Stories about Humanitarian Response from August, 2008
Russia, Georgia: The Balkan Context
LimbicNutrition Weblog writes about the Russian-Georgian conflict in the context of the earlier events in the Balkans.
Afghanistan: More on Civilian Deaths in Shindand
Joshua Foust reports on the UN investigation that has released its findings about the bombing incident in Shindand, Afghanistan.
South Ossetia, Russia: Photos From Tskhinvali and Vladikavkaz
Photo reports (RUS) by LJ user photomans: from Tskhinvali – here; from a refugee camp in Vladikavkaz – here.
South Ossetia: Photos From Tskhinvali
Photos from Tskhinvali – by LJ user grend (RUS).
Venezuela: Yukpa Indians, Chávez and land disputes
Citizen media videos have been uploaded informing of the situation arising in Venezuela between the Yukpa Indians of the Perijá Mountains, landowners and President Chávez. This dispute over land limits is 30 years in the making, when military forces displaced the Indigenous communities of the Yukpa by force and established landowners who have cattle ranches and have been working the lands ever since.
Brazil: The rice war on indigenous land
Brazil's Supreme Court decides today about the future of Raposa Serra do Sol's Indigenous land. Observatório da Imprensa [Press Observatory, pt] have published two texts about the media coverage of the subject. One of them is called The Rice War [pt]: “The press still own us an approach that will...
Taiwan: Where do eggs come from?
Mong compared ordinary chicken farm with special chicken farm with a humane environment. The blogger urged consumers to buy eggs with humane label.
Bulgaria: Institutionalized Children With Disabilities
Maya of Maya's Corner follows up on her earlier posts on Bulgaria's institutionalized disabled children and posts an account by a woman who adopted two Bulgarian Roma children ten years ago and managed to locate her adoptive daughter's twin sister.
East Timor: Wikileaks on Ramos-Horta attempted assasination
Timor Online [pt] posts a link to documents related to the attempted assassination of East Timor President Ramos-Horta, in 2008, from Wikileaks. They are in English and the bloggers are now working on translations into Portuguese and French.
Japan and Thailand: Children of the Dark
Roy Berman from Multant frog elaborated his comments on a newly released film “Children of the Dark” which is about how children in Thailand are exploited by developed countries.
Georgia: Pepsikolka's Dispatches From Poti
OpenDemocracy.net posts translations of posts by LJ user pepsikolka (Samira Kuznetsova), a blogger living in Poti, Georgia: here, here, and here. (Earlier GV translations of pepsikolka‘s posts are here and here.)
Palestine: Boats break siege of Gaza
The latest news on the two boats attempting to sail to the Gaza Strip as an act of solidarity is that they have reached Gaza, despite earlier warnings that they might not be permitted to do so. Bloggers have reacted to the action with both excitement and concern.
South Ossetia: Tskhinvali Photos and Reports
On Aug. 21, Columbia Journalism Review published Julia Ioffe's overview of several Russian journalists' blogging from the war in South Ossetia. Featured in her piece are reports by LJ user krig42 (Komsomolskaya Pravda reporter Dmitry Steshin) and LJ user ep-news (Evgeny Poddubny, correspondent for TV Center). Below are a few more blog posts from Russian and North Ossetian journalists, with photos and accounts of what they've seen in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali over the past week.
Pakistan: In tears again
All Things Pakistan is in pain after yet another suicide bomb blast in Pakistan that killed more than 70 people: “In what continues to be war on and in Pakistan, Pakistanis continue to die. Pakistan continues to cry.”
China: Victims of Sport
Xueyong traced the fate of two sportswomen, Guo ping and Zhou Chun-Lai, both were medal carriers and suffered from hardship after their retirement in early age. According to statistic, 40% of the retired sportsman couldn't find a second job.
China: He Kexin and “babygate”
Imagethief picks up the debate on the age issue of He Kexin, the golden girl of Chinese gymnastics, and notices a cold-war double standard in some of the mainstream media report with a story plot of Ours=plucky, heroic achievers. Theirs=manufactured robots/slaves/dopers.
Mexico: Videos raise awareness of kidnapping crisis
Mexico has seen a steep rise in kidnapping for ransom cases this year, and a group of videobloggers have decided to take a stand and make videos proposing solutions for this problem. According to the Analisis a Fondo blog, according to the Dutch NGO Pax Christi and local authorities, Mexico has surpassed Colombia in the number of kidnappings, which take place mostly in the capital and neighboring areas.
Georgia: A War Diary
Natalia Antonova links to a war diary by George Lashkhi, commentator on Georgia’s Channel 1, published at GlobalComment.com.
China: Earthquake 100 days
Aug 19 is the 100 days of Sichuan earthquake, Wang Ning posted photos of Beichuan earthquake zone for memorizing the deaths.
Georgia, Russia: Feeding Looters and Refugees
A number of Tbilisi residents gathered in front of the Russian embassy Saturday for a protest prank against looting. LJ user oleg-panfilov posted photos of the items left by the protesters for the Russian army; LJ user tony-geo called to Georgians to take care of the refugees' needs first, before getting involved in the "information war."
Afghanistan: Remembering The Bravest American Woman
Azar Balkhi publishes a remembrance post devoted to Nicole Dial, an American woman aid worker, one of three western females who were gunned down by the Talibans in Afganistan on August 13th.
