Transnational Networks

Links of the Day - Conservative Judicial Activism, Somaliland elections, and more

Here's a couple of links that will provide some entertainment while I develop new posts.

1) John Roberts' tenure on the Supreme Court has meant contradictory free speech rulings.

It should come as no surprise that the Bush legacy will haunt the United States for decades to come, with the Supreme Court becoming more conservative than any other time in recent decades. Under Roberts, Corporations were given a full and unequivocal right free speech, while providing "material support" to terrorist groups - including discussing or advising them on becoming non-violent organizations - will remain an indictable offense with terms up to 15 years in jail.

Back in the 1980s the translation of this ruling would be: Advising the African National Congress or Nelson Mandela would be an offense worthy of 15 years in jail.

Welcome to Conservative activist judges, folks.

Somaliland votes in Presidential Elections

    For the first time since 2003, and after two years of delays and disputes over voter registration, Somalilanders will vote in the second Presidential election in their young country's history.

    Founded in 1991, after the Somali National Movement (SNM) defeated President Barre's troops in Northern Somalia, Somaliland remains unrecognized. While under international law their existence is relatively sound – British Somaliland, its former territory, joined together with Italian Somaliland (Puntland and southern Somalia) after five days as an independent country in its own right – the rest of the world still supports the Transitional Federal Government, which has little representation from Northern Somali clans. Siad Barre virtually ignored the north of Somalia for decades during his rule, which saw him invest most of his country's wealth into the then-capital Mogadishu. Then, when the SNM was founded in the late 1980s, Barre's troops brutally bombed and destroyed critical northern towns and slaughtered countless civilians. The SNM's victory was not intended to set Somaliland onto a path of independence, but popular pressure forced the SNM-led government to declare independence.