Sharqiyya: Internet in the Middle East - Baghdad Burning

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One of the obvious and fascinating internet trends in the Arab World is the open proliferation of blogs (Mudawwanāt). The blog is a form of web diary which anyone can view, and serves as a platform for the writer to raise his opinions and impressions on a variety of subjects. In fact, any internet user can easily start a blog at no cost. One of the prominent attributes of this form of communication, which appeals to many bloggers, is the ability to remain anonymous as a writer. This is very important to the Arab bloggers who wish to express their opinions and stances freely without the fear that the government or other authorities will take punitive steps against them. Currently there are 490,000 blogs in Arabic, only 0.7% of the total amount of blogs in the world..Even though no numbers have yet to be released regarding the number and extent of the Iraqi blogs, this column will focus on one Iraqi blog that stands out in particular, Baghdad Burning, which although written in English, succeeded well both in Iraq and around the world, and was written from a feminine perspective.