SODOM & GOMORRAH: The Syrian opposition continues to send envoys to the United Nations in hopes of attaining help in the struggle against their government.

Revolutionary forces are trying a new method. By claiming that the Syrian government possesses and has used biological weapons against its people, the opposition hopes to hold the UN accountable for its commitment to intervene when a country is guilty of outright human rights violations.

From Anonymous’ Twitter Feed

SODOM & GOMORRAH: The American House of Representatives silently and quickly voted in favor of a new bill called the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).

Last year, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), two copyright enforcement bills, inspired thousands of sites to participate in an online blackout. The goal was to demonstrate what the internet might look like if the bills had been passed. Under the existing legal infrastructure, copyright can be enforced by the government if a website fails to comply with a copyright claim requesting that offending material be removed. These claims, which are filed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, are said to be ineffective by intellectual property advocates.

SOPA and PIPA had been successfully defeated after the blackouts, but there is now a new threat on the horizon.

CISPA would remove several legal barriers between the government and companies who have access to personal data about their users. Companies would be able to willingly share information with the federal government.

Unlike the protests against the piracy bills, major tech giants such as Google, Facebook, and Twitter have been silent. Facebook just recently pulled their support.

SODOM & GOMORRAH: Though in critical condition, the last living suspect in the Boston bombing case has been apprehended. He is currently unable to speak but is reportedly able to write.

His aunt, an attorney from Russia, feels this is a frame job and does not trust the evidence provided by the US government. There are also legal challenges since the suspect wasn’t read his Miranda Rights.

SODOM & GOMORRAH: Following Hugo Chavez’s unfruitful struggle against cancer, his appears to be the faction firmly in charge of Venezuela.

Elections were held. Elections are always held. After a “close vote”, Nicolas Maduro, a friend of the late Chavez, was declared the president. Violence erupted as protestors clashed with police. Before papers could even be filed, the pro-government court ruled out the possibility of a recount.

Violence has been fierce. Maduro has accused his rivals, including the main challenger, Henrique Capriles, of being fascists. Capriles and the opposition party continue to call for a recount of the close election.

61 were injured and eight were killed. Capriles, currently the governor of the Miranda state, has called for nights of cacerolazos. This tactic, which consists of banging pots and pans at night, was used against Chile’s Augusto Pinochet and several other Latin American leaders.

The socialist party still hold the reins of power in the country, and it’s unlikely this situation will change.

SODOM & GOMORRAH: More than half of the people polled in Pakistan responded negatively to democracy in Pakistan.

The BBC survey was conducted on about 5,000 Pakistanis who were between the ages of 18 and 29. Almost all of them responded by saying that Pakistan was moving in the wrong direction, signalling a vast pessimism present in the young people of that country.

The poll was conducted since about 30% of registered voters in Pakistan are under the age of 30 and the BBC expects them to have a significant impact on the election which is slated to be held in May. Respondents said that the most trusted institution in the country was the military and that Sharia law and military rule were both more favorable than democracy.

In May, we might see Pakistan vote against voting.

Ahmed Abd El-fatah, Flickr.

SODOM & GOMORRAH: The surprise, of course, belongs solely to Western press. Students of the old science of politics are simply vindicated by recent developments in Egypt.

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi shocked many at home and abroad when he seized new powers. Violent protests were launched that reminded commentators of last year’s revolution. Mursi issued a decree last Thursday which shielded any of his decisions from judicial review and prompted accusations that he was assuming dictatorial powers.

Over 500 people have been injures in clashes between police and protesters. Some fear that Mursi’s Islamic Brotherhood is attempting to assert full powers over Egypt since they won the democratic elections this year.

Egyptian courts have expressed some reservations, but instead of outright condemning Mursi’s recent power grab they have simply hinted at a compromise while calling people back to government work for business as usual. The judges say that the judges and prosecutors who went on strike after the declaration should come back to work and that they did not outright reject Mursi’s declaration.

None of this is horribly surprising. Democracy, in its purest form, is about the power of a majority over any number of minorities. The fact that the Islamic Brotherhood is taking advantage of its majority status is a sign that Egypt has embraced and understood democracy completely.

SBA73, Flickr.

SODOM & GOMORRAH: Self-determination can be a tricky thing. In liberal Europe, this is no less true.

Separatists in the Spanish region of Catalonia have won the regional elections but failed to win in such a way that demonstrated a firm desire to separate from Spain. Voters decided to give almost 70% of the local parliament to four different separatist parties who all advocate for a final separation from Spain. But they didn’t favor the main separatist group, Mas’s Convergence and Union Alliance (CiU) when they cut their seats back to 50 from 62 in the 135-five seat parliament.

Jose Ignacio Torreblanca, the head of Madrid’s office of the European Council on Foreign Relations claims that “Mas clearly made a mistake. He promoted a separatist agenda and the people have told him they want other people to carry out his agenda.”

Spain is currently suffering from a 25% unemployment rate and a brutal recession. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is likely relieved by the outcome. Catalan separatist groups have been edging the country toward a constitutional crisis. Catalonian residents believe that a concentration of political and economic efforts in the region could help them recover better than a continued focus on Spain or even Europe.

Mas has thus far attempted to take advantage of separatist sentiments in the country but the recent election demonstrates a faltering support for his particular brand of autonomy. Instead, the Left has made significant gains as a result of the election, to the expense of the center right.

The cracks that run through the European Union are quite deep. Far more than just individual member-states seeking to reassert their autonomy, sub-cultures within the union are attempting to work for independence.

SODOM & GOMORRAH: Chinese press announced this last weekend that the first successful takeoff and landing of a fighter jet from an aircraft carrier has taken place.

The carrier Liaoning is the only such vessel in the Chinese navy. China purchased a Soviet aircraft carrier (the Varyag) from Ukraine 13 years ago and spent about a decade remodeling and reworking the vessel to be included in the modern Chinese fleet.

Of special interest is the new Chinese fighter jet, the J-15, which military analysts are comparing to the American F-18 and the Russian SU-33.

The tests are significant. They come at the peak of maritime tensions between China and its neighbors over several groups of islands. It also marks China’s graduation into great power status. Until the commissioning of the Liaoning, China was the only permanent member of the United Nations Security Council not to have an aircraft carrier in its arsenal. China has been working to build a navy with which it can project its power abroad for years. An aircraft carrier, even just this one, is a significant symbol of its ability to exert influence abroad.

Jesús Villaseca Pérez, Flickr.

SODOM & GOMORRAH: In the northern part of the Mexican state of Chihuahua, eight bodies showing signs of torture were found dead on the side of a road.

Close to 50,000 people have been killed across Mexico in similar violent outbursts since December 2006. State authorities report that the eight people found in Chihuahua were likely killed where they were found. Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission also reports that 5,300 people have disappeared since 2006 and that 9,000 bodies have not been identified.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is exiting office this week, to be replaced by Enrique Pena Nieto who was elected in July. Calderon is not one to pass up important issues, even close to his departure from office, for he has called on the Mexican government to address the critical issue of the country’s name – saying that the official name of the country was too dependent on foreign influence, Calderon would like to see a more indigenous name adopted.