Good News Everyone!

Hi!

I have some pretty marvelous news to share with you. Two weeks ago I went on an interview for an internship at the GAA - Global Action on Aging, and this week I found out I got the spot. I will be writing for them and be update their their blog.

To describe it short the GAA works towards strengthening older people's rights, towards a UN convention.

Check out the organization here:

http://www.globalaging.org/

Bye.

Closing Time

Hello

What ever happened to the promise by Obama, about closing Guantanamo? Guess what, I looked it up and it is still open. The word on the street is that Obama still really want it closed but Congress doesn't.

As one of his first acts as president Obama signed an executing order to close the military prison for terrorist suspects within a year. More than two years has passed. There are about 172 detainees remaining at the camp.

Art by Banksy

A little information about Guantanamo for those who has been living under a rock the last couple of years. The prison was opened and established by the Bush Administration in 2002. It's a place where they would take boys and men that could be terrorists during the Afghanistan and Iraq war. (They have stopped bringing detainees there). A place like Guantanamo is illegal, but because it is run by the USA it has become this issue who's stuck in a vacuum. It has not helped much that the rest of the world have been demanding that this camp has to close, there is not much the rest of us can do, an economic sanction towards the US would not do much. Another big problem is that the prisoners have not been given the combatant status, which normally would grantee some human rights, (according to the laws of war). This has left them with no rights what so ever. There has been many reports of human rights abuses happening at Guantanamo such as ongoing torture, sexual degradation, forced drugging and religious persecution being committed by US forces.

The sad part of all of this is that when Guantanamo finally is closed, there will be a new prison, and I am pretty sure there are more prisons like this, Guantanamo just happens to be the one we know of.

Also read my old post about Guantanamo:

http://fragmentationnation.blogspot.com/2009/04/camp-x-ray.html

Intervene or not?

The situation in Libya continues. There's an ongoing debate in Europe and the US whether an intervention should take place or not. If it is, the next question is by who, why and how?

If a legal intervention should take place, it needs to go through the UN security council. This is a slow process and some leaders thinks that there is not enough time to wait. So far there has been suggestions that the security council (SC) should apply a UN sanctioned no - fly zone over Libya to prevent Muammar Gaddafi from bombing or gassing his own people. The five permanent members of the SC is not unified about this decision. France make their point by saying that a military intervention cannot happen without a clear United Nation mandate. At the same time Ban Ki-moon says that even more action beyond UN sanctions might be needed, since in Libya the regime has lost it's legitimacy and has declared war on it's own people.

So far some sanctions has been backed up by the UN and as well as the European Union, including an arms embargo and travel bans, and some nations have announced their own asset freezes.

Throughout history there has been successful interventions and less successful ones. I do think that is it very important to be careful about the situation and make sure the situation is analyzed before taking action. But I do not think we wanna repeat some of the mistakes that has been made before (Rwanda comes to mind). If an intervention is to take place it should be under the a UN mandate. The next problem is to find the actual people to do it. The UN does not have their own army and therefor relies on the armies of it's member nations. The question which countries would be willing to offer some assistance. For instance, the US army is busy in Iraq and Afghanistan, also Obama would have difficulties explaining to the American people why they should be apart of yet another military operation. If an operation will take place I doubt it will be led by the US.

The best thing would of course be if Gaddafi just resigned and gave up his power. If he continues to kill civilians, the international community will probably start feeling the pressure to act.

Why?

I always had a strong believe that you cannot force reforms and change on a whole nation and it's people. I do believe that the 'west' has the ability and responsibility to inform, educate, and assist other nations when it's necessary and asked for. If change is going to happen, it has to come from inside the country. This is exactly what is happening in Libya and other places in the Middle East. Another important thing to look at is the fact that for a very long time the radical Islamists of the Arab world has been viewed as the revolutionaries. But what we are seeing now is quite to opposite. We are seeing people who believes in change, and are now speaking up.

These two elements together forms a very good basis for a real chance of change, so the rest of us should not turn our backs on people who has hope, and has shown that they are more than ready for something new to come.

Me in the Security Council in NYC