Amanda Knox Acquitted by Italian Appellate Court

The Perugia Court of Appeals in Italy acquitted Amanda Knox and her co-defendan,t Rafaelle Solicit,o of the murder of her former roommate, Meredith Kercher. The prosecution stated they will appeal the verdict to the highest criminal court in Italy, the Court of Cassation. Meanwhile, Knox plans on returning home to Seattle, Washington with her family on Tuesday. The court had two options to acquit: that either there was not evidence to convict her or that she did not commit the crime at all. They chose the latter option. However, they did uphold the conviction on slander against a bar owner whom she had accused of murdering Kercher. The 3-year prison sentence for the slander charge was considered served, as Knox has been imprisoned for four years since the accusation that she murdered her former roommate.

I wonder how much of the original conviction was due to the general prejudice against Americans, and the U.S. in general. I think I'm going to have to research this case to find out what evidence the court based the original guilty verdict on and more about the Italian legal system. My internal sense of justice is outraged when I hear about this kind of situation, but I realize it happens a lot in the U.S. too. And short of some absolute truth-telling  device, we never actually know if the defendant is innocent or guilty in the end.

Vladimir Putin: potentially Russian President until 2024?

Vladimir Putin was the Russian president from 2000-2008, then stepped down due to a constitutional prohibition on more than two consecutive four-year terms. During the interlude, he has served as the Prime Minister of Russia. He hand-picked his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, as his political party's nominee for the presidency, who was successfully elected as president. Putin has been chosen as his party's nominee for president in the 2012 election and in turn suggested that Medvedev be his replacement as Prime Minister. Due to a change in the Russian constitution, presidential terms are now six years. If Putin wins the 2012 and 2018 elections, he could serve as president until 2024...

Perhaps its the paranoid American coming out in me, but the idea of one person having that much of a monopoly on the political process makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I'm curious about the process in changing the Russian constitution. Is it as rigorous a process as changing the American constitution? I'm aware that FDR was elected four times to the presidency in the U.S., but this happened during the Great Depression and into World War II. These were very unstable and uncertain times and he represented stability to the American people. Shortly after his death, the American constitution was amended to prohibit anyone from serving as president for more than two terms total, whether consecutive or not. Thoughts?

The Palestinian Authority is making a bid for full U.N. membership, stating it is the most viable option at this time. Other options could include return to negotiations, surrender, return to violence, or an appeal to the international community. A P.A. official stated that Palestine has cultivated a "culture of nonviolence" under current leader Mr. Abbas and that Israel is not willing to make necessary compromises that would make negotiations a feasible option. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu expressed that he thinks their bid for U.N. membership is futile, but that Mr. Abbas left a door open for future progress in the peace procress.

I'm not sure if the bid has a realistic chance of getting through the Security Council, as the U.S. is unlikely to support it. I'm not sure what the actual implications of gaining full U.N. membership would be, either. Would that mean the international community would officially recognize Palestine as a sovereign state? Is that even possible without a definitive territory? I believe Israel would react negatively to the success of their bid and peace in the Middle East would be on more of a tipping point than it normally is. However, I am not sure what other resort the Palestinian Authority really has at this point after over half a century of fighting to re-establish a Palestinian state in that area. Gaining full U.N. membership would at least give them more of an equal stand in the international community, even if it doesn't actually gain them the full powers and independence of a sovereign state. Its one step in the right direction, for Palestine.

Week One Topic: New Libyan Ally?

In the Friday September 2, 2011 New York Times, an article entitled "In Libya, Former Enemy is Recast in Role of Ally" is displayed front and center on the front page. The article describes the transition of one man, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, from the leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, which was considered a terrorist group allied with al-Quaeda, to a key partner in leading the new Libyan transition counsel with our government's blessing and aid. He claims to have been tortured by the CIA and then kept in solitary confinement by the Libyan government for six years in horrendous conditions, but now states he has forgiven the U.S. and is willing to work in partnership with them in the future.

By contrast, Mandela Nelson was not considered a terrorist by the U.S. government, even though he organized and led guerrilla attacks against the apartheid government in South Africa. I would need to do more research on Mr. Belhaj to speak authoritatively and obviously there are differences in the international climate regarding Mr. Mandela's fight as compared to Mr. Belhaj's crusade in Libya. However, this article raises disturbing questions for me: Was the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group labelled a terrorist group primarily for its religious affiliations? If it had been a non-religious freedom fighting group, would the U.S. have been more supportive of its goals and actions? Or, if there was legitimate intelligence justifying the group's classification as a terrorist group with close ties to al Quaeda, why is the U.S. government willing to support its leadership in the transitory government in Libya? What assurances, if any, have been provided to prove that they will not pose a future threat to U.S. national security or that they will prove to be a better stewardship of power in Libya than their predecessors?