Justice for the passengers of flight MH 17?

We are seeing some differences not only in the way how both these flights crashed but also on the way how the authority responsible to deal with this situation handled the investigation and also the behaviors from the victims’ family and the expectation of the world in general.

MH 370: The Malaysian Authorities (government and representative from the airline company) were proven to be very incompetent. They embarrassed themselves way too many times. Because the flight disappeared under such a mysterious circumstance, the people were more than willing to overlook the less than stealer search mission. Most of us hoped that they will find the plane because we were frustrated of not being able to solve the mystery of its disappearance.

MH 17: Because it happened in a foreign soil right in the middle of a conflict zone, no one knew exactly who was responsible to coordinate the investigation or how we can bring the dead bodies’ home.

MH 370: Cause of the crash is unknown. Did it really crash? We cannot say for sure without having some evidences to back it up but at the same time we also cannot say that the plane is still flying in the air! The most likely possibility based on the investigation is that it has crashed somewhere in the south western corner of the Indian Ocean.

MH 17: It crashed from 33 K feet above. The investigators have already dismissed mechanical failure or the weather as the cause (based on the evidence they have so far). They believe that the plane was brought down by a missile.

MH 370: Search mission was badly coordinated. The politicians who didn’t have enough expertise (or the know-how in the disaster-search) or were even skillful in communication were sending mix-messages in their daily session (briefing) with the journalists.

MH 17: The news cycle was equally dominated by reactions from whoever they put on tv (sometimes factual, many times it was just propagandas or blame-game, maybe because we know so much about the crash (even to the extent of knowing the type of missile that brought it down and the country of origin/manufacturer and where was it seen last)), and occasionally we see some raw footage of the crash site and victims. Because it happened in a conflict zone, it wasn’t easy to access the site. I heard that they are still denying the investigators the full access to the crash site that they need in order to do their job properly.

MH 370: The majority of the passengers were from China (Chinese origin). The families of the passengers were distraught and when they couldn’t get straight answers from Malaysia, many became angry and agitated. I also think that some of them were manipulated emotionally to act extra-aggressive (throwing tantrums and calling for boycotting).

MH 17: I didn’t see the same level of distrust exhibited by the families of the passengers, the majority of whom were of Dutch origin. They wanted their government to act quickly to resolve the standoff, get the bodies home and start the investigation. Most of the European countries are working on tougher economical sanction against Russia because of this incident, but a lot of people are still reserving their judgments until the investigation concluded.

Do you think that the people who brought down Malaysia Airlines flight mh 17 killing all the passengers will be brought to justice?

I really doubt that the justice will be served in this case because the criminals are shielded by very powerful people.

Junior dictator from North Korea kills his uncle

Apparently the Jnr dictator from North Korea is cleaning up his circle of friends and family. After sending his old girlfriend under the firing squad; he has now sent a member of his own family, his uncle, under the same firing squad for being a ‘traitor’ (that’s the code word for I don’t like you anymore, so it’s time for you to get out of my life permanently).

It's not every day that the Kim dynasty kills one of its own, as Kim Jong Un apparently did his uncle and de facto No. 2, Jang Song Thaek. Rarer still is the fact that the official North Korean media publicized the execution and explained some the rationale behind it.[1]

"The tribunal examined Jang's crimes. All the crimes committed by the accused were proved in the course of hearing and were admitted by him," it added.[1]

Of course. Kim always gets his way.

Pyongyang issued an extraordinary announcement describing Jang as a "despicable human being" who was "worse than a dog" and saying he had been shot dead immediately after a military tribunal found him guilty of plotting to overthrow his 29-year-old nephew. [2]

Wow, this sounds very personal.

I was reading this news source. We could be expecting more interesting and exciting news from North Korea in the future.

“If Kim Jong-un was sure of his control of power, he would not have needed to execute his uncle,” said Lee Byong-chul, a senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Cooperation in Seoul. “There will be big and small bloody purges, and at a time like this, desperate extremists may lash out. Pyongyang is no longer safe.” [3]

“Although high-ranking leaders, including members of the Kim family, have been deposed before, we haven’t seen anything this public or dramatic since Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung purged his last major rivals in the late 1950s,” said Prof. Charles K. Armstrong, a North Korea expert at Columbia University and the author of “Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World, 1950-1992.” [3]

“This seems to indicate the divisions within the Kim regime were more serious than previously thought,” Professor Armstrong said. [3]

reference

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10517024/Empire-of-horror-North-Korea-faces-worldwide-condemnation-for-execution.html

[2] http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2013/12/116_147904.html


[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/world/asia/execution-raises-doubts-about-kims-grip-on-north-korea.html?hpw&rref=world&_r=0

North Korea Unspeakable Horrors

I've always been fascinated with North Korea, especially in the recent time, especially after the Junior Kim took over the dictatorship from his daddy.

