Thousands Free Australia Storm

The Toronto Star
May 22, 2009


Home evacuation occurred today in Sydney for thousands of citizens as torrential rains and stormy winds viciously attacked Australia's east coast. This severe weather has pounded the region for the past few days, and has caused great flooding in the area and in turn the closing of hundreds of schools in the area. There have also been reports of one man dead in the Surfers Paradise in Queensland state on Wednesday. A sheet of metal came crashing through his office window, having been torn off a nearby building. The government of New South Wales officially declared this area as a disaster zone, after hundreds of schools were closed today. An evacuation order of 5,000 from the city of Lismore (in northern New South Wales) from the State Emergency Service was issued today, after the city's river threatened to overflow and flood the area. Another evacuation order was issued today in Grafton, a town of 9,000, as officials expect the town to be inundated overnight by an overflowing river. The emergency service in this state said that 15 flood rescues had been conducted. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. Nearly 25 centimeters of rain fell over a 39-hour period in the area, reported the Burea of Metorology. Severe weather warnings have been in place for the region, as more rain and high winds are expected later Friday with the storm moving south along the east coast. Farther north, in Queensland, residents of the area were forced to cope with and make an attempt to fix any damages suffered after the intense few days of severe stormy weather. Many communities were flooded because of the storm, and the region was littered with "downed trees and debris".

The effects that a storm such as this has on a community and its surrounding area is truly catastrophic. A spokesman for the Australian State Emergency Service said "There would be thousands of hectares of the coastal plains under water at the moment. We have got seven or eight rivers involved at the moment." (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200905/20090524/article_401913.htm) Over 20,000 Australians had been cut-off from communication and access to Emergency Services, according to many news reports. This incident underscores the fragility of life in the face of natural disaster. It also shows the strength of human character in overcoming these forces. I firmly believe that the work of the Emergency State Service has been exemplary in such tough situations, and has limited the number of lives lost quite significantly. One need only look back at the time of flooding in Louisiana at the time of Hurricane Katrina to learn the lessons needed to survive such a storm. In my view, the Australian Emergency response to this disaster has been much more efficient and timely than the one the world saw in America at the time of Hurricane Katrina.

Tamil Tigers nearly completely encircled

The Toronto Star
May 15, 2009

Sri Lankan forces battled recently in an attempt to take complete control of the country's coastline. Their efforts were an attempt to surround the retreating Tamil Tigers in a final push to destroy the rebel terrorist group and end the country's civil war, the military said. Throughout the war zone, hundreds of desperate refugees fled. Meanwhile, a top UN official set out for the war zone on a mission to safeguard the lives of the tens of thousands of civilians that are still trapped in the middle of the heavy shelling. The government has cornered the rebels and civilians in a four-square-kilometre strip of northeastern Sri Lanka coastline. Government troops have surrounded rebel forces in an attempt to sever the rebels' access to the coastline and surround them on all sides. Over 1,800 civilians have managed to flee the rebel-held territory joining 3,700 others who escaped across a lagoon the previous day. The rebels allegedly fired on the fleeing civilians killing 4 and wounding 14, according to government reports. Approximately 200,000 civilians have escaped the war zone. In an attempt to end the bloodshed, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has dispatched his chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, to Sri Lanka with the aim of bringing the conflict to a peaceful conclusion.

In my opinion, it remains impossible to understand the respective role of the government forces and rebel troops in the dehumanized Sri Lankan war zone. The government's expulsion of unbiased observers and journalists from the country has made it difficult for the world to trust their motives and desire to prevent further humanitarian loss of life. According to reports in the international newspaper The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/25/sri-lanka-tamil-tigers-rebels-children), a UN deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said that the humanitarian situation "continues to be critical, civilian casualties have been tragically high and their suffering horrendous". Okabe and other UN officials have demanded that observers and humanitarian aid groups be allowed to reenter the war zone in order to prevent further unnecessary bloodshed. The Guardian also claimed that the pro-Tamil group War Without Witness reported more than 26,184 Tamils unaccounted for. This is truly a staggering figure and one that is sure to increase unless observers and UN officials are allowed to implement humanitarian aid in the poorly serviced warzone. This tragic story underscores what many pointed out about the humanitarian crisis on the Gaza Strip. The world truly pays attention when oil and money concerns that affect the west are at stake. In Darfur, Congo, and Sri Lanka, we as a Western Society seem more disengaged, simply because these actions do not affect us directly, either in terms of resources or from a financial perspective. Although this may seem like a cynical viewpoint, it is certainly one held by many prominent humanitarian leaders including the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.

