Two out of four papers done, with a third to be finished within 12 hours! And a fourth….to be started….shortly afterward…
Abuses of Human Rights in the 2008 South Ossetia War: Two Perspectives is an essay written for my Human Rights class, which is very laid-back. The professor asked for a 12-15 page paper “about an abuse of human rights.” For the Lebanese, he requested that if possible it be based off of field research, including interviews. For the international students, he realized that this would be considerably more difficult to do because we largely lack contacts and language skills to do interviews properly, so he didn’t put that limitation on us. He also suggested that we could team-write papers in pairs if we so chose. Considering the workload at the end of the semester, division of labor was a very attractive option, so my friend Alex and I decided to split one up. We wanted to write on something outside of the Middle East, just to get some variety in our studies. We brainstormed for a while, and then decided to write about the week-long 2008 South Ossetia War, because neither of us knew much about it and we wanted to learn more. I remember that war occurring while I was studying Arabic at BYU, in Utah, and thinking “oh, that’s interesting. I have to go do eight hours of homework/find a wife now, but I’ll wikipedia it later.”
The paper itself is fairly basic, and certainly nothing to write home about (which I guess is more or less what I’m doing right now, but whatever). Since the class has such a conversational, discussion-based tone, we felt that it was appropriate to keep a degree of that in the paper, rather than make it a strictly formal academic work. Alex especially has a “lite” style, which is saying something considering my usual standards. Read, enjoy, share, use it for your own work as long as you cite us as the authors, etc. Cheers!
Filed under: World News
Ok, cheesy title, but whatever.
The international law community is very busy right now. Two big stories are going on that you may or may not be aware of. The first is this arrest warrant, issued for Omar Hassan al-Bashir, President of Sudan, earlier this week by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The second is the opening of the international tribunal on the assassination of none other than Mr. Rafiq Hariri, which of course is rippling in Lebanon right now. But first things first:
The ICC is a very new organization–it has only been in existence since 2002 and only held its first trial in January of this year. It should not be confused with the ICJ (International Court of Justice), which is an organ of the United Nations and primarily deals with state-to-state cases. The ICC, conversely, is completely autonomous from the UN and deals with individuals who are accused of grevious crimes that their governments cannot or will not try them for. Omar Bashir is a prime example of this, as he is the government, and has thus far failed to try himself for any of the numerous grevious crimes he has blatantly committed. On March 4th, the ICC officially accused him of seven separate acts (pillage, rape, torture, etc.) that each constitue either a “crime against humanity” or “war crime.” There is ample evidence that he is guilty of encouraging, if not ordering, all of these atrocities.
However, a conservative columnist for the Daily Telegraph made some very valid points about the court and how it interacts with national sovereignty. Sudan is not a signatory of the ICC–yet a warrant for the arrest of its head of state has just been issued. That’s actually a little bit on the illegal side, considering the way territorial jurisdiction works. Borders exist for a reason, and if a country decides to decline a treaty, they have the right to do so. Also, the columnist (correctly) points out that this could potentially set a precedent by which any national of the United States (which is also not a signatory of the ICC) can be arraigned. He is a bit of an alarmist about it, claiming that suddenly no one is safe and there are going to be limitless “mischievious” accusations against the US. Somehow, in his eyes, there are going to be accusations that a “morning paper round amounts to the exploitation of children,” and the sanctity of America will be threatened. Realistically, this seems unlikely, as the Court can throw out cases that are clearly baseless. I personally believe that the US should sign the treaty, as Obama is rumored to be considering. When members of the US armed forces or government commit crimes, they should be held accountable, rather than be given exemptions. We’re not better than everyone else, no matter how much we act like it.
Omar al-Bashir, seen here disguised as Ray Charles
More valid, I fear, is the allegation that the ICC’s power is fairly worthless. This is, of course, the trap that every international organization falls into–toothlessness. Just like everyone ignores UN Security Council Resolutions, it is easy to ignore arrest warrants and the like from the ICC. Bashier is a prime example. In fact, calling him out so officially and legally has caused him to entrench further. He held a rally, burning an effigy of the Court’s prosecutor and chanting “down with USA.” He’s also quoted as calling the ICC a “hangover from the worst days of colonialism,” which is a pretty awesome insult in any context. In classic crazed-dictator style, he has also thrown up his proverbial middle digit and kicked out 13 of the foreign aid groups currently operating in Sudan–direly threatening the lives of a large percentage of his constituents in the process. From the Times:
The ouster of the groups would leave 1.1 million people without food, 1.1 million lacking health care, and more than 1 million without drinking water, [the deputy United Nations emergency relief coordinator] said, adding that it would be extremely difficult for the remaining agencies and the Sudanese government to fill the void. She also criticized the government for its aggressive behavior toward some aid workers, detaining them for several hours while Sudanese officials walked off with computers, cash and other assets.