A lot of people don’t know much about North Korea. Mainly because North Korea is completely cut off from international community – nothing gets in the country, and nothing gets out. Most of the narrative about the country is built from testimonials of the survivors and the work done by the spy agencies (satellites, espionage..etc). Based on the narrative, there’s absolutely no doubt that North Korea is perhaps the most repressive country in the world.

If time permits, I’ll try to write more articles about North Korea. I hope you guys are as interested in this as I am. I have to warn you that most of my coverage will be extremely negative and maybe a bit graphic. So, you’re probably not going to hear about their great gymnastic program or their hardworking students.

I was recently reading news about North Korean Auschwitz-style prison camps. Lots of unspeakable horror is going on there.

Amnesty commissioned the images from DigitalGlobe, a commercial satellite imagery vendor. In their release, Amnesty claims that up to 200,000 prisoners, including children, are being held "in horrific conditions in six sprawling political prison camps."

Amnesty said the camp covered an area of around 216 square miles (560 square km), or three times the size of America's capital, Washington DC.

Pyongyang denies their existence, despite satellite images and testimony from witnesses. Amnesty claims many prisoners are allegedly being held for nothing more than watching foreign soap operas or holding a particular religious belief, while others are incarcerated simply for having a family member deemed politically undesirable.

According to Mr. Lee, women were "disappeared" after being raped: "After a night of 'servicing' the officials, the women had to die because the secret could not get out. This happens at most of the political prison camps."

Kim Young-soon, a former detainee in Camp 15 in the 1980s, described a public execution she witnessed of two detainees caught attempting to escape: "They were brought to a stage after they were badly beaten. The prisoners were tied to wooden stakes and shot three times in their head, chest and feet," she recalled.

In September this year, a United Nations inquiry into human rights abuses in North Korea highlighted the "unspeakable" and "widespread" atrocities being carried out in camps that required an international response, including a mother forced to drown her own baby and a prison camp inmate compelled to eat rodents and lizards just to survive.

Most Corrupt Countries in the World

Transparency International has just released its report of the least corrupt countries to the most corrupt countries in the world.

The total score is 100. Least corrupt countries have score closer to 100. Here's how countries are ranked (this is not a complete list. Please go to Transparency International to view the complete result and download the brochure).

Least Corrupt Countries
Denmark
New Zeland
Finland
Sweden
Norway
Singapore
Switzerland
Netherlands
Australia
Canada
Luxembourg
Germany
Iceland
United Kingdom
Barbados
Belgium
Hong Kong
Japan
United States of America
Uruguay
Ireland
The Bahamas
Chile
France
Saint Lucia
Austria


Most Corrupt Countries
Somalia
North Korea
Afghanistan
Sudan
South Sudan
Libya
Iraq
Uzbekistan
Turkmenistan
Syria
Yemen
Haiti
Guinea Bissau
EQuatorial Guinea
Chad
Venezuela
Eritrea
Cambodia
Zimbabwe
Myanmar
Burundi
Tajikistan
Congo
Angola
Paraquay
Kyrgyzstan
Guinea
Ukraine
Papua New Guinea
Nigeria
Iran

References
http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2013/
http://www.voanews.com/content/perceived-corruption-high-in-subsaharan-africa/1802447.html

How to get rid of your ex-girlfriend - North Korean Style

The surprisingly obese dictator from North Korea recently sent one of his old lovers to face the firing squad.

That's her. The ex.


Dictators rarely need reasons or to justify their actions. Most of the victims don't get a trial or proper legal representation.

But what's chilling is the way the execution was carried out. See the description.

All 12 were machine-gunned three days later, with other members of North Korea's most famous pop groups and their immediate families forced to watch. The onlookers were then sent to prison camps, victims of the regime's assumption of guilt by association, the reports stated.

