Iran has executed 29 people. For shame. What civilized country still executes people? Iran especially makes a show of their long history of civilization and still they execute. They also claim to be Muslim, yet they kill. It’s the mark of authoritarianism, not authority. Dictators in our past have done it, but the best of us never did. It is a disgrace.
Related Posts
Mehta on Mumbai
Suketu Mehta, author of the magnificent Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found, has a moving Op-Ed in the NYT about the Mumbai tragedies. Anna at Sepia Mutiny does a close reading of the text. Both are worth your time. Mumbai
Mullah Jacques
Pop quiz: What country meets the following criteria? Women are told how to dress Christians cannot profess their faith Jews cannot practice their religion You gut instinct may be to think of some state with a repressive interpretation of Islam; perhaps Afghanistan under the Taliban; perhaps Saudia Arabia. If I told you that they had declared weapons of mass destruction – and not that non-conventional stuff dressed up – but real nuclear weapons. Your first thought might be, incorrectly as we know now, of Iraq.
A Terror Trials Pep Talk
There are two reasons I am utterly baffled by the possible reversal of the decision to try terrorists in federal court. First, it comes at a time when efforts to find, kill, and capture terrorists are having significant success. The key, it turns out, is to be dogged and professional, rather than going to “the dark side.” And that’s the other puzzling thing — that arguments based on fear-mongering and emphasizing the appearance of toughness still carry weight long after they were shown to do more harm than good. … We’ve got this totally backwards; this is a chance for…