“When the mayi-mayi (community-based militia groups in the DRC) attacked my village, we all ran away. In our flight, the soldiers captured all the girls, even the very young. Once with the soldiers, you were forced to marry one of the soldiers. Whether he was as old as your father or young, bad or nice, you had to accept. If you refused, they would kill you. This happened to one of my friends. They would slaughter people like chickens. They wouldn’t even bury the bodies they slaughtered—they would even feed on their flesh. I even saw a girl who refused to be ‘married’ being tortured.”

Jasmine, 16, the DRC

By Paola Salwan, Programme Assistant for Africa, Middle East and Europe at the World YWCA, and co-founder of the Blog Café Thawra

On this UN International Day to End Violence Against Women, I would like to raise an important and rather invisible subject: the issue of the Girl Soldier.

International Criminal Law considers the enrolment of children as warriors as a war crime in many texts, including the Rome Statute of 1998 establishing the International Criminal Court (Article 8)2)b)xxvi)):

For the purpose of this Statute, “war crimes” means: (…)

(b)     Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts (…)

(xxvi)     Conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into the national armed forces or using them to participate actively in hostilities.

The Rome Statute also classifies enlisting children as a war crime in the setting of a non international conflict, at article 8)2)e)vi). This is of enormous importance as contemporary wars tend to be internal rather than international, and foreseeing these cases can prevent war criminals to get away with a “Would the international community kindly don’t interfere with the my country’s issues please? I’m busy killing, raping and enrolling people here”. The ICC is thus currently trying Democratic Republic of the Congo warlord Thomas Lubanga for conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers.

It is reported that girls make up for 1/10 to 1/3 of the child soldiers in armed conflicts, depending on the country.The issue of the girl soldier is something that doesn’t get a lot of attention within the International Community; yet it should, as it crystallises all types of violence women and girls have to bear in times of peace.

For there is nothing better than a good crisis to get a society flaws out in the open.

Why, and how, do girls become soldiers? There could be many reasons to that, including that the girl voluntarily joins the militias. Girls are also forced into waging war, whether physically or emotionally, by blackmailing them: “If you do not come and fight for us, oh well, we’ll just torture and kill your family”. Indeed, girls are central to the war machine: they act as sex slaves for the soldiers, fight like boys and men, and perform all kinds of chores. No wonder they’re regularly abducted.

However, let us dig a teensy bit deeper into the so-called “voluntary” joining of girls in armed conflicts. Studies have shown that girl soldiers joined militias to escape domestic violence or abuse, but also in an attempt as self-protection: some girls declared preferring to go and fight rather than wait for militiamen to come and rape or kill them. Summing up, girls tend to join national violence to escape from the domestic violence they have to bear, and to shield themselves from the seemingly inevitable abuse they will face eventually.

Just because they were born a girl.

Needless to say, girl soldiers will be abused by their brothers in arms or by their supervisors, sometimes getting pregnant, which can assure them the eternal rejection of their community and family, sometimes getting HIV/AIDS or other STDs, sometimes both.

I have to say, I had a hard time digesting the extraordinary amount of violence, stigma, abuse and torture that girl soldiers have to face: they are enrolled because of violence (whatever its form), used (in all the acceptations of the word) and rendered afterwards to civil life, full of hatred, to bear the enormous stigma and contempt of their society, having lost all sense of self. Their reinsertion into civil life is even more difficult than for their male counterparts, because of the women and girls’ status in the society: in most societies, raped and abused women are synonymous of disgrace and dishonour, and a girl who has been known not only to be a fighter but also to carry a militiaman’s child is to be ostracized. That the girl is a victim doesn’t even come into the equation with this reasoning.

Civil society organisations and the international community set up rehabilitation centres, providing the children with education, counselling and health services. Sadly, the advocacy for rehabilitating girl soldiers will be long and painful, so set in stone is the prejudice towards these girls. However, it is also important to note the strength and resilience of the former girl soldiers, who, even though they have been maimed, tortured, abused, raped and ostracized, carry on living, day by day, nurturing their hopes and licking their wounds.

Every day should be the International Day to End Violence Against Women Day.

For more information and testimonies:

http://womennewsnetwork.net/2009/01/13/ugandagirlsoldier809/

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/21545/

http://intlawgrrls.blogspot.com/2009/02/girl-soldiers-in-sierra-leone.html

http://www.childsoldiersglobalreport.org/

Time check – 2.46am in Singapore and 6.46pm in Ireland. Omg I’m so damn awake now! I’m having such a difficult time trying to adjust my body clock back. Anyway despite the bad weather and jetlag, it feels really good to be back, to seeing familiar faces and places. I got my well deserved sleep this afternoon (which is NIGHT in Ireland), and I’ve never felt so deeply asleep in the last 3 months!

Satisfied my ICC craving earlier with my all-time favourite Watermelony!!!!!!!! Anyway visiting the beach, and seeing Asians reminded me of who and where I am. All the buildings, the people, the place, the feeling and everything else… remained the same, and I am very, very, VERY relieved. I hate Changes.

Lunch with the mother and sister tomorrow afternoon, haircut after, Sushi Buffet (YUMZ) with Verena and IT show with the sister in the night. I feel so happy slipping into my usual normal Singapore routine.

OH and Ryan reminded me that I have a 10km run to complete next Sunday, and uhhh when’s the last time I ran? I cannot remember…….. Shoot me!

Dear friends of Burma,
Please see attached important document URL are ongoing legal struggle for the part of Burma Democracy and Peace in Burma.

I would like to share the current international pressure actions and movement are so much important of international community to withhold support for Burma’s 2010 elections until the constitution is amended and human rights abuses perpetrated by the government end.

I believe that international pressure can have an effect on the regime in Burma.

I really recommended to all of my friends to read all of reports and reiterates that the global community cannot support a criminal constitution or the ongoing elections, and that the only justice for the people of Burma is a referral to the International Criminal Court.

Best Regards,
Zaw Win

“There can be no global justice unless the worst of crimes against humanity are subject to the law.
In this age more than ever, we recognize that the crime of genocide against one people truly is an assault on us all –a crime against humanity. The establishment of an International Criminal Court
will ensure that humanity’s response will be swift and will be just.”

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
Call President Obama to sign into law

Call for the President Obama Administration to support United Nations Security Council Commission of Inquiry to investigate the Burmese regime’s war crimes, crimes against humanity, and system of impunity (US Policy toward Burma and House Resolution 898, calling for the Obama Administration to support a UNSC Commission of Inquiry)

(http://thomas.loc.gov/home/gpoxmlc111/hr898_ih.xml)

High-Rise Safety Codes Can Save Your Life

Let’s face it. Code talk is dry. Even though I’m in the business of fire safety and disaster prevention, reading through codes and the like puts me to sleep. But sometimes we need to talk code because knowing safety-related stuff like this will help protect you whether you own, live or work in a building. And, besides those of us who live in doghouses, this covers us all.

