http://drlunswe.blogspot.com/ 

          The blog I chose is a privately-run blog that covers current events involving the Burmese government called Dr. Loi Swe Swe. The page is on Blogspot and its primary language is Burmese. Dr. Lwin, who is the primary writer for the page, uses this blog to make comments on the current situation with the government. It is clear that Dr. Lwin is not very happy about the state of the government based off of the many negative blog posts. For example, the first post talks about Suu Kyi, the current State Counsellor of Myanmar. Dr. Lun talks mostly about her struggles as a politician as well as her possible mental health issues, a comment made based off of a picture that the author believed made her look mentally ill. On the side of the page you can use links that connect you to different forms of Myanmar media, including TV news, radio, websites, and foreign news sources. As for content on the page itself, you could find all kinds of entertainment, news, and essays.  

          I find this blog very interesting. The content on the pages seems to vary but is focused primarily on current news. I think it’s a good idea to have a blog that passes on information that likely would not be allowed on mainstream news outlets. I know through looking into Myanmar’s government in the past that they have been struggling with making their new government work the way they intended it to. This page targets the misconduct of government officials which is very important, and I believe would have a positive effect on the public of Myanmar because people can see a lot more of what is happening in different parts of the country.  

           It does lead me to some questions. First off, how accurate is the information that the authors use. It is somewhat difficult to find out how much of it is reliable due to the lack of civil liberties that the people have. One thing to keep in mind when looking at the information on the page would be if is at all biased, which most information sources are. My next question would be the authors motivation for starting the blog. It is clear that there are a lot of anti-government posts, but there are also nonpolitical posts made.    

Muhammad Mustafa is a famous Pakistani blogger from Karachi Pakistan. Mustafa frequently writes on the topic of Pakistani sports, frequently covering the Pakistani national soccer and cricket teams. Pakistani culture is obsessed with the sport of cricket, an obvious byproduct of their former status as a British colony. I find Mustafa’s blog post was unique because although they are not inherently political, they still have a pro-Pakistan agenda always showing the Pakistani teams in a positive light.

In his most recent post “#PakvsZim: When your haters are silent, you know you’ve made it!”, Mustafa describes the recent victory against the Zimbabwe national team. What was interesting about the blog, was how some of the rhetoric blurred the line between sports analysis and nationalistic rhetoric. Mustafa describes the Zimbabwe team as “dispirited” and unable to counter Pakistan’s “dominance”. This writing offers some interesting questions, for instance to what extent can sports be used to create national identity and pride. Large events like the world cup seem to generate a surge of patriotic fervor and in the case of Pakistan, it is no different. Can successful national sports teams be used by oppressive governments to mask their acts or is the event to insignificant to have any real pollical implications?

 

 

https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/69520/pakvszim-when-your-haters-are-silent-you-know-youve-made-it/

Anne Hirlinger

HR: the blog

 

The blog I chose is called Beyond Borders Sri Lanka (https://beyondborders.wordpress.com).

Beyond Borders is a broader group that also has pages for India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the UK. They are youth-run blogs that aim to give youth an opportunity to voice their opinions on issues that concern them. Some things focused on specifically in Sri Lanka are citizenship education for underprivileged children and training in schools on sexual health as well as HIV/AIDS. They hosted some forums for young people and focused on climate change as well as globalization. They also hosted a youth festival in 2006 that gave over 1000 youth from Sri Lanka and other countries the opportunity to build their political skills. After 2007, they started channeling their efforts into projects concerning conflict, education and used theater as an alternative media source.

I think the concept of the organization and this blog was a really good idea, and it is a shame it got discontinued. I think it’s great that youth were given an opportunity to be politically active online and in person in their communities. My only concern would be how the government of Sri Lanka would view these kids protesting. On one hand, while Sri Lanka guarantees the right to protest in its constitution, the letter of the law is not always carried out and many protests get shut down. I would be concerned from a “parent” standpoint that if my child was involved in a protest that the government didn’t like, or wrote a radical blog online and had their name tied to it, as most of the blog posts do on the site, would that reflect badly not only on the child but on the rest of the family? Would it affect a young person’s ability to get jobs and make them a target of the state? In the UK where they also have a Beyond Borders site, I think it is much safer and more reasonable that kids could use the sit and be politically active, but in a less free country, I would be worried for their safety.

