Peace and sovereignty, democracy and human rights. Those were some of the issues at stake as US and Russian presidents Obama and Medvedev sat down in Moscow earlier this week to address the agenda of a troubled world, against the backdrop of global recession and climate change.

Even though expectations for a breakthrough in US-Russian relations had been downplayed ahead of Obama's meetings with President Medvedev - and Premier Putin - one would imagine that the very real issues at hand - nuclear disarmament, Afghanistan, Iran, sovereignty, democracy etc. - were to be widely debated in the blogosphere. Instead, reactions to the 6-8 July Moscow summit from the Russian blogosphere form a climate of anticlimax.

Barack Obama: Speech at the New Economic School - by Drugoi

Starting off from the Moscow horizon, the overall impression is exactly that Obama's visit was rendered a lukewarm reception by the Russian blogosphere, on either side of the political spectrum. As LJ user taranoff points out [RUS], in general, most people took little notice of the visit:

[…] If someone like Putin arrives in some town, then this town is sure to be scrubbed clean, shaped up, painted and polished. [—] And still, as Obama yesterday arrived in Moscow, it was as if - holey-moley - nothing could be noticed. […]

LJ user lamerkhav continues [RUS] along the same line:

[…] It is still not long ago that America was dearly loved in Russia. Behaviour towards the USA was like that of a young girl to her idol. The “cool States” was the ideal. Now times have changed. The attitude I've come across in media and blogs reminds me of a sour, lonely and old suitor, abandoned by everyone. I won't try to gather why it's like that. Apparently, not out of unanswered love, but generally because mentality is like that. […]

Characterizing the essence of the summit, LJ user Nevzlin addresses [RUS] renewed Cold War sentiments - disarmament and Human Rights - and perceives differences in Obama's attitude towards Medvedev and Putin:

[…] Generally, it was like colder times at the conference table - the fate of political prisoners and arms control. [—] From the outset, Obama typically split up Medvedev and Putin: Some praise and some critique. He said that Medvedev pulls ahead and Putin holds back. […]

LJ user Yakushev continues with [RUS] the domestic political ramifications of the summit, speculating on a US-inspired Medvedev-Putin division into liberal and conservative camps:

[…] What was the essence of Obama's visit to Moscow? I imagine it as if Obama signalled to the liberal part of the Russian élite to go on the offensive. As it appears, Obama came to engage himself into Russian domestic politics. Already before the American president's visit, he made it clear who the USA supports in Russia, having promised Putin not to disturb his and Medvedev's progress. As no official reply was given to this ordinary American insolence, one can conclude that the Kremlin agrees with Obama. […]

Not even when it comes to President Obama's meeting with Russian opposition representatives, it seems to please Russian bloggers. Thus, LJ user v milov - an opposition supporter - writes [RUS]:

[…] Obama's meeting with the opposition turned into true comedy. It's great that Nemtsov and Kasparov were invited from our side - but that's also all the good news there were. Further on the list were Mitrokhin, Gozman and Zyuganov. The State Department stands with one foot in the past. :) But seriously, a meeting with such a gathering is a flat puncture for those on the American side who prepared the visit. In such meetings, the real opposition must take part and not hopeless figures from the past. […]

Turning to the very real issues agreed upon by Medvedev and Obama within the sphere of security policy - as e.g. nuclear arms' reduction and Afghanistan - LJ user malkolms writes [RUS]:

[…] How is it possible to sign anything with the USA (especially concerning such important issues as the START-agreement) when the USA demonstratively [XXX] Russia in the [XXX]. In my view, it is simply degrading to start any dialogue with the USA without lifting the Jackson-Vanik amendment. And especially if signing such documents is unfavourable to Russia. The USA once again “sinks” us as was always the case during Yeltsin and Clinton. […]

What about the Russian reset then? LJ user optimist presents his views on the credibility of Washington's policy towards Moscow:

[…] In my view, the word reset doesn't mean anything in real political terms. It is a word of deception, the usual soap bubble [—]. It appears on all our screens and means nothing new, but a return to the past, to business as usual. And previously, our relations with the Americans were either one of confrontation or domination - on their part, by the way. So, what will we be returning to after a “reset”? [—] Aren't they just fooling us as usual… […]

What stands out, from these and similar comments, is how little significance is given to the outcome of the US-Russian summit. It is like simply going through the motions, whereas the real issues at hand seem to be of little consequence. So, judging from Russian blogger reactions, the Moscow 2009 Obama-Medvedev summit could hardly be seen as a reset in US-Russian relations. The question is: Was it even rapproachement?

Pictures, if not otherwise indicated, from america.gov/ru.

In Bahrain, Silly Bahraini Girl (which is me) is back home and surprised at what she saw at her country's airport:

Reality of how mad this place has become smacks you in the face the second you land at the Bahrain
International Airport and see all the ground staff wearing surgical masks, from the ground handling staff to the immigration and customs officers. “What's wrong with you?” I ask them. “Is there a plague in Bahrain?” I continue questioning […] the situation seemed tense and and the level of swine madness was certainly the highest I have come across everywhere I have travelled through since pig mania gripped Planet Earth. Why wasn't there a single person wearing a mask at the airports of San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto and Heathrow which I have travelled
through over the past few weeks?

Still in Bahrain, Sohail Al Gosaibi smells a conspiracy in the air, noting that exaggerating the effect of swine flu benefits the media, advertising and pharmaceutical industries. The Saudi blogger writes:

The media almost always exaggerate the situation, remember that fears sells.  And newspapers and news channels have to sell advertising space and airtime to make money, and the more shocking and scary their stories, the more viewers and readers they have, which leads to more
advertisers, and more profits.

Al Gosaibi also quotes an article he has read and concludes:

According to the article, the US and UK governments have  billions of dollars worth of Tamifluiflu stock that they must use within the next few months, or they’ll expire.  Interesting, huh?

And speaking of theories, Jordan Reform Watch also has something up his sleeve and writes:

Ahhh..The swine-flu with all the accompanying conspiracy theories..A Jordanian “Scientist” specializing in diseases claims that Mecca And Medina are somehow isolated from disease, thus there is no need for the talk about the possible outbreaks that might result from the millions of pilgrims being in extreme proximity while performing Hajj..

Kill them Pigs..Go To hajj..You will be disease free..

