Don’t for a second think that the essence of torture is physical pain, no matter what the new film Zero Dark Thirty implies. If, in many cases, the body heals, mental wounds are a far more difficult matter. Memory persists. After the fact, torture can only be dealt with by staring directly into the nightmare that changed us — that, like it or not, helped make us who we now are.
Part 2 of an interview with Drug War Mexico co-author Peter Watt.
When it fails to protect its women and children, a state’s very legitimacy is called into question.
The Magnitsky Act imposes asset freezes and visa bans on Russian officials suspected to be responsible for the death of Sergei Magnitsky, who accused the Russian IRS of tax fraud and later died in jail.
The Mexican government’s heavily militarized fight against narcotraffickers has helped keep the country mired in violence and inequality.
Egypt’s President Morsi made Time’s short list for the person of the year, but his inability to steer Egypt to safety after his election cost him the accolade.
America is suffering from a failure to commit.
Anyone expecting Obama to be decidedly more pro-peace this time around is likely to be sorely dispirited. However, there is a diverse, growing peoples’ movement in the United States linking human and environmental needs with a demand to end our wars and liberate the vast resources they consume.
President Morsi seems more interested in consolidating the power of the Muslim Brotherhood than in governing.
On October 13, 2012, Mexican teenager José Antonio was hit by a hail of bullets coming from the U.S. side of the metal fence that lacerates the border city of Nogales. Some seven shots penetrated the boy’s body through the back and the head. He died instantly. The culprit? The U.S. border patrol.