I just saw a documentary on CBC Television entitled "On Our Watch"
It documented the slow, terrible, genocide in Darfur and the complete inability of the UN to adequately respond to it. I saw the helplessness of humanitarians and aid workers as they struggled to get aid to the displaced & traumatized people of Darfur and get their superiors in the UN and other nations to take steps to stop it.
I saw the women, victimized by multiple rapes, bombings, loss of everything they had in the world including husbands and children, tell their stories. I also saw the smugness of China and the Sudanese representatives as they either denied what was going on or claim it was over-blown. It was and still is a tragedy and it shows what can happen when Countries sworn to uphold the banner of Human Rights refuse to co-operate and play petty politics with each other. It is too much for my heart to bear.
The U.N. is good at arranging for humanitarian aid, medicine, blankets, fresh drinking water to get to people in crisis. Unfortunately, its political side is not nearly that co-operative, it procrastinates, argues and ignores the brutal reality of nation states turning ethnic minorities. Perhaps, that is why it can't seem to get itself to take action when Human Rights are being trampled. I know a lot of people have little use for the UN. However, almost all U.N. failures can be laid to the refusal of its members to support concrete action when a country's sovereignty might be threatened.
However, there is a grass roots movement
which is putting pressure on China and other countries to stop sending arms and to divest any holdings in the Sudan. This grass roots movement is the first in history to actively oppose genocide , I hope it grows and proves more effective than the rhetoric of our politicians.
Thousands of civilians
remain at risk from
Israeli cluster munitions
used one year ago, but in
the space of a year civil
society and states have
made major progress
towards a new
international treaty
banning the weapons.On
August 14, 2006, the day
of ...
The Pacifist
A True Story
By Elainna Crowell
" We'd just about
finished our patrol, when
ordered to another
sector. A firefight was
starting up and some of
the boys were in trouble.
We took a couple of gooks
prisoner a few hours back
but a coup...
I am writing to you in
hopes of you joining the
Green Movement that is
sweeping the nation. It
is imperative that we as
consumers and citizens of
the world act to save our
world. Please join us.
In view of the City of
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Africa's Witch Children
(1 of 5) Aired November
23, 2009 on C4 - Play
all videos:
http://bit.ly/7oRQHQ - A
year ago, Dispatches told
the story of how children
in Africa's Niger Delta
were being denounced by
Christian pastors as
...http://www.care2....
Sean Goldman is still in
Brazil! Please make sure
that you have signed the
petition demanding the
return of this child to
his father. Currently,
the petition has over
55,000 signatures but
needs as much support as
possible.
click here
Also, please v...
The author is Professor
Robert Watson of Lynn
University who was
once a writer for the New
York Times.
Professor Watson writes:
Hi friends,
I am always being asked
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presidency. In place of
offering him a grade, I
put togethe...
FOREVER I-SOUL-8-DAs I go
deeper into exploration
of MySelf, I am finding
it a pleasure also to
look at words and go
deeper into them too.
Some of course offer
great depth, alternative
symbolic understanding
and meaning way beyond
the everyday useage....
There is a new worm that
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one, and it "seems to try
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the devices."It is not
wide spread, but you
should still be careful.
F-Secure states,"We've
received a sample of a
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Blog: Perry leads Texas GOP fight against climate bill
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by mark s.
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— AP - While the U.S.
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— NEW YORK -- When Lori
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— AMPATUAN, Philippines --
Under threat of military
attack, the scion of the
clan suspected in the
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Blog: Norway: Iran seizes Nobel laureate Ebadi's medal by HM S.
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— OSLO -- Iranian
authorities have
confiscated Nobel Peace
laureate Shirin Ebadi's
medal, the Norwegian
government said Thursday,
accusing Iran of a
shocking first in the
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