“They were executed with machine guns while the key members of the Unhasu Orchestra, Wangjaesan Light Band and Moranbong Band as well as the families of the victims looked on,” said a Chinese source reported in the newspaper.

The Junior Dictator from North Korea

This guy from my last post.

He seems to believe that his country is capable and ready to Nuke targets in the US. I don't think anyone here or elsewhere was taking him seriously. The politicians and the news medias didn't sensationalize the story.


Interestingly, ten years ago, we went to war in Iraq over imminent threat of Nuclear weapons which proved to be false later on. The dictator from North Korea claims he has all his nuclear missiles/warheads already pointed towards us. Lucky for us (or maybe him) his country doesn't have much oil.

Girl Killed By Family Members in an Exorcism Ritual

A three-year-old Malaysian girl died of suffocation during a lengthy exorcism ritual in which seven family members and a maid piled on top of her, a police official said Tuesday.

The ritual, which included the child’s parents, was held by the ethnic Chinese family late Sunday in the northern town of Bukit Mertajam, local police chief Azman Abdul Lah told AFP.

“Acting on a tip-off, police entered the house and broke down a bedroom door only to find eight people including a foreign maid covered with a blanket and with the victim pinned under them,” he said.

“They were chanting in the room. Police believe they were involved in an exorcism ritual to drive away evil spirits.”

The Star newspaper said the ritual had lasted 20 hours. Azman said the ritual had continued for many hours but could not confirm how many.

The eight suspects, aged between 16 and 67, have been detained and are being investigated for murder, he added. They included the family’s Indonesian maid, the Star said.

The brother of the child’s father had alerted the police, Azman said.

The others detained were the victim’s grandmother, uncle, aunt, and two cousins.

link

Largest Bank Fraud in Iran

I was reading about a huge corruption case in Iran. Thirty nine people have been convicted of a bank fraud/scam. Four bankers are set to be hanged.

Another banker, Mahmoud Reza Khavari, managed to dodge the bullet by fleeing to Canada.

Name of the convicted felons are not released to the public.

But one of the defendents complained that, while the judiciary had pursued some low-level players in the fraud vigorously, senior officials involved in the scandal had gone unpunished.

Based on comments from a news site, many seem to agree that it's about time people who are involved in bank frauds get harsher punishment than just a slap on the wrists.

Oliver Stone's son converted to Shia Islam

I am reading the news about the conversion of Oliver Stone's son to Shia Islam.


Sean Ali Stone became a follower of Ahl al-Bayt (Shia Islam) by his own testimony (there is no God but God, and Mohammed is his messenger). There was a brief ceremony in Esfahan, Iran.


He also said

Having read the Koran and having been around the Islamic culture, especially in Iran, I do believe that Mohammed is a prophet of the same god worshipped by other religions.

He said his dad welcomed the move.

“My dad said, ‘Allah be with you.’ My father understands that I am trying to bridge certain gaps and bring about peace.”

But he has been shocked by the reaction from others. Sean, about to release his horror movie “Graystone,” said,

“I didn’t realize I would be so vilified. It is almost like I am a criminal for having accepted Islam. I didn’t realize Islamophobia was that deep. People have speculated that I have done this because I am from a spoiled family or that I am lost and trying to find myself. That is ridiculous.

“I don’t care if I get criticized. If I can open up a debate about religion and create some understanding, then it is worth it.”

Blasphemy via Twitter?

This guy could possibly face a beheading if he doesn't repent in a Saudi Court.

Many people are angry over his tweets. He tweeted the following messages on twitter

On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you.

On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more.

On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more.

Some people think that these wordings are controversial, insulting and blasphemous. I don't think they are blasphemous at all. 

Blasphemy is not a very well define crime. There isn't a plaintiff or a victim. If someone thinks you wrote something uncomplimentary about Allah swt or the Prophet then you are being blasphemous. 

He has apologized soo many times. Most people are unwilling to let it go. Some people believe he should be beheaded for insulting the Prophet of Islam. 

He could be tried either for apostasy or blasphemy - both carries the death sentence based on the Islamic tradition. The only way he can save himself now is if he repents in the court. With a repentance done in front of the judge, he can be acquitted.

Many people have advised him not to be hero. Issue a quick apology and save yourself.