Doctors flee hospital as shelling continues in Sri Lanka

The Toronto Star
May 14, 2009

The only hospital in Sri Lanka's war zone was abandoned by doctors and aides amid unrelenting shell attacks, reported a health official today. Thousands of civilians braved rebel gunfire and fled across the front lines, according to military officials. Medical staff of the hospital huddled by a nearby bunker because of the non-stop shelling. In the midst of this, cries could be heard from the hundreds of patients unable to leave the hospital, begging for food and water. The Red Cross reported that the tiny strip of coastal land controlled by the rebels was "wracked" by violence, even though international appeals for the two sides to end the war were made. The aim was to allow the estimated 50,000 civilians that were trapped in the area to escape. Even though the number of wounded was rapidly increasing, the medical staff fled the hospital in the region, after multiple shellings this week in attacks that killed close to 100 people, a health official said. Approximately 1,000 people were killed during other attacks last weekend in the conflict zone. Nearly 400 badly wounded patients needing treatment stayed in the facility today, along with 100 other dead bodies. Wounded civilians fled after the second shell attack hit the hospital Wednesday. As the military pressed ahead with the offensive, 2,400 civilians waded across the lagoon barrier between government and rebel forces, under rebel gunfire, trying to escape the area. The majority of the civilians did escape the area, although 4 were killed and 14 others wounded. Still, 2,000 civilians were on the far shore, waiting to cross the lagoon. The Sri Lankan governement has cornerned the Tamil Tigers, vowing to end the 25-year-old conflict. US President Barack Obama has made a statement about the situation, demanding the rebels lay down thier arms and release those trapped by the stand off. He also urged the government to stop firing artillery into the war zone. The United Nations Security Council issued similar demands to both sides and expressed grave concern at the worsening humanitarian crisis.Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said the government was "extremely reassured" by Obama's call for the rebels to lay down their weapons and release the civilians, and he denied the government was firing artillery into the densely packed war zone.The rebels' political chief, Balasingham Nadesan, praised Obama in a statement emailed to The Associated Press "for passionately talking about the plight of Tamil civilians and calling for urgent actions to alleviate the mounting humanitarian crisis." The rebels did not address his call for their surrender.

This situation in Sri Lanka is yet another example of the sad and desparate plight of civilians who are caught between the cause of a rebel group and government forces. This is sadly a drama that has played out repeatedly around the world. This 25-year-old conflict in Sri Lanka is fed by ex-patriot Sri Lankans who continue to support the Tamil Tigers who have been identified internationally as a terrorist organization. On the other hand, many see them as "freedom fighters" fighting for a heroic cause: their own homeland. In my opinion, both the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government are to blame for this great humanitarian crisis. It is the civilians who are ultimately suffering including the hospital patients caught in the attacks. According to US State Department Spokesperson Ian Kelly (http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/17483), we must "try and press the Government of Sri Lanka to adhere to international standards for the operations of camps, to press them to stop the use of heavy weapons, to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone". In my opinion, we will, as an international community, need to intervene here through sanctions and if necessary the use of peacekeeping forces if further loss of civilian life is to be prevented. If we look historically at this conflict, we can see that the British colonization of the island of Sri Lanka set up the socio-political situation that has led to this tragedy. The divide and conquer rhetoric of the British "raj" is what many political scientists feel has led to the conflict we see in Sri Lanka between the Hindu Tamils and the Buddhist Sinhilese. One wonders how many generations it will take before we are able to escape the tragic actions of the past century and free ourselves as a world community from the partisan concerns about religion, race, and language.

Humanitarian Crisis Deepens in Pakistan

The Toronto Star
May 12, 2009

Pakistan's worsening humanitarian crisis has drawn comparisons to the tragic states of Darfur and Congo. The country's military offensive asgainst the Taliban continued today, as Pakistani troops landed at a Taliban mountain stronghold, while others captured four suicide bombers today who were allegedly planning an attack on Islamabad. A member of the Taliban said that the military did not tell the truth yesterday when it claimed that 700 militants had been killed over the past two weeks. Muslim Khan, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman, said that the Pakistani military "simply want to impress the Obama administration, because that's where they get their money from". The Pakistan military told reporters today that security forces have landed troops at the Talbian stronghold in Peochar, a 'purported' base of operations for the main Taliban leader in Pakistan, Moulvi Fazlullah. During a search operation today, four suicide bombers were arrested with suicide jackets. These men are members of an outlawed outfit. High military officials have confirmed this arrest, telling the media that "they had planned to attack key points of the Islamabad twin cities". For several weeks after the militants took advantage of a peace deal in the northwest region of Swat valley, Pakistan has been at war with the Taliban. This peace deal encompassed the communities close to Islamad, the capital of this nuclear-armed country.

