IDEALS

BELGRADE, (May 26, 2010) IPS/GIN – For most Serbs, Latin America
is a distant continent held in regard by the older generation as
a part of the non-aligned movement.

But when three Serb bodyguards of alleged narcotics boss William
Rosales Suarez were killed in Bolivia, near the eastern town of
Santa Cruz earlier this month, it put Latin America into the
spotlight. Read the rest of this entry →

YALA, Thailand, (Aug. 18, 2009) IPS/GIN – The Blackhawk helicopter
flies fast and relatively high above an endless expanse of hills,
some gentle and rolling, some with sharp peaks, in this
southernmost tip of Thailand, where an insurgency has been raging
for over five years.

The scene below is a canopy of thick dense forest. It is difficult
to see what lies within the jungle terrain; it is likewise
impossible to detect who moves under such forest cover even on a
late morning bathed with bright tropical sunlight.

Yet penetrating this forest-covered hills that spread over two of
this country’s provinces – Yala and Narathiwat – close to the
Thai-Malaysian border is the new challenge that the Thai military
faces as it battles shadowy Malay-Muslim militants.
Read the rest of this entry →

BANGKOK, (May 19, 2010) IPS/GIN – If there were any hopes that
Wednesday’s surrender by the leaders of Thailand’s biggest
anti-government protests in decades would instantly ease tensions,
these were dashed by the ugly spasms of violence that wracked this
capital soon after they turned themselves in.

If anything, the attacks by protesters, who were angered by the end
of the rally and set fire to buildings and shopping malls,
confirmed what everybody knows – that while the protest site of the
United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) has been
cleared and its leaders detained, the political crisis is far from
over. Read the rest of this entry →

UNITED NATIONS, (Apr. 8, 2010) IPS/GIN – Sixteen years after the
genocide in Rwanda, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon vowed that
the international community would never again sit by while mass
atrocities are committed against innocent civilians.

“Together, let us pledge our determination to prevent genocide as
the best way to remember those who lost their lives so tragically
in Rwanda,” he said as the United Nation observed a global day of
remembrance for the tragedy Tuesday.

On Apr. 6, 1994, the presidential guard, the army, police, and
prominent businessmen started calling for the death of Tutsis and
moderate Hutus in Rwanda. During a period of less than 100 days,
800,000 people were killed with machetes, guns, clubs, and pure
brute force. Read the rest of this entry →