The BBC reports that Georgia may have committed war crimes during the recent South Ossetian conflict. Finally.
Remember when I was talking about how Western media distorts everything? (To refresh your mind, read another post about the conflict.)
What took so long?
Hey, are you following me on Twitter?
If you were, you would have known minutes ago.
While people in Canada vote and choose their new leaders, I’m working on an essay. While I’m doing that, I’d like to share an excellent, insightful video with you about the foundations of morality and where liberals and conservatives stand on each of the foundations.
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.Another excellent video from TED!
I am very disappointed in all of the candidates — by this I mean that I would neither support Barack Obama & Joe Biden, nor John McCain & Sarah Palin, nor Stephen Harper, Stéphane Dion, Jack Layton, and Elizabeth May.
That having been said, enjoy this video of the American Vice Presidential debate yesterday evening, in case you missed it.
With just 5 days to go until the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, there’s a lot of hype on the Internet (with those on one side criticizing whatever, and those on the other preparing for a great opening ceremony). What interests me, though, aren’t the articles written by the CBC, like “Skies over Beijing clear ahead of Olympics” or “China’s web censors easing off: report“, but rather the reader comments on those articles.
Let’s start with something about the environment:
Andy the Engineer: “China’s success has been built on the back of the environment – they have ruined beautiful rivers, strip mined scenic mountains and poured every type of vile and disgusting exhaust you can imagine into the air – and the Olympic Games will broadcast this to the world.”
Let’s word this more accurately and less xenophobically, shall we? It is the success of the WESTERN WORLD (including Canada — we have our fair share of this blame) that has been built on the back of China’s environment. And India’s. And Taiwan’s. And Japan’s. And … well, basically every early-industrial nation with cheap labour.
I’m fed up with people whose entire wealth is based on the use and abuse of people and resources in other countries who then turn around and act as if they are morally superior to those same exploited people. Grow up.
- MichaelWH
See what they have to say after the jump.
This is indeed a political issue, and one of great importance. In this recently-declassified and released video, a senior CSIS spy and a foreign affairs official, as well as a woman from the CIA, are questioning Khadr at Guantanamo Bay.
It has sparked outrage and has also made some feel that this “terrorist” is being treated fairly.
You should know, though, that Pentagon papers accidentally released in February of this year showed that even though Khadr was present during the firefight in which a grenade killed a U.S. soldier, there was no evidence they had which proved that he threw the grenade.
Watch and vote.
EDIT: apparently YouTube removed the interrogation video. Hmm…
It seems like Bush’s popularity is ever decreasing. With the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that the denial of habeas corpus to detainees at Guantánamo Bay is unconstitutional and that those prisoners have a right to challenge their imprisonment in the civilian courts, it’s no longer necessarily true that “the law doesn’t extend to Cuba”.
Though the rulings did not outlaw the prison outright, the rulings do somewhat approach the human rights issues that the U.S. is responsible for. And how has “Reporters Without Borders” reacted to this news? As of June 13, 2008, they haven’t, but still have half of their web site dedicated to attacking China and supporting the boycott of the Olympic games. Look at (click) this screenshot; do they even mention Guantánamo Bay?
Now, back on topic. This sort of decision is truly what the judicial branch of government is supposed to do: discuss the constitutional issues and re-think the policies of the executive and legislative branches. Unfortunately, Bush wants to bypass this ruling through an act of Congress.
And how does that make you feel?
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Please respond to this and let me know what you think by adding comments, either on this post or at PollDaddy Answers.
I recently saw something while using StumbleUpon that really resonated with an important message I would like to point out: China is not only becoming the next super-power, it is already extremely powerful in the world simply due to trade. Ironic, isn’t it, that capitalism is what allows a semi-Communist country to hold some power over the rest of the nations?
What would products cost if the US banned trade with China as part of “sanctions”? What would be the economic impact? How would consumers respond, or more importantly, how would 2+ billion Chinese people react?
Consider these questions, and get back to me (using the comments feature).
