http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/sarah-joseph/ Sarah Joseph is Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at the Faculty of Law in Monash University, and Professor of Human Rights Law, Sarah Joseph’s areas of specialisation are Globalisation and Human Rights focusing on trade and corporations, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Terrorism and Human Rights and Media (including Social Media) and Human Rights.  Teaching and research in Australian Constitutional Law led to her latest book, ‘Blame It On The WTO:  A Human Rights Critique’. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-no-news-is-good-news-what-do-we-make-of-2011/ So what are we to make of 2011, a year in which one has hardly been able to catch one’s breath in between momentous events (and it’s only just September!).  We have had major environmental disasters (the Queensland floods, the Christchurch earthquake, the Japan earthquake/tsunami), and the spectacular fall from grace of seemingly unassailable powerful men (such as Tunisia’s Zine el Abadine Ben Ali, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Osama Bin Laden, IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn (even though rape charges were recently dropped), and Rupert Murdoch). For the second time in a few years, the global economy teeters (including the first downgrade of the US’s sovereign debt status since 1917 and the very real possibility of the demise of the Eurozone). Anders Breivik wreaked havoc in a murderous rampage in Norway.  We also have a new state in the form of South Sudan. There have also been flashbacks to unfortunate episodes of the 1980s, with a major (and ongoing and unresolved) nuclear emergency in Japan’s Fukushima recalling the Chernobyl disaster, famine in East Africa, and England’s recent riots recalling unrest under Thatcher, oh ... and on a nicer note, a Royal Wedding. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Sarah Joseph) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-no-news-is-good-news-what-do-we-make-of-2011/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-no-news-is-good-news-what-do-we-make-of-2011/#item6623 Fri, 02 Sep 2011 19:55:54 +0000 Sarah Joseph | Author bios | The Punch