So here are the new codes, in brief:

• All of the guidelines are meant for high-rise buildings, which have floors located more than 75 feet above the lowest level of fire department vehicle access.
• Impact-resistant walls in elevators should protect from potential fire-related blasts or projectiles.
• New requirements focus on extra redundancies to sprinkler risers. (If there’s anything I hate, it is redundant redundancies.)
• A minimum of two water mains must be connected to the fire pump water supply.
• New Smoke removal requirements are set for buildings in the cleanup phase after a fire.
• Electrically-powered fire pumps must be under an emergency power load.
• To decrease the risk of injuries, new requirements aid the movement of occupants out of buildings. Knowing how to safety exit a building in case of emergency makes sense to me.
• New rules regarding the required distance between exit stairway enclosures have been established.
• During emergencies, official personnel need to use stairways. So new guidelines allow for additional exits.
• Luminous egress path markings will ensure that building occupants know exactly where to go. Lighting the way should cut down on confusion in cases of emergency.
• New requirements for a fire service access elevator will give firefighters a safe and fast way to reach staging areas. This should help cut down on the time it takes to fight fires.
• Occupant elevators can be used for evacuation, if the new, specific requirements are met.
• Also good news, completion of the requirements may allow exemption from the additional stairway requirement mentioned earlier.

Be sure to review the detailed requirements before implementing changes. Visit the International Code Council website for more information or check out the complete list of new requirements at RJ Westmore Inc. RJ Westmore is a credible source for property managers and owners to learn about building-related issues. Refer your colleagues to our blog so they can also stay informed about the latest industry trends. And, no matter how dry the code may be, make sure you do what it takes to BE SAFE.

By ASHLEY BROWNE

Another summer of cricket is upon us and can’t you just sense the excitement everywhere?

No? We can’t either.

Cricket doesn’t have a great hold on the national sporting psyche right now. It is partly disappointment over the failed Ashes campaign last winter, partly disillusionment over a pair of underwhelming opponents on the schedule this summer and general question marks over Test cricket versus one-dayers versus 20-20.

All are worthy of lengthy dissertations of their own, but the issue to be addressed here is cricket’s off-season, or to be more precise, the lack of it.

The anticipation ahead of Thursday’s opening Test against the West Indies should equal that before the start of football season – league, union, soccer or AFL.

But since the end of last summer, the Australians have been to South Africa for Test and one-dayers, England for the same, and India for one-dayers. Chuck in the IPL and then the Champions League, and Australian cricketers have been engaged pretty much non-stop for more than a year.

Famously, when Peter Siddle was released from the Australian one-day squad for the last few matches in India a few weeks back, it emerged that he hadn’t slept in his own bed for about five months.

And while most Australian players have been rested at some stage through what has been a marathon year, the team itself has not. For more than a year, Australia has been playing, or preparing for some sort of cricket series.

Every other major sport has a mandated off-season. Soccer, tennis, baseball and basketball have long seasons, too long most of the time, but they do shut down for at least a few weeks each year. The AFL and NRL make headlines for nearly 52 weeks a year, but there are several months each year when no games are played.

But not cricket, and it is damaging the sport. While we are not suggesting for a moment that the Australian cricketers sit idly for half a year, there is overwhelming evidence that players need some sort of formal rest, and the general lack of excitement ahead of what should be a landmark event on the sporting calendar – the opening day of the First Test – suggests that fans need an off-season as well.

However, given the might and power of Indian TV interests and the thumb-twiddling of the International Cricket Council, chances are strong that we won’t be getting one any time soon.

I have just returned from three weeks’ holiday in Japan, hence the inactiveness of this blog.

The visit was mainly rest and relaxation, but I put aside one day to kick off research that for a book about international justice that I plan to write.

I spent a day interviewing people in Tokyo about the war crimes trials that took place shortly after the second world war.

One interview in particular stands out for the raw emotion that I felt whilst conducting it.

The interview was with the grandson of one of those who were indicted for war crimes after the second world war. Not only that, but this particular indictee, as foreign minister, had signed the declaration that authorised the attack on Pearl Harbour which ultimately brought the US into the war.

I had studied all of this in history, of course, but that was text book stuff. This really brought history home, with surprising force. Here was a real person who suffered through these real events, and it took me away from the dusty tombs of A-level history to a world of real people and real feelings.

“For my parents, the Tokyo trials were a matter of life and death,” this interviewee said – since most of the indictees were getting the gallows.

When his grandfather was sentenced to imprisonment instead, his mother got up and said, “we won”.

Besides this fabulously illuminating interview, what came across during my time in Tokyo was how politically-motivated the trials had been.

Few seemed to deny that they were simply “victor’s justice”, with no suggestion that the other side should also be held to account for their crimes.

Moreover, the Tokyo trials were very much shaped by the politics of the time. One university professor said it was very important to look at what the trials (heavily backed by the US) sought to achieve – and that was speedy demilitarisation of Japan. This explains why the emperor, who should have at least been questioned even if he was never indicted, was never touched.

The concept of international justice seems to have changed little, then.

The whole raison d’etre of the ICC is to bring lasting peace to regions afflicted by war, and to put an end to human rights abuses.

Which means that politics necessarily goes hand-in-hand with justice, undermining the purist’s view that the ICC should just be about justice.

That was never the idea, and it can’t work.

The UN’s Security Council (political) makes the referral to the ICC (judicial), and it is then up to the ICC to start an investigation (or not, as the case may be). The two bodies are theoretically separate, but one could argue that they shouldn’t be. There should at least be some formal recognition of the ICC’s political intent.

Look at the mess left by trying to indict Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on a purely judicial basis. Now had one said, yes, we should indict Bashir, but there may be reasons for not indicting him, things may have worked somewhat smoother.

Kelemahan #3

Grp ICC tak gunakan why-why analisis..( ” BANGAU O BANGAU…”)

Tiada  why-why analisis bermakna

• Tulang ikan tidak dipecahkan kepada tulang-tulang kecil
• Grp ICC akan menyenarai pendek semua punca dengan melakukan teknik smart , undian  atau relation diagram ( alat baru QC) dan macam-macam lagi teknik.
• Selepas tu buat Rajah Isikawa # 2, buat varifikasi dan validasi  atas baki punca dan buat Rajah Isikawa # 3 untuk menunjukkan punca paling mungkin

• Malang sekali ada beranggapan bila buat banyak Rajah Isikawa, maka banyak lah markah yang akan diperolehi untuk tujuan Konvensyen

Tindakan pembetulan :

• Tujuan why-why analisis adalah untuk mencari punca akhir yang menyebabkan berlakunya masalah dalam  Rajah Isikawa.
• Varifikasi dan Validasi hanya kepada punca-punca terakhir sahaja (sebab kita dah buat why-why analisis).. maknanya kita tak payah guna smart atau matrik atau undian atau  relation diagram untuk menyenarai pendek punca.
• Sekiranya anda berjaya memecahkan why kepada  lebih banyak why … bermakna analisa punca anda cukup terperinci.
• Dalam proses ini hanya ada 2 Rajah Isikawa yang akan dibentuk iaitu Rajah isikawa why-why dan Rajah isikawa untuk punca paling mungkin selepas verifikasi dan validasi.

