Tag: Palestine
theweekmagazine: How a Palestinian turned airstrikes into art A young artist chooses to see hope amid the ongoing crisis between Gaza and Israel
Hey Everybody! Hope all your weekends are going fine and you can take a few minutes to check out this week’s posts. With Maliki Gone, Can Iraq’s New Prime Minister Put His Country Back Together? That we’re going to have to wait and see. What You Need to Know about the UN Human Rights Council’s Gaza Investigation Sadly, it is probably true that the investigation will be no use in improving the situation. I have to insert one of my favorite quotes from Henry Kissinger’s Diplomacy here. He writes that fact-finding missions are “the standard device for diplomats signaling that…
Happy Sunday, everybody! This is a pre-scheduled post from Friday, so I hope nothing has happened during the weekend that could make it inappropriate. While you are reading I am probably somewhere out there trying to catch up with this summer I almost missed altogether. We are having an incredibly boring down time in my workplace recently (usual August in the public sector I guess), I am constantly joking that if I did not have all these writing and learning to do, I would probably have started looking for a new job already. But seriously. Summer is my favorite season,…
Happy August, everybody! I can’t help repeating myself, but how can it be August already? It means 2/3 of this summer went by almost unnoticed by me. I need to speed up on doing all my favorite summer things before it’s really over. By the way, may I now call your attention to an interesting quotation from Hillary Clinton’s Hard Choices? On one of the first pages she cites advices she received from former US Secretaries of State when she got appointed. One of those is from Warren Christopher: “Don’t plan vacations in August because something always seems to happen…
Under fire and out of cash, U.N. overwhelmed by Gaza crisis GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The United Nations in Gaza is struggling to withstand a flood of almost a quarter of a million refugees into shelters that have repeatedly come under Israeli fire.Out of cash, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main U.N. body in the impoverished enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians, says it can barely handle the humanitarian crisis unleashed by more than three weeks of fighting between militants and Israel. The same old problem might require new approaches to be solved for once. Yet again, the UN…
Happy last weekend of July, people! Can you believe it is almost August already? I sure can’t. It is still these two sad stories that set the agenda of world news. There were quite a few great blog posts about them this week. Hamas and Israel: why a paradigm shift is needed It indeed seems like the same script is being played out again and again. Something really does need to change if we want a different ending for once. This is Not the First Time an UNWRA School Has Been Attacked UNWRA is the number one NGO on the…
Happy Sunday, everybody! Many unfortunate, even sad events are going on in the world these days. Check out what my favorite bloggers had to say about them. Security Council Meets on MH13 Disaster. What’s Next? What’s next, indeed? Russia tries to blame it on Ukraine, while all the other members blame it on Russia. And we know there is no real decision making in the SC without consensus. This Iran Nuke Deal Might. Just. Work. This post is from the first half of the week, we now know that the talks are extended by four months. The post sums up…
Happy Sunday and happy World Cup Final everybody! Hope you all had a great weekend. My past week was exhausting once again, and the weekend was no exception. All I really need now is a proper amount of sleep. Fortunately I have a whole week to recharge with five days off of work, so hopefully by this time next week my old self will be back. This one must be the most rough-and-ready Sunday Smack ever, seriously, I am writing this half asleep. I really hope you’ll enjoy, though. A UN View of the Gaza Conflict The UN Secretary General…
Happy Sunday, everybody! I’ve spent the last four days (long weekend in Hungary) relaxing mostly, but I tried to keep up with the news as well. Here’s a few blog posts of last week’s news for you. Russia and the USA Fight. Syrians Lose. I just don’t think it works this way – like Russia calls Syria saying ‘you guys can let loose and behave badly’. Let’s hope it’s not nearly like this, especially since after quite a few grievous days in Ukraine again, the US-Russian relationship is not likely to improve. Is Assad Now Using Chlorine to Gas His…
I used to know a professor at law school, who was very proud that he has never been to vote at any elections. Ever. Not once. He talked about politics a lot, teaching administration law, he had stuck quite a few political comments to each and every topic. He kept repeating his conviction that not voting entitles him to criticize all political sides as he wishes. I always thought just the opposite! If you don’t care to share your opinion on the one single occasion it actually counts, then shut the f#@$ up all other times. As a sociologist, I…
