If you want to get a better understanding of why Iraqi "insurgents" or resistance battle against American forces in spite of overwhelming odds, read this brief post of an American soldier's sad experience in Iraq during his tour of duty.

A village protest turns into violent riot of thousands
Thousands of protestors and thousands of riot police that is. This happened in a coastal province in China where apparently violent and mass rural demonstrations have become increasingly common because of growing economic developments which have led to mounting corruption, mass layoffs and increasing construction which cause high pollution or displace many people from their homes. Beside rural villages and displaced persons, protests have even broken out over frustrations over unemployment as happened in Shenzhen at a job fair.
The government actually said over 58,000 protests occured last year with more than 3 million people taking part (from the guardian article described above).
This is a natural escalation from the widening urban-rural income gap that has been going on in China while it undergoes its economic boom. Note: this article was written in 2004.

The elections held in Iraq and Palestine don't mean a great new flourishing of democracy and freedom in the Middle East. As maintained in this article, manipulations were involved in the elections to ensure favorable results for candidates and parties that had American support and backing.
The UK's Independent paper has this commentary on methods America is utilising in Iraq to ensure ongoing political and military control over that country.

People please realise that elections by themselves do NOT mean successful democracy regardless of huge voter turnout. While democratic elections have led to significant improvements in some countries, South Africa and Malysia for example, many times elections have been tampered or manipulated or even overturned by major powers (see Chilean coup of 1973 and Augusto Pinochet) to bring on candidates who then proceed to loot or oppress their own countries.

An interesting piece, with more than a little truth in it, about illusions of civil society regarding political changes. It describes the funding of foreign political groups as well as the growing use of manipulative acts in American politics such as having "fake" reporters and think-tanks whose main purpose is more creating propaganda rather than ideas. This can already clearly be seen in the town-hall meetings with GWBush where the partisan audience is pre-selected and their questions are pre-approved before actually being asked to the President.

Tens of thousands of Shiite Iraqis marched in the streets of Baghdad yesterday to protest the US occupation yesterday, the anniversary of the fall of Baghdad to US forces 2 years ago. Sunni Iraqis also plan to protest the US occupation but at at another date and place.

An insightful and revealing article on the event of last Saturday's major attack on the notorious Abu Ghraid prison which wounded 44 American troops and dozens of Iraqi militants.


Even if they were really smuggling, was it right to kill them? Latest violence concerning Israeli soldiers in the Gaza Strip in Palestine.

In southern Iraq, a zealous young cleric rallies support against US occupation with his militia, which after suffering heavy losses in hard fighting with US forces last year, is regrouping and on the rise again. Clearly the US army does not have full control over a large part of the country though it's also accurate to say the US does not have much support in most of the country either.

The injustice of Bush's sale of fighter jets to Pakistan and offer of military arms supply to India. Escalation of tensions, increased chance of war, higher destructiveness of war if it does break out and the use of large sums of valuable money to buy these high-tech weapons of destruction which instead could have been used for building schools, housing and improving infrastructure- there's a wide choice of reasons. Indian academic and peace activist Mr. P. Bidwai explains all this in further detail.

I've come across another interesting independent mediasite online. INTHEFRAY is an online magazine that looks at social issues such as race,belief and class in countries all over the world both rich and developing. It is primarily concerned with social justice and activism. I've only started visiting it last week so I haven't read much yet. It's definitely worth a look.

Fighting rages on in Chechnya.
Then again, fighting has been raging on for over 5 years. Currently we are in the second Chechnya war, the first which lasted between 1994 and 1996.

Chechnya war is largely ignored which is not surprising since the war takes place in a small obscure, mountainous Central Asian region. Terrible atrocities have been commited against the locals who fight back with fierce guerilla tactics and extreme measures like suicide bombings.
Also similarities have been made to the Afghan war in that though controlling the cities, vastly numerically and technologically-superior Russian military forces are being tied down in a brutal war and suffering heavy losses by local resistance hiding out in the countryside who doggedly refuse to allow occupiers (Soviets in Afghanistan-1980s) total control of their nation.

As fighting rages on in Iraq whilst GWBush keeps on coming up with new reasons to justify the invasion and the US Army desperately tries to boost enrollment of recruits, the American casualty rate climbs upwards steadily and daily. Countless Iraqi civilians suffer from the effects of occupation, seeing their country afflicted with crime and destruction when not being victims of fighting or arrests by US forces. Widespread opinion maintains that this suffering and instability is the fault of the "terrorists" or "extremists" who are evil and don't want their country to prosper. People don't seem to realise that maybe these "extremists" represent the majority of Iraqis who want American forces out. The resistance is indeed putting up good resistance against American forces and show no signs of defeat.
Immense damage and death has been caused by both Americans and insurgents/resistance forces. One of them is the invader but is generally perceived as the "good" side.
Look at this site to see some graphic and horrendous images from the Iraqi occupation. Some of them are disturbing. There's a lot of debate over the righteousness of the invasion of Iraq and most of it centers around GWBush and his administration and whether they were right or wrong. It's easy to forget or overlook the suffering of the Iraqi people themselves. It seems that everytime the injustice of the invasion and occupation comes up, Saddam keeps coming up as an convenient excuse for justifying the actions of the Americans.

There's some parallels with the Vietnam war. While much was made of the Communist threat and the role of Americans in defending the South from the North, a lot of suffering was inflicted by the Americans on the North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese peasants.
This is an excerpt from Jane Fonda's book on her visit to North Vietnam and how she broadcast messages from Hanoi appealing to US pilots of the damage done to dykes which when destroyed could drown civilians. The sadness should be for your country, your soldiers. They don't know why they are fighting us

Brief insight into sheer plight of Zimbabwe from CSM

You can't argue with this- more billionaires and millionaires, more poor people.

While the situation in Iraq receives lots of media attention regularly, though ironically the more violence and instability that happens the less the coverage (whereas the more optimistic or supposedly positive, the coverage picks up again like in the recent elections)
Afghanistan features little in the media 2 years after the invasion.
There was some publicity with US First Lady Laura Bush's visit last week. But regarding everything else such as the aftermath of the elections and the conflict and poverty afflicting much of that country, nothing.

Suspected Darfur perpetrators to be tried in ICC (International Criminal Court)

Time to wake up to the truth. Modern America's decline?

Very incredible to believe, blame it on the drunkard. If this was really so, this means the most powerful nation on Earth based their whole invasion of Iraq on the lies of some crazy lying scam-artist.

Hezbullah accused of offering money to fundamentalist fighters to launch (suicide) attacks in Israel. It is known that Iran is the main supporter/ sponsor of Hezbullah but it seems the article's headline is a bit too presumptive. The article itself offers scant evidence that Iran directly offered cash for bombs to break Palestinian truce.

People who think Iraq has undergone so much benefits since the US invasion and question why Iraqis aren't grateful enough to the US and why there are so many anti-US critics and advocates regarding Iraq should read this thoroughly.

Update on Lebanon

Syrian troops continue to pull out to meet UN and US demands for total withdrawal before the upcoming elections. Fears and suspicions abound of civil unrest as Lebanon gets ready for its parliamentary elections in May. Still members of the different factions have been making efforts to unite and find common ground to prevent unnecessary bloodshed and agree on issues they can work on to improve their nation.

Mugabe wins elections in Zimbabwe after securing a majority with his ZANU-PF party. This isn't unexpected given Mugabe's rule over his country and the conditions under which the election was held, with alleged fraud, voter intimidation and threats to withhold food for rural citizens if they voted for the opposition.

