Better way to sell your books

You buy a Stat textbook for $340, you sell it back for $14. You order the norton anthology for $180 and the shops on main street inform you at the end of the semester, that a new edition is coming out this spring and you can't sell that beauty back for any dough.

Here is an alternative that also helps end illliteracy in impoverished nations.

Better World Books Is easy, simple, you are guaranteed a great price of buy backs, and low prices on purchases AND in partnership with Invisible Children you can help those who really need it, the child soldiers of Uganda.

"Sit. Read. Stand. Fight. Buy and sell books to helpInvisible Children bring peace in East Africa"

What could be easier?

Americans locked up abroad - in Iran

Since July, 31 three American hikers have been held, against their will, by the government of Iran.

Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27 were vacationing in the mountains of northern Iraq when they reportedly crossed over into Iran by accident.

All three Americans were graduates of UC Berkeley. Two of the young hiking enthusiasts were living in Syria at the time of their abduction, the third was visiting. Fattal is a resident of suburban Philadelphia.

Because the United States has no diplomatic ties with Iran a Swiss diplomat was used to visit the detained hikers—they have had no contact with their families.

The families of these hikers will release a youtube video this week that they believe proves the hikers were in fact vacationing, rather than spying, or attempting to create political unrest during the Iranian election as some reports claim they are being held for.

The Associated Press reports that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said last week that investigators are still questioning the three and that their fate rests with judicial authorities.

This quote suggests that formal charges could still be made against the Americans. Iranian President Ahmadinejad said last month that could he ask the judiciary to ''take a look at the case with maximum leniency.''

Innocent Americans locked up abroad by the Iranian government for three months—when will these innocent travelers be sent home? Public pressure and media coverage surrounding circumstances like these are sometimes the only leverage families have to get their loved ones back. Visit the Web site below to offer your support.

www.freethehikers.org

NYT GLOBAL

If you're like me and read dozens of news stories a day, follow multiple online newspapers and blogs, and are all around a NEWS NERD then just one little click can help you incorporate more obscure international news stories into your daily intake...

OR

If you snooze by the end of most articles and are trying your hardest to stay well informed, one easy step can help you take in as many international stories as possible...

The New York Times Web site can now be switched to GLOBAL EDITION.

In conjunction with the International Herald Tribune this interface allows you to view the NYT homepage from an purely international view.

Just click "switch to Global Edition" on the top of the vertical bar on the left hand side of the homepage.

Easy as pie

Here is a quick hits list of the biggest international stories for today...

Afghan helicopter crashes kill 14 Americans

Iraqi death toll continues to rise in suicide bomber attack, security questions raised

Radovan Karadzic, the man behind Bosnian genocide will face UN Yugoslav war crimes tribunal

Iran still jerking the UN around with their uranium enrichment program

And one last story, my favorite of today about a school literally smack in the middle of a half-century long military standoff. I've never heard anything like this story before. It's really great. Check it out.

The Korean Demilitarized Zone

GULUWALK

Join the RSO Uganda Untold - and me! at the GuluWalk this Saturday morning in Philadelphia.

It's a really great organization that has long been working to help those in northern Uganda effected by the ongoing conflict.

If you can't attend check back for photos and a recap of the event.

You can make a difference

Concerned over the fate of the citizens of Darfur? No matter where Obama stands, and what will ultimately come out of his proposed plan of diplomacy you can help make a difference NOW.

Save Darfur is an amazing alliance of non-profits working to help the people of Darfur. Additionally an event called Pledge2Protect which will bring together more than 1,000 leaders of the worldwide movement to end the ongoing genocide in Darfur.

The conference will convene in Washington, D.C. on November 6-9th. It includes workshops, training, panel discussions, networking events and will culminate in a lobbying day on Nov 9th.

For more information regarding this event check out the Pledge2Protect Web site.

In the past couple of years it has become socially trendy to speak out against the atrocities in Darfur. Let's stop speaking and start Doing. This type of event show the government that Americans care about genocide in Africa, and gets legislation passed.