The recent situation in Pakistan has truly become a humanitarian crisis. I agree that this situation does indeed mirror that in Congo and Darfur. In these African states, the world has witnessed genocide and uncontrollable bloodshed as a result of racial and religious conflicts. In the Swat valley, we are witnessing yet another potential battle between religious rebel forces and a government that seeks to align itself with America. A UN official Killian Kleinschmidt also agrees said that the recent situation here in Pakistan is much like that in Darfur and Congo, according to the Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-pakistan12-2009may12,0,3064262.story). As many as 360,000 people have fled the Swat Valley and areas around the valley during the last four days, in addition to the 500,000 who have been living in camps since last fall. The world must act now through UN peacekeeping forces and the delivery of prompt humanitarian aid to prevent the kind of bloodshed we have seen in Africa. We must learn from the tragedies not only of Congo and Darfur, but the more historic tragedies in Nigeria, Rwanda and the greatest human tragedy of the Holocaust. It is situations like these that underscore the need for us all to embrace multiculturalism and religious diversity.

Sniper Rescues Ship from Pirates

The Toronto Star
May 4, 2009

On Monday morning, pirates pursuing a North Korean freighter were chased away by South Korean helicopter snipers. Meanwhile, a Russian warship freed eight Iranian hostages who have been in captivity for over three months. Both of these rescues came as the frequency of piracy attacks have been seen to grow in the lawless Gulf of Aden, a gulf off the Somalian coast. South Korea's joint chiefs made a statement to the press regarding the situation, saying that a South Korean warship sent a "Lynx" heliocopter in order to assist the North Korean vessel. The warship received a distress call that the North Korean vessel was being chased by a pirate vessel. After snipers aboard the Lynx helicopter prepared to fire warning shots, the pirate ship gave up chasing the North Korean vessel, the South Korean joint chiefs said. The dramatic incident occured 37 kilometers south of the Yemeni port of Aden, a port on the Gulf of Aden, which separates Yemen and Somalia. This incident was said to be a "rare instance of recent cooperation between the two Koreas". Relations between the two nations have deteriorated since the election of a conservative government in Seoul last year. This government has vowed to "get tough" on North Korea over its nuclear program. Pyongyang has responded to the vow by cutting ties and restricting key joint reconciliation projects. The Iranian embassy in Moscow has also reported that a Russian warship freed eight Iranians kept hostage by the suspected pirates last week. The Iranian embassy has stated that the eight hostages were held captive by the cruel pirates for close to three months, and thanked and the Russian navy for their courageous rescue.

In my opinion, these events signal the sad increase in piracy in international waters. These pirates are driven by a sense of economic desperation and seem to function above all laws both those of their own country and those that govern international waters. Their acts have affected nations across the board regardless of political affiliation. According to another source from BBC news (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7280042.stm), Robert-Herbert Burns, attacks have increased in international waters by 14% in the last year. Herbert-Burns, who is a maritime security expert at Lloyd's Intelligence Unit, commented that these acts have been "largely due to attacks off the Horn of Africa, specifically in Somali waters or in the territorial waters off Somalia". It is clear to see from this that international cooperation will be vital in overcoming this pressing problem that effects so many nations. Piracy is truly an act of desperation by those individuals that feel they have no means to improve their plight in life. I believe that the rise in piracy recently reflects the dramatic polarization between the wealthy and the poor nations of the world. The developed countries with their money, power, and influence are seen as the oppressors of those nations that belong to what we refer to as the third world economically. Particularly, nations of Africa and Asia find themselves increasingly in need of financial aid and humanitarian support. If we are to survive as a world community, nations of the world must function in a united fashion to improve the plight of those in need. There are organizations which have promoted the incentive of micro-lending, such as KIVA. These organizations encourage members of first-world countries to lend money to entrepreneurs in the third world who can use this money to become self-sufficient and empowered. This money is eventually repaid, and with it comes respect and a life-changing transformation for those in need. It is these types of ventures that we must all embrace as we move forward in the new millenium.

3 cleared of charges in 2005 London bombing

The Toronto Star
April 28, 2009

Three Brits were cleared today of all charges of helping to plot the London suicide bombings in 2005. These '7/7' bombings occurred on July 7, 2005 and killed 52 people. We now see them as the worst peacetime attack in the British capital. These were only the first trial in the bombings, as Mohammed Shakil, Sadeer Saleem and Waheed Ali were accused of "scouting" possible bombing targets in London along with two of the British Muslims who detonated the homemade devices on three underground trains and a bus. Prosecutors accused the men of knowing the bombers from the northern England town, and accused them of plotting the bombing along with the actual bombers. The three men accused here said that they had simply been visiting tourist attractions in the capital, however, and the three men were found innocent by the jury at London's Kingston Crown Court.

