According to a new Reuters/IPSOS Poll, about 63% of the American population believes that torture is “often or sometimes” justified. Given the reaction to recent events, this number is not surprising, but it still remains depressing. People need to think more carefully about what constitutes torture and whether it is at all effective in obtaining information. Most evidence suggests that it is not. But what is unquestionable is that torture degrades the torturer, and destroys the integrity of the country that sanctions it.
Analysts have a difficult time understanding the motivations of those who resort to terror, and an even more difficult time trying to determine the dynamics of a group that espouses the use of terror. S. Alexander Haslam and Stephen D. Reicher have conducted some interesting research on the dynamics of a terrorist organization using some of the insights provided by the Milgram and Zimbardo experiments. Their analysis is provocative and highly enlightening.
The newspaper that is the authoritative voice of the government of North Korea, Rodong Sinmun. ran an editorial that warned the North Korean people that “We may have to go on an arduous march, a time when we will again have to eat the roots of grass.” The government appears to be anticipating very difficult economic times as the new sanctions against the government cut off key sources of export money to the government. The phrasing of the editorial refers to earlier hard times under Kim’s grandfather and father. The people of North Korea deserve far better than what they have received.
World Politics News 
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