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia, who blogs at Egyptian Chronicles, is also concerned about how the disease will spread during the Hajj [annual Muslim pilgrimage season to Mecca], where millions of pilgrims from around the world converge to Mecca to perform the ritual. She notes:

the discussion about the future of Pilgrimage “Hij” and Omra [smaller pilgrimage] this year is still debatable. The minister of health wants to cancel Omra where as the minister of tourism is against the cancellation , I do not need to speak about Pilgrimage.
Of course the debate is much hotter among the clerics themselves. Saudi Arabia understands the challenge it is facing already and decided to deal with the situation as much as it can in the Omra and pilgrimage , it recommends that pregenant women , elderly and kids to avoid pilgrimage this year , I really respect this move.
I also have a better suggestion. In such circumstances why not to limit Omra and pilgrimage for the first time pilgrims only from men and women

Our final stop is in Syria, where blogger Yaser Arwani [ar] links to a news story which says that Syria's first swine flu case was recently reported in a Syrian doctor, who works in Australia and was on a visit to her country. The female doctor travelled to Syria through Dubai International Airport and the disease was not detected until a few days after her arrival.

According to the words of one witness, as conveyed by a local blogger:

onlar 7 nefer olublar. yemek yedikleri yerde iki idmanci icheri girib Emini doymeye baslayib. Adnan Emine komek etmek isteyende onu da vurublar.
Idmancilar Shobede uzr isteyenden sonra onlari buraxiblar. Adnani ise 2 sutka saxlayacaqlarini ve sonra da xuliqanliga gore hebs vereceklerini deyibler. Emin de Adnanla birlikde qalacagini deyib. Onlari muveqqeti tecridxanasiya apariblar.

Thus, according to witnesses, both of the perpetrators had been detained, but were later released. Adnan and Emin then became the main suspects and denied the right to meet with their lawyer. They were transferred to a detention center handcuffed where they can be kept for up to 48 hours.

Emin has several injuries, as well as a cut on his leg, while Adnan's nose is broken, and they haven't received sufficient medical care.

A witness talking about the incident. For better viewing of the subtitles, visit video's original Youtube page.

Update: Today, on 9 July 2009, various representatives and activists of civil society, youth movements and political parties have held a ‘protest forum' in defense of detained youth activists. The protest forum was characterized with “overcrowded hall, furious speakers, plenty of civil society and party leaders, foreign press [and] no local TVs”.  The German Ambassador to Azerbaijan has talked about one irony that tomorrow Emin Milli, who is also a freelancing interpreter were scheduled to interprete for visiting German Human Rights Commissioner. Instead, tomorrow Emin and Adnan are going to stand trial for hooliganism. As Bart Woord from IFLY tweeted a previous similar hooliganism charge against a journalist in Azerbaijan resulted in 2.5 years of prison term.

Although photographing votes is a federal crime to prevent frauds as Mexican newspaper Milenio warned [es], "creative" ballots were shared publicly using the tags #votomx and #anulArte (wordplay on "null" and "art"). However, in Twitcaps -one of the services that helps Twitter to publish photos using microformats for links- is where the mosaic of null votes can be fully appreciated: ballots crossed out, Twitter's icon Failwhale, ballots in support to the satirical campaign of Dr. Mono as promoted by the Bunsen blog [es], several obscene drawings of penises and curse words, and even Shakespeare's allusions scribbled in crayons.

Priscilliana uses the famous Twitter icon Failwhale [es] in her ballot, suggesting what other users call “an Epic fail for the system”:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9el5l

Hernandezz voted in favor of Dr. Mono [es], a character from an online comic strip [es] that parodies Mexican political candidates:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9f5ww

 “Todos con Dr. Mono!!1 (O una prueba de que tengo pésimo pulso)”

Hgsantarriga goes for a straighter message in his ballot, with a figure that resembles a Zapatista rebel:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9ekc7

Aquí comienza la revolución.

These null ballots had media coverage in several national newspapers such as Milenio [es], El Universal [es] y Reforma, such as the following published by Jordi of a paper ballot that someone sent to him [es], whose author is unknown yet his message is quickly understood:

Image taken from http://twitpic.com/9ex9j

Gabriela

Gabriela García Calderón may be the star translator of Global Voices in spanish. She translates on a daily basis for our publications, and as if that weren't enough, she still has time for writing in her personal blog, Seis de enero (January 6th). On a Lima morning, we met to have a drink and chat about various subjects. Here are the results.

Hello Gabriela, let‘s start with one curiosity of mine. As a professional lawyer, what gave you the idea of embracing other hobbies, such as translating?
Little more that a year and a half ago, after almost 14 years of practicing Law as a self-employed lawyer, I felt I had to try some additional activities in my spare time. Among the professional options I had in mind when I graduated from high school were Diplomacy and Translation. I finally chose Law, because since I was 8 my dream was to be a Diplomat, which in the end didn't happen. But languages always attracted me, and those urges of translating texts from one language to another in order to make them understandable to other people were never really gone.

I have never thought about it before, but I can see that both Translation and Diplomacy are professions that bridge people; both have to do with combining characteristics from different cultures, nations and lifestyles. That idea of [studying] Diplomacy came from a Polish friend I met when I was 8 - she was the daughter of a official from the Polish Embassy in Peru and we became best friends. Her dad's mission ended on the early 80's, and I lost track of her. Years later, her dad came back as Ambassador. I don't know how I had the nerve to call him and ask for his daughter, I mean, this is an Ambassador we are talking about! But he remembered me perfectly. He gave me my friend's address in perfectly spoken Spanish, and that's how I found her after all those years.

And how did this urge lead you to Global Voices?
At first, what I was interested in was translating more than anything else, as a collateral and different activity to what I have been doing in the previous years, without leaving Law aside. Gradually, I started realizing that it was a way of getting in touch with life elsewhere, with daily life in other contexts where people consider things we don't even think about around us. For instance, holidays in Muslim countries. It was important for me to realize that some dates that are so important for others while here we barely know about them. Those testimonies are much more valuable when they come from ordinary people who might go through lots of experiences in their hometowns that are similar to the complaints we have in Lima on the spreading of road works, for example, all the way to things like direct testimonies about the bombings in Gaza.

My link with Global Voices (GV) started by chance: on a Saturday in November 2007, I was reading the newspaper and I see this piece saying “if you want to join this translation project, just send en e-mail to Juan Arellano.” That very day, I got an account on GV and I started learning how to edit texts. From then, I just carried on.

What were your previous experiences translating? Was it very different from what you had done before?
In the last few years, I had done some occasional translations, always with family friends because I am not a professional translator. That's why it had to be done for people who knew me and who would trust in the ability of someone who isn't a professional translator. I have even completed that translation of a book about Pope John Paul II, from Italian to Spanish. The author, a Polish journalist, former Polish correspondent in the Vatican (currently back in Warsaw), authorized me to translate it. That was shortly after John Paul II passed away.

