Ethics news:
13 July 2005
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Hatred is the easiest of choices
Apologists for terrorism (and they are not in short supply) argue that it is a weapon used by people who despair of achieving their goals in any other way. It is a cry from the depths by those deprived of a voice in the political process. The terrorist is not an aggressor but a victim, and we must disarm him not by violence but by addressing the grievance that motivates his deeds. This argument has been used to excuse Palestinian suicide bombers, IRA kneecappers, Red Brigade kidnappers, and even the mass murderers of September 11 ...
The Australian - 11 July 2005
The price of occupation
During the last phase of the Troubles, the IRA targeted mainland Britain: it came close to blowing up Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet in Brighton. Some years later a missile was fired at No 10. London's financial quarter was also targeted. There was no secret as to the identity of the organisation that carried out the hits or its demands. And all this happened despite the various Prevention of Terrorism Acts passed by the Commons. The bombers who targeted London yesterday are anonymous ...
The Guardian - 8 July 2005
Immoral to blame West for London's bombings
Misguided foreign policy cannot be compared with religious terrorism. The latest insight from the author Tariq Ali, that Britain has itself to blame for the London bombings, is typical of his "West is best" strategy when it comes to laying the blame for terrorism. "It is safe to assume the cause of these bombs is the unstinting support given by New Labour and its Prime Minister to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq," he told readers this week ( The price of occupation- above) ...
The Sydney Morning Herald - 13 July 2005
Britain had this coming
It's a quiet, ho-hum, run-of-the-mill day in Iraq. Just a few bombs will explode in Baghdad. Only a few dozen will be killed or maimed. Fifty or 60 max. With the victims predominantly locals - only a couple of US soldiers among the casualties - they'll hardly rate a mention. Won't crack it for the Nine Network or ABC news. Perhaps a brief para in tomorrow's broadsheets. Oh, almost forgot. There'll be about 20 kidnappings today. This has been a big racket in Iraq for a year or more with thousands of locals snatched off the streets ...
The Australian - 12 July 2005
It's not all about Iraq
So, why was London bombed on 7/7? Given that no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, much less said why they did it, that is a pretty difficult question to answer. Yet some in the anti-war movement seem to have developed a sixth-sense ability to read the bombers' minds, and have revealed all: Londoners were bombed because of prime minister Tony Blair's involvement in the Iraq war. Or, as veteran left-wing commentator John Pilger put it, these were 'Blair's bombs' ...
Spiked-Online - 12 July 2005
A Muslim house divided
Do not let the injustice of others lead you into an injustice, says the Koran. Now there is only incoherence. Coverage of the London blasts saturates every newspaper, every television and radio station. The images of chaos and destruction roll in and the words of journalists and politicians pour out. Endlessly, repetitively. For all the words, nothing is said. What is there to say? For how long can you repeat the obvious that this is a criminal act to be condemned, that innocent people are sacrosanct? ...
The Age - 9 July 2005
Islam means surrender - to God not to violence!
Without going into the historical aspects of who did what, there is no justification for the violence that is being perpetuated in the name of Islam. There is a crisis within my world, my global Islamic family. There are over one billion Muslims throughout the world, a good size for any family, and I have always felt that, by and large, we are a moral and upright group. We live our lives, try to do good, give alms, pray, work, live and let live ...
Iviews - 7 July 2005
Anatomy of violence
Those who are committing acts of violence in the name of Islam are doing a most grievous disservice to Islam. In light of the recent London bombing humanity must speak with one voice and condemn all acts of violence, whether it is state sponsored or carried out by fringe religious groups. Muslims have a special obligation to speak out against the killing of innocent people when it is carried out by people who claim to submit to the will of God. It seems the world is on the brink of spiraling out of control violence ...
Iviews - 7 July 2005
Religion has no part in this
Londoners of all faiths and none will remain united. It was 7am and I felt a spring in my steps. The joy of our city's success in winning the right to stage the 2012 Olympic games was lingering on. It had been so long since our country and our capital felt so united in joy. So it was a calamitous shock to learn of what appears to be a series of coordinated attacks in London that have led to dozens of fatalities and scores of casualties. Lives that were united in celebration were now under threat from people who have no respect for the sanctity of life ...
The Guardian - 8 July 2005
Why the West gets religion wrong
It is hard to overstate the importance of religion in the contemporary world, yet its role remains underexplored and little understood. Western elites are perplexed by religion and the beliefs and practices that it can engender. But before Marx, almost all socialism was Christian. Equally, all those on the right were Christian monarchists who saw the defense of established religion as a key political task. All of this changed far more recently than is supposed ...
The International Herald Tribune - 8 July 2005
Get used to it, it's the new norm
The state of emergency - or state of fear - is now how we live. The shocking terrorist attacks in London are a powerful confirmation of our times. While we can say that "the world changed on 9/11", the London strikes force us to realise that we are now living in that altered world - one that exists in a state of anticipated emergency. There are two central aspects to understanding the impact of the London bombings, beyond their tragic consequences for the many innocent people affected ...
The Age - 9 July 2005
London's bombs need calm response
Last Monday, when I wrote here that it was going to be quite a week, I didn't know the half of it. I thought it would all be about the G8 summit at Gleneagles and the announcement of the 2012 Olympics. Now that the bombs have exploded, and thousands of newspaper pages and entire days of air time have been devoted to the horror of it all, and to the poor, decent people who are dead and missing, and to the misguided criminals responsible, perhaps we can stand back from it all and catch our breath ...
