The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

An overwhelming majority — 84 per- cent — regardless of party affiliation or religious denomination, believe that the U.S. should not tolerate an extremist government committing such crimes against humanity, and should use its military assets, short of putting U.S. troops on the ground, to stop them. The poll also explored possible solutions: among the 1,000 Americans surveyed, 81 percent prefer that the U.S. impose harsher sanctions on the Sudanese leaders who support the militias; 80 percent desire a no-fly zone over Darfur to deter aerial attacks on civilians; and 76 percent urge NATO support for an expanded African peacekeeping force. Even as the war on terror rages in Iraq, 38 percent of the respondents support deploying U.S. ground troops in Sudan. The crisis in Darfur will certainly remain on the international agenda in the coming months, and can be fol- lowed online. The Save Darfur Coali- tion ( www.savedarfur.org ) o ffers background information on the situa- tion as well as comprehensive news links on current developments (under Latest News). The U.N.’s Sudan Information Gateway provides situa- tion updates and humanitarian reports ( http://www.unsudanig. org ). Lo ok for further progress in the talks between Sudan and the ICC at http://www.icc-cpi.int/ . H uman Rights Watch ( http://hrw.org ) of fers updated news and information, including A.U. troop deployments, moves by the Sudan government and other developments. — Brooke Deal, Editorial Intern n C Y B E R N O T E S u 18 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / S E P T E M B E R 2 0 0 5 Internet telephony has potentially revolutionary implications for the telecom- munications industry. But for Foreign Service families, as we noted in the May issue of the FSJ , it has a very special and practical value: it allows them to make free phone calls “home” to family members and other loved ones, and talk as long as they want, from any place in the world! Skype is arguably the most popular, user-friendly and reliable of the several hundred Voice over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, services operating today, and its computer-to-computer service is completely free. Just download the software, register and plug in your headset or phone — and you’re ready to talk with another Skype user. Besides excellent voice quality, Skype communication is fully secure, with end-to-end encryption, and does not require you to configure your firewall, router or any other networking gadget. What’s more, the software operates flaw- lessly between and among all platforms. It is also free of the legal issues involved in sharing music or videos online. Skype has a number of unusual features. For instance, its database of users is searchable by age, language and nationality. Looking for someone to help you practice your language skills? The user status of “Skype Me” designates an indi- vidual who welcomes unsolicited calls. Launched in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the creators of the peer-to-peer file-sharing service Kazaa, Skype claims more than 2.8 million users in the U.S. and some 30 million worldwide today. Though its basic service is completely free, Skype makes money because a small fraction of its users buy additional services, such as the capability to call from Skype to the telephone network or vice versa. The charges for these services tend to be quite low com- pared to standard telephone rates. Site of the Month: www.skype.com