Getting content out of Burma

It's difficult getting content out from Burma, most people in the country don't have access to internet, and even then, the government strictly censors everything (including hotmail, gmail, ... etc).

Burmese activists have been getting out photos, video and eyewitness accounts using mobile phones, blogs, and the good old mailing lists. Also, news organizations like Aljazeera, BBC and Guardian have been using eyewitness accounts and blogs to find content. Here's some of the best sources I came across, it would be useful to use them altogether:

Here is a list of useful Burmese blogs (not all in English):

• http://www.irrawaddy.org/protests/BurmaProtests.php
• http://mizzima.com/Foto-2007/Sep/Index.html
• http://ko-htike.blogspot.com/
• http://moemaka.blogspot.com/

From MSM:

• Guardian's newsblog is well updated - minute by minute - onthe
  
• Aljazeera has a reporter on the ground - filming but can't show his face - brown their youtube channel.
  
• BBC is pulling together eyewitness accounts in text, audio and video. Very informative
  
• Global Voices Burma is aggregating Burmese blogs.
  

In cases like Burma, when the government heavily censors local media and doesn't allow in journalist from outside, newsrooms increasingly rely on the internet - that's good.

Links for 27-09-2007

• Facebook: The $10 Billion Social Network?
  Can a website be worth this much, apparently so
• IHT: Killing the messengers
  An article about the targeting of journalists in Somalia. Since the takeover of Ethiopian troops in Mogadishu, the city has become probably the most dangerous place in the world for journalists
• The Daily Princetonian - A little humility
  Daoud Kuttab writes about the pathetic attack of Columbia University's president on his guest, the Iranian president Ahmadinejad. An excellent piece.
• BBC: Arab states named as more corrupt
  interesting research. It was expected that Arab states would be more corrept; in most cases the government's money goes into one man/family account.

Several UK blogs taken down after legal threats

There is an uproar in UK blogs after several blogs where taking down by ISP following threats of legal action from Uzbek billionaire, Alisher Usmanov, a major Arsenal shareholder. Craig Murray, a former British ambassador to Uzbakistan, wrote a post against the billionare, a law firm complained to the ISP - fasthosts - about the content of Murray's blog. The ISP took down Murray's account but with it also a number of other blogs who shared the same account. More details on here.

It is interesting how easy it seems to shutdown a blogger in the UK.

American media and Ahmadinejad

Iranian president, Ahmedinejad's visit to NY had attracted much publicity but it has also shown the worst in America's media; editorials in washingtonpost, NY times, New Yorker, Fox ... etc. all have tried to outshine one another in disrespecting and insulting the Iranian president Of course, this was expected. The Jewish lobby mobilized all its efforts to undermine Ahmedinjad, as much as they could, so nobody can hear what he has to say; they knew he would shatter the image painted by the media.

A washingtonpost editorial describes Ahmadinejad as:

Holocaust-denier, authoritarian leader and sponsor of terrorism

That's low. Ahmadinejad is the elected president of Iran, a painful fact to admit for some. And of course he isn't authoritarian; Iran is run a complex system based on consensus. And Iran doesn't sponsor terrorism anymore than US does.

But the editorial continues to try - in vain - to belittle the man:

Thus the speech at Columbia: Here he is, the allegedly undemocratic Ahmadinejad, taking questions from students! At an American university! Look who's the real democrat now!

You showed him, didn't you!

The columnist is Anne Applebaum, who earlier this ye wrote a column praising Ayan Hirsi, and calling her a role model for the Muslim youth. What else did you expect.

What is disheartening is that people Applebaum were genuinely afraid of what Ahmadinejad had to say, and after he leaves NY, they'll continue talking about free speech.

Aljazeera.net hacked

Aljazeeratalk reports - in Arabic - that Aljazeera.net has been hacked last night.

60 minutes interviews Ahmedinejad

Mike Wallace, from CBS 60 minutes, interviewed Iran president Ahmedinejad in Tehran. Wallace says that Ahmedinejad is an impressive fellow. Of coursehe is, compared to the pitiful and ignorant lot who're running for president - not to mention the chief himself. We in the Middle East know that Ahmedinejad doesn't exactly run the Iran, but he is obviously a smart enough to be a president and before that a professor.