This is very different, because GV texts come from ordinary people, the so-called men in the street, the voices of those who don't have a voice, people next door that tell us how their lives are affected sometimes by everyday issues and by not-that-everyday issues too on a Web site with global reach. I sometimes read notes on the newspapers, about events I have translated, about subjects that make front pages in the countries where they have happened. Second, because I find it fascinating to be able to read the opinion of a Trinidadian girl that tells us about something as simple as significant as the love she has for her grandmother, or the Chinese citizen and his impressions about the 20 anniversary of Tiananmen events.

And the best part is that I've been able to establish virtual friendship with people I've met thanks to these translations. One of them is Coffeewallah, from Trinidad and Tobago, precisely the one who told us about the love for her grandma. She even dedicated a post to me. That was so exciting for me, for I didn't expect it and I was speechless as I was reading her text. Another one is Mariyah, who blogs from Syria, and whose blog I got to know via a translation of a post for GVO.

Before getting involved with GV, is it true that you were not aware of things such as Web 2.0 or the blogosphere?
That's correct, I'd heard very little about Web 2.0. To be honest, even now I really don't understand very well what it is all about. Regarding the blogosphere, I read and commented in some blogs on a regular basis, but that was pretty much it. In fact, I think I didn't even know the term blogosphere. At first, it seemed to me an exclusive closed club, and we as readers had some access and that was it, like voices without votes. After a while, I realized that the blogosphere needs the blogger-reader feedback and reader-blogger feedback as well, and many times it needs the feedback between readers that start dialogues through their comments. That's why I don't understand what's the point of blogs that don't admit comments, bloggers that don't reply comments and those who censor comments they don't like. As is usual, we can find a little bit of everything.

Shortly after joining GV in Spanish, you were “encouraged” to have your own blog. How do you feel about it now?
I was encouraged [to have a blog] because what we translate here are blogs. At first, I went through some kind of stage fright: I had the blog already open but with no posts. I felt no one, or very few people, would be interested in a very simple anecdote as the guy selling churros at a corner in Lima, or memories I keep of endlessly beloved ones that are not around anymore, or those simple simple stories I talk about sometimes. Juan Arellano, our editor, told us not to write about complicated subjects - not at first at least…that it would be better to start with the subject we knew best, that is, ourselves. And little by little we'd get used to writing. In my case it worked like that, even though I've made the decision not to speak of politics at all, that's what experts are for.

Now that I mention the guy selling churros, here is what happened to me as a result of that post. I posted it on March 2008, and in June 2008 I received a comment from a Peruvian girl living in Argentina, telling me she came by chance to my blog. She was looking for the blog of a friend of hers, an Argentinan girl from Córdoba, that had posted about the same guy who sells churros in Miraflores. No one can tell me that the blogosphere is not a handkerchief: it turns out that the father of this Peruvian living in Argentina, with a very good blog about cooks, was from Nauta. My mom is from Yurimaguas, and knew an aunt of this Peruvian girl, who had lived for a while in Yurimaguas. It was surprising to find out that the cousins of this Peruvian blogger had played pranks while growing up with an aunt of mine in Yurimaguas.

As one can see, my blog, Seis de enero, has also allowed me to make new friends I would not have dreamed of before. If the person who encouraged me to start a blog would have told me so, I wouldn't believed it. When e-mails took the place of actual mail, I thought that the emotion that comes with receiving news from the other side of the world was forever gone. It's not quite the same, but the emotion is still there.

Would you recommend starting a blog to others?
Sure I would. In fact, I'd say not to doubt it for a second. It is an unpredictable way of expressing ideas, of being related with other people's opinions and experiencies. It may sometimes be useful to find out facts about ourselves that wouldn't be apparent otherwise. Whether it's a blog in which simple and everyday incidents are told, as mine is, or a recipes blog - which I may say are truly successful - or a blog about politics and current affairs…It doesn't matter the subject, it doesn't matter whether you talk about this or that, as long as it is a subject in which we have solid knowledge, and remember never to be disrespectful to anyone. There may be some people who won't agree with you, but that's only a part of the plurarity we can find in the blogosphere.

What's the reason for the name Seis de enero (Janury 6th)?
It's simple: it's my birthday. It was the first thing I came up with when I decided that my posts would be about my own experiences. When I was making the register of the name I thought maybe it was already registered. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

And your experience in GV, do you think it is useful in other aspects?
It is indeed. As a matter of fact, though, what I learned in one of them was applied on the other one. I remember when I first started with GV, I used to run away from posts that included videos, simply because I wasn't able to insert them, until I had the idea to do so using HTML code, which is what I use when the post I pick up contains too many images, it is easier to do it that way. I think that is my major achievement, and I guess I wouldn't have figured it out had I not had the blog. Besides, I think that making translations from English to Spanish constantly has helped me learn much more. It's not just about the academic language learned from grammar, with its rules and exceptions, but richer speaking forms, more colloquial ones from each place around the world, especially the ones where English is the most spoken language.

Why do you think a man in the street should read GV in Spanish?
Because of the news from around the world,  everyone may realize that everywhere there are people with the same problems. Or with completely different ones from ours, but that are so present in their lives just as it had been, in a time that I really hope never comes back, blackouts and bomb blasts. To realize that we are not on our own, that unrest can be found everywhere and yet people move on, that dialogue is the most important thing, that we must communicate in order to understand each other, that we may disagree, but that is not a reason to consider other people as unworthy because they think differently.

Returning to the first question, what is your specialty as a lawyer?
For about the last five years I am fully dedicated to Arbitration, a way to solve conflicts between parties using an alternative to the Judiciary. At the time of carrying out a contract, the parties agree to resort to an arbitration in order to solve their disagreement. They settle the terms for carrying out the arbitration, and the arbitrator can be a sole arbitrator or be part of a court. I've worked both as a sole arbitrator and as member of a court. It is always a very enriching experience, you get to learn from the other members of the court, from the parties, from the legal secretaries who help you all along the process.

And what do you think is the situation of Peruvian bloggers facing our legislation? For example, would it be easy for a blogger to be involved in legal problems for posting against the government?
I really hope not. I've read and translated a lot about bloggers in other countries being held in prison and mistreated for posting what they think about this or that matter. Just for expressing ideas or thoughts! I guess the problem may exist when, misusing anonymity, a blogger dedicates time and energy to discredit other people without evidence. That's a powerful tool that can be misused in the wrong hands. Of course there is always the possibility of a rectification, but many times the damage is done and hardly repaired.

