What difference is his execution going to make to chaos in Iraq?  I hate Saddam, but I can’t blame him for the current situation — my country has become the most dangerous place on earth. Where is the freedom the Americans promised?

— Aziz Majeed, a Kurd from Irbil, Iraq, alluding to the increasing chaos in Iraqi cities in the aftermath of Saddam’s sentence to death by hanging. Saddam will be hung, pending appeal, for crimes against humanity he committed in 1982 in Dujail, which is primarily Shia. He organized the slaughter of 148 men and boys in Dujail because there was assassination attempt against him in the city. Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam Hussein’s half-brother, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, Iraq’s former chief judge, were also sentenced to death.

Protesters — such as those in Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown — and celebrants — in including those in Sadr City, Najaf, and Baghdad — alike evidence the escalating violence and amplified factionalization that will result from the verdict.

Mimi Hanaoka

This could be the trigger for the grim spiral that produced riots in the north of England five years ago. Only this time the conflict would be much worse. We need to chill.

— Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality in the UK, writing in The Sunday Times about increasingly hostile race relations in the UK. Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, sparked the controversy by making a number of comments in which he expressed his reluctance about speaking with women wearing the niqab, more commonly known as the veil or the Islamic headscarf which only leaves the eyes uncovered. Jack Straw elaborated on his comments in subsequent interviews, explaining his belief that “Communities are bound together partly by informal chance relations between strangers, people acknowledging each other in the street, being able to pass the time of day, sharing just experiences in the street, and that is just made more difficult if people are wearing a veil…that’s just a fact of life.” Far from ushering in a polite debate, the veil — which Prime Minister Tony Blair has called “a mark of separation,” — is being blamed for widening the racial divide.

Mimi Hanaoka

This may sound strange, but I have reasons to mention that Lithuania, the small Baltic country that gained back independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, finally got a nomination in the Foreign Film category from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, better known as the people who give out the Oscars every February or March.

The 46-year-old Lithuanian filmmaker Arunas Matelis’ film, Before Flying Back to Earth, will compete with 60 other films in next year’s 79th edition of the Academy Awards.  The film is a 52-minute documentary about kids with cancer, how they cope while stuck in a hospital, and their feelings and relationships with each other.  It has won the top prizes at last year’s Leipzig and Amsterdam film festivals.  Matelis is a graduate of the theater and TV division of the Lithuanian Academy of Music, and he set up the Nominum Film Production Company in 1992, just a year after the country gained independence.  He has directed more than ten documentaries and around 20 features.  In response to the nomination, he told AFP, “I am very happy with the nomination.  It is the first time for Lithuania, the first time for the Baltic countries and, as far as I know, the first time a documentary will compete against other movies.”

Now the reason why this is important to me is the fact that I’m half Lithuanian.  My mother recently traveled to the country for the first time in her life, finally visiting where her parents were born and meeting many cousins she has never seen in person before.  It makes me feel good that such a small and downtrodden country can emerge from years of oppression, start to pull themselves out of such a quagmire, and begin to become significant contributors to the global society. They continue to build upon their sport heritage with ever-increasing competitive athletes in many sports.  I applaud their efforts and, if I was an Academy member, you know where I’d place my vote. Gero pasisekimo, or good luck.

Rich Burlingham