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July 20th, 2006


Stories

Voices from Kazakhstan

A small portrait of the translator Leila Tanayeva · 18:53 · Central Asia & Caucasus

Welcome to our latest round-up of blog posts and online discussions that took place in the Kazakh blogosphere in the last two weeks.

The “Zhumbaktas” (”Enigma”) rock in Borovoe, a mountainous place with lakes between Astana and Kokshetau, is surrounded with legends. One of them is that a girl ended her life by jumping into the water from this high rock, and now it's the face of a girl from one side and an old woman from another. Blogger raxme remembers this legend when he tells about his trip in Northern Kazakhstan this summer (RU). He also notes that while Borovoe was a popular resort place in the Soviet times, now there are only Kazakh tourists and not many of them, though this place, if invested in, could have become a real gold min.

I wrote on Neweurasia that after the controversial media law was signed, the Kazakh Minister of Information promised to come up with the new policy of regulation of the Internet media, due to national security concerns. This promise comes after the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting, where it was agreed to cooperate in international information security, and I discuss it in my entry on development of the Internet in Kazakhstan. Vadim of Central Asian Gateway launches a forum topic on whether Internet can promote regional integration (cooperation) in Central Asia with links to reading on Internet in Central Asian countries.
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Bangla blogs discuss the Levant, war and violence

A small portrait of the translator Aparna Ray · 03:34 · Middle East & North Africa , South Asia

As the Israel-Lebanon conflict reaches alarming proportions, the heat can be felt as far as the Bangla blogosphere. While the bloggers here are unanimous in their denouncement of the escalating violence in the Levant, they are however, divided in their opinions about who should be held responsible for the current turn of events.

Suman feels that Israel is clearly the aggressor and holds the US responsible for not exerting pressure on Israel to back out of Lebanon.

On the other hand, there are bloggers who see Israel as a nation whose existence is constantly threatened by its Arab neighbors. Apbak revisits the pages of history and talks about how the dream of Israel, the ‘promised land’ was born. According to his views, when a nation is threatened from various sides by its neighbors it cannot be entirely blamed for its violent response to any provocation or threat.

Amar Toronto feels that the responsibility for the current escalation lies with the Hezbollah and partially with the Lebanese government who failed to comply with an UN resolution of disarming the group. As the debate continues, Tirondaj takes the conversation to a broader canvas. He talks about the link between violence across the globe and International politics and prays for solutions that can lead to peace.

Violence in any form ultimately preys on the innocent. Rezwan's beautiful translation of a poem by Leila Farjami talks of the atrocities of war and its claim on innocent lives.

Kill the innocent: They maybe terrorists.

don't be vulnerable,
don't be generous,
don't be sympathetic,
don't be compassionate,
don't give a damn!,
You may upset your narcissism

And believe in

“WAR IS PEACE,
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”

~by Leila Farjami

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