As I walk along the streets of my current city of residence (outside of the US) a visceral frustration overcomes me. This is because pedestrians, it seems, have no rights. It does not matter that everyone arrives on this earth in a natural state of “pedestrianhood”: in this city, if you want rights, you must obtain and drive around in a steel box. This steel box must take up the space of ten pedestrians, consume nonrenewable natural resources, and pollute breathable air. Here, drivers frequently glare, honk, and yell at pedestrians. And if a pedestrian dares cut off a vehicle, it is her responsibility to apologize to the driver.

. . . marks a low point in the relations between the United States and the Middle East, in the development of international law and minimum standards of justice for all human beings, and in the struggle for freedom and dignity that exists worldwide. Though the point will be made many times in the coming days as the world discusses Mr. Hussein's death, I wish to make it again here: the victors, the judges, the United States, and any other body that claims to represent justice and freedom cannot use the same methods as those it denounces. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who was personally responsible for many deaths and injustices. But can we not show our moral superiority over such a man by using restraint, instead of succumbing to a bloodlust that demands that violence must be punished by further violence?

The African Union, I believe, has a vital role to play in helping Africa to stabilize and prosper. The organization's website boldly proclaims that "Africa Must Unite," voicing a dream that has lived in many hearts since long before the beginning of the postcolonial period. Many AU initiatives, especially their decision to send peacekeepers to Darfur when other international authorities hesitated, are praiseworthy.

As someone who has spent a great deal of time studying world religions, I have strong respect for most people's traditions, rituals, and beliefs. I believe, though, that putting things into a historical context can teach us all something.

In August of this year, the Holland-based company Trafigura Beheer BV, which specializes in that dubious field of “commodities trading,” needed to dispose of some trash. The Probo Koala, the barge carrying the waste, attempted first to unload it in Amsterdam, but the company hired to dispose and treat the waste hiked its prices and Trafigura was unwilling to pay. Instead, it sent the Probo Koala down to the West African coast, where after several failed attempts at finding local firms to accept and dispose of the waste it found a taker in the Ivory Coast.

On December 10th, at the Santiago Military Hospital, Augusto Pinochet died of heart complications. The story of Mr. Pinochet, and the story of his native Chile, is not given much attention in US textbooks, but the life and death of this perpetrator of crimes against humanity raise pertinent political questions for all nations and peoples.

I was recently asked by a non-American why, when there are fifty states in the US, we only ever have two candidates for president. Struggling with a response, I attempted first to explain that in the American system, as well as the British system from which it stems, there is a tradition of having two major political parties, one liberal and one conservative.

The Darfur crisis has taken a massive toll in human lives. Such authorities as the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have declared Darfur a genocide. While the Sudanese government has denied any connection with the Janjaweed militias responsible for the genocide, strong evidence, including testimony from former militia members, points to the government’s involvement. So far, Western powers have failed to intervene effectively to stop the genocide. At present there are 7,000 African Union troops in Darfur. The UN has proposed sending in a force of 20,000 peacekeepers.