Bloggers in Gaza are gathering information about what happened during the recent Israeli attacks. In this update, we hear from families whose homes were looted and left covered with faeces by Israeli soldiers, learn what the effects of DIME weapons are, and are told the story of a father whose baby daughter was shot, his wife breastfeeding the girl as she bled to death.
Canadian activist Eva Bartlett blogs at In Gaza, and writes in a post (January 27) about visiting Ezbet Abbed Rabbo, eastern Jabaliya, an area which was invaded by Israeli troops and where many homes were occupied:
The first house I visited was that of my dear friends, who we’d stayed with in the evenings before the land invasion began. […] Upstairs to the first level apartment. Complete disarray. Feces on the floor. Broken everything. Opened cans of Israeli army provisions. Bullet holes in walls. Stench. To the second floor, next two apartments, all of the extended sons and wives and children’s rooms. More disarray, greater stench. This was the main base, apparently, from the boxes of food – prepackaged meals, noodles, tins of chocolate, and plastic-wrapped sandwiches – and the left behind IOF soldiers’ clothing. A pair of soldiers trousers in the bathtub, soiled with shit.
F. tells me: “The smell was terrible. The food was everywhere. Very disgusting smell. They put shit in the sinks, shit everywhere. Our clothes were everywhere. The last time they invaded (March 2008), it was easy. They broke everything and we fixed it. But this time, they put shit everywhere: in cupboards, on beds – my bed is full of shit.”
She is strong and has handled the invasions before, but the desecration of her house has got her down.
“A minute ago, Sabreen opened her clothing cupboard: there was a bowl of shit in it! They used our clothes for the toilet. They broke the door of the bathroom and brought into our room. I don’t know why.”
[…] Two days later, I re-visited, the house much tidier but still soured with the clinging stench of the soldiers’ presence. “We’ve cleaned as much as we can, but it’s so difficult. We still don’t have running water, we have to fill jugs from the town water supply.” I’d walked the sandy track up, I know how hard it is even empty-handed on foot, let alone laden with heavy jugs or trying to navigate any sort of wagon to carry large amounts of water. The track had been more of a proper dirt road before. Before it, and the land around, was torn up by Israeli tanks and bulldozers.
For photos of the temporary shelters many people in Jabalia have been forced to live in see here.
In another post (January 29) Eva writes about Yousef Shrater, a father of four whose home was also occupied:
Shrater explains how the Israeli soldiers forcibly entered the house and ordered the family members out, separating men and women and locking them in a neighbouring house with others from the area. His father and mother, living in a small shack of a house nearby, were soon to join them. The soldiers then occupied the house for the duration of the land invasion, as Israeli soldiers did throughout the Abed Rabbo area, as they did throughout all of Gaza. And as with other houses in occupied areas, residents who returned to houses still standing found a disaster of rubbish, vandalism, destruction, human waste, and many stolen valuables, including mobile phones, gold jewelry, US dollars and Jordanian dinars (JOD), and in some cases even furniture and televisions, used and discarded in camps the soldiers set up outside in occupied areas. Shrater says the soldiers stole about US$1,000 and another 2,000 JOD (~US$2828) in gold necklaces. Back in the east-facing corner room, Shrater steps around a 1.5m by 1.5m depression in the floor where tiles have been dug up and the sandy layer of foundation beneath has been harvested. “They made sandbags by the window, to use as sniper positions.” The bags are still there, stuffed with clothing and sand. “They used my kids' clothes for their sniper bags,” Shrater complains. “The clothes they didn’t put in sandbags they threw into the toilet,” he adds.