You said that your family has ancestors from our Amazonian region. What do you think about the recent events unfolding there?
My mom and all my family from my mom's side is from that part of Peru. My mom was born in Yurimaguas, precisely. From a long time ago I have had the feeling that that whole region only exists when there is an invasion from Ecuador. Just to speak about a concrete point, the highway Tarapoto-Yurimaguas, now that it appears every headline. It is about 130 kilometers long. Just a few years ago, it was just a road, a simple way. It wasn't conceivable, but it took 6 hours to travel across that distance. I am aware that there is a highway now (after having heard my whole life that it was the next work to be done) and now it takes two hours to travel that distance.

I don't think it is possible that in that huge territorial area, so enormously rich in so many resources, there are almost no airports, the roads are not properly conserved, the villages are almost completely isolated and the utilities are so precarious. Back to Yurimaguas, there used to be an airport, but now it is hardly used because the runway is too small for big airplanes. And it just stayed like that, nobody cares and nobody does anything to link the population with the rest of the country. In the '70s, when I first went to Yurimaguas, there was electricity only some hours per day. I've always known that during the golden years of the caucho exploitation, the wealthy families sent their children to study in Europe. I assume one of the reasons may have been that coming to Lima was too complicated. While across the Amazon river, getting out to the Atlantic Ocean may have been see as more feasible. Anyway, I want to express clearly that I don't justify any kind of violence whatsoever, no matter where it comes from. As Gandhi used to say: an eye for an eye and we'll all be blind. But I've just said before, political subjects are meant for the experts.

Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Yes - that I feel very comfortable with being part of this wonderful community, that has made me meet a handful of wonderful, dedicated and interesting people. Lingua, GV and all the other projects give voices to those who normally don't have a channel to express and share feelings, ideas, opinions, thoughts, nuisances, injustices, joys and pains.

Thank you, GV.

Thank you Gabriela.

N.B. - for those of you that may want to listen to our voices, I include a short podcast with greetings from Gabriela to the readers of Global Voices Online.

The picture in this post is by Isabel Guerra and has been used with permisssion.

An article titled “Kim Jong Il is just like Chairman Mao!” received a lot of attention in the Qiangguo Forum, a website run by state-owned the People’s Daily. In the article, chibilanting associates Kim Jong Il with Chairman Mao when dealing with military threats. As chibilanting argues,

我们看看毛主席的时代。新中国刚一解放，美国就联合诸国侵略朝鲜。我们保家卫国，支援朝鲜，我们打了过去，美国还是在自己没有胜利的协议书上签了字。印度占我领土，我们打了过去，剑指新德里。苏联占我珍宝岛，我们打了过去，珍宝岛还在我们手中。

朝鲜射出了卫星，美日韩没敢拦截，成了这一世纪的笑柄！紧接着，朝鲜又进行了核试验。联合国出了个什么几号决议，朝鲜的立场更加强硬。自称可以根据联合国决议可以检查朝鲜“江南号”货船的美国，动用了第七舰队，可是最后还是没敢拦截检查！朝鲜人在挨饿！这也许是真的。但是，金正日没输给奥巴马、李明博、麻生！正像中国的毛主席，没有输给世界一样！金正日就像毛主席！

A lot of comments followed, 221.205.34 said,

金正日只不过是毛主席的一名学生罢了!!!

Another netizen, Caiyunchangzai also agreed,

金正正在学习毛泽东精神，正在学习和运用毛泽东思想！

Gaoshanmei said,

不要说，金正日的硬骨头的确像毛主席！我们如果有这样像毛主席的领导，人民会感到多么幸福啊！

222.50.82 also said,

和老毛不是一个级别的，不过骨气倒不错，至少比我们的政府强

Another Chinese blogger, Enjoy Drawing, also compares Kim with Mao in his comment on Kim's portrait,

当年毛主席说：“枪杆子里面出政权！”现在时代进步了，应该说：“核导弹可以保政权！”

The blogger explains why Kim was portrayed in an upright position:

他也很明白，他和萨达姆不一样，萨达姆在中东是孤家寡人，孤军奋战。而朝鲜身后—站着一个比上世纪抗美援朝时更加强大的中国！

Elsewhere in the world, a nation is also preparing for the climax of the current political course: Indonesia's presidential election is here and happening.

Although the general election has not been a global controversy as in Iran, the future of Indonesia's governance is still under close monitoring by overseas governments, human rights organizations and international media establishments.

As the world's fourth largest country with 240 million people, Indonesia is still aiming high in reforming democracy, thus the documentation of this year's election will be considered as substantial for neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and the world as for Indonesians themselves.

As an example from the international front, Wall Street Journal set up an interactive graphics that display candidates' profiles, political timeline and the country's economic growth. Locally, Politikana.com is maintaining an editorial segment, Suara Mereka, reserved for election coverage along with updates through #politikana hashtag. Meanwhile, Kompasiana, journalist blog network established by Kompas Cyber Media, provides outlet for opinion articles by citizen journalists and also reporters from the news service.

Polikana.com: Suara Mereka

On the Twittersphere, likely sparked by media portals, the blogosphere and televised broadcasts, hundreds of tweets on the election are posted daily. Altogether the numbers have been stabilizing since legislative electoral period and predictably will continue to rise to its highest peak today, July 8th, as shown below:

Generated by BlogPulse, a service from Nielsen BuzzMetrics.

What is the role of Twitter in engaging the community in political campaigns and how? For voters, the microblogging platform generally facilitates these functions:

• As independent media among Indonesian citizens. In this respect, however, quantity is more signified than quality; from criticism to appraisal, the opinions are unfiltered as they are independent. It serves a paradox of purposes, aiding political education for the mass and catalyst for national cyber-activism, but also increasing the probability of black campaigning or counterproductive behaviors.

On Twitter, three primary hashtags become the virtual wall for gathering public opinion:

• #debatcapres. Twitter conversation on presidential debates broadcast nationwide during campaign period.
• #pilpres. Twitter conversation on presidential candidates and election.
• #indonesiaelection. Twitter conversation on General Election 2009. Mostly in English.

• As political campaign medium for the running presidential candidates. Each candidate's team have not yet reported or verified the effectiveness of campaigning through online social media however, except for allowing the seemingly direct communication between voters and candidates. It has been more of a “sandbox” for the newly introduced strategy, rather than the strategy itself, thus depending much on public initiative. The twittering candidates:

Megawati/Prabowo braces the iconic red for its Twitter page, actively communicating with fellow Twitter users.

Boediono, candidate for vice president representing Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono/Boediono chooses a more interpersonal approach, using “Tetap Semangat” as a personal jargon.

As for Jusuf Kalla for Jusuf Kalla/Wiranto, despite being a favorite for his on-screen performance, hasn't been showing activity on Twitter except for re-posting articles feed via AddToAny.

• As reporting medium for both citizen and mainstream journalism. Through online portals, mainstream media provides the required information source surrounding the Twittersphere. In return, Twitter users distribute and help shape the coverage by drawing the attention to certain subjects; it is considered an added bonus for social media-optimized news services.

On election day, a drastic rise of Twitter conversation is highly anticipated, and celebrated.  The call for celebration is not only for how social media technology enhances the nature of democracy, but also how citizens are getting themselves involved, regardless diversity of ethnics and religions, in the quest for better governance.

With the official results due on July 25th, what begs the question next is whether the political leaders will carry on improving sustainable, democratic and transparent interactivity in the long run, or be the fickle light that dims right after.

Saudi Arabia:

Jackson's ‘public' death conjures so many raw emotions in Saudi Sarah Mattar, who writes:

Kuwait:

From Kuwait, Loft965 writes:

Who know that Beyonce and I have the same favorite MJ song? This death is bringing people together […] This is heartfelt. The part are she says MJ’s name in the song again and again is wrenching.

Still in Kuwait, Maze of Thoughts adds:

7500 fans were given the chance to attend the memorial service that will take place this morning. Around 1.6 million fans worldwide tried to purchase tickets to attend. It’s going to be a sad day for all MJ fans. The KING will always live in the hearts of millions.

And 4thringroad reports:

Now i know lots of people are fed up with all the michael jackson news, i dont know about you guys but i sure am however i must say while doing my routine morning web surfing i read a weird article talking about how MJ will be buried without his brain in order to conduct more examinations to find out the exact reasons behind his sudden death..

Bahrain:

Bahraini Suad comes to Jackson's rescue and notes:

And our final stop is with American Um Naief, who is married to a Bahraini and blogs at Hypnotic Verses. The blogger explains how it took time for her to come to grips with Jackson's death:

Wow… was shocked to learn of Michael Jackson's death. Knew he was a drug addict long ago, but you never want to imagine it being as bad as it was. Looks like they've come across bags and bags of drugs inside his home, so it's only a matter of days before the world finds out what was hidden in his closet.

Sad that he'd die like Elvis and was married to his daughter.

I felt unmoved by the news at first. Took several days for it to sink in and after watching many a show and reading articles on the net, I feel very saddened, but feel, like many, that he's free of his demons now.

The free exchange of ideas, power of personal testimonies, and the quality of interventions during the meeting produced an enriching conversation that highlighted the need for a collective effort to report complete, factual information despite unfavorable conditions.

This meeting built on the foundation posed by the organizers and the participants of the first Malagasy Barcamp in October 2008.

One of the most striking aspects of the meeting was the substantial attendance despite recent reports from Reporters without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists that many journalists and bloggers received threats to themselves and their relatives during the crisis. Participants took a stand for freedom of expression, knowing well that their names and faces were now public knowledge and that members of former and current administrations were present in the room.

Audience at information meeting via ariniaina

The discussion had to happen because such authentic, powerful and apolitical testimonies were too important to not be told publicly and on record.

Here is an overview of the time line of the event:

An estimated 80 to 90 people came from 5 different regions and 4 different countries.

Alain Andriamiadravola, former journalist and now new media enthusiast, opened a meeting that turned out to be a free-flowing conversation with plenty of dissident opinions and unexpected authorities in the field of information and journalism.

I gave a quick overview of collaboration between traditional media and new media worldwide, its tremendous impact during crises and our hope that such a collaboration can come to fruition in Madagascar. A smaller meeting that was part of the American Cultural Center-driven “Friday talk” between journalists and bloggers allowed for an open friendly criticism of both sides and showed that there are room for partnership and mutual growth.

The poignant part of the meeting came when citizens from all over the country gave their account of how they used personal media to share what they saw during the crisis and how it cost them. Andry explained that his thirst for raw information drove him to be where trouble was brewing. Jentilisa explained that it was very odd that on black Monday (Jan 26th) people would announce that a building was burning even before it actually happened, hence suggesting that some events were probably planned and not just random acts of protests. Avylavitra told a story of how he feared for his life on March 28th when a soldier hold him at gun point and demanded his camera. Jaona from Fianaratsoa explained how his blog was mentioned at a public meeting as a threat to social order in Fianarantsoa and should be shut down. Many other bloggers/twitterers shared similar stories of major hardships while covering the crisis.

Thierry Andriamirado explained the increased relevance of online social networks in dispatching news about the crisis. Thierry was the first to exhaustively live-tweet the first tragic event of the crisis, “Black Monday,” and explained that he felt compelled to share the stories in real-time for a time-stamped digital record of the events.

Former minister of culture and communication Tsilavina Ralaindimby emphasized that such testimonies and citizens' willingness to report troubles are civic acts and must be protected at an institutional level.

Tsilavina Ralaindimby, former minister of communication, encouraging citizen journalism.

Barijaona Ramaholimiaso argued that his personal ethic as a blogger demanded that he reveal his true identity and pointed out that there is another form of pressure in Madagascar, the social peer pressure that prevents people from freely expressing their minds.

Christie Turner and Affick Gassard presented an initiative to promote the development of community radio in Madagascar. Some remote rural areas were aware of the development of the crisis thanks to a radio center that received online news feed through dial-up connection and broadcast the information to  rural communities.

Claire Ulrich gave a complete report on censorship online in the world building on examples from Iran and China, emphasized the importance of protecting first and foremost the well-being of journalists and bloggers. She also warned the audience to be mindful of the fine prints in the upcoming bill on the regulation of online communication in Madagascar. She also pointed out that both communities, traditional and new media, ought to come together to ensure that the memory of journalists killed during the crisis, like Ando and others, is never forgotten.

Finally, Harinjaka, Arinaina and Tahina presented the Foko Ushahidi platform, explaining how it came about and how SMS reports to a local phone number can be utilized for crisis reporting, but also other urgent humanitarian news and election monitoring.

Journalists also weighed in. Randy Donny, journalist and advocate of citizen journalism argued that there are no difference between journalism and citizen journalism in Madagascar. If anything he said, citizen journalist covered the crisis better because they were not under direct pressure from whichever regime ruled at the time.

The consensus at the end of the meeting was that the flow of information was/is severely affected bythe crisis. The information community came to a common agreement that we all needed to make a conscious effort to fight censorship and provide news free of government pressure. It was also an opportunity for people who followed the crisis through blogs to meet in real life the people behind the coverage.  For instance, Jacqueline, in the audience, was still beaming from chatting with blogger Jentilisa. She said

:” I read his blog everyday since January. It is just awesome to put a face and a personality on such remarkable people. “

Stay tuned for more on the current state of media in Madagascar.

