From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog:

Great. Just when America is gearing up to bomb Iran, North Korea pops up and announces its intention to conduct a nuclear test.

Well, that's a clear policy success for the Bush Administration's strategy of refusing to negotiate under any circumstances, isn't it?

As a civilised country, the US is a party to the Convention Against Torture. In addition to not torturing people or subjecting them to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, one of the obligations on parties is to make regular reports to the UN Committee Against Torture. This year, for the first time since the beginning of the "war on terror", the US will face the Committee. And they have some questions to ask. Quite a lot of them, in fact [PDF]. Starting with

Please explain how [the US definition of torture as only including "extreme acts"] is compatible with article 1 of the Convention

From No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog.

Mark Swanner is a murderer.  In 2003, the CIA interrogator tortured an Iraqi prisoner to death in Abu Ghraib prison.  And yet he continues to walk free, because the US government refuses to prosecute him.

This is a woodcut from Joost De Damhoudere's Praxis Rerum Criminalium, a guide to criminal law as it stood in the 16th century.  The woodcut illustrates "the water cure", a method of interrogation.  The victim is tied down, their face covered with a cloth, and water is poured into their mouth. It produces a sensation of drowning and asphyxiation, and so encourages the victim to talk. Hence the scribe, ready to take down the confession.

According to numerous sources within the CIA, this is exactly what the US does to "high-value" detainees

Idiot/Savant
No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog

Today, October 10th, is the world day against the death penalty. While the civilised world (including New Zealand) has abolished capital punishment, 74 countries still retain the death penalty. The world day against the death penalty is the day we work to change that.

This year, the focus is on Africa.  Out of 53 African nations, 12 have abolished capital punishment, and 20 observe a practical moratorium. But 21 still execute people, including Nigeria, Ethiopia, Botswana and Egypt. The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty has an electronic petition, which you can sign here. It's a small gesture, but the more people who sign it, the more weight it will carry.

Idiot/Savant
No Right Turn - New Zealand's liberal blog

Interim results in the New Zealand election:
Party    Vote %   Seats
Labour        40.74    50
National      39.63    49
NZ First        5.84     7
Green           5.07     6
Maori Party     1.98     4 (overhang)
United Future  2.72     3
ACT                1.52     2
Progressive    1.21     1

There are still 193,000 special votes to be counted, so there could be some change in these figures, but that's the broad sweep of things.

Last week, in a scene strikingly reminiscent of the lead-up to America's current foreign policy disaster in Iraq, we saw President Bush blustering against Iran, threatening to use force unless that country ended its nuclear program.  Ignoring the ethical question of whether the US can consistently try and deny to another country a right it insists upon for itself, is this even possible?  James Fallows considered this question in an article titles Will Iran Be Next? in Atlantic Monthly last year - and the answer is not encouraging for the hawks.