So, open conflict has broken out in Palestine again, with both Israel and Hamas dramatically raising the stakes in Gaza. I have become sufficiently jaded that I simply see this as another International Relations pissing contest where actual civilians disappear into the smog of mindless political one-upsmanship. It is conflict such as this that ( Read more... )

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
- "For the Fallen", Laurence Binyon

A brief history of ANZAC Day.Lest we forget ( Read more... )

Wow, it's November already. Where does the time go? I'm struggling to keep up with this year. I do recall asking for a fast year back at its start, and I quite delightfully seem to have gotten my wish. This coming month is going to be chaotic. I'm excited and nervous, and I probably won't be on LJ much, so I apologise if I take forever to ( Read more... )

I have been saying for a while now that I feel the so-called threat of terrorism is considerably over-rated and exaggerated (though I don't think I've brought this to LJ before), and an article I was watching on the news this evening really rammed home that opinion for me. It seems to me that arguments relating to terrorism are becoming ( Read more... )

I have been trying to formulate a stance on the present conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, but I am finding such a task more difficult with every passing day. At heart, I am a pacifist, and it is hard to merge my beliefs with the reality. I do believe Israel has a right to exist, and whether or not its creation in 1948 was a mistake doesn't ( Read more... )

I have explained the history of ANZAC Day before, so today, I wish to simply honour those who did not return. All told, New Zealand suffered the most deaths per capita of any country in World War I (despite the fact conflict never touched our soil), and the Australian military suffered the highest rate of casualties of any military involved in the ( Read more... )

The most interesting article on the news tonight was, in my opinion, the release of an extensive list of names of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Interesting, because it shows such blatant hypocrisy on behalf of the US government. Of the five hundred and fighty-eight people on the list, only ten have actually been charged with anything. Some ( Read more... )

I've been trying to articulate some current thoughts into an entry but the words aren't coming, at least not to my satisfaction. The general gist is that I deeply believe in the sanctity of life but I am appalled at the hypocrisy of many who claim to agree with my position. I believe quite passionately that taking another human life is not ( Read more... )

I remember sometime, I believe roughly two years ago, I wrote about how hard it was for me to watch the news because the sorrow and pain in the reports affected me too much. It seems the opposite is now happenning - there's simply so much tragedy in the world that I'm becoming numb to it. When the London bombings happened, I followed the news ( Read more... )