Obama takes the middle road with Sudan

Advocates of an end to the genocide in Darfur have been anxiously awaiting an official stance on Sudan from the Obama administration since the President took office. Advocates of an end to the genocide in Darfur have been anxiously waiting for an official stance on Sudan from the Obama administration since the President took office.

During his campaign Obama promised a firm stance against the massive slaughtering that has engulfed Africa's largest country for over six years.

In fact the Obama administration will not be taking a firm stance, but instead will once again play the balancing act of foreign diplomacy in which “incentives and pressure” will be utilized. Obama has labeled the human rights situation in Darfur a "genocide" but will at the same time engage, rather than isolate, the murderous government of Sudan.

To engage a government that has been labeled genocidal seems to go against all past political philosophies when it comes to the United States' relations with foreign governments continuing to conduct widespread violations of human rights laws. Simultaneously, an iron clad stance against the government of Sudan leaves little room for creating improvements for its citizens.

The Obama administration stands behind the belief that in order for changes to be made, the government of Sudan must want to adhere. While the specifics of what incentives and pressures will be used, they have said that while working with this new policy a strong eye will be kept on the situation in Sudan - progress being rewarded and increases in violence bringing consequences.

Questions have begun to be raised over whether this lightened stance has anything to do with Sudan's help in America's fight against terrorism. If these allegations prove true, and leniency is being given to Sudan because of its role in fighting terrorists in the middle east, then all bets are off and the United States is in bed with a genocidal government for its own personal gain.

Let's hope this is not the case and purely, these recent policy changes will bring widespread peace and aid to the suffering people of Darfur.

Look Forward

Look forward to a series of interviews to be posted in the next couple of weeks...

I will be interviewing people who are working in areas of global interest; asking for insight, information and advice regarding a variety of issues.

Surrogacy extends across the globe

India, a long time destination for outsourced American jobs, is now home to a growing industry that at first glance seems slightly bizzare.

American couples unable to naturally conceive, and those who have found difficulty in applying for adoption and other child rearing alternatives, are now going over seas to find surrogate mothers.

This phenomenon raises two questions. One regarding the social situation currently existing in America that would force such an arrangement to be made in the first place, and another that questions the ethics involved in the logistics that take place in many of these overseas surrogacy programs.

For years the gay community has spoken out against the limitations placed on "non-traditional" families when it comes to adopting and fostering children in America. While florida is the only state that bans gay adoption rights prejudice is widespread.

So gay couples, financially stable, living in loving homes that desire the basic instinctual experience of becoming a parent, are now forced to look overseas for solutions to the limitations placed on them at home.

Human rights issues arise when details of these surrogacy "agencies" are revealed. Many Indian surrogate mothers are poverty stricken, illiterate and desperate to support their own families. Women are artificially inseminated, receive medical treatment, stay out their pregnancies and deliver the surrogate children all on the premises of such organizations. They are sometimes not allowed to leave the alloted grounds during the process.

In a country with 25 percent of the population living below the poverty line, according to the CIA World Factbook, giving these women an opportunity to support their children seems positive, but through means in which they are seemingly renting out their bodies and kept captive during the process, ethical and human rights questions have to be raised, especially when currently little to no regulation exists.

Surrogacy can create miracles, giving the gift of life to couples that could otherwise not experience the joys of raising a family. Using this miracle to exploit women in foreign countries, beyond American laws, and without strong proof that each case does not violate basic human rights brings up extremely hard moral questions that the global community may now have to answer.

Quotables

Inspirational quotes with a global edge...

"When words are both true and kind, they can change our world." - Buddha

"Go forth and set the world on fire." - St. Ignatius Loyola

"Leap and the net will appear." - traditional zen saying

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense." - Buddha

UD and Sudan

At a press conference last Tuesday morning, President Patrick Harker spoke about the university’s stance towards Sudanese divestment.