Clearly, he’s not going to say “mea culpa,” and turn himself in to the Court. With no military wing, there’s nothing that the ICC can do about it. The US isn’t going to invade another country, NATO is getting all kinds of beat up in Afghanistan, the EU’s fledgling security forces are very much in their formative stages right now, “UN Peacekeepers” is the punchline for just about every joke in Africa, the Arab and African Unions would both be unwilling to turn in one of their own, and assassination is still pretty durn illegal. There is literally nothing that can be done about this situation, short of sanctioning Sudan some more, which obviously hasn’t worked so well in the past and only manages to punish the people more. Omar Bashir will live to rape and pillage another day, regardless of what the ICC or anyone else has to say about him.
Darfur on my Mind
Obama’s appointments have been a little bit hit or miss in my book so far, but George Mitchell seems like a definite hit. Admittedly, some of his professional experience doesn’t exactly seem to lend itself to Mid-East diplomacy, but hear me out on this one. My call right now is that he will be very competent and as effective as can be hoped for, given the nature of the challenge ahead of him. He is known by many of my generation as the guy who was in charge of the investigations into illegal steroid use by professional baseball players. He’s been that, sure, but the majority of his background is very appropriate for his current line of work.
Mitchell’s mother was actually a Lebanese immigrant that came to the US when she was 18, and he grew up considering himself Arab-American. He got his law degree from Georgetown in the early ’60s, which means he was probably too old to do TOO many hallucinogens but still young enough to be a pretty cool guy. He practiced law for a few decades in Maine before being elected to the Senate there and serving for 15 years, 6 of them as Senate Majority Leader. After he finished with that in 1995, he started working in the North Ireland peace process, and was responsible for the major-breakthrough Good Friday agreement in 1998. He personally is viewed as the reason things were able to come together the way they did, and he was awarded some pretty hefty-duty medals for his work there. In 2000, Gore considered him as a running mate before picking Juda–I mean Joe Lieberman. In 2004, when the Democrats were positive that they had the election in the bag, he was discussed as an option for Secretary of State. That year, he worked on a Congressional Task Force on reforming the UN with Newt Gingrich, which was probably a whole lot of fun. Or something. Then in 2006, it was the steroid-use investigations, which culminated in the 409-page Mitchell Report, 89 names of current and former baseball players being dropped, and everyone losing interest rather quickly. Now, he’s Obama’s pick as the special envoy to the Middle East. Quite the CV.
Obama seems confident in his man, and is even comfortable cracking a few jokes about Mitchell’s work experience–earlier this week he commented that “Compared to steroids, this is going to be a breeze.” A few days ago, just before the envoy was sent to meet with leaders in Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Turkey, ABC had this to say:
Obama said the immediate goals would be to “solidify the cease-fire, ensure Israel’s security, also ensure that Palestinians in Gaza are able to get the basic necessities they need and that they can see a pathway towards long-term development that will be so critical in order for us to achieve a lasting peace.”
Well, that doesn’t sound so bad, especially for just immediate goals. It seems to me like this diplomatic corps has its priorities more in line than those of previous administration. I think if Condi was in Mitchell’s place right now (Bush didn’t have a special envoy to anywhere but the pretzel factory), the immediate goals would be to “ensure Israel’s security, be positive that the Palestinians are unable to break the cease-fire, and send Gaza two bags of rice and a bottle of Snapple.”
The downsides to his appointment seem relatively few. Mitchell is 75, and has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. But hey, that’s older than McCain, and Mitchell doesn’t seem to be anywhere that senile or sickly yet. It’s not like he’s the Commander in Chief. Also, when he got out of electoral politics in the mid-90′s he worked as a lobbyist for several groups, including some Big Tobacco companies.
Family Guy's take on Disney
That’s unfortunate, but it seems like it was long enough ago to not continue to be an influenceo n him, and it’s not like he’s the Health Secretary or something tobacco-related. Finally, Mitchell was on the Board of Directors of the Walt Disney Company from 1995-2007, which probably means that he’s a neo-Nazi that’s into criogenic technology, but whatever. I’m willing to overlook that detail.
So, what’s going on right now? The Times reports that he is currently in Israel, calling for consolidation of the rapidly-falling-apart truce in Gaza. I personally view it as unlikely that this particular truce will last long, but I think it will be aided by a strong US diplomatic presence in the region. The Israeli government is stalling on permanently opening border crossings (which it likes to close very frequently) until the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier in 2006 is resolved. Hamas rejects linking the two issues, and instead wants to tie border crossings to a permanent cease fire. Stalemate. Unfortunately, the US government still has Hamas listed as a terrorist organization, and refuses to meet with its leaders. Still, Mitchell is there, and doing his best to resolve the crisis. His current mission, according to Al Jazeera, appears to be eliminating arms smuggling into Gaza along with the Israeli blockade of the territory. This seems like a very beneficial compromise, if he can convince Hamas to relinquish their counter-productive, worthless rockets and Israel to loosen its paranoid, racist chokehold. No headway yet, but that’s to be expected. He’s certainly not doing bad for his 6th day on the job.