Wallace also plays defender of US administration:

"Well, the Americans are overly sensitive. And, of course, the American government. I don't know why they're opposed to Iranian progress," the president said.

Asked if he really believed that the United States is against Iranian progress and development, Ahmadinejad said, "That is true. That is what I am saying."

"You know that's not so," Wallace replied

But Wallace would've be in a difficult position back home if he didn't say such a thing or throw some disrespectful words. you can read the whole interview here.

A week off

I won't be posting for the coming week but I'll be responding to emails ...

Ramadan karim

Most of the Muslim world started fasting the month of Ramadan on Thursday. Ramadan is the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar, during this month Muslims abstain from eating and sex, among other things, before sunrise until sunset.

In reality, abstaining from food is the easy part. The aim of Ramadan is for the Muslim to be able to control all his/her desires and behaviours. So if you use to eat too much or sleep too long, you can readjust in this month. If you had anger problem, didn't have time to connect with friends, then you should do that in Ramadan. Also, Muslims should be more charitable in Ramadan, being hungry should remind you that others aren't as fortunate as you're.

But Ramadan has been mixed with culture, and has been almost entirely changed to a cultural event. People pray less, eat more and often times end up worse than they were before Ramdan(I've been guilty of that before).

During the month, I'll post on some of the more notable intersections between the cultural-ramadan and the real-ramadan.

Quotable: a nice exchange

In an interview, Aljazeera presenter, asked former Iranian defense minister Ali Shamkhani about the growing speculation that either US or Israel are planning to bomb Iran. Shamkhani was speaking in Farsi, suddenly he switched to Arabic quoting a known proverb, meaning:

"He who is drowning in the river, would he venture into the sea"

The presenter, an Iraqi, countered with one of his own:

They say in Iraq "He who is already wet, does not fear the rain"

You can watch the entire interview here.

Quick update

Slow posting for the past week and so much going on. I'm still migrating to the new blogger, unnecessarily tedious ... patience. Here's a quick update:

General Petraeus and Crocker give their assessment of the surge in the senate, to me it was a pathetic show of partisanship. The two men concurred fully with the earlier assessments of their boss, Bush. They talked about the progress made in Anbar province, where US paid cash for Sunni tribes to fight Al Qaeda, and in some areas of Baghdad. Collaborating with Sunni tribes who mostly opposed the Iraqi government, doesn't necessarily mean they're supporting US occupation. Whether progress was made or not, it sure didn't go to the root causes of the problem, primarily the occupation and the sectarian violence.

So one of the major holes in the "surge is working" argument is that it counts factors such as Mahdi army's freeze of its activities as part of the "winning" plan, but Mahdi army is still here. Essentially it was a win for president Bush, he made the case of those arguing to pull out the troops that much harder.

Elsewhere, it seems the rumors about Israel itching for a war with Syria this summer was very much true. Israel jet fighters went deep into Syrian territory before they were detected. It doesn't mean that Israel wanted war right then but it means it's getting ready.

Speculation about an imminent attack on Iran by either Israel or US (which is the same anyway) is growing (link).

Quick update

I've been busy in the past few days and - perhaps - few more days to come. Still there was no shortage of topics I wanted to write about. Here's a quick list of items I've been reading and watching:

Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) announced the end of the reconciliation conference which lasted for 45 days. The government considered it a success but for many reasons it's hard to agree, it was a costly flop. I'll be posting soon.

Ahmadinejad announced his country reached a milestone, just few days after Bush raised his rhetoric. There's a growing speculation that an attack on Iran is imminent, mostly based on the US build up in the Arabian/Persian. But I think the public diplomacy build up from US admin - for a big step like bombing Iran and putting the world's oil supply in jeopardy - isn't enough. That's not to rule out that Israel might take this brave step with American intervention later on. Either way, an attack on Iran would the most significant US war since the Vietnam war.

Things are going from bad to worse for Musharraf, both former prime ministers are planning to come back home soon. Nawaz Sharif will be arriving - he says - 10th of September, he plans to hold a procession - that could be potentially explosive.

I'll be posting more later, hopefully I'll be done with fixing my template.