US intelligence ‘dead wrong’ on Iraq threat

Yet weren't they saying Iraq had no WMDs back then, specifically fall of 2003? GWBush certainly wasn't listening then and even more damning is now, he accuses the intelligence community of not having the very information... which they had on Iraq and he didn't choose to listen to?
GWBush and his administration actually interfered, even tampered with the findings of the intelligence agencies back then to justify their invasion of Iraq.
I try to be more objective in my blogging but with today's findings and hypocrisy by GWBush, it's impossible to hold back my disgust for him.
Mugabe, Bush, Hussein... same injustice but in different forms.

Elections are underway in Zimbabwe as the oppostion tries to win an improbable victory inspite of dirty tricks and intimidation by incumbent ruler Robert Mugabe and his ruling party. These last few years have seen Zimbabwe slide deeper and deeper into a morass as Mugabe has turned into a despot with his diatribes,tightening of control over society using his feared state security srvice and his encouragement of armed invasions of white-owned farms and jailing of opposition party members and journalists. Once considered one of the most prosperous African countries Zimbabwe is now wrought with corruption, instability, repression and famine.

Report on Darfur

From the land of Great Britain comes this report which criticises the international community including Britain for its feeble response to the Darfur crisis in Sudan. The report was drafted by a committee made up of MPs who said the international community were too engrossed in securing an end to the Sudanese civil war between the government and the rebel South to pay much attention to the developing Darfur crisis. Though ending the decades-long civil war was important, ignoring the situation in Darfur has allowed it to escalate to the point where at least 2 million people have been made refugees and over 150,000 killed. Blame was not just cast on the UN, Britain and other governments but also Sudan itself.

Urgent action by Britain and other developed nations is being called for especially as the Darfur crisis is in danger of becoming history repeated, specifically the Rwanda genocide and inspite of the many obstacles to intervention. Skeptics can say why should Europeans and Americans (though with their actions of this milennium who can really trust them with intervening in another country) take the responsibility to go into a distant and poverty and war-stricken country to improve matters, and it's a valid point. However there is just a small matter of these Europeans specifically Britain, being the former masters and rulers of some of these distant, chaotic countries like Rwanda and so are responsible in some measure for the situation in these countries such as ethnic and religious tension and inequality.

Intervention does not necessarily mean armed invasion and occupation like what happened to Iraq but less or non-violent means like aerial surveillance and establishing protected zones for refugee camps and settlements as well providing more aid to the African Union which has cease-fire observers and a small force of 3000 soldiers in Darfur.


Information on the Sudan (2nd) civil war which was recently ended officially with an agreement between the government and the SPLA (Sudanese People's Liberation Army).

I haven't been posting much on Africa this past year so I'm going to at least post briefly on a few issues going on. There hasn't been much focus on Africa in the mainstream media which isn't unusual given that there's never an ongoing coverage of Africa.

The Sudan crisis in Darfur has been going on for 2 years as the UN tries to punish suspected war criminals by trying them before the International Criminal Court (ICC). On Tuesday the UN voted to impose sanctions as well strengthen an arms embargo against Sudan to punish it for its lack of serious action to rein in the guilty parties and stop the mass killings, with a list of offenders to be drawn up by a Security council committee. The death toll is indeed shocking with at least over 150,000 dead in the Darfur conflict which the Sudanese government has done little to resolve or stop.

The UN has also voted to send a peace-keeping force to Southern Sudan to support a recent peace settlement which ended a decades-long war between the SPLM and Sudanese government.

The Army is seeking 101,200 new active-duty Army and Reserve soldiers this year alone........On the same topic as my recent post link regarding the desperation of the US Army to replenish its troop strength, this NY Times story goes into more detail about the immense difficulties and pressures that Army recruiters face in doing their job. I feel for them, especially the guy who applied for conscientous objector status after hearing from some of the people he recruited after their service in Iraq. Of course it's difficult to get guys into the Army now, like I said, those Americans (surprisingly) aren't as foolish as the rest of us think. I honestly think it'd be impossible, both morally and psychologically to be a recruiter, going into malls and universities and telling kids to give up their normal life and sign up for something that they're going to put their lives on the line for. Defending your country or an ally is one thing but invading and occupying a country without much support from the local population is unjust. A recruiter with real conscience and honor should tell all potential recruits that joining the Army is not just a way to travel the world and learn new skills but go into hostile places and risk your life and limbs whilst enduring hate and contempt from the locals which isn't even really meant for you but your commanding officers, government and brash, dishonest and unjust President.

The obsolescence of newspapers and journalism?

Much has been made of the growing popularity and power of bloggers with regards to news reporting and the lessening effectiveness of newspapers. Some are saying that newspapers may be losing their relevance to the bloggers. That may be true but mainly because people are reading news on the internet more than from newspapers and even then, a lot of people do browse the online forms of media outlets like BBC, MSNBC and even the notorious Fox News.

I don't agree with this assumption at all. The faults of mainstream media have been well publicised and critiqued as mainstream media is perceived to be pandering to whims of and controlled by agendas of government and corporate interests as well as riveting but frivolous headlines to draw viewers/readers like the Martha Stewart and Michael Jackson cases.
However I think that too little credit has been given to the original role of journalism and
media in society.

The reporting of news and events in the world is mostly done by journalists and media organisations.
While bloggers link to each other, they also derive most of their news and opinions references/links from media sources. Without the news from media journalists and correspondents on or near the spot, bloggers would not be able to do their work effectively.
So it's not like bloggers are replacements or competitors with journalists but rather serve to complement each other in that bloggers can offer a more opinionated view as well as provide fact checks to works of journalism to prevent media disinformation such as happened with the revelation of White House "reporter" Jeff Gannon as a member of an alleged pro-Republican organisation.

While there's some serious problems regarding the credibility of journalism, blogs by themselves are not the answer but fixing and improving upon the quality of reporting is. There is definitely a role for blogs in the media environment and inspite of the controversies including CNN's Eason Jordan for instance, weblogs can only be seen as a benefit to newsreaders.
Blogging is not a replacement or alternative but a modern, substantial enhancement for journalism.

See here to read aout the conference on blogging, journalism and credibility that was held at Harvard University in January to discuss the current and changing media environment in which people are still trying to determine how best blogs fit in with journalism and big media.

Kyrgyzstan's deposed leader condemns 'coup' that sent him fleeing this week. So far things have been peaceful but it's too early to tell.

Another huge rally, this time in Taiwan where the President himself, Mr. Chen Shui-bian came out to lead a rally to protest against China's recently-passed anti-secession law. This law, which gives China the right to use any action it deems necessary, including armed invasion and attack, against Taiwan if Taiwan moves towards any form of independence.

Tulip revolution- Kyrgyzstan's president finally toppled by protesters

Oppostition protesters rallied outside and charged the presidential headquarters in Bishkek, causing president of 15 years Askar Akayev to flee and thus, abdicate(for lack of a better word) his office of power. This "lemon or tulip revolution" follows and seems to have been inspired by the "Orange revolution" in Ukraine and Georgia's Rose revolution in which Soviet-era authorities were thrown out by well-organised and western-supported street protests which introduced new pro-Western governments into power.
In all these cases, the protests were triggered by allegations of rigged election results in favor of the pro-Russian governments. I'm just curious if these same protests were to be organised by the Democrats in the US against GWBush, then what would happen?


It seems that the people of America are smarter than we assume. Their Army has to resort to more drastic and (more dishonest) measures to get recruits after missing its recruiting goal for the 3rd month in a row after 5 years of meeting it.

UN report assumes Syria did threaten former Lebanese prime minister Hariri with "physical harm" last summer. I'm sure that the report is true, that Syria did threaten Hariri but I'm still skeptical that Syria did it considering it's so obvious and convenient to blame them for the murder.