BBC News - 11 July 2005
... As we forgive our debtors
Can the true spirit of debt forgiveness be fulfilled if strings are attached by the creditor? Religious thinkers weigh in, as G-8 leaders consider relief for debtor nations. World leaders might reach into new territory when they tackle the plights of developing nations this week, but in aiming to relieve overburdened debtors, they'll find a well-worn path. That's because some of the oldest codes in the Judeo-Christian tradition address how to treat those who have become hopelessly indebted ...
Christian Science Monitor - 7 July 2005
Just who are the G8?
There must be a better way to decide who's to sit at the top table of world politics. Who should sit at the top table of world politics? The question is posed at Gleneagles in Scotland today - and the answers get ever more complicated. G7? G8? G8 + 5? G22? Once upon a time, back in the oil crisis of the early 1970s, the United States created an informal financial summit called the Library Group. It gathered senior financial officials from the US, Britain, France, Germany and Japan ...
The Age - 7 July 2005
G8 lesson in spectacular irrelevance
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has at least done the world one favour: he has hastened the demise of the Group of Eight as a serious international forum. Thanks to Blair and his agenda as the G8 chairman, this week's summit will be about as relevant as Live8, and as harmful to Africa. Visit the official G8 Gleneagles 2005 website and you find two issues highlighted: Africa and climate change. This fashionably silly political correctness under Blair's chairmanship exposes the G8 for what it has become ...
The Australian - 6 July 2005
Can G8 be considered a success?
Was the summit a success? It depends on the standards you use to measure it. Certainly by the standards of previous G8 summits this one has achieved a great deal, despite the disruption caused by the bombings in London. It is unprecedented to reach substantive deals - such as the $50bn (£28.8bn) Africa aid boost and debt-cancellation deal - at such meetings. The G8 summit also agreed to renew efforts to forge a trade deal, pledged $3bn for the Palestinian authority, and said it would increase access to Aids treatment ...
BBC News - 8 July 2005
Live 8: how did protests become love-ins?
Over the past 15 years, 'street politics' has lost its critical edge. 'We don't want your money - we want you', ran one of the slogans at Live 8 in Hyde Park, London. Like so much about this shrieking event, for a while it is difficult to know who is putting forward this mealy mouthed demand. Is it crusading Saint Bob? Or is it scriptwriters for the UK's political class? Certainly, the gooey photo of the Bob'n'Tone love-in confirms that Live 8 really is 'the pop wing of G8' ...
Spiked-Online - 7 July 2005
Micro solutions to the world's macro problems
Live 8 was big stuff. But it's the little stuff that can change lives. We can wear white wristbands. We can chant the platitudes of the multitudes. We can play the shame game, persuading ourselves how deeply we care. But how many of Africa's starving millions will see better days because of it? The Live 8 project has been valuable in raising consciousness of the challenges facing Africa, and it does no harm to pressure the world's wealthiest nations at the G8 summit in Gleneagles to act urgently ...
The Age - 8 July 2005
Who saved Birhan Woldu's life?
Live Aid apparently saved the Ethiopian famine's poster child in 1985, and 20 years later the UK media claims it ‘found’ her looking beautiful. Nice story - shame about the facts. 'She had 10 minutes to live 20 years ago. Because of Live Aid 20 years ago, because we did a concert in this city and in Philadelphia, last week she did her agricultural exams in the school she goes to in the northern Ethiopian highlands. She is here. Don't let them tell you that this doesn't work. Look at this beautiful woman' ...
Spiked-Online - 7 July 2005
A reporter jailed
This is a proud but awful moment for us. A reporter for The New York Times, Judith Miller, has decided to accept a jail sentence rather than testify before a grand jury about one of her confidential sources. We wish she did not have to make this choice, but we are certain she did the right thing. She is surrendering her liberty in defense of a greater liberty, granted to a free press by the founding fathers of the United States so journalists can work on behalf of the public without fear of regulation or retaliation from any branch of government ...
The International Herald Tribune - 8 July 2005
Saddam trial: a weak case for war
Western powers look to lawyers when they run out of political arguments. The British government is accused of holding back the attempts of the new Iraqi regime to bring Saddam Hussein to justice. The UK Foreign Office is refusing to hand over the huge file of material from years of spying by British intelligence agencies - because Saddam faces the death penalty, and the death penalty is banned under the European Convention on Human Rights. Apparently, the British government was willing to fight a war to remove a dangerous tyrant ...
Spiked-Online - 7 July 2005
Assisted dying by the back door
Quiet developments are shifting the UK law on ending life. Though assisted dying seems to have been out of the news, several quiet developments have furthered its cause in the UK. First we have the highest judge in the land, Lord Chief Justice Woolf, supporting a move by the Home Office to set gradations of sentences for murder. When asked about mandatory sentences, Woolf noted the differences in murder ...
Spiked-Online - 7 July 2005
Time for a morality check
The Victorian Premier's support for Steve Vizard reflects badly on standards in public life. Premier Steve Bracks' decision to give succour to disgraced businessman Steve Vizard is, well, disgraceful. It underscores just how far standards in public life have fallen in the past 15 years. And it is a bitter disappointment for those who may have dared to hope that after the Kennett era, Bracks would play a leadership role in seeking to return integrity to the forefront of public life in Victoria ...
The Age - 8 July 2005