The war in Iraq was a disaster. The war in Afghanistan is in dire straights. Now, drug prohibition is officially being added to the list of failed wars.
Latin American leaders, in a historic watershed summit, will admit that the war on drugs will never succeed and that alternatives to prohibition must be found, including a more nuanced and rational approach.
Finally! Some common sense coming to the forefront of the great drug debacle. (more…)
After decades of bloody civil war, a new nation graces the world map: South Sudan. The African nation has broken free from the north to become the 193rd country on earth.
While severely impoverished states are often rife with political instability and inherent violence, Sudan has been particularly hard struck, with an estimated 2 million lives lost in the past 20 years.
Having survived such dire conditions, the Sudanese people are eager for change.
Freed from their oppressive government and blessed with rich natural resources, it will be nice to see if the people’s present jubilation spills over into rekindled optimism, helping to rebuild the war-torn nation and setting South Sudan up as a beacon for the rest of the developing world.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6Z6MUzf0mI
Over 200 people were killed and many more were injured during clashes that took place yesterday in Southern Sudan.
Last week, South Sudan officially voted to secede from the North, following a referendum last month which demonstrated the South’s overwhelming support for the split.
Now, in what some are calling a retaliation for the South’s bid for independence, strongmen from the North have been sending armed militants to wreak havoc on their neighbors to the south.
Still, even though a tragedy mars the birth of their new nation, the people of Southern Sudan remain determined and hopeful and are looking forward to embracing their newfound freedom.
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Sudan ranks 114th in the world for human development, meaning the bulk of the population must endure life in dire conditions. Sudan also owes $35 billion in foreign loans, with over half of that being accumulated interest.
Tensions are high on the Korean peninsula where North Korea is being blamed for the death of two South Korean soldiers and for injuring dozens more.
South Koreans were reportedly running military drills on the island of Yeonpyeong when the North Korean’s unleashed a barrage of artillery shells, in what many are calling the most serious clash since the end of the Korean war.
We can all hope that this event will remain isolated and no further escalations will ensue, but anything can happen.
See, that is the trouble with war, or rather, the war machine. There is an adage that says give a man a hammer, and pretty soon everything looks like a nail, and therein lies the problem with military budgets and defense spending. Soldiers and military personnel who are trained and armed can be too eager to use the power entrusted with them.
The same thing happens with riot police, who’ve been trained in crowd control and subduing dissenters, when they finally strap on their armor suits and get set free on groups of protesters. It can be almost instinctual, almost expected, that some of them will end up cracking open those pesky hippie skulls.
It can be far too easy for people trained to use force to find the slightest provocation to use said force. The more we invest into war, the more likely it becomes that someone will find a reason to unleash war upon others.
This is why it is so imperative that we stand up against more spending. We need to let our leaders know that we are sick of war, and that we want our nation’s defense and military budgets to be used for something productive.