Here are additional reports from the meeting:

Ariniana:
Tahina:
Avylavitra
Harinjaka:
sixthman:
photos
Madagascar matin ( print only version)

Image by Bllq21 under according to Creative Commons License

This first video in English, widely distributed through the microblogging site Twitter,  gives an explanation as to why the recent events shouldn't be called a coup:

This next video, shows the opposite view, and calls the event a Coup d'état. The following quotes are translated from the text on their video:

Sunday June 28. The constitutional order is broken with the kidnapping and expulsion of the President of the Republic José Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

Access to information is interrupted, electric energy is suspended, telephone, internet access, all national and international news channels are blocked, they take possession of the alternative news networks.

They manipulate information through pro-coup networks.

Popular organizations, civil organizations, LGBT, students, teacher organizations, women's feminists and others defend the Rule of Law in front of the Government offices.

Men and women in the whole country defend the Rule of Law against the pro-coup members of the National Congress and Army.

In the face of repression… lets defend the Rule of Law!

Its not a change of power, ITS A COUP D'ETAT!

This next video shows some of the violent events that have followed the change in power this past June 28th in spite of the new government's statements of how the situation is currently calm.

Mohammad Iqbal is an Indonesian who lives in Bahrain. He tells us the story of one worker he met:

I recently met a Bangali [Bangladeshi] who works for a hotel as a casual housekeeping attendant. He is actually Public Area attendant, one who takes care all public areas in a hotel, cleaning glass windows, or mopping floors of the lobby. He is not in charge for guest rooms. He does not make up rooms. What’s not fair? He spent BD1,500 (3980 USD) to get working visa in Bahrain. He’s entitled 2 year permit. He’s paid BD10 (26 USD) a day, it means he earns BD240 (636 USD) a month. It’s pretty good pay? Wait..! He has to pay his flat, water, electricity, meal and of course sending money home.

Let’s calculate. For housing, he spends a sharing flat for let say BD50 (132 USD) a month. Then water and electricity will be additional BD10 (26 USD), and then meal for BD40 (106 USD) a month. Don’t forget, since he has a landlord or agent who arranged his employment, including job placement in different places, he has to pay for the agent fee at least BD25 (66 USD). So, total take home pay will be only BD115 (305 USD) a month. In a year (12 month), he can save BD1,380 (3660 USD). This amount is still not enough to pay back the “visa” or “entrance fee” which is BD1,500 (3980 USD). I have no idea whether this amount is legal or not, but one thing I really don't get is that within 2 years he can only save BD1,260 (3340 USD) net. As a conclusion, he spends 1,500 (3980 USD) and sacrifices his two years working very hard for only BD1,260 (3340 USD). To extend another 2 years “working visa” he has to invest again BD1,000 (2652 USD). This means, within 2 years, he gets only BD260 (690 USD) net to save and I still have no clue how he pays for his flight ticket. I really don’t understand since it’s just not fair!

Francine Burlett, a French writer based in Bahrain, had a conversation with an Indian woman called Yasmina on a flight from Muscat to Bahrain in May. This is Yasmina's story:

“Pas facile, la vie à Chennai (Inde), chez moi, tu sais. J'ai deux filles au Collège. Un jour, elles seront docteur. Mais d'abord il faut payer, payer et payer encore. […] Tu sais, je viens de vivre presque 2 mois à Salalah, à Oman. J'ai laissé mon travail là-bas hier. J'étais dans une famille Omanaise. Madame avait 10 enfants - 8 filles et 2 garçons- et fin mai elle va accoucher du 11e bébé. Tu te rends compte? 11 enfants… C'est beau ça. Mais je ne serai pas là pour voir si c'est un garçon ou une fille. Je dois partir. C'est dur de la laisser seule, sans aide, si prêt de son accouchement mais je ne peux pas rester.

Tous les soirs, son mari venait dans ma chambre. Tous les soirs, je lui disais: “Je suis ton employée, pas ton épouse. Retourne chez toi, ta femme a besoin de toi. Retourne dans ton lit. Tu n'as pas le droit de me faire ça. Laisse-moi me reposer, je suis fatiguée…”. Tu imagines? Dix enfants, le ménage, la cuisine, la lessive avec chaque jour des tonnes de dishdashas et de abbayas à repasser, les draps, les couches en tissus, les serviettes… Mais moi, ça m'est égal de travailler. Je ne sais pas faire autre chose. Je suis courageuse. Je n'ai pas peur des lourdes tâches. Mais la nuit, il n'avait pas le droit de me faire ça. Me toucher, m'ennuyer. Je n'ai pas réussi à l'arrêter. Pas assez forte… J'ai du me me décider à faire quelque chose. Vite.

Tu vois, les employés de maison comme moi qui viennent d'Inde, du Sri-Lanka, de Somalie ou des Philippines, ils ont deux mois d'essai et après, ils ne peuvent plus annuler leur contrat, revenir en arrière. Nos passeports sont entre les mains de nos employeurs et s'ils ne veulent pas nous laisser partir, on ne peut rien faire. Tu dois honorer ton contrat de 2 ans avant de pouvoir retourner chez toi. C'est la loi. Moi, je leur ai dit que je voulais partir avant la fin de la période d'essai, que c'était mon droit. Malgré cela, monsieur ne voulait pas.

Alors, j'ai attaqué une grève de la faim. Pendant 5 jours, je ne suis pas sortie de ma chambre, je n'ai pas mangé, pas bu, je ne me suis pas lavée. Ils ont appelé le médecin. Et c'est lui qui a appelé la Police. Voilà. Ils m'ont accompagné jusqu'à l'aéroport. Monsieur a dû payer mon billet d'avion jusqu'à chez moi, me rendre mon passeport. C'est la loi. Mais Monsieur a été méchant jusqu'au bout, tu sais. Moi, je ne sais pas lire. Sur mon billet d'avion, je ne pouvais pas savoir ce qu'il y avait marqué. C'est ici, à l'embarquement, que l'hôtesse de Gulfair m'a dit que je partais pour Ramanathapuram, et non pas Chennai, ma ville. Tu peux le croire, ça? J'ai refusé d'embarquer. Pour aller où? Dans une ville que je ne connais pas, sans argent, sans personne, à 600km de chez moi?… Heureusement, la Police a payé le billet de Ramanathapuram à Chennai. Monsieur devra leur rembourser. Ils ont été corrects, ces policiers, tu sais. C'était quand même 60 Rials (120€) de supplément… un mois de mon salaire!