Ingat why-why analisis – ingat lagu “ Bangau Oh Bangau “…..

Bangau oh Bangau

Kenapa engkau kurus ( masalah )

Macam mana aku tak kurus

Ikan tidak timbul ( why 1)

ikan oh ikan

Kenapa engkau tidak timbul

Macam mana aku nak timbul

Rumput panjang sangat 2x ( why 2)

rumput oh rumput

Kenapa panjang sangat

Macam mana aku tak panjang

Kerbau tak makan aku2x ( why 3)

Oh kerbau oh kerbau

Kenapa engkau tak makan rumput

Macam mana aku nak makan

Perut aku sakit2x (why 4)

perut oh perut

Kenapa engkau sakit

Macam mana aku tak sakit

Makan nasi mentah2x (why 5)

nasi oh nasi

Kenapa engkau mentah

Macam mana aku tak mentah

Kayu api basah2x ( why 6)

kayu oh kayu

Kenapa engkau basah

Macam mana aku tak basah

Hujan timpa aku2x (why 7)

Hujan oh hujan

Kenapa engkau timpa kayu

Macam mana aku tak timpa kayu

Katak panggil aku2x ( why

Katak oh katak

Kenapa engkau panggil hujan

Macam mana aku tak panggil

Ular nak makan aku2x ( why 9)

Ular oh ular

Kenapa engkau kau nak makan katak

Macam mana aku tak makan katak

Memang makanan aku2x

Klik…….Contoh why-why analisis- ICC Group Sinar – Petronas Dagangan Bhd.

Events Nov 2009

ICC Campaigns in Asia: Prospects and challenges in Afghanistan, Burma and Indonesia
25 Nov 2009
25 November 2009 – 7:30 P.M.

Moderator: Ms. Evelyn Serrano, Asia and Pacific Coordinator, Coalition for the ICC (Manila, Philippines)

Panellists:
Mr. Niamatullah Ibrahimi, Deputy Director, AfghanWatch
Mr. Aung Htoo, general secretary, Burma Lawyers’ Council
Mr. Bhatara Ibnu Reza, executive member, Indonesian Civil Society Network for the ICC

The Supranational Criminal Law Lectures series are organised by the T.M.C Asser Instituut, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies (Leiden University, Campus The Hague).

Attendance is free. Seats are limited.
Location: T.M.C Asser Instituut, Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22, The Hague – For directions check the T.M.C Asser Institute website
Contact Information: For more information, please contact +31 (0) 70-3420300 or conferencemanager@asser.nl

Junta Crimes to be Raised in The Hague

The Burma Lawyers’ Council (BLC) is attending a Nov 18-26 meeting of the Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to discuss the Burmese military government’s alleged crimes against humanity, war crimes and other human rights abuses.

BLC General Secretary Aung Htoo, who is based in exile, has been attending the meetings in the Netherlands as an NGO delegate from Burma for the first time.

According to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) web site, the grouping will discuss “ICC Campaigns in Asia: Prospects and Challenges in Afghanistan, Burma and Indonesia” on Nov. 25.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Thein Oo, the chairman of the BLC, said, “We intend to cooperate with International Criminal Court and to create a network to take more action against the Burmese military junta. Moreover, we intend to share our experience of the junta’s abuses and crimes, and discuss how we can cooperate to establish a regional network.”

He added: “We expect the Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) to cooperate among state parties and put more pressure on the Burmese junta through the UN and the ICC. We especially want to lobby harder because representatives of China and other world powers will be attending.”

The CICC is a network of over 2,500 nongovernment organizations which work closely with the ICC. “Actually, we all need to practice alternative approaches to the Burmese military junta and pave ways for preventive actions,” Thein Oo said.

The director of Thailand-based rights group Human Rights Education Institute of Burma, Aung Myo Min, told The Irrawaddy on Monday: “It’s very hard to put the issue of the Burmese junta’s crimes against humanity to the ICC because Burma is not yet a signatory to the ICC. But, the UN Security Council can take the junta to task about its deplorable humna rights record. The Burmese regime has commited many crimes such as the conscription of child soldiers and the systematic rape of ethnic women which should be put before the ICC.”

The Burmese military authorities issued Order 1/2009 in April, blacklisting the BLC as an unlawful association. This order came alongside a campaign of defamation in the Burmese state-run press, which denounced the BLC as an “enemy of the state,” and accusing BLC members, in particular those working with the ICC, of “violating the rule of law of Burma.”

The ICC was established in 2002 as a permanent international tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The ICC has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes which have been committed or are being committed if a given state’s judicial system is unable or unwilling to investigate and take legal action to ensure justice.

In July, the CICC called on the Security Council to press for the surrender and trial of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and others wanted for serious crimes committed in Darfur.

Irrawaddy

Fonte: Informa Cubatão

jovens atentos às apresentações

sexta-feira, 13 de novembro de 2009

A Escola Técnica Estadual de Cubatão (ETEC) foi palco, na manhã desta sexta-feira, 13, do terceiro painel de apresentação de projetos do Programa Geração Muda Mundo por um Futuro Ideal, uma parceria da Ashoka Empreendedores Sociais e o Instituto Camargo Corrêa na cidade. Cubatão é a primeira cidade da Baixada Santista a participar do Programa.

Com dez minutos de apresentação, os grupos Aliados do Futuro, Mão na Massa, Esporte Total, Esquadrão Trance, Dança de Rua com Arte e Educação, Ação Criança Arte Vida Viva, Bom de Bola e Ritmo Quente apresentaram propostas. O esporte e a dança foram colocados como de suma importância por mais de um grupo, além de melhorias para as comunidades e as pessoas, como, por exemplo, reconstrução de praças, conscientização sobre gravidez e doenças sexualmente transmissíveis (DST). A meta é oferecer até R$ 1.200,00 a cada projeto apoiado, de modo a que esses grupos de jovens possam dar partida à realização de seus sonhos.

Ao término da exposição, os avaliadores Deise Raduan (gestora de educação ambiental pela Secretaria do Estado de Meio Ambiente), Karina Freitas (diretora da Secretaria de Assistente Social – Semas), Robson Martins (responsável pela Fábrica da Comunidade), Sylvia Vieira (assessora de comunicação da Carbocloro), Rodrigo Montaldin (coordenador do Programa de Jovens), Carla Bonatti (representante da empresa Cavo de Curitiba), Leonardo Giardini (coordenador administrativo e financeiro da empresa Camargo Corrêa) e Welington Ribeiro Borges (chefe da divisão de biblioteca e arquivo histórico) colocaram questionamentos sobre os temas propostos pelos jovens.