Canada denies refugee status to American soldier

Well, apparently in legal terms this guy did not deserve to be allowed to stay in Canada as a refugee. It's true that he would not really face persecution or cruel and unusual punishment if sent back to the United States and that he voluntarily signed up for the Army. Still, it's sad that a man who has the moral courage to leave the US military because he believes the war in Iraq is illegal and what he and his fellow soldiers are doing there is unjust will now have to face possible desertion charges in the US and jail time. It's not like this man Jeremy Hinzman was some spineless coward who failed his country and army comrades, he served for 3 years, was a paratrooper and served in Afghanistan no less.

It's even sadder because this means the US military is free to hook in recruits whenever and however they can, like glamorous television advertising making extravagant promises and luring young impressionable high school students, then do with them whatever they want, including sending them off to unjust wars. I understand that Mr. Hinzman and his fellow soldier dissenters all joined the Army of their own free will but I believe that does not mean they signed their lives away. They, and any other soldier should have the opportunity and right to disagree with what they are asked, sorry ordered to do and go if they feel that it is wrong. Instead of staying quiet and going along with the rest in following orders from their commanders and their President, these dissenters are speaking out and stating their opposition to the war in Iraq and refusing to return to serve.

I believe if a soldier is ordered to risk his/her life and face death then he/she should at least have a worthy cause to be doing that for. And invading and occupying Iraq os not one of them.

Iraq's new parliament will meet again Saturday to try to close a deal on choosing a government. If successful, the formation of a functional government will be one more reason for the US to at least loosen control of the country such as removing most of its military presence, just like Syria was forced to in Lebanon. The US continues to hold back on a specific withdrawal plan which many people think is good because of the insurgency and resistance going on. However one of the main reasons cited for the need for the continuous presence of US forces is the threat of civil war between the Shiite majority and Sunni minority. Though plausible, this possibility does not seem as much a likelihood as Dahr Jamail writes here.

US and Iraqi army forces dealt their largest blow in recent times to Iraqi resistance/insurgents by killing a large number of militants in a raid on a training camp in Tikrit.

Talks continue between Iran and the European powers of Germany, France and Britain over Iran's nuclear program while the US continues to exert pressure to prevent Iran from continuing building its nuclear power. OF course, there's a little irony in all of this.

Following up Sunday's posting, former US presidential candidate Pat Buchanan writes how with the call for democracy in the Middle East, there's a strong possibility that Hezbullah, long considered a terrorist organisation by the US can actually be elected into power in Lebanon which would cause the US to recognise it as a legitimate party of the people which it has now started to do.

Protesters seize control of cities in the tiny Central Asian country Kyrgyzstan as unrest intensifies due to anger over suspected electoral fraud.

This blog is about global injustice yet for a long time I've focused mainly on war and politics concerning the aggression and oppression of major powers against weaker foes eg. US and Iraq, Russia and Chechnya. There's many other issues of injustice that plague the world and I'm hoping to post more on these issues.

Though slavery (of Africans) officially ended in the 1800s, there's a different, sinister form of slavery that exists nowadays. Sex slavery and trafficking especially involving young victims has become quite prevalent in areas like South East Asia, East Europe and Central America.
In recent coverage of the tsunami tragedy that affected Southern Asia, it was even worse to read about how young children were being targeted by kidnappers for possible trafficking as child sex slaves.
This NYTimes story highlights the scourge of sex slavery in the little South-East country of Cambodia, which experienced the terror of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge in the 70s and 80s, where sex trafficking is almost a major industry and young girls and their bodies are the products for sale.

With the recent elections in Iraq and the street protests in Lebanon, as well as the Palestinian election that elected their new leader Mahmoud Abbas, it seems GWBush might be right and can be regarded as somewhat of a savior or visionary who has brought through democracy and thus given rise to fresh hopes of stability and prosperity to the Middle East. Finally.

Or is it? Checking through all the media coverage and articles from different sources, there're still questions and issues that need to be addressed and answered before writers can justify proclaiming the "successful" election in Iraq , GWBush can start receiving prizes and the public starts feeling stupid and Republicans can bask and gloat over their leader's glory.

The old, not so stale accusation of media bias arises here again, with the question: Why is it when the (pro-western opposition) people protest against the (not pro-western) government in Ukraine and Lebanon, it's considered "people power",regaled as the triumph of democracy and freedom and lauded with great fanfare whereas Hezbullah brings out at least half a million in Lebanon and it's considered manipulative and given scant coverage and publicity in the (mainstream) media?

Secondly, since when does holding elections albeit with substantial turnouts signify the coming of democracy and stability and prosperity? It is much too premature to assume elections and even democracy can substantially benefit the Middle East.

Then, if oppresive regimes or governments are overthrown and elections are really held in Lebanon and Syria and Saudi Arabia and Islamic parties win them, would the US and its allies accept this outcome and even if they did, how long would it be before they attempt to intervene/invade/interfere to install a "friendly" government/administration a la Chile or South Vietnam back in the days.

Iraq-there were large turnouts for their election and yes, under Saddam democratic elections would not be possible. This large electorate mostly had a main purpose and that is to have the americans leave. And yet, the US refuse to even consider a withdrawal plan or date. Is this democratic? The US invaded Iraq, toppled Saddam, and freed the people from tyrannic rule. Why did they do this though? Out of the goodness of their hearts, Saddam had Weapons of mass-destruction or links with terrorism?? Or because they could claim the gratitude and obeyance of the locals as their liberators, take control of the country, install their own approved stooge as leader, and exploit Iraq and its oil resources?

Ukraine-last fall there was a huge controversy concerning the election results (reminds me of something similar) which erupted with mass protests and rallies led by the opposition whose leader, a Victor Yuschenko claimed he was cheated because of balloting fraud, and who incidentally happens to be a pro-western pro-market economy guy. Termed the Orange Revolution, the media devoted lots of attention and headlines towards this and the common assumption was that the Russian-supported candidate, former Victor Yanukovych along with his Russian "patrons" had fixed the election results to prevent Yuschenko's victory. Yet behind all this Western freedom and people power versus Russian socialism and corruption plotlines was a more subtle manipulation at hand as described in this extensive article here and in the Guardian.

Today is the second anniversary of the Invasion of Iraq by America, dubbed by the Americans:Operation Iraqi Freedom. As expected, sizeable protests were held in America, Canada and Europe though numbers weren't as great as those 2 years ago before the invasion. Inspite of the smaller protests those who think the invasion and occupation of Iraq was right shouldn't think that people have forgotten or simply stopped caring about this issue and that heated anti-Bush emotions have subsided, rather people have become more aware of injustices in the world and anti-Bush, anti-Republican/conservative passions have intensified.

In Canada, the main protests were held in Montreal and Toronto.
Protests were also held throughout Europe and even Japan.
A few pictures from these protests.

Opposition rallies in Lebanon to counter Hezbullah rally

An even more massive rally occured in Beirut yesterday as the anti-Syrian opposition movement gathered over 800,000 people in responseto a huge pro-Syrian rally organised by the Hezbullah party last week, which attracted 500,000 people and to demand an international inquiry into the assassination of former Prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
With both pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian opposition mustering hundreds of thousands of Lebanese to take to the streets in protests and express their differing views passionately, it's becoming even harder to determine what the situation is there, except to say that the atmosphere is highly charged and there are fears that a civil war is looming in the near future.

Chechynan rebel leader and former elected president Aslan Maskhadov was killed after a firefight with Russian forces. Known as a moderate,as opposed to extremist, leader who was willing to negotiate peace terms with Russia, his death signifies the ruthlessness of Russian forces as they continue to try to crush the Chechynan resistance and reconquer this breakaway "nation" which declared independence from Russia in 1994.

