Jan 22 2005
by ORLANDO PATTERSON
Editor's Comments:
Although I completely agree with the arguments of George W Bush re oppression breeding terrorism, I must admit that Patterson's commentary in the NY Times is well written and debated.
I believe that Patterson is missing a key to the debate. I believe that ultimately it is intolerance that breeds terrorism. Intolerance of Protestants VS Catholics in Ireland, Muslims VS Jews in the Middle East, White Extremists VS Blacks in the days of the KKK, Hitler's Germans VS all who were not German, Sunnis VS Shiites, Tribal Faction VS Tribal Faction in Africa, etc. And I believe that the best (if not only) way to dissolve intolerance is through open education, and via laws that forbid/punish bigotry and encourage equal rights for all diverse factions within a society. Democracy, with all its limitations and failings, is the only system ever adopted that, at least over time, produces such open education and equal rights.
The problem with tyrants, even those who start out as benevolent dictators, is that they almost always wind up oppressing, or allowing abuses against, those who are not like themselves; those they fear jeopardize their dominance over the people. They allow the young citizens of their lands to be taught hatred against others who are different. When this then leads to organized terrorism, they either look the other way (fearing that the terrorism might eventually be directed against themselves), or openly or covertly sponsor the terrorism.
We will never completely stamp out terrorism throughout the world. In the recent past, our own society has seen the Oklahoma City bomber and the DC/Virginia snipers spread their evil in our free society. But these are exceptions, completely rejected by the people and their elected officials. And where the rule of law exists, the perpetrators of violence are usually brought to justice. It is a nobel cause for the nation that is the undisputed leader of the world (even if envied by some and despised by other nations) to seek this and encourage an end to intolerance throughout the rest of the world. Jack Tymann
Aug 30 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) ––Pirates have hijacked a tanker and its 41 crew members off Yemen's coast in the Gulf of Aden, the owner said Saturday.
Aug 29 2008 - Washington Times
BANGKOK, THAILAND (AP) – Thai police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of several thousand anti–government protesters who were besieging city police headquarters. The prime minister said he might declare a state of emergency if the rioting worsens.
Aug 29 2008 - Washington Times
HANOI, VIETNAM (AP) – Vietnamese authorities denied Friday that they had used force or stun guns to break up a demonstration by Catholics who are demanding the return of land the Communist government took more than four decades ago.
Aug 09 2008 - Seattle PI
TUZI, Montenegro – Two U.S. citizens convicted in Montenegro of plotting an ethnic Albanian rebellion in the country said in an interview Friday that they are innocent, and they accused authorities of torture.
Aug 01 2008 - Washington Times
TORONTO (AP) – Police have identified the man who witnesses say stabbed and beheaded a passenger aboard a Greyhound bus in Canada.
Jul 30 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
WARSAW, Poland (AP) ––Testifying at the trial of Poland's last Communist leader, Former Polish President Lech Walesa suggested Wednesday that the Soviet system was responsible for the killing of protesting shipyard workers in 1970, rather than individuals.
Jul 25 2008 - Washington Times
YAOUNDE, CAMEROON (AP) – Ten insurgents and two Cameroonian soldiers were killed in a rebel attack in the oil–rich Bakassi peninsula, Cameroon's Defense Minister said on state–run TV on Friday.
Jul 25 2008 - Washington Times
OSLO, NORWAY (AP) – A group of men armed with bats and iron bars attacked a center for political asylum–seekers in southern Norway, leaving more than 20 people injured, the facility's director said Friday.
Jul 22 2008 - Washington Times
BEIJING | China and Russia signed an agreement Monday to end a long–running dispute over the demarcation of their eastern border, the scene of military clashes between the once–bitter Communist rivals.
Jul 20 2008 - Washington Times
ANKARA, TURKEY (AP) – Three Germans seized by Kurdish rebels during a climbing expedition on Mount Ararat more than a week ago have been released in good condition, authorities said Sunday.
Jul 14 2008 - Washington Times
KHARTOUM, SUDAN (AP) – Sudanese police say a stampede among crowds of people attending a military graduation ceremony killed 17 people and injured three dozen others.
Jul 12 2008 - Washington Times
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (AP) – North Korea said South Korea was to blame for the shooting death of a South Korean tourist in the communist nation, demanding an apology Saturday and saying it would ban visits to a mountain resort where Seoul has already suspended tours since the killing.
Jul 02 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia (AP) ––Rifle–toting soldiers patrolled the streets and armored vehicles guarded intersections in Mongolia's capital Wednesday, the start of a four–day state of emergency triggered by riots over alleged election fraud in which at least five people died.
Jun 30 2008 - Washington Times
State radio in Cameroon says prison guards have killed 16 inmates trying to escape from a jail in the country's commercial capital.
Jun 18 2008 - Washington Times
Formal charges were filed Wednesday against four men accused in connection with the 2006 killing of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Russian investigators said.
Jun 09 2008 - Washington Times
The plight of tens of thousands of abused Pakistani women doesn't garner the headlines of Darfur's genocide in Sudan, the sympathy afforded Burma's forgotten victims or the outrage unleashed in New Orleans after Katrina. These battered women also don't attract the outpouring of financial support that so many other recent global tragedies have drawn.
May 12 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
MOSCOW, Russia (AP) ––Three years after gunning down unarmed protesters in the city of Andijan, Uzbek authorities are still persecuting people they believe are linked to the unrest, an international rights group says in a report released Monday.
Apr 21 2008 - San Francisco Chronicle
MADRID, Spain (AP) ––Pirates have hijacked a Spanish fishing boat with a crew of 26 off the coast of Somalia, Spain's Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Apr 09 2008 - Town Hall
by Jonah Goldberg
Last week, Russia's lower house of parliament passed a resolution insisting that Josef Stalin's man–made 1932–33 famine – called the Holodomor in Ukrainian – wasn't genocide.
Not even the Russians dispute that the Soviet government deliberately starved millions. But the Russian resolution indignantly states: "There is no historical proof that the famine was organized along ethnic lines." It notes that victims included "different peoples and nationalities living largely in agricultural areas of the country."
Apr 08 2008 - Town Hall
by Dennis Prager
Here are some news items from just this past week:
In Tibet, according to an Associated Press report, "police opened fire on hundreds of Buddhist monks and lay people who had marched on local government offices to demand the release of two monks detained for possessing photographs of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader." At least eight died.
