Frontline Club bloggers
Democracy fail in Cambodia – Part 1, Crushing dissent
While the world looks elsewhere, an increasingly authoritarian government discreetly crushes dissent and tightens its hold. Hun Sen oye? (This essay was first posted on my personal blog last week.) It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it what it feels like to see freedom of expression slowly degrade in front of you. […]
Apologies…
… to the people whose comments were neither approved nor acknowledged for weeks. This CMS oddly doesn’t notify me of pending comments. And while we’re at it, apologies for this blog never really picking up. I had some professional reasons not to be able to speak my mind while I was in Cambodia (see upcoming […]
An Invitation
I read in Friday’s Independent that: "Three judges of the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal ruled on Wednesday that the level of "indiscriminate violence" was not enough to permit Afghans to claim general humanitarian protection in the United Kingdom. Hundreds of asylum-seekers a year are returned to Afghanistan if they have not convinced a court they […]
The Story Changes, Sometimes
A few weeks ago I posted that it was time for a change after living for five years in Africa. The same stories were coming around again and again and it was time to look for new stories in a new location. So I’ve landed in Tel Aviv ready for a fresh challenge back on […]
Revisiting Moldova’s ‘Twitter Revolution’
I don’t usually crosspost, so if you’ve seen this post (which also a couple of interesting comments now) on the Media140 blog there’ll be nothing new below, but I hope you’ll forgive me for doing so on this occasion. The intro in italics was written by Dee Jackson, the Editor of the Media140 blog. I’m […]
Press Freedom Index 2009: Cambodia’s up 9 spots, which doesn’t mean it’s getting better
Reporters Sans Frontières (Reporters Without Borders) has released its famed Press Freedom Index for 2009. Cambodia has risen in the rankings by 9 spots, from 126 to 117, but the only explanation for this is that many other countries have sucked even more than the Kingdom, rather than Cambodia itself having an improved media environment. A mediocre […]
Kidnapped journalists in Somalia moved
Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, the two freelance journalists who were kidnapped well over one year ago on the outskirts of Mogadishu, have been moved "for security reasons" according to reports coming out of Somalia, "It is true that Lindhout and Brennan are not in Mogadishu," said [Ambroise Pierre, head of the Africa desk for […]
WRL: Blogging, Milblogging and the London bombings
(Dusty history section) on the London bombings, 2005. I came across a couple of links on media coverage of the London bombings in July 2005 that I hadn’t previously discovered. Maybe you missed them too. Mike Thelwall did some research into bloggers and the bombings which ‘scratches the surface’ of the use of blogs to […]
Armenia-Turkey protocols signed, small protest at home
There’s obviously no rest for the wicked. No sooner than I finish fixing for the BBC and Al Jazeera English on what most outside observers consider to be a historic agreement between Armenia and Turkey to normalize relations after almost a century of bitter rivalry, than Tbilisi beckoned in the form of a New Media […]
Assault and despair, Lahore must live on
Three terror attacks killing almost 22 people, shook Lahore on Thursday morning. I was getting ready for work, when the text message from the Rescue headquarters informed me that FIA building at Famous temple road been under attack. While I was making a few calls to confirm the news, I got to know about the […]
Darfur: A New Deadly Chapter… Or Maybe Not
The Independent’s splash makes for powerful reading… The Lord’s Resistance Army, one of the most feared guerrilla groups in Africa, has moved into Darfur, one of the continent’s most troubled regions, intelligence sources in Sudan say. The unexpected move by the LRA comes just as the war-weary west of Sudan recedes from world headlines and […]
Mexican activist fights for the rights of migrants as town is split
Central American migrants have long passed through Tultitlán on their way north to the United States because the trains on which the migrants ride north pass nearby. The mayor of Tultitlán says the number of migrants arriving has increased over recent months and wants them deported, but local activist Paty Camarena continues to fight for […]
Bussmann’s War
The problem with books on Africa – and writing about the continent in general – is that they tend to take themselves rather too seriously. Po-faced is apparently the best way to observe the continent’s daily struggles with war, famine and disease. Never mind that so many of the underlying causes are the result of […]
Detained Azeri blogger turns 30 in jail
Today, on 14 October, detained Azerbaijani blogger Emin Milli is celebrating his birthday in a Baku jail.
