International Law: August 2004 Archives

A death sentence here and abroad

by Leuren Moret

Saturday 21st August 2004

“Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” - Henry Kissinger, quoted in “Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POW’s in Vietnam”

Vietnam was a chemical war for oil, permanently contaminating large regions and countries downriver with Agent Orange, and environmentally the most devastating war in world history. But since 1991, the U.S. has staged four nuclear wars using depleted uranium weaponry, which, like Agent Orange, meets the U.S. government definition of Weapons of Mass Destruction. Vast regions in the Middle East and Central Asia have been permanently contaminated with radiation.

By Shrii P. R. Sarkar

With the changes of the social cycle, the human society has developed several social institutions to carry out its duties and responsibilities. The state is one such vital institution, which organizes a group of people in a certain area of land, rules them, promotes their welfare and oversees their good. This institution is powerful because it also enjoys sovereign power.

THE THIRST OF BLOOD IS TO BE PERMANENTLY ELEMINATED

“When a large number of people who may or may not be criminals are murdered at the same time, it is called gan'ahanana. Even if a large number of criminals are murdered at the same time this term is used because it is very difficult to theoretically judge who is a criminal and who is not. Sometimes innocent people may be subjected to severe punishment because wrong information appeared in the documents and records concerned with their trials. At other times judges may deliver incorrect judgements, and in fact there are numerous cases where judges have made mistakes. In such circumstances even innocent people may be given capital punishment. Then again, innocent people or those who have committed minor crimes are sometimes deliberately given capital punishment because of malicious judgements. Such punishments can never be supported.

By Vir Sanghvi, August 7 , 2004

I’m always uneasy when people are optimistic about peace with Pakistan. It’s not that I don’t want peace or an end to the terrorism that we have learnt to live with. And God knows, the people of Kashmir have suffered enough. Anything that improves their lot would be more than welcome.