Shrater's father was abducted from his home:
From the roof we see more clearly the surrounding area where tanks were positioned, the countless demolished and damaged houses and buildings, and bits of shrapnel from the tank missiles. Shrater’s father, 70, is on the roof, and begins to tell of his experience being abducted from his house and locked up with his wife and others for 4 days. “They came to our house there,” pointing to the low-level home which housed he, his wife, and their sheep and goats. “The Israeli soldiers came to our door, yelled at us to come out, and shot around our feet. My wife was terrified. They took all of our money, then handcuffed us. Before they blindfolded us, they let our goats and sheep out of their pens and shot them. They shot 8 dead in front of us.” The elderly Shrater and his wife were then blindfolded and taken to another house where for the next 4 days Israeli soldiers denied him his inhaler for his asthma and his wife her diabetes medications. Food and water were out of the question, and Yousef Shrater’s father says their requests for such were met with soldiers’ retorts ‘No, no food. Give me Hamas, I’ll give you food.’
At Tales to Tell, Australian activist Sharyn Lock writes (January 26) about a discussion with a doctor:
When I saw Dr Halid the other day, on the request of a journalist, I asked him about evidence of the weapon called gbu39 or “dime” (dense inert metal explosive) bomb. This is believed to have been used by Israel for the first time in Lebanon in 2006, and now here as well. Dr Halid said the ICU doctors were seeing something new to them: what appeared to be mild external shrapnel injuries coupled with disproportionate massive internal damage.
“There will be small chest wounds, but then the lungs will be destroyed. Or minor abdominal entry wounds but then kidneys and liver destroyed.” I heard today that it seems that the dense metal shrapnel splinters into tiny particles upon entry to the body, which are then carried by the bloodstream, swiftly shredding everywhere they reach. So many patients appear to stabilize, and then die shortly afterwards. As if that wasn’t enough, Lebanon experience suggests that those who do survive experience quick onset of cancer. What kind of mind dreams this stuff up?
In another post (January 22) Sharyn tells us Amer's story:
Amer is 29. 14 people from his family were in the house that night, and they were all trying to sleep under their stairs as some sort of shelter. Even though the stairs were partly open to the back yard, the F16 attacks on the house made downstairs seem the safest place. […] Amer didn’t know it yet, but his brother Mohammed had already been killed elsewhere that day, struck by drone rockets.
The Israeli soldiers came to their house at about 5.30am, after the house had been shelled for 15 hours, and immediately opened fire on the family, killing Amer’s father with three shots. Then they told the family to leave. Amer had called an ambulance (which had to turn back after being shot at) and was refusing to leave his father’s body but the soldiers said they would shoot him if he stayed, so they fled 300 yards up the dirt track behind their house, at which point they were shot at again by another group of soldiers. This time Amer’s brother Abdullah was shot, Amer and Shireen’s 6 year old daughter Saja was shot in the arm, and their 1 year old daughter Farah was shot in the stomach. They spent the next 14 hours sheltering behind a small hill of dirt, while the wounded bled, and were not allowed to access help though the soldiers were aware of the injuries. Having no other way to comfort her small daughter, whose intestines were falling out, Shireen breastfed Farah as the little girl slowly bled to death.
After 14 hours, at about 8 in the evening, the soldiers sent dogs to chase them out of their shelter and dropped phosphorous bombs near them, but due to the wounded family members and having bare feet in an area of broken glass and rubble, escape was difficult. The army took the three wounded and put them behind the tanks, and captured Amer, but the rest of the family managed to get away and call the Red Crescent. The ambulance that eventually reached the injured people 7 hours later (driven by my medic friend S) took an hour to find them, and by this time Farah was dead. […] Amer was held for 5 days in army custody (the first 3 without access to food, water, or a bathroom), beaten and tortured, and questioned about resistance activity which he knew nothing about. When he was finally released on the border, the army sent two known collaborators to escort him, so it would look to the resistance fighters like he himself was a collaborator. But the fighters knew who he was and that he was not a collaborator. He tells us:
“I had my four children young, and they gave me the most happiness in my life. I took such good care of them. […] Now my remaining children will not go to sleep without their shoes on, because they think we will have to run for our lives again.”
Mohammed Ali, who works for the NGO Oxfam, writes on the Oxfam blog (January 20) about his sister's children:
My sister will not leave her house; she is still scared that something terrible might happen if she steps out of her front door. Since the ceasefire started, she has encouraged her children to return to sleeping in their beds. She awoke this morning to find her kids curled together in the centre of the living room, like they had been doing for the last three weeks. It will take them weeks, months if not years for their wounds caused by this conflict to heal.
