Operation "Moshtarak" in Afghanistan is widely commented upon on the web

AFGHANISTAN: OPERATION "MOSHTARAK"

Launched on Saturday, Operation « Moshtarak » meaning together, is the biggest joint offensive in Afghanistan since the intervention of foreign forces in 2001. Over 15 000 soldiers are taking part. Objective : to reclaim the town of Marjah, in the Helmand province, a Taliban centre for their logistical and opium smuggling network .An operation followed on the web.

On NATO’s online channel, a report explains the particularity of this operation. Lead jointly by international forces and the Afghan army, it’s a first.

On the web site of NATO’S International Security assistance Force, you can watch videos of

soldiers preparing for the offensive when they get into a helicopter on Saturday, as the operation was getting underway.

In three days, 8 NATO soldiers have been killed. The specialist site iCasualities specifies that altogether 74 NATO soldiers have been killed since the beginning of 2010, following 2009, the bloodiest year yet for the international forces with 520 deaths.

On this blog, this analyst questions the legitimacy of such an operation. He wonders about the effects of this type of offensive against the Taliban, and up to what point NATO should continue down this road.

Meanwhile, to shed different light on the conflict 2 NATO sergeants have launched the web project “30 days through Afghanistan”. Nathan Gallahan and Kenneth Raimondi have begun their tour of the country which they relate on their website made up of a blog, videos and photos, From the main command posts to Afghan villages; Objective: give a more transparent picture of the situation.

OLYMPIC GAMES IN VANCOUVER

The Vancouver Winter Olympic Games started this weekend and will continue until the 28h of February. Many sources are available on the net for web users to follow the competition as if they were there.

The official website of the 2010 games is teeming with information on the competitions different events and athletes. A large number of videos are also available online, videos which do not talk solely about sport. Several reports, like these ones are devoted to learning about the host city and the activities available outside of the games.

Via the service Google maps, Google takes you on a virtual visit of the different areas in which the games are taking place. It is even possible to see the slopes, which will be used for the downhill events in particular, in 3 dimensions. This was made possible by using snowmobiles, as we see in this video.

And thrill seekers will not be left behind, thanks to this site which provides web users with a simulator on which they can tear down the alpine ski slopes of Vancouver.

An even more original site is ‘twitter-athletes’, which lists all those athletes competing in Vancouver who have a twitter account. It’s a way to follow the competition through the eyes of those competing and to see how they think the games are going.

Finally, certain are favoring the web as a tool to denounce the Olympic Games and in particular, the overwhelmingly large costs it entails for the host city.

Several web sites and Facebook groups have been set up to bring together anti-Olympic campaigners so that they can coordinate their events.

DEAL BETWEEN EMI AND DAILYMOTION

EMI music has just accepted to make it’s entire library of music videos available to Dailymotion. News which should delight music lovers who, from the month of April, will be able to watch video clips from artists such as Snoop Dogg, Lily Allen and also Coldplay on the video sharing platform.

2025 EX MACHINA

The objective of this online serious game, called 2025 EX MACHINA, and financed by the European Union, is to raise awareness amongst 12-16 years old on Internet safety. The game is presented as an interactive thriller which is broken down into 6 episodes which will be put on the net gradually from now until this autumn. Amongst other things, the episodes will deal with social networks, blogs, forums and also online games.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Following on from Guitar hero and Rock band, two video games where you could step into the shoes of the greatest in rock, here’s Accordion hero, the fake game which introduces you to this old-fashioned instrument: the accordion. A satirical video put online by the comedy site latincomedyproject.org.