Universality/culture tug o' war + the "Failed States Index"

Well, looks like Brian's happy with my new and improved paper outline. Now all I need to do is write the paper itself. It's supposed to be on what univerality of human rights means, the cultural relativism challenge and how to prioritize in favour of universality over culture, with application examples taken from clash between the Islamic legal tradition and certain human rights. Sounds fine, but it's all been done already. I don't think I'll be adding substantial new insight to this equation.

Summer's not a good time to be doing work.

Just found out that Jon Stewart will be doing two shows at Massey Hall in Toronto in October. Ticket sales opened yesterday and they're sold out already. So much for that.

FP's current issue includes their Failed States Index, a table of 60 countries rated and ranked based on political, economic, military, and social indicators of instability such as demographic pressures, human rights, uneven development, security and economic decline. The list is filled mainly with African, Central/South American and Arab and Islamic countries. The top five spots go to Ivory Coast, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Sudan, Iraq and Somalia. Other entries include Afghanistan (11), Rwanda (12), N. Korea (13), Syria (28), Ethiopia (30), Pakistan (34), Lebanon (36), Egypt (38), Saudi Arabia (45) and Iran (57). Even Russia features at 59th place. FP says about 2 billion people live in countries that are 'in danger of collapse' (with varying degrees of vulnerability), many in countries that hardly ever receive media attention.