Foreign Policy Blogs

Topics

Humanitarian Spotlight: Kimmie Weeks

Humanitarian Spotlight: Kimmie Weeks

  The 2007 BRICK AWARDS honored Kimmie Weeks, this year for his outstanding efforts in making a global impact, mainly on issues of children and war. The Brick Awards honor young people under the age of 25, who have taken and made amazing strides to make a difference. Please do check out the other winners, […]

read more

Marines Testify in Haditha Case.

Marines Testify in Haditha Case.

Testimonials for the Article 32 investigation into the November 2005 events in Haditha, Iraq unveiled grave degradations and dereliction of duty. Sgt. Sanick P. Dela Cruz testified that he witnessed Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich kill five Iraqi's who were bound and detained following an IED encounter by the Marines of Kilo Company. Dela Cruz stated […]

read more

The Child Soldiers of Africa

The Child Soldiers of Africa

Last week, the NY Times brought the issue of child soldiers to the public’s attention in the hard hitting article, The Prefect Weapon for the Meanest Wars. Africa has the largest amount of child soldiers, with an estimated 200,000, of the total world estimate of around 300,000 child soldiers. I am of course cynical, and […]

read more

EUFOR and Norwegian Officials Arrest Karadzic Associates

EUFOR and Norwegian Officials Arrest Karadzic Associates

Officials in Norway have arrested a 40-year old man for war crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992. According to Norwegian police officials, the man is alleged to have committed rape, illegal detentions and "a series of cases of gross violence" against Bosnian Serbs. Norway does not have war crimes legislation, but is considering draft laws […]

read more

Sierra Leone's Charles Taylor Trial Date Set; US foils Terrorist Plot, Serbs Elect War Criminal.

Sierra Leone's Charles Taylor Trial Date Set; US foils Terrorist Plot, Serbs Elect War Criminal.

Opening arguments in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor will take place on June 4. Taylor, who served as president from 1997 to 2003, is indicted on 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, mass murder, rape, sexual slavery and the conscription of child soldiers. He is under prosecution by the Special […]

read more

Israeli Security Agency Torturing Palestinian Prisoners, Report Says.

Israeli Security Agency Torturing Palestinian Prisoners, Report Says.

A joint report from The Center for the Defence of the Individual and B'Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, allege grave violations of international law occurred at the hands of the Israeli government. According to the report, Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency, degrades Palestinian prisoners and prevents access to lawyers or International Committee of […]

read more

Palestinian children reared to fight and die for a free Palestine

Palestinian children reared to fight and die for a free Palestine

Is it child abuse when you raise a child from infancy to fight, to be prepared to die for their country? This is not an article to say who is right or wrong in the fight between the Israelis and the Palestinians, I am not looking to take sides, but to merely draw attention to […]

read more

Urban Planning as a (Powerful) Tool Against Climate Change

Since billions of people live in cities, with more coming every day, the infrastructure needed to support them needs building, rebuilding and rehabilitation, expansion and enhancement. There's power generation and transmission, the delivery of drinking water and the treatment of waste water, housing and parks, schools and hospitals, transportation, and commercial and industrial development. All […]

read more

Al Qaeda jeers Bush Veto

New Tape: Al Qaeda No. 2 Wants 200,000-300,000 U.S. Dead in Iraq Ayman al-Zawahiri Says Al Qaeda Wants to Spill More U.S. Blood Before America Withdraws By BRIAN ROSS May 5, 2007 ‚ In a new video posted today on the Internet, al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri, mocks the bill passed by […]

read more

Happy Birthday, Karl!

Happy Birthday, Karl!

read more

ICTY refers Two Generals to Croatia for War Crimes Charges

ICTY refers Two Generals to Croatia for War Crimes Charges

The Hague tribunal for war crimes in Yugoslavia has turned two cases over to Croatian courts. Mirko Norac and Rahim Adema have been charged with commanding their forces to kill civilians and pillage villages during a UN brokered withdraw from southern Croatia in 1993. Norac, a former general in the Croatian army, is currently serving […]

read more

"Mitigation of Climate Change"

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as I write, is finalizing its report, "Mitigation of Climate Change." (You can watch the webcast of the press conference from Bangkok when it goes online on Friday, and read the summary for policymakers and the speech from the IPCC's head.) There will be a ton of news […]

read more

The Theory of Righteousness; An Ethical Analysis of Atrocities and War

The Theory of Righteousness; An Ethical Analysis of Atrocities and War

The Nuremburg Defense was invoked to justify the Jewish Holocaust at the hands of Hitler's regime. In essence, this defense says that following orders from ones superiors absolves the accused of responsibility. The Nuremburg Tribunal deemed this inadequate defense, stating that the defense of superior orders does not trump morality. However, arguing on the behalf […]

read more

May Day…AKA Illegal Immigrant Rights Day!

May Day…AKA Illegal Immigrant Rights Day!

(c) Jen G. Bowen Spring is in the air, and so is the urge to get out and demonstratethis is not only the season of flowers and weekends in the park, it's the perfect time to make your voice heard for the cause you believe in. Yesterday, May 1, 2007, was "May Day', and while […]

read more

First Arrest Warrants Issued by the ICC Regarding Darfur

First Arrest Warrants Issued by the ICC Regarding Darfur

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first ever arrest warrants against officials allegedly involved in crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. The arrest warrants were issued for humanitarian affairs minister, Ahmen Haround, and Janjaweed militia leader, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman (a/k/a Ali Kushayb). As the former minister of the interior, the […]

read more