charging them for it. And the more expensive the gas, the more expensive the electricity and heating. […]
Daugavpils-based LJ user aljena-beljaeva posted information (RUS) about a fundraising effort for Edgar Gorban, a 16-year-old protester who lost his eye during the rioting:
[…] They say the eye was hit either by a stone, or he lost it as a result of [tear] gas, but originally there was information about a rubber bullet. I don't know what really happened and I don't really care. One way or another, I saw this boy's crying mother on TV, an ordinary Russian-speaking woman, and I feel very sorry for her. Some people are now saying that we shouldn't be turning him into a romantic hero – he must have been throwing stones himself, so he is the one to blame. […]
Riga-based LJ user kris_reid posted his policeman friend's account (RUS) of what had occurred on Jan. 13, addressing the entry to readers from Russia – who, according to the blogger, were likely to get the other side of the story – “the protester's version” – from “the zombie-box [Russian TV]”:
[…]
“[…] When […] the number of people returning from the rally decreased and we were expecting to hear “thank you for your work” over our walkie-talkies, we got information about groups gathering by the Saeima [Latvian parliament] […]. And at 8 PM, a general alert was issued and an order came for all the free units and the reserves to go to certain points to get instructions. […]
About the “non-use of special devices” – lies. I myself was among those who used them. Got caught on [some videos]. [Beat up] one guy [who was] five meters away and about to throw a stone, and handed him to [the riot police guys], who [beat him up some more] and led him away […]. Him and his cocky [girlfriend]. I heard from colleagues that flash/noise and gas grenades were being used by the Saeima.
[…]
Upd. [Rioters] were multinational. There were enough of both [ethnic] Latvians and [ethnic] Russians.
Can't say anything about the rally – didn't see it […]. People leaving the rally made a good impression – more or less normal people. The whole mess happened because of the predominantly marginal youth, most of them [drunk]. […] And the disturbances were of a totally European scale – with ripped out cobblestone. […]”


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Lithuania: Rioting in Vilnius · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Lituanica reports on the riots in Vilnius: “82 rioters were detained, 15 people were injured.  2 million Litas of damage was done to Seimas.  Some of the arrested had knifes, iron bars and Molotov cocktails.  The police use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd of rioters.”


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Lithuania: Vilnius Photos · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Some photos of the “quirky Vilnius” – at Wu Wei.


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Macedonia: Anti-Visa Regime Posters · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Posters expressing Macedonian discontent with the EU's visa regime – at Say: Macedonia.


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Malaysia: Worst flooding in years · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Malaysia’s State of Sarawak suffered from severe flooding last week. The two hardest hit areas were Kuching and Sibu. Almost 10,000 people were forced to move to higher ground because of rising water level. In some parts of the state, flood waters rose to 14 feet. Why Hello World? provides the initial roundup of articles and pictures about the disaster.
Kuching
japanese-aliav wrote about the flash floods in Kuching:
“Last Sunday (11.01.2009), there's a big flood at my area and around Kuching city center. Everyone was shocked and surprised about it because it came with a sudden and I was lucky to live at 7th floor and I can see my neighbors who live in 1st floor are a bit unfortunate. On Monday (12.01.2009), around 5.30 pm past, the flood started to come and everyone was panic including me because we need to close our shop earlier and I have to wait for my father to come to pick me up but due to flood, the road started with traffic jam. Everyone wants to reach home so the road is full of cars; doesn't matter breaking road rules as long as they can reach home. So, I went back almost 7 pm and my father and mother is waiting for me on the other side of my work place so I rushed while splashing on the water and quickly get into my car.”
Check out the video posted by japanese-aliav:
Beaned heard that the flooding was the worst in decades:
“I wanted to post this entry last night but the wireless connection next door was down, probably shorted by the flood water, so now I'm blogging from work. The flood receded at about 8pm last night and the remains of the drifted papers, plastic bags and even the rubbish bins can be seen all over the road this morning.
“My aunt said that it's been a LONG while since a flood this severe last happened like a few decades ago. Sigh, I hope the raining season will stop soon or somehow because we can't really hang out with the roads flooding like lakes.”
Some residents are blaming the barrage project constructed by the government because it failed to control the floods. Anilnetto also criticizes property developers:
“Greed drove developers to clear and build on low-lying swampy lands. Not only are these buildings expensive, they are poorly built and prone to cracks and sinking. In certain areas, drainage was not even properly built. The local councils are equally to be blamed for granting permits to build in low-lying areas. Sarawak is a large state with a relatively small population. Couldn’t they approve in places that, though further away, are less prone to floods and other problems?”
Sibu
Fantasy World writes about the non-stop rains in Sibu:
“Sibu has been raining and raining since Friday until now for non-stop. The non-stop rainfall has caused the flood again. *sigh* The weather forecast said that the rain will be continuing until this coming Wednesday.”
My Longkang wants authorities to immediately address the flood problem:
“This afternoon my car almost stalled while another four cars who were ahead of me stalled along Pedada Road. I spent the past few nights preparing for the worst. I have received calls from friends whose houses were flooded and property damaged. Farmers lost their crops. People unable to go to work and children unable to go to school.
“In the past it used to be once in a long space of time and could be blamed on the quirks of mother nature. It has now become so common place that it is like a house guest that just won’t go home.
“Do the Sarawak people really deserve this kind of treatment?
“Is it a wonder then that the people should feel something deep down in their souls when they see the muddy swirling waters flood the roads, surge into their homes and disrupt their lives.
“Steps should be taken immediately to address the flood problem. I pray some where out there is still some one in authority who still feels something for the woes of the Sarawak people.
“How many times do we have to experience floods before something concrete is done?”
Rubber Seeds believes the flooding was not a simple natural disaster:
“…to many of us we who have gone through so much hardship and trouble with the frequent,  we now actually hate ourselves for still staying behind in this flood-prone town. We hate ourselves for electing, term after term, the Ministers and YBs who have done nothing or not doing enough for the people.
“Can any body tell me when can Sibu be free from flooding? Some politicians will argue that flooding is a natural disaster. You may be right some times, but not all the time. This present flood is definitely not a natural disaster. I notice the water level at the Rajang River is not very high these few days. I dare say the very poor drainage system at the affected areas is the major cause for the flood.”

author: Mong Palatino


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Moldova: Chisinau Circus · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Moldovarious.com writes about the German artist collective “Project: Synapses” that has initiated the re-opening of the Chisinau circus.


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Palestine: “Everything is in vain in Gaza – breathing, running, hoping” · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