Natalie Abou Shakra, a Lebanese activist, blogs at Moments of Gaza; in a post written on January 20 describes visiting Dr. Imad, professor of microbiology:
As I get into Imad's living room I see a painting of a woman, with traditional Palestinian attire, pink (remember that the colour pink is targeted by the Israeli Occupation Forces… pink pajamas… especially children in pink pajamas)… the painting was on the floor, and there was a hole in the wall where it used to hang… it was a beautiful painting… vibrant and full of life… perhaps, that is why it was targeted. On another wall, there was a photo of a man and woman in an intimate position, kissing… I stood in front of it. Don't we have the right to love and intimacy too? We want the right to love and intimacy too… They bombed two bedrooms, and the holes were just above the beds… the ruins were all on the bed. Intimacy… ‘love'… sex… destroyed. A society whose right to develop [has been] hindered, obstructed.


Be it expressing opinions, fighting for freedom of press and technology, or spreading the word about creativity and quality in writing, we know that not all blogs in the world do this, but these qualities do apply to many of those in the Brazilian blogosphere. But, how do we know which blogs really deserve a visit? Well, we always have our personal favorites, but if you read Portuguese why not broaden your feeds by looking at the best blogs of 2008?
For the second consecutive year, the polls at the Blogs Brazil 2008 Award website were open from December last year throughout January, ending at Campus Party Brazil, on January 23 and split into two types, jury and public, with the finalists grouped into 30 different categories. The jury was made up of specialists, who had been giving lectures and participating in discussions about blogs during the Campus Party. On the other hand, over 30,000 people participated in the public vote [pt]:
“Acabou a votação aberta ao público. Foram mais de 78 mil votos, dados por 34 mil pessoas que se inscreveram para participar e contribuir com o Best Blogs Brazil.”
Not always was the same blog chosen by both jury and public. According to the panel of specialists, the best blog in 2008 was Blog do Tas, whereas according to public opinion Brogui deserved the top prize. With over 1,000 followers and almost 4,000 updates, Brogui was a brave contender to beat Blog do Tas, written by a successful and well known Brazilian journalist, Marcelo Tas. Being quite as informative as Tas, Brogui is more light-hearted, design-conscious and also outdoes Blog do Tas in interactivity with other blogs. Brogui won 1,621 votes ahead of the 1,415 won by third placed Blog do Tas.
Like the main category contest, public and jury votes also diverged in the sport blogs category. Blog do Juca, by Juca Kfouri, one of the best sports journalists in Brazil, was awarded first-prize by the jury but deserved only fourth position according to public opinion. It received only 360 open votes against 1,467 cast for Terceira Via Verdao, a blog with a clear connection to Brazilian football club Palmeiras. Their content, therefore, might be more appealing for fans of that club.
Moving onto the best arts and culture blog, the focus of Livros & Afins [Books & CIA] on just one specific segment of culture - books - was enough for the blog to be the popular winner, at the same time that Amalgama, fifth in the public vote, took home the top trophy by the specialist jury. Set up by scholars and people who not only love art but understand it inside out, the blog is open to anyone who would like to jot down some ideas about cinema, literature, and music.
Only blogs in six categories were unanimously chosen as best blogs by both public and jury: the science prize went to a blog about Biology, Brontossauros em meu jardim [Brotosaurus in my Garden]; the business and finance prize was won by Dinheirama; the wedding plans of the blogger at Planejando meu Casamento won it the best blog in the daily-life category; the advertising and communication prize was won by Brainstorm #9, a blog for those who want to know about media; the best blog design prize was taken by Sedentario e Hiperativo [Sedentary and Hyperactive], and, closing the list, Kibe Loco was chosen in the humor category.