Over the past few days, controversy has risen over a negative Facebook post that was targeted towards the large population of Muslims within Bangladesh. Protests broke out after a discriminating comment about the Islam Prophet Muhammad. With a total population of 168 million, over 90% of Bangladesh’s population is comprised of Muslims. Due to social medias quick transfer of information, the Islam community discovered the Facebook post and took matters into their own hands.

After the post surfaced, protesters immediately took to the streets and began to  accumulate a large mass. Authorities were notified of the protest and they quickly began to question the best way to handle the situation. Following the meeting, the decision was made to send security guards to the protest area in order to calm down those that were involved.

Unfortunately the attempt to calm the masses only sparked the flame to ignite even larger and the protesters began to attack the on-site security guards. The attack spurred a defensive reaction by the guards and shots were fired. After the protesters were finally extinguished, four people were killed and over 100 others were injured including police officers and protesters.

Days after the event, three possible suspects are in holding areas to figure out who hacked the mans account and made the comment. The original man who was accused claims that his account was hacked by an unknown user and the discriminative comment was then posted. Minority groups within Bangladesh claim to be targeted in the heavily populated Islamic country. With the complaint by minorities of being targeted, it will be interesting to see if Bangladesh adopts harsher laws that are more strictly pointed towards the Islamic community.

https://nypost.com/2019/10/21/several-killed-in-bangladesh-protest-over-anti-muslim-facebook-post/

In this article, Ali talks about the religious fragmentation which is followed by periods of violence that is currently being witnessed in Sri Lanka. The blog opens by explaining the hidden agenda of the far-right/extremist groups (like Bodu Bala Sena (BBS)) concerning the Muslim community in Sri Lanka. The BBS sought to expel all Muslims to Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country that is not Sri Lanka in hopes to make the island purely Sinhala Buddhist. The BBS derived three models to achieve their Muslim expulsion goals. The most extreme of the three was similar to Hitler’s ‘final solution’ instead of the Jewish, Muslims would be substituted. The second model allowed soldiers and mobs to kill, rape, burn houses and crops of the Muslim community in hopes It would force thousands to cross (they hoped to drown in the Indian Ocean) to Bangladesh. Lastly, the third model is to create a new generation of Muslims who would forget about their ethnicity and religion to become one with the cultures and values of Sri Lanka. The Sinhala Buddhist majority has demonstrated their disgust by not answering the BBS call to rally. Reluctantly, the Muslim community recognizes that its religious and educational institutions need to undergo reform. However, reformation needs to be conducted by the Muslims themselves and not by the forceful hand of the BBS.

Since the blog is written by an individual who allies with the Sinhala Buddhist population does that subject the information to personal biases? Sure, there could potentially be some biases that influence the information; however, the presentation of the material seems as though the biases are set aside. Especially, when the author talks about the three models. Concerning the three models. I feel as though the BBS use those models as a bluff more than anything else. I can’t see a genocide like the movement of Muslims in Sri Lanka in the coming future. Sri Lanka has recently experienced a civil war and I feel as though they most certainly don’t want to undergo a second civil war. Should the BBC and other radical groups follow through with the more extreme models to expel the Muslims. Then, there most definitely will be conflict within Sri Lanka. Not just between the Sinhala Buddhists and the Muslims, but also between Sinhala Buddhists due to differentiating opinions on the methods used to expel Muslims. If you are an individual who enjoys reading about conflicts, then I would continue to follow the delicate relationship between the Muslim community of Sri Lanka and the extremist of the Sinhala Buddhist majority.

 

HR: https://thuppahi.wordpress.com/2019/07/14/sinhala-extremists-eye-uyghur-solution-for-muslims/

Cadet Caleb Minus

Encryption

HR: Example sheet

A Shop In Pakistan

On a little corner of Islamabad there’s a beautiful shop. This shop was grown from the ground up by a grew of people together. Though not blood, the workers and shop owner, Mr. San, grew to become a family. One day the owner lost trust in the other workers, his own family! He grew increasingly worried that the others were trying to change the identity of the shop as they began to suggest changes in inventory to become more modern. They kept asking to place more suits and dresses in the shop, but the owner refused to listen. The owner, Mr. San, would walk away from his workers anytime they suggested to modernize the inventory. Eventually, fed up of their begging, Mr San began to fire employees that wouldn’t buy into the shop’s origins.