In this roundup of blogs from Gaza, we hear in detail about the attacks on Al Quds hospital in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City from an Australian activist who was in it at the time, and an Italian activist describes a man lying injured in hospital, unaware that his daughter has been brought there too – in pieces.
Australian activist Sharyn Lock writes at Tales to Tell:
Hello, I have 14 minutes of power on my laptop as have been separated from the charger…
thanks to my Manchester colleague for attempting to turn incoherent phone calls into notes for the blog – all the info is a bit confused and I hope I have a chance to write it all down for you properly soon (when?!)
anyway briefly:
Wed night: increasingly several attacks in Tel al-Hawa area where [Al Quds] hospital is. Knew it was our night for something to happen. Evacuated half the ambulances and crew out to Al Shifa [hospital], kept two but became impossible to leave building so did something amazing – went to sleep
Thurs morning: woke to confirm had several hits on building during night but no major damage. (To explain: Al Quds hospital is a complex really: the hospital wards/admin building, joined to the social centre which also has obstetrics and emergency underneath it at basement level, joined to the Red Crescent Ops building. All but the main hospital building and basement have been dysfunctional since initial December 27 attacks.) Shortly after I woke, I was standing at window when a shell fell beside me outside and started fire. We began to put out fire, another strike in same place. A third strike started the fire really near the pediatric ward outside another window. Put out with pots and pans from sink.
Thursday midday-ish: two major strikes – rocket came in through hospital wall into pharmacy. Then one came through the roof of the social centre and caused major damage and fire. Medics managed to put it out. But the time I came on the scene (having been filling water buckets) they were clearing debris, and one medic was sitting on the floor crying.
While there, heard shouting, went up stairs to see medic S covered in blood, he had just carried a little girl in from the street who snipers had shot in face and abdomen. We saw her father fall on the hospital stairs, having been shot in the leg. Mother was panicking, shouting there was another girl left behind. S, I and other medics went out to get her, found her not far away, S took her on his shoulders into the hospital. The other medics and I realised they were just the beginning of a stream of desperate people fleeing their buildings, many of which were on fire. Later I also round out that the army had gone into lots of buildings and taken all the men, I still have no news of what happened to them. People were coming to the hospital because they thought it might be safer so for fear of sniper fire we went out to escort them in our RC [Red Crescent] vests […] anyway about 600 people into hospital, tanks visible during collecting them, some hours later did “walking evacuation” out of hospital as no facilities for so many, we and other staff headed back to hospital as patients still there and more families arrived to shelter, but then another missile hit the middle building and caught on fire badly, spread really quickly, medics fighting fire till ambulances came, evacuated everyone, even in beds, into street in the dark with further shooting and explosions occurring…
Canadian activist, Eva Bartlett, blogs at In Gaza:
Israeli warplanes just bombed a funeral ceremony in a school in Eastern Shuja'iyya, east of Gaza city. Minutes ago, as the mourners of another recently killed by Israel tried in vain to grieve their dead. At least ten more are now dead. Everything is in vain here: breathing (inhale chemical fumes), running and seeking sanctuary (no sanctuary possible), condemning Israel’s war crimes (which even the carefully diplomatic, very articulate, John Ging [UNRWA Director of Operations in Gaza] has done, in effect, condemning the bombing first of the UN school and then the chemical bombing – white phosphorus, Ging said – of the UN headquarters, with its supply of food for the refugees of Gaza), hoping, grieving, being admitted to hospitals (Wafa hospital was attacked, evacuated and attacked; al Quds hospital was repeatedly bombed yesterday, burning late into the night, necessitating the transfer – under danger from the Israeli tanks lurking and snipers targeting), and – of course – staying home and hoping the missiles will not strike.
Vittorio Arrigoni is an Italian activist blogging at Guerrilla Radio, and describes meeting a man in hospital:
Due bombe sull'abitazione di Ahmed Jaber hanno messo in fuga la sua famiglia, ma troppo tardi. Una terza esplosione ha sepolto sotto le macerie 7 suoi familiari, e anche due bambini di 8 e 9 anni suoi vicini di casa. Dice “ci hanno fatto fare un salto all'indietro nel 1948. Questo è il supplizio per il nostro attaccamento alla patria. Possono staccarmi le braccia e la gambe dal tronco, ma non mi lasceranno mai abbandonare la mia terra”. Un dottore mi prende in disparte e mi confida che la figlia di 7 anni di Ahmed è arrivata in pezzi, stava contenuta in una minuscola scatola di cartone. Non hanno avuto il coraggio di riferirglielo per non deteriorare le sue già precarie condizioni di salute.
On January 15 we heard from Nader Houella, who manages the group blog Moments of Gaza, that he had temporarily lost contact with Lebanese activist Natalie Abou Shakra in Gaza City. Since then she has managed to write some posts, which you can find here and here. However the following is from a post just published, but written on January 10:
Someone calls me to tell me they want to publish my article… they say they shall give me money… money from the tragedy of the people? That is why when I came here, I came and said I have nothing to do with journalists and journalism… please send your money to the right places, into civil society organizations that support boycotting of Israeli products… send your money to the PCHR: Palestinian Centre for Human Rights… I do not want to tell you where to send your money… you do not even need to do that… what is more important is your activism… your voice, break silence, demonstrate… vote! And please do not make it about color, race, gender… please make it about morality and justice… and of course, foreign policy…
We end with a blogger far from Gaza City. Mutasharrid (‘homeless person’ or ‘vagrant’) is in Khuza'a, east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip. It is an area that has been subject to many Israeli attacks in recent days, which have forced Mutasharrid to evacuate his home, becoming truly homeless:

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Poland, UK: Abortion · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Polandian notes that thousands of Polish women are having abortions in the UK: “With it being illegal here in Poland, they are forced to travel to other countries thereby adding bureaucratic hassle and a strange environment/language to what must already be a very nasty and stressful situation.”


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Russia: “Shaverma” in St. Pete · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Eagle and the Bear writes about “shaverma” in St. Petersburg, “unmarriagable cousin in relation to the spicy Middle Eastern shawarma hawked by New York street vendors.”


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Serbia, UK: Stevo Jakšić, Rest in Peace · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Alan Jakšić of Balkan Anarchist posts a moving tribute to his father, Stevo Jakšić, who passed away in June 2008.


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Slovenia: Ljubljana is “The World’s Most Honest City”  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan File writes that Ljubljana has been declared the world’s most honest city by Reader’s Digest: “Teams from the publishing company ‘lost’ 30 mobile phones in 32 world cities” – and 29 of them were handed to the police in Slovenia's capital.


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Ukraine: Rescuing the European Bison · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Chernobyl and Eastern Europe Blog writes about efforts to rescue the European Bison from extinction.


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Zambia: Share IT Best Practices · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Are you interested in IT development in Zambia? Do you want to share ideas and tips in order to promote IT best practices in Zambia? Share them on Codzed.

author: Ndesanjo Macha


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Africa: Coworking Spaces for African Techies · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

African techies need community spaces, which will be “part coworking space and part business and idea incubator.”


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Angola: An increase in domestic violence or only in awareness? · Global Voices
Clara Onofre

According to various media outlets, rates of domestic violence in Angola have increased considerably. But, have the numbers actually increased or is it the case that there is greater awareness of such crimes? Apparently, in 2008 there were about 640 cases recorded, 424 of which were resolved through professional counseling while the rest had to be settled in the courts. These numbers are higher than the 2007 statistics which, as mentioned above, reflects the fact that most victims fear informing on their aggressors to authorities. It is a good sign: by reporting more, Angolan women are a step closer to the end of abuse – either perpetrated by their spouses or boyfriends.
As expected, the stories are sad. Sometimes they end well – when the abuser is put behind bars and the woman set free from years of torture and physical abuse. Unfortunately, some cases still end in disaster. Angola is full of stories of women who have died at the hands of those who they had trusted and loved. These men, in turn, believe they own their wives or girlfriends. In a fit of jealousy they beat them, invariably to death.
20 year old housekeeper Nely had more luck. Diário da África blog [African Diary, pt] tells us a little of her story:
“Hoje pela manhã, ela tirou fotos das costas, dos braços e das pernas, tomados por manchas roxas e negras, resultado do espancamento a que foi submetida pelo ex-marido. Armado com um pedaço de madeira, Amâncio (é este o nome do criminoso) aliviou as suas frustrações com o universo em cima da Nely. A sessão de tortura começou por volta das 6h da manhã quando ela recebeu o telefonema do vizinho que queria saber se ela pegaria carona para o trabalho com ele. O ex-marido-espancador, num acesso de fúria e ciúmes, aplicou-lhe a surra”.
Não obstante a sova, o agressor foi apresentar queixa de Nely à esquadra, acusando-a de o ter cortado com uma faca. Eis o relato: “ (Ele) cortou-se com uma faca durante a confusão e depois, ainda foi à polícia prestar queixa contra a Nely. Ela caminha com dificuldade por causa de uma paulada que levou num dos joelhos. Nely prestará queixa contra o espancador na Organização da Mulher Angolana – OMA, entidade ligada ao governo de Angola que defende os interesses das mulheres. Eu, de minha parte, faço votos de que esse Amâncio passe uma temporada atrás das grades”.
Unfortunately, as happens to some degree in other places in this world, Angola has no strong legal apparatus to specifically address domestic violence, enable these cases to be monitored and lead to the possible arrest of the offender. Nely's husband, Amâncio, has been released and has promised to continue his wave of terror. He has destroyed all her documents and sent their daughter to be raised by his family in São Tomé and Príncipe [pt]:
“Nada aconteceu ao ex-marido. Foi embora tranquilamente, depois de ter dado uma surra com um pedaço de madeira em Nely. E ainda ameaça voltar. Agora é torcer para que a delegacia da mulher funcione. Que abra uma processo contra esse sujeito, que a justiça o condene pelas sessões de espancamento e ele cumpra a sua pena na cadeia. A evolução do caso é que preocupa. Começou com os gritos dele contra Nely, depois uns safanões, depois surras, daqueles de ela não conseguir se levantar do chão. Agora apareceram um pedaço de pau e uma faca. O que virá a seguir?”
Probably death, hers or the aggressor's. There are countless cases of women who have killed their partners in order to survive. It should be noted that there are also reports of women abusing men. These are few, but they exist. Meanwhile, a bill on domestic violence is to be drafted soon, which, together with various activities to raise awareness of the issue, will offer a new direction to Angolan women.

author: Clara Onofre


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Accounts by Wojciech Tochman and Peter Lippman · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Kirk Johnson of Americans for Bosnia writes about the newly-published English translation of a collection of Polish-language articles by journalist Wojciech Tochman (“Like Eating a Stone: Surviving the Past in Bosnia”): “I can only highly recommend that anyone interested in the human stories behind official statistics on refugee returns and the identification of discovered human remains steel themselves sufficienty to read this small masterpiece.” Also, here're the links to the final five installments of journalist Peter Lippman's Bosnia & Herzegovina travel journal: part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10.


