human rights | human rights
Jul.21.2009
A Tale of Two Paradigms
Knowing the world's largest special forces training center just opened in Jordan doesn't make me feel any safer. Sometimes I really have to question how my taxpayer dollars are being used and why the mainstream media aren't doing a better job of laying it out for us.
Amman...
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Jul.09.2009
One of the headlines in the July 10th issue of the Jordanian English-language daily newspaper is "No legal exemptions for 'honour crimes'." Of course, news like that is going to get my attention.
There have been whispers that the Jordanian Parliament is reviewing the laws impacting the...
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Jul.02.2009
Today the BBC and other news outlets are reporting that Syria has amended its dishonor killing law. President Bashar al-Assad, son of the Lion of Damascus, decreed that Article 548 of the Syrian penal code be abolished. Article 548 effectively decriminalized dishonor killings by allowing a...
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Jun.25.2009
If you are interested in the rest of the world, this is another column that I scribe following my observations on Bulgarian mentality. Well, most or some of these features are not limited to these certain boundaries only and can be applicable to humans in general.
Features of Bulgarian Mentality,...
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Jun.20.2009
Today, our world is experiencing a rapid decline in cultural diversity and the eradication of indigenous peoples and their lifeway. One in five people in the world speak the same language: Mandarin Chinese. Spoken by the largest single ethnic group in the world - the Han - whose 1.3 billion...
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Jun.03.2009
June 3, 2009, Trento, Italy
I’d been living in Beijing for almost six months on the fifth anniversary of the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Our area of Beijing, between People’s University and Peking University (referred to as Ren-da and Bei-da, their Chinese names), had become tense and...
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May.24.2009
The opacity of oppressive regimes obscures truth and harsh realities.
But last month a video implicating Sheikh Issa bin Zayed al Nahyan, brother of the President of the United Arab Emirates, in the torture of an Afghani grain dealer was smuggled out of the country by a Houston businessman. ...
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May.07.2009
Last week, while I was traveling and incommunicado, John Coyne and Lawrence (Lorenzo) F. Lihosit of Peace Corps Writers published a nice Q&A with me. All thanks to fellow Red Roomer and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer Michael Schmicker for playing the role of matchmaker.
I served in the Peace...
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Apr.23.2009
I have watched CNN these days and I have heard lots of things about the Talibans wanting to ban girls from going to school. Those who live in the Swat Valley want the Shariah Law in the whole Pakistan. The Pakistani governement might cave to the Taliban's silly demands because they have fear....
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Apr.13.2009
To mark the two-year death anniversary of Du'a Khalil Aswad on April 7th (http://www.redroom.com/blog/ellen-r-sheeley/the-dishonor-killing-dua-khalil-aswad), I recently re-read Norma Khouri's Honor Lost: Love and Death in Modern-Day Jordan (a.k.a. Forbidden Love in some countries). I'd first read...
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