UNICEF Director Sniffs Glue, Speaks

Ennahar – Arguing for “progress in the defense of children’s rights”, [Anthony Lake] stressed that “peace and security” were essential. “Wars do not kill children, they bring disease and destroy the hopes of a better life,” he said.

Crack Journalist Does His Research

The Mark – Do Canadians care?

One of the most interesting developments in the dissemination of news online is the ability for readers to leave their own comments. This can provide some insight into the way Canadians think. Reader comments on the detainee transfer and torture issue have been very instructive.

Charge! Oh, Shit, Wait. Run Away!

Telegraph – The Government is attempting to block a decision to include troops fighting abroad in human rights legislation…

Mrs Smith’s legal team are expected to argue both that human rights laws apply to British soldiers wherever they are in the world and that, under those laws, the Government must take reasonable steps not to expose them to unnecessary risks.

Tennyson Probably Didn’t See This Coming

Times Online – When Mr Justice Collins upheld the conclusion of the Oxfordshire Coroner, that sending a soldier into battle with defective equipment could breach his human rights, he referred to the Crimean War. “The failures to provide adequate medical attention in the Crimean War would be regarded, whereas the Charge of the Light Brigade would not, as a possible breach of Article 2,” he said.

Gotta Love Those “Friends And Allies”

How about cutting off a respective percentage of work and travel visas?

[Reuters] The survey of 16,063 people in 17 nations found majorities in only nine countries believe al Qaeda was behind the attacks on New York and Washington that killed about 3,000 people in 2001.

U.S. officials squarely blame al Qaeda, whose leader Osama bin Laden has boasted of organizing the suicide attacks by his followers using hijacked commercial airliners.

On average, 46 percent of those surveyed said al Qaeda was responsible, 15 percent said the U.S. government, 7 percent said Israel and 7 percent said some other perpetrator. One in four people said they did not know who was behind the attacks.

The poll was conducted by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a collaborative project of research centers in various countries managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland in the United States.

In Europe, al Qaeda was cited by 56 percent of Britons and Italians, 63 percent of French and 64 percent of Germans. The U.S. government was to blame, according to 23 percent of Germans and 15 percent of Italians.

Respondents in the Middle East were especially likely to name a perpetrator other than al Qaeda, the poll found.

Israel was behind the attacks, said 43 percent of people in Egypt, 31 percent in Jordan and 19 percent in the Palestinian Territories. The U.S. government was blamed by 36 percent of Turks and 27 percent of Palestinians.

In Mexico, 30 percent cited the U.S. government and 33 percent named al Qaeda.

Wouldn’t Have Anything To Do With Winning

A movement that put a million people in the streets a month before the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and has drawn as many as half-a-million protesters to protests as recently as January 2007 has failed to mobilize anything even near those numbers since then.  Part of this is because of differences among the leadership of the two primary antiwar organizations, part of it is because many people opposed to the war have put their energies—however misplaced– into working for Barack Obama, and part of it is attributable to the belief that there is nothing one can do to stop the bloody occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The rest.

Ah, Come On. Can’t We March After Lunch?

Saving the world from evil would-be rulers should come with better hours:

Students Against War is calling our friends and allies to support our rights and stand up against our would-be rulers on May 19th. Come leaflet, hold placards and banners, or voice your support.

To help or learn more, join us for a brief pre-parade meeting in Centennial Square (by City Hall) at 8:00 am on May 19th. Sorry for the early meeting time, but this is a great opportunity to make our message heard! If possible, please RSVP to uvicsaw@riseup.net to give us an idea of numbers or to ask questions.

The rest.

Today’s Call Of “This Time War Would Be OK”

If one reads the UN Charter, one finds that the founders were not averse to using force in order to deter aggressors and preserve international peace and security. However, while the UN was formed to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”, the list of scourges is growing.

…

Indeed there is a case to be made that the human rights’ record of the military junta is reason enough to invoke R2P and certainly, if they are intentionally preventing aid from reaching, especially, specific ethnic groups, the case is much stronger. 

The rest.

The Latest Calls Of “This Time War Would Be OK”

[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.

Funny, Another Call Of “This Time War Would Be OK”

DWE is seeing a lot of this lately. Get out of Iraq…let Darfur rot…Burma? Hmm, maybe time to send in the troops. (And we all know whose troops they mean).

Should Canada, and the rest of the international community, intervene forcefully in Burma to ensure that this desperately needed assistance gets through to the people who actually need it?

The rest.

This Time War Would Be OK

Brian Rudman, New Zealand writer:

I never thought I’d ever say this, but for once I wish the United States and anyone else that wants to join in, New Zealand included, just walked in and did what has to be done. Letting your people die in great numbers when medical and food aid is at hand is nothing short of genocide.

The rest.

The Tibet Question: Bigots Jump On The Bandwagon

Many progressives, human rights advocates, and opportunistic right-wing ideologues point to the principle of self-determination.

The rest.

And, last paragraph: no wonder women and children get massacred while people preach human rights.

Progressives must oppose imperialism everywhere; they must oppose war everywhere; they must support human rights everywhere.