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Croatia, Slovenia: Border Dispute and the EU · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about “the Slovene-Croat diplomatic crash which happened shortly before new year, when Slovenia effectively blocked the continuation of Croatian EU accession negotiations” – here and here.


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Czech Republic: EU Presidency · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Reference Frame writes about what to expect from the Czech EU presidency.


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Czech Republic: Relations With Israel and the EU · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The Reference Frame writes about the Czech PM's stance on the situation in the Middle East: “The Czech politicians have clearly come under fire from the self-proclaimed exclusively politically correct European politicians who effectively sleep with the terrorists in Hamas.”


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French comedian launches “A Plane for Gaza” · Global Voices
Jennifer Brea

French Moroccan comedian Jamel Debbouze launches, “A Plane for Gaza“, a plan to air lift humanitarian supplies to Gaza using three planes on loan from the King of Morocco.  Le Blog de SmS urges readers to donate.


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Georgia: Beautiful Tbilisi · Global Voices
Onnik Krikorian

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines, the blog of an Azerbaijani political analyst based in Baku and Istanbul, pays its first visit to Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia. The blog says that the city is beautiful and has preserved it historical charm while it also notes some of the other attractions the country is famous for, namely its cuisine, wine and hospitality.

author: Onnik Krikorian


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Greece: Outcry over arms shipment to Israel · Global Voices
Asteris Masouras

With the war raging in Gaza, news reports earlier this month about the routing of an extraordinarily large shipment of arms from the United States to Israel through the private Greek port of Astakos caused an uproar among Greek bloggers. They used Twitter to investigate the matter and put pressure on the government to halt the transfer.
Delivery of the munitions was suspended, just as the Greek government was coming under fire from opposition parties, and Amnesty International was calling for an arms embargo.
At first, official sources contested the story from the international news agency Reuters on January 9. But it was picked up by Twitter users and investigated after Indy.gr – an offshoot of the Indymedia Athens group – provided a translation of the article in Greek.
The idea to organize an embargo of the port was proposed and widely “re-tweeted”:
itsomp: http://is.gd/f8Wa Can we organise an embargo of the port of Astakos? Only the US and Israeli ships…
Some tweeted direct queries to the Greek foreign minister, whose web team is operating a Twitter account:
magicasland: @Dora_Bakoyannis τι γίνεται με το φορτίο του Αστακού; Δε θέλουμε εμπλοκή της Ελλάδας στο μακελειό της Γάζας
Breaking with earlier practice not to converse through Twitter, the minister's team responded directly:
Dora_Bakoyannis: @olrandir, @asteris, @gtzi, @magicasland, Απάντηση ΝΜ και για Αστακό, http://tinyurl.com/9ts6xw
The link led to an official ministry statement stating that shipping of arms through Astakos or other Greek ports is a “non-issue” and vaguely denying press reports to the opposite.
However, blogger Odysseas had by then located the solicitation for the shipment on a US federal website:
Στην παρακατω παραπομπη θα βρειτε το σημα που εξεδωσε το Αμερικανικο ναυτικο για μεταφορα πολεμικου υλικου απο το λιμανι του Αστακου στο Αστοντ του Ισραηλ. Το φορτιο υπαρχει ηδη και περιμενει αναδοχο μεταφορεα.
And Twitter users kept up the pressure, despite the official denial:
magicasland: @Dora_Bakoyannis και η αμερικάνικη σελίδα που αναφερει το φορτιο τι είναι τότε;
The next day, news media reported that the shipment transfer had been canceled. This was also promptly tweeted:
myrto_fenek: Αναβλήθηκε, λόγω των συγκρούσεων στη Γάζα, η αποστολή πολεμοφοδίων μέσω του Αστακού
Blogger magicasland.com summarized the outcome:
Σημερινή δημοσίευση του ΑΠΕ αναφέρει ότι αναβλήθηκε η μεταφορά του φορτίου των 325 κοντέινερ με πολεμοφοδία από τον Αστακό στο λιμάνι Ασντοντ [..] Το μόνο σίγουρο είναι πως το φορτίο θα μεταφερθεί κάποια στιγμή. Αρκεί όμως να μη μεταφερθεί τώρα και από εδώ.
Blogger coolplatanos investigated further, discovering an additional arms shipment solicitation, and verifying that the original solicitation was cancelled:
έχει υπάρξει και προγενέστερη προκήρυξη ναύλωσης με ημερομηνία ανάθεσης της σύμβασης την 6η Δεκεμβρίου του 2008 (πρώτη δημοσίευση μάλλον στις 4 Δεκεμβρίου) πάλι από το αμερικάνικο πολεμικό ναυτικό. Αυτή η ναύλωση αφορά και πάλι πυρομαχικά και μεγαλύτερο όγκο φορτίου, αφού ζητείται πλοίο ελάχιστης χωρητικότητας 989 TEU’s[..]
Πάντως σήμερα 13 Ιανουαρίου και ώρα 9:05 am (Αμερικής φαντάζομαι) υπάρχει ενημέρωση στη σελίδα του μειοδοτικού διαγωνισμού για τη ναύλωση του πλοίου που αφορούσε τα 325 κοντέινερ και η ένδειξη ότι “ακυρώθηκε προς το παρόν”.
Τις παραπάνω ναυλώσεις τις έψαξα μέσω google αυτοσχεδιάζοντας [..]
In any case, today January 13 [09:00 EST], the solicitation page for the 325 TEU vessel was updated as “cancelled for the time being”.
I looked up the above solicitations by improvising on Google search

author: Asteris Masouras


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Israel: IDF Operating a Moral War in Gaza? · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

Bloggers have been defending the IDF which has been highly criticized for operating an unjust war in Gaza. Many choose to highlight facts which are not necessarily presented in mainstream news on its fighting techniques – minimizing civilian casualties by using precise missile technology, calling homes and dropping warning leaflets, while focusing on the target: weakening Hamas, destroying their artillery and ability to fire missiles into Israeli territory. They attack Hamas maneuvers, using Gazan civilians as human shields/a>, purposefully operating from schools, mosques and adjacent to humanitarian relief operation buildings.
Yaron reacts by posting the following image, displaying an IDF soldier protecting a baby carriage, while a Hamas fighter uses the baby as a shield:
Alan Abbey from the Shalom Hartman Institute, writes:
The debate over Israel’s actions in Gaza is heating up worldwide. As I write this, the media, from the New York Times to Al-Jazeera are discussing whether the war is moral, defensive, and “proportional.” This article, ”Israelis United on War as Censure Rises Abroad” from the Times’ Ethan Bronner, “gets” the conflict from the Israeli perspective and pointedly quotes the Hartman Institute’s Most Senior Fellow, Moshe Halbertal, one of the authors of the IDF’s Code of Ethics:
Mr. Halbertal takes quite seriously the threat that Hamas poses to Israel’s existence, and that issue affects him in his judgments of the war.
“Rockets from Hamas could eventually reach all of Israel,” he said. “This is not a fantasy. It is a real problem. So there is a gap between actual images on the screen and the geopolitical situation.
“You have Al Jazeera standing at Shifa Hospital and the wounded are coming in,” he continued, referring to an Arab news outlet. “So you have this great Goliath crushing these poor people, and they are perceived as victims. But from the Israeli perspective, Hamas and Hezbollah are really the spearhead of a whole larger threat that is invisible. Israelis feel like the tiny David faced with an immense Muslim Goliath. The question is: who is the David here?”
Alan finishes by linking to an additional essay from the Hartman Institute on this topic.
Uri Heitner writes about the moral dilemma that arises with this war. He asks if operation “Cast Lead” is a “just” war and if there was an alternative:
The operation is against an enemy who does not have an ethical code when fighting. An enemy that targets civilians and children. An enemy whose actions over the past years focused on massive suicide bombings in Israel, and 8 years of firing missiles directly at civilian Israeli population. It is a country's highest moral duty to defend the lives of its citizens. Therefore, a war against an enemy targeting its’ citizens, is clearly justified. And if the cost of targeting this enemy also harms civilians, with deep sorrow and pain, this price is justified.
Even when a war is justified, it is necessary to ask if there is an alternative. In this case, we have tried everything. Beforehand, the fire was presented in Sderot because we were settled in Gaza. They were shooting at Sderot to kick us out of Gush Katif. As we pulled all our settlements and forces out of Gaza, their fire continued and grew stronger. Israel responded by using a policy of restraint, later with fire towards open fields, closing the border crossings, etc. Israel agreed to a “hudna” agreement which was breached after 46 minutes, and continued to respect it unilaterally. Israel agreed to a “tahdiya” agreement which was also respected unilaterally. Israel begged for a continuation of the ceasefire, even though it was not really quiet. But the Palestinians decided to stop and shoot tens of rockets on civilian populations in Israel.
No. There was no alternative.
When an enemy who targets our civilians, fires at us while hidden within civilian population, there is full justification for the war. And the price is painful – Palestinian civilians and children die, and our enemy is fully responsible for the blame.
So are there no rules when fighting terror? In my opinion, the moral rule should entail making best efforts to prevent civilian casualty, while carrying out the plan. Does the IDF act within this principle?
I have no doubt the IDF is a moral army, strict as much as it can with ethical fighting, even in the unique conditions of this war. With that, IDF must continue to always investigate its actions, check if it hurt civilians when it was possible to avoid, and learn how in such different war conditions, it can minimize harm within civilians.
Nate of Patterns R’ Us ponders over IDF tactic of calling suspected targets to warn them of a pending attack so they can seek refuge, while the building and military equipment is destroyed:
I am positive this adaptation in tactics is a response to the IDF lessons learned from the Lebanon War in 2006. They may have won the military engagement battle, but they lost the information battle, and hence the war. (You can argue they did not lose, but merely came to a draw. If that is the case, a draw against non-state actors from the US-funded Israeli state is a win for Hezbollah.) This time, against Hamas, Israel and the IDF are going to extra lengths to win the information war. First, they let Hamas break the cease-fire first and waited days to respond to the missiles fired. Second, they immediately released videos of Hamas militants being attacked by IDF on the internet, specifically Youtube. Thirdly, they are calling civilians to warn them of attack so as to reduce civilian casualties and cannon fodder for Hamas to use against them in the Information War.
Clearly, the new IDF tactic also serves as a psychological operation purpose beyond just reducing civilian casualties. That is the ideal PSYOP tactic; one which makes the military attack more effective, reduces civilian casualties, and serves as a deterrent for other civilians. I am sure the US military is watching and learning, and will incorporate elements of this tactic in their operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
…Overall I think this IDF military tactic is a good development for both fighting irregular wars and for conducting information operations as well as the moral element of reducing civilian casualties. But just like the introduction of PGMs (Precision Guided Munitions) two decades ago, I wonder what the unintended consequences of such tactics will be in the long run.
Meryl Yourish writes about Mark Regev's response to a biased CNN anchor during an interview on IDF war tactics: (video of the interview is embedded below)
Watch this video, and see how many times the CNN anchor takes as truth the Palestinian claims that the IDF deliberately targeted the UN building that was hit earlier today.
For instance, the anchor says that Israel was using white phosphorous shells. Mark Regev denies this, points out that the ICRC has documented that Israel is not using white phosphorous illegally, and that Hamas fired a white phosphorous shell at Israel. The anchor then says, “But only Israel is firing white phosphorous shells” immediately after Regev just told him Hamas is firing them.


