News: Week 4 - 2009

As media are bombarding us on all fronts, it is difficult to know and understand what is important. The big picture fades behind what we in Norway call "cucumber-news" such as "home videos from the royal family's trip to the mountain" or "there is something called an eyedoctor..." (somthing on the news right now, which I don't really see the point in). So I will try to give a brief weekly update on the important news throughout the week, as I find them. Note that people have different priorities, but I think it is important to keep an eye on what's happening throughout the world in order to make opinions. 'Indifference kills' as the slogen of the protest festival in Kristiansand says.

My plan was to post this on Friday, but as I pulled a tooth on Friday and felt too sorry for myself throughout the weekend, this will be a Monday post. I'll try to continue this, and post every Friday (or another day, if I find it more practical).


Week 4 2009

Barack Hussein Obama is the new president of the United States of America. In his inauguration address he focused on recreating the American foreign policies, by focusing on dialogue, dignity and respect instead of brute force. He would reach out to those seeking peace. He stressed that every American is free and has the same rights. He also reminded all Americans that it is when they pull together that the country will go foreward. There is one sentence I would like to repeat from this eloquently speaking man. "Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy." Here is the full speech.

The first thing United States' President Barack Obama did, was to stop the trails on Guantanamo Bay, to use a limited time to investigate the legality of this torture prison. Which, if there is any sense of the committee, probably will close now. I am one of those who are inspired by Obama, but let's face it - it will all be better than the Bush administration. Nevertheless, both Barack and Michelle are people one must be impressed by. Obama preaches hope, and I too feel it now that this man - and his wife are the leaders of the nation also known as the World Police. Another quote - "America is ready to lead again". Well, we'll see. All hope's up anyway.


The Democratic Republic of the Congo (or what we know as Congo - former Zaire, not to be confused with Republic of the Congo, which lies on the west side of the river Congo) has in several years been terrorized by meaningless war. This country rich on minerals could be blessed by prosperity, but instead the natural minerals have been a curse. The war raging in this country has been the worlds deadliest war since World War 2. Besides being a brutal area of killings, a strategy in this war is sexual terrorism. Soldiers rape women (even old women and female children) in front of their husbands and children. Rape is so taboo, that a raped woman is below par. Their husbands - if they are not killed, will not have anything to do with the raped women, and there are a whole generation of 'rape-children' growing up. But this is not new. And since the war is not new, and since the area is so dangerous few reporters venture there, this war is seldom in the news. This week, something has happened though. Governmental forces from the neighbouring country Rwanda has entered the eastern part of DR Congo, where the brutalities are worst. Rwanda has used military forces on DR Congo previously, but this time it is different, as Rwanda and DR Congo are doing it together. Now, Rwandian Hutu militia is being given much of the blame for the conditions in the eastern part of DR Congo. The leader of the strongest rebel military group, General Laurent Nkunda (a Rwandian Tutsi) is now captured by these forces. The fact that the government of Rwanda and DR Congo has cooperated in this operation is a big step not only for Rwanda, but also, hopefully, for DR Congo. Here is a BBC Q & A about the conflict. DR Congo and Rwanda on Wikipeidia.


The prominent Russian human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov was killed this week. Russia is not unknown for killing off critical newsagents, many of us remember the case of Anna Politkovskaja who was killed in 2006. This case got a lot of attention from the international world. And Markelov actually worked for Politkovskaja as well. Markelov was one of the few who took cases of Chechnyan victims of Russian assaults. Russia does not like being critisized. And the two mentioned here are not the sole targets. The Chechnyan human rights lawyer Uman Israilov accused the president of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov of torture, and wanted to bring the case up in the human rights court of justice in Strasbourg. He was last week killed in Vienna, showing all critical components in Russia that they are targets even outside of Russia.

The hitman who killed Markelov also killed a young journalist who was with him at the time, Anastacia Barburova. She worked for the oppositinal newspaper Novaja Gazete, where also Politkovskaja worked until her death. Most of the people in the Western World take freedom of speech for granted, even if we don’t always use it. Russia, being this giant and rather aggressive neighbour, does not agree with this right. Who will be next, and will it ever end? Here is a Google News search on Markelov. And Novaya Gazeta in English.


Iceland is experiencing the largest riots the small country has possibly ever experienced. Iceland, having invested almost all of their BNP on valuta speculation and stock trade, has run bankrupt due to the global financial descend. Yes, the country which has been struggling with Norway for the first place in UN's list of best places to live in the world (see the Human Development Index 2008 presentet by Wikipedia), is bankrupt. The population is dissatisfied and demands re-election. The election date is set to 9th of May, as far as I have gathered (originally, election were to be held in 2011). Their president has announced that he will step down, because he has, in the midst of it all, found cancer. Every day, thousands of people gather in front of the Althing to demand a new government. BusinessWeek has a piece on Iceland's bankrupcy, and... well, why not... *pick and choose* CNN's iReport (which I love), or just CNN as it's ordinary self.



Well, this is what I have found most important in week 4, 2009. If anyone agree or disagree or anything - please let me know. We spend so much time debating whether a band is good or bad, or whether a movie is good enough to go watch in the cinemas or if one should wait until it could be rented. Could we not also discuss current events?