· June, 2007

Stories about War & Conflict from June, 2007

Colombia: Outrage and Anger at FARC for the Death of 11 Lawmakers

  29 June 2007

Colombians awoke on the morning of June 28 to the news that 11 of 12 kidnapped deputies had been killed. The word from the FARC rebel group was that they were caught in the crossfire when the Colombian army staged a rescue attempt, however, many bloggers do not buy their explanation, as contempt for this group continues to grow and grow.

Palestine: What's Going On in Gaza?

"In this day and age communications can turn the devil into angel and beat the angel to a pulp," says blogger Ramzi Khoury. This week, Jillian York attempts to dig beyond the news to find out what's really happening in the Palestinian blogosphere.

Palestine: Daily Misery

Palestinian Haitham Sabbah posts videos produced and published by B’tselem (The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories) showing the misery Palestinians undergo.

Bosnia & Herzegovina: Miroslav Lajcak

Balkanizer posts a lengthy and detailed post on the legacy of the outgoing High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina: “[…] an unrefined and unedited thinking about the departure of the old High Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina (Christian Schwarz-Schilling) and the arrival of new HR – Slovakian diplomat Miroslav Lajcak.”

Lebanon: Syria's “in the eye of the storm”

A strange conversation took place last April between Syrian president Bashar El Assad and UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon, writes Sophia. The meeeting ends with Bashar El Assad telling Ban Ki Moon: “We are in the eye of the storm. You will need to stay in contact with us.”

Iraq: More than Just Numbers

“A nation is not a corporation and when we deal with a nation we are dealing with a society; a mass of people with ever changing hearts and minds and that's why numbers alone can't be enough to assess the situation—thoughtful insight and looking at the bigger image are also...

CAR: Amnesty International calls for UN troops

  28 June 2007

Amnesty International is calling for the immediate deployment of UN troops (Fr) to the Central African Republic to address the worsening security situation in the north of the country highlighted in a new UN report (Fr), Alliance Pour La Democratie et Le Progres writes.

Facets of Afghanistan

Both Registan.net and Nonpon discuss the drawings of Canadian National Post illustrator Richard Johnson, who spent two months embedded with Canadian troops in Kandahar and presents a rare and haunting insight into life in the war-torn province.

Croatia: Marko Perković Thompson

Illyrian Gazette and Balkan Baby write about the controversial Croatian singer Marko Perković Thompson and his recent concert in Zagreb. In the same post, Balkan Baby also writes about Tito's birthplace and football.

Serbia, Russia: “What About the Russians?”

Jasmina Tešanović guest-blogs at Boing Boing about what may appear as Serbia's misguided trust in Russia: “Back in 1999, Russians didn’t veto the bombing of Serbia. The Russians are using the Kosovo issue in order to reclaim ex-Soviet territories with Russian populations. Serbs know that the Russians have their own...

Korea: 6.25

  27 June 2007

It was 6.25, the 27th anniversary of the start of the Korean War. The day was quiet. Very few special events compared to the past. How do Korean bloggers consider the Korean War? They expressed what this date means to them in the past and at the present. Dolstone2002: 어렸을때...

Russia: “Completely Different Other Russias”

There was no police "overreaction" during the opposition's latest Dissenters' March in Moscow - possibly, because the organizers decided not to follow up the rally on Pushkinskaya Square with the actual marching. Everyone made their speeches - or so it seemed, until the blogosphere offered a not-so-pleasant revelation: opposition activist Maria Gaidar was prevented from addressing the crowd by Eduard Limonov, leader of the National Bolshevik Party and Garry Kasparov's close ally in the Other Russia anti-government coalition.

NGO worker on Darfur

  26 June 2007

Alliance pour la democratie et le progres interviews an NGO worker (Fr) on the situation in Darfur. “Things won't get better quickly.”