Welcome to the new War and Peace Blog!

Published October 28, 2009 @ 09:08AM PT

Under the Citadel, Erbil/Hewler, Iraq, DJG. Come on in to our new War and Peace blog space! Don't be shy. Grab some tea or coffee, hummus, pita, or kabuli pilau. Pull up a chair or a couch, or a floor. Meet and get to know one another. You may notice Michael Bear's excellent posts are merging here from the Humanitarian Relief blog. Michael is now joined by the sharp global writer, Una Vera, and by yours truly here on War and Peace.

We'll be tackling some tough issues here, discussing how to face infernos on the horizon as well as help those drowning in shadows. At the core we aim to highlight how people survive extreme adversity, and even more importantly, how we can rally collective global heroism to protect people threatened by political violence.

And whenever possible we will offer the darkest humor. As Kurt Vonnegut said, sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying...Disarm them with a joke, I say. Then move in for the quill.

To supplement this witty, powerful team of bloggers on war and peace issues as we move forward, try also following comprehensive breaking crisis news at Reuters Alertnet, detailed humanitarian updates at ReliefWeb, getting local views from the Institute of War and Peace Reporting and the Guardian Weekly, and clarifying the politics via the International Crisis Group.

[Photo: Daniel J Gerstle, Erbil/Hewler, Iraq, 2008.]

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Comments (5)

Great to have you here, Daniel. Looking forward to great things from the War & Peace team.

Posted by Ben Rattray on 10/29/2009 @ 02:13AM PT
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Thank you for the introduction to this new, more expansive format.

Posted by Amy Morros on 11/01/2009 @ 01:56PM PT
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Looking forward to future posts! I'm glad it's more broad than the Peace in the Middle East blog or Humanitarian Relief.

Posted by Jeremy Keith Hammond on 11/02/2009 @ 04:56AM PT
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Peace is more than the absence of war, and in times of war we must not lose sight of this if we are to truly attain peace.

Posted by Lauren Serven on 11/10/2009 @ 01:46AM PT
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I was so glad to hear that Obama has rejected increasing troop levels and sending more funding to the terrorism industrial complex. Heroin, Taliban payoffs, and no al queda to be found is not a good recipe for sending more troops. I think McChrystal has gotten a bit too comfy over there, and now that I know they are all "West Point" guys, it makes me suspicious there's more going on that we know. I think it's time we bring those troops home. There are other ways to track down al queda.

Posted by CherokeeGirl for Change on 11/12/2009 @ 11:03AM PT
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Author

Daniel J Gerstle is a creative long form crisis journalist, human rights researcher, and humanitarian aid consultant who's covered Bosnia, Croatia, Karabakh, Chechnya, Ingushetia, the Ossetias, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia very deeply, spiced with highlights of Sudan, Palestine, Jordan, Tajikistan, and Georgia. Prior to all this, he served as a US Marine reservist stateside.