Frontline: Obama’s War
I flagged up the preview earlier in the month and now here is the full version of the Frontline documentary, Obama’s War:
Air Miles and God
The Archbishop of Canterbury has waded into the air miles debate. In an interview with The Times, Dr Rowan Williams said that families needed to respond to the threat of climate change by changing their shopping habits and adjusting their diets to the seasons, eating fruit and vegetables that could be grown in Britain. He said […]
DoD Director of New Media: “It’s not about controlling the message anymore”
Continuing what is rapidly turning into an autumnal video season here on the blog, I came across this interview by David Meerman Scott with Roxie Merritt, the Director of New Media Operations at the U.S. Department of Defense. There’s some very interesting stuff in this brief video. A few points for those of you […]
Afghan and US commanders considering Kandahar & Quetta to be next big stops in insurgency fight
In recent recommendations by the top American commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, is exerting pressure to add another 40,000 troops on top of the 68,000 Americans already deployed there. The report by Gen McChrystal, last week got leaked to the media, in which he have assessed three main Taliban groups. The report identifies […]
Armenia, Turkey sign historic protocols… eventually
Under the watchful eyes of the United States and Russia, Armenia and Turkey have finally signed two protocols which many hope will see the normalization of relations between the two neighbouring countries. Fixing again for Al Jazeera English and the BBC, today’s historic development meant another visit to Margara, an Armenian village on the border […]
2 Rifles firefight in Afghanistan
Here’s a very short video of a recent firefight in Helmand province courtesy of Michael Yon’s recent embed with the British Army. I seem to have slipped into videoblogging these days. I’ll write something soon…promise. Maybe you prefer the videos anyway.
A Black and White War on the Dark Continent
No-one reported the second press release: Shegeg Karo village in North Darfur was bombed repeatedly by an Antonov aircraft on Sunday, May 4th. The bombing happened between 2-3pm, not at 4pm as reported in the May 5 press release from “Darfur Diaries”. The Shegeg Karo market was hit directly and was completely burned, as confirmed […]
Round the clock protest ahead of possible Armenia-Turkey breakthrough
While most were enjoying a sunny afternoon in the Armenian capital, a few dozen members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation – Dashnaktsutyun (ARF-D) continued their round the clock hunger strike outside the main government building and the adjacent Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The nationalist party is staging the action to protest what many consider to be […]
A state in limbo
In the last week an internationally-sponsored agreement pertaining to Somaliland’s electoral process has been signed by the President and major opposition parties. Is delayed democracy in the de facto independent northern Somali State at last getting back on track? The six-point agreement signed on Wednesday by President Daahir Rayaale Kaahin of the UDUB party, […]
The 9,000-Ton Littoral Warship
A year after Somali piracy peaked with more than 100 ships attacked, the world’s navies have assembled dozens of warships to combat the threat. David Axe joins the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Donald Cook in Djibouti, to observe firsthand this “global war on piracy.” by DAVID AXE The Navy’s shipbuilding strategy hinges on buying at […]
Obama’s War
Worth checking out this preview of an imminent PBS Frontline documentary. Photojournalist Danfung Dennis embeds with Echo Company, US Marines as they push south in Helmand province. More details on the film can be found on the PBS website.
The Near-Shore Strategy
A year after Somali piracy peaked with more than 100 ships attacked, the world’s navies have assembled dozens of warships to combat the threat. David Axe joins the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Donald Cook in Djibouti, to observe firsthand this “global war on piracy.” by DAVID AXE A year into the “global war on piracy,” […]
MoD apologises to Michael Yon for “misunderstanding”
Yesterday, I suggested there might be an unlikely rapprochement between Michael Yon and the British Ministry of Defence after the row over the end of the journalist’s embed with the British Army in Afghanistan. And that’s clearly what Nick Gurr, the MoD’s Director of Media and Communications, is trying to achieve with this post. Written […]
More on Michael Yon and British Media Operations
Apologies to those of you who are already in October but I’ve been on holiday and want to wrap a few things up from the back end of September. This is one of those things. So if you read about this last week there’s not much new here. But if you haven’t, hopefully it offers […]
From the Frontline to Kigali
Former foreign correspondent Thomas Crampton talks to Eric Weiner, another former foreign correspondent, about his thoughts on the 10 career options left for foreign correspondents. As media giants crumble and budgets for "the old way of doing things" no longer exist it’s a timely (and funny) 10 minute chat. I’m guessing option number 5 […]
An unexpected visit to an Azeri village wedding
It was a dream come true. Despite knowing each other for several months online, the chances of meeting regional analyst and superstar blogger Arzu Geybullayeva seemed remote at best and unlikely at worst. As Arzu is based in Istanbul, Turkey, and Baku, Azerbaijan, it’s not easy for someone based in Armenia with an Armenian surname […]
