RE: Pakistan justice system advocate of gang rap

Pakistani

You are quite correct, I should have stated that it was a tribal council. I did not say that this action was supported by the government and I did say that the authorities were taking action. But the event did take place and apparently no one at the local level tried to stop it.

I didn’t think at the time that it was necessary to post a source as the item had wide coverage but it was an Associated Press item which I saw first as well as a number of TV news segments. You seem to have had no trouble identifying the story so I am not sure how significant this point is.

I assume (correct me if I am wrong) that tribal councils similar to the one that made the rape judgment are a fundamental and trusted feature of society in some areas of Pakistan. If so, the fact that this punishment was conceived, anounced and allowed to be carried out in public without any intervension from members of the girls family, other people in the village or local authority, makes it a legitamate subject for this part of the forum IMHO. However, if you feel that this subject should not be noted here, then fine.

My motivation? Well a little balance perhaps. Maybe its worth noting that all the evil dosn’t reside in one place. Apparently, many here think it is fine to start provocative subjects as long as they get to choose the subject and the target, but that it is somehow unfair or unreasonable to discuss events such as the above.
Regards

RE: UN financing

Garry

If you and the CIA are in agreement, who am I to argue. I made a joke about your CIA connections once before so I trust your good nature will prevail once more.

Regards

RE: Who are the real rogues??????

Ink

I don’t believe I defined what a rouge state is but perhaps what it is not. Anyway, to fear the US is evolving into one is nonsense. There are plenty of real ones to worry about, however.

The US has probably been the leading advocate of prosecuting war crimes going back to the end of WWII. If it had been up to the Europeans, WWII criminals would not have had their day in court, just a speedy execution and we all know it. The US has been no more, no less guilty than any other major power in respecting civilans during the wars of the last century or so. It was always far from the worst and has certainly tried to avoid killing civilians in more recent times. It is not US policy to target civilians and runs counter to US interests.

The US does prosecute crimes commited by its military but there have been few major incidents and fewer (if any) involving the deliberate killing of civilians. That cannot be said of some other militaries and we all know the where, when, how and the who of many of these ‘real crimes’.

If as you say, the Russians have begun taking action against Russian military personnel who commit crimes I guess its because there is reason to suspect that they have commited those crimes. But good for them if they have. Its about time.

Meanwhile, until the US issue with the ICC gets sorted out to the satisfaction of all parties (which it will) the US is quite justified in its position IMHO. If you believe that the fear of frivolous/ politically motivated charges will not be a real issue for the ICC , ask the various military leaders of the UN and NATO forces during the Balkins wars about it. They have all been targets of wars crimes charges from certain Balkin nations. Some of the UN commanders (British, French, Canadian, etc) carry letters of absolution from the UN in their pockets just in case one of the groups who did commit major and repetative wars crimes in the Balkins decides to bring up this type of garbage again as a means of diverting attention from the atrocities they commited.

Finally, its interesting to note where this thread started – in an area of the world, in which governments have only barely begun to respect the most basic of human rights and freedoms of there own peoples.

Regards

RE: UN financing

Well Garry its the National Geographic Society but the data is about 12 years old and at that time they indicated a population for Russia of just over 149 million, but as both it and the CIA are American, both could be wrong. I am OK with 145 million if you have to be right on this point, but I believe that still puts Russia in the top 6-10.

As far as the UN goes, its sometimes pretty irrelevant as you suggest, but its better than nothing IMHO.

Regards

RE: US-rogue nation in the making?????

When the many totalitarian regimes around the world (who are the real rogue states) become nations who rule with the consent of their people via proper and free elections and show respect for the human rights of their citizens and establish fair law and courts, then the UN can talk about an effective world court with some conviction. Until then its all BS and the US would be wise to stay out.

Regards

RE: What did hoppen at the wedding?

The weddng bombing is looking more like a put up job every day. Little evidence at the sight that a large number were killed. Wild variations in the mumbers killed (40-150)You would think that even the Afghan authorities would be able to come up with an approximate number. Bodies all apparently buried. No reports of folks still looking or searching in the rubble. It will be interesting to see what the final story is.

Regards

RE: UN financing

Garry

The US didn’t make my ‘free ride list’ for the obvious reason it does pay its share. I think the Russian population is over 150 million and while this makes it half the US population it still puts it in the top 10 I would think.

Perhaps you would be happy to see the US share at a higher level (I believe it was as high as 35% or more at one time) but my point was that this might not be healthy for the organization. As you know there are many non-budgeted costs associated with running the UN to which the US contibutes as well which may well bring the US contibution much higher. Anyway if it was 100% you would find fault no doubt.

Regards

RE: Investigation continuing

There is a possiblity that people may have been killed in some sort of scrap between locals and the US is being made the bad guy.

Regards