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.