In my opinion, the accusation of these three men is a reflection of the world's fear and paranoia about terrorism since the bombings of 9/11 in New York. It is truly a sad reflection of the type of persecution Muslims have faced after the tragic bombings of 2001. I believe that this incident represents the danger of stereotyping any minority. By identifying each of us as representing the racial group to which we belong, we make our society very polarized and promote xenophobia. There are many who have successfully fought against racial profiling regardless of the reasons given to justify this. In a recent paper submitted to George Washington University Law School, Joseph D. Pollack stated, "Racial profiling violates fundamental rights, is ineffective, and is not justified even by the risk of terrorism. Official guidance to federal law enforcement from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ostensibly bans racial profiling in most circumstances, but still allows counter-terrorism racial profiling. European states have yet to adopt any protections against racial profiling, but the Council of Europe's European Commission on Race and Intolerance (ECRI) issued a policy recommendation to ban racial profiling across the board, including in the context of counter-terrorism". (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1390269) This succinct summary of the current state of racial profiling in America and Europe reminds us how difficult it is as a society to avoid such stereotyping and profiling. The events above, however, reinforce the need for us to maintain equality and unbiased law enforcement by continuing to fight racial profiling. These incidents will surely not stop, but hopefully society as a whole can learn from them and perceive the world with an open mind free of racial prejudice. As the world becomes interconnected and multicultural, as we have studied this year, it is vital that we embrace the cultural religious diversities and customs of our fellow man.

Somali gunmen release 2 aid workers

The Toronto Star
April 22, 2009

Two European aid workers were released by gunmen who held them captive for nearly 10 days in southwestern Somalia. Rab Dhure District Commissioner Sheik Mohamed Kheyr told the press that elders and an extremist Islamic group assisted the release of the Belgian and Dutch "Doctors without Borders" employees. The 49 year-old Dutch aid worker with Doctors Without Borders said that he and his 40-year-old Belgian partner were given food and water by the people after their harsh experience in captivity. The two gunmen had kidnapped the aid workers on April 19 as they travelled through Rab Dhure, in Somalia. District Commissionser Kheyr said that elders and area residents had pressed for their release, protesting that the two aid workers were helping the people of Southwestern Somalia. Sheik Aden Yare, an influential clan leader, was one of the main figures who negotiated with the captors, asking for the release of the aid workers. Keus and Stassijns, the two aid workers, said that they were being transported to another town where they were to board a plane at the time of their captivity, declining to discuss their captivity in detail until they are out of Somalia. There were 25 masked gunmen who took the aid workers hostage during their journey through Somalia. The men were armed and had cloth wrapped around their lower faces. They were said to be vicious and violent with the aid workers. Although the two aid workers were released, sixteen workers still remain in captivity in Somalia, according to the UN. The capture of aid workers has long been a common problem in Somalia, often with demands for ransom.

I believe that this kidnapping is a disappointing reminder of how desperate men can become when fighting for the righteousness of their own religious or political values. In such desperation, men turn to desperate means for survival with no consideration for their fellow man. The two captured Officials of the Belgian chapter of Doctors Without Borders, also known as Médecins sans frontières, say the group has operated medical aid projects in Somalia since 1991, but has never had problems with its staff's safety. The group "Doctors Without Borders" has a long tradition of selfless humanitarian service around the world, and has even won accolades such as the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1999/press.html) Their most recent work in Somalia comes in the form of tuberculosis and malnutrition aid projects. The Somalian campaign is but one of many humanitarian campaigns on the continent of Africa. I believe that the capture of these aid workers is completely unnecessary and does not truly aid the cause of these rebels. The workers are simply trying to help the people in Somalia, and trying to assist the underprivileged and sick citizens of the country. There is absolutely no reason for the gunmen to kidnap these foreign aid workers, as it simply worsens the plight of the Somalian citizens and turns the world against the rebel's cause. These rebels, however, have lost all self-respect or respect for international law, and will do anything to bring their cause to the attention of the world. This incident, however, in my opinion, will certainly not aid them in their ultimate struggles, but will mark them as petty criminals who choose to victimize the most noble and selfless of organizations - MSF. This situation is one that has been repeated throughout history during times of great political and economic unrest. If we look back on the history of such nations as Nigeria, we see the armed conflict based on race, religion, money and power that divided so many and resulted in untold deaths. It is truly the desperation of the common man that leads him to acts such as hostage taking to inform the world of their desperate situation. This can also relate to the recent conflicts in Sri Lanka, where a terrorist organization, the LTTE, have resorted to desperate measures in order to gain their own state in a country where they feel oppressed and discriminated against. The world seems to repeatedly make this same mistake and one can only hope that the power of nonviolent protest as exemplified by Gandhi's movement in India, prior to independence, can once again rise as an example for us all.