Global Politics
retrospectacle | January 15, 2007Previously on this blog, I've criticized the European Union for continuing to allow the import of wild-caught parrots (including African Greys) which has devastated many species of rare birds. I was never sure why the EU, which his usually a trailblazer in the areas of progressive conservation, was so slow to act to restrict the wild-caught bird industry. The only time that the EU has restricted wild-bird imports has been when "bird flu" was suspected in Europe, with imported birds thought to have been to blame.
I'm happy to say that a permanent ban on wild-caught birds has been instituted,…
retrospectacle | December 30, 2006Well, that was certainly quick. Convicted last month, handed over to the Iraq authorities yesterday, and hung (hanged, whatever) this morning. Guess no one can complain that justice wasn't swift.
His last words?
'God is great. The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab.'
Our soldiers' words?
"First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial," said Spc. Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq. "So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over…
retrospectacle | December 6, 2006At the urging of others in the science blogging community (and rightly so!), we've been asked to highlight the situation of the tragic Tripoli 6 (or Benghazi 6) and the new developments going on. A bit of a recap though, for those not familiar with who they are.
The Benghazi Six consists of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian physician, who are involved in an ongoing trial in Libya regarding whether or not they deliberately infected hundreds of children with the HIV virus. Based on the confessions of the six, extracted under horrendous torture, they were all convicted and sentenced to…
retrospectacle | December 2, 2006This sounds eerily similar to another kind of 'forced identification'..........
When radio host Jerry Klein suggested that all Muslims in the United States should be identified with a crescent-shape tattoo or a distinctive arm band, the phone lines jammed instantly.
The first caller to the station in Washington said that Klein must be "off his rocker." The second congratulated him and added: "Not only do you tattoo them in the middle of their forehead but you ship them out of this country ... they are here to kill us."
Another said that tattoos, armbands and other identifying markers such as…
retrospectacle | November 23, 2006A reader (hat tip Bob Abu!) sent me this staggeringly good article written by long-time political journalist Seymour Hersh, appearing in the New Yorker, entitled "The Next Act." Specifically, it addresses whether the recently humbled Bush Administration is now more likely, or less likely, to invade Iran.
What was Cheney's reaction to the possibility of a Democratic Congress and Senate?
Cheney began reminiscing about his job as a lineman, in the early nineteen-sixties, for a power company in Wyoming. Copper wire was expensive, and the linemen were instructed to return all unused pieces three…
retrospectacle | October 27, 2006The father of the Malawi orphan that Madonna wishes to adopt now says that he is entirely in favor of Madonna taking full permanent custody. This is in contrast to a statement he issued only a few days ago, where he said he wished to retain parental rights. But, in an entirely predictable turn of events, the father says he was goaded into making the statement (against the adoption) by non-governmental child rights organizations who are suing to prevent the adoption. He has now fled to his sister's residence to avoid the media attention.
What a ridiculous situation, where a child-rights…
retrospectacle | October 27, 2006In addition to cruelty, the replacement of whale products, meat toxicity issues, and conservation, fellow SciBling the Island of Doubt brings up another great point against whaling:
For more than a decade now, genetic analysis of whale meat on Japanese markets has shown evidence of widespread fraud. The simple truth is, unlike pork and beef, it's not so easy to tell the meat of one species of whale from another, a situation that allows whalers to catch just about anything from the order cetacea, and call it whatever the law allows them to catch.
Remember that whaling is an opportunistic…
retrospectacle | October 24, 2006As has been reported by myself and others, Iceland has resumed commercial whaling, killing an endangered fin whale earlier this week. However, Norway and Japan have been engaging in commercial whaling, either blatantly or under the auspices of "scientific research," for quite some time. This is quite a sensitive issue in global politics, involving high emotions on either side. Pro-whalers argue that some commercial whale populations have rebounded and are viable for sustainable hunting, while anti-whalers argue that populations are over-inflated and outdated by the IWC and that the method…
retrospectacle | October 23, 2006
Did Iceland not get the memo, or what?
They just broke a 21-year international moratorium on commercial whaling by killing an endangered fin whale. Last week Iceland announced that it planned to resume commercial whaling (Norway and Japan already are doing it), flouting the ban put in place by the International Whaling Commission in 1985.
Now, they aren't going to be just harpooning willy-nilly; they will only take in 9 fin whales and 30 minke whales each year. This is in comparison to Norway's quota of 1052 minke whales per year, and whatever Japan catches for "research" purposes. What's…
retrospectacle | October 22, 2006So, now the father of the Malawian boy, whom Madonna intends to adopt, was quoted saying that he did not want Madonna to adopt his son but rather just raise him on his behalf.
Banda's statement is a major shift from his earlier remarks last week when he railed against human rights groups that have gone to court to stop Madonna from adopting his son David.
"Had they told us that Madonna wanted to adopt my son and make him her own son, we would not have agreed to that," Banda said in his local language of Chichewa.
"It would have been better for him to continue staying at the orphanage because…
retrospectacle | October 21, 2006Gwenyth Paltrow has one. So does Angelina Jolie, U2's Bono, Meg Ryan, and Mia Farrow. Now Madonna wants one too. No, I'm not talking about the latest Dior sunglasses or Fendi purse (although I'm sure it would look fab on Bono)---the "in" accessory lately seems to be African orphans.
And this is entirely a good thing.
The previous paragraph was meant to be sarcastic---however the media, and several adoption activists, genuinely seem to feel that the motivation behind celebrity adoptions is positive PR. This is ridiculous. Although I am no starry-eyed celeb fanatic, I can admire their desire…
retrospectacle | October 5, 2006I really like Cnn.com's Anderson Cooper. He's a journalist who also has the news blog 360 degrees, which highlights a particular global issue in depth. His current feature is both excellently written and heart-breaking: the increasing prevalence of rape by soldiers in the African country the Congo.
"She never says anything to men," one of the hospital counselors explained, and then she told us why.
The little girl was raped. Gang-raped. It was allegedly done by soldiers engaged in a complicated regional war that has claimed millions of lives. The war officially ended in 2003, but outbreaks…