To be or not to be fair – that's the question
Blogs were nominated by anyone who had a valid email account and agreed to subscribe to the website. However, as the web is not a cheat-free zone, the organizers were driven crazy by a blogger who wanted to win at all costs - even by taking an unfair advantage. On the penultimate day of the pole, the organizers posted the following:
“Longe de ser um mar de tranquilidade, o Best Blogs Brazil foi como um tsunami nos últimos dias. Decisões foram tomadas, sempre em busca de ter uma eleição justa, imparcial e verdadeira, para sabermos quais são, de fato, os maiores blogs do Brasil.
Um fato intrigou muitos durante este tempo: como um blog anoitecia com x votos e quando era no outro dia de repente aparecia com centenas? Alguma coisa estranha existia, mas como provar? Não havia ainda uma resposta. (…)
Enfim, consegui finalmente descobrir como isso aconteceu. Simplesmente eram criadas várias contas de email para que o blog ganhasse votos. E descobri o IP desses votos.
One fact intrigued many people during this time: how could one blog have X votes in the night and then, on the next day, it would suddenly show up X hundred votes? Something weird was going on, but how could it be proved? There was no answer. (..)
At last, I finally managed to find out how it happened. Basically, there were many email accounts opened for a blog to win votes. And I found out these votes' IP address.“
The discussion was open to everybody in the community built around the awards, and organizers and public reached a decision together:
“Decisão tomada. A votação permanece como está. Avaliando todos os comentários abaixo, vemos o quão é difícil analisar a situação. Mas se a grande parte concorda que se as regras não previam isso e se a tecnologia permite que isso aconteça, então os votos são validados. Porém, algo tinha que ser feito. Alguns IPs que enviaram uma quantidade absurda de votos, foram bloqueados. Que vença o melhor.”.
To see the full list and find out more about the other winners, visit Best Blogs Brazil 2008. To see pictures of the award ceremony, check Wagner Fontoura's photo set on Flickr. As of now, there is no news about next year's edition, but, hopefully it will take place again and this time the cheats will be, in one way or another, completely defated.
A dispute between the president of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanan, and the mayor of the capital, Andry Rajoelina, thrust Malagasy citizens into violent rioting and looting last week, and has now escalated into a power struggle for the presidency itself.
In December, Rajoelina, a DJ and advertising tycoon turned Antananarivo's mayor, mobilized his supporters when the government shut down his television station, VIVA. Now, it seems his tens of thousands of followers will demand not only restoration of democracy and freedom of speech, but also control of government.
Two scheduled negotiation talks between Ravalomanana and Rajoelina have been canceled.
The mayor has been able to tap into Malagasy growing discontent and disapproval of the current regime to gather a following. This Saturday, on the Place du Treize Mai, in front of tens of thousands of supporters, Andry Rajoelina has proclaimed himself the new leader of Madagascar.
“Since the president and the government have not taken their responsibilities… I will run all national affairs as of today,” he said.
He has also announced plans to impeach Ravalomanana, the current elected president, who has according to him, disrespected the Malagasy constitution.
As reported by Avylavitra (who posted pictures on his flickr account as well) :
“Notanisaina teny an-kianja daholo androany ireo teboka efa ho folo lazain’ireo mpomba an’i Andry fa fanitsakitsahana lalampanorenana nataon’Atoa Ravalomanana Marc, ka tafiditra ho isan’ny tena antony azo analana azy amin’ny toerany, ka isan’izany ny resaha ‘haute trahison’ momba ny fanafarana mpikarama an’ady hamono ny taranaka Malagasy, ny fanaovana fanavakavahana ara-pinoana sns….
Teny ampamaranana ny fotoana, rehefa ela no niandrasan’ny vahoaka azy, dia nivoaka ihany ilay fanambarana lehibe nataon’i Andry Rajoelina, ka nanabaràny fa izy ny mitondra vonjimaika ny tetezamita, ary manome baiko sy mitantana ny raharaha rehetra. Nisy ny fanaingany ny tafika sy ireo ministera isan-tokony mba hanaraka ny baikony.”
