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India's options after Mumbai | open Democracy News Analysis

Secure AfghanistanWritten by Mary Kaldor Marika Theros Friday, 12 December 2008 17:10Human security ought to be the goal of any Obama surge in Afghanistan, not defeat of Al Qaeda

Kashmiris have spoken they want a democratic society. They woke up to stark relities of life. They realized the Paki and terrorists intention of supporting K cause. http://www.opendemocracy.net/conflict-in dia_pakistan/jihadi_2941.jsp - Posted by Amar

Open Democracy article about Caroline's victory as Leader

Eine Seite für Meinungsaustausch und Diskurs Neu 02. 01. 2009 Gaza: hope after attack Prof. Dr. Paul Rogers

Not without honor "There are, according to the received wisdom of our day, two sides to the greatness of John Milton, who was born in London on 9 December 1608. First and foremost he was a great poet (despite being religious). Also, he was a champion of liberty; a key architect of the English-British tradition of liberalism (despite being religious) ... "This subtly misrepresents what Milton was about. It's a variant of the Whiggish fallacy, that the history of ideas is essentially about how freedom unfolded into its present-day fullness. To call Milton a key figure in British liberalism is like calling Karl Marx a key figure in British political history. True, his thought was influential, but it is far more important to note that the entirety of his vision was shunned, rejected, reacted against. The nation defined itself in opposition to Milton's vision, considered as a whole - and still does. ... "It is far more accurate to say that Milton was a key founder of the American liberal tradition, than of the British one. This is not just because of his republicanism: even more important to him than republicanism was his aversion to religious establishment ... if Milton were to revisit us today he would not rejoice at the progress of liberty since his death. He would be depressed to see that the country of his birth retains a monarchy, and even more so an established church." - Theo Hobson, writing on "John Milton's Vision," on Dec. 9 at openDemocracy)

Chicago: tale of two cities Written by Charles Shaw    There have always been at least two Chicagos wrestling within America's great heartland metropolis. The election of Barack Obama and the recent criminal indictment of Governor Rod Blagojevich have once again shown how the city's angels are never far away from its demons. The iconic struggles of race, class and culture have been played out in street and park, back-room and boardroom, City Hall and union hall, and of course, in the headlines and in the hot air from which the "Windy City" gets its name.

I remember reading an article by British Muslim journalist and editor of Q-News Fareena Alam "A humane Muslim future" published online in opendemocracy in which she wrote: "Terrorism must be beaten, but it cannot be defeated with its own weapons – bombs, bullets, and the denial of human rights. We must not be afraid to follow the middle way, away from the extremes of literalism and, as Malcolm X would say, “house negroism”. Muslims, and all the world’s people, deserve better."

The dangerous politics of market radicalism openDemocracy - The crisis of 2008 is a consequence of the pervasive impact of market-driven ideology and policy on political, economic and social life across the globe. The profound consequences - being felt severely in countries such as Hungary - demand a wholesale rethinking of the role of the state in modern societies, [...]

Burma, Art, Literature, Economics,Politics through the eyes of a permanent exile. "We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the oppressed. Sometimes we must interfere. . . There is so much injustice and suffering crying out for our attention . . . writers and poets, prisoners in so many lands governed by the left and by the right." Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, 1986, Oslo.

Parliamentarism in Ukraine 2009 - a window of opportunity? Andreas Umland, Ukraine's Window of OpportunityopenDemocracy, December 19 2008

That doesn't justify the Palestinians' violent response, which has been both morally atrocious and wholly ineffective, but it's important to understanding why Palestinian society sees itself in a war for it's own survival, not for Israel's.

This series of pieces from OpenDemocracy provides a good sense of how control extends to vertical space. That's to say, it's not just about square footage. (The author draws a fascinating comparison between settler outposts and crusader forts.) It's also about demographics. The standard argument against a one-state settlement is that birth rates would leave the Arabs in the majority. But settler families are also larger than ones in Israel proper, culturally detached and with children claiming exemption from IDF service. That creates its own cultural splinters.

Consider the "Top Gun Effect" as excerpted fromhttp://www.opendemocracy.net/arts-Film/article_369.jsp

Minstrel Boy "The Minstrel Boy to the war is gone In the ranks of death you will find him; His father's sword he hath girded on, And his wild harp slung behind him; "Land of Song!" said the warrior bard, "Tho' all the world betrays thee, One sword, at least, thy rights shall guard, One faithful harp shall praise thee!" -- Verse from the Minstrel Boy

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This may be the case with both Indi and Dinidu and their respective blogs. But the comments to Indi’s post at the time of writing and Dinidu’s analysis strengthens the argument made by Evgeny Morozov on openDemocracy.net, Many less radical institutions - governments, NGOs, think tanks - are struggling to address the same challenge, unable to respond to the rapidly shifting balance of power between the individual and the institution radically disrupted by the Internet. In today’s ultra-networked world, an unaffiliated individual with a laptop and an Internet connection is often more influential and resourceful than an organization with a staff of twenty and a fax machine was only twenty years ago.

Indi and Dinidu

As Mary Kaldor has argued we need to think of problems in human terms. This is a necessary step in moving from the progressive ideals of RTP and the millennium development goals, towards the protection of individuals in the most dangerous situation human beings create. Such a change can be dismissed as idealism as against the realism of the status quo. But we should be clear that the status quo is that we accept mass murder as the price of protecting our current definition of sovereignty.

If these reforms were passed there is also a danger that minority groups would attack governments in the hope of provoking a disproportionate response that can then be used to claim status as victims of genocide