Global Voices: Bloggers React to Conflict in Georgia

The recent conflict between Georgia and Russia pulled headlines away from the start of the Olympics over the weekend, and for the past few days we’ve heard stories of military clashes, causalities, and – now – negotiations to end the fighting in the region. As often is the case with tragic stories like this, the most difficult voices to hear can be from those who are affected the most – the ordinary citizens who watch as armies roll into their towns and drop bombs on their buildings, those who huddle in their homes or flee them as they piece together what’s happening around them.

Thanks to the immediacy and accessibility of the internet, though, we no longer have to wait for a journalist to find those people and tell their stories. Bloggers have been posting their own first-person accounts since the fighting began. The website Global Voices collects the stories found on blogs around the world, and we often turn to one of its editors and writers, Deborah Dilley, to fill us in. Deborah joins us on Word of Mouth to review some of the blogs from Georgia, and to highlight some other stories buzzing around the international blogosphere.

(Map courtesy WikiMedia Commons)

Here are links to the stories mentioned in today's Global Voices segment:

Georgia, Russia: Tbilisi Reports

Georgia: Foreigners Evacuated

Georgia, Russia: Blogger From Poti Recounts the Bombing

Georgia, Russia: More Reports On the Conflict From Russophone Bloggers

India: Abortion, Parents and the Indian Law

Korea: Fan Death and Your Belief

Japan: Ainu recognized as indigenous people