This article really froze me for an instant when I read it. It made me think about how the "war" or occupation in Iraq has progressed so far and of GWBush's steady confident and bold attitude. The writer makes some decent points about how things have turned out and it makes for interesting reading. Keep in mind the writer is a contributor to Fox News, as written in the Time bio.

American arrogance, wrongdoing and hypocrisy cannot be denied as detailed in this Express opinion.

Besides all the commotion by the international community regarding the issues in Lebanon, there's also been some serious attacks going on in Iraq. It's terrible the constant bombings and firefights, whoever the victims and aggressors are.

The wounding of female Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena has been controversial. It was also tragic that an Italian agent, who helped secure her release, was killed by US forces, and now, it's disturbing that there's so much confusion on the circumstances of that incident.
This brings up a point, that if even over a friendly fire incident involving nationals of a close US ally-Italy, the US can't even clear up the truth, then in incidents involving Iraqis, how can the US version be any more credible.

An article from Counterpunch on US motives against Syria concerning the recent events in Lebanon.

"Of course we expect more American pressure," the (Syrian)information minister, Mehdi Dakhlallah, said. "President Bush is speaking daily about Syria as if he has no other work."

What a great comment on Bush and his administration's recent behavior against Syria.

500,000 rally in support of Syria in the capital Lebanon. Amidst opposition claims of people being bused in from Syria and locals being pressured to participate and blah,blah,blah, -not to say that some criticism regarding this rally may not be true but you can't deny the staggering size of this rally which dwarfed the anti-Syrian ones. "Are all those hundreds of thousands of people puppets?Is all this crowd agents for the Syrians and intelligence agencies" as Hezbullah leader Sheik Nasrallah asked, really to the outside world.

You also can't deny the fact that the majority of Syrians are muslims and supporters of Syrian influence in their country, which many regard as better than that of American or Israeli influence.

Worth taking a look at.
The World's Top 10 dictators of 2004 from Parade magazine.

I've been checking out 2 interesting magazines recently, both aren't big or famous but they deal with politics and world injustice. First up is Canadian This magazine, which features articles on science, society, alternative art and world Canadian politics.

New Internationalist concerns itself with issues of injustice around the world.
Read this report on the World Social Forum 2005 to understand a little more of this burgeoning social issues conference that gathers activists of different fields (union, anti-corporation, anti-war, writers etc.) from different regions, as well as politicans and journalists twice a year (after this year). Hopefully it will grow to the point where many substantial and practical ideas and plans about social justice can be proposed (but not to the point that it ignores and loses its grassroots participants) and agreed upon and its influence will increase so that world leaders and politicians would respect this forum and heed its advice.

There's lots of rejoicing going on in Lebanon as the current cabinet stepped down and international pressure and opinion mounts on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. Certainly there's no love lost for the Syrians who many Lebanese resent because of their dominance of Lebanese politics.
In spite of this euphoria and unity displayed in calling for Syria's withdrawal, there's still challenges ahead for Lebanon.

Amongst which, is the fact that the true killers behind Hariri's killing are yet to be found.
Here's a case that Syria is not be the main suspect behind that.

Fighting rages on in the Democratic Republic of Congo, formely known as Zaire. Interestingly, offensive action was waged against local militiamen by UN peacekeepers, who apparently had been attacked previously by this militia.

The tensions arising from the Lebanon assassination continues to rise as Israel claims they have proof of Syria's involvement in the Tel Aviv suicide bombing of last Friday and Syria's President feels attacks are likely against it.


This commentary offers a different viewpoint from those written in most mainstream papers of Rafiq Hariri, his character and his assassination. Especially true is that of Hariri's personal history which hasn't been mentioned in detail in many articles and his supposed "anti-Syrian" stance.
Not to be forgotten is that until recently the US has actually enlisted Syria as a partner in the "War on terror" by using it as a convenient dumping post for interrogating terrorism suspects including Syrian-born Canadian Maher Arar.

A suicide attack struck Tel Aviv Friday night, killing 4 people. However almost instantly Israeli officials have cast blame towards Syria and Islamic Jihad, which is based in Syria, which initially denied responsibility for the attack only for a supposed official of the group to claim responsibility.
While I don't overlook those victims who were killed and wounded, it seems so fortuitous that following Syrian blame for the recent death of a former Lebanese prime minister, now again blame is cast on Syria for the bombing in Israel.
Why the speculation and insinuation? Because I don't think any country would be foolish enough to launch any attacks in another country, especially one that is the regional powerhouse, when there's already heat on it for a previous incident (Rafiri's assassination). If we accept the Israeli's accusations as truth, it's almost as if the Syrians are begging for American/ Israeli armed intervention against them.
This incident seems to have united Lebanese of different religions and ethnicities into a common goal of forcing the removal of Syrian presence in their country and its affairs, as evidenced by angry protests in Beirut, their capital and strong statements made by Lebanese politicians.


Colin Powell criticises the US policy for rebuilding Iraq after invasion for the first time. No doubt that of the key members in GWBush's first administration, he was the least hawkish and most reasonable with respects to world relations though unfortunately this respected and faithful servant lost substantial credibility during his tenure, especially when he presented the US case for invasion in front the United Nations.

From alternet.org, here's 2 articles dealing with books on the growing significance of slums around the world and the ways how western powers exploit smaller,weaker countries and effectively control using economic means.

The first article describes slums and how their growth possibly signals a new kind of political movement. It describes how as slums are becoming more populated and established, they are taking on a look of permanence with banks, supermarkets and restaurants being opened inside them, as well people who live in slums represent a new class of citizens. It also includes reviews of 2 books on the world of slums.
The article features a numbing fact "Eighty-five percent of the developing world's urban population now lives in slums" which shows how in spite of growing prosperity of developing countries including India and Brazil, many of their people are still poor and are not even properly housed.

This other article is an interview with a former economist/consultant who wrote a book called Confessions of an Economic Hit Man in which he describes the way how rich nations, specifically the USA would go into poorer nations and offer them big loans for national projects which would then be contracted to American companies. Saddled with debt from the big loans, these poor nations would then be forced to turn to the US government, the WorldBank and other major financial institutions for even more money, making them reliant on foreign aid and deepening their national debt. Really sobering and quite ingenious in a sinister way, how through seemingly harmless business deals and loans a country can be brought under control and its resources exploited by a powerful nation.
The article gives a clearer idea of how many peoples' lives can be affected by policies of richer nations, albeit through non-violent but equally criminal means. From this, it's easy to derive why there's so much hatred and anger over richer countries by people around the world.

Following the death of respected former Lebanese prime minister Rafiri, there's been strong outpurings of grief and outrage against the Syrians, who basically control Lebanon through political allies in the Lebanese government and their army which has around 15,000 troops stationed in Lebanon.

While this situation of Syrian dominance over their neighbor may not be just, there is no question that the US and consequently Israel stand to gain a lot from it. Already GWBush is telling Syria to get its troops out of Lebanon and to keep its hands off upcoming Lebanese elections in May, to leave it "free and fair".
You certainly think the US should do the same and follow its own advice.

A quick post tonight. Though I'm quite busy these days, I had to take note of today's headline story: former Lebanese president Rafik Hariri assassinated by a massive car or road-side bomb. And suspicions by the US mount towards the Syrians . who've had a heavy influence on Lebanese politics for the last decade or so (just like the US has in a bunch of countries including obviously Iraq).

God only knows whether this is a ploy for the US to take some sort of military action against Syria. If it really was Syria who was behind this, then it's a perfect cover for the US to start threatening them with sanctions and military actionAlready the US has recalled its ambassador to Syria and holds Syria responsible for this tragedy.
Though it may seem right to cast fingers on Syria for this action, especially as the killed former president was an outspoken critic of Syrian influence in his country, it really seems absurd that with American forces stationed right across the border in Iraq and GWBush publicly stating his aim to defeat terrorism by taking on nations like Syria and Iran, that Syria would pull something big like this.

