· April, 2010

Stories about War & Conflict from April, 2010

Russia: The 2009 Killing of Umar Israilov

  29 April 2010

Robert Amsterdam writes about Ramzan Kadyrov's alleged involvement in the 2009 murder of Umar Israilov in Vienna, and links to C.J. Chivers’ New York Times investigative piece, whose opening paragraph has reminded him of Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, a collection of Vietnam War short stories.

Azerbaijan: Nationalist propaganda

  21 April 2010

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines recounts being verbally abused by a fellow countryman after co-presenting with Global Voices Online's Caucasus regional editor at a recent conference. The blogger notes that the reason for being cornered and harassed was her belief in tolerance and democracy in Azerbaijan as well as peace...

Kyrgyzstan: The aftermath of public uprising

  19 April 2010

In the past week, the attention of Kyrgyzstani bloggers has been very firmly centred on political events in this small, mountainous Central Asian country. All over the country, memorials have been held for those people who died in clashes between government and opposition on April 7 and April 8. Sergei...

Philippines: Online indignation over massacre case

  18 April 2010

The government's recent decision to drop multiple murder charges against two members of the Ampatuan clan involved in the November 2009 Maguindanao massacre of 57 people, including 31 journalists, has sparked the indignation of Filipinos.

Madagascar: A Flurry of Alleged Coups as Mediation Resumes

  18 April 2010

After the Minister of the  Armed forces was fired on April 7th under allegation of a Coup attempt,   Achille52 wonders what the April 18th allegation of another Coup and the ensuing arrests really mean (fr).  He is especially suspicious of the timing of these arrests because they happened just  before  international mediations including Rajoelina...

Rwanda: Rwanda suspends newspapers

  17 April 2010

Jason links to a few stories of interest from Rwanda and D.R of Congo: “* Rwanda suspends two newspapers critical of the government for six months, meaning they won't be able to cover the election campaigns – Texas in Africa isn't happy. * An excellent interview of Congolese academic Jean...

Pakistan: A Mysterious Plane in Karachi

  15 April 2010

Teeth Maestro questions “what’s a Meridian Jet doing in Karachi?” Similar planes have been used in ‘rendition’ program “in which the CIA uses private aircraft to ferry prisoners to various countries.”

Sri Lanka: A Predictable Election

  15 April 2010

On 8th of April Sri Lankan voters went to vote to elect 225 representatives in the parliament to form a new government. The election saw a low turnout and was marred with violence. Sri Lankan bloggers analyzes the result and question the election process.

Central Asia: Writing “About Each Other, For Each Other”

  12 April 2010

Sarah Kendzior of Registan.net writes about the significance of Kyrgyzstan's and Central Asian social media and points out some external observers’ distorted view of them: “There is another internet, a secret internet, in which meaningful political conversations take place in Uzbek, Kyrgyz, Kazakh, Turkmen, and Tajik, yet the majority of...