Positive Universe Abstracts

ZNet

December 23, 2008 By Mahmood Mamdani Source: London Review of Books

It is hard to think of a figure more reviled in the West than Robert Mugabe. Liberal and conservative commentators alike portray him as a brutal dictator, and blame him for Zimbabwe’s descent into hyperinflation and poverty. The seizure of white-owned farms by his black supporters has been depicted as [...]

Leaked Obama Transcript Explains Rick Warren Decision (with Draft of Warren’s Invocation) AlterNet

By John Aravosis and Linda Hirshman, Huffington Post. Posted December 20, 2008.

Satire: Why Obama invited the pastor who compared gay marriage to pedophilia and incest and led the fight for Prop 8 in CA to his inauguration.

Satire: The following conversation may, or may not, have occurred between President-elect Barack [...]

AlterNet

By Marjorie Cohn, AlterNet. Posted December 20, 2008.

Cheney confessed because he thinks either Bush will pardon him or that Obama won’t prosecute him — but the law would forbid both approaches.

Dick Cheney has publicly confessed to ordering war crimes. Asked about waterboarding in an ABC News interview, Cheney replied, “I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved [...]

International Herald Tribune

Reviewed by Dwight Garner

Published: December 17, 2008

Vietnam Veterans Confront the Truth About U.S. War Crimes

By Deborah Nelson 296 pages. Basic Books. $26.95.

Villagers, acting as human minesweepers, walked ahead of troops in dangerous areas to keep Americans from being blown up. Prisoners were subjected to a variation on waterboarding and jolted with electricity. Teenage boys fishing on a lake, [...]

Independent

These principles must be put at the heart of any deal on global warming

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Sixty years ago today, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the cornerstone document created in the aftermath of unimaginable atrocities. This declaration, and the legal documents that stemmed from it, have helped us combat torture, discrimination and hunger. [...]

TheTyee.ca

At 60, the history and future of a powerful idea. By Michael Byers

Today, we celebrate with cautious optimism the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

International human rights have steadily gained ground and are now codified in dozens of treaties. Enforced by national courts and international councils, they have saved countless lives. Yet they have also suffered setbacks, [...]