Sticking with the topic is this article in Israeli newspaper Haaretz which says in a meeting with a US cabinet undersecretary, Israeli leader Ariel Sharon advises action against countries like Libya and Syria.

As a Christian I fully believe in Christian values being used in dealing with injustice in the world.
However too often people in power use Christian (and other religions) messages and values to justify their actions and then proceed to manipulate them for their own not so righteous purposes.
There's always one major aspect of Christianity that's missing in these situations, and that is Compassion. Whether it's respect, tolerance, love, forgiveness or acceptance, service to others Compassion is hardly mentioned or enacted by leaders when using religion as a subtext in politics, conflicts and world affairs eg. Iraq, Middle East conflict.

Jimmy Carter:
"Christ was committed to compassion for the most destitute, poor, needy, and forgotten people in our society." taken from Alternet interview described below


Here're 2 fine interviews with prominent world figures who speak out against the misrepresentation of christian values in politics and world affairs and advocate for greater compassion for others.

An interview with Nobel Peace prize winner Desmond Tutu of South Africa. In it he speaks out on a range of topics like fundamentalism,the misuse of religion to stir conflicts, AIDS in his country, the re-election of GWBush and Iraq.

Another interview with former US president Jimmy Carter. He talks about the current ties between the Republican conservatives and christians and the decline of religious values from the Democrat party's main issues. He also gives his opinions on how he deals with the conflict of Democratic support for abortion and gay-rights with his own Christian values.

There was a good deal of attention paid to the Rwandan genocide, with last year being the 10th anniversary of it and the release of a book by Romeo Dallaire, the head of the UN force in that country at the time but who was powerless to intervene.
Recently the movie Hotel Rwanda came out on cinema and it was quite moving from what I heard.

A lot of people know about the tragedy that occured during the genocide, how from an alleged assasination of the Rwandan president who was Hutu, events continued out of control until Hutus went on a rampage killing over 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
However the history behind that is generally unknown or little-known. Rwandan's colonial masters, the Belgians had a major part to play in creating and building up the tensions from the 1930s when they classified the native peoples into 2 different tribes, the Hutus and Tutsis.
This article on Zmag is a review of a book "Conspiracy to murder" that describes in detail the history behind the genocide going back 100 years. The article itself gives a good brief summary of these events in history which educates many viewers a little more on the genocide.


These recent years have seen an astonishing amount of arrogance shown by America's government, as well as destruction and deceit. It's no surprise that America's prestige and reverence around the world has been eroded and replaced by annoyance and hatred. Not just prestige, but respect and admiration for aspects of American society including its system of democracy, economic and foreign policies and universities are steadily declining and countries all over are looking to other emerging powers for inspiration and leadership.

With work and a little lethargy these days as well as some planning for the future, haven't done much news and world affairs reading.
However I did have a chance to talk a little with a Toronto college teacher Mr. I. Khadduri who's a former head of the nuclear weapons program of Iraq but NOT a Saddam supporter, a staunch patriot and strongly outspoken against the actions and motives of GWBush and his administration. He's got a blog abutamam.blogspot.com where he writes his opinions, in both english and arabic, of events and news as well as links to articles of his homeland. He's been interviewed by various news outlets and even mentioned briefly in the esteemed activist and thinker Noam Chomsky's book Hegemony or survival.
For years he's been speaking out against America's policies regarding Iraq, especially during the beginning of the invasion in 2003 (when he was featured on the front page of the Toronto Star).
His opinions on the US occupation in Iraq bear much consideration as they give insight into the rage and bitterness felt by ordinary Iraqis against the Americans which obviously he shares.

The very recent national election held on Sunday heralded a new age in Iraq. However whether it's for the better or the worse is still undetermined. It's good to see people happy and proud, brave and excited on their country's future, please don't consider this election an overwhelming success yet. Regardless of the continued optimistic coverage displayed on tv and the newspapers in the aftermath, it's still early to think the people are going to really gain self control of their country and improve conditions.

A set of brief but detailed answers to key questions concerning the sitation in Iraq.

So following soon after last November's US presidential election, another controversial election takes place this weekend. the violence has continued on unabated in Iraq, while the number of US troops grows and GWBush speaks about continuing his campaign of promoting "justice and democracy" in other countries.

There are differing opinions about the Iraqi election from optimism for a better future to fear of growing instability. These 2 articles from Zmag present some opinions and perspectives on this situation.
Dahr Jamail writes about the differing feelings among Iraqis about the election, while the other article talks about problems behind the Iraq 'occupation' or in American opinion-'liberation' and the election itself.

Because of the holidays and recent uncertainties at school, this blog hasn't had much recent content.
Here's several interesting articles pertaining to the tsunami disaster and the underdevelopement of countries which suffered terribly, American military's new strategies of dealing with the war in Iraq, and a really crazy, detailed story of a former Special Forces veteran who conned his way around Afghanistan for profit and fame.

From the Nation, that fine American liberal media, is this article on the devastation caused by the tsunami, and the initial stingy response by some wealthy Western nations (including but not only the USA). The writer makes good points, comparing the disaster effects wrought by the tsunami to that by a nuclear bomb explosion, and also at the end, contrasting the huge priority given to military spending but little on emergency rescue units "ready to give prompt aid in any large-scale catastrophe".

With the US still no closer to winning the war on the "terrorists" /resistance and establishing real control in Iraq, it is desperately trying new ways to bolster its military ranks which are at near breaking point, such as wooing 17 year olds still in school with monthly salary whilst in school until graduation, This program, called RSP-Recruit Sustainment Program has been restarted nationally with some success. Of couse, it claims to help students by giving them guaranteed money before actual training and laid-back drills where students learn about military life and details from lectures involving polite and friendly drill sergeants.

This program exploits young mainly underpriviliged people who urgently need or want money and opportunites in life. Of course, there are some who will say programs like these benefit young people, especially the underpriviliged by offering them opportunities to earn more money than usual and free training in various fields, as well as travel overseas. However all this is offset by the fact that these young people will then be sent off to places like Iraq to live and fight under extremely hazardrous conditions for a war that their government unjustly started and wages.


In addition to finding new ways to recruit youngsters into their Army, now the US is considering implementing death-squads, specially trained by US Special Forces, to take out insurgents and sympathisers in Iraq. This plan, called the Salvador option because it's based on a plan used in the Central American nation El Salvador during the early 1980s civil war when the US-backed government was losing against leftist-guerillas. Furthermore the US would consider using these squads in neighboring Syria to hunt fleeing insurgents which the US would take charge of.
In the article, they plan to use Shiite and Kurdish fighters to man the squads and their main tagets would be Sunni rebels. That this is so brazenly known in the mainstream media only amplifies the fact of how the US is looking to manipulate tension and conflict between different ethnic groups for their own purposes.

For entertainment purposes, check this out on former Special Forces vet, the infamous J. Idema, who managed to sell video footage and other materials to major media outlets, get media reporter jobs, book contracts, hold and torture prisoners in his own private jail in Kabul and even be the subject of a bestseller on the Afghan campaign hunt for Osama binLaden while conning his way around in Afghanistan.
A side point to the story, besides how ridiculous and incredible the things this man did, is how easy it seems that media organisations were able to be taken in by this man who claimed things he didn't do and wasn't including saying he was Defense secretary Rumsfeld's representative to the Northern Alliance.
We should be more vigilant when viewing news from those places by American media. Many times, things may not be as they seem as in this case and sometimes the whole story is never told or known.

