Our sympathy should be with the millions of graduates forced to endure commencement addresses at this time of year. They must wish they had a set of noise-eliminating ear phones for each time someone over 50 tells them it’s now up to them to clear up the mess left by previous generations. “It’s your turn,” is a useful cliché trotted out by those letting themselves off the hook. Instead of being inquisitive lambs, they embrace sheep-like passivity, heading out to the golf course or the early bird special, when they should still be fighting for their values, utilising a life-time of experience and wisdom. It isn’t good enough to pass on the baton while you…

Retirement is bad for you, a recent report suggests, but throwing yourself into meaningful pro-bono work offers a path to fulfilment and continuing vitality. The UK Institute of Economic Affairs (1) finds retirement increases the likelihood of suffering from clinical depression by 40 per cent and the chance of having at least one diagnosed physical condition by about 60 per cent: a message endorsed by New Yorker, Claire Fagin. Fagin’s passion for justice and her dislike of hypocrisy is palpable and undimmed by her 86 years. “I wasn’t the type to have hobbies like golf. I’ve always defined myself by my work. Why should I stop trying to achieve the goals that matter to me,…

  Imagine a corrupt Third World dictator who took power in a coup, who locks up opponents, journalists, civil society leaders, students and anyone else who dares doubt his right to absolute power. Imagine a leader who counts Iran and Hezbollah as his closest friends; a man who gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden for five years; and who has been indicted for genocide by theInternational Criminal Court (ICC).Imagine a leader who denies rape exists in Muslim societies, even as his soldiers and their proxies systematically rape women and girls whom they consider racially inferior. Then imagine that America considers this leader their friend in the war on terror. Why does the Obama Administration continue to handle Omar al Bashir and the Government of…

The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court this week failed to provide sufficiently strong legal evidence linking Mathieu Ngudjolo, an alleged war criminal, with the rape, pillage and massacre in a village in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Cue disapproval about how the ICC and chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda built the case. But focusing on this case obscures the more important issue at stake: the ICC will only ever be as effective as the constituent members of the international community allows it to be. As events in Syria remind us, the world’s default position when faced with mass civilian atrocities is to stand to one side. We resort to diplomatic hand-wringing and naive calls for peace….

BY MAGDY EL-BAGHDADY PUBLISHED 16 NOVEMBER 2012 11:37 Newstatesman.com   This week, the Arab League met for its annual ministerial summit and issued a condemnation of Israel for bombing a weapons factory in Sudan. Israel has not admitted destroying the Yarmouk facility on 23 October, because it never confirms or denies such military operations. However, it is accepted by the international community that Israel is the perpetrator. It is also widely believed both inside Sudan and beyond that Yarmouk was making weapons both for and on behalf of Iran, and smuggling them to Hamas in Gaza. Arab and Muslim countries have responded swiftly and with a united voice, expressing outrage at Israel’s actions. Yet, for almost…