We love how blogs give us glimpses into the lives and experiences of people all over the world. We also love how they offer opinion, analysis, and on-the-ground perspectives on current events that are impossible to get anywhere else.

This week, three standout posts gave us both:

What is Happening in Istanbul?

Hundreds and thousands of citizens from all walks of life then joined them to support for the protestors. Couple of more thousand passed the Bosporus Bridge on foot to support the people of Taksim. They were met with more water cannons and more pepper spray, more hostility. Four people died, thousands of people were injured.

No newspaper or TV channel was there to report the events. They were busy with broadcasting news about Miss Turkey and “the strangest cat in the world.”

Blogger Defne Suman lives in Istanbul, where protestors began taking to the streets in late May…