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Israel, Palestine: A Bosnian Refugee’s View · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Amila Bosnae is wondering if “a state of Palestine [will be] established somewhere in Europe or the USA in the near future.”


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Israel: Unilateral “Ceasefire” Goes Into and Out of Effect · Global Voices
Gilad Lotan

Israel declared operation ‘Cast Lead’ a success and announced that its security cabinet has voted in favor of a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which went into effect at 2 AM local time. The decision means Israel has put an end to Operation Cast Lead without an agreement with Hamas, relying instead on the support of the United States and Egypt in battling arms smuggling in Gaza. While the US welcomes Israel's ceasefire declaration, Hamas says it will continue to fight on. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum criticized Israel for taking a unilateral approach rather than entering into a deal with Egyptian mediators: “It is an attempt to preempt the Egyptian efforts and any other efforts that seek to achieve a withdrawal of the occupying forces, an end to the siege and a ceasefire.” A somewhat quiet night has presided over Gaza, while Israelis have woken up to yet another missile filled morning.
Israel claims to have destroyed roughly 60 percent of the hundreds of tunnels between Gaza and Egypt, and significantly weaken Hamas. “Our fight is not with the people of Gaza,” Olmert said at the Tel Aviv press conference following the cabinet meeting. “We left Gaza in 2005 with the intention of never returning,” he said, referring to Israel's unilateral withdrawal of troops and settlers from the territory under former prime minister Ariel Sharon. For the full video watch Tytandra007‘s translated clip below:
“if Hamas entirely ends its rocket fire on Israel, Israel will consider an IDF withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. If that did not occur, the IDF will continue to operate in order to protect our citizens.”
“Hamas leaders are in hiding, many of its members have been killed, its rocket factories have been destroyed, its smuggling routes through the tunnels have been blown up, its ability to move weapons in the Gaza Strip has been reduced and the launching sites where most of the rockets are fired are under Israeli military control.”
With Israeli officials declaring that the main objectives in the war have been achieved, some Israeli bloggers, like the following one highlight the importance of placing kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit's release as a prerequisite to any ceasefire agreement with Hamas:
Only with a ceasefire (or peace agreement in the utopian situation) will thie fighting end. This is the reality. We cannot erase a terrorist organization with a single thrust. It is not possible to totally change without a gradual process. We must not expect more. If so, what achievement can Israel get from this war in Gaza?
Destroying Hamas infrastructure is an achievement? I am not so sure. Wiping out Hamas and other terrorist organizations? Everyone who knows some history of terrorist organizations knows that it is not possible. Prevention of smuggling through the Philadelfi axis (Egypt)? That can be considered an achievement but can easily be bypassed (qassam rockets can be created easily at home).
The release of Gilad Shalit is the only achievement that Israel can reach with the end of the fighting in Gaza. Gilad Shalit who has been held hostage by Hamas, is the only one who can be grasped in Israel and throughout the world as a powerful achievement from the war. Israel must place his release as a prerequisite to a ceasefire with Hamas.
A common, pessimistic perspective in regards to the ceasefire can be viewed through Rafi Glick's argument- that the ceasefire agreement will not remove Hamas missile threat in the south of Israel:
The ceasefire might bring a temporary quiet period, but will not remove the missile threat. Sharon and Olmert's governments brought upon us this Hamas support in Gaza, as they threaten the center of our country with long-range missiles. It began with a unilateral withdraw lacking an agreement, continued when Hamas was accepted as a legitimate party in the elections, and further continued with our policy of restraint when qassam missiles were fired and the constant arming of Hamas with long range missiles.
Hamas and Hizbollah missiles already meet over the heads of the Gush Dan residents. In a war over their ability to pose danger, the Iranians and their allies, Hamas and Hizbollah, have already won. These home-made bombs manufactured by Hamas, paralyze a million civilians. One quarter of a million kids, and twenty thousand students. Some forty percent of the workforce in the south is paralyzed.
The ceasefire even with the Israeli conditions, will maintain the missile threat over the center of the country, just like the ceasefire and agreements that ended the second Lebanon war did not free Israel from the threat of Hizbollah missiles, and even brough Hizbollah to participate in the Lebanese government.
The collapse of Hamas rule in Gaza is the only solution to the missile threat, although I am doubtful that Olmert's gov't (Livni and Barak) are willing to pay the price of taking this to the end. Obviously there are international entities which will force us to end the fighting before we accomplish the goal.
Don't believe anyone who tells you that this war is meant to remove the missile threat. The one who ignored the cancerous tumor in the form of Hamas, will not be able to remove the missile threat. The ceasefire might bring quiet, but the threat will remain.
Carl wonders if Israel may have adopted a unilateral ceasefire because of Mubarak's Saturday speech:
“I ask Israel today to end its military operations immediately,” Mubarak said in an address on state television of the 22-day-old war which has killed more than 1,200 Palestinians and left much of Gaza in ruins.
“I call on its leadership for an immediate unconditional ceasefire and a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Strip,” he said, as the Israeli security cabinet prepared to consider halting its offensive.
Mubarak called in his speech on Israeli and Palestinian leaders to “heed reason and conscience” to end the bloodshed in Gaza.
Mubarak insisted that Egypt was securing its border with the Gaza Strip, and Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said his country would not be bound by a just-inked US-Israeli deal to stop arms smuggling to Gaza.
However, with the so called ceasefire in place, and as today unfolds, an exchange of fire has already been reported to take place between IDF and Hamas in Gaza. And as I finish writing this post, six qassam missiles are reported to have hit Sderot. What are your opinions on this unilateral ceasefire? Can it work and if so, how long will it last? We'll be doing our best to follow these events closely here on Global Voices.


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Kenya: KenyaUnlimited’s New Look · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

KenyaUnlimited, the home of Kenyan blogs and bloggers, has a new look.


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Madagascar: Massive Political Meeting as Tension Arises   · Global Voices
Lova Rakotomalala

Two bloggers report photos and proceedings of political meeting in Antananarivo as tension between mayor Andry Rajoelina and  current president Marc Ravalomanana arises over the closing of a national TV station (mg).  Avylavitra posted photos of attendance at the meeting and Jentilisa wrote a comprehensive timeline of the events (mg).

author: Lova Rakotomalala


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Morocco: Medical Malpractice · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

The Magic of My Universe examines the cost of medical malpractice in Morocco in this chilling post.

author: Jillian C. York


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Nigeria: Facebook Developers Garage for Nigerians · Global Voices
Ndesanjo Macha

Loy calls for Facebook Developers Garage in Nigeria. He believes that the event will provide a forum for students and professional software developers in Nigeria.


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Palestine: Lies & Murder · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

Mohammad of the Arab-American blog KABOBfest questions the intentions of Israel's latest ceasefire.


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Indonesia: Bloggers Vs mainstream media on Israel-Palestine issue · Global Voices
Martin Manurung

The Indonesian mainstream media, especially some Islamic-leaning newspapers and TV stations, react  harshly to the current war between Israel and Palestine. Through the media, we can see that some hard-liner groups have conducted ‘military training’ as a preparations for some people to go to Palestine for ‘jihad’ (holy war). The media also reported that the groups have raided some Jewish synagogues and blamed the Jewish in Indonesia to be ‘responsible’ to what's happening in the Gaza strip.
In some mosques, the Friday services also talk about it. Some even see that the conflict is a war between Islam and ‘the enemy of Islam’. Israel represents the Jewish, while the United States which usually in favor for Israel represents ‘the West’ and ‘the Christians’. In a nutshell, they seem to say that in Gaza strip ‘the enemy of Islam’ is currently destroying ‘us’.
Nevertheless, to my surprise, Indonesian bloggers seem to see the conflict differently. They have a much more mature way to see the conflict than most of the Indonesian mainstream media. Take for example a blog called ‘different is not war‘ who has a sound knowledge of the historical background of the conflict.
Bahkan lembaga Internasional sekalipun (dibaca: PBB) tak dapat menghentikan tragedi kemanusiaan di kawasan Timur Tengah khususnya dalam konflik Israel-Palestina. Kedua entitas politik ini telah “bertarung” di kawasan Timur Tengah semenjak berdirinya negara Israel pada tahun 1948.
Furthermore, he does not see all Israelis are ‘zionists’ who generaly agree with the use of violence against the Palestine.
Anindito Baskoro “Joe” Satrianto, who is a student at the Faculty of Islamic Religion Science, Indonesia Islamic University, also clearly states that the conflict between Israel and Palestine has nothing to do with religions.
Sampai saat ini aku masih nggak bisa nerima kalo besok diramalin bakal beneran ada perang besar antara Muslim dan Yahudi, sekalipun yang bilang gitu itu Nabiku sendiri… Maka seperti kata Hugo Chavez yang berani memulangkan dubes Israel dari negaranya, Israel-Palestina ini bukan konflik agama. Ini konflik kemanusiaan!
Gantyo Koespradono also writes about the societies in Palestine and Israel. He mentions that there are Muslims and Christians in Palestine, who both are fighting for their country's freedom.
Berdasarkan sejarah Palestina, generasi demi generasi, mayoritas warga Palestina Muslim dan penduduk Palestina Kristen hidup berdampingan secara damai. Mereka mencintai tanah air yang sama, mereka memiliki cita-cita nasional yang sama pula. Keduanya sama-sama memimpikan kehidupan yang aman dan damai sebagai bangsa yang majemuk…, mereka sama-sama berjuang demi tanah air Palestina yang merdeka, yang adil dan makmur…
He further mentions a lot of Christian Palestinian famous figures in history, such as Emil Habibi, George Habash, Azmi Bishara, and Hanan Ashrawi, who have played important roles in the Palestinian politics. Raymonda Tawil, a Christian Palestinian political activist, is also the late Yasser Arafat's mother in law.
In conclusion, the struggle of Palestinians is a fight for freedom and the war is not a religious conflict. Indonesian bloggers seem to be more informed and mature than most of the Indonesian media.

author: Martin Manurung


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Philippines: Helping flood victims through Plurk and blogs · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

“We have currently raised $185 at PLURK. Every bit of help counts!!” This was written by ChiQ Montes from the Philippines. She and fellow bloggers in Cagayan de Oro (north Mindanao) have organized a Feeding Program Project for the flood victims in their town. The group is asking a $3 paypal donation from everyone which was announced through Plurk and other social networking sites.
Mindanao is located in southern Philippines. Majority of villages in Cagayan de Oro are affected by the flooding disaster. Landslides also hit several villages.
Karendayle learned about the project through Plurk:
“I just want to share to you this one; When i was plurking last night i saw Ms. Chiq Montes announcement on plurk she was launching Feeding Program Project for CDOCITY Flood Victims. With the help of the Cagayan de Oro City Bloggers Group, they would like to ask for as little as $3 paypal donation.”
Miah Laborte recognizes the collective effort of the Plurk community to help the flood victims:
“Anyways, a few good hearted Cagay-anons in Plurk community had been trying to raise funds to help the flood victims there. It was just a small amount but it could help a lot of people who are badly in need right now, especially to the homeless whose houses had been washed away by the flood… Just want to share this to those who wanted to help too… I think a lot have shared a little in the Plurk community and I hope you guys could share your little blessings too.”
Kevin supports the endeavor:
While on my way of shutting down the computer, I came across a post of my fellow blogger friend (here) and I really had to lurk deeper into what has happened and how I could help. I may not have sufficient funds to support the feeding program but I thought that blogging about the feeding program may help somehow, or at least express our concern here at Pinoy Teens in regards to our fellow needy Filipinos.
Just the tip of the iceberg notes that many people have learned about the extent of the flooding through the pictures and videos posted by bloggers on the internet:
“In the political arena, it seems that the flood here in Mindanao is not such a big thing for most of the Philippines, in fact, no one ever hears anything about it in the national news. That's why most Kagay-anons who are living away from home are shocked upon seeing pictures from most bloggers here in CDO.”
The Wandering Observer criticizes the Manila-centric media for not prioritizing the disaster in north Mindanao:
“As a Mindanaoan living in Quezon City, it feels alienating that while my family, relatives (my Uncle Toto, Auntie Bebe, and Joanna also had to evacuate their house at Barra, Opol, Misamis Oriental due to flood waters), and friends are wading through flood waters in the northern part of the Land of Promise, the populace in Imperial Manila couldn’t care less.
“Instead they focus on local events which they think have national significance saddled by their belief that whatever concerns Manila concerns the country. Such is the mentality of the average person in Imperial Manila. They are so full of themselves that they forget about the rest of the country.”
More pictures about the flooding in Mindanao can be viewed through Awatiro’s page.
All pictures in this post courtesy of Awatiro


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Poland, Israel: “Using the Holocaust to Beat the Israelis” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

The beatroot wrote on Jan. 8: “When protestors – who know little of either Gaza or Warsaw – shout slogans involving ‘holocaust’, or ‘genocide’ or ‘Warsaw ghetto’ they degrade all those terms and memories, and put off one person – me – who would like to join them in condemning Israel and its stupid, bloody attacks.” The post has generated 69 comments.


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Poland: Nuclear Power? · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Leopolis writes about the prospect of nuclear power in Poland.


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Russia, Hungary: Cheating on Public Transportation · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A story of “a fake ticket inspector operating on Budapest's trams” – at Pestiside.hu; and a video showing “how to travel on [Moscow] metro for free” – at IZO.


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Russia, Israel: “Chechnya and Gaza”  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Step At A Time quotes a piece by Ben Cohen, comparing Israel's military actions in Gaza to those employed by Russia in Chechnya: “Oleg goes on to explain in his broken Hebrew that if Russian soldiers were sent into Gaza they would take care of things in three or four days. ‘They know what war is’.”


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Russia, Israel: Gaza War Online · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

IZO reports that “a blog in support of the current Israeli military action in Gaza on the super-popular social site odnoklassniki.ru (27 million members) was hacked and destroyed after it entered into polemics with an anti-Israel site on Facebook”; and comments on the controversial post by Anton Nossik/LJ user dolboeb, who “published a gruesome photo of a dead Palestinian fighter on his blog under the caption ‘Well done'”: “You may or may not share Nossik's point of view, but what is remarkable, from a Western perspective, is that such a well-known figure should express himself so uninhibitedly in a public forum.”


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Russia: St. Pete Panoramas · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Copydude links to a collection of panoramas of St. Petersburg.


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Russia: Ten Days At Sea Offshore Sakhalin · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

White Sun of the Desert writes about his ten days at sea on the Yuri Topchev, “a 100m long icebreaking supply vessel.”


