No certainty until the genocide in Darfur ends

More than four years on, the conflict in Darfur has led to some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable. The United Nations estimates that the conflict has left as many as 450,000 dead from violence and disease. In addition, by obstructing and arresting journalists, the Sudanese government has been able to obscure much of what has gone on and has suppressed information by jailing and killing witnesses and tampered with evidence such as mass graves to eliminate their forensic values. Even the Amnesty International issued a report accusing China of supplying arms, ammunition and related equipment to Sudan (China invests heavily in Sudan's oil industry) and this hardware has been transferred to Darfur for use by the government and the militias.

In early October, BBC aired a documentary “An Atrocity That Needs No Exaggeration“ regarding the magnitude of atrocities in Darfur. This documentary misses a critical point in the debate over how many people have actually died. The real point is that, unfortunately, mortality estimates cannot be verified or updated because the Government of Sudan actively denies the international community – including diplomats, humanitarian workers, and epidemiology experts – real access to the Darfur region.

History reminds us that the full scope and scale of genocide is unknown until it has ended. Past perpetrators, most notably the Nazis and the present Chinese autocrities in Tibet, actively concealed their campaigns of mass murder from public scrutiny and accountability. When the scale of this genocide did become known, a shocked world cried out, “Never again.” The same was true in Cambodia and Rwanda. And that is what is happening now in Darfur.

The Save Darfur Coalition too believes that in this conflict as many as 450,000 Darfuris have been either killed by deliberate and indiscriminate attacks, because there is sound analysis to support that – analysis that is impossible to confirm only because of Sudan’s willful obstruction. Ultimately, no level of genocide is acceptable. The international community must continue to press the Sudanese government and President Omar al-Bashir to provide access to both international peacekeepers, humanitarian workers and experts who can more accurately document the scale of this tragedy, as well as provide protection and assistance to Darfur’s poor civilian population.

Every true voices are heard

Risking heightened tensions with China, US President George W. Bush will attend a ceremony tomorrow (october 17) to award a Congress medal to the Dalai Lama, at the bastion of American democracy. Following the ceremony, the Dalai Lama will speak.
In protest against this (U.S. Congress) plan to honor the Dalai Lama, China also has pulled out of a meeting last week at which world powers were to discuss further action against Iran.
It goes against every fiber of my being to say anything positive about this President, but this is a very good thing; for the non-violent campaign/struggle associated with his holiness.
Just for the record it does not change my opinion about the other things he has done however.
My peace prevail on this Earth!!

war on drugs

When Marion Jones said that she had asked God for forgiveness after she admitted to lying about taking performance enhancing drugs before the 2000 Olympics, I wonder if this was the same "God" who had apparently provided her with the steroids -- I mean the "God-given abilities" which she claimed to have.
I mean really, how much sympathy can she expect to get from a God whom she thought didn't exist enough to care about being used as a false front for her "sinful" behavior?
She admitted to the court that she did take THG to prepare for the games in Sydney. I just don't know why these damn athletes take that risk. I mean seriously no one expects you to be he-man, just train hard and let your talents take over. She's already in the hole financially, so this only makes it worse. I wouldn't be surprised if Wheaties wanted their money back!

“The truth or falsity of a given perception is often quite relative when one is concerned with a complex social question such as the nature of a conspiracy. There are as many variables and problems of definition that much depends on the observers position, interest and amount of information. The belief in a conspiracy can be treated as a theoretical construct, not necessarily less reasonable than other constructs which help explain disturbing and unexpected happenings” - David B. Davis -

crackdown on peaceful protesters

One could scarcely call the government of Myanmar something other than repressive, but they have taken that label to new heights over the past week days. Soldiers are firing automatic weapons into crowds, invading Buddhist monasteries, and have cut off electronic communications available to civilians. Demonstrations, sparked by a large increase in fuel prices, have been estimated to have numbers up to 100,000. The nation of Myanmar rivals N Korea as a closed and repressed society.
Myanmar's chief patron, China, has blocked UN condemnation, but has offered platitudes about how "all parties in Myanmar exercise restraint and properly handle the current issue so as to ensure the situation there does not escalate and get complicated.” Evidently unarmed civilians and monks need to restrain themselves from getting killed by automatic gunfire. We really ought to spend lots of money on Chinese made goods, just to make sure they can have the influence to make such a statement stick.
Buddhism is a non-violent philosophy/religion and it is once again being faced with forceful violence. Evidently a saffron robe is poor protection from bullets. The military junta running the place does not seem to be overly concerned that bullets won't win the day. They may be running a large risk of backlash within the military ranks, people who have and know how to use, firearms.

I am not an advocate of taking leaflets to a gunfight, nor am I overly impressed with the technique of resistance involved in taking a bullet, admirable as Buddhism may be, self-destruction to no end gain seems wasteful. While I might be willing to die for an idea, that concept also includes helping someone on the other side get there first. I have noticed that there's not much reportage regarding the fact that "non-violent revolutions" have managed to get significant support from heavily armed contingents before they became successful.....