This war is different

It all began on July 12, a day after the Mumbai blasts. Overshadowed by the grief at home, it never hit the headlines here. I have wanted to write on it for some time. But I held back hoping the crisis wouldn’t last long and there would be peace.

Peace and West Asia. They are so disparate as cheese and chalk. Like a square peg in round hole, one just doesn’t fit in the other. A lot of chiselling has been going on for nearly half a century, but the edges have only got more jagged.

On July 12, Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon fired rockets into Israel; kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, demanding release of a prisoner. In return, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert described the capture of the soldiers as "an act of war". Israeli planes bombed Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon and troops crossed into southern Lebanon for the first time since the military withdrawal of 2000.

It’s not the first time Israel is getting involved in the sort of situation that it is right now. A violent birth, a violent existence: its history is full of blood; ironically, though the nation is in the midst of a land that spells peace.

The Jewish state has been, to the region, like a foreign particle that the body is trying to expel. But the numerically inferior group has stayed on with single-minded determination. The stay has been long enough for a minority in the area to accept its presence as a fait accompli. But that’s all about it. Blood spills ceaselessly.

There are a few indicators to the fact that this two-week old trauma is much different from what we have seen in the past.

One, every time in the past, when Israeli pursuit of terrorists has had collateral civilian deaths, it heeded the politically correct suggestion and called off the aggression. This time, post-Qana (where 54 people, including 34 children died yesterday), Israeli PM today said it will not cease fire. Air raids are off for two days, but ground offensive supported by air force is on.

Two, this is the first major conflagration in the area post-9/11. Today the troubles, big and small, are no longer isolated phenomena scattered across the globe confined to national boundaries and politics. Regional catalysts have coalesced into a global uprising. The terrorists are well and truly in the open with their intent and methods. The sheer enormity of the conflict shows this isn’t the sort of battle that was waged before.

Three, this Israel-Hezbollah fight is seen as a proxy war between the US and Iran. During the Cold War era, in the conflicts of Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan etc, the US and the USSR were there by proxy. We never had a direct US-USSR conflict, though the world came perilously close to it many times. Much before this, the Spanish Civil War was seen as a precursor for Germany-Italy and the Soviets to gird up for the World War II.

Today, are we on the threshold of something similar?

Bruce Barton

I happened to read about this wonderful personality called Bruce Barton.

He was a man of many talents -- advertising executive, religious writer, copy writer and United States Congressman.

His quotes are well-known. Some of my favourites:

** Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.

** If you have anything really valuable to contribute to the world it will come through the expression of your own personality, that single spark of divinity that sets you off and makes you different from every other living creature.

** In good times, people want to advertise; in bad times, they have to.

Study of bloggers in US by Pew

The following is a piece I wrote for The Times of India, Bangalore, dated July 22, 2006:

Bloggers are referred to as "citizen journalists", as different from "professional journalists". But a survey in the US has found that only 34% of them consider their activity as journalism and 65% said it is not journalism.

At the same time, a majority of bloggers engage in practices generally associated with professional journalism, like giving credits, quotes, checking facts, etc, says a survey conducted by Pew Internet and American Life Project, a Washington-based non-profit research centre studying the social effects of internet on Americans.

Fifty-seven per cent bloggers give credits in the form of links to original sources and 56% spend extra time trying to verify facts they want to include in a post. Forty per cent quote other people or media directly in their posts, while 20% of bloggers said they seek permission before posting copyrighted material on their blog.

Thirty-eight percent also posted corrections in their blogs. This was more prevalent in bloggers over 30 years and with college degree, the Pew study showed.

Most bloggers are also keen followers of current events, and also use blogs as a source of information. Ninety-five percent of bloggers said they get news from the internet, compared to 73% of all internet users. Bloggers were also found to be more dependent on technology for social interaction.

"My life and experiences" was the most preferred topic (37%) for blogging, 11% cited issues of public life like politics and government, 7% picked entertainment related issues, 6% sports and 5% news.

Twelve million American adults, or 8% or internet users, kept a blog. While 54% were under 30 years of age, 55% used a pseudonym and 84% described the activity as a "hobby" or "something I do, but not something I spend lot of time on". While 59% of bloggers just one or two hours per week on their blogs, while 25% spend 3 to 9 hours.

While 70% said they blogged only when they felt like, 22% did it on a regular basis.

Access the full report here