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Russia, U.S.: “Spooked” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

RFE/RL's The Power Vertical writes about Joshua Kucera's piece in The Atlantic about “a few encounters he had with a Russian Embassy ‘official’ who offered him a few hundred dollars every now and again to publish stories about ‘what we are doing in the Russian government’.”


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Russia: Winter Travel By Car · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

At Way to Russia Blog, a photo report – here and here – on a car journey “through the whole country from Ekaterinburg through BAM (Baikal-Amur Railway) to Yakutsk (that's in the middle of Siberia) and back to Moscow in winter(!).”


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Serbia: Mirror Pictures of Belgrade · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Belgraded links to MightyNora's “Backwards Visual Travelogue” at B92 blog (SRP): “Belgrade pictures in mirror surfaces all over the city.”


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Slovenia: “The Parliament Kitchen” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about a place that offers tasty and cheap meals but is inaccessible to most Slovenians: the parliament's canteen.


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Syria: Sights to Behold · Global Voices
Jillian C. York

The Blog and the Shower commits a post to the beauty of the Sayyida Ruqqaya mosque.


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Taiwan: Concerns about future of popular TV program · Global Voices
David Reid

Claudia Jean points out that there are concerns about the future of the  the Talking Show, a popular Taiwanese TV current affairs program. She also writes about the KMT's  conflict of interest and interference in PTS.

author: David Reid


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Thailand: Rohingya refugee story coverage · Global Voices
David Reid

Bangkok Pundit provides a round up of the story about Rohingya refugees who were allegedly pushed out to sea by the Thai Navy. The story has been reported in detail by BBC News. According to Bangkok Pundit the news was originally broken by the website Phuket Wan.


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The Balkans: “Britić”; “Beyond Sarajevo”  · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Balkan Anarchist writes about Britić, a new British Serb quarterly magazine. Bosnia Blog is seeking “co-bloggers and writers for Beyond Sarajevo, a wannabe directory of many wonderful (and sometimes not so wonderful) things about Sarajevo and Bosnia-Herzegovina.”


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The Balkans: Harold Pinter and Milosevic · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Marko Attila Hoare of Greater Surbiton writes about Harold Pinter's association with the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic and explains why he feels “roughly as sad about Pinter’s death as Pinter was sad about the deaths of the tens of thousands killed by Milosevic or for the hundreds of thousands whose lives were ruined by him.”


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Ukraine: Lily Hyde’s “Dream Land” – the Crimean Tatar “Anne Frank” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about Lily Hyde’s “Dream Land” – a book by a Ukraine-based British freelance journalist, who “tells the story of the return of the Crimean Tatars to their homeland in the early 1990s from the perspective of Safi, a 12-year-old girl who comes back with her parents, brother, and grandfather to her family’s now destroyed village in Crimea from their exile in Uzbekistan.”


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Ukraine: “Notes From an Underground” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Stephan Clark of Everybody I Love You links to an audio version of his essay on how not to starve in Ukraine: “When you learn you’re going to Ukraine for a year, become less of a fundamentalist. Don’t insist on being a vegetarian.”


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Ukraine: Ruthenians · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Window on Eurasia writes about Transcarpathian Ruthenians of Ukraine, who are “calling on Moscow to recognize the independence of Subcarpathian Rus because Kyiv has ignored their demands for autonomy within Ukraine” and who emphasize that “‘the lion’s share’ of Russian gas on its way to European markets flows through Subcarpathian Rus, ‘twice more than through the Baltic states and twice more than through other neighboring countries’.”


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Afghanistan: Quibbling Over Terms · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Joshua Foust reports that Afghanistan's foreign minister Spanta didn’t like that Hillary Clinton called his country a “narco-state” during her Congressional testimony.

author: Adil Nurmakov


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Bahrain: Links to Gaza Map of Bombing · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Abdulhadi Khalaf, who lives in Sweden, shares with us links to interactive maps, which show the intensity of bombings and number of casualties in Gaza.

author: Amira Al Hussaini


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Bahrain: Mafiwasta Interview on Rights of Migrant Workers · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Bahraini Esra'a, at Mideast Youth, reposts an interview conducted by Migrant Rights with Nick McGeehan, founding member of human rights group Mafiwasta, set up in 2005 to bring to attention abuses of migrant workers in the Gulf.


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Bahrain: Why is God not Saving Palestinians?  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

American Coolred38, who lives in Bahrain, asks: “In your opinion…is it safe to assume…that the millions of prayers sent to God by Muslims asking for Palestinians to be saved and for the genocide to stop once and for all have fallen on deaf ears…but prayers sent out with hopes of scoring a hat trick or at least an overtime winner…were heard and answered” after she heard Omani football prayers attributing their success over Saudi Arabia in a game to God.


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Bangladesh: Learning English · Global Voices
Rezwan

Kotha-Chhilo (something to say) thinks the politicians and cricketers of Bangladesh should take English language courses to express themselves freely to international media.

author: Rezwan


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Anguilla, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos: Good Governance · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

A couple of regional bloggers have been keeping track of the inquiry into official misconduct and corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands. Vexed Bermoothes says: “I don’t want to draw the parallels too deeply, but TCI is demonstrating the challenges that many small islands face…this is why Bermuda needs to be serious about improving the calibre of the governance of our Government.”

author: Janine Mendes-Franco


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Bolivia: Loyola Guzmán Supporting the “No” Vote · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

With a week to go before the Constitutional Referendum, Miguel Centellas of Pronto* profiles one unlikely opponent of the new document.  Loyola Guzmán was a Constitutional delegate representing the government's MAS party, as well as a member of Che Guevara's guerrilla group.  She is now coming out and supporting the “No” vote.

author: Eduardo Avila


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Nihad Hasanović · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

An interview with Bosnian writer Nihad Hasanović – “one of the most interesting and intriguing young writers in the space of Bosnian, Serbian and Croatian language” – at Jasmin's Heart (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5).


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: “Reunited After 16 Years” · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Amila Bosnae shares a story about a Bosnian refugee in Germany who found his daughter after 16 years of searching for her.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina: Wartime Humor · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Bosnian wartime humor – a YouTube video of “Top Lista Nadrealista” – at Amila Bosnae.


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China:  Let’s All Denounce Each Other! · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

The anti-smut campaign in China has resulted in websites denouncing each others on indecent, obscene and immoral content. (more from ESWN).

author: Oiwan Lam


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China: Obama and Chinese Emperors · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Xujun Eberlein from Inside-Out China explains why Obama has reminded him of certain Chinese emperors.


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Czech Republic: Museum of Exile · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

CzechMateDiary writes about the Museum of Czech and Slovak Exile that has opened in Brno.

author: Veronica Khokhlova


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Ecuador: Correa Faces Pressure From Indigenous Groups · Global Voices
Milton Ramirez

