18 January 2009

Stories from 18 January 2009

Ukraine: Ruthenians

Window on Eurasia writes about Transcarpathian Ruthenians of Ukraine, who are “calling on Moscow to recognize the independence of Subcarpathian Rus because Kyiv has ignored their demands for autonomy within...

18 January 2009

Croatia, Slovenia: Border Dispute and the EU

Sleeping With Pengovsky writes about “the Slovene-Croat diplomatic crash which happened shortly before new year, when Slovenia effectively blocked the continuation of Croatian EU accession negotiations” – here and here.

18 January 2009

Greece: Outcry over arms shipment to Israel

With the war raging in Gaza, news reports earlier this month about the routing of an extraordinarily large shipment of arms from the United States to Israel through the private Greek port of Astakos caused an uproar among Greek bloggers. They used Twitter to investigate the matter and put pressure on the government to halt the transfer.

18 January 2009

Israel: IDF Operating a Moral War in Gaza?

Bloggers have been defending the IDF which has been highly criticized for operating an unjust war in Gaza. Many choose to highlight facts which are not necessarily presented in mainstream news on its fighting techniques - minimizing civilian casualties by using precise missile technology, calling homes and dropping warning leaflets, while focusing on the target: weakening Hamas, destroying their artillery and ability to fire missiles into Israeli territory.

18 January 2009

Angola: An increase in domestic violence or only in awareness?

The rates of domestic violence in Angola have increased considerably but it is a good sign: by reporting more, Angolan women get a step closer to ending the abuse perpetrated by their partners. But, have the numbers actually increased or is there just a greater awareness of such crimes?

18 January 2009

Georgia: Beautiful Tbilisi

Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines, the blog of an Azerbaijani political analyst based in Baku and Istanbul, pays its first visit to Tbilisi, capital of the Republic of Georgia. The...

18 January 2009

Israel: Unilateral “Ceasefire” Goes Into and Out of Effect

Israel declared operation ‘Cast Lead' a success and announced that its security cabinet has voted in favor of a unilateral ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Although the ceasefire has since been broken, with Hamas sending missiles into Sderot, here are some reflections of Israeli bloggers on developments on the ground.

18 January 2009