“Andry's supporters counted ten instances of Marc Ravalomanana holding the constitution in contempt, they included some that validate his impeachment, one of them being “high treason” for importing mercenaries to kill Malagasies (author's note: this is an unsubstantiated claim, officially refuted by one of the army's leaders. The presence of foreign mercenaries was a recurring rumor during unrests.), another instance was Ravalomanana's alleged religious discrimination, etc…
At the end of the rally, after his supporters had long waited for it, Andry Rajoelina finally showed his ace card, when he said that he would lead the transitional government, and he would be the one giving orders and in charge of all affairs. He urged the army and ministers to follow his commands.”
News2Dago wonders if this is democracy:
“Toy izao ilay atao oe vahoaka maro an'isa izany oe 80.000/20.000.000 na koa oe 0,004 % no hadidy sy hanapaka ny tany sy ny fanjakana. Dia atao ahoana izany ireo vahoaka tsy milahatra tsy tia korontana kanefa tsy sahy maneho hevitra fa ampitahorina bemiranga sy olona milanja basy handromba sy hanampim-bava. Demokrasia ny bandy bokona sy beloha no tiana hanjaka eto @ tanana.”
Madagascan wonders what will happen next:
“…une question se pose tout de même: La solidité de ses soutiens au sein de l'armée et des forces de l'ordre? Jusqu'à présent, aucun évènement n'a pu démontrer la supériorité d'un camp ou d'un autre au niveau des forces armées. Cette déclaration sera donc le grand test pour Andry Rajoelina.
En tout cas, cela ôte tout doute sur le fait que le maire d'Antananarivo possède des soutiens dans la classe politique d'opposition, qui ont préparé cette confrontation. Tout seul, il n'y serait pas arrivé.
Le week-end risque d'être encore agité. La logique voudrait que Marc Ravalomanana lance un mandat d'arrêt contre Andry Rajoelina, et que ce dernier soit fait prisonnier dès aujourd'hui. Cela sera le premier grand test: Les forces de l'ordre vont-elles obéir?”
Meanwhile, Ravalomanana was seen in various coastal cities, the latest being Nosy Be, where according to the Presidential communication team, he gave the following speech:
“Je suis là pour discréditer les rumeurs, car à Antananarivo il est dit que tout Madagascar est en feu. Je constate que la vie de tous les jours continue. Il faut se concentrer sur le travail pour faire progresser les pays. Je suis aussi venu pour constater les dégâts causés par le vandalisme et les incendies. Nous suivons de près les fauteurs de troubles afin que vous réalisiez qu’il y a un Etat de droit à Madagascar. Le constat général est le suivant: les troubles sont causés par des groupes qui viennent de nulle part et soudainement, pour semer la panique. Nous respectons la Constitution et la légalité, et ce ne seront pas gens qui vandalisent et pillent qui vont déstabiliser notre nation. Nous sommes profondément désolés de ce qui s’est passé, mais nous allons travailler ensemble pour redresser l’économie. “
Yahoo Forum reactions to Andry Rajoelina's self-proclamation range from bewilderment, consternation to elation. Some see in Rajoelina's power grab a move to protect his personal interests and fortune. Others are just glad. Still others wonder if the people are not again the dupe of politicians.
“Que faut-il faire pour que le peuple malgache ne soit pas sacrifié au nom de quelques intérêts personnels.
Rendons nous compte: pour accéder au pouvoir, ces gens là osent parler de démocratie et sont prêts à faire des actes terroristes et prendre le pouvoir de force!!!”
“Manana “Filoha vaovao” aloha izao ny tenanay ka soava tsarà ingahy “ANDRY TGV”"
Others on the Sobika forum wonder about elections in Madagascar:
“Et le peuple malgache aura t'il son mot à dire? je ne me permets pas de juger mais il me semble que TGV devrait réclamer des élections? La seule légitimité démocratique peut donner un avenir à un homme ou une femme politique…ces méthodes d'auto proclamation sont d'un autre âge…”
What if one day Jesus and Buddha descended to Earth to spend their holidays? And what if they lived together in a cheap apartment in Tachikawa, in western Tokyo? This is what Hikaru Nakamura (中村光) [jp], a young Japanese manga author, was thinking of when he she came up with Saint Oniisan (聖☆おにいさん [jp], lit. Saint Young Men), a manga published in the monthly magazine Morning 2 (モーニング2) in 2007 that become a hit in the last few months after the publication of the first two episodes as single volumes last year.

