TODAY'S LINKS

* JMB got Guevara wrong.

* The arrest of Burmese nationals increased recently in Bangladesh after a series of militants’ bomb attacks.

* Why the connectivity is expensive in India.

* Grameen Bank's help changes lives in Joymontop Village.

* Keeping up with the Gateses - Bill & Melinda Gates' South Asia visit.

* Bangladeshi ideas 'can help positively change Africa'.

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STUPID WAYS

"Against stupidity; God Himself is helpless. -A Jewish proverb"

The Times of London reports:

"Israel's armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed."

No wonder this stupidity was encouraged by that stupidity.

Tigerhawk analyses the news:

"Obviously, Israel is sending a signal to Iran, but not to President Ahmadinejad. In all likelihood, Israel hopes to split the Iranian elites and weaken support for Ahmadinejad within the regime."

If stupidity got Israelis into this mess, then why can't it get them out?

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TROUBLE IN CHINA

The truth is coming out thanks to the bloggers. Police fired on protesters in Dongzhou Village of Shanwei, China on December 6, 2005 killing an estimated 33 villagers. Nearly 20 are missing and relatives of the people who were killed are seen kneeling in front of the police asking them to return the bodies. China admits killing three people.

The assault against innocent civilians is the deadliest since the killings around Tiananmen Square in 1989. The thousands of people gathered to protest against the amount of money offered by the government as compensation for land to be used to construct a wind-power plant. The village has been completely sealed off by the authority.

More news and round-ups in:

* Pajamas Media
* Gateway Pundit
* Daai Tou Laam Diary

Update: Online news of protest deaths blocked by China authorities.

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GLOBAL VOICES ONLINE 2005 LONDON SUMMIT

Global Voice is an international effort to diversify the conversation taking place online by involving speakers from around the world, and developing tools, institutions and relationships to help make these voices heard.

Within one year of its birth, Global Voices Online has become successful to be a platform of communicating previously unheard voices around the world. With its regional editors' & contributors' unbiased and enthusiastic contributions by digging from blogs and other news sources, co-founders Rebecca MacKinnon & Ethan Zuckerman have achieved a phenomenal goal, giving universal access to the tools of speech- blogs. Excerpts from Global voices new mission statement:

"Thanks to new tools, speech need no longer be controlled by those who own the means of publishing and distribution, or by governments that would restrict thought and communication. Now, anyone can wield the power of the press. Everyone can tell their stories to the world."

The Gloval Voices Online summit 2005 took place in London yesterday. You can take a look at what went on there:

* The live conference blog
* Pictures uploaded in Flickr
* Listen to the webcast
* Wiki of session notes
* Session by session updates from Dina Mehta & Neha Viswanathan.

Being a regional editor, Neha spoke for South Asian bloggers. She did a quick round-up on journalist-blogger issues in South Asia:

"It's contextual - where mainstream media doesn't do its job - bloggers do it. In the Bangladesh bomb blasts, bloggers took the lead. In Nepal, on the other hand, blogs were supporting mainstream media. In India there is now the emergence of blatant plaigarism by traditional media off blogs. Also, she raised the issue of - do bloggers want to be journalists?"

As for me I would rather like to be a blogger than a journalist, with no specific assignment desk and deadlines to rule over me.

globalvoices

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TODAY'S LINKS

* 'Japan: The key to east Asian unity' - a speech by Mahathir Bin Mohamad.

* Forget That iPod for Christmas: Buy an Ox Instead

* More about the GMAT exam.

* The Great War For Civilization: - Robert Fisk's latest book.

* Women in Islam - veils of the mind.

* Feminism under the hijab.

* A Muslim in a Jewish Land.

* A tale of an American girl who prays a little differently.

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TERRORISM IN BANGLADESH, OUTCOME OF A CLASS STRUGGLE?

Bangladeshi rockstar cum blogger Mac Haque has an interesting analysis of the recent bomb atatcks in Bangladesh in "Global Politician Magazine". He says:

"The patterns of recent 'attacks' by JMB for instance are not only confusing but imminently laughable and does not in any way suggest involvement of a serious terrorist (if at all) group....

...If what is unfolding in Bangladesh today is as an outcome of a hidden class struggle over the years, then certainly the Islamists and not the secular Maoists have fired the first worthwhile salvo with attacks on the State. This is not terrorism that has a communal origin, they are apparently by Muslims against Muslims, and is essentially targeted to degrade and divide Bangladesh on sectarian lines, on theocratic philosophies of Sunni, Shiite and Wahabist Islam that are understood – but remains alien to in its very strong Sufi and Buddhism influenced culture."

And a bit of hope?

"Whilst indications are rife, that the JMB is only a trivial brigand’s brigade and more than State’s anti-terrorism apparatchiks like the State Minister for Home Affairs dealing with them, a blanket authority to villagers to use bamboo staves to beat-to-death-at-sight, as has been the Bangladesh tradition even in recent days to deal with violence when all else fails, is thought to be good enough deterrent to rescue Bangladesh. No high-tech weaponry as such is required to deal with such illiterate, low-tech buffoons."

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BICYCLE OF VIOLENCE

The suicide bombings in Bangladesh have turned more evil in nature. They are now targeting innocent people. Yesterday's blast occurred as hundreds of curious people had gathered on a narrow street in Netrokona shortly after the police safely detonated another bomb found abandoned in a building. A suicide bomber on a bicycle rode into the crowd and detonated the explosives tied to his body by pulling a cord according to eye-witnesses.

Now the interesting twist is that of the two suspected suicide bombers, one, named Jadab was identified as a Hindu by religion. So it is highly mysterious that now Hindus are also blowing themselves up to establish Allah's rule in Bangladesh.

Some suspect that it is a ploy of the government framing Jadab to put the blame on the opposition. They are trying to say that not Islamic militancy, but political motivations are behind these attacks and the militants are paid goons. If that is a possibility then the government cannot be ruled out of the suspicion as some BNP & Jamaat lawmakers have connections with the militants. So I think we need to analyze all conspiracy theories and see the whole thing in a new perspective.

I think the latest events in Bangladesh have some hidden motives as these will shape up the 2006 general election. Already Jamaat has lost one constituency in the December 5 by-poll in Dinajpur. Locals say that they are frustrated with the skyrocketing prices of essentials and the alarming rise of militancy in the district so they have cast their votes against the alliance government.

Amidst all these politics, the bomb threats keep mounting on the common people. The whole nation is panicked. Mothers are keeping their children from crowded places or even schools. Police and the security forces are exasperated by their new role, protecting the nation and not finding time to catch the culprits. Full body checks, metal detectors, arch detectors are being carried out by police everywhere; in shopping malls, Mosques, public buses and even in protest gatherings. The bomb scares have started to hit the tourism industry. Soon there will be more effects troubling the economy.

Surely we do not want this Bangladesh. I hope our leaders, specially the government have little bit of shame in conceding most of the responsibility in putting the people in this misery.

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