"It was the first time the prosecutor of the International Criminal
Court had brought genocide charges against anyone. It was also the
first time the prosecutor had brought charges against a sitting head of
state.
...
"In announcing the request, the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said
Mr. Bashir had “masterminded and implemented” a plan to destroy three
main ethnic groups in Darfur, the Fur, the Masalit and the Zaghawa.
Using government soldiers and Arab militias, the president
“purposefully targeted civilians” belonging to these groups, killing
35,000 people “outright” in attacks on towns and villages, he said.
“His motives were largely political,” the prosecutor said. “His alibi was a ‘counterinsurgency.’ His intent was genocide."
but i still can't help but be concerned about the potential aftermath.
a reader's reply to the article:
yes get rid of the fox in the coop but protect the hens from the rest of the den.
do you know that for
each day we live through, we are subject to experience 20,000 different
moments ? how incredible is it to have 20,000 moments to recount day
after day ?
moment 15,783 through 16,099
but as we look back on the day before, we can hardly
remember more than three, four, and the number quickly diminishes over
the next few days. two. one. which day now ?
moment 17,586
well, nothing out of the ordinary happened that day. absolutely nothing, if you didn't know
where to look. but if you sat still long enough, this is what you would see: worlds of color and light colliding and exploding and dying
and giving birth to entirely different worlds made up of tiny pieces of
these hearts and those hearts, and it would all become so new yet
strangely familiar, and wonderful. let's not forget, completely, utterly, devastatingly wonderful.
moment 18,980
even in the ordinary, life is vibrant. that's what i remember from that day.
and something else i noticed: the darker it gets the more it all seems to shine.
does that mean anything to you ? to me it means everything.
you know when you've found it there's something i've learned
'cause you feel it when they take it away
then something unusual something strange
comes from nothing at all
"the leaders tucked into truffle soup and crab as they discussed zimbabwe and
aid to africa’s poorest people. the evening feast of 19 separate dishes
included diced fatty flesh of tuna fish and milk-fed lamb with aromatic
herbs. tomorrow, after working up an appetite discussing soaring food
prices, the leaders will enjoy a £200 dinner of giant crab, £50-a-kilogram
langoustine and sweet clover ice cream, prepared by michel bras, a michelin
three-star french chef..."
GINA: I doubt it. I imagine I'll be thrown out later so it's probably got to
be now. I don't know how much the rest of you ladies know about what's
going on but my friend here tells me that while we are eating a hundred
million children are nearly starving. There's just millions of kids
who'd kill for the amount of food that fat old me left on the side of
my plate, children who are then so weak they'll die if a mosquito bites
them. And so they do die. One every three seconds.
[snaps fingers]
GINA: There they go.
[pauses, snap fingers again]
GINA:
And another one. Anyone who has kids knows that every mother and father
in Africa must love their children as much as they do, and to watch
your kids die, to watch them die and then to die yourself in trying to
protect them, that's not right. And tomorrow eight of the men sitting
'round this table actually have the ability to sort this out by making
a few great decisions. And if they don't, some day someone else will.
And they'll look back on us lot and say - people were actually dying in
their millions unnecessarily, in front of you, on your TV screens. What
were you thinking? You knew what to do to stop it happening and you
didn't do those things. Shame on you. So that's what you have to do
tomorrow. Be great instead of being ashamed. It can't be impossible. It
must be possible.
if i had a daughter, i think she might turn out something like this. keke.
in those days, i used to hide under
a desk just like her, just as afraid of 'papa' for all the things i was
guilty of. hehehe. i really wish we had videos of my childhood in france. come to think of it, i don't think if we have any. FAIL.
i walked by an absolutely gorgeous man the other day. i had just stepped out of an izakaya, when i noticed him from afar, standing there across the street, as if waiting for something, someone. if i could have had it my way, he would have been waiting for me.
his body faced the street to the left, but, to my suppressed giddiness, his head was slowly turning in the direction i was coming from. before i knew it, our eyes had met. i looked down for a moment to step off the curb, almost relieved for the excuse, expecting him to have already looked away as i lifted my eyes back in his direction. instead, his gaze had remained on me, inquisitive and steady, and i could not help but look back. a smile escaped my lips.
why was he standing there ? who was he waiting for ? i wondered about who he was and where he was headed.
the distance between us grew smaller with every step i took. after what seemed like forever, i brushed past him, feeling the warmth of his presence, his head turning to follow, his gaze lingering as i walked on...
and that's when i felt it.
a thrill.
as i finally approached the next light, i glanced back in his direction, and just like that, he had disappeared.
