Colorado-based blogger and human dynamo, Simon Maghakyan, is the author behind “Blogian: Once Upon a Time in Hayastan” (www.blogian.hayastan.com); the site digests what the rest of us don’t have the time and patience to peruse. It debunked the rumor that a group of “Hayastan.com hackers” vandalized an Azeri opposition party website and it regularly passes along snapshots that include everything from new construction projects in Yerevan to diasporan events.

Parked on the Russian site, Hayastan.com, Blogian is also no stranger to news coups. Last year Azeri authorities were caught on video desecrating the medieval Armenian cemetery of Old Julfa, in Nakhijevan, Azerbaijan. “I had directly received the file via e-mail from a friend at the Armenian Prelacy of Teheran,” Simon says, pointing out how small the world has become.

On December 16, 2005, Simon posted a story the Russian Regnum News Agency generated on the crime and then, three days later, he uploaded the video file to a site he created, www.azerivandalism.cjb.net. In a few weeks, the video was downloaded hundreds of times.

Word of the crime against global heritage spread quickly and soon reached the halls of the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament. The Europeans adopted a resolution on February 16, condemning the act of vandalism. A European contingent even requested to visit the site but was denied access.