Je suis déjà restée 5 ans à Dubaï où j'ai fait un “jump” (Faire un “Jumping”: partir de chez son employeur, en lui laissant le passeport, pour accepter une place plus lucrative ailleurs mais en tant qu'illégal). J'ai travaillé 2 ans en Arabie Saudite, 2 ans à Oman dans le passé. Je parle arabe couramment. Si tu as besoin de quelqu'un, n'hésite pas à m'appeler à Chennai. Je viendrai. Je t'aime bien. Mais pas tout de suite. Je veux d'abord voir mes filles et un peu me reposer… ”

Mr Eddie Turkson reported on the details of the agreement:

“THE Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC) has signed a partnership agreement with Rising Data Solutions Limited (RDS), a business process outsourcing (BPO) company, to train people and create jobs in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry.

Under the agreement, RDS will provide a curriculum and logistics in the field and train teachers to teach the course at the college, while GTUC would house the classrooms, hardware and teaching personnel for the implementation of the course.

The college will also absorb the class into its official curriculum where students who earn qualifying marks in the course will gain employment with RDS.
The President of GTUC, Dr Osei K. Darkwa, said the government had identified Information Technology Enabled Service (ITES) and the BPO industry as one of the key industries for the creation of jobs and the provision of marketable skills for the youth for the country to position itself as a destination of choice for outsourcing.”

Ghana Voices defined the BPO industry as:

An information technology enabled service industry in which clients from other parts of the world subcontract services of which they have low competitive advantage over to local firms who have high competitive advantage in that area.

Ghana Voices also discussed the sector’s potential to benefit the country, stating that:

It is estimated that the sector could provide over 37,000 jobs for the youth by 2011 in Ghana, with an added value to the country’s economy of over 750 million dollars.

Bpoevents reported Dr Darkwa’s hopes for students’ skills development:

Dr. Darkwa expressed the hope that, the collaboration with RDS would equip the students in the areas like communication skills, computer skills, telemarketing, listening skills, accent neutralisation and keyboard skills which are required to succeed in the industry. Supporting this hope, Mr A. J. Whitman, RDS’s Public Relations Manager, said that this partnership was part of RDS’s campaign to bring more jobs to Ghana.

Daikieusown quoted Mr Whitman as saying:

We are proud of this partnership with GTUC, in large part because both parties recognize that the private sector cannot grow without the education sector, and vice versa. While still fledging in Ghana, RDS is banking on their ability to drive the sector by strategic partnerships, allowing skills development based on knowledge sharing that benefits all stakeholders, most importantly students.

The BPO industry has been a significant economic driver of countries such as India, Malaysia, and the Philippines, which had been responsible for the creation of tens of thousands of jobs.

Even Vodaphone, noted Eddie Turkson, commented on the agreement:

The Head of Corporate Communication, Vodaphone, Mr Albert Don-Chebe, gave assurance that Vodaphone was strongly behind the deal and commended RDS for having the courage to invest in Ghana, despite the challenges.

During the ceremony, Dr Darkwa mentioned that the challenges facing the industry were the “shortage of manpower which was restricting its growth”, as reported by Ghana Voices, and that:

It was to reverse this trend that the GTUC signed the MOU with the RDS to develop a talent pipeline in the short and long term, which would ensure continuous supply of trained manpower to feed the industry.
His colleague, Dr. Robert Baffour, The Vice President of GTUC, further stressed that GTUC would continue to develop all necessary platforms and build the requisite foundation to place Ghana on the technology map

Daikieusown quoted Dr Baffour, the Vice President of Ghana Telecom University College (GTUC):

GTUC has been the leader in ICT activities in the country and would continue to lead and chart the way forward for our country.””

on the evening of the ceremony in Accra.

The story goes back to August 2008, when Marwa filed a defamation case against her killer, Axel, a 28-year unemployed German, after he called her a “terrorist” because she wears the hijab (Islamic veil).

However last Wednesday, Alex stabbed her 18 times to death in a German courtroom after the judges announced she won the case against him, and that he had to pay 2,800 Euros as a fine for his previous insults.

Marwa, 32-year-old Egyptian, was the wife of an Egyptian academic, who was on a scholarship in Germany. Her husband was also hurt in the incident and is now in critical condition in hospital, between life and death.

Zeinobia expressed her anger in a post titled “What If She Were A Lesbian“, and said:

The woman is 32 years Marwa El-Sherbini , she was a pregnant in her second child when she was was stabbed.
[…]
This is for sure a hate crime but unlike other hate crimes like homophobic crimes or anti-Semitic crimes, it did not make the headlines abroad and I do not know why !! This is a racism crime , a woman is shot down stabbed like that so simple in the court room for God sake and it is not important to be covered in the media as it should !! She was a mother who was a pregnant for God sake !!
May Allah bless her soul , she is a martyr of racism and hate.

Ahmed esmat questioned on Twitter

The same thought was echoed by Hisham Maged on his blog, playing the What if game:

Let us play the What IF game, just imagine if the situation was reversed and the victim was a westerner who was stabbed anywhere in the world or -God Heaven- in any Middle Eastern country by Muslim extremists, or even what the media used to call ‘minorities’ in Egypt! You definitely would have heard the world’s buzzing and the internet goes down too!

Bikya Masr, who was closely following the incident, asked if Marwa can be the symbol to bring people together. He demanded an immediate action on the diplomatic and national levels:

Across the Middle East, anger is high. This anger, however, cannot fall into random diatribes against Germans, or Germany. It must maintain some semblance of coherence for any campaign that should be established to succeed. And it will if Sherbini truly is a symbol that can bring people together much like Neda in Iran did.
[…]
Do people believe Sherbini is a symbol? […] Egyptians should be outraged that a woman was verbally abused for wearing the veil and being Egyptian in the first place. The government should be sending a strong signal to Europe that this behavior is unacceptable, but they remain silent. That leaves it to the Egyptian population to take action.
[…]
Let us walk the streets in front of the German Embassy and demand a full investigation and report. Because if Germany cannot do this, then it once more proves that European hate for Muslims and Arabs is stronger than their so-called “freedom.” Yes, Marwa is a symbol, but she should be a symbol to bring people together, not divide them.

Another blogger Sadafat wrote:

Egyptian bloggers commenting or venting out their frustrations on Twitter.

