Well some of you may remember my adventure to Togo…and although Im no longer there, I keep an eye on the news in the region, and have a little nugget to share…Togo has abolished the death penalty. This vote by the Togolese Parliament means that Togo has become the 15th member of the African Union and the 94th country in the world to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. Im actually really happy over this news because Im not an advocate of the death penalty and never have been for multiple reasons. Even in my undergraduate studies I majored in Criminal Justice where the majority of those in the program supprted the death penalty and I was an oddball even then. But alas, the world is slowly changing its stance on the issue, and while it wont be a sudden victory to have it abolished globally, it is a slow victory…one country, one state, one person at a time.
Im not sure how many of you remember the killing of the US diplomats in Sudan on New Years Day in 2008, but today the 4 men that were found guilty were sentenced to death by hanging. The diplomat was an employee of the USAID program that the State Dept runs. And those who gunned him and his driver down were part of a group that had plotted to bomb Western embassies in the Sudanese capital in 2008. While the US/Sudan relations are strained, its still good to see the Khartoum regime recognizing diplomatic status by actually seeking the guilty party and allowing the FBI to assist in the investigation. Maybe, one step at a time, the relationship will change…but alas, not while Darfur crisis is still going on.
For everyone on the mainland who has been following the North Korean chaos over the supposed launching over the July 4th weekend of bombs aimed at Hawaii…my message is to chill. It seems that everyone I talk to here has people calling them about the issue, and even some of those I talk to back on the mainland ask about it. If North Korea launches a missile, the US should intercept it, and even if that fails, then yes Hawaii will be in chaos because we are not designed to handle disasters well (we prepare for them but our infastructure sucks and our distance from relief hurts us), but in the end if that occurs, then the US will be at war. So until soething actualy occurs, chill. (I think it will be unlikely that Kim Jong Il will launch a missile at Hawaii, he may be crazy, but even he does not have a death wish.)
And in more North Korean news, it looks like Kim Jong Il may be slowly choosing his successor, his youngest son Kim Jong Un. He was recently appointed as head of the North’s secret police and spy agency as well as been placed in charge of the two American journalists who were captured on the China border and found guilty of spying and sentenced to 12 years in a hard labor camp. Of interest, since the US has no official diplomatic relations with the North Koreans, Sweden has been acting as the USs diplomatic ties and working on the release of the journalists for the US. Hmmm…we have an entente with Sweden..cool, but not surprising.
Later!