Ao todo, dez organizações parceiras contribuem para que o evento ocorra: CAMP-Centro de Aprendizagem Metódica e Prática, Associação Unidos, Departamento da Criança e do Adolescente, Projeto Juventude, Programa Jovem, GLC-Grupo de Lazer e Cidadania, Rádio Comunitária Vila Esperança, Clube dos Desbravadores, Fórum da Juventude e Programa de Jovens da Biosfera. O trabalho no município é coordenado pela Fábrica da Comunidade, unidade da Secretaria Municipal de Assistência Social. As empresas Cavo e Camargo Corrêa são as parceiras.

“Todo mundo pode mudar o mundo”, afirmou a coordenadora de parceria de implementação da “Geração MudaMundo”, Mafoane Odara Poli Santos. Ela explicou que a ideia é apoiar os jovens, ajudando-os a desenvolverem habilidades empreendedoras, a transformar os sonhos em ação, além de terem a oportunidade de conhecer pessoas, a trabalhar em equipe e fazer contatos”.

Trinta e dois projetos já foram apresentados em outros painéis. Com a intenção de promover mais, um em janeiro de 2010. Assim, este número pode chegar a 60 projetos, afirma a coordenadora, que espera contar com 300 alunos participantes em Cubatão.

Germain Katanga, who faces war crime charges

Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, who faces war crime charges

The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui

The trial in the case of The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui will start on Tuesday, 24 November, 2009, at 9:30 a.m. (The Hague local time) (hearing schedule). The hearings will be conducted before Trial Chamber II until 11 December, 2009 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. After the judicial recess, the hearings will resume on 26 January, 2010.

Background information on the case

On 17 October, 2007, Germain Katanga, (a DRC national), alleged commander of the Force de résistance patriotique en Ituri [Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri] (FRPI), was arrested and transferred to the Court pursuant to a warrant of arrest issued under seal on 2 July, 2007, by Pre-Trial Chamber I at the request of the Prosecutor. On 6 February, 2008, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui (also a DRC national), alleged leader of the Front des nationalistes et intégrationnistes [Nationalist Integrationist Front] (FNI), was arrested and transferred to the Court pursuant to a warrant of arrest issued under seal on 6 July, 2007, by the same Chamber at the request of the Prosecutor.

On 11 March, 2008, Pre-Trial Chamber I decided to join the two cases and, on 26 September, 2008, it confirmed charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against Katanga and Ngudjolo Chui. On 24 October, 2008, the Presidency of the Court constituted Trial Chamber II and referred the case of The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui to that Chamber, which has since convened status conferences and held a number of hearings. Trial Chamber II set the date for the commencement of the trial as Tuesday, 24 November, 2009.

The case of The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is the second case in the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo after that of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, whose trial commenced on 26 January, 2009, before Trial Chamber I. A forth warrant of arrest was issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber I on 22 August, 2006, against Bosco Ntaganda, who remains at large.

Bosco ntaganda: Ituri and KIvu War Criminal

Comment at end

21st November, 2009

“You want the truth? You can’t deal with the truth”

STOP IT … just stop it … the STOP THE WAR gang. You talk outrageous rubbish and some of us have had enough.

In case you are a martian visitor, you should know that there is an INQUIRY into the Iraq war. It is about to move into the “interview” period. It is NOT a trial, as its chairman Sis John Chilcot keeps reminding the forgetful.  Just as bloody well!

Half the British press and its ignorant, know-all commenters is inhabited by creatures who should be banned from life from ever sitting on a jury in our “innocent until proven guilty” society. The former prime minister has already been found guilty as charged at this NON TRIAL. And he hasn’t even appeared yet!

This is an appalling position for ANY opiner of integrity in our country. These people and their witch-hunt make me thoroughly ashamed. They should be ashamed of themselves. Of course they’re not.

For instance, Carne Ross, one of the high-and-mighty, know-all ‘Troof Seekers’ is at it again.

He’s right about ONE thing – the Iraq Inquiry is a waste of time.

As I and others (Rentoul) have argued, nothing will satisfy those who see Tony Blair as a criminal, “war” or otherwise, except a good old-fashioned hanging, in this capital-punishment-free zone. That, or if they’re feeling generous, his appearance at the International Criminal Court .

The deranged Blair-hating/hunting/baiting Peter Oborne is also in full flow at Stirrers United, The Daily Mail. (More about that in another post.) As is the discredited Andrew Gilligan with ‘leaks’ at the “leak-addicted Telegraph. Gilligan himself admits in another Telegraph article that these new disclosures “shed no new light”.

So shurrup then, idiot!

Tony Blair and Colin Powell, US Secretary of State outside Number 10 Downing Street

THE INSANITY OF BLAIR’S ‘WAR CRIMES’ ACCUSERS

As you’ll have noticed I’m not given to exaggeration. Except admittedly at times, in praise of Mr Blair. And that’s usually just to balance the antis’ antics.  I’d be far more dispassionate if THEY were. But clearly these people are mentally deranged.

You DO SEE what we have here at this Guardian article, don’t you?

We have people who see EVIL in the former prime minister. Not just ill-judgement, or a propensity to being easily led. They see him as EVIL. They are convinced of it.

They are insane. INSANE!

Blair – a “war criminal”? Tony Blair is no more a war criminal than is my Aunt Fanny. Admittedly,  I lack an Aunt Fanny. But if I had one she’d be as much of a war criminal as Mr Blair, I’m sure.

• He is a peace-maker and vanquisher of murderers, even where Britain gains nothing, as in Sierra Leone.
• He is a saviour of the ethnically cleansed in Kosovo.
• He is the ONLY Prime Minister to have brought peace to Northern Ireland after decades of the Troubles.
• He has spent two years building the Palestinian infrastructure from the ground up, and is highly praised even by Palestinians for his efforts. All this despite testing leadership from those in power on all sides.
• He is a devoutly religious man who cares about and understands others. He has started a Faith Foundation to try to bring the religious together.
• He is trusted by people right across the world.
• He is mooted by world leaders as the ONLY leader they wanted as EU president. They are disappointed, as they should be that A.N. Other has been chosen.
• He is not Robert Mugabe, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or numerous other world leaders who actually DO kill their own peoples.

He is NOT a war criminal.

CARNE’S COUNSEL OF DESPAIR – “IT IS INCONCEIVABLE … ‘REDUCTIONISM‘ DOESNT WORK.”

PARDON?

Excerpt:

“There is another truth that no one wants to see revealed: that government, whether honestly led or not, cannot understand the reality of places like Iraq, let alone master it as an occupier. Government can function only by reducing a complex and ever-changing reality into simplified policy choices, prepared by officials like me, and presented and defended by ministers.