To save himself from being prosecuted, he tried to seek asylum. Unfortunately, he traveled to the worse possible country in the world to seek asylum - Malaysia. Malaysia doesn't believe in political asylums and they don't grant anyone political asylums. They will treat you just like a regular criminal after charging you for breaking immigration laws. Malaysia will also swiftly send you back to the same country that you are running away from!


As expected, Malaysia has cheerfully extradite him almost immediately as soon as he landed in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 

Even the lawyer who tried to help the poor kid couldn't do a single thing to stop the deportation

Muhammad Afiq Bin Mohamad Noor, the Malaysian lawyer hired by Mr. Kashgari’s family, said he obtained an interim court order from the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Sunday afternoon that would have prevented the authorities from deporting Mr. Kashgari. He only discovered later on Sunday, when he spoke to an immigration officer at the Kuala Lumpur airport, that Mr. Kashgari had already been deported on a private Saudi jet. 

 After sending this kid to a possible death sentence

“The police have contacted their counterpart in Saudi Arabia to determine the next course of action,”

"It’s not our practice to grant political asylum"

Malaysia even bragged about how friendly they are with Saudi Arabia

“The nature of the charges against the individual in this case are a matter for the Saudi Arabian authorities.”  

The official said Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, had good diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. 

It snowed in Libya

Check this out

Some Muslims believe that when it starts snowing in a barren or a dessert like place, then prepare for the doomsday.

I was reading this news report

It snowed on Monday in Libya. Libya! That is a country better known, weather-wise, for suffering the highest temperature recorded on earth in modern times (136 degrees Fahrenheit, in 1922).

I am glad Libya is taking over much of our snow. We didn't get much this winter.

Honorless Killing

The Canadian Court found three members of a family (Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21) guilty of killing three teenage sisters (Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13) as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia’s childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Prosecutors said the defendants killed the four women because they dishonored the family by defying its strict rules on dress, dating, socializing and using the Internet. Prosecutors added that the defendants drowned their victims, then placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal. [1]

The local press printed police transcripts of a ranting Mr. Shafia calling his daughters "whores" and boasting, "nothing is more dear to me than my honor." [2]

More than 80 Canadian Muslim organizations, imams and community leaders signed a call for action late last year against “the reality of domestic violence within our own communities, compounded by abhorrent and yet persistent pre-Islamic practices rooted in the misguided notion of restoring family honor.”[1]

References (news sources)
[1] http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/at-least-one-member-of-afghan-family-to-appeal-verdict-in-canadian-honor-killing-case/2012/01/30/gIQAHRR3cQ_story.html

[2] http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203920204577191321206664022.html

Liam Neeson considering the Islamic faith?

It is being reported in one of the news papers. According to the report, Liam said

"The Call to Prayer happens five times a day and for the first week it drives you crazy, and then it just gets into your spirit and it's the most beautiful, beautiful thing.

"There are 4,000 mosques in the city. Some are just stunning and it really makes me think about becoming a Muslim."

So, he saw nice mosques and praised the Islamic call of prayers and now everyone thinks he is thinking of converting to Islam. Converting to another religion is generally a long process that includes a lot of soul searching. I guess we wont know for sure until we get another news from him about his conversion.

With this latest news, will we see more Muslims flocking to see his movies?  Of course not! Liam Neeson doesn’t need cheap publicity to get people to see his movie. Most people already know what a huge talent he is. 

So, let’s wait and see if we hear from him again about his religious belief.

Wikipedia Blackout

Wikipedia blacked out its content yesterday for 24 hours to protest an on-line piracy bill that is currently being discussed among the legislators in the US congress.

The blackout was a big surprise to me and I am sure to many of you. Usually, most of my searches ends on Wikipedia. Since the contents were blocked, I had no choice but to move to other inferior website heavily bloated with lame advertisements. It was very frustrating not to be able to get even a single straight answer!

Wikipedia is indispensable. A world without it, is a very scary place to live.

Violence on Ashura

Yesterday, a suicide attack killed 55 people and critically wounded 160 at a shrine in Kabul, Afghanistan where a crowd of hundreds had gathered for the day of Ashura observation.

Penn State Sexual Abuse

Absolutely shocking and horrible.

