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58261. The Law of Betrayal in the Wild West Bank

Author:
Ed Morgan
Publication Date:
12-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Journal of International Law and International Relations
Institution:
Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto
Abstract:
The response by Israel's Foreign Minister to the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory has struck a chord that echoes with history. As Silvan Shalom put it, in condemning his state's defences the Court has condemned its own set of legal norms, in the process becoming 'equally guilty of betrayal.' Other commentators, pointing to the failure of the Court to address the catalogue of violence presented in the Israeli submissions, have accused the United Nations of 'a betrayal of its Charter commitment to peace and security.' It is as if in denying Israel's claim to self-defence with respect to the barrier that snakes along the Green Line and through the West Bank, the Court has both sentenced the country to death and sealed its own fate as a normative authority.
Political Geography:
Israel and Palestine

58262. Transforming U.S. Intelligence

Author:
Jennifer E. Sims and Burton Gerber
Publication Date:
09-2005
Content Type:
Book
Abstract:
Intelligence failures prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the “missing” weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq have reminded Americans that good intelligence is crucial for national security. Indeed, the report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States led quickly to the enactment of legislation restructuring the intelligence community, underscoring both the capacity of American citizens to change their most secretive governmental institutions and their appreciation of the importance of the intelligence mission. The families of the victims of September 11 recognized their opportunity to reform the U.S. government's intelligence service and, remarkably, they did so. At the end of 2004 President George W. Bush signed into law the first strategically significant changes in the American intelligence system since it was created at the end of World War II.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Defense Policy, Terrorism, Insurgency, and Counterinsurgency
Political Geography:
United States

58263. Table of Contents

Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
No abstract is available.

58264. Dedication

Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In the scales of concentrated sadness, the sudden loss of an exceptional compatriot is one of the most acute. In the early morning of July 11, 2005, Mr. Abdulkadir Yahya Ali was assassinated at his residence in Mogadishu, and in front of his wife. Activists come in a variable quality; Abdulkadir was sterling—that is, he was a tireless, courageous, reasoned, and optimistic devotee of national reconciliation and peace, and a founding member of the National Civic Forum. He joins the unsung heroes whose lives have been cut short by murderers antithetical to the return of national solidarity and justice to Somali time. We pray that Allah will reward him for his noble earthly deeds on behalf of the Somali people.
Political Geography:
Somalia

58265. Editor's Note

Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Volume five of Bildhaan is a tad different than earlier issues. First, we are pleased to offer, in print, pieces that appeared, though updated, on electronic sites that cater to readers on Somali affairs. Second, we are formalizing a section that, in the future, will record documents, no matter how controversial, that we deem to be of critical value for constructive debates on the nature and directions of the Somali people and society. Third, Abdi and Ahmed Samatar's writings are overrepresented. Though we promise not to make this a habit, we feel the pertinence and timeliness of all three pieces to be compelling enough. Fourth, Bildhaan, as we promised in the inaugural volume in 2001, is open to both scholarly and artistic contributions. Fifth, in the spirit of the editorial essay in this volume, we plan to occasionally publish opinion pieces—including responses to the editorial included here—that reflect on contemporary and substantive issues. Consequently, we invite our readers to submit well-written and carefully reasoned pieces (around 3,000 words) for consideration.
Political Geography:
Somalia

58266. Transition and Leadership: An Editorial

Author:
Ahmed I. Samatar and Abdi Ismail Samatar
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Let's begin with one fundamental assertion: We both feel deeply for Somalia and its people—our people. In the heat of this moment, some might dismiss such a sentiment as rather anachronistic. But even if there is some grain of truth to that judgment, we hold firmly that the instinct is a viable and deliberate mistiming commensurate with the imperatives of the long durée. Our loyalty, therefore, is to no individual or political group. On the contrary, we define ourselves as civic scholars whose sole interest is to make whatever small contribution our modest talents will allow to the revival of Somali national identity, dignity, and purpose. This brief essay's central concern, then, is the direction of the country in the wake of the recent announcements of a new leadership and political institutions. We offer these thoughts, though somewhat melancholic in word and tone, with the hope that our compatriots will use the new tidings as a potentially valuable development (albeit not a tabula rasa as one would have wished for); that is, a fleeting opportunity to be used to move out of the current morass and positively forge ahead towards an authentic renewal.
Political Geography:
Somalia