It is inconceivable that such reductionism can accurately capture the intricacy of a place like Iraq. But without it, government cannot operate. At home, the inevitable policy errors can be corrected by feedback from governed to government – through Parliament, the press and civil society. In foreign policy, no such feedback loops exist. Government may occasionally get policy right, but this is more by chance than by judgment.

My guess is that the Chilcot inquiry will not offer this uncomfortable conclusion.”

Well, of course they won’t, Mr Carne. To do so would be a counsel of despair. AND leaders, REAL leaders DON’T despair. They decide.

Yours is an ANTI-GOVERNMENT – ANY GOVERNMENT – CRY.

And you, smart-alec Carne – YOU know ALL the right questions, do you?  Everything that will open up to our enemies domestic and shared and security information? All concerns and agreements across pan-national politics? YOU are the judge of what should and should not be in the public domain? YOU are the judge of the whys and wherefores, ifs and buts?

As someone once said, “You want the truth? You can’t deal with the truth”.

THE TRUTH

1. Tony Blair is NOT a war criminal.

2. No-one, not even a politician some people detest, is ANY kind of criminal unless and until tried AND found guilty.

3. Criminality of ANY sort is not to be judged by those with axes to grind.

4. The anti-Iraq war/anti-war/ anti-Blair people are largely anti-government.

5. The antis are anti EVERYTHING that does not suit their agenda and beliefs.

6. The Iraq Inquiry will be waste of time, money and effort unless such INSANE people get this result.

7.  They won’t, of course

8. Nor will they get their longed-for trial at The Hague.

9. In conclusion, we will have to put up with their LIES forever. They, you see, are NEVER wrong. (See Rentoul – “Preparing for a Whitewash”)

‘What is the purpose of the Chilcot inquiry? Its stated objective is to “learn lessons” from the planning and execution of the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq. If only this were true, because this is what the British people demand, but reading between the lines, there appears a more insidious intent.

From 1998 to 2002, I was the UK’s Iraq “expert” on the UN Security Council. I resigned from the Foreign Office after giving evidence to the Butler inquiry in 2004. That inquiry produced an ultimately comforting outcome: that while the intelligence used to justify the war might have been exaggerated, it was not deliberately manipulated. The establishment might have made mistakes, but in the final analysis it could be trusted.

That Sir John Chilcot served on the Butler inquiry is like trying the same crime twice with the same judge and jury – not a credible standard for truth-seeking. Nor would a truth-seeker allow the inquiry’s staff to be headed by the civil servant who was in a senior position in the foreign and defence policy secretariat of the Cabinet Office during Britain’s military occupation of Iraq.

Meanwhile, many of those giving evidence will have a deep interest in confirming the government’s narrative, for they are deeply implicated in having implemented it. One little-discussed disgrace of prewar policy-making is that there was never a proper review of the available options. Witnesses will no doubt claim to Chilcot that there were none and that sanctions “were not working”. This is not true: the government’s internal assessments up to 2002 confirmed that sanctions had prevented Iraq from rearming with any significant stocks of conventional weapons or WMD.

To know that there were non-military ways to undermine Saddam requires detailed insight into government policy and the prevailing circumstances. Most of those in a position to know will have little interest in revealing this complexity at the inquiry, for to do so will demonstrate their own complicity in ignoring those choices.

But ministers and officials should be asked why, for instance, we were unwilling to pressure Turkey to close off illegal oil exports across its south eastern border, which were a crucial source of revenue for Saddam’s regime. Why did Tony Blair not raise the issue of Syria’s illegal export of Iraqi oil when he visited Damascus in October 2001? Weeks before the war began, and when ostensibly the UK was still pursuing peace, why did ministers tell Parliament that British aircraft were doing nothing unusual in the “no-fly zones” covering northern and southern Iraq, when US officials were briefing the American press that their – and presumably our – aircraft were engaged in “softening up” Iraqi defences for the imminent invasion?

Other questions require a profound knowledge of the complex UN Security Council resolutions that framed the weapons inspections and sanctions regime, almost all of which were originally drafted by British officials. One resolution in particular established the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC), the weapons inspection body, in 1999. During those negotiations, the UK and US insisted that UNMOVIC required at least six months of inspections before it could reach a view on the degree of Iraqi disarmament and report to the UN Security Council. If this was the allied view in 1999, why did that change in 2003, when inspectors were given just weeks to visit hundreds of sites across a large country, sift thousands of documents and then deliver their judgments? Will the inquiry have the resources or inclination to address these issues? They are central to understanding the policy issues that led to war.

The inquiry will probably focus on the senior officials. But much of the policy-making detail is known best by more junior officials who were immersed in Iraq day in, day out. Will the inquiry have the time to interview these officials thoroughly? Will these officials, many of whom are still in government, be guaranteed protection if they reveal accounts at odds with the official version?

Few are the officials genuinely knowledgeable about the twists, turns and options of long-term Iraq policy. At the MoD, there was one so authoritative on the complex questions of weapons inspections and WMD programmes that at the UK mission in New York we insisted on his presence in our briefings of UN Security Council diplomats. He is sadly no longer around to offer the inquiry his testimony. His name was David Kelly.

Given these weaknesses, why has the Chilcot inquiry been generally accepted as legitimate? The government’s motives are clear: it wishes to distance itself from decisions which many of today’s cabinet supported, it seems, on the nod and without asking for the full picture. In reviewing the advice of the attorney general on the legality of the war, was the cabinet not made aware of the view of the Foreign Office legal advisers, who had told the attorney general and foreign secretary that the planned war was in fact an illegal war of invasion?

The opposition’s motives are less clear, but still discernible. They, too, supported the war, supposedly because they believed the government’s claims about WMD. But they failed to question the government in detail before the invasion and only began to do so when it became clear how disastrously the invasion and occupation had been planned. What the opposition parties want from the inquiry is evidence that they were misled, thus absolving them of blame. What they do not want is confirmation of what clearly was the case: that they – and by implication Parliament – were incapable of scrutinising government and holding officials to account in the gravest of circumstances.

There is another truth that no one wants to see revealed: that government, whether honestly led or not, cannot understand the reality of places like Iraq, let alone master it as an occupier. Government can function only by reducing a complex and ever-changing reality into simplified policy choices, prepared by officials like me, and presented and defended by ministers.

It is inconceivable that such reductionism can accurately capture the intricacy of a place like Iraq. But without it, government cannot operate. At home, the inevitable policy errors can be corrected by feedback from governed to government – through Parliament, the press and civil society. In foreign policy, no such feedback loops exist. Government may occasionally get policy right, but this is more by chance than by judgment.