For close-up information, pictures, ways to help and perspective on how things are going in those tsunami-stricken countries, check out these blogs:
Blog for Sri-lanka
Indonesia help
South-East Asia tsunami and earthquake blog
Tsunami disaster in Malaysia and Thailand
Tsunami help India

A tale of 2 evils

As 2005 starts off and 2004 becomes a memory, injustice and tragedy mar this Earth we live on. First off, the ongoing occupation and oppression of Iraq by GWB and his administration. Then the conflicts in the Middle East, Chechnya, Colombia, Congo and the close of an old and the inflammation of a (relatively) new one in Sudan.

By now you must be sick of hearing about conflicts and unrest around the world especially when there seems to be no end in sight, no happy endings and final solutions to these problems, and the future of the world seems so much darker than necessary. All this is probably true.
The main thing that concerns me is not the absence of awareness of these injustices but the ignorance of knowledge. Awareness and knowledge can be 2 different things and in this scenario they are.

Awareness is the brief knowledge of something eg. an event by hearing about it while Knowledge of something is the understanding of facts and information whether history, details, and perceptions.

This society many think is nice, modern, and righteous, whereas the third world is nasty, backwards, and barbaric. The whole world outside of western Europe, North America and Oriental Asia fits this stereotype.

We don't see the Palestinians suffering for decades under oppressive, apartheid-like conditions (squalid, underdeveloped communities separated by barriers and roadblocks) and their children growing up with bitterness, anger and hatred, or the multi-million dollar high-tech weaponry (mostly US supplied) that the Israeli military is supplied with and uses against the Palestinians in their towns and villages and refugee camps.
But we feel for those poor Israelis terrorised by bombs that go off in their nice cafes, buses and nightclubs.
There is no good and evil sides in this world. There is no black and white. There is good interspersed with evil and evil interspersed with good.

There is hard evil and soft evil.

Hard evil is the one we see, especially that in the rest of the world aka 3rd world. Those countries that exist outside of the regions mentioned above, those that have societies, cultures, values and lifestyles that are not Western-based and that don't fit our western perception of life.
Hard evil is the one that is apparent to us. It is evil that can be instantly detected and observed, and obviously one that arouses large publicity and coverage. The 'suicide-bomber' and his/her attacks is the most striking example of hard evil and on a larger scale, the (fundamentalist) and religious groups, the religion and its clerics, and even the societies that the 'bombers' come from form other well-known examples of hard evil.

The terrible unceasing string of coups, civil-wars, tribal battles and wars in Africa also represent this evil and which we never bother to learn the histories and facts behind these events but automatically summarise as typical African (black) barbarism and inhumanity.

But what about the vicious, massive and tragic killings of black Africans in Congo, Zimbabwe and elsewhere by white colonial masters during the 19th and 20th centuries? What about the manipulation by European rulers of local African subjects into forming artifical ethnic divisions
and so creating and inflaming jealousies, rivalry and hatred between formely peaceful co-existing peoples which was one of the underlying reasons for the genocide in Rwanda 11 years ago between Hutus and Tutsis?
This is where soft evil comes in.

Soft evil is largely unseen and unheard, but is present and lurks beneath the surface. Soft evil is consequently ignored or unknown by many. From the British manipulation of various ethnic groups (India and Africa) to create differences and foster hatred and emnity amongst subjects to the American clandestine support of Afghan mujahideen and their quick withdrawal of aid once the Russians fled, soft evil has often been a quiet but decisive factor in creating great suffering, violence and destruction.
It is the excess materialism and extravagance in our society that makes our lives seem so lovely and also harmless and innocent Except for the fact that many abroad in weaker countries are exploited, both in terms of human and natural resources, to give us our ocmfort.

New apartments, big houses, shopping centres, more new products yet all this is dependent on foreign resources, business and consumers. We're surrounded by so much because people have money to spend from borrowing from banks which get money from investments in stocks and funds which derive most of their profits from overseas operations, sales, expansions.
What this means is that corporations go into foreign (less developed and poorer) countries
and exploit resouces, abuse sovereignity by breaking/ subverting local laws and getting concessions, dominate local markets and propagate expansion and mass marketing.

From Zmag's website, here're 2 essays written on the the use of military power to build up empires in this age, and the use of 'God' and religious beliefs to justify wars and violence against other.

The first is a look at the military policies of the US with its 'war on terror' in trying to increase its strength in the world and maintain American dominance over foreign regions. The author believes that all this is unjust and will fail, as locals resist.

The second looks at the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and the Palestinians and the influence of religion as one of the root causes.
The writer also goes through a little American history pointing out previous president McKinley (and drawing a comparison to the current president) who used religion to justify their invading and occupying lesser nations like the Phillipines.

It's been a while since I've updated, and it's because of my exams and worries. Well, for now it's over and I have a few links of interest.

Dahr Jamail's Iraq Dispatches is a site I recently discovered which has some reports and hard accounts of events in Iraq, as well as some graphic photos of carnage and human tragedy. This site is written by a journalist reporting from inside Iraq and working independently- not an employee of any large, mainstream organisation but he has been published in many publications and news services.

This article by Naomi Klein in the Guardian is a strong response to criticism by the american embassy to a previous article she wrote on Iraq. What was so controversial she wrote to warrant such a reaction from the American embassy? The callous, indiscriminate fighting tactics of American forces which result in the killing of many civilians without any remorse or prevention and their attempts to eliminate (both literally and figuratively) respected people of society who can find out the tolls and speak up on these incidents.
Naomi Klein illustrates this point by writing of the ways how clerics, journalists and doctors have all been targeted by American forces through arrests, media bans and physical attacks on mosques, hospitals and civilian targets.

This indymedia page has some pictures of the Bush protesters in Ottawa during GWBush's visit recently. These people all had the courage to come out on the streets and demonstate for what they believe in, whether anti-Bush, anti-war, or for peace.
Many people and media will look on these protesters as a bunch of freaks, punks, anarchists, delinquents, idealists, dreamers and misfits but people should consider the issues that are at stake. And see that these demonstators/ protesters do have a point. Reason to protest, to demonstrate. They're standing up for a cause, causes that're greater than themselves and that's much more than many of us can attest to in our lives.
You might have a few troublemakers or delinquents but the conception of unruly, violent mobs is a media creation.

I'll make it a priority to go to at least one of these demonstrations later on, whether they're anti-war, anti-American or anti-globalisation, anti-WTO/WorldBank/IMF. I need to.

Iraq body count keeps an extensive toll of civilian deaths in Iraq arising directly or indirectly from military action. Its estimate of 14,600-17,000 deaths is far less than the 100,000 claimed in several articles but that is still a large number of people dead. The number keeps growing and growing and certainly both American forces and Iraqi resistance/rebels have contributed to the mounting toll.

Read this letter from an American soldier serving in Iraq and who fought in Fallujah during the recent and ongoing campaign to take control of the city. It's a pretty gritty and brutal account of the terror and bleakness in the fighting there.
And the writer makes some valid points on why the US cannot 'win' the 'war on terror' in Iraq. The stubborn courage of the resistance fighters, the anger and bitterness of the civilians, and the arrogant and reckless ignorance of the American government in their strategy of occupation and using overwhelming force against the resistance.

A new site to check:
This blog is written by a group of US soldiers in Iraq "who are fighting in a war they oppose for a president they didn't elect". It seems really interesting and should have some deep, honest insight on the circumstances down there.