58267. In Limbo: Dependency, Insecurity, and Identity amongst Somali Refugees in Dadaab Camps

Author:
Awa M. Abdi
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
Somalia is still in a protracted political limbo as it enters its fifteenth year of “statelessness.” Despite the precarious situation of Somali refugees scattered across many parts of the world, both the country and the plight of its refugees remain off the radar of the world media. The atrocities committed in the process of the overthrow of Siyaad Barre's regime in 1991, and the clanistic power struggles that followed, led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Somalis. The refugees initially fled to the neighboring countries of Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya, subsequently moving on to countries near and far. Those who were fortunate enough to escape the trials and tribulations inherent in exile in countries such as Kenya, where existing resources are barely able to meet the basic needs of the native population and where most refugees still remain in closed camps, moved on to more prosperous countries where they obtained refugee status. Most were not so fortunate, however.
Political Geography:
Kenya and Somalia

58269. Ethiopian Ethnic Federalism and Regional Autonomy: The Somali Test

Author:
Abdi Ismail Samatar
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In the 1990s in Africa, two sharply contrasting models of state-society relations and the role of ethnicity in national affairs have emerged. The first is the unitary dispensation that rejects the ethnic classification of its citizens while cognizant of the ill effects of a race and ethnicbased apartheid order. The African National Congress (ANC) and its allies in South Africa opted for a strategy they thought would ensure the country's political and administrative restructuring but would not perpetuate sectarian ethnic identity at the expense of citizenship. Consequently, the post-apartheid regional administrative structure and boundaries are not based on ethnicity. Further, the populations in these regions elect their provincial councils, and have gained some degree of fiscal autonomy, although South Africa remains a unitary state. A key manifestation of the system's competitiveness is the fact that opposition parties have governed two of the wealthiest and most populous regions for most of the past decade and the ANC has been unable to dislodge them until the most recent election in 2004. Although the ANC won the most votes in Kwa Zulu–Natal and the Western Cape, it lacks a majority in these provincial councils to unilaterally form regional administrations. This openness of the political process has made possible a significant degree of regional autonomy in a unitary system.
Political Geography:
Africa, South Africa, and Somalia

58270. In Siyaad Barre's Prison: A Brief Recollection

Author:
Mahamud M. Yahya
Publication Date:
07-2005
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Bildhaan: An International Journal of Somali Studies
Institution:
Macalester College
Abstract:
In my view and in the view of many witnesses of Somalia's recent history, an important element of the terrible abuse of power and authority during the dictatorial regime of the late Gen. Mohamed Siyaad Barre was the arbitrary and widespread detention of dissidents, political opponents, and even ordinary Somalis who just expressed an honest opinion on the state of affairs in their country. These incarcerations were usually without any charges, and, in the end, without trial. For this reason, men like Aden Abdillah Osman, the first President of the Somali Republic; Premier Abdirazak H. Hussein; the late Mohamed Ibrahim Egal, ex-President of the self-declared Somaliland Republic and former Prime Minister of Somalia; Abdillahi Issa, First Foreign Minister; Gen. Mohamed Abshir Muse, former Commander of Somalia's Police Force; Michael Mariano, pioneer nationalist, Parliamentarian, and distinguished civil servant; Col. Abdillahi Yusuf, current President of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia; the late Gen. Mohamed Farah Aideed, former USC leader; and Col. Jama Ali Jama, one-time president of the Puntland region; each had to spend months or years in detention, some in solitary confinement. But they were never brought to a real court of justice because they were simply being persecuted for reasons that included possibly rallying righteous disapproval and discontent, competition for power, or because Siyaad Barre disliked them personally.
Political Geography:
Somalia