My guess is that the Chilcot inquiry will not offer this uncomfortable conclusion. Instead, grave officials, soldiers and ministers will offer evidence; sober mandarins will sit in judgment upon them. Revelations will be made; errors and failures will be uncovered. The ensuing and weighty “Chilcot report” will make recommendations for greater scrutiny, more accountability, fact-checking and planning mechanisms.

But look at the players, read the pre-ordained if unadmitted script, and the show that we are about to witness becomes clear – it is, after all, for our benefit. The purpose? To confirm that our democracy, Parliament and government function as they should. Government may get it wrong sometimes, and may even sometimes be dishonest, but it is ultimately perfectible and capable. The country is secure in its hands; safe can be our sleep.’

Carne Ross was a British diplomat from 1989-2004.

(Apologies for highlighting their madness, too. It is highly contagious. Nothing except THEIR desired result from Chilcot will satisfy them. They are NOT TRUTH seekers, but THEIR OPINION seekers.)

1. The Chilcot inquiry will not alter that. We will be treated, once again, to a display of the most corrupt members of an utterly corrupt establishment, on both sides of the inquiry, exculpating themselves of the most serious crimes in the canon; we will be treated to their transparent attempts to manipulate and deceive us with lies, half truths and evasions into believing that Tony Blair and his posse are innocent of any criminal intent. It will not work. Indeed, it could well backfire, because just as the truth is obvious, repeated attempts to distort it produce more and more obvious lies.

But the large number of us who have lost all faith in our political establishment, indeed, hold it to be criminal, and the Chilcot inquiry to be nothing more than an institutional perversion of the course of justice set up to conceal criminal intent, will not forget the Iraq war in a hurry. It has poisoned the credibility of our political system. I believe that poison cannot be purged unless the Nation as a whole confronts the truth, and given that the Chilcot inquiry is another milestone in attempting to suppress it, I do not believe that will happen until the system itself is called to account, and seriously altered, so that the destiny and integrity of a nation cannot be hijacked by the personal ambition of one man. One day, that will happen, either by consent or by force, but it will happen, and we’ll look back on the Chilcot inquiry, and wonder how we ever allowed such a miserable, incompetent and criminal gang to lead our country so disastrously astray. A naked and incompetent display of corruption at the highest levels can only hasten that end.

The 14 people listed here as having been indicted to appear before the ICC one of whom Omar al-Bashir is the President of Sudan is listed as a ‘fugitive’. But Al-Bashir is due to stand as a presidential candidate in 2010. Hardly due to keep his profile low, then.

Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state ever indicted by the ICC.^[10] However, the Arab League and the African Union condemned the warrant. al-Bashir has since visited Egypt and Qatar. Both countries refused to arrest him and surrender him to the ICC upon arrival.

International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavian Leader

Former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic appears at International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. Follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/itn_news

ON THE OTHER HAND from this Russia Today YouTube channel

Karadzic attends tribunal amid claims of bias trial

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has appeared in the Hague for his trial on Tuesday. Karadzic boycotted the first three days of the hearing, citing that he did not have enough time to prepare for his defense. He has been charged with two counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the war in former Yugoslavia in the early nineties. Karadzic has maintained his innocence, and refused to enter a plea.

Most of the commenter here think Karadzic is a good guy – a hero even. If nothing else this shows the difficulties in keeping all the people happy all the time. An impossible dream.

• Spymasters now facing Iraq Inquiry
• Rentoul: “Prepare for a Whitewash”

ETCETERA

Seldon on Blair’s numerous projects (largely unpaid) since leaving office. Titled “Neither shy nor retiring” it says that he will bounce back from his disappointment over the EU post with more determination. I wonder who exactly chose the sub-title. It does not chime with the rest of the article.

No, not Bill Gates.

Raid gates.

In case you weren’t paying attention, when ToCr was released, each boss was released at timed intervals.

So week one you would learn the Northrend Beasts fight.

Next release you would fight the beasts and move on to Lord Jaraxxus.

Then the Faction Chumps.

So on and so forth.

This is a forced gate, deliberately slowing progression – not to be confused with gear checks or skill checks that can be overcome by better gear or moving out of fire.

Come 3.3, Icecrown Citadel will be released in a gated manner.

From the blues (actually I copied it from MMO Champ, but they copied it form the official forums, but here it is for those of you that can’t get through the web filters at work):

As we’re now getting closer to the release of 3.3.0, we wanted to talk about our plans for access progression within Icecrown Citadel. Icecrown Citadel is going to be broken up into four distinct sections: The Lower Spire, Plagueworks, Crimson Hall, and Frostwing Halls. We plan on releasing these four sections of Icecrown Citadel over time and not all immediately when patch 3.3.0 goes live. At this point we can’t give precise dates for these release dates as they are determined by when patch 3.3.0 goes live. Once dates are known with more certainty, I’ll update the community so they can plan appropriately.

The first section that opens will include the Lord Marrowgar, Lady Deathwhisper, Icecrown Gunship Battle, and Deathbringer Saurfang encounters. Progress beyond that point will be prevented for several weeks. Then the Plagueworks will open with Rotface, Festergut, and Professor Putricide becoming available. After another period of time, the Crimson Hall will open and you can then fight the Blood Princes and Blood-Queen Lana’thel. The final Frostwing Halls unlock then occurs after that, making Valithria Dreamwalker, Sindragosa, and the Lich King available. We believe a staggered release of the content will allow players to experience Icecrown Citadel at a sustainable, measured, and ultimately more enjoyable pace.

There are other elements that gate access along the way. Players may not attempt any Heroic versions of 10 player encounters until they have defeated the Lich King in a 10 player raid. Similarly, players must defeat the Lich King in a 25 player raid before they can attempt a Heroic 25 player encounter. So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.

The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana’thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.

The Ashen Verdict provides reinforcements and material for players to assault Icecrown Citadel, but this support is not endless. Raids will have a limited number of attempts total each week to defeat the four most difficult encounters in Icecrown Citadel: Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana’thel, Sindragosa, and the Lich King. As these boss encounters are unlocked, the number of attempts available per week will increase. The initial number of attempts provided for defeating Professor Putricide is only five. When Blood-Queen Lana’thel unlocks, the amount of total attempts remaining will increase to 10. Then when Sindragosa and the Lich King unlock, 15 total attempts will be available to defeat all four bosses. After a raid has exhausted their attempts for the week, the Ashen Verdict must withdraw their support and the four most difficult bosses all despawn and become unavailable for the week. The limited attempt system is a feature of both Normal and Heroic difficulty.

There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).

In the weeks and months after all twelve encounters are unlocked, additional attempts against the final four boss encounters become available. This represents the Ashen Verdict growing more powerful and gaining a stronger foothold in Icecrown Citadel. To further help raids, Varian Wrynn and Garrosh Hellscream will begin to provide assistance by inspiring the armies attacking Icecrown Citadel. This is represented as an additional zone wide spell effect applied to all players that will increase their hit points, damage dealt, and healing done. This effect will also increase in effectiveness over time. Players may opt out of the spell’s effect if they so wish.

Wall of text crits for over 9000.

Simple story:

We get the first wing to chew on for “several weeks” in normal (non-heroic mode) 10 and 25 flavor. We will have 5 attempts to defeat the end boss of that wing. After 5 attempts, so sorry, GTFO.

Then we get the second wing. The boss attempt meter goes up to 10 and it sounds like those attempts can be split amongst the two available wing end bosses as your wipes see fit to use them.

“After a period of time” we get the third wing and 15 boss attempts.

Then we get to Arthas. It doesn’t sound like we get new attempts. Of course, if you’re this far along, you shouldn’t be using up all 15 wipes getting to Arthas.

Once Arthas has been defeated on normal, the heroic version opens up. But it should be completely open, from wing 1 all the way up to Arthas.

After the raid has been out for a while, the number of boss attempts each week will increase and we will start to get buffs from our leaders to make the going a little easier.

• Question #1: Once upon a time, they mentioned only the raid leader would have had to have defeated Arthas to open up heroic. The verbiage here leads me to think otherwise: “So players must master every normal difficulty encounter in Icecrown Citadel before attempting Heroic difficulty.” So every player in the raid or just the leader?
• Question #2: How does extending raid lock outs work? “The Lich King may not be attempted until Professor Putricide, Blood-Queen Lana’thel, and Sindragosa are defeated. Furthermore, the Heroic difficulty of The Lich King encounter may not be attempted in any week unless the three aforementioned encounters have been defeated in Heroic difficulty that week.” The Lich King not being available until you clear the wings is understandable. Just like in Naxx you cannot (currently) just waltz into the “frost” wing and bowl over Sapph and KT for your lootz, it doesn’t make sense to knock on the Lich King’s parlor door and ask for tea until you’ve wiped out his generals. But… the use of the word “week” instead of “raid lock out” makes me wonder if extending the raid would actually hurt you.
• Question #3: Why no rewards for the elite overachievers? “There will be no explicit rewards for defeating the Lich King with a specific number of attempts remaining as there was with Trial of the Grand Crusader. There will also not be an achievement to complete Icecrown Citadel without being defeated by a boss encounter, or letting a raid member die. (i.e. A Tribute to Insanity).” I wonder if this sort of performance bar was leading to an increase in cheats and exploits. By removing the incentive (titles and achievements) they may be lessening the reason people go looking for ways around the encounters.

Questions aside, here are my thoughts.

First, the date spans are really fuzzy and I bet that is intentional. If Blizzard even attempted to affix a number to a statement it would be taken and quoted as Gospel truth all over the interwebz and the GC would have to listen to all the people crying that their pony didn’t get delivered when he said it would.

Remember, when you order something and they say it will take 4-6 weeks to ship, it usually shows up in 2-3. That 4-6 is just to cover their asses.

Second, this could be part of a larger plan and have nothing to do with stringing us along for months to keep us interested.

This is supposed to be a pretty epic raid encounter, it’s the mother-fucking Lich King for crying out loud!

What if, maybe, just maybe, there’s a world event planned? Something that they want to coincide with the opening of the last wing?

If they have the entire citadel open at the beginning, there isn’t a convenient time to insert something like that.

By gating the content, they give more people a chance to see the content leading up to whatever cool thing they want to share. (The whole thing Rhonin does in Dalaran when Algalon is downed doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to someone that’s just finishing Naxx sort of thing.)

This is, of course, most likely a pipe dream – but it still would be really fucking cool and be a viable, reasonable explanation for the gating.

And to answer the question of “well, why not just have Arthas gated off and open the rest?” because people would blow through the open areas and then twiddle their thumbs for even longer before getting the new area.

Anyway, assuming that my pipe dream is just that, why would Blizzard want to gate content?

I wasn’t around in the vanilla and TBC days, but I’ve heard that the raids were brutal, wiping to the same boss night after night, week after week. Serious raiders were busting their asses (as far as an ass can be busted while playing a video game) for 5-7 days a week.

Rumor has it that wasn’t terribly fun.

But in the current content, it’s done and over with before some of us have even logged on.

What happens then?

The people that have cleared it get bored. And they whine. A lot.

• The content was too easy. (Would you rather spend 3 weeks of 6 nights a week 4 hours a night on the same boss?).
• There’s nothing left to do. (Well of course not. You went through content like a dog left alone for a week with a 50 pound bag of dog food.)

The people that haven’t cleared the content yet react to the whining in different ways.

• The time-crunched players: That wasn’t fair, we didn’t have the time to bang our heads against the wall for 20 hours on the first night of release.
• The entitleds: Whatever the elitists said because I want people to think I’m elite too. Never mind I haven’t cleared the content yet myself.
• The average player: Would you all STFU? The vast majority of the players are still working on it.

Regardless of how the content is released, Blizzard is going to have to listen to its player base tearing them a new one.

They know that. And I’m sure by now they’ve got a pretty thick skin when it comes to all the whinging and crying.

They know that regardless of who the vocal crowd is, they have to appeal to the average player.

The average player isn’t in it for the world or server first. They don’t want to feel rushed through the content. And they don’t want to be bored when they get to the end.

There’s a reason that parents take away the trick or treat bag from kids on Halloween night and parcel out the sweets for the next few weeks.

And just like the parents don’t want to deal with a kid puking all night, Blizzard shouldn’t have to listen to people demanding the next thing.

Releases are big and take months (if not years) of planning and development. New content is not created with the wave of a magic wand.

If it was easy, there would be other wildly successful MMORPGs.

Count how many there are now.

How many of them are releasing quality content on a regular basis?

If they’re so much better at releasing quality content than WoW, why aren’t the whiners off playing that game?

Blizzard could rush the content to meet the demand of the bored.

And then those same people whining about the lack of content would be complaining about the excess of poor quality content.

And the people just starting the game (they’re out there!) would be completely lost and overwhelmed by all the content, especially the poor quality crap.

While gating has a very artificial feel to it, it’s being done for a reason.

Mom and Dad are holding back some of the candy so all the kids get to have an approximately equal share and no one gets sick.

If you choose to wolf yours down without chewing, that’s your call. You will be done first. Congrats. Now go read a book until the next wing is available. Or PvP. Or corner the wool market and destroy the server economy. Or fish. There’s a lot to do.

If you choose to take your time and enjoy it, the gates will hopefully open at the right speed.

If you’re slow or late coming into the content, there won’t be a mad rush to get caught up.

I don’t have numbers available and I’m too lazy to make them up, but I imagine that the people testing on the PTRs are a small group compared to the 11+ million people playing. I also imagine that every time content is released, one of those 11 million people finds something that a PTR tester did not. This gives them time to tweak the next area before pissing off the people that have already attempted it.

The limited attempts feature has a more organic feel to it as the Ashen Verdict will supposedly be offering some assistance. The increase in attempts has even been planned for and has a reasonable explanation. Although 5 for the first end boss does seem kind of harsh.

This rewards the better-skilled players and will put a lot of pressure on guilds like mine to step it up to be competitive. We have the gear, but we have too many losses that can be attributed to people not paying attention or just slacking off.

(Euripedes over at Critical QQ did bring up a valid point so I’m editing this in: the limited attempts DOES screw over people in situations where there is a bad internet connection or other circumstances. But for guilds like mine, we just need a swift kick to the ass.)

Requiring that it be completed on normal before entering on heroic makes sense. Learn to walk before you run.

The eventual buff auras are an awesome idea. Instead of forcing all players to take a nerf to the encounter, buff the players that want/need the additional assistance – after everyone has had a shot at it.

I don’t see any of this being a “catering to the casuals” sort of thing.

Gating the content means that Blizzard isn’t releasing content too quickly.

I see this as a good thing.

The elite few that can muscle their way through the encounters on day one do not comprise the largest portion of the player base. Everyone else (be they time-crunched, entitleds, or average) does.

This is a business decision that caters to the largest portion of the population AND allows them to focus on quality instead of quantity.

The limited number of attempts for boss fights actually caters to the elites.

Guilds that do not coordinate well or random pugs will probably fare very poorly for several weeks. (And the people with bad internet will be screwed, terribly sorry.)

I for one am glad that we’ll have a few weeks to get our shit together in the first wing before we can even think about moving on. It also means saying goodbye to those nights where officer chat is going something like, “so how many more times are we going to fail before we can just give up for the night?”

ToCr came out (to me) too soon after Ulduar. I still haven’t killed Yogg, dammit! But my guild is bored with Uld because the next thing is here with better lootz. If we clear out the first wing, and the next isn’t open yet, it gives me an excuse to get them to go back and finish up in Uld or even Naxx achievements. Sarth 3D? Hello?

After the mass of unskilled people that flooded heroics and raids in Wrath, there was a cry for the return of some sort of attunement. Well, we’ve got it now. Even if entering the raid on heroic requires only the raid leader to have completed it on normal, at least one person there will have a clue. (In theory.)

No one liked the nerfs to Ulduar. Well, I’m sure there are some people that did. But the vocal portion of the community seemed to be very much against the nerfs.

(No one likes nerfs unless it’s to DKs or ret pallies.)

There will probably be some tweaks to encounters to make them more stable or to remove exploit opportunities, but there should be no all-encompassing nerfs that basically say, “well, now that the Ensidias are done with it, the rest of you can have it.”

Those of us that went into Ulduar a little late and missed the opportunity to even try the encounters pre-nerf will not have the same disappointment. Even after the player buff has been implemented, we can opt out of it. This means that my priest may get to see ICC in all its glory and all its aggravations at full strength instead of rushing to get there before it gets nerfed.

Gated content is a sad reality of 3.3, a necessary evil perhaps?

We wouldn’t need it if the top guilds/players could finish the content and then be content to explore something else. But no, there is a small (albeit loud) portion of the community clamoring for attention. (Although I would be fine with Blizzard removing the gates and just letting the kiddies gorge. I’m not the one that has to entertain them when the candy dish is empty. But I’m still holding out for the candy dish to have a world event at the bottom of it.)

The game encompasses too wide a player base in terms of skill and time commitment to make everyone happy all the time.

The content will be there when it’s there.

Maybe my guild will be ahead of it, maybe we won’t.

# Beberapa intisari pemikiran Grotius dalam “De Jure Belle Ac Pacis Libri Tres” 1625.

# Dalam Statuta Roma 1998 (Pasal
1. Grave Breaches (Pasal 50 Konvensi Jenewa I) = mempunyai kewenangan untuk mengadili.
2. Serious Violation to the law and custom of law
- terhadap orang
Menyerang penduduk sipil, menyerang bantuan kemanusiaan, menyerang/membunuh kombatan yang sudah menyerah, melakukan mutilasi, percobaan biologis yang membahayakan atau menyebabkan kematian, mempergunakan senjata beracun, mempergunakan gas cekik, melakukan perkosaan, perbudakan sexsual, memaksa seorang tawanan untuk ikut berperang melawan negaranya sendiri, menjatuhkan harga diri dan kehormatan seorang tawanan.

- terhadap benda
Menghancurkan fasilitas sipil, menghancurkan atau membombardir kota, desa, tempat tinggal yang bukan merupakan objek militer, menyerang objek-objek yang dilindungi atau mempunyai nilai sejarah, menyerang tempat ibadah, menyerang rumah sakit atau tempat penampungan orang-orang sakit dan terluka.

* Dalam Statuta ICTY (Pasal 3)
1. Mempergunkan senjata-senjata beracun atau senjata lain yang dapat menyebabkan penderitaan yang tidak perlu.
2. Penghancuran kota atau pedesaan yang tidak dikarenakan tujuan militer.
3. Penghancuran atau pembombardiran objek sipil yang dipertahankan seperti kota, desa, tempat tinggal dan gedung-gedung.
4. Menghancurkan bangunan-bangunan penting dan bersejarah.
5. Mengambil alih fasilitas publik atau fasilitas pribadi.

3. Pelanggaran Serius terhadap Pasal 3 Konvensi Jenewa
Meliputi beberapa tindakan:
a) Membahayakan nyawa seseorang, melakukan pembunuhan termasuk dengan semua cara, mutilasi, penyiksaan dan perawatan yang semena-mena.
b) Melakukan tindakan yang menjatuhkan kehormatan dan harga diri seseorang termasuk tindakan mempermalukan seseorang.
c) Mengambil sandera.
d) Melakukan eksekusi tanpa pengadilan yang layak.

4. Pelanggaran Serius terhadap Hukum dan Kebiasaan pada Konflik Non Internasional
- Terhadap Orang
Menyerang penduduk sipil, memaksa anak-anak dibawah umur untuk mengangkat senjata (ikut berperang), menyerang/membunuh kombatan yang sudah menyerah.

- Terhadap Benda
Menghancurkan fasilitas sipil

# Mekanisme Penegakkan Hukum Humaniter Internasional
- Mekanisme menurut Konvensi Jenewa 1949 dan Protokol Tambahan 1977 –> Pasal 1, 49 (1) dan Pasal 87 (Protokol)
- Mahkamah Ad Hoc Kejahatan Perang –> Mahkamah Tokyo, Mahkamah Nurenberg, ICTY, ICTR
- Mahkamah Pindana Internasional (ICC)

# Prinsip Complementary ICC
yang berhak untuk menghukum para pelanggar HAM oleh negara itu sendiri yang mempunyai yurisdiksi, bahwa ICC adalah sebagai pelengkap dari dari Pengadilan Internasional (ICJ).