Filed under: World News
Yesterday was the big day, of course. Like anyone else who is reading this blog, I watched the ceremony with a fair amount of mixed emotions going on. Obviously, there was a lot of pride and hopefulness. I’ve been an Obama supporter from the start, and the inauguration made his election and coming presidency that much more real. I believe that he is a great leader with a lot of potential, and I have high hopes (though not necessarily universally high expectations) for the next 4-8 years. I thought his speech was fantastic–he toned down the soaring, inspirational rhetoric a little bit without losing his cadence and speaking patterns that are so welcome after 8 years of dull, tired speeches with the same “patriotic” (I hate the bastardization of that word, don’t get me started) mumbo jumbo and press conferences filled with Bushisms. There weren’t any big surprises, but then again, it’s not like we don’t already know what’s going on and what a president is supposed to say to his constituency. Iraq? Check. Afghanistan? Check. Economy? Double check. “It’s not the government, it’s the American people?” Check, check, check. The other big emotion I had going on was some degree of trepedation. Is he up to this? I mean, yeah, Obama rocks the house, we all know that. But this, like the internet, is serious business. I generally try not to be a pessimist, but when you think about it, the world just seems uncompromisingly screwed. Global recession, vanishing resources, increased natural disasters, melting ice caps, famines and droughts, Vladimir Putin’s alarmingly good judo and tiger-hunting skills, loose nukes, war everywhere, those durned gay people who keep trying to destroy the sanctity of marriage by marrying people that the church says they shouldn’t be allowed to marry, take your pick. Obama certainly has his work cut out for him, and I truly hope that he can do it, but I can’t help but feel a little apprehensive. I think we made the right decision by electing him, but I don’t know if he’ll live up to all of our expectations. Good luck, Mr. President.
Perhaps to distract myself from these nagging thoughts, I found myself paying a lot of attention to who and what the cameramen were focusing on during the ceremony and speech. I watched it live online on the BBC in real time, and again later in the evening saw the C-Span coverage on a big screen with a Yak burger and delicious beverage (big shoutout to Red’s Wine and Blues in Kalispell, MT and Drinking Liberally–basically my favorite organization in the world). The two networks focused on different people and things throughout the proceedings. For example, the BBC commentators apparently didn’t really care about Yo-Yo Ma and the people with whom he was playing, because they talked incessantly over the performance about presidential assassinations and 9th US President William Henry Harrison, who died from pneumonia after trying to look more badass than he was by not dressing warmly enough and giving a two hour inaugural address (31 day presidency for the win!). During Obama’s speech, the cameramen seemed to have a bizarre fascination with Bush Sr., resplendent in a huge fur hat that made him look alarmingly like a certain Russian PM (Puppet Master). There seemed to be an inordinate amount of focus on Michelle’s brother, the basketball coach, as well. I’m not really sure what that was about. Also, Hillary got a shot in, but she appeared to be seated with Slick Willy as the wife of an ex-president rather than as a nominee for Secretary of State. One would think that he could find more attractive arm candy for such an important occasion, but such is life.
Umm, hell yes.
Colin Powell got a shot too, looking out of place next to some military brass. Even though he’s a four-star general, I generally think of him as the closest thing to a peacenik as Republicans get these days. Incidentally, I’d like to share this, from The Guardian:
Powell is quoted as describing the neocons to British foreign minister, Jack Straw, as “fucking crazies”. That, the reporters suggested, might be an apt title for his next volume of memoirs. Powell laughed uncontrollably.
Anyway…
On C-Span, I never saw any of those individuals except the brother. Instead, there were more big shots of the crowd, and several shots from above and behind Obama, which showed his unneccesarily obvious white footprint cues for where to walk (really? I think he’s given a speech or two before, and it’s not like he’s going to get lost between the back of the stage and the front). C-Span focused more on the new president himself than any of the other statesmen, past and present. I don’t know if that actually says anything about the networks and what their priorities are or anything, but it was just an observation I found interesting. Leave it to me to get distracted from a massively important and historic moment for American society by what the cameramen are shooting at the time.
UPDATE: Just to make sure, Obama did retake the Oath of Office, after both he and Justice Roberts struggled a little bit to get it all out. I was slightly worried that Cheney was going to wait until Obama was approving some really important legislation and jump out of the closet (probably with his shotgun) and say “just kidding! you flubbed the Oath, so you’re not really president!” Fortunately, we don’t have to worry about that now.
…..
In other news, I apparently have an approved visa…for three months. I applied for a six month visa, and I’ll be in the country from February 3rd at least until June 15, so I definitely need a six month visa, but the thing stamped in my passport definitely only lasts 90 days. An unfortunate complication, but hopefully one that can be easily resolved. At least I can get into the country, so that’s good.
Also, Israel has supposedly completed withdrawal of troops from Gaza, despite some infractions of the cease fire agreement. I’m not sure how long that will last, but hey, it’s progress. And speaking of progress, apparently our old friend Qadafi is continuing to be quite the dove these days. Check out his Op-Ed in the Times about peace, justice, and a one-state solution for what he calls “Isratine.” It’s well written, but I feel like his credibility is still a little bit blown from all of those decades of being, well, himself. Thoughts?
Neil