On that day Mr. San’s ex-employees, tired of not being listened to, decided to come together and make their own shop across the street. They began to build their shop and inventory full of modern technology, apparel, and games. The community loved it. As their new store grew in popularity, Mr. San’s shop began to run out of business. In an attempt to survive, Mr. San tried suing the new shop, but failed. He went as far as trying to start rumors about his old employees and their store. On his last limb, Mr. San reached out his hand to combine businesses. Combining Mr. San’s expertise in sales with his new business partners knowledge of the new school items, the shops blew up and actually did better together. Having a more inclusive stores, featuring the best of the new age and traditional inventory, they gained the support of customers across Islamabad and Pakistan, as a whole.

Inspector General of Punjab Police has announced to make internal investigations to fight corruption in the Punjab  Police in Pakistan. The investigation was inspired by recent reports of carelessness and misconduct amongst the ranks of Punjab Police leadership. What is not mentioned in the article is how notorious the police forces in Pakistan are for turning a blind eye to political and ethnic violence in the state. It appears that this article may be a front as an “effort” for improvement in the police forces, but it is unlikely that real change in the Punjab Police will actually occur. While there have been a few dismissals of police leadership, the corruption still occurs and the police for is still generally apathetic to violence in the state.

https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2019/10/03/igp-orders-internal-inquiry-against-corrupt-police-officials/

Kashmir has been locked down for two months and Internet connection has been cut off. This began when India announced it was stripping Jammu and Kashmir state of the autonomy it has had since the 1940s. This is pivotal because this is India’s only Muslim-majority state. The state knew this would be unfavorable and now there are sporadic protests breaking out. These protestors are being arrested and held under preventive detention. Others have been tortured by security forces. Now, Kashmiri separatists are conducting their own suppression. Indian officials have not indicated when they will lift the security or release people in jail. India’s national security chief blames Pakistan for Kashmir’s problems because if the internet were restored in Kashmir then Pakistan would flood it with misleading information.

Can the United States help the conflict in any way?

Isn’t it a good thing the Internet is out since they believe Pakistan would be uploading false information? What kind of misinformation would Pakistan publish?

How far will this conflict go and who else will it involve? Will Pakistan and India’s conflict become more detrimental?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/world/asia/Kashmir-lockdown-photos.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FIndia&action=click&contentCollection=world&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection

 

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1184772/Pakistan-India-news-update-World-war-3-Modi-Khan-nuclear-armageddon-Masood-Khan

This article touches on the current hasty conflict between India and Pakistan. Both country’s leadership have signaled escalation both verbally and physically through military force. Some call on the US, yet again, to mediate. Trump says he will if needed.

1. Isn’t already time to intervene if the US will? Jets have been shot down, skirmishes have multiplied and words are pretty hostile.
2. Do Pakistan and India really mean it when they say they’ll engage in nuclear war, or is it classic brinkmanship?

 

Bangladesh authorities have announced that they will build barbed-wire fences around Rohingya refugee camps in order to prevent them from growing. There are nearly 30 camps near the boarder, and it is unclear when construction will begin. Before the plan to build fences, the Bangladesh telecommunication regulators asked cellphone companies to shut down service within the camps and restrict internet access. As the refugees came from Myanmar, negotiations were attempted to move the refugees back to their home, but none of the refugees wanted to return voluntarily and they will not be forced to.

These refugees fled their homeland as a response to harsh military crackdown within Myanmar. However, it seems that violence follows them everywhere they go. They are shoved into soon-to-be fenced in camps, have very limited access to the rest of the world, and up to 40 Rohingya have been killed because of a possible connection with drug smuggling. There have been a few fights between the police and the Rohingya resulting in the loss of refugee lives.

If these refugees attempted to find hospitality in a country not in South Asia, would they have more luck in staying out of violence?

Bangladesh has stated that they will not force the refugees to return to Myanmar, so why are they being so hostile to them being in their country? Do they believe making the refugees live in such poor conditions with fenced in communities and no cell phone or internet access will drive them to return to their homeland?

Why has the UN not stepped in to help these refugees more? Do they believe this conflict will work itself out or do more Rohingya lives have to be lost before they feel obligated to provide outside aid?

HR: https://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Bangladesh-to-install-fences-around-Rohingya-14470017.php