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Mass Rapes in Congo Reveals U.N. Weakness - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...04congo.html Congo

shared by anonymous on 18 Oct 10 - No Cached

anonymous on 18 Oct 10

An uncomfortable article about the UN in Congo. It talks about how the UN has spent billions of dollars and more than a decade on trying to keep peace, but they've accomplished very little.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">An uncomfortable article about the UN in Congo. It talks about how the UN has spent billions of dollars and more than a decade on trying to keep peace, but they've accomplished very little.</div>

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anonymous on 18 Oct 10

Looks like they've arrested one person related to the mass rapes: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/africa/06briefs-CONGO.html?ref=united_nations

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Looks like they've arrested one person related to the mass rapes: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/africa/06briefs-CONGO.html?ref=united_nations" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/world/africa/06briefs-CONGO.html?ref=united_nations</a></div>

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Gregory Freiberg on 18 Oct 10

That is a very disturbing article. It made me think back to one of the shows the Ashland Trip saw last year called Ruined. Should definitely be getting more global attention

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">That is a very disturbing article. It made me think back to one of the shows the Ashland Trip saw last year called Ruined. Should definitely be getting more global attention</div>

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Catherine Binder on 18 Oct 10

The numerous rapes are beyond awful. I know the UN has a difficult job and that it is impossible to solve every problem, but I hope that for the sake of these women it gets its act together.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">The numerous rapes are beyond awful. I know the UN has a difficult job and that it is impossible to solve every problem, but I hope that for the sake of these women it gets its act together.</div>

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Shalina O on 18 Oct 10

This is horrific, it really shows the weakness of the UN in these countries. Like Catherine said, I know they can't solve everything, but its simply unacceptable that these crimes can go on with a UN presence so close.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">This is horrific, it really shows the weakness of the UN in these countries. Like Catherine said, I know they can't solve everything, but its simply unacceptable that these crimes can go on with a UN presence so close.</div>

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Harrison Lee on 18 Oct 10

These rapings are atrocious, and I'm surprised that its coverage on the media has been so meagre, considering the long history of the crisis in the Congo. While the U.N. has not been able to improve the Congo significantly, I'm wondering if the problems lie in the desolateness of the area (no lines of communication, etc) or in the management of the U.N. bases there. I believe that the U.N. could be doing more, but I don't think they should be the only solution; the local economy and infrastructure must improve as well so that better communication and control can be established.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">These rapings are atrocious, and I'm surprised that its coverage on the media has been so meagre, considering the long history of the crisis in the Congo. While the U.N. has not been able to improve the Congo significantly, I'm wondering if the problems lie in the desolateness of the area (no lines of communication, etc) or in the management of the U.N. bases there. I believe that the U.N. could be doing more, but I don't think they should be the only solution; the local economy and infrastructure must improve as well so that better communication and control can be established.</div>

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Rebecca Heller on 18 Oct 10

What was most shocking to me about this article was the scale on which this is happening in Congo and how open the attackers are about it- raping an 80 year old woman, raping women with UN peacekeepers right up the street. The rapists have absolutely no limits. Scary and very sad. It was equally shocking that the Congo government (police, law enforcement etc) has been unwilling or unable to do anything about this (the article cited them as often "too drunk" to do much about it). It's sad and heart wrenching that the UN has so far been unable to come up with a plan to help these people, and perhaps even more sad that their own government hasn't done anything. It's notable that Congo is being called the "UN's crowning failure" and their greatest failure so far.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">What was most shocking to me about this article was the scale on which this is happening in Congo and how open the attackers are about it- raping an 80 year old woman, raping women with UN peacekeepers right up the street. The rapists have absolutely no limits. Scary and very sad. It was equally shocking that the Congo government (police, law enforcement etc) has been unwilling or unable to do anything about this (the article cited them as often "too drunk" to do much about it). It's sad and heart wrenching that the UN has so far been unable to come up with a plan to help these people, and perhaps even more sad that their own government hasn't done anything. It's notable that Congo is being called the "UN's crowning failure" and their greatest failure so far.</div>

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Samuel P. Huntington - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 2 views

en.wikipedia.org/...Samuel_P._Huntington Huntington clash of civilizations terrorism

shared by Kay Bradley on 11 Sep 11 - Cached

graduated with distinction from Yale University at age 18
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he was denied tenure in 1959
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he began teaching at age 23
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completed his Ph.D.
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associate professor of government at Columbia University
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Deputy Director of The Institute for War and Peace Studies
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invited to return to Harvard with tenure in 1963
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co-founded and co-edited Foreign Policy
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became prominent with his Political Order in Changing Societies (1968), a work that challenged the conventional view of modernization theorists, that economic and social progress would produce stable democracies in recently decolonized countries
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In 1993, Huntington provoked great debate among international relations theorists with the interrogatively-titled "The Clash of Civilizations?", an extremely influential, oft-cited article published in Foreign Affairs magazine. Its description of post-Cold War geopolitics contrasted with the influential End of History thesis advocated by Francis Fukuyama.
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Critics (for example articles in Le Monde Diplomatique) call The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order the theoretical legitimization of American-led Western aggression against China and the world's Islamic and Orthodox cultures.
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Huntington's last book, Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity, was published in May 2004. Its subject is the meaning of American national identity and the possible cultural threat posed to it by large-scale Latino immigration, which Huntington warns could "divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages".
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In 1986, Huntington was nominated for membership to the National Academy of Sciences, with his nomination voted on by the entire academy, with most votes, by scientists mainly unfamiliar with the nominee, being token votes. Professor Serge Lang, a Yale University mathematician, disturbed this electoral status quo by challenging Huntington's nomination. Lang campaigned for others to deny Huntington membership, and eventually succeeded; Huntington was twice nominated and twice rejected
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Telling Americans to Vote, or Else - NYTimes.com - 2 views

www.nytimes.com/...americans-to-vote-or-else.html voter turnout elections nytimes

shared by Kay Bradley on 06 Nov 11 - No Cached

Thirty-one countries have some form of mandatory voting
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Australia adopted mandatory voting in 1924, backed by small fines (roughly the size of traffic tickets) for nonvoting, rising with repeated acts of nonparticipation.
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The results were remarkable. In the 1925 election, the first held under the new law, turnout soared to 91 percent. In recent elections, it has hovered around 95 percent. The law also changed civic norms. Australians are more likely than before to see voting as an obligation. The negative side effects many feared did not materialize. For example, the percentage of ballots intentionally spoiled or completed randomly as acts of resistance remained on the order of 2 to 3 percent.
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three reasons in favor of mandatory votin
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A democracy can’t be strong if its citizenship is weak. And right now American citizenship is attenuated — strong on rights, weak on responsibilities
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The second argument for mandatory voting is democratic
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if some regularly vote while others don’t, officials are likely to give greater weight to participants
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This might not matter much if nonparticipants were evenly distributed through the population. But political scientists have long known that they aren’t. People with lower levels of income and education are less likely to vote, as are young adults and recent first-generation immigrants
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Changes in our political system have magnified these disparities.
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Kay Bradley on 06 Nov 11

Mandatory voting proposal. Compares to Australia, which has had mandatory voting since 1924.

<div class="cArrow"> </div><div class="cContentInner">Mandatory voting proposal. Compares to Australia, which has had mandatory voting since 1924.</div>

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