Despite protests and road blockades in southen Ecuador, a new mining law [es] (pdf format) was passed in Congress.  Now the new bill will head to the executive branch for final approval from President Rafael Correa.  Opposition to the bill is coming from indigenous groups, who have called for a national march to be held on January 20 to protest the government's support for the new law.
The mobilization is being led by the country's largest indigenous organization, the National Confederation of Indigenous Nations  (CONAIE), which is stating that there was very little discussion regarding the new law and that it will be harmful to the environment and is going against the sovereignty of indigenous communities.  What makes this march especially interesting is that these communities have been generally very supportive of Correa and his administration, and now they are leading the way against his policies.
The last time Ecuador has seen mobilizations of this magnitude was in 2005, when protests forced then-President Lucio Gutiérrez from office.  They are even attracting the support of other indigenous groups [es], such as the Indigenous Movement  Confederation of Chimborazo (COMICH) in the northern part of the country.  Up until now, many of these sectors have been content with President Rafael Correa, but now he is dismissing the actions of these groups led by CONAIE.  This confederation, according to blogger Inca Kola is “a smart, canny intelligent political animal” and that it is leading the movement for the promotion of indigenous sovereignty.
One blogger, Fernando Doylet of Madurando Con Sentido [es] is backing the indigenous protests and suggests that local communities decide what is best for their territories and that they should have veto power:
En mi humilde opinion, lo mejor que puede hacer el gobierno (por medio del Ministerio correspondiente) es dejar que los gobiernos locales decidan si autorizan o no la mineria en sus areas geograficas; y si la mayoria de la poblacion rechaza lo que decida el gobierno local, pues que lo cambie.
No creo que ninguna ley deba obligar o negarle sus derechos a los pobladores de un sector; y si tanto le interesa al gobierno central, tiene que ser convencer a la gente, en lugar de simplemente ignorarlos.
In my humble opinion, the best that this government could do (through the proper Ministry) is allow for local governments to decide whether or not they authorize mining in their geographic areas; and if the majority of the population rejects what the local government decides, then they should change it.
I don't think that no law should force or deny the rights of residents of an area; and if it such an interest for the central government, then they must convince the people, instead of simply ignoring them.
Other issues are also at stake. La Voz de Guamote [es] writes about an environmental group Acción Ecológica (Ecological Action) that protested outside the Legislative Palace and participated in a hunger strike. One of the major complaints of this new mining law is that it will jeopardize sources of water for area residents.  However, one blogger is making light of this complaint. El Botulista Independiente [es] writes a satirical post regarding solving the water contamination problem:
La explotación de oro y cobre proporcionará al Estado más de cien mil millones de dólares. Con esas cantidades, sin lugar a dudas nos sobrarían recursos para importar agua embotellada. Si bien es cierto que la minería a cielo abierto no es 100 % segura, el gobierno ha previsto la firma de un convenio con la compañía francesa Evian, para asegurar a nuestros campesinos el acceso a agua de la mejor calidad para sus cultivos.
However, not all indigenous groups are against the new mining law.  The community coordinator of the Shuar indigenous group, Antonio Chirias, believes that the new mining law will help his Amazonian community in the country's Orient region [es].  The previously quoted blogger Inca Kola, who writes on economic and banking issues across Latin America believes that the mining law deserves attention and applauds the president, “Correa has done great service to his country via this new law. It banishes the speculators and wide-boys from the scene, it protects the environment (I mean, woe betide any miner that tries to cut corners on this piece of statute) and it will allow Ecuador to grow as a country in a responsible way.”
On January 20, the eyes of the world will be on the U.S. for the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama and the eyes of Ecuador will be on the marches planned for the same day. President Correa will face a challenge from the protests of groups that have historically supported his government.  As B.P.L.E [es] writes:
Veremos como sale parado de ésta el Presidente Correa ahora que debe medirse no con pelucones sino con su mismo “pueblo organizado”
We'll see how President Correa comes out of this, now that he must face not his “opposition” but his very own “organized people.”

author: Milton Ramirez


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Ecuador: The Growth of the Blogosphere · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Mi Diario Relativo [es] reflects on the growth of the Ecuadorian blogosphere over the past two years and sees that the number of blogs registered on Blogalaxia has grown by 400% during that time.


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El Salvador: Irregularities on Election Day · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Victor of Alta Hora de la Noche [es] provides some early reporting on the day's elections in El Salvador.  He writes that there have been irregularities all across the country, including some polling places that did not allow observers and conducted the ballot counting behind closed doors.


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El Salvador: Live Blogging Election Day · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

In El Salvador, the country is choosing mayors and congressional representatives and Fernando Marroquín of Chero07 [es] has been live blogging during election day.


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Georgia: Stalin Monuments in Gori · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Photos of Stalin monuments in Gori, Georgia – by Latvian photographer Arnis Balcus.


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Guyana: Flooding Controversy  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Guyana has been experiencing severe bouts of flooding recently, causing damage to crops and livestock and outrage among bloggers.  This flooding phenomenon is nothing new, but the latest development in the story – Oxfam International‘s rapid assessment survey which categorizes the flooding as “a full blown natural disaster” – has only added to the controversy.
Living Guyana, the first blog to draw attention to the report, comments:
All of this while the government has instructed the state media not to use the word ‘flooding’ but rather to use ‘water accumulation’. Government officials refuse to accept that there is a disaster on the ground even as Oxfam has deemed the situation a natural disaster.
He goes on to criticize some mainstream media for failing to pay attention to the story, but lauds “the efficient Capitol News” for carrying the story in detail, “including an interview with a local Oxfam official.”  The government also gets its fair share of criticism from the blogger, who continues to quote the Oxfam report:
Weak coordination on the ground. No large scale responses by stakeholders.
As if to prove his point, Living Guyana makes another observation:
At 12:09pm today the Minister of Agriculture was proudly LIMING ON FACEBOOK and commenting on Ruel Johnson's page.
Does he not have work to do instead of LIMING ON FACEBOOK? Like helping people bailing out water from their houses? Is this what we are paying him taxpayers money for? To be LIMING ON FACEBOOK…while people are up to their noses in water?
Not surprisingly, rumours abound over strained relations between Oxfam and the Guyanese government, which the aid organisation is playing down, even as Guyana's National Disaster Coordinator calls its motives “suspect”.
This, of course, has not stopped bloggers from widely quoting the contents of the report – and it appears that heads are rolling.  Living Guyana was the first to report that “head of the Presidential Secretariat and Guyana's National Disaster Coordinator Dr. Roger Luncheon today fired Retired Major General Michael Atherly as head of the Civil Defence Commission which was tasked with coordinating government's response to the flooding in the East Coast of Demerara and the Mahaica Mahaicony Abary region.”  He also comments on the curious timing of the move:
This action comes just two days after the Oxfam report slammed the government response to the ongoing flooding disaster as weak. The report was dismissed by various government officials but it appears as though it has stung the government into action even though Oxfam did not blame the CDC, claiming that the body had lacked the resources to execute its mandate having been starved of such by the government.
It would appear as though Ret Maj Gen Atherly is being made a scapegoat for the government's poorly coordinate response even as the government refuses to declare the heavily flooded MMA region a disaster area and even refuses to accept that there is an ongoing flood, preferring instead to deem it ‘water accumulation’ while using the state owned media to peddle cheap propaganda on the issue. The stated own National Communications Network and Guyana Chronicle have been quietly banned by the Office of the President from using the word ‘flood’ in their news reports.
Soon after that entry, Living Guyana posts aerial photos of the flooding courtesy Guyana Providence Stadium.  But the thing that seems to be upsetting bloggers the most is the apparent absence of strong leadership in the midst of a crisis:
Where is our leader? Where is our president?
He is gallivanting, cavorting and carrying on on a useless three nation trip to Libya, Greece and Qatar which are all minor global players with no clout who will bring no major investments to Guyana. This trip will bring a total of ZERO benefit to Guyana and it takes place at the same time that Mahaica and Mahaicony residents are in water up to their necks and East Coast residents have been under water for over three weeks now.


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India: The Truth About Satyam Computers  · Global Voices
Rezwan

Kamla Bhatt discusses the Satyam Computers scandal, India’s first big scale corporate fraud and raises some questions.


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Indonesia: Blaze at Jakarta’s main fuel tank · Global Voices
Martin Manurung

Devi Girsang talks about the recent fire at Pertamina‘s fuel tank in Jakarta. Since Indonesia is now preparing for legislative and presidential elections this year, speculations among common people spread out that the incident was not merely an accident.


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Israel: Back to Books and Bible Lessons  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Imshin from Israel notes that life is going back to its normal routine. He writes: “It’s nice to be back with books and things. Last night I finally made it to the third lesson of a series of Bible lessons I had been planning to go to. I was far too busy obsessively following the news to go to the two previous lessons, although I really wanted to go to them.”


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Jamaica: Praying in Patois  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

Iriegal shares her thoughts on the production of a Patois Bible: “I just want to say $60 million dollars is a lot to invest…there is so much controversy in translating European English into Patois I really don't know how they are going to do it, even from and audio perspective.”


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Jamaica, U.S.A.: Political Comparisons  · Global Voices
Janine Mendes-Franco

As America gears up for the inauguration of President Barack Obama, diaspora blogger Geoffrey Philp is reminded of “the euphoria that many Jamaicans experienced when Michael Manley was elected as Prime Minister in 1972.”


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Japan: Battle of Search Engines 2008 · Global Voices
Oiwan Lam

Mokoto blogs about the 2008 annual result of search engines battle in Japan and observes some new development.


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Kyrgyzstan: Withdrawal of the U.S. Airbase  · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Elena posted short chronology of the “withdrawals” of the American airbase “Manas” in Kyrgyzstan.


