Desertpeace repeats the popular headline in today's news, “Heavy machinery attack injures 2 near Obama’s Jerusalem hotel,” then asks:

THIS ONE still hasn’t been reported…. and it happened almost a month ago.

Israelis Assault Award Winning IPS Journalist

~~~ WHY??? ~~~

KABOBfest is perplexed at the focus on Obama's whereabouts:

The New York Times and world press covered today’s bulldozer attack in Jerusalem, the second in a month. The frame was typical: enraged Palestinian used construction equipment to attack Israeli civilians. The extra spice in the article is that it occurred “near” where Obama will be staying soon. Wow, what a news hook!

The blogger then remarks:

Pundits were alarmed by the last bulldozer attack, saying Palestinians were finding new ways to try to destroy Israel – yet Palestinians are in the stone age compared to Israel’s advanced killing technology. The bulldozer is now the Palestinian Merkava.

An anonymous commenter on the post showed concern:

A few more attacks like this and they will purge Palestinians from construction duties and replace them with Filipinos. Same quality of work, no political baggage. Construction is the last industry in Israel that still relies on Palestinian labor, but not nearly as much as it once did. If you go to Netanya, the entire city was built by Palestinian labor in the 1970s. A lot of Palestinians are going to lose their jobs over this.

Another commenter, uday, was alarmed at Obama's response to the incident:

Speaking at a news conference in Amman, Obama said “Today's bulldozer attack is a reminder of what Israelis have courageously lived with on a daily basis for far too long.”

What colonialist Israelis have “lived with”?! And what about the helpless Palestinians being crushed daily by the Zionist Boot?! Are they not courageous? Is 60 years of occupation, humiliation and oppression not long enough for Obama to notice?!

Following the bulldozer attack, it was reported by the Jerusalem Post that a group of angry yeshiva students attempted to lynch two Palestinians. Of this story, blogger Chet points out:

Dear friends,

Here is the other event in Jerusalem today that your media will most likely ignore. Guess how this would be covered if the roles were reversed.

Times are tense.

This madness is man-made,
Sam

For more on this story, read Maya Norton's coverage of the Israeli blogosphere on Global Voices.

They said that Radovan Karadzic lived in Belgrade under false name of Dragan David Dabic. He was disguised as an alternative medicine doctor and even worked in one private clinic in Belgrade. He also was a contributor to the Healthy Life magazine and took part in forums and lectures, gathering up to several hundred people. At the time of the arrest, Radovan Karadzic (aka Dragan Dabic) had long hair and a white beard.

Dragan Dabic had an official web site. [Editor's Note: The site later turned out to be a fake. Please see comments below, or follow these links - here and here - to read more about the hoax.] Here is what is says there (SRP):

Dr. Dragan “David” Dabic was born some 60 years ago in a small Serbian village of Kovaci, near Kraljevo. As a young boy, he liked to explore nearby forests and mountains, spending a lot of time on Kopaonik mountain, where he used to pick the omnipresent natural and potent medicinal herbs that grew there.

As a young man he moved to Belgrade, and then on to Moscow, where he graduated with a Psychiatry degree from the Moscow State University (Lomonosov). After Russia, Dr. Dabic travelled around India and Japan, after which he settled in China, where he specialized in alternative medicine, with a special emphasis on Chinese herbs. In the mid-1990s, Dr. Dabic returned to Mother Serbia for good.

Since then, Dr. Dabic has emerged as one of the most prominent experts in the field of alternative medicine, bio-energy and macrobiotic diet in the whole of the Balkans, and is a frequent guest on many forums, seminars and symposiums (Belgrade, Novi Sad, Pancevo, Sombor, Smederevo…) dedicated to these topics.

For panel invitations or private consultations, Dr. Dragan Dabic can be reached at the following contact:

healingwounds@dragandabic.com

According to B92, the editor of Dabic/Karadzic at Healthy Life, Goran Kojic, was stunned to discover that he had published articles written by a man accused of grave war crimes:

He would come and communicate with me personally, and it's really interesting that I never saw in that man… that it was the last thing on my mind, that this was Radovan Karadžić. We never discussed politics or anything of the sort either.

