Iranian Girl, 20, Faces Death Penalty

Delara Darabi, a 20 year old Iranian artist is to be executed for a murder that was committed when she was 17.  The details of the case seem complicated, she originally confessed to the murder to protect her boyfriend, as they had thought that she would not get maximum...

US Command in Iraq: Nobody Wants Top Job

The Washington Post has revealed that a new position of command for the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been created... or would be if anyone wanted the job.The new position would be that of a "czar" who would have authority over the activities of the Pentagon,...

Iraqi Refugees, More Statistics

Recently, Amnesty International put out a report stating that 3.7 million Iraqis have been displaced due to the conflict in their country.  Of that, 1.7 million are known to be displaced within Iraq itself, and 2 million have migrated to other countries, including Jordan...

Guantanamo Bay

"habeas corpus "The detention camp at Guantanamo Bay is the dark hole of our age. It's presence defines the Bush Administration as morally vacant. These are people, if they have done wrong, let justice be served. Habeas corpus, which is accepted as a basic right of...

Iranian Exiles in training to return and overthrow

Al Jazeera reports that Iranian exiles are being trained to return to Iran and overthrow the government.Sounds similar to the Bay of Pigs."in the far northeast of the country Al Jazeera discovered armed Iranian exiles training to overthrow the government in Tehran....Komala,...

Does Bush want a fresh new war?

Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory has put forward a compelling arguement that Kaiser Bush is saddling up for an expedition into Iran.  This idea seems to be floating around the Blogosphere for a few days now.  Until now I've dismissed it as blogland's desire to...

Turkmenistan

"According to the Open Society Institute, one of Berdymukhammedov's first actions was to arrest the speaker of parliament, Ovezgeldy Atayev, who, according to the constitution, should have been Niyazov's successor. Atayev was then criminally charged, effectively taking him...

A Chance for Global Education?

The One Laptop Per Child concept is one of inspired thinking. This is a project that, if done correctly, can truly develop the "developing world". That, however, is the question: how does one make technology spread and stick in the developing world.The idea was to produce a...

10% of Active Journalists in Iraq Were Killed in 2006

According to Reporters sans Frontiers, 64 journalists killed in Iraq in 2006 bringing the total to 139 since the war began in 2003.  90% of these are Iraqis.

Death Penalty: from Italy to Iraq

In the aftermath of Saddam Hussein's execution, Italy  prepares to put forward to the UN a universal ban on the death penalty, an archaic punishment at odds with modern thought.

Iron Fist Economics

The relationship between capitalism and democracy is not as concrete as often thought. Often democracy impedes the market,

The Price of Non-Admission?

A view of the recently released Iraq Study Group report on the situation in Iraq