News Bits

Intersting article I found through Abu Muqawama (and then through a blogger that posted it there)Fisk's Article
This presents a more interesting report on the Gazan War than other news stories, thats for certain. A particular stand-out is that 80% of the families in Gaza are refugees from the creation of Israel, though I have no idea what data substantiates that. I somehow suspect that neither Hamas nor the old PLO kept good records of movements. Heck, neither org ever bothered to build bomb shelters in Gaza apparently either. The tone of the article is partisan, but sometimes that it what makes for the best reporting, rather than trying to cover it up one way or the other. The bit about how the media tells the story of two grandparents killed in the bombing, but failing to mention that they had been refugees from the very land that now killed them, is interesting.
Though I have to say that a more telling aspect of that story is that IF those grandparents had just stayed in their homes when Israel was created, then no only would they be alive today, but they'd've lived a far better and freer life. Unless of course they died in a Hamas attack.


Looks like the Sri Lankan army has captured Killinochchi over the weekend. I missed that with this Gazan War going on:
Rebel Capital Captured
Fascinating article. Looks like they've split the rebels in two, with some retreating to the northern most parts of the island, and others cut off to the south east. Apparently they emptied Killinochchi of its residents. Seems to be some dispute as to whether they were taken by the rebels or sided with the rebels. It seems just as likely that people fled the town during the bombing and assault, irrespective of who's side they were on. BBC also reports there that one 14 year old girl was forced into fighting by the Tigers too. May be more when if this is all mopped up. Apparently the rebels are holding out around a large lagoon in the north and one city along the eastern coast.


Also another article on the situation in Gaza:
Gazan War
Reports continue to state that around 500 palestinians have been killed, with around a quarter of that being civilians. The death toll from this war rose very rapidly during the aerial bombardment phase, and seems to have dropped off just as dramatically once the ground invasion went into operation, which I suppose is what should be expected. This seems to mean that around 125 civilians have been killed. Which is surprisingly lower than the ~172 civilians killed in the Bombay attack, (which did not inspire a series of worldwide street protests and which followed another attack on Bombday in 2006 that resulted in ~184 deaths).
Clearly, it would be best if no civilians died during this Gazan War, but just as clearly, thats not possible. Its strange too because the newscasters often focus on the numbers of dead, as if the numbers really mean anything. Whats also rather frustrating is that the newscasters on CNN and the like set up the timeline for this event as starting with the Isreali air bombardments. While its perhaps not surprising that Hamas would be firing rockets at Israel and we can maybe take that for granted, surely its noteworthy that this all started right after a ceasefire reached its expiration date and then Hamas started firing rockets again. I'm not sayings bias, just sloppy. Levinson, the author of the above article, I should say, doesn't seem to be biased or sloppy. Levison also notes that after the bombardment, Hamas was ready to negotiate unconditionally with Fatah. One has to wonder if the Yehudis had considered that as part of this also.


Another story of interest from Asia.
Indian Nun Rape
I recall hearing about this event while the anti-christian riots were going on. Maybe there is a translation issue, but the article's opening sentences seem rather biased, at least in saying that she is 'finally' identifying her rapists. Seems like the bigger story is that she was able to identify them out of a suspect 'parade' of 90 people. Those riots were a real shame on India, you'd think that the report would be a little more demure. I get the impression from it that a lot of people don't think or don't care if she was raped.
And meanwhile, this is also being reported.
Two arrested for possession of beef
This just highlights the paradox, a country where a nun is raped and churches openly attacked is also so high minded and specific that cow meat is illegal? Not to say that the US is perfect.