Bloggers have different opinions on one of the most wanted fugitives in the world - Radovan Karadzic aka Dr Dragan David Dabic.

Niko, in the his post titled “Dr. Dragan Dabic,” writes quite ironically (SRP):

The man who was sitting next to my mother at the Hotel Intercontinental.

The man who introduced himself to participants […] as a doctor speaker next month - August - in the same place.

The man common folks trusted and applauded, healthy and sick ones were giving credit to him.

The man who is a such hero and patriot that he changed his own name, who isolated his own country and who made his own people suffer, who did not want to go to the Tribunal in the Hague and tried to defend himself and in this way tried to save his own pride and the pride of his country.

The man many young people (who don't know recent history of their country) pledged allegiance to and wore t-shirts with his name written on them. His name? Dr. Dabic? All of them were idiots. They wore t-shirts with the wrong name of the wrong man. Idiots.

Their hero is a man who, unlike them, might not to introduce himself by his own name. The incarnation of patriotism for them is the man who has changed his identity in order to be unknown.

Idiots, your hero has always been Dr. Dabic. Change your t-shirts.

Burek, a blogger from Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina, believes (BOS) that the victims of the Srebrenica massacre will get some satisfaction, following the arrest of Radovan Karadzic:

[…] We've heard that Dr. Dragan Dabic alias Radovan Karadzic, an alternative medicine doctor, has lived quietly in Belgrade for the past few years. It was very difficult to identify him because he had long gray hair and a beard, said the police from Serbia. Although it is difficult to believe in that, let's ask a question why, after so many years, the killer from Durmitor was arrested only in July? It is difficult to answer exactly, but it is not necessary to waste time on that. At the moment, the most important thing is that he has been arrested. It is also important that he looks healthy and will be able to participate in the trial. […]

Finally, the victims of the most terrible massacre in Europe since World War II could get some satisfaction. […]

Danilovic is apparently disappointed because of the arrest of Radovan Karadzic. He writes (SRP):

Belgrade is not my capital more. This government is not my government. This polished man (president Tadic) is not my president. Traitors to my country are not my brothers. Traitors are not my compatriots. I am proud because I am a Serb and an Orthodox Christian. I am proud because Radovan Karadzic's horoscope sign is a Gemini, just like mine. I am proud because he has made a fool of the traitors for the past few years. I am proud because he has saved a million Serbs from being murdered. I am proud because he did not allow 1941 to happen once again. I am proud because he is Serbian […]

The process of establishing a democratic system in Serbia is a very long one and it implies a lot of international obligations. One of them was the arrest of Radovan Karadzic. In that context, Dejan Jovic concludes (SRP) in his post on B92's blog platform:

[…] The arrest of Karadzic is great news. The friends of democracy in Serbia were waiting for it very long. Now Serbia will have an opportunity to establish authority of the democratic and pro-European forces. For the first time since 1989, Serbia has got a chance to become a respectable European country. At the same time, this arrest presents a very hard challenge for nationalist forces. Democratic Serbia should not miss this chance.

The Slovak government announced some months ago that they will not recognize Kosovo's independence. Furthermore, the Foreign Ministry has stated that the Slovak government will not recognize any documents from an independent Kosovo, including a Kosovar passport. Peter Martinovic, a Slovak blogger, writes:

[…] If a citizen of Kosovo find himself/herself being on the Slovak territory, he/she will be considered to be an illegal immigrant despite having a valid [Schengen ] visa. […]

So what gives? Why doesn't Slovakia recognize Kosovo's independence when Slovakia's closest neighboring countries like the Czech Republic, Poland, and Hungary have? Why would a country like Slovakia, where its people had lived under the rule of a powerful empire for centuries, and the country has only had its own independence for 15 years, choose to not recognize the independence of a country like Kosovo where its people have endured what the UN calls “massive human-rights violations” from their country's majority government?

