The military offensive in Pakistan discussed online

Pakistani army vs Taliban
 
This weekend, following several terrorist attacks which have shaken Pakistan in recent weeks, the Pakistani army launched an offensive in South Waziristan, in the north west of the country. The aim being to stem Taliban activity, held responsible for the wave of attacks in Pakistan. The web reacts.
 

Confident of its superiority over the Taliban, the Pakistani army is promoting itself on line and is broadcasting many videos praising its soldiers on its Youtube channel. Videos in which soldiers are seen flaunting their ultra-modern fighting equipment.
 

And many net users are on the same wavelength. Several photomontages such as these suggest that the Pakistani troops will make short work of the Taliban terrorists and that the army will triumph in Waziristan.
 
However, for this blogger, the army’s mission in the region will be far from easy. He recalls that the soldiers are not trained for this type of combat against an enemy which conceals itself amongst civilians. 
 

Civilians who are often the main victims of this conflict, as explained by this NGO in these videos available online. And the organisation invites net users to mobilise and send in donations to assist those who have been displaced because of fighting.
 

Meanwhile, this net user deplores the lack of information coming out of Waziristan. He claims that the Pakistani army are the only entity communicating on the situation in the region and he urges soldiers to show greater transparency.
 
Fight against cancer
 
Many websites, blogs and Twitter pages have turned pink in recent days in the framework of the ‘Pink for October’ event, a month of awareness raising initiatives for breast cancer screening. On line, initiatives to mobilise the blogosphere are multiplying.
 

Tennis star, Venus Williams calls on net users to use Twitter to promote this site which offers in-depth information about the disease.

In the Muslim world, many video bloggers are encouraging women to wear a pink headscarf on October 28 to express their solidarity with this combat.
 

But the web is also mobilising against all other forms of cancer. Several associations have launched an operation on social networks. One cent is donated to research each time the expression ‘beat cancer’ is mentioned by net users. Over 6,000 dollars have already been collected in this way.
 
Drew Olanoff, a blogger suffering from ganglion cancer has chosen to tackle the subject with humour. On this specially created site he invites net users to hold his cancer responsible for their daily strife. An original way to maintain morale in the face of this disease.
 

And the same blogger is also going to sell his Twitter account in aid of Livestrong, the association founded by Lance Armstrong. The actor Drew Carrey has already undertaken to buy it and to donate one dollar each time a net user subscribes to his account. The aim being to hit the one million dollar mark.