· April, 2007

Stories about Disaster from April, 2007

Arabeyes: On Selling a Palestinian Kidney and Changing the Israeli Flag

Do you want to know why a Palestinian wants to sell his kidney, or what had happened to the bicycle of a Lebanese blogger on September 10, 2001? What is more difficult: returning home after living abroad for five years or demanding that Israel changes its flag just as the Kurds want to change the Iraqi flag? And last but not least: why does Ala'a Abdulfattah - the Godfather of Egyptian bloggers - say he isn't and was never a blogger? To know more, read on.

Lebanon: Art, Water and Tensions

This week was marred by the kidnapping and killing of two Lebanese youth, bringing back memories from the dark years of the Lebanese civil war. This was the topic updated and analysed by most Lebanese bloggers. In addition to this sad event, there are blog posts featuring paintings, poetry and political analysis about the expected water crisis in the Middle East as well as the huge billboard with photos of the captured Israeli soldiers that was place on the southern Lebanese borders.

Seismic Activity and Tidal Waves in Chile

  27 April 2007

Chile is a land of the earthquakes. In recent months, the Aysén region has been affected by small seismic activity every day. Last weekend, an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale, caused a fjord landslide into the sea. Big waves crashed into the small city of Puerto Tortuga, devastating everything in its way. Some bloggers have criticized the response of the authorities and worries what else might happen if proper measures are not taken.

Guyana: Society Producing Murderers?

  25 April 2007

“In light of this (Virginia Tech) incident and other such brutal attacks, like the one at the Kaieteur News printery last year”, The Guyana Groove thinks that “the debate at hand should not be about gun control, security measures or what could have been done different. The necessary debate should...

Ukraine: Chernobyl

  25 April 2007

MoldovAnn takes photographer Michael Forster Rothbart along on a trip to the Chernobyl-affected areas and posts an account that's both informative and poignant, and comes just days before the 21st anniversary of the 1986 Chernobyl Catastrophe: “I felt very sad walking around, looking at the crumbling walls, thinking of everything...

Iraq: End the War

Iraqi blogger Mohammed asks: What did the last wave of terror attacks and the many crimes committed against our people all this time reveal? As for the media, he writes: “When shall they realize, if ever, that we are dealing with brutal crimes against humanity, a genocide against the people...

Israel: Virginia Tech Shooting Cartoon

Israeli blogger Stephanie links to a cartoon on the Virginia Tech shooting here. “Poignancy once again at the talented pencil tip of Dry Bones’ Yaakov Kirschen. This time Kirschen takes to task this week’s killings at Virginia Tech versus Mid-East suicide bombers,” she writes.

Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago: More Thoughts on VT

  20 April 2007

Posting from Trinidad, Thebookmann is concerned that the media has played into the VT gunman's “sick little cold, dead hands” by broadcasting footage of the killer “unleashing his hateful rage to a camera. The airing of such imagery is a grave mistake…something that I have seen for too long in...

Bahrain: Radioactive Material Dump

Bahraini blogger emoodz goes through local newspapers with a fine comb, to come up with this gem. “Why exactly is this treated as a tiny little article on the third page? Why are people still ignorant about the fact that we do have radioactive material right here in Bahrain? and...

Arabeyes: Thoughts on the Virginia Tech Massacre

For Algerian student Nouri, who studies in the US, the shooting at Virginia Tech is too close to home for comfort. He links to the above photograph, from the Washington Post, which features one of his acquaintances, who goes to school there. “The brown fellow to the right, just above...

Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago: VT Tragedy Hits Home

  19 April 2007

Writing from Jamaica, The Life and Times of Michmac is saddened by the tragedy at Virgina Tech, yet relieved that “somebody up there is looking out for me”. And TNTLime.com reprints an article from Newsday, which interviews a Trinidadian who is a student at VT: ““It is hard to take...

Iran:Reflections on Virginia Tech

Kamangir reports that Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi, one of the topmost Shia clerics in Iran, gave his analysis of the Virginia Tech massacre:”The incident in Virginia Tech is a sign of deviation from faith in God, logic, and human emotions. There is a lesson in this event for everyone in...

Iran:Virginia shooting in Iranian Blogestan

Haji Washington[Fa] says if a Korean student had killed people in a European university as this stupid guy did in Virginia Tech, a wave of hatred would create serious problems for South Asian people.The blogger says it did not happen, after this shooting, in USA. He asks if the killer...