be just

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs : "One story says that police began firing into the crowds of Shi'ite worshipers because they chanted for the downfall of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, presumably under orders from Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The other says that his Mahdi Army provoked "

"Redacted" stuns Venice | Entertainment | Entertainment News | Reuters.com : "VENICE (Reuters) - A new film about the real-life rape and killing of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers who also murdered her family stunned the Venice festival, with shocking images that left some viewers in tears. 'Redacted', by U.S. director Brian De Palma, is one of at least eight American films on the war in Iraq due for release in the next few months and the first of two movies on the conflict screening in Venice's main competition."

Norway cutting aid to Ethiopia after diplomats expelled - International Herald Tribune : " Ethiopia's decision to expel six Norwegian diplomats will cost the country US$5 million (€3.75 million) in development aid, an official said Friday."

U.S. Obsessed With Using Force Harare - SINCE the United States assumed global leadership from Britain at the end of the Second World War; when it emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the war, a development that saw it declare the era of "the American century", Washington has been obsessed with using force to thwart small countries. In fact, the US emerged as a superpower that is scared of small countries. While this statement might seem contradictory, political analyses of US behaviour over the past 62 years proves otherwise.

The Black Commentator - August 16, 2007 - Issue 242 : "The conversation around whether Illinois Senator, Barack Obama was “black enough” to be considered a “black president,” reached a crescendo last week at the National Association of Black Journalist national convention. The question that has dogged this presidential election’s “black” (and most exciting) candidate for months had its origins in the black press. Obama finally had the chance to confront the source, but only after convention delegates decided to apply the same question to New York Senator, Hilary Clinton, that day before Obama’s appearance. No other candidate, to date, had been confronted with such a question. Richardson hasn’t been asked is he Hispanic enough, though many Latinos were hardly aware of his candidacy before recent efforts to publicize it, due to Richardson non-Latin surname. Nobody has used campaign time to ask Rudy Guiliani if he’s Italian enough, or Mitt Romney if he’s Mormon enough (though some h...

The Black Commentator - August 16, 2007 - Issue 242 : "Donna Smith is one of the 'stars' of SiCKO, whose family became medically bankrupt, even though both she and her husband both always carried health insurance. Then he had three heart attacks and she had cancer...and the insurance companies bailed out. Is universal health care the right and moral thing to do? Are we who reside in faith communities within our churches and our communities called to action on this issue? Will we cast off all the things we have accumulated and follow what we have been taught to follow, in the face of this battle on behalf of those who cannot join the fray? Or will the vast majority of us remain silent, as we have over the past 30 years, giving our power and our presence over to those who express only the narrowest of Godly intentions?"

Porter: Kill More Iraqis or Pay $9 per Gallon : adereview.com : "No doubt, for a large number of Americans, it is a good enough excuse: “Gasoline prices could rise to about $9 per gallon if the United States withdraws troops from Iraq prematurely, Rep. Jon Porter said he was told on a trip to Iraq that ended this week,” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. “To a person, they said there would be genocide, gas prices in the U.S. would rise to eight or nine dollars a gallon, al-Qaida would continue its expansion, and Iran would take over that portion of the world if we leave,” said the Nevada Congress critter."