Jerry Sandusky, the child molester & also an assistant coach, was arrested for sexually molesting 9 little boys over the period of 15 years at the Penn State University Campus. The University did absolutely nothing to either stop the abuse or to keep the children away from the molester. The University did not even attempt to report the pedophile to police. A number of eye witnesses saw the molester sodomizing little boys in the locker room. See an incident reported in the New York Times (caution very graphic).

The eye witness did nothing to stop the act

A pedophile caught in the act, and you’d think a graduate student would know enough to stop the rape and call the police. But McQueary, who was 28 years old at the time, was a serf in the powerfully paternal Paternoland. According to the report, he called his dad, went home and then the next day went to the coach’s house to tell him.

The head coach didn't think it was his duty to call the police.

Paterno, who has cast himself for 46 years as a moral compass teaching his “kids” values, testified that he did not call the police at the time either.

The athletic director did nothing.

Tim Curley, the Penn State athletic director who had been a quarterback for Paterno in the ’70s. Curley did not call the university police, who had investigated an episode in 1998 in which Sandusky admitted he was wrong to shower with an 11-year-old boy and promised not to do it again

The vice president of Penn State did nothing

The eye witness repeated his sodomy story for Curley and Gary Schultz, a university vice president who oversaw campus police. Two more weeks passed before Curley contacted McQueary to let him know that Sandusky’s keys to the locker room had been taken away and the incident had been reported to The Second Mile, the charity Sandusky started in 1977.

The president of Penn State did nothing.

Curley told the university president, Graham Spanier, about the matter, and it got buried.

There were other incidents too. The University did absolutely nothing. As Maureen puts it "Like the Roman Catholic Church, Penn State is an arrogant institution hiding behind its mystique."

An attorney for the victims pointed out that

"This situation is perfectly analogous to all the Catholic church cases I've litigated," Anderson said. "People at the top protected the institution at the peril of children. Here the coaches and administrators of Penn State were acting just like the bishops, cardinals, and archbishops of these dioceses. The same moral and legal quagmire exists. Penn State protected the football program's reputation instead of the children." He said that Sandusky's alleged acts, just like the Catholic priests, were both "cunning and careful."As a result, Anderson said, "They (Penn State) clearly face severe legal exposure for institutional failure. They are liable for these incidents."

I have stopped following the news

I don’t really know what is going on in the world. I have stopped following the …news. Even forced the husband *Not* to talk politics at home. Ignorance is really blissful! You guys should try it sometimes.

At the moment I am trying to figure out what I missed when I was on "news break"

Where is the Libyan dictator? I typed "where is ghadafi" on the google search. One of the results is clearly optimistic

Best guess for Muammar Gaddafi Location is Libya

On the Libyan front, they found some racy pictures of Aline Skaff (wife of Hanibal Ghadafi). They (the couple) seem to be enjoying a wealthy lifestyle (rich food, wines, luxury resorts, yachts). If you remember, this sadistic couple got into trouble in Europe for abusing their maids a while back.

In Egypt, things are still messy. The people might have gotten rid of the dictator but the situation has not really improved much. Mubarak’s cronies are still running the show.

Media Bias

Norway Terrorist Not Christian But Fort Hood Terrorist Muslim?

See the difference? That guy printed up 'Soldier of Allah' business cards! The other guy only printed up an Army of Christ manifesto."

Click here to see the Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Formula 1 race in Bahrain is cancelled.

This should have been done much earlier. But it took an online petition signed by "almost" a half million people around the world to change the organizer's mind.

I am quoting words from the outspoken Red Bull driver, Mark Webber. He has been quoted extensively in the media recently for slamming F1 for going ahead with the sporting event in a country where the government is cracking it's people in the most brutal manner.

"In my opinion, the sport should have taken a much firmer stance earlier this year rather than delaying its decision in the hope of being able to reschedule it in 2011. It would have sent a very clear message about F1's position on something as fundamental as human rights and how it deals with moral issues".

On his Twitter account just prior to the decision to run the Bahrain race on Oct. 30, Webber wrote: "When people in a country are being hurt, the issues are bigger than sport. Let's hope the right decision is made."

Conspiracy theories are a waste of time

I am avoiding the news (reading/watching/listening). Too much news about Bin Laden (may Allah damn him to hell) and they are mostly conspiracy theories.

Conspiracy theories are a waste of time. They don’t answer any questions and tend to make you less informed about current events.

It’s best to wait a few weeks before reading conspiracies theories. By then hopefully we are more objective.