Giving an Inch Only to Lose a Mile: Muslim States, Liberalism, and Human Rights in the United Nations

Turan Kayaoglu 

From: Human Rights Quarterly Volume 36, Number 1, February 2014 pp. 61-89

Buoyed by the liberal values dominant at the United Nations, secular groups have effectively imposed the parameters of liberal discourse on religious actors in human rights debates. The adoption of liberal discourse by religious groups makes them vulnerable. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s campaign at the United Nations surrounding the anti-defamation of religions illustrates this. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation and leading Muslim states adopted liberal language that empowers liberal, secular groups, as these groups hold the prerogative of defining the parameters of the liberal discourse and, thus, the parameters of acceptable religious discourse at the United Nations.

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CIA torture architect breaks silence to defend 'enhanced interrogation'

• James Mitchell 'highly skeptical' of Senate report on CIA torture
• 'It was not illegal based on the law at the time’
• Mitchell said to have waterboarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
 • Interview: 'I'm just a guy who got asked to do something for his country’      

By Jason Leopold        

theguardian.com, Friday 18 April 2014

The psychologist regarded as the architect of the CIA's “enhanced interrogation” program has broken a seven-year silence to defend the use of torture techniques against al-Qaida terror suspects in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

In an uncompromising and wide-ranging interview with the Guardian, his first public remarks since he was linked to the program in 2007, James Mitchell was dismissive of a Senate intelligence committee report on CIA torture in which he features, and which is currently at the heart of an intense row between legislators and the agency.

The committee’s report found that the interrogation techniques devised by Mitchell, a retired air force psychologist, were far more brutal than disclosed at the time, and did not yield useful intelligence. These included waterboarding, stress positions, sleep deprivation for days at a time, confinement in a box and being slammed into walls.

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Trends in international arms transfers, 2013 Siemon T. Wezeman and Pieter D. Wezeman

Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute
March 2014

The SIPRI Arms Transfers Database now contains information on all international transfers of major conventional weapons from 1950 to the end of 2013. It is the only publicly available resource providing consistent data on international arms transfers for this length of time. This Fact Sheet describes the trends in international arms transfers that are revealed by the new data. It lists the main suppliers and recipients for the period 2009–13 and describes the changes in regional trends.

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Marlon Brando's Oscar® win for " The Godfather" and Human Rights

Two Movies on Aborigines

The Tracker 2002

Ten Canoes 2007