Sudan divestment is a global effort which takes invested funds out of foreign companies working with the Sudanese government in an attempt to drain the money being used for the Darfur genocide at its sources. Divestment is already being utilized by 61 universities, 27 states and 23 cities. The university’s STAND chapter, a national student run organization aimed at ending the genocide at Darfur, has long asked why the university has not yet followed suit.

“We continue to look at that and to our knowledge there are no direct investments in Sudan,” Harker said.

The President said that the university had no intentions of making such investments nor did they see any such investments to date.

“I cant tell you they will never exists because sometimes things happen many layers away from you in investments that you don’t have control of,” he said. “It’s impossible to know 100 percent.”

The last time President Harker spoke out publicly about the issue of divestment was in an April 2008 article in which he stated in an e-mail message, “we have met with representatives from the campus group STAND, and they have made the case for divestment. Currently, we are reviewing our investment portfolio, and we will be discussing the issue later this spring with the Investment Visiting Committee of the University's Board of Trustees.”

The Student Government Association passed a resolution on March 3, 2008 supporting divestment at the university. The resolution read, "We propose that the Delaware Undergraduate Student Senate support and work towards the divestment of the University of Delaware's endowment fund using the Sudan Divestment Task Force's targeted divestment model."

Included in the 59 universities who have divested is the University of Pennsylvania, which adopted a plan of targeted divestment on June 19, 2006, when President was still faculty members. In doing so, the University of Pennsylvania joined the ranks of Harvard University, Princeton University and Yale University by ensuring its endowments were not invested in companies supporting the government of Sudan.

“I can issue an edict, and universities have, but they don’t quite know,” Harker said.

At this time the campus group STAND has ended conversation with the administration. Members of the group stated in the past that their efforts will now be focused on lobbying Delaware politicians to pass legislation in support of divestment.

The SGA’s resolution has not brought any changes in terms of the university's policies reagarding divestment since its passing.

For more information regarding divestment in general and at the university check out these links below...

STAND

Sudanese Divestment Task Force

Students 'STAND' up to university divestment policy

Upenn's divested, when will UD?

Protesters sentenced to death

As mentioned before, riots and protests took over the streets of Iran after their disputed presidential election put Ahmadinejad back into power, against what seemed to be the popular vote.

Now Iran has sentenced three of these protesters to death in the capital city of Tehran.

Hundreds have been charged and still hundreds more including journalists, political activists, opposition party members and academics are still jailed in Iran. These recent death sentences put their fates into question.

Human rights activists have spoken out around the world in response to the sentences.

“Zamani’s trial was a mockery of justice,” the executive director of Amnesty International USA, Larry Cox, said in a public statement. “To impose the death sentence is beyond deplorable. Iran should immediately rescind this sentence.”

In addition to these official statements that admit death sentences, multiple allegations of torture have been made since initial arrests.

When will Iran be held accountable for repeatedly breaking world-wide human rights laws?

National Equality March

This weekend the National Equality March will take place in Washington DC.

The march will be focused on equal protection for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people in all national civil matters.

The Web site explains -

"We are guaranteed equal protection by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. Free and equal people do not bargain for or prioritize our rights, so we are coming to DC this October 10-11th to demand equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states. Now.

On October 11th our march will begin at 12:00 noon and end on the west lawn of the Capitol building. Our rally will begin approximately at 2:00 p.m. with three hours of inspirational speeches and music."

If you are passionate about GLBT rights make a point to attend this weekend. Expressing our right to assemble is one of the most effective and inspirational ways to make a difference in national politics.

A Common Paradox in the Third World

How does a third world country as poverty stricken as Haiti bring in foreign investors to rebuild its economy while it remains unsafe and unstable under a non-existent economy?

It comes down to a difficult question - Which came first, the crime and poverty or the lack of foreign investors? What came first is usually the destruction of a society by a colonial power, but now in that aftermath, with out a safe environment for investors to bring in capital, foreign investors will not be willing to invest. Without investors, a safe environment prepped for re-stabilization cannot be created.

