When will it end?! (spinoff of today's IR discussion)

The majority of common people in Israel and Palestine are in favor of a two-state end to the prolonged conflict (Large Israeli and Palestinian Majorities Indicate Readiness for Two-State Solution Based on 1967 Borders).

However, Israel's administration and military (the two are close friends) continue to remain volatile and disproportionately reactionary to Palestinian aggression; aggression that primarily comes as a response to the expansion of Jewish settlements in Palestine-controlled areas, continued unpredictability of border crossings, and the denial of foreign aid to refugees and poor in Gaza.

Palestinians will continue to use bombs as long as explosions are their only way to have their voices heard. Israel must come to the table with a willingness to listen. It's hard to hear anything over the sound of bulldozers.

This is a Caterpillar D9R armored bulldozer, used by the Israeli Defense Forces.

Vroom!

This is a typical Hamas rocket:

"lacking any guidance system"

Who looks more frightening?

And if you're wondering why Israeli citizens differ so much from their military counterparts, check this out:
"An Army of Extremists: How some military rabbis are trying to radicalize Israeli soldiers."

Rights optional

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her first visit to China this week, stressing expansion of human and workers' rights in the socially beleaguered state. In a country where protest is regularly silenced, Clinton promised "frank discussions" on China's hot-button issues, including the global fiasco that is Chinese-Tibetan relations.

"We pretty much know what they're going to say."—Hillary Clinton, on the Chinese reaction to discussions of human rights, religious freedom, and Tibet

Amnesty International is "extremely disappointed," and rightly so. Human Rights Watch's Asia director fears that America's human rights discussions in China will become "a dead-end 'dialogue of the deaf,' " and she has a point. As for the dissident founders of the new Chinese Charter '08 movement—the biggest political protest group in years—we don't know what they thought, because they were all under house arrest during Hillary Clinton's visit to Beijing. (via slate.com)

China seems to believe that they have perfected the smoke-and-mirrors technique of concealing their domestic human rights abuses. The state appears entirely unaware that sheer saturation of the global media, including China's own blogosphere, has made it impossibly difficult to hide anything of the sort.

Yet the United States has opted out of sharp criticism of China's oppressive regime and chose rather to praise increased US-China economic relations, including China's massive holdings in US treasury notes.

President Obama has hailed himself as a progressive, promising a renewed push to serve as a positive example for democracy in the international arena. Ignoring China's atrocious track record shows that when ideals conflict with interest, we tend to take the more pragmatic approach. The same goes for our recently resurrected interest in Uzbekistan, a state whose history of human rights abuses makes China look like a liberal utopia.

Of course, actions speak louder than words. Time will tell on how this administration will choose to approach the hundreds of human rights "hot-zones" that desperately require attention. If current trends are any indication, progress may be slow to come, if at all.

I seriously doubt it.

I'm working on this.

All aboard

#1

I'm setting this up for a variety of reasons. The first, I must note, is because a very close friend of mine started blogging. Today.

Call it inspiration? Mimesis? Something like that.

Secondly, I am about to take part in an independent study course on media writing, which requires a blog; why not get a head start?

Thirdly, I have an immutable desire to try and change the world. I only hope this thing helps me figure out how to do that.

To clear things up, a little about me: I am a white guy from Emporia, Virginia. I believe* in a cruel mixture of markets and socialism, the welfare state, high taxes on wealthy people, freedom of speech, gun control, abortion, democracy, renewable energy, clean air, good wine, indispensable friends, the equity of every single human on this planet and the undeniable power of the written word.

I harbor deep resentment for mass media, fundamentalism, bottled water, and FTZ's.

This is my head-first dive into an uncertain future.



Bienvenue.


*subject to change without warning