The cover of Saint Young Men, vol.1
Among bloggers enthusiastic about Nakamura's manga, many appreciated the sense of humour of gags with a religious element. But many were also those, like blogger miyu, who pointed out how those funny jokes are, in reality, very well-thought out.
ブッダとイエスが、バカンスに下界へ降りてごく普通に生活するという話。
お金に細かいブッダ。
衝動買いするイエス。[…]
感想は、
『やっぱ読んでよかった~♪♪♪』
[…]、ブッダやイエスがTシャツにジーパンってだけで笑えるもんね。
2巻の表紙のイエスかっこいいし。笑[…]
この漫画描くの大変そうだなぁ。
ネタがいちいちおもしろいから、よく考え付くなぁと感心しながら読んでいます♪
Similarly, Chihaya_K_Amou’s words express the level at which this story struck a chord with its readers:
すごく笑いました!
ギャグとしても笑えるのですが、ネタがわかると何倍も面白い!
キリスト教ネタも仏教ネタもわかるともう最高に面白いです。
こういうマンガは日本人でないと描けないでしょうね。
そして、こういうマンガを心から楽しく読めるのも日本人でないと無理かなーと。
日本人に生まれてよかったよ、自分。
個人的に。
自分の近所にこういうおにいさんたちが住んでいたらぜひお友達になりたいね!(笑)

One scene from the manga.
As mentioned in an interview published at Jump Square magazine [ja], Nakamura has always been interested in Christian iconography, but he she is not a believer nor an expert of religions. So when this topic came to his her mind he decided not to pursue deeper research on the topic in order to keep the content from becoming too complex and difficult for people to understand. The jokes and the gags had to be simple and direct, recognizable and at the same time funny for everybody. But, unfortunately, there are some readers who didn’t appreciate this “light spirit” and, like Monamona, disapproved of critics who approved of Saint Young Men.
聖おにいさん評判が高いので買ってみました。
イエスと仏陀が現代に降臨して共同生活ってのは面白い設定です。
でも筆者にはいくらでも面白くなるこの設定を活かすだけの教養がない。
せめて聖書や日本語訳のお経くらいでも読めばいくらでもネタは転がっているだろうに、それさえしてない感じ。
一番ひどいのは神社と寺の区別がついてない(二巻)あたり。
編集者も気付けよ。
こんなレベルで「このマンガがスゴイ」のトップになってしまうあたり
審査員のレベルの低さも推して知るべし。
ネットの評判だけで楽しみにしてただけにホントがっかりという感想です。
Lastly, blogger yamada considers this manga, which is a parody of the two main spiritual figures, to be a product of the religious syncretism that is peculiar to Japan since ancient times.
肝心の内容の感想はというとおもしろい!!の一言です。ひさしぶりにギャグマンガで大笑いした気がします。
特に個人的にお気に入りはイエスがプールの中でモーゼのようになる!というシーンです。
あそこ以外にもおおむね宗教ギャグ関係は笑えました。
ですが、一番気になるのはこの作品は日本独自のものなのだろうなぁということです。
正月にはお寺で除夜の鐘を聞き、その足で初詣に出かけ、クリスマスにはパーティーをするという宗教の雑多ぶりがこのマンガを生み出したんじゃないでしょうか?
とりあえずこれを真剣なキリスト教徒の方などに読んでもらって感想を聞きたいな~などと思った次第であります。

In the summer of 2007, police in Iran began arresting dogs. These were not stray dogs, but domesticated pets walking with their owners. While the dog arrests subsided after a couple of weeks, the mistreatment of animals in the Islamic Republic of Iran is still widespread.
Fortunately, a number of bloggers are supporting an initiative by Iran-based blogger Mino Saberi, to defend the rights of dogs, birds, cats, and other creatures of the Earth.
