La Détente – multi award animated short by Pierre & Bertrand from Not To Scale. The film tells the story of a French soldier in World War I, who becomes paralyzed with fear while in the trenches. He escapes in his head to an imaginary world where toys fight wars instead of humans.
“Gulf states are increasing arms imports from countries including permanent UN security council members. Their increased involvement in regional conflicts is raising tensions with Iran”
Iran will never give up its nuclear program. To them, having nuclear capabilities and a few warheads and missiles on the side is meant tom inoculate them against foreign dabbling. Iranian officials believe that, unlike Saudi Arabia whose breakup will come largely due to mismanagement on part of the ruling establishment, the only way the Iranian establishment they could face serious domestic troubles will come as a result of clandestine activities supported by Western governments. Having nuclear weapons will prevent that possibility, so they think, even as American drones and intelligence operations are busy destabilizing Pakistan, which has long been a nuclear power.
United Nations Security Council voted 15 to 0 on Monday to authorize cross-border convoys of emergency aid for millions of deprived Syrian civilians in rebel-held areas, without prior approval by the Syrian government.
All Syria watchers know well that this decision is meant to target ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s official affiliate in Syria, Al-Nusra Front, rather than the Assad regime, seeing that most border checkpoints are controlled by the these two groups. In fact, the decision calls for a measure of coordination with the Assad regime as well. In a sense, then, the Resolution re-legitimizes the Assad regime. This is why the Russians did not veto it, and ended up endorsing it. A deal over Syria seems to have been reached between the Americans, Iranians and Russians, and it’s one of those usual cynical deals that harken back on the darkest days of the Cold War, and comes as a further expression of how fucked up our sense of humanity continues to be.
Mass burial for the victims of the Houla Massacre, Syria – May 29, 2012
When will we ever be ready to act right, not just speak it, and make that the norm?
All political considerations aside, I simply cannot believe that ten thousand years after the emergence of the first city states, five thousand years after the invention of the first alphabet and the introduction of the first legal code, more than sixty years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and close to 10 years since the formulation of the Responsibility to Protect, world leaders still lack the political will to stand up to mass murder, to say “no,” to prevent it from happening when the signs are there, and to quickly stop it when it occurs and bring the culprits to justice.
The Ammar Abdulhamid Archive 