Global Voices Online

In an extended post, Unzipped: Gay Armenia reacts in horror to an article published by one local newspaper which not only displays its own homophobia, but also appears to advocate hate crimes — including murder — against gays in the country.

Unzipped: Gay Armenia commends the general manager of a local mobile telephone operator for his philanthropic work in Armenia. The blog says that despite the sometimes shady business environment in the country, Ralph Yirikian impresses many people and not least with his latest initiative to raise awareness of HIV-AIDS.

The Los Angeles Times blog posts an entry on Beirut's Armenia quarter of Bourj Hammoud and a photo exhibition currently underway which explores the community. The entry includes a video report.

Despite the unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh which has left many citizens of both countries intolerant and bitterly opposed to the other, a Baku-based newspaper has discovered a video on YouTube of an Azeri girl singing traditional mugham backed by Armenian musicians. Remy_G tweets that the singer and musicians gave an outstanding performance.

The Hima! [AM] youth movement blog posts a photograph of graffiti appearing in Yerevan. The blog posts a photograph of one example remembering 1 March 2008 when 10 people died in clashes between opposition supporters and police in the Armenian capital.

Unzipped says that the incumbent Mayor of Yerevan, Gagik Beglarian [AM], has started blogging ahead of next week's municipal election in the Armenian capital. However, the blog wonders why the blog has appeared only a week before the potentially controversial vote, but also says that with comments so far heaping praise on the ruling government party candidate, Internet users have hardly missed much.

Seetizen, the blog of a youth activist in Armenia, decries the latest action by the pro-radical opposition Hima youth movement — a list which labels various celebrities, political figures and others as “non-Armenian” because of their support for the authorities. And Nothing Else Matters also weighs in with its own criticism of what the blog considers to be tactics designed to divide rather than unite society. Interestingly, one of the names on the blacklist is Armenia's contestant in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Sirusho.