Martinovic offers the following explanation:

[…] This question is one of the few that bring the Slovak political spectrum together. With the exception of the Hungarian minority party , all political subjects (whether they are just pro-European or fanatically pro-European ) agree upon refusal of Kosovo independence. Its roots can not only be found in a moved history of the 20th century […], but also in a lurking feeling of general public […] that Hungarian minority living in the south is a threat to our state's most important interests and that they still plan to break away and become part of Hungary. […]

The land that makes up modern-day Slovakia was once part of the large Hungarian Kingdom. Slovaks were under Hungarian rule for centuries. Many of those years they struggled to gain rights as an ethnic group and also for independence. After the end of World War I, Czechoslovakia was formed. When the new border was drawn, some Hungarians found themselves living in Czechoslovakia. Today the Hungarian minority makes up at least 10% of the total population of Slovakia, with some areas in the south of Slovakia that have more than 40% of their population who are of Hungarian ethnicity.

Martinovic evaluates the legitimacy of the concern that Hungarians might break away from Slovakia:

[…] [This] is of course nonsense and can be described only as a vulgar nationalism of some politicians that secures them votes of less educated (yet numerous) voters, although a behaviour of some Hungarian representatives hasn't been very helpful in order to calm down the situation. […]

Martinovic goes on to say that he doesn't like the fact that the Kosovo situation sets a precedent for part of a state territory “to declare independence without a consent of a central government and still be recognized by international community.”

Here is another view on the issue , expressed by a 24-year-old Slovak named Jan, at Us Europeans blog:

[…] The wish of Kosovo to become independent did not get the support from the Slovakian government. We think that Kosovo is part of Serbia and it should have remained so. It's not a situation where two parties win. We have a similar situation in the south, with some local Hungarian minorities who want to proclaim independence. For us Slovaks, such a move would be completely unacceptable. It would in no way be similar to the way we separated from the Czech Republic. […]

Romania-based blogger Corina Murafa comments:

[…] It’s like saying “sure all people are equal, but some people are more equal than other”. When we like separatist movements - for any reason that may be - sure, let me break loose. When we don’t, we immediately claim “the story is different”, separation would be unacceptable, so on. […]

Kosovar independence is a prickly question in many parts of Europe. It's simply not possible for all ethnicities to have their own independent nations. It raises questions about how minorities are treated and represented by their country's government, however; and dialog is almost always a good thing.

“Police: Why didn't you call the police at once? Foreigner: I was very angry. How could I stand such an insult? I hit him on the head with a bottle.”

Given the spectacles that took place during the Hong Kong and Shenzhen (and later) legs of the torch relay earlier this summer, a rule like will probably go a long way to prevent any heated or violent outbursts during the Games. At least, it's definitely creating a lot of heated discussion, and a lot of netizens are wondering: “Why?”

The simple answer is that no banners more than 2 meters in length and 1 meter in width are allowed at the Olympics. Chinese MySpace user Jiuduo is one of many netizens that have reposted the official prepared statement that's been circulating with the story today, presented as a conversation between an unnamed Xinhua reporter and an unnamed Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee spokesperson. Here's the question about the ban on “Go China!” banners:

记者：为何禁止携带诸如“中国加油”这样的横幅或标语牌？

北京奥组委：本届奥运会在北京举办，我们是主场，志愿者知道大家写的是“中国加油”，不是什么不好的话，但是其他200多个国家的观众写的文字我们都能看懂吗？让不让进？我们想象一下，在上届雅典奥运会或者下届伦敦奥运会，如果别人由于不认识中文而不让我们带着准备好的横幅进去，我们会是什么样的心情？

另外，奥运五环象征着五大洲的团结以及全世界运动员以公正、坦率的比赛和友好的精神在奥林匹克运动会上相见，奥运会的比赛精神是公平、公正的竞赛精神。我们要使奥运会超越一切意识形态，无论是中国、日本、美国，还是法国，所有人都能像奥运五环一样，大家开心地在一起享受盛事，增进彼此了解。如果现场出现各种各样的横幅一定会破坏这样的氛围，所以国际奥委会几十年来一直坚持制定这项规则。

Or does the potential for UV-intensive displays of Chinese patriotism have nothing to do with this? From the comments section of Jiuduo's post:

为什么？那可以带其他国家“Ｘ国加油”的横幅吗？在自己家里不可以带真有点笑话了．

我带一长1.9，宽0.9的旗子进去成不？害怕就说害怕，别那么多冠冕堂皇的话。你说怕藏独举口号，没人说你怂，何必呢。