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Curtis Doebbler
Having heard submissions from various states and international bodies, the International Court of Justice is considering the request from the United Nations General Assembly for an advisory opinion on the legal status of the so-called separation wall being built by the Israeli state inside the illegally occupied West Bank. A resolution against Israel in this instance could signal a popular groundswell of Palestinian opposition to their oppression, or the belief that an end might be in sight. For the international community at large the request is increasingly seen as critical to the very future of the rule of law; perhaps even among the most difficult tests of legitimacy faced by international law since its evolution began.
Dr. Mohamed Khodr
Tragically, in today?s world, humanity has surrendered its faculty of reason and independent thought to the monopolizers of images, sound bytes, and crass commercialism. Materialism for the “me” has supplanted the morality for the “us”. As the philosopher Bertrand Russell eloquently stated: “Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do.” Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, taught that “God hath not created anything better than Reason, or anything more perfect, or more beautiful than Reason. God?s wrath is caused by disregard of it.” Yet, ignorance of one?s faith, as well as the faith of the “other”, blankets the majority of the followers of the three Abrahamic faiths. Religious scholarship, like political policies, have been left in the hands of the “few”.
Rami G. Khouri
So what matters, in the final analysis, the rule of law or the power of the gun? This question remains to be answered for many Arabs who grapple with the three major political challenges that define them and their world ? Iraq, Palestine and American plans for a wholesale reconfiguration of Arab political and economic systems. The interactions and contradictions among these issues bode ill for this region and, perhaps, also for American-Arab relations in the years to come. The fundamental dilemma is that the USA and Israel preach the need for the Arab world adopt the rule of law as a governing principle of society, but when they turn to the rule of law on a global scale to resolve the dispute over the separation wall that Israel is building, the rule of law suddenly becomes less relevant or appropriate.
Renato Redentor Constantino
And so here we are, at the crossroads of another day, speechless and troubled by what is before us, so anxious to engage in a conversation with what ought to be, and yet so unaware of or indifferent to a past waiting to explain itself, to be heard, to be remembered. “You have to understand the Arab mind,” said Captain Todd Brown, a USA company commander with the 4th Infantry Division in Iraq, who had led his troops in encasing Abu Hishma in a razor-wire fence to contain the resistance suspected to be coming from the village. “The only thing they understand is force.” Over a century ago, in a period of history that few Americans today can recall, another USA general uttered similar words.
Abid Mustafa
A close study of Islamic history contradicts the popular myth that Muslims are bloodthirsty people anxious to wipe out the rest of mankind in the name of Islam. The same however, cannot be said about the West. The West, armed with its secular doctrine and materialistic world-view exploited, plundered and colonised vast populations in order to control resources and maximise wealth. In pursuit of these newfound riches the West succeeded in destroying civilisation after civilisation. Those who survived were forcibly converted to Christianity, stripped of their heritage, and sold into bondage to western companies. Rather than show remorse towards such atrocities, the West could only gloat at its achievements.
Linda S. Heard
Britain?s David Blunkett ? arguably the most authoritarian Home Secretary that the country Americans call “quaint” has ever had ? is arming Britain to fight the menace of that fairly new-fangled concept “terrorism”. While M15 is scouring the land searching for up to 1,000 Arabic speakers to spy on their compatriots in mosques ? or rather “infiltrate overseas-sponsored terror networks” ? Blunkett does his bit by drafting new government powers between fending off criticisms of Belmarsh, his very own version of Guantanamo. There are now 14 foreign “disappeared” being held indefinitely at Belmarsh without charge and without even knowing why they?re there. If Blunkett has his way, there will be many more, including suspect British nationals.
Patrick O'Neill
On New Year’s Eve, Jeremy Hinzman sat in a McDonald’s on N.C. 401 in Fuquay-Varina explaining his precarious situation. On December 20th, Hinzman, a U.S. Army specialist stationed at Fort Bragg, got the news he had dreaded. His unit would be shipping out to Iraq shortly after the new year for an indefinite deployment in the war on terrorism. During Christmas leave, Hinzman, who is a member of the Fayetteville Friends Meeting, discussed his options with his wife. He could go to Iraq ? option both of them rejected. He could refuse the deployment order, and face court martial and a likely prison term. Or he could follow a plan of action that thousands of young men like himself had taken during the Vietnam War ? he could flee to Canada. He chose option three.
Richard Dufour
Former military and death-squad leaders are attempting an armed overthrow of the elected president of Haiti, with the connivance of an elite-controlled political opposition, and under the complacent eyes of Western governments. This is the bitter truth revealed by last weekend?s events in the impoverished Caribbean island-nation. Yesterday, the country?s second largest city, reportedly fell to a rebel army led by former officers of the disbanded Haitian army and leaders of FRAPH, a death squad responsible for innumerable atrocities during the three-year military dictatorship that deposed Aristide in 1991. The poorest country in the Western hemisphere, Haiti is on the verge of civil war and a possible humanitarian catastrophe.
Mark Townsend and Paul Harris
Climate change over the next 20 years could result in a global catastrophe costing millions of lives in wars and natural disasters. A secret report, suppressed by USA defence chiefs and obtained by a British broadsheet newspaper, warns that major European cities will be sunk beneath rising seas as Britain is plunged into a ‘Siberian’ climate by 2020. Nuclear conflict, mega-droughts, famine and widespread rioting will erupt across the world. The document predicts that abrupt climate change could bring the planet to the edge of anarchy as countries develop a nuclear threat to defend and secure dwindling food, water and energy supplies. The threat to global stability vastly eclipses that of terrorism, say the few experts privy to its contents.
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