"Change has come to America" and a few other videos

Pressure on Israel is the key to peace

It is clear that Israel is in charge - especially in the current violence - of the situation in and around the Gaza strip. In three days Israel managed to kill 375 Palestinians as opposed to Hamas' efforts of 4 Israeli deaths.

But Israel cannot help being provoked by Hamas. In order for any kind of moderate government movement to start up in Gaza, Israel, in the short term, must commit to peace and allow essential aid into Gaza. This conflict is a vicious circle which will only stop once one side stops attacking the other. This change in attitude must come from Israel. As the more developed and democratic of the two belligerents, Israel needs to set an example. If they do not and carry on with their ground offensive into Gaza they will only fuel the hatred of Israel by young Palestinians, breeding the next generation of suicide bombers and rocket launchers. Children seeing Israeli tanks every few years tear apart their homes destroys any idea of peace for the future.

BBC World Service

Recently started listening to BBC World Service. 'The World today' is great for current affairs on a global scale.

listen here: BBC World Service

The Latest from Gaza

I sure hope Obama can at least begin to sort this mess out. The Bush Administration has done far too little, way too late.

see article here:

SHAKE HANDS WITH THE DEVIL

The terrifying true story of the genocide in Rwanda, told by the man responsible for keeping the peace.

I recently read this story and its fair to say it consumed me for months. I've never read a book quite like it and don't think any other book will come close.

Before reading this book, I knew precious little about the UN. I assumed it was an upright organisation that followed the goodwill and values it was built on. This book really made question those views, but I'll touch on that later.

I had seen the films 'Hotel Rwanda' and the much better (in my opinion) 'Shooting Dogs' so knew the gruesomeness and level of hate involved in the genocide. Those films give little sense of perspective, though, and do not explain why the Belgian soldiers pull out just before the massacre. The ongoing civil war is not discussed so I did not realise the two sides (ethnic tribes, Hutus and Tutsis) were at war while the killings took place. They also do not reveal the scale of the genocide which 'Shake Hands With The Devil' does. Just one fact I learnt from the book is that it was the fastest genocide in history with 800,000 to a million Rwandans slaughtered in just 100 days. That was 10% of the population, the equivalent of 25 million Americans or 6 million British.