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Malaysia: Lessons from the flooding disaster · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Last week, flooding hit several areas in the Sarawak State of Malaysia. More than 8,000 people in the Bau District were evacuated in 24 temporary shelters. The flooding was the worst in three years. Water level rose up to the waist level.
Flooding in Bau, Sarawak. Pictures from the blog of Denis
a better future advises the government to sum up the lessons of the flooding disaster:
“Immediate relief was going on quite well but the Government could have done better if they had marked all the flood sections of the roads with bamboo poles or other alternatives with clear signs to show how deep the flood level is. It would have made it easier for monitoring as well as for traffic to decide whether to “swim” through or not. These markers can be used for future planning especially in the upgrading of the main trunk roads.
“Thus unless we have proper records of flood levels in flood prone areas to guide future planning and implementation of projects, we will have more unnecessary problems due to poor implementations by the respective agencies involved in future.
“Hopefully the Government has learned all the lessons so that future floods will be less disruptive, not only in Bau but throughout Sarawak and if possible Malaysia. The main trunk roads should be built to be weather-proof, meaning the level to which they must be constructed must be above the highest known flood level. Police stations and critical government buildings must be sited in non flood prone areas, where possible. If not, then the site of any buildings should be dumped to raise it above the known flood level at the very least. Access to these buildings must be also flood proofed where possible.”
The Lost Aborigine urges leaders to prioritize the flooding issue over other foreign matters:
“How about the flood relief to those affected area especially those poor villages like Serian, Padawan, Bau and some in Sibu and Miri? Why we so busy with Gaza but our own people are helpless and dying? The Malaysian attitude is that we ignore our household affair and get busy with other issue that it less related to us.”
Nana Natu notes that the flooding was the worst in 20 years:
“Sarawak River showed yesterday its might when it burst it banks and water spilled into Kuching Waterfront.And the floods descrides by Kuchingites as the worst flood in 20 years, caused massive trafic jam, halted business and caused panic among some who anticipated that worst was yet to come. There were no warnings. The flood this year is worse then the one in 2004.And the floods caused 119 schools closed.”
Sounding Intelligent writes the possible causes of the flooding:
“I am in no position to say what the actual cause of the recent flood is but I firmly believe that it is man-made. After all, who constructed levees that forced rivers into narrow channels? Who destructed the wetlands that once absorbed excess rainfall? Who contributed to global warming?
“Global warming is a real threat. It is affecting weather patterns, creating a modest increase in violent downpours and melting ice all over the world, causing an avalanche of effects.
“Despite these warnings, some people still continue to be selfish, refuse to switch to cleaner fuels or reduce their carbon footprints somehow.”
The flooding disaster was not limited to Malaysia. Flooding also hit several parts of the Philippines, Indonesia and Fiji.

author: Mong Palatino


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Mexico: No Kissing in Public in Guanajuato · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

The government of Guanajuato, Mexico recently passed a law of “Good Conduct” which would fine and possibly imprison beggars, those who don't use pedestrian bridges, swearing, and even for those that kiss in public writes Jessica Uribe of Vivir México [es].


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Mongolia: Animals Elimination · Global Voices
Adil Nurmakov

Danzan Ravjaa writes that the Ulaanbaatar’s (capital city of Mongolia) Municipal Administration began a campaign to eliminate street dogs and reviews reactions of the society and reigious groups.


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Palestine: Assessing the Aftermath in Gaza · Global Voices
Ayesha Saldanha

On Sunday evening the Israel Defense Forces began a troop withdrawal from Gaza, following three straight weeks of attacks.  Israel's unilateral ceasefire was announced earlier in the day, and met with an offer for a one-week ceasefire from Hamas, the full text of which is here.  Bloggers in Gaza, able to safely leave their homes for the first time in weeks, are mulling over the events of the day.
Palestinian photojournalist Sameh Habeeb blogs at Gaza Strip, The Untold Story:
Thousands of people appeared on the Gaza streets. Everybody is trying to explore what has happened to his relatives, houses and areas. I have documented a massive devastation throughout east, north and west of Gaza Strip. The devastation storms everything needed for normal life. Houses, schools, hospitals, clinics, police stations, charities, universities and streets totally and partially destroyed.
Australian activist Sharyn Lock, who writes at Tales to Tell, updates us:
So you remember I wrote this about Wed morning Jan 14:
“While there, heard shouting, went up stairs to see medic S covered in blood, he had just carried a little girl in from the street who snipers had shot in face and abdomen. We saw her father fall on the hospital stairs, having been shot in the leg. Mother was panicking, shouting there was another girl left behind. S, I and other medics went out to get her, found her not far away, S took her on his shoulders into the hospital. The other medics and I realised they were just the beginning of a stream of desperate people fleeing their buildings, many of which were on fire.”
This was the Batran family. Faddel al Batran, 54, was shot in the leg. Yasmine, 12, was the girl we went to bring in. Haneen, 9, was the one shot in the face and abdomen: I knew she had been taken straight into surgery at Al-Quds. Today [January 17] I found out that she was transferred to Al-Shifa [hospital] and died shortly afterwards.
Last night [January 16] they bombed another UNRWA school in which homeless people had taken refuge in Beit Lahia. There are 36 wounded, including 14 children. Two boys aged 3 and 8 are dead. John Ging of UNRWA was on the TV being coldly furious. But as I type (I’ll be reading this out over the phone to the UK for uploading) a truce has apparently begun. It is strangely quiet. Everyone desperately wants to hope it’ll have some meaning.
In a post published on January 18 she says:
The planes are still buzzing overhead, but there have been no explosions near me today. However this supposed ceasefire from Israeli’s side since 2am does not seem to have extended to Beit Hanoun, where there was shelling this morning and F16s were attacking.
Canadian activist, Eva Bartlett, blogs at In Gaza:
Today [January 18] was the first day that medics and journalists were able to reach areas occupied by the invading Israeli troops. Palestinians by this point, by weeks ago, were desperate for any semblance of a normal life, though normality here is far from normality anywhere else. They were desperate to return to their homes, survey the damage and if possible repair it, find displaced family members, or their corpses, as well as neighbours, friends. Not everyone returned home to stay; many could be seen returning to where their homes were, or had stood, to retrieve anything worthwhile. Donkey carts and taxis were piled with blankets, clothes, cooking pots, cupboards, pieces of furniture, people… […] I have so much to tell, so many photos that don’t do justice to the suffering, heart-break, trauma, psychological damage, and despondency of people here. So many smells ingrained in my memory, that when sniffed will bring images of dead children, burned houses, chemical fires. Slamming doors will forever remind of the missiles slamming the earth, the life below. […] While the bombs may have stopped, for now, the terror remains. F-16s still flew low, terrifyingly low, today, so loud, so unpredictable. No one here has any reason to believe any words Israeli leaders proclaim. Only reason to believe in the worst. But out of necessity, we must hope for the best.
Mutasharrid (‘homeless person’ or ‘vagrant’) is a school pupil in Khuza'a, east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, who has lost many friends:

author: Ayesha Saldanha


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Palestine: Not faring better  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Palestinians who choose to co-exist with Israelis “fare no better than any other Palestinian,” observes Ummkahlil, a Palestinian blogger, who lives in the US.


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Paraguay: Assassination of Martín Ocampos Páez · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

El Yacare [es] writes about the assassination of community radio director Martín Ocampos Páez in his house near the Horqueta district in Paraguay and that he has been threatened by narcotraffickers in that area.


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Paraguay: Time Calculations · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Muna Annahas provides the details for “Paraguayan time” and how someone must account for this in their time calculations.


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Peru: Buying an Alligator Body Part by Body Part · Global Voices
Eduardo Avila

Alligators are commonly consumed in the Peruvian Amazon region.  De La Selva [es] writes about an experience in the market of Belén, where people gathered around the animal to purchase body part by body part.


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Queen Rania of Jordan on Gaza: “Hell on Earth”  · Global Voices
Amira Al Hussaini

Jordanian blogger Ali Dahmash links to this video featuring Queen Rania appealing for aid towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) operating in war torn Gaza.


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Russia: Crisis, Lipstick and Feminism · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

Anna’s Out of Town News writes about the crisis and the “lipstick effect” in Russia, and about an online poll on what a feminist is, posted on the website of the Russian edition of Cosmopolitan.


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Russia, UK: Rallies for Israel, Gaza · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

LJ user mgor (a London-based native of Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) posts photos from a London rally in support of Gaza. LJ user drugoi (Roustem Adagamov, one of the most popular Russian bloggers) posts photos from a Moscow rally in support of Israel. (Text in Russian.)


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Serbia, Russia: NIS-Gazprom Deal · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A roundup on the NIS-Gazprom deal – at Eternal Remont: “In 2008, Deloitte & Touche valued NIS at $2.95 billion. But Gazprom is only going to pay $1.2 billion ($537 million + $721 million in new “investment”) between now and 2012. Better yet, the Serbs refused to entertain offers from anyone but Gazprom. Since the collapse in energy prices, Gazprom doesn’t have the money to pay for the entire deal in cash. Instead, it will have to find someone to lend it an extra $721 million.”


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Slovakia: Euro Currency · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A switch to the euro in Slovakia – at CzechFolks.com.


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Slovenia: Ljubljiana Impressions · Global Voices
Veronica Khokhlova

A Ljubljiana trip account – at Dr. Sean's Diary.


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Sri Lanka: A Ceasefire? · Global Voices
Rezwan

Chandi Sinnathurai at Countercurrents.org writes about a possible ceasefire to be declared by Sri Lankan Government mediated by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.