Happy Mother’s Day to my Mother, my Grandmas and of course all the moms out there!
Welcome to my third Sunday Smack!
I have to say I really do enjoy doing this for the third time this week. It sort of keeps me organized in terms of my professional reading “duties” all week. I only hope you can benefit from these collections too!
The only real critique I got so far, is that I tend to be too long for one post, so l’ll try to keep it brief this time. If you have any more comments, keep them coming!
And here’s your weekly round-up:
On world affairs:
Does it matter if Assad used sarin?
Why Is There a ‘Red Line’ on Chemical Weapons but Not on 70,000 Deaths?
Lakhdar Brahimi tells UN diplomats he plans to resign as Syria envoy
Quite a few great articles on the same topic (I even had to cut), including the Republican point of view from The Atlantic, and the latest rumor about Lakhdar Brahimi’s resignation, that seems to be accurate this time.
I might add, the question The Atlantic article proposes is one that many are eager to know the answer to. The Assad regime has been killing its own people for more than two years now and the international community is sitting back and watching it. To a certain point, learning form the Bush administration’s mistakes, it is understandable for Obama to be cautious about this, but why doesn’t it seem like he has a clear idea about when is it enough already?
US law & G8 call for donations to Rome Statute’s Trust Fund for Victims
This might have gone in the next category, l see it somewhere in between. The reason this is interesting is of course the US’s on and off linkage to the Rome Statute. This great article of IntLawGrrls mentions more than one recent moves of the US towards the ICC.
On the legal side:
Prosecutorial conduct in question (again) at the International Criminal Court
After the Kenyan elections it is going to be exciting to watch how the ICC handles the possible prosecution of acting state officials.
The President’s Guantanamo Comments
This week’s comments by the President yet again sparkled the debate about Guantanamo. President Obama indeed promised to close Gitmo a long time ago, and there is still no sign of the realization of that promise.
Tsarnaev Case May Set New Precedent in Prosecuting Terrorists
Several improvements this week on this case too, I don’t repeat all, just cite this one for the legal perspective.
What if the Tsarnaevs Had Been the “Boston Shooters”?
And on that same note here is an interesting point on gun control.
Arming Syrian Rebels: Lethal Assistance and International Law
Back to Syria, before reading this article, the same international law case came to my mind as the author cites. Nicaragua v. United States, of course. Great article about the similarities of the two issues.
Spark of hope of the week:
Saudi Arabia launches first anti-domestic violence ad
A very small step towards the right direction, but every step counts. Let’s hope this really means something positive on the line for Saudi women.
Interesting take of the week:
Pope condemns Bangladesh ‘slave labour’ after tragedy
I have to say I like Pope Francis’s tweets much better than those of his predecessor’s. I have to state I am not even catholic, I just follow him out of curiosity, interested in what a Pope has to say to Twitterverse. This week he stirred up the water more than once, first with his remarks about the Bangladesh factory fire (more in the above article), then with this tweet about unemployment that outraged quite a few Tweeps.
Courage of the week:
Actually, Jason Collins Isn’t the First Openly Gay Man in Major Pro Sport
I am still hoping for a world where such an act would not count as brave, but only natural, but until then, let’s celebrate those, who have this kind of courage. And intentionally, I cite an article which sort of lessens the heroic aspect of this story, but again, Jason Collins is one corageous man!
Fashion politics of the week:
Well, not really politics, this time.
I love watching these events like the investiture ceremonies in The Netherlands this week. I mostly enjoy the protocol part, who’s arriving and leaving after whom, sitting arrangements and so on. But of course the fashion picks are interesting to follow too.
While now Queen Maxima looked flawless herself the whole time, my favorites from the two-day-long festivites were the following.
From left to right: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Crown Princess Letizia of Spain on the dinner the night before and Princess Letizia again and Crown Princess Victora of Sweden on the ceremony. Pictures taken from this Reine & Princesses blog.
Self improvement tip of the week:
Why Every Entrepreneur Should Have a Daily Writing Practice
It is not just for entrepreneurs though, as the title suggests, but any professional. I’ve been preaching this same thing for quite some time and there are more than one sources I could have picked, this is just the most current I came accross this week.
“According to psychological research, writing regularly can provide a sense of control and optimism (Pennebaker, 1997; King, 2001), help individuals organize and structure their thoughts and feelings (Pennebaker & Seagal, 1999), and provide positive emotional, biological, and social effects (Pennebaker, 2004).”
If you are not a good journal writer, just as myself, you would find it hard to just stare at an empty page (or screen) and force yourself to write about anything. It sounds easy just to write your thoughts, but for some of us it just doesn’t happen.
What I did to overcome this is I took some of those 30 day writing challenges, I collected a few, and answer one question a day. Of course, whenever you have additional thoughts to add, it is entirely your space, this crutch just helps me to start my thoughts on something and put it in writing every day. Writing letters is also a good idea as suggested in the article.
If you liked this and missed the first ones, you can check out my Sunday Smack series here.