It looks like another war about to flare up again in Central Africa. Rwandan soldiers have been seen and verified to have entered the Democratic Republic of Congo (formely Zaire) to hunt down and kill Hutu rebels.
The largest African war in recent history broke out in the DRCongo with over 2 million killed in under 5 years. Large-scale fighting stopped last year but regional clashes break out constantly. Sadly this war happened as a result of the massacre in neighboring Rwanda in 1995. That tragic massacre/genocide is so famous especially in Canada where there's a lot of guilt felt by the lack of response and action to prevent it.
From the site link given above, this is a small sideshow which includes a few horrific and tragic images of what happened.

Recently there was the showdown between Ivory Coast and French soldiers, and there's the ongoing tension in Darfur in Sudan, with the mass killings ,rapes and looting done by government-backed militas (the so-called janjaweed) against the locals.
Africa seems to have no end in sight to its great suffering and devastation and 2004 is as worse as any.

This article from CSMonitor on the arrest of former British PM Margaret Thatcher's son for a foiled coup in a small African country earlier this year provides some details on the proliferation of unrest in this continent. An astounding 80 coups occured between 1956 and 2001, and that's only the successful ones, according to research done by a university professor mentioned in the article.

Bush is coming to Canada, to Halifax and Ottawa. Naturally he'll be met by strong protests and much angry demonstrators,activists and plain anti-American protestors (excuse the limited vocabulary). Of course he won't be able to handle all these 'critics' of his, and he won't be addressing Parliament.

People who turn out to these protests have my support but I think people should not lose fact that GWBush is not the sole perpetrator and mastermind of all his policies, but his administration (VP DCheney, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld etc.) and his corporate backers. GWBush may be ideal for portraying the ultimate but he is just one cog in the wheel of injustice that rules the world through military force, media perception and free-trade capitalism.
What I'm saying is, "Don't focus so much anger and rage on Bush that you ignore or forget all the other real causes of oppression and exploitation that cause so much evil."

Much has been made of that admirable woman, Margaret Hassan especially her vast humanitarian work among poor Iraqis. Her execution was a very tragic event, as no doubt was that of all hostages in Iraq.
It is right to feel repulsed and outraged by her killing, but it is not to blame her death on all Iraqi or Islamic militants. Several Iraqi resistance groups in fact called for her release and many Iraqis who knew her begged for her release.
Before we all jump to conclusions about the barbarity of those Iraqi militants/extremists please keep in mind that nothing is clear or certain on the circumstances of her death.

This article makes a very valid argument about the American killing of an unarmed man during the campaign in Fallujah and American atrocities in general.
I assume that the point derived is how the media blames all hostage deaths on all Iraqi resistance fighters, yet when western /American soldiers commit murder it's blamed on the individual and not on the whole.

Some people wonder why do I write this blog? What is the purpose of posting and linking to articles on world affairs and news? Well, it's just my feeble and idealistic but honest attempt to draw attention to issues that interest me, on news and articles on all the terror and evil all over the world.
However I really got the idea from other people, specifically the writers of instapundit.com and kurtnimmo.com. These people inspired me that it is meaningful to write/ blog about these issues in order to inform people, to draw attention by linking to various sources. By no means am I saying my blog is anywhere equal to them, it is not. Kurtnimmo (I'm not sure about his real name) writes some really good stuff and most of his postings are his own articles and opinions which are anti-Bush and liberal. Instapundit is allegedly, the most popular blog (read that in a Wired magazine) and he is a real, strong Bush supporter and right-winger. Also his blog has a lot of links to news and his model is the one who I more base this blog on. Also 'Instapundit' writes some really prejudiced (though honest and blunt) and provocative material.
It's ironic that I got the main idea for this blog from somebody who has the opposite ideas and viewpoints I have.

Investigating imperialism is another newsite run by an individual that I find is quite good. This site also has articles by other writers and some which can be controversial and a few seem conspiratorial. It's got numerous articles on different trouble spots including Haiti, Venezuela, Middle East and Africa and many times, they reveal information and viewpoints that are vastly different from those of the mainstream media.

A lot of people get skeptical of all these 'alternative' information that seems contradictory or is not published or reported in mainstream media but I think it's really important for people to broaden their knowledge, their ideas and perspectives. Reading or checking up 'alternative' media is the best way of doing this and while there may be unbelievable or bigotted material sometimes, keep in mind the mainstream media has the same. It's impossible for anyone to assume mainstream media is fully fair, honest, balanced and right.
So please give alternative media a fair chance. Instead of CNN, Time, newspapers, check out some of the links I have on the side of the blog, and also the sites I mentioned above. Read The Nation, Harper's, Adbusters and Zmag.
These 'alternative' media like the ones I mentioned, all do a great job pointing out injustice and telling us the story behind the scenes. The world is a dark place, and many times, what we read about may seem hard to believe, but sometimes the truth is strange.

On the subject of Islam, it seems there's so much stereotyping against it but also sympathy (from others). As one of the largest religions in the world in terms of number of believers and countries that practice it and its cultural and historical impact, Islam should be learned about and better understood if we desire a greater chance of peace and tolerance, which seems more and more unlikely. This interview with a former member of a militant Islamic organisation in Trinidad, has some interesting opinions and explanations on various aspects of Islam. Certainly the one about Saudi Arabia being like the Amish is quite amusing but it does ring a little true.

Fallujah has been secured and a crushing defeat inflicted on the Iraqi resistance. 50-plus Americans dead but over 1000 Iraqi resistance fighters killed, and many more civilians and non-combatants. The carnage is terrible and no doubt this 'victory' by the US will not lessen but only increase the bitterness and hatred of the locals against their 'occupiers/saviors'. Obviously the Americans are using fear and military might to win over the locals, as written in the second the double-article in the above link, hoping that overwhelming military power will make the Iraqis come to their senses and start supporting the Americans.

Yasser Arafat, RIP also.
There's so much conflict about his legacy, he was well-loved and idolised by most of his people but hated and detested by the Israelis, by the Americans and others who thought him corrupt, inefficient, and dishonest.
This article presents a different view from that commonly expressed in most news-media articles and reports, one that paints an ironic picture of Arafat's actions and their impact on his people.
We can only hope that the situation in the Palestinian territories don't flare out of control.

Afghanistan has largely been forgotten by (American) mainstream newsmedia but that doesn't mean that things there are good and just. This news feature from The Nation's website shows just how chaotic and oppressive conditions have remained like before. Warlords of different factions rule the countryside and the government in Kabul are not blameless themselves. Also the democractic elections that took place weren't exactly democratic as the feature mentions.

The coming elections in Iraq are not exactly democratic either, and Naomi Klein writes about how and why the US administration has gathered so much hatred, ill-will and mistrust from the Iraqis concerning the running of their country.

The battle in Fallujah is almost coming to an end with US forces gaining control of most of the city and inflicting huge losses on the Iraqi resistance. However there is nothing beneficial to the Iraqi people from this victory or occupation for that matter. There's certainly great suffering by the people of Fallujah that we may never be aware of and know, but is happening.

Fianlly, this article also from the Nation, is on Columbia, more specifically the mounting US-supported war on drugs and rebels, one which is the longest-running war in the western hemisphere and also the bloodiest. While both sides in this conflict, the leftist FARC guerillas and the government with their rightist paramilitary 'allies' have committed serious violence and atrocities in this war, the government is reputed to carry out human-rights violations like assasinations and imprisonments of government civil opponents.

Pat Tillman A real UnAmerican hero

-Pat Tillman, you were a brave, humble and strong man. You had such great fortitude and self belief,you seemed like you could do anything and succeed. You walked on to your college football squad, you won a starting position there, you graduated summa cum laude from college in three and a half years, you got drafted to the NFL, you did a marathon one off-season, another you did a triathlon, you started as a substitute and became a starter, you got a multimillion dollar contract and you joined the US Army and became a Ranger. You served well and in the end you made the ultimate sacrifice for your country. I admire you greatly.

