On the Armenian Blogosphere
I’ve just found a posting on Registan.net regarding the appalling state of the Armenian Blogosphere. As Nathan rightly points out, most serve a propagandist purpose and are written by Diasporans too out of tune with the reality of today’s Armenia.
With a few exceptions (some of which will be named shortly), Armenian blogs have been very painful to read of late. In fact, nothing has recently made me less sympathetic to or interested in Armenia or Armenian issues than a good chunk of the Armenian blogosphere (Diasporans, primarily).
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I was already well-acquainted with the divide in the Armenian blogosphere between those who think any criticism of Armenia is absolutely out of bounds (those with their own version of Reagan’s 11th commandment) and, well, the rest. But the racism is new to me.
Interestingly, Nathan goes on to compare the situation with that in the former Yugoslavia. This struck a chord with me because when I was recently in Tbilisi, some Georgians working in international organizations described the mentality of Armenians, and also of Azerbaijanis, as being pretty similar to that of the Serbs back when the war broke out.
Anyway, I’m at least glad to see that Nathan makes an exception for my blog, as well as Blogrel. I think there are one or two others, as Nathan suggests in his own introduction, but anyway, thanks.
I should mention the blogs I do particularly like though. Both Blogrel and Oneworld Multimedia are great Armenia blogs and each catches plenty of criticism for their troubles. The latter gets criticized for not being sunshiney and upbeat about Armenia at all times, and the former recently was criticized for being under the sway of the foolish notion that Armenia can be at peace with Azerbaijan. (I wonder if the author of that criticism is an advocate of exterminating Azeris.)
Hopefully the Armenian blogosphere will improve in the future, and I’m glad to see that Onnik Krikorian is keen on developing the Armenian blogosphere.
Hopefully, this improvement has started with the arrival of Zarchka on the scene. Writing in a similar style (i.e. experience rather than news-based) to Notes from Hairenik and Inch Es Asum?, I’m glad to see that Nathan linked to her first post on Global Voices. What makes Zarchka different from the rest of us, perhaps, is that for once, an Armenian citizen actually living in the Republic is posting.
Who is this guy? Who is his audience, and why does he mention two blogs that have obvious links to one another?
Well, whatever. Glad to see that you have been acknowledged.
Comment by Christian Garbis — December 27, 2005 @ 4:02 am
Christian, I should mention that I like yours too. I mentioned the two that I mentioned because they’re pretty front and center in my mind because they post with high frequency.
As for who I am, it’s pretty much all on my blog. I’m a grad student at the University of Washington, founder of Registan.net (which, as far as Central Asia goes, is pretty well-known), and the Regional Editor for Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus at Global Voices Online.
Comment by Nathan Hamm — December 28, 2005 @ 5:49 am
Thank you for the information, Nathan. Glad to know about your blog and undertakings.
Comment by Christian Garbis — December 29, 2005 @ 12:21 am
What about Voch Me Ban? I know my blog has a pro-peace corps slant and loves to go after our favorite turkish apologists - bob livingston and brent scowcroft…but where is the love?
Just kidding. Great post and keep up the good work.
Comment by Jeff Dunaway — December 29, 2005 @ 4:15 am