The Nahmias Cipher Report

Reblogged from Katie Chapman: This past December I wrote a paper and conducted some research for my Master’s in International Relations.  The topic compared foreign policy and intervention in Africa by the United States and Cuba.  After somewhat thorough research, I was left with mostly biased opinions produced from each state regarding its foreign involvement [...]

Women, War & Peace is a bold new five-part PBS series challenging the conventional wisdom that war and peace are men’s domain. Spotlighting the stories of women in conflict zones from Bosnia to Afghanistan and Colombia to Liberia, it places women at the center of an urgent dialogue about conflict and security, and reframes our [...]

KINSHASA – 8 July 2010 – In a country plagued by civil war, genocide and marauding hoards who routinely terrorize the population and rape girls and women; it seems as if it could not bear another tragedy.  Yet, this was the case when a plane carrying 112 people crashed today at the airport of Kisangani [...]

When I lived in Africa as a child we resided in countries previously colonized by the British and Germans. In these post-colonialist nations the vacuum left by the departing imperialist was painfully evident in the areas of energy, water, sanitation, manufacturing and the transportation trade vectors implemented to facilitate the transport and shipment of wealth from Africa to their countries.

The departing colonialist were particularly vindictive when they deliberately sabotaged manufacturing plants which supported these supply chain vectors.

In both Nigeria and Tanzania we experienced the deleterious effects of post-colonialism. Daily we were confronted with the challenges of securing clean drinking water, because if it was running it had boiled; the electricity was intermittent and grocery store shelves were often empty.

First Lady Olive Lembe Kabila, the wife of President Joseph Kabila led approximately 17,000 women on Sunday in a march against sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  The term ‘weaponized rape,’ has come to define the practice of raping women as a means of subjugating and decimating the enemy. Most of the [...]

Honor killings, domestic violence and rape does not only occur in Muslim countries, it is happening more and more in the United States, and we are each responsible for doing our part to stop this scourge. It happens in Western and Eastern cultures, and also in Christian and Islamic countries.

This post does not seek to indict one faith or group of people over another, for the real culprits are the men of any nationality, culture, and faith who feel that women are chattel, and deserve to be treated with disrespect, physical and sexual violence, and even death. This behavior continues unabated because the perpetrators know that there will be no repercussions for their acts of violence.

“Awareness leads to interest, which leads to desire, that leads to action.”