Many of you might not know this person or even heard about him but he was a very special guy. He was a graduate of Arizona state who graduated with honors in marketing. He was a NFL football player for 4 years, a starter at safety for the Arizona Cardinals with a multi-million dollar paycheque.
Six months after the September 11 attacks levelled the WTC towers in New York, Pat Tillman went to his coach and told him he was leaving the team and quitting his job to join the Army. This he did without any fanfare or publicity and against the advice of his own agent, he and his brother, an aspiring minor league baseball player signed up for the Army and 'tried out' for the Rangers-argurably the toughest, roughest elite band in the Army.
They both made it and Pat Tillman did his first tour of duty in the Middle East before returning in December 2003 to visit his former coach and teammates for a game in Seattle, then slipping out a side door afterwards to avoid any reporters. In fact he never gave any interviews since it was announced he was joining the Army. He also made a pact with his family to stay silent about his service.

Pat Tillman was a guy who never seeked the limelight or glory, but he was blunt and determined, he always worked hard and dedicated himself. He was a guy who didn't own a cellphone and biked to team practices. He married his high school girlfriend right before joining the Army and he used to climb the light towers overlooking his school's stadium to reflect and think in solitude.
His attributes of humility, courage and hard work are qualities that everyone should strive for and attain. He lived a simple life, worked hard at his goals and succeeded without any fanfare, bravado or false humility.

I really admire him for 3 reasons, all of which make my title clearer, all which embody qualities which go against what society deems most important in America:

-he gave up a glamorous status, guaranteed job and rich contract as a NFL football starter for a stint in an elite fighting unit, undergoing extreme hardships and danger whilst earning little doing it (like all soldiers do).

-he lived a simple life without many of the luxuries we take for granted like cellphones and expensive cars. He never valued material things and wealth, especially when he turned down a more lucrative contract ($9 million for 5 years) with another team because of loyalty to his team that had drafted him

-Shunning the limelight and mass adulation, he turned down various offers for book and movie contracts about his life, especially during his visit back in 2003 after his first tour of duty.

Pat Tillman was not some crazy football player who relished the chance of killing some Middle Eastern 'infidels' nor was he some kind of patriotic flag-waver. He joined the Army maybe because of a sense of duty after the damage done on September 11, certainly not because he wanted to fight a war. He never used the word "patriotism" when explaining his reason to enlist, and he didn't like to talk about it. He cited his great-grandfather serving in World War 2 and other family who served in wars and compared himself to them saying, "And I haven't really done a damn thing as far as laying myself on the line like that."

Pat Tillman died at age 27 in Afghanistan this April after being hit by friendly fire while on patrol in a hostile area.

His death was no worse than any other combatant who gave his or her life, his patriotism and service was no less or more heroic than any other soldier, but his spirit and life stands as a true inspiration and in great contrast to the negative values that are so prevalent in society.

Well, the final push into Fallujah to reclaim the city and cleanse it of all those resistance "fundamentalists/rebels" is going on with mounting casualty tolls and destruction of civilian infrastructure.
Those poor civilians will suffer the most, especially from the American artillery and air-strikes against military and civilian targets. The American military have commited so many war crimes in Iraq, and more will be done in Fallujah, including the bombing of a hospital, (see previous posting).

It's old news by now that George W. Bush will be the president for another 4 years, for sure there'll be a lot of soul-searching and bitter infighting among the Democratic party faithful over what went wrong and who'll step up to lead them. It's sad that Bush has a lot of supporters and got many votes because of his 'morals' and 'faith', which haven't done any good to the people of Iraq, American soldiers and many thousands of working class Americans. It's obvious that Bush has used or exploited his 'faith' to justify his actions in invading Iraq and sell the occupation and fighting to many Americans, who believe in him and that he's their best protector against terrorism.

This is a fine speech by Arundhati Roy, the famous female Indian author and human-rights activist (though she claims she's not). She made this speech on accepting the Sydney Peace prize, on the danger to justice in the world.
She goes into great detail and clarity on the injustices carried out in Iraq. The corruption, the killings, the flagrant violation of international law in invading a country with false reasons,
the suing for millions by American corporations over 'lost profits' because of the 1991 Gulf War, the tragic effects of the economic sanctions against Iraq in the 90s. This list goes on and on, and shows how much injustice exists today and gives you an idea of why so much hatred exists against the Americans over there.

Right after their presidential election, US forces have launched their campaign to capture Fallujah,a Sunni town that has remained in Iraqi resistance hands since April this year.
There will be tough fighting and terrible casualties on both sides but the worse thing will be the plight of many civilians who will lose their possesions, their homes and their lives.
With their callous disregard for civilian lives and safety, the Americans will use overwhelming force including artillery and airstrikes to destroy selected targets which includes civilian homes and infrastructure including hospitals.

The Ivory Coast in West Africa is undergoing serious fighting as government troops push on rebel-held positions. French peacekeeper troops have been attacked by government forces and fought back, allegedly killing some civilians.
This former French colony and economic pride of West Africa has deteriorated greatly during the 90s up to now, with civil war breaking out in 2002. There is a lot of poverty and economical decline in this country as with many of its neighbours.

It's still taking time to sink in but GWBush won again. This time in a fair and outright way, winning both the electoral and the popular vote.
Or did he??
Check this article by the Greg Palast, author of The best democracy money can buy and the feature on the illegal and deceitful way how Bush won Florida back in 2000. What he writes is definitely worth considering.
There's also the twin issues of malfunctioning or inaccurate (or rigged) vote results with electronic machines which seemed to favor GWBush and the discrepancy between exit polls (polls taken of voters after voting on who they voted for) and actual results.

However it can't be overlooked that John Kerry was not the ideal leader candidate, and that his party and platform were weak in many ways, including in Ohio. If Bush's victory is a legitimate one, then the Democratic party of the US must be prepared to stand up more(as well as all Americans who don't support Bush) and adopt a better strategy and attitude towards its people.

Today's the eve of the US presidential elections, and many hope,including me,the eve of GWBush's term as president (not exactly as the incumbent remains president until inauguration of the new president in December or January).
These last few years have brought nothing but lies, deceits, trickery and oppression from the American (GWB) administration. Nothing illustrates this more than the Iraq war and occupation but along the way there's been countless examples and incidents revealing the guile and injustice perpetuated by GWBush and his administration. See Fahrenheit 911, remember VP Cheney telling a senator IN the senate chamber to "Go FUCK yourself!", read about the awarding of contracts without any bidding to Halliburton and the other shady business deals that went on, read about the growing deficit of the US, the continuous support to big business corporations, the Weapons of Mass Destruction accusation bullshit which even had them threatening Iran for a while and the branding of anyone who asks tough questions to or criticises the administration as being UNPATRIOTIC, traitorous and hating their country(US).
We mustn't forget Iraq, which many people instead of asking how just are the US in running the country, are being caught up in their prejudices of the 'barbaric and uncivilised' Muslims/Arabs/Iraqis, which is something that's promoted by the US administration who refer to all and any Iraqi fighters as terrorists or extremist.
Through all the news reports of violence and death especially to American and allied personnel and western workers, we hardly hear about the total death toll that's resulted from US military actions. This article, written by a former UN arms inspector in Iraq, claims that there's been over 100,000 Iraqi deaths since the US occupation. It first appeared in the
Guardian newspaper of UK.

Some people favor Bush because of his policies which ring true to Christians such as being against legal abortion, homosexual marriages while John Kerry and his Deomocrats support the opposite of these measures. This is true. Christians don't think this is right, neither do I.
However the big question is whether as Christians, is it more important to oppose homosexuality or the killing and exploitation of countless thousands and millions in foreign lands??