Overseas

A young Russian nationalist and his common-law wife were convicted Thursday in the particularly brazen murders of a prominent human rights lawyer and a journalist two years ago, as the jury sided with prosecutors who argued that the ideologically driven defendants considered their victims enemies of Russia.

Color me somewhat unconvinced. There has been no shortage of coverage of the Russian legal system, which has shown that the Russian courts run about the same way that they did in the Soviet era: The courts reach the verdicts that the state wants. In this particular instance, it suits Russia to solve a couple of these murders of dissident lawyers and journalists. For all I know, there is a message being sent to the nationalists of 'no freelancing allowed." So they may have been convicted for killing without a permit.

Next:

Former President Jimmy Carter, after a 48-hour visit to North Korea, sharply criticized the United States and South Korea on Thursday for their refusal to send humanitarian assistance to the impoverished North, saying their deliberate withholding of food aid amounted to “a human rights violation.”

Jeez, will somebody please up this man's meds? He's embarrassing himself.

North Korea, in case you've forgotten, last year shelled a South Korean town. That was after a NK submarine torpedoes a ROK warship, sinking it and killing 46 sailors. So we're now, according to Saint Jimmy, just supposed to suck it up and play nice with them? Fuck that noise.

Carter must be off his meds. He should go back to swinging hammers for Habitat for Humanity; at least there,he was doing some good.