Here at Enough, we often swap emails with interesting articles and feature stories that we come across in our favorite publications and on our favorite websites. We wanted to share some of these stories with you as part of our effort to keep you up to date on what you need to know in the world of anti-genocide and crimes against humanity work.
We’ve spent a fair amount of time in recent weeks discussing the U.N. Group of Experts’ findings in Congo on the impact of conflict minerals regulations and the role of external actors in funding and supporting the M23 rebellion. Writing on his blog for Foreign Policy, David Bosco highlights some alarming findings of the group tasked with monitoring Cote d’Ivoire about potential plans by supporters of the former regime of Lauren Gbagbo, who awaits trial at the ICC in The Hague, to regroup and link up with militants in the region.
The recent seizure in Hong Kong of “one of the largest shipments of illegal ivory in history” is a grim illustration of how severe the problem of poaching in Africa has become. Bettina Wassener, reporting for the International Herald Tribune, notes that the shipment was the equivalent of more than 600 dead elephants, worth an estimated $3.5 million—some of which may have been destined for any number of armed groups who are increasingly turning to poaching to finance their operations.
Through their 2009 book Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn have won accolades for inspiring activism by telling moving stories about oppression of women and girls, and introducing readers to activists doing remarkable work around the world. But after watching the new PBS series inspired by the book, blogger Liz Warren writes she was “disturbed” by the approach to storytelling and the proposed solutions to the problem of women’s disenfranchisement globally. Her critique appears on WITNESS’s blog.
Writing for The Atlantic, Armin Rosen considers, “What Are the Odds That Israel Just Attacked Sudan?” He provides some valuable context to the incident of the accidental fire / high-stakes attack on the Sudanese weapons facility in Khartoum. One consideration:
The Khartoum attack (if there was one) might have been a dramatic victory over Hamas and an allied government at a time when tensions between Israel and Gaza appear to be escalating. And it's one that doubled as a very public reminder–perhaps to a certain would-be developer of nuclear weapons — of exactly what the Israeli military is capable of.
Boston Globe foreign affairs columnist Juliette Kayyem spoke to PRI’s The World host Marco Werman about the relevancy of the foreign policy debate during the presidential election. “History has shown that theories are interesting and the theories candidates debate might be illuminating to the electorate but that they are rarely the issues that will test a president,” Kayyem said.