ISRAEL: Olmert new kid on the blog block

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‘With Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s departure on a diplomatic visit to Japan, we have decided — for the first time — to post a blog on the Prime Minister’s Office website,’ says a statement from the prime minister’s office. The blog, it says, is aimed at allowing surfers to learn about the visit and get regular updates, as well as serving as another means of increasing transparency of the PM’s activities. Comments will be welcome.

With this, Olmert joins President Shimon Peres, who has been blogging for the Israeli daily Haaretz for several months. Peres, now turning his famous one-liners into onliners, posted this in October: ‘In order to maintain our identity, we pray, throughout the world, in Hebrew, and in order to maintain our modernity, we use English.’

— Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem