Evolution of 20-20 cricket was considered to be the death bell for bowlers. Anyway, that wasnt to be. Power of taking wickets prooved too much for batsmen to take over-the-head risks.

This review system will now boost bowlers all over the world to enquire for LBWs after LBWs and those finest of nicks that poor umpire dont hear. One other thing is now umpires cant save a "legend batsmen" from getting out in a critical stage of the game. That was exactly the case with Sachin Tendulkar in the recent test match with Srilanka. Umpire didnt give Tendulkar out on a catch down the leg side, well partly due to the fact that he didnt properly see what happened and partly due to the weight of Tendulkar wicket. But upon review, umpire gave the master blaster out. Tendulkar was not very happy with the result of the review - maybe he knows that "review method" dont really know he is the majestic Tendulkar !

Review system will take away that weight of super-batsmen and from now on, Tendulkars and Pietersons will be given out when they are out - No more home crowd pleasing will happen !

BIG THANKS to tennis authorities for taking this revolutionary step in the world of sports.

It is no longer news that President Omar El Bashir of Sudan has been indicted by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the ICC, which is unique because it’s the first time the ICC will be indicting and issuing an arrest warrant for a sitting president on charges of war crimes.

Campo has compiled a torturous 5-year case file of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, against Omar. He says that president Omar has contributed solely to the atrocities committed in Sudan and should be held responsible for the several losses of lives. Abdul Mahmud, the Sudanese ambassador to the United Nations in a vitriolic response said Campo was irresponsible and that Sudan does not recognize the ICC adding that it would resist an arrest on President Bashir. Meanwhile President Bashir has been holding rallies throughout Sudan where crowds numbering several thousands have attended in solidarity with their president. The president in a bid to prove his invincibility dared the ICC to make bold its threat, splaying invectives rally after rally. The Dafur crises began in 2003 when the people of Dafur rebelled against the central government whom they accused of favoring foreign Arab settlers more than the local indigenes. The crisis has since gotten worse in spite of the intervention of the African Union when it sent a peace keeping force to the embattled region. According to recent reports an estimated 250,000 lives have been lost, many of that number being women and children and another 3 million displaced in the five year conflict 

Well if president Bashir is known to the greater multitude of Africans as being the close to 20- year ruler of the pauperized and war ravished west African country, then Moreno Campo is a different kettle of fish, operating on the other side of the law. He is what you’d call the crime mayor of South-America, having gained fame and notoriety for his successful prosecution of several high ranking government officials in Argentina in the 1990’s, 70 of the 102 members of the ICC affirmed his appointment as top prosecutor in 2002

 The ICC top prosecutor would be hoping on such luck as he tries to unknot this Pandora box, nothing perhaps compared to his earlier work with the DRC and the Central African Republic.

 So how does this indictment work? One, Bashir can either be arrested by law enforcement authorities in Sudan or if he steps outside the shores of his country by ICC compliant nations. Both options are indeed almost impossible President. Bashir is not new to the murky waters of diabolical injustice he thrives in, only last year he provided cover for two of his cabinet ministers after they were indicted by the ICC on 51 different charges of gross war crimes and for supporting the Janjaweed militia in its systematic decimation of the Darfur people. Bashir’s main tactic in this war of attrition, is one of systematic dilly-dallying, or how do you describe General Bashir’s opposition to a UN led peacekeeping force and the freedom of Southern Sudan. The African Union unfortunately in this case is playing the role of a more than willing ally for Gen Bashir, for example in its usual sugar coated diplomatic babble has asked the ICC to reverse its decision because it could worsen the situation. But several international affairs analysts have wondered what could be worse than the global epidemic that Darfur has become. Rather than berate Moreno campo he should be commended because this singular act has done far more than the entire African continent has done in the five-year conflict, which is not to turn a blind eye to and abnormal situation but calling a spade a spade.

Dorcas, CONNECTAFRICA 

"The South African team are very disappointed with today's decision and remain extremely concerned about safety and security in Pakistan," Tony Irish, chief executive of the South African Cricketers' Association, told Reuters. "We hope Cricket South Africa (CSA) will sit down with us and talk to us about whether they are seriously considering sending a team to the Champions Trophy in Pakistan or not."

Paul Marsh, the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) chief executive, was also disappointed with the decision. "The ACA continues to have serious concerns with our players touring Pakistan for the Champions Trophy and we are disappointed with the ICC's decision," he said.

"Based on the independent information and advice received, we maintain that the risks are simply too great for the ACA to recommend that our players tour Pakistan at this time. We would expect Cricket Australia to adopt the same position."

Players from Australia and New Zealand, such as Andrew Symonds and Jacob Oram, have already stated their concern over touring Pakistan. Cricket Australia spokesperson Peter Young told the Age: "We're not willing to send our players or team officials anywhere that is not safe. We will always reserve the right to put player welfare first."

They believe it was an irresponsible decision by ICC by putting the lives of cricketers of the nations that are fighting the 'war on terror'. I can see why Eng, Aus and NZ might consider themselves in danger but why do South Africans consider themselves targets. They're Africans man. They haven't invaded any countries. They could send an 'all black' team I guess.They already have something like a 'half-black' quota. They could make it a full black thing just to be safe.

In Australia Andrew Symonds has been the most scared of them cricketers and that dude isn't even white. He's an Afro-Caribbean for God's sake. I mean what's he scared of? Nobody's gonna hurt him. He could blend in with those Caribbean cricketers.

Anyway until the 'task force' finds something new the champions trophy is still on in Pakistan.

Congolese Militia leader, Thomas Lubanga, is on trial in the first case to be heard since the International Criminal Court (ICC) was set up in 2002.
The ICC was established under the terms of the 1998 Rome Statute and is independent of the United Nations. To date, more than 100 countries have ratified the relevant treaty, however certain key countries have not: the United States, Russia, China, India and Japan. Three of whom are part of the Group of  Eight (G 8) countries and the other two, China and India part of the G 8’s “Outreach Five.”
Lubanga went to trial in 2006, with two other detainees, former Congolese warlords Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo, after arrest warrants were issued in 2005 on charges of murder, human trafficking and the use of child soldiers.
French judge Claude Jorda said: “There are reasons to believe that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is legally responsible (for) ... the enrollment of children under 15. As a result, the court confirms the charges and rules that [he] should appear before a court for trial.” He stands accused of abducting children and forcing their participation in attacks headed by his group, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UCP) and its military wing, the Patriotic Front for the Liberation of the Congo (FLPC), during 2002 and 2003. Over 30,000 children were associated with forced combat militias when the conflict was at its height.
Lubanga’s defense team is requesting his release due to delays in the proceeding.  Accusations have been directed at prosecutors for withholding over two hundred documents vital to helping prepare Lubanga’s defense.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a state built on the  human rights violations of  King Leopold II of Belgium, who privately owned the territory. It was called the Congo Free State, and was established in 1885 by means of deception for the sole purposes of economic exploitation.
The Congo has seen millions of its people displaced. An estimated 6 million have died due to violence, hunger and disease. The conflicts between Hema, Lendu, and militia groups, have killed millions in the fight for  the control of gold mines and taxation.
The Congo Region, like most of Africa, has been the victim of one corrupt government after another. All have committed unthinkable acts in the name of greed.
Human rights groups, which represent the victims, have stated that Lubanga’s charges should also include the atrocities of rape, torture and killings as related to Uganda,  and the Central African Republic. Both of which have been the sight of  continued human rights abuses.

Many of the boards which agreed that Pakistan should host then told press that they were actually trying to push their players to play and they were getting strong opposition regarding the same from their players. The worst hit were the South Africans. However ICC'c Chief Executive, Haroon Lorgat, said that neither the players who are opting to pull out nor their respective boards would be penalised if they wish to.

Changing the venue would have been a big issue as the four Asian Nations will jointly host the 2011 edition of the World Cup. This gets me to think how will the players be able to concentrate and give their best when they aren't willing to play in a hostile location? They can't even easily give up as their Nation's pride is at stake.

The ICC has finally taken the right decision today, that is to let the Champions Trophy stay in Pakistan instead of moving to an alternate venue.  The ICC had to take a decision in this regard because although the last few months has seen Pakistan holding a successful Asia cup with 0 problems,  players from teams such as Australia, England and South Africa were still not convinced over traveling here and playing cricket amidst such security fears.

Sadly security is not just a problem that plagues Pakistan.  the last big and proven terrorist attack happened right smack in the middle of London so why is it that teams have no problem touring their while they think they will never make it out of Pakistan alive?  Are we to believe London is safer than Karachi from a terrorist attack? The probability of it happening here may be more but that does not mean it is going to happen?

I personally think this difference is the difference between perception and reality. First of all yes Pakistan does have security issues, yes it can be a dangerous place for anyone but so can any other country in the world today. Terrorism is a global and not local phenomenon these days as illustrated by my above example so what exactly can the PCB do aside from providing VVIP presidential security to the visiting teams?

I think it is time we do something to change the perception of visiting teams. Foolproof security should be arranged yes but take them out for a tour of some of the better known spots of say Lahore or to a beach in Karachi, surround them with machine guns if that makes them feel safe but let them mingle a little with the local populace instead of making them sit in their hotel rooms all day. Our cities have theater, music, cinemas, golf and fine dining.  Show them a little of our positive side for gods sake! If we can do just a little bit of this perhaps  we will see more than one team agreeing to tour here.

In september we the fans of cricket in Pakistan and the rest of the people in this country should make it a point to welcome the incoming foreign teams, even if their will be some names missing it seems, with a show of what is tradition for us. All around genuine hospitality and one hell of an attitude for fun!

To the players who will opt to stay out all I can say is "tough luck" cause with the 8 teams participating this is going to be one hum dinger of a contest. Plus i really fail to understand how you thought Sri Lanka was a safer alternate to Pakistan with regards to security anyways?

Enough is enough, its time to lay aside our differences and let the games begin!!!

... "Western politicians were initially reluctant to bring to justice those who presided over the crimes in Bosnia, just as some are now reluctant to see Bashir indicted".

Writing in response:

Yes, the legitimacy of the ICC, and to some extent the UN, is being put to the test. With the UN International Criminal Court being replaced in the next two years, Karadzic's arrest came at a rather fortuitous time as he had probably hoped to have escaped extradition to The Hague.

There are, of course, stark similarities between Bashir and Karadzic, both having been charged with genocide - the ultimate grave crime against humanity. Karadzic was actually indicted on such charges, despite him being on the run, for almost 13-years. Equally, Bashir (64), a General like his co-conspirator Mladic, remained determined in holding onto power despite the scorched-earth policy of ethnic cleansing he employed.

The west has to be careful in how it engages with Bashir's Sudan because it could be seen to be taking sides. Where the west can offer help, it should try to mediate through negotiation in preventing any further bloodshed in Darfur. The west could have sent in a military force in curbing the malicious and violent acts of the Janjaweed, government backed militias who continue in reeking havoc on Darfur.

With genocide, though, it has to be proved that a clear plan existed in wiping out an entire nation and culture. Clearly, the evidence against Karadzic is substantial having had a plan that nearly wiped-out three generations of Bosnian Muslims. With Omar al-Bashir, call it genocide or mass murder; the Sudanese despot must be arrested to take account of some of his vile crimes that has claimed the lives of over 400,000 people.

© Mark Dowe 2008: all rights protected

Reference:

•  Steve Cranshaw, "Serbia's lessons for Sudan"

... "The fact that Radovan Karadzic will face trial has important ramifications for the case against Omar Bashir, which must not now be delayed"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/24/radovankaradzic.serbia

Supplementary:

• Tom Fawthrop, "No justice for East Timor"

... "In the absence of demands for an international trial, Indonesian generals still enjoy impunity for their crimes against humanity"

Writing in response:

Yes, a tangible example that clearly highlights the need in removing double-standards. The International Criminal Court (ICC) must do all in its power to bring those suspected of human culpability, wherever and whenever it happened, to book. War crimes never expire and are unlikely that one man alone, Suharto, would have been responsible for the mass slaughter of up to one million people in East Timor after the 1975 invasion by Indonesia.

The sight of someone accused of orchestrating genocide in Darfur doing a jig in front of thousands of cheering people rightly dominated much of the coverage.

At the same time, Bashir's message of peace and development shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. He admitted injustices had happened in Darfur and appealed to all parties to join talks. He also promised electricity, schools and hospitals to a chronically under-developed region of Sudan.

Fine words. But much of it was pretty vague. Journalists were kept well out of his way (although I did manage to slip the cordon and fire in a quick question, which earned me nothing more than a withering look) so it is difficult to know how genuine he is. Bashir has after all broken his word many times before, on disarming the Janjaweed and bringing Ahmed Haroun to justice, for example.

The question now is what difference the looming ICC indictments make and whether they will pressure him to make a real difference. So far he has hardly put a foot wrong, keeping the rhetoric under control and trying to built a diplomatic coalition at the United Nations. As a western diplomatic source put it:

“The rhetoric has been managed and the demonstrations haven't got out of hand while the political manoeuvring is under way. You have to say, he's played a blinder.”

Now President Bashir must match his fine words with action to help end the suffering in Darfur.

Fun With Color Profiles!, originally uploaded by William WM.

Ugh. All this time, I had a faulty color profile (http://blog.wolffmyren.com/2008/07/23/ick-color-profile-fail/), so everything looked much different online to everyone (color-wise) than it did to me, on my laptop. This is what I thought the last image looked like... (see my Flickr stream for the picture I'm referring to)

I've been having ridiculous problems with the color profiles on my Samsung SyncMaster 225BW. I'm pretty sure that it's not Samsung's fault, since the monitor is by far the best I've ever had, but any color-profile aware application ends up looking like crap (see screenshot above, or this blog post).

Unfortunately, it's very difficult to get the original CD/software for the monitor if you've lost it, but it seems that the best workaround for this is to remove the existing (faulty) color profile and replace it with a working color profile, such as one from Adobe:

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/iccprofiles/icc_eula_win_end.html

To do this:

1. Download the Adobe ICC Windows Color Profile from this link:
   http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/iccprofiles/icc_eula_win_end.html
2. Unzip the archive and navigate to the folder "RGB Profiles"
3. Right click on "AdobeRGB1998.icc" and choose "Install Profile"
4. To ensure that the profile is enabled, right click on the desktop, choose "Properties", click the "Settings" tab, then the "Advanced..." button.
5. Once in the Advanced Properties, click the "Color Management" tab.
6. Remove any existing profile by clicking remove, then click "Add..." and choose "AdobeRGB1998.icc" from the folder displayed and click "Add"
7. Click "Set as Default", OK, then OK again to close the window.
8. Then restart Windows.

For reference, your color profile dialog should look like this:

Hope this helps!

Twenty two overs and rain stops play. That's cricket for you. It's been raining all over the world.. Or atleast where I am and Colombo. Sometimes you wonder 'why can't they just play in rain?'. I mean it would save them tons of money, and it wouldn't take the fun out either. Oh well that's the ICC for you.

Warnapura has played a good innings, he's started his career off with a bang. Perfect replacement for Jayasuriya? Nah, Jayasuriya can never be replaced. From his stats though it seems like he can throw a ball too. 115 Frist class wickets for him at an average of 26.86. I don't quite know the level of Cricket in Sri lanka though.

On another note, it's good to see Zaheer Khan back. He's a decent bowler. It bothers me when I see Ganguly bowling 5 overs when Kumble hasn't bowled anything in the day's play. It's a bad time to play this test match because reports say that there is a chance of rain every single day of this week.

aghogho,  CONNECTAFRICA

Altough he faces a possible international arrest warrant for allegedly masterminding genocide in Darfur, Omar al-Bashir (photo), the president of Sudan, has arrived in the troubled province for a visit. The two-day trip will take him to the three state capitals in the region : El Fasher in the north, Nyala in the south and El Geneina in the west.

A number of government officials and journalists accompany him on the trip.

The Sudanese president is accused by Luis Moreno-Ocampo, an International Criminal Court prosecutor, of instructing his forces to annihilate three non-Arab groups in Darfur, masterminding murder, torture, pillaging and using rape in order to commit genocide.

Mr Bashir has been quoted by state media as reitaring to Arab lawyers on Monday that any outside interference, "blackmail and pressure", are rejected by Sudan, and vowed again never to surrender any citizen to the international community.

Though Sudanese officials refused to comment on the purpose or the timing of the Darfur tour, analysts predicted the move was part of Sudan's intense diplomatic offensive to stave off potential ICC charges.

Poorly manned and equipped

The president’s office indicated that at each stop al-Bashir is scheduled to address popular ceremonies organised in his honour, as well as hold talks with state government officials, local leaders and political party representatives.

In El Fasher, the old capital of Darfur and headquarters for a poorly manned and equipped UN-led peacekeeping mission, president Bashir has been greeted by civil servants, tribesmen, students, men on camels and horses. They condemned the war-crimes charges against him and pledgied allegiance.

Omar al-Bashir danced to nationalist music, jabbing the air with his walking stick.

"What Ocampo said about Darfur is lies ... We have to find a solution to the Darfur crisis", he said.

"I came here to Darfur to say one thing. That every IDP must return back to their village and then the government must supply social services."

‘New Sudan-led peace’

From El-Fasher, al-Bashir will proceed to Nyala, where he will inaugurate development projects and visit a water station. On Thursday, he will fly on to El Geneina, not far from the Chadian border, before returning to Khartoum, the Sudanese capital.

Mr Bashir hopes to achieve a lot with the visit, said Mohammed Adow, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from El Fasher.

"He is here to launch what he calls a new Sudan-led peace process, for the settlement of the Darfur conflict once and for all", he said.

"He is also here to oversee a process in which a thousand families who have been living in IDP (internally displaced persons) camps are voluntarily returning home. They say they are confident enough to return home and the president will be [highlighting] that.”

"He will also meet tribal leaders involved in the conflict here."

Beaten up by soldiers

President Bashir is also expected to be greeted by members of those groups, the Fur Masalit and Zaghawa. Some of them belong to Mr Bashir’s National Congress Party.

Since the conflict in Darfur broke out in February 2003, up to 300 000 people have died and more than 2.2 million have fled their home, according to the UN. 10 000 have been killed, says Sudan.

The war started when African ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government and state-backed Arab militias, fighting for resources and power in one of the most remote and deprived places on earth.

Before president Bashir arrived in El Fasher, the peacekeeping mission in Darfur announced that a UN security officer was undergoing hospital treatment after being beaten up by Sudanese government soldiers, who forcibly took him to a military base.

The joint African Union-UN mission said that when the incident happened, the officer began taking pictures of a place in El Fasher market in order to investigate a road accident involving a UN staff member, a military vehicle and a taxi.

Post-Config, originally uploaded by William WM.

In relation to this post: Flickr: Firefox 3 is now Color Managed, here's the post-change screenshot.

Pre-Config, originally uploaded by William WM.

In relation to this post: Flickr: Firefox 3 is now Color Managed, here's the pre-change screenshot.

FF3-ColorMgmt, originally uploaded by William WM.

In relation to this post: Flickr: Firefox 3 is now Color Managed, here's the about:config screenshot.

The arrest of Radovan Karadzic on Monday gave badly needed credibility to international war crimes tribunals that have struggled for years to bring fugitives to justice, according to former prosecutors, legal experts and human rights groups. And the arrest bolstered arguments from tribunal officials that patience, multilateral diplomacy and creativity can make the institutions more effective.

“It’s building up piece by piece,” said Martha Minow, a law professor at Harvard and an expert on war crimes trials. “This is building up the legitimacy of these institutions.”

Mr. Karadzic will be the third high-profile figure to be brought before a United Nations-backed tribunal on war crimes charges in the last six years, following in the footsteps of President Charles Taylor of Liberia and the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic. For years, supporters of the tribunals have argued that if leaders were brought to trial the courts could serve as a deterrent.

But Mr. Karadzic, who remained free for nearly 13 years, made a mockery of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which in 1993 became the first such body established by the United Nations.

Although repeatedly seen in public when American and NATO forces entered Bosnia in 1996, he was not arrested, in part out of fear that seizing him could cause a violent backlash against NATO forces.

Instead, the United States and the European Union tried to use economic and diplomatic pressure on Serbia to force his arrest. Until Monday, the policy appeared to be a failure.

At the same time, other war crimes tribunals established by the United Nations came under fire. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was criticized by Rwandans as being hugely expensive, based outside Rwanda and largely detached from the country itself. And the establishment of the International Criminal Court — a permanent tribunal intended to prosecute war crimes globally — was delayed for years by tortuous negotiations and fierce opposition from the Bush administration.

Only last week, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court was criticized for requesting that genocide charges be filed against President Omar al- Bashir of Sudan. Critics warned that the move would complicate peace negotiations for the Darfur region of Sudan and never lead to Mr. Bashir’s arrest, given the international community’s poor track record on arresting fugitives.

After Mr. Karadzic’s s arrest, legal experts said his capture bring subtle new pressure to bear on the Sudanese leader.

Undermining a leader’s or regime’s legitimacy can also serve as leverage.

“The third way is what the world needs,” said one war crimes investigator who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The problem is we are thinking two ways: we accept him or we go to war with him.”

Human rights groups said the arrest of Mr. Karadzic had the potential to significantly bolster the clout of the long-maligned tribunals. Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program, said that Mr. Karadzic had come to “personify impunity.”

“For international justice, this is a very good thing,” he said. “ I think it validates that justice has a long memory and a long reach.”

To read the article in its entirety, please click here.

Related articles:
- EU applauds Karadzic arrest as important step for membership
- Serbs hope Karadzic arrest will lead to more
- Arrest of a strongman

"This important and timely arrest will enable the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to move closer to completing its mandate, and bring justice to the perpetrators and the victims of the serious international crimes committed,"

Even though he is only a glorified tea-boy, it's hardly bode well for the UN Secretary General to prejudge the guilt of a potential defendant in before the ICTY, which is established under a UN mandate. This is the problem with the ICTY and the International Criminal Court (ICC): they are no more apolitical or impartial than the UN. The ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is a perfect example. He refused to bring charges against the architects of the war in Iraq and the Israelis for their genocides in Lebanon and Palestine -- the equivalent of the Justice Jackson refusing to prosecute the Nazis in Nuremberg -- but then indicted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on five accounts of genocide, despite not having the evidence to support the charges is a perfect example. And was recently castigated in ruling handed down from the International Labour Organisation to have abused his authority and acted against the principles of natural justice, in the sacking Christian Palme for reporting an allegation of rape made against Moreno-Ocampo. He was found to have withed crucial evidence from the defence in the trial of Thomas Lubanga causing the prosecution to collapse.

But his lack of moral integrity if nothing unusual, the UN has immunity from prosecution under an international protocol, so no action will be taken against the UN for the role of Dutch UN peace keepers in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims, which is the main charge against Radovan Karadzic. He may well be guilty of genocide - he is believed to have authorised the slaughter of 11,000 in the 1989-95 Yugoslav Civil War, which cost an estimated 250,000 lives and led to 1.8 million being ethnically cleansed - but this makes a mockery of justice: he would effectively be prosecuted by his co-accused! 

The problem with any international judiciary is that it requires an international legislature to set its laws and an executive to enforce them, so if you have an international judiciary you have an international government. You can't surrender jurisdiction without surrendering sovereignty. The history of imperialism, inequity and injustice at the UN ought to convince everyone but totalitarians that the idea of the UN as a World government is a bad one. Which Permanent Member of the UN Security Council doesn't abuse their position? Never!

The respected American lawyer Prof. Francis A. Boyle  has offered to represent Iran at the The International Court of Justice (not to be confused with the ICC) if Iran wants to sue the USA and Israel over their threats to attack and/or blockade Iran, which are both acts of war and unlawful under international law. Prof. Boyle suggests that the court could issue an order:  

"[protecting Iran] from a military attack by the United States and Israel in the most comprehensive language possible, including a blockade of Iran by the United States, a termination of all threats and use of military force, and of all measures of political, diplomatic and economic coercion against Iran."

But as he acknowledges, even if the ICJ acted judiciously and issued such an order, the Order would still have to go before the Security Council for enforcement, where America holds a veto. International courts may dispense international law but they don't dispense international justice. No empire has been brought to its knees by a writ.

The prosecution of Bashir is a tremendous step for the ICC and international law; this move has the potential to restore faith in the international system by showing that the ICC and the UN can react to emergencies.  However, it may be a phyrric victory in that Bashir has the potential to carry out more crimes against humanity while the arrest warrant weaves itself through the bureaucratic system.  The U.S. has pushed for the warrant, directly challenging China, who has been supplying weapons to Bashir and acting on behalf of Sudan within the U.N. Security Council.  The rest of Africa seems to lost its moral compass and stuffed cotton in their ears, tacitly approving of the deplorable actions of Bashir, Mugabe and others by failing to push back and oppose their actions.  Despite this failure, the ICC has taken notice and taken action; the prosecution of a current head of state is monumental indeed, and it provides hope for historical progress and the legitimacy of international law.  For further reading see this article and this article.  For the full text of the Genocide Convention, click here.

Top news today is that former Bosnian Serb war leader Radovan Karadžić — wanted by the International Criminal Court in the Hague on charges of war crimes — has been arrested in Belgrade after 13 years on the run.

What use does this do? On the surface it's a boost for Boris Tadić's government in Serbia and a step closer to possible EU membership. Tadić can also use this to show proof that his government is actively working to arrest these men.

Well, if that's the case, why did it take 13 years? And more importantly, where's the war general Radko Mladić? Until General Mladić is arrested, I'd venture that nothing has changed.

A large majority of websites are in English. However a large majority of the world’s population does not have English as their first language and some do not even speak a word of it. This presents an obvious language barrier and obstacle for any non-English speaker wanting to participate as an internet activist.

The digital divide has worked to cut off an entire section of the world’s population. As noted in a previous post, “even in the advent of this great cyber-democracy, those who were marginalized by the politics of the apartheid regime are still marginalized by the politics of this new virtual-democracy”.

But…this does not mean that e-democracy is doomed to fail in Africa. The fact that Africa only makes up 3.4% of the world’s online population does not mean that this 3.4% cannot become internet activists.

Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media platform that allows everyone the opportunity to raise global awareness about the issues that the mainstream media often forget, or simply choose not, to cover.

They use “weblogs, podcasts, photos, video, wikis, tags, aggregators and online chats - to call attention to conversations… that will help shed new light on the nature of our interconnected world”.

Bloggers spark up conversation, spread information and call on action for their particular regions. A team of translators ensure that all content is available in a wide range of languages like, French, Spanish, Chinese and Bangla. Users are even able set up their own networks which translate content into any language of their choice.

This means that with as little as just a GPRS enabled mobile telephone and basic computer literacy, a small group of women in rural North West province can take part in e-politics by blogging in seTswana. They could express the view of people at the grassroots level and have their content translated into a number of languages for global access.

South African bloggers are regular contributors to the site with debates often started with user comments. Nelson Mandela’s 90^th birthday celebrations, environmental issues, and the International Criminal Court’s charges against Sudanese President al-Bashir are only some of the most recent posts from South Africa.

South Africa still has a long was to go when it comes to internet penetration but that does not mean that e-politics is not a possibility.

Granted, one could argue that with internet access still largely in the hands of the more financially affluent, the politics of the poor and uneducated are still marginalize. However, with the government setting up more Thusong Service Centres, all voices can gradually begin to be heard at the global level.