an international cluster fuck

two south korean missionaries dead. i feel terrible for their families, but i choose to distance myself to view the situation from a political standpoint and how this event has affected global politics:

from the korean herald:
In a desperate attempt to prevent the further killing of South Korean hostages in Afghanistan, the South Korean government yesterday pleaded for the international community's support in showing flexibility in negotiations with the Taliban kidnappers.

"We are fully aware of the principle position of the international community in terms of solving the kidnap issue. It is, however, also highly valuable in terms of a humanitarian perspective to add flexibility to this principle position in order to save the precious lives of the civilians," Cheong Wa Dae said in a statement announced by spokesman Cheon Ho-seon in a press briefing televised live nationwide.

from al jazeera:
Al Jazeera's Bernard Smith said that the Afghan president's office had held a news conference on Tuesday saying it did not want to turn hostage-taking "into an industry", having been criticised over previous deals with the Taliban.

from the new york times:
“As everyone knows, the Taliban’s demand is something the U.S. government can help resolve, not the Afghan or South Korean government,” it said. “The South Korean government, citing its alliance with the United States, dispatched troops for the U.S. war against terrorism,” it added. “Now why can’t it use the spirit of the alliance to help persuade the U.S. administration and save its own people?”

under pressure from its own citizens, the korean government is now requesting the international community to change its policy on terrorist hostage situations. koreans in the u.s. are now pressuring the government to take action. the taliban has recently released a video of a german hostange, perhaps to spurn on germany to increase the pressure on the afghani government. it's a global domino effect.

i'm glad to see that the new york times finally released an article on the killings, given it was after a state department spokesman went on the record with the korean herald. i've been wondering what the time lapse would be between domestic and international coverage.

the new taliban imposed deadline: wednesday 0730 GMT or 11:30 PM in alaska. islamic and pushtun culture dictates that women should not be harmed in this situation. however, there are still 3 men left. it's a matter of hours to see what happens next.

rant

i have a particular dislike for religious missionaries (or really anyone) going into certain countries (in this case, afghanistan) thinking that they can do more good than anyone else.

you might affect the life of one person, yes. you might provide that child with medicine to allow them to survive one more day in a world that will see it dead. you may be able to raise a standard of life for one day. but at what cost?

you become a liability that is greater than yourself and the number of individuals that you can possibly affect. you affect politics that will have negative consequences that touch hundreds, thousands, and hundreds of thousands of individuals.

as a race, we are selfish. and there are few of us who are willing to help.

but for those of us who have that motivation to do good and actually put that energy into real action, let's not be so narrowly confined in how we help that we ignore the global picture.

23 south korean protestant missionaries were kidnapped by the taliban. they were mostly nurses and teachers, and i imagine they believed they could touch a few lives here and there, and leave with the warm fuzzies that we all seek from a good work. but at what cost?

they've now put the south korean government in a position to negotiate. while south korea already had plans to withdraw its troops by the end of the year, now it must consider a more expensive and perhas dangerous withdrawal. the taliban has insisted that the agfhanistan government release as many taliban prisoners as there are hostages.

these 23 individuals, with all the positive motivation in the world, have directly compromised two governments. these two governments, in addition, are part of a global balance of power. their actions will affect the actions and reactions of others.

there are times when one must accept that some situations, people, and places aren't ready when we are. we must be patient and apply our good intentions to those that are ready and waiting for us to act. how many countries out there are politically and mentally prepared for the good work of these 23 south korean nurses and teachers? just one would have been enough.

finally, if one is going to be so naive as to believe they can create real change in afghanistan, let's at least think rationally:
* provide security. god is great, but so are private security forces (see: private military company)

*don't bring women without cultural considerations. this is a religious group who installed the strictest form of islam in the country, banning even foreign females from driving vehicles. you are going to bring unveiled foreign women to perform their profession into afghanistan?

/rant

sources: al jazeera, taliban extends hostages deadlines; new york times, taliban said to extend hostage deadline

colonoscopy

i love the fact that al jazeera reports on president bush's upcoming colonoscopy at the end of an article regarding a ban on CIA torture:

Colonoscopy

Meanwhile Snow announced Bush is due to have a routine colonoscopy on Saturday and will temporarily hand presidential powers to Dick Cheney, the vice president, the White House said.

Snow said Bush will have the procedure at his Camp David mountaintop retreat.

He last had a colorectal cancer check on June 29, 2002. For the general population, a colonoscopy to screen for colon cancer is recommended every 10 years.

But for people at higher risk or if a colonoscopy detects precancerous polyps, follow-up colonoscopies often are scheduled in three to five year intervals.


source: bush bans cia suspect torture

mixed feelings

Zheng Xiaoyu, the former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration, was executed July 10 for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash. He became the highest ranking Chinese official ever to be put to death.


as a result of faulty approval for unsanitized medicine, 14 people died and hundreds are estimated to be injured.

among the dead: 6 year old liu sichen

about to start elementary school with a brand new pink backpack. given medication to combat a tonsil infection.

among the injured: 5 year old du haipeng

given the medication for a sore throat, fell into a coma for 22 days and no longer speaks "very often"


we often speak of an eye for an eye, but do we really mean it? should the director of China's FDA been executed for his mistake?

source: for 2 children, ban of a drug came too late

khalid w. hassan
23 years old
shot

sympathy given as a recently-aged 24 year old former journalist who once aspired to become a war correspondent; who obsessed with its history while studying at oxford; and who analyzed hundreds of articles on the unfolding events in iraq for her research in d.c.

little of which would have been possible or tangible without reporters on the front line, providing the information that gave flesh to the bare bone facts.

source: new york times journalist killed baghdad