Mino Saberi addresses [fa] her post to Iranian National TV and its director Ezetollah Zarghami:
آقای ضرغامی من هم چون شما مسلمانزادهام ..، خدا را میپرستم و به تمام مقدسین عالم احترام میگذارم و تمام مخلوقات خدا را دوست میدارم، مگر میشود خدا را پرستید وآنچه را که خلق کرده دوست نداشت؟!
آقای ضرغامی، شما رسالت سنگینی بردوشتان هست و گمان میکنم از بخشی از آن بیخبرید. ..
رسالت شما تنها این نیست که از مردم بی دفاع و مظلوم این کشور و آن کشور دفاع کنید، نگاهی به دور و برتان بیندازید، گاه نگاهی هم به برنامههای ساخته شده از همین تلویزیون که شما ریاستاش را بر عهده دارید بیندازید.
دشمنی با حیوانات بیآزار و مظلوم تا کی؟ آنهم از یک رسانه پرقدرت و پرمخاطب…ما، یعنی جمعی از وبلاگ نویسان خواهان این هستیم که رسانهها خصوصا” تلویزیون در برنامههای خود بخشی هم به آموزش مهربانی با طبیعت، چه حیوانات و چه گیاهان بدهند.
She also says that Muhammad, the Prophet taught kindness towards animals.
Sadaf-Farahani writes [fa] that the ill treatment of animals has its roots either in psychological problems or in a bad education.
Asalijon protests [fa] against the killing of stray dogs and their puppies. The blogger shares his/her experience with a stray dog named Magnolia and her seven puppies. The blogger says, one day this dog and its family was killed by bullets. Asaljoon asks if it is the right decision by Iranian authorities to kill these innocent creatures.
Bidari writes [fa]
متاسفانه اتفاقات ناهنجار و آزار و اذیت حیوانات در مملکت ما کم کم تبدیل به یک فرهنگ می شود . از خاموش کردن ته سیگار روی تن گربه ها گرفته ، تا بریدن گوش سگ های خیابانگرد و بی توجهی به پرندگانی که هرروز تعدادشان کمتر از قبل می شود.(کافی است نگاهی به اطرافتان بیندازید تا متوجه درستی این مطلب شوید)
در این تغییر فرهنگی و گرایش مردم به نادیده گرفتن حیوانات نمی توان از نقش رسانه ملی صرف نظر نمود ! رسانه ای که می تواند پیام آور صلح و دوستی و توجه به این موهبت های بی نظیر خداوند باشد، نه تنها حرکتی در جهت دوستی مردم با حیوانات ،که بخشی از این طبیعت هستند نمی کند ، بلکه بسیار در سریال ها و فیلم ها و سایر برنامه های تلویزیون می بینیم که آزار و اذیت حیوانات امری طبیعی و عادی جلوه داده می شود.
No animals were harmed in the writing of this post. The dog pictured above is named “Lisa”.
Dateline Tbilisi comments on news that twelve opposition parties have agreed to unite to call for Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili's resignation. The blog says the party believes Saakashvili will be forced to resign by the end of 2009 but points out some of the many factors which will determine if they succeed or not.
otto details the development of a carbon neutral resort and residential development on the Zira Island located off the coast of Azerbaijan. The blog posts mockups of the project and says it will be the first carbon neutral development in the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Ukrainiana translates Victor Yushchenko's address to the nation - and Yulia Tymoshenko's response.
tzitzernak2 comments on the role of the Diaspora in local politics in Armenia and raises concerns with the date of a conference to be held by one of the largest lobbying groups in the U.S., the Armenian Assembly of America. The blog says the timing of the event on the first anniversary of the 1 March post-election riot which left at least 10 people dead is disrespectful to their memory.
In Mutatione Fortitudo marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of Mammed Amin Rasul-zadeh by introducing its readers to one of the founding fathers of the short-lived Azerbaijani Democratic Republic in the early 20th Century.
Blogian comments on the arrest of two ethnic Armenians in the Georgian region of Samtskhe-Javakheti allegedly for espionage and the formation of an armed gang. The blog says calls for autonomy or independence from Georgia are once again being heard.
Watch Rick Steves' Iran film here.