Down With Everybody

Airport security was condemned as a joke after an Afghan involved in the Stansted hijacking was found to be working at Heathrow as a cleaner. 

Police arrested Nazamuddin Mohammidy at Terminal 5 where he showed his British Airways pass allowing him access to secure areas.

The rest.

[AFP May 16] US lawmakers have asked President George W. Bush to consider “humanitarian intervention” in cyclone-hit Myanmar after its military rulers refused to allow foreign experts to direct relief efforts despite rising deaths.

Forty-one members of the House of Representatives wrote to Bush on Thursday asking him to “strongly consider” backing efforts by France, Britain, Germany, Denmark and other nations to gain entry into the devastated Irrawaddy Delta region “to provide urgent life-saving humanitarian aid.”

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[The Guardian, May 17] These are obstacles made of shadows, that will crumble as soon as they are challenged and someone has the courage to push through the aid the Burmese desperately need - over, around or through the military regime. International precedent may well be set, but no one in Burma needs a history lesson. The military can’t handle this crisis, and there is a crying need for those who can.

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[NY Times, May 14] The magic of this is that an enormous amount of assistance can be provided while maintaining a small footprint on shore, greatly reducing the chances of a clash with the Burmese armed forces while nevertheless dealing a hard political blow to the junta. Concomitantly, drops can be made from directly overhead by the Air Force without the need to militarily occupy any Burmese airports.

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[The New Yorker, May 14] But if the fear of Baghdad and Falluja is what keeps foreign powers from saving huge numbers of Burmese from their own government’s callousness, that will be one more tragic consequence of the Iraq war.

On the other hand, if it’s going to be done, it should be done quickly. I know all the arguments why we shouldn’t. But there are at least a million counterarguments why we should.

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[Time, May 10] That’s why it’s time to consider a more serious option: invading Burma.

Under pressure from gay rights groups and a sponsorship boycott of live dancehall shows by local beer giant Red Stripe, some Jamaican dancehall stars are offering free performances to events at which no Red Stripe products are sold or consumed.

The rest.

Dallaire has become a poster boy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This has resulted in modest wealth and status — promotions and medals before he retired, a UN post as adviser, a Liberal senator, and a sought-after speaker and authority on human rights in Darfur, China and elsewhere.

By morally equating the U.S. and Canada’s treatment of Khadr, now 21, with al-Qaida or international terrorism, Dallaire crosses the line and makes a fool of himself as well as the entourage who thinks he’s wonderful.

Dallaire is not wonderful. He’s decent, has a conscience, wants to do good and right wrongs. But he is cursed with having been a failure in the most significant job of his life when he didn’t have the experience to cope with UN bureaucracy that let Rwanda happen — and he did nothing.

The rest.

An expelled RCMP cadet’s cherished dream of becoming a Mountie remained elusive Friday, with the force now challenging an order that it give him another chance to join and pay him $500,000 in damages.

In an application for a judicial review, the RCMP argues the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal was wrong to find the force had discriminated against Ali Tahmourpour or that he deserved any compensation.

The rest.

[Tehran Times, May 17, 2008] Rabbi Gottlieb, one of the first ten women rabbis in the history of Judaism, on May 10 visited the offices of the Tehran Times and the Mehr News Agency, heading a delegation of 21 peace activists from the United States. 

The interfaith delegation included people of Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Christian, and Indigenous religious confessions from 11 different U.S. states. 

“It is important to remember that the Islamic world has sheltered the Jewish people throughout our long history,” Rabbi Gottlieb said in an interview with MNA.

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“(Here) we have eaten well, we have been graciously hosted, we have loved the people of Iran, and we have had wonderful conversations… This is a community that expresses many different views within the context of a tremendous spirit of hospitality, which we have so appreciated. And that is the tradition we share.”

vs.

[Associated Press, May 14, 2008]  Speaking in northern Iran, [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad said, “The Zionist regime is dying. The criminals assume that by holding celebrations they can save the sinister Zionist regime from death and annihilation.” Iran does not recogize Israel, and Ahmadinejad was internationally condemned in 2005 when he said in a speech that Israel should be “erased from the world map.”

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“Nations of the region hate this criminal fabricated regime (Israel) and will uproot this fabricated regime if the smallest and shortest opportunity is given to them,” Ahmadinejad said Wednesday in an address broadcast live on state television.

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[Associated Press, August 3, 2006] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday the solution to the Middle East crisis is to destroy Israel.

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[Haaretz, Jan 30, 2008] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the West Wednesday to acknowledge Israel’s “imminent collapse.” 

Speaking to a crowd on a visit to the southern port of Bushehr, where Iran’s first light-water nuclear power plant is being built by Russia, Ahmadinejad further incited his listeners to “stop supporting the Zionists, as [their] regime reached its final stage.”

“Accept that the life of Zionists will sooner or later come to an end,” the Iranian president said in a televised speech.

In Ankara, Turkey, there will be a high profile march against homophobia, and across Canada this week, anti-homophobia campaigns in schools, presentations, concerts, poster promotions and a Fight Against Homophobia awards ceremony in Montreal will help get the message out.

Cuba will mark IDAHO with live debates, plastic arts exhibits, theater works, and book presentations among other projects, with wide support from state institutions.

The rest.

In a narrow 5-4 ruling, the court said that it is the responsibility of the Crown to prove young offenders convicted of violent crimes should be sentenced as adult. Before the ruling, the onus rested on teens to prove they should be dealt with as minors.

Friday’s ruling, however, does not bar judges from handing adult sentences to offenders between 14 and 17 years old. But it says that it is now up to the Crown to prove why a stricter sentence is appropriate.

Since 2002, it has been possible to sentence teenagers convicted of murder, aggravated sexual assault or other serious crimes as adults. The provision in question in Friday’s ruling compelled those convicted of such crimes to convince the courts they should not be sentenced as adults.

The court said young offenders should be presumed less morally culpable for their crimes than adults. It said the reverse onus is a breach of justice and of young offenders’ Charter rights.

The rest.

You’ve gotta hand it to Babs. She knows how to keep the business booming. “Education” is a bureaucrat’s euphemism for “Money.”

Barbara Hall, Ontario Human Rights Commissioner:

“Everyone should be able to fish without fear in Ontario,” Hall told Osprey News.

“We need to protect individuals - for example Asian-Canadians who’ve been victims of racist attacks. But we also need to do the long-term systemic education that gets rid of the stereotypes that cause such attacks.”

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Hall said the commission will watch what happens this summer and may issue another report this fall.

The rest.

Yahoo! learned the hard way that inattention to human rights can have devasting consequences. While some may see the new program as no more than an effort to restore the company’s reputation, we strongly applaud this new effort. Companies have an obligation to respect human rights and rigorous due diligence and risk assessment are the right place to start.

The rest.