So what does a country like Haiti do? As much as it needs humanitarian aid from non-profits, it also needs cold hard cash to jump-start its economy from those with profit-focused minds.

Bill Clinton and the United Nations visited Haiti this week on a special convoy to increase investor confidence in the region. With an unemployment rate of over 70 percent there is a job force that needs these jobs, Haiti now needs revolutionary capitalists that are brave enough to tap into its resources.

Obama "disses" the Dalai Lama

This week the Dalai Lama will visit Washington DC and for the first time since 1991 he will not be greeted by the president of the United States. Obama will purposely not hold any meetings with the Spiritual Leader of Tibet in an act of seemingly twisted diplomacy.

The United States now more than ever relies on China for economic support. Add that to the recent increased nuclear threats from Iran, the Obama administration has been forced to forge stronger ties with China, as an ally against Iran's enrichment program and a large holder of American debt.

China, which has had military control of Tibet beginning in 1950, has long violated human rights in the area infamously targeting Tibetan monks in violent attacks.

The President will not meet with the Dalai Lama until after his first official trip to Beijing in January.

It seems more than a little backwards for the President of the United States to be turning away a nobel peace prize recipient and iconic visionary out of fear for what China may do in response. The people of Tibet are repressed and denied basic freedoms every day by the communist government of China and Obama cannot even meet with their exiled leader who only preaches peace and universal understanding.

Recently China cancelled talks with a group of European nations after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with the Dalai Lama, South Africa also recently denied him entrance into the country.

It seems to me that our place in international politics must really be at a weak point if such a blatant act of disrespect must be made towards one of the Holiest men in the world, just so our most recent "ally", a country who repeatedly ignores human rights laws within and outside of its borders, doesn't look down upon us in this time of need.

POSSIBLE HUGE NEWS

The Daily Beast, an independent blog news Web site and The New York Times are reporting that during talks in Geneva Iran has agreed to send 1200 kilograms (2645.5 pounds) of enriched uranium to Russia for processing. This would leave Iran without enough enriched uranium to create a nuclear bomb. Skeptics note that Iran may in fact have additional hidden stockpiles of uranium meaning this gesture would merely act as appeasement towards the U.N. security council.

“We’re not interested in talking for the sake of talking. If Iran does not take steps in the near future to live up to its obligations, then the United States will not continue to negotiate indefinitely.” President Obama said of Iran today.

As a slight breath of relief is let out by the western world we must remain diligent and watchful of the unreliable Iranian leaders as they attempt to keep to their word - allow inspection of their facilities as well as sending enriched uranium out of Iran.

Disaster in Indonesia and Samoa

A series of earthquakes hit Indonesia Wednesday night and Tuesday morning. The port city of Padang was hit especially hard with hundreds of building crashing to the ground trapping victims under tons of rubble.

The first quake registered as a 7.6 on the Richter scale. The second quake hitting less than 12 hours later regitered as a 6.6. At least 530 people have been declared deceased since the first tremors hit.

American Samoa was also effected by natural disaster yesterday. An underwater earthquake registering an 8.0 sent tsunamis crashing into American Samoa, Samoa and the island of Tonga. President Obama declared American Samoa as an area of major disaster.

These two events were not directly caused by the same natural occurrence.

With the death toll speculated to drastically rise as relief efforts reach more and more areas of devastation, relief effrots are greatly needed.

The Red Cross is collecting donations on its Web site, as is as Oxfam New Zealand.

GENEVA TODAY

For the first time in decades America and Iran will meet to discuss a variety of issues. This direct contact between the Iran, America and the four other permanent members of the U.N. security council plus Germany, will hopefully focus on Iran's recent omission of a hidden uranium enrichment center. One goal of the Obama administration will be to secure an official inspection of Iran's enrichment program in the immediate future.

These unprecedented talks could possibly strengthen our relations with Iran and bring about a peaceful solution to the threat of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon. They could also end as a complete diplomatic failure.

More updates to come as the meetings continue throughout the day.

here is the NYT link to the ongoing story