As for myself, I found myself writing these lines on my blog Lasto Adri:

Shaoguan June 26 riot

So what had actually happened in Shaoguan? According to the Chinese official report, the conflict on 26 of June was caused by a rumor about a sexual assault of Han Chinese woman worker in a factory campus by Uyghur worker. The armed fight between Han and Uyghur workers had led to the death of 2 Uyghurs (some unconfirmed sources said the number of death was up to 18 Uyghurs). The Youtube videos below showed the June 26 riot:

Ethnic policy and hatred

While the Chinese government continued to use western conspiracy theory in addressing the ethnic conflict, Drunken Pig pointed out from a Han Chinese perspective that the Shaoguan incident and other similar ethnic conflicts are a result of government's ethnic policy:

汉人女工被强奸的事情在广东经常发生，但是由于作案者大多能够得到有效处理，很少酿成大规模群体事件。这次因为涉及到维族群体，而且传说是涉案者被政府释放而不受惩罚的事情重复发生之后，才导致大规模群体仇杀。

这些年的群体事件，大多出于民众对特权阶层的仇恨，而这些特权阶层的背后，都是国家暴力。中国政府的民族政策，把流到内地的维族群众变成了这样一个特权团体，但是同时也剥夺了维族人本该拥有的信仰权和自治权。

Repressing religion freedom

由于中宣部的丰功伟绩，普通民众对其他宗教所知甚少，甚至有些人以为穆斯林不吃猪肉是因为猪是他们的祖宗。无知导致的种种误解…可以说，很多仇恨都是政府的宣传机构煽动出来的…

在广东，虽然有很多维族人，但是你很难看到清真寺。我相信礼拜和祈祷对减少穆斯林的犯罪率是有效的。

那些杀人的汉人，在这次冲突中表现得非常残忍。但是平心而论，他们长期以来是受害群体。在广东，几乎所有的政府部门都护着新疆人。镇压汉人群体事件不会有大问题，但是镇压维族人，会遇到很大的阻力。因此地方政府迫于当地民众压力清理新疆流氓的行动，有时候竟然要借用黑社会和便衣联手的方式。

Social minority and unemployment problem

Uighur online disagreed with Drunken pig's Han centric viewpoint and presented the other side of the story:

成千上万的维吾尔孩子被拐骗到内地毒打虐待做小偷是事实，你们有多少人想到背后的社会问题？一个人、一个民族谁天生愿意做小偷？ZF采取过什么有效的干预措施？在我看来：一部分维吾尔孩子沦为小偷的事实恰恰说明了一个真实的现状：维吾尔人在他们的故乡处于是社会的最下层地位。

DXXX (account protected) from twitter also pointed out that:

在新疆名义上是维吾尔自治区，但是维吾尔在新疆是弱势民族。仅就汉语的使用,就是当地维吾尔族处于极大的劣势，所有招聘单位都由汉语主导。很多企业排斥招收维吾尔员工。金融、通讯、银行、石油化工，天然气等诸多领域，维吾尔人都是限制。由于政府的歧视政策,造成维吾尔人就业困难。

Urumqi mass incident

Back to the Urumqi Mass Incident, during the curfew, twitterer zz23377737 experienced 1. electricity cut. 2. disrupted tele-communication 3. non-stop police siren. Several twitterers said that the Internet connection was still cut unavailable this morning in Urumqi.

Below are two videos showing the protest scene:

ESWN has the most updated collection of news and informations on the Urumqi Mass Incident.

So please forgive the Iraqi bloggers for not jumping on this new bandwagon. In fact I have only one reaction from Iraq about the withdrawal albeit a happy one. Mosul 4 All reports from his home town:

Today 30 of June 2009 ,

I woke up at morning on the sounds of cars in the street , the government considered this day as a national holiday so all my family was in the house , people were celebrating in the street , and exactly at 9:01 am the helicopters were throwing clippings in the air on the streets of mosul and I was able to see them brightly , but it was two streets away from the house and it said that they contain a ” congratulation speech ” from the chief of ministers of Iraq .

This is the first day in Mosul city that we wouldn't see any soldier in the city , this would be very good.

People were celebrating at the streets and some was serving-out candies and juice to the people in the streets and some were putting on an national songs in the cars.

Actually the american army didn't quit from the city finally but they still around the city of Mosul but not inside it .

First reaction came from Layla Anwar who stayed up late to write an urgent post:

There are HUGE misconceptions surrounding U.S troop withdrawal on the 30th of June.

Both Iraqi and American/Western media are using the term withdrawal. This is a propaganda spin and I need the reader to become very aware of the usage of words. There is NO American withdrawal from Iraqi cities. What there is, is a pull back to the 15 or so American bases AND in parallel a redeployment of American troops on the edges of the cities.

The official Iraqi version wants us to believe that this is victory. Suddenly the official language of PM Al-Maliki, is full of patriotism with statements like “This is the end of violence and sectarianism in Iraq”.

This is BULLSHIT, because only today there has been a massive campaign of arbitrary arrests in two neighborhoods - Adhamyia (sunni) and Shula'a. (I dont know what Shula'a is anymore. It used to be mixed.) …

The Americans are not leaving Iraq, they are just pulling back to their bases and redeploying on the outskirts. In the Nineveh province they are staying put. This means there is no pull back. So please stop believing this term withdrawal because it does NOT exist and it is very misleading. This is a ploy to confuse the layperson and make believe that Iraq is now a success case - an American success.

Hammorabi agrees:

The occupying troops only pulled few kilometers from the cities centers to rest on well equipped bases in very strategic positions which are all over controlling these cities. In fact the occupiers have strengthened their control and reduced their losses… It is not the end of the occupation to call it this. On the other hand the Iraqis were happy to see the occupiers have left the streets taking with them their arrogance and destructions however the only way to gain the sovereignty is when the last solider leaving Iraq for ever.

Nibras Kazimi was interviewed on Al-Jazeera:

I said that the troop withdrawal today is the result of a U.S. and Iraqi victory against the ‘mutinous' insurgents… I thought it was funny that I was openly speaking from Baghdad, from Abu Nawwas Street, while the mouth organs for the ‘resistance' were in exile or in hiding. Oh, and I got a free PhD to boot, ‘Dr. Nibras' this and ‘Dr. Nibras' that. Grad school is for suckers.

Raed Jarrar gives his reaction in a video interview:

With a new wave of bombings in Iraq that coincide with the American pull-out from cities, Iraqi Mojo worries about new sectarian tensions. He writes: “The Iraqi Shia withstood two years of bombings before militias began rounding up ordinary Sunni Arab men and killing them. I hope the Iraqis do not allow their enemies to ignite another sectarian war.”

Raed's mother, Faiza, has hopes for the future. She writes:

Hope it will be the beginning of a real Iraqi sovereignty ,and the right way towards national reconciliation , then the country can have peace and start the reconstruction process soon.
Our political Iraqi leaders should act as national leaders , no sectarian no ethnic discourse we want to hear any more.
Hopefully they can be awared enough to understand the difficult challenges facing the future of Iraq.

I have a big HOPE that Iraqis can pass over all the pain and the bad memories of the last years, to accomplish a better future.

And Attawie preferred to talk about jellyfish-shaped crop circles.