Skip to main content

Home/ 5th Hour World Cultures/ Group items tagged Independence

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Won Geun Jung

BBC News - Regions and territories: Abkhazia - 0 views

news.bbc.co.uk/...3261059.stm

Russia Georgia BBC War Abkhazia

shared by Won Geun Jung on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in 1999, but Tbilisi continues to regard it as a breakaway region
  • Abkhazia's battle for independence from Georgia since the collapse of the USSR reduced the economy to ruins. More recent times have seen major Russian investment in the territory, as Moscow seeks to consolidate its influence.
  • In 2010 Russia said it had deployed S-300 anti-aircraft missiles in Abkhazia in order to defend it and South Ossetia, shortly after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited Sukhumi. Georgia expressed "concern" at the move.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Meanwhile, Abkhaz forces drove Georgian troops out of the only area of Abkhazia still under Tbilisi's control - the Kodori gorge.
  • After the 2008 conflict, Moscow declared that it would formally recognise the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia. As of the end of 2009, only Nicaragua and Venezuela had followed suit.
  • In October 2008, Russia pulled its troops back to the Abkhaz-Georgian border, but stationed a large force in the breakaway republic, with the agreement of the Sukhumi government.
  • Abkhazia formally declared independence in 1999, resulting in an international economic embargo that is still in force. It has left Abkhazia's economy highly dependent on Russia, which maintains a border crossing and railway line to Sukhumi.
  • However, in August 2008, during the war between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia, Russian army troops moved through Abkhazia and pushed into Georgia proper, effectively using the region to open another front with Tbilisi.
  • Abkhazia's long history was always closely intertwined with that of Georgia, although its language is unrelated, and is closer to several spoken in the North Caucasus.
  • At the time of the collapse of the USSR in 1991, less than a fifth of the people of Abkhazia were ethnic Abkhaz, while the rest of the population was made up largely of Georgians.
  • Won Geun Jung on 17 Feb 11
     
    Regions and territories: Abkhazia  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3261059.stm Summary: Abkhazia already had a independent country in 756 AD and it was invaded by Russia and Georgia.  After Georgia declared independence in 1991, Georgia invaded Abkhazia in 1992.  So, Abkhazia had declared independence in 1999 and Georgia did not agreed the independence of Abkhazia.  In 2004, Georgia president Saakashvili tried to restore Georgia's land like Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.  In 2008, Georgia attacked Abkhazia and Russia attacked Georgia for protecting Abkhazia. Reflection: Even if Georgia did not accept their independence, Georgia needed to have conversation each other.  Also, Russia should not attack Georgia because it was huge damaged to Georgia.  If Russia was really willing to help them, Russia should be a neutral for both countries. Question:1) Why Russia interrupt between Georgia and Russia?2) Why Georgia did not accept Abkhazia as a country?3) How every country will be peaceful?4) Are both Georgia and Abkhazia safe?
Joy Merlino

A Bold New Palestinian Approach Can Succeed - Council on Foreign Relations - 0 views

www.cfr.org/...p23784

Palestine Independence

shared by Joy Merlino on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • The demolition of East Jerusalem's Shepherd Hotel this week to make way for a new Jewish housing development follows two years of failure by the Obama administration in bringing Israelis and Palestinians to the negotiating table.
  • Yet it should not obscure a revolutionary new Palestinian approach towards statehood that is producing results. While the international community has spent the past two years focused on Israeli settlement activity – allowing the issue to thwart negotiations to end the conflict – Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority prime minister, has made significant headway in the West Bank. Under his leadership, the PA is taking steps to help Palestine become a fully functioning state. This pragmatic “bottom up” effort reflects nothing short of a thoroughly reconstructed Palestinian approach towards peace with Israel.
  • Mr Fayyad's strategy is one of self-reliance and self-empowerment; his focus is on good government, economic opportunity, and law and order for the Palestinians – and security for Israel by extension– removing whatever pretexts may exist for Israel's continued occupation of the Palestinian territories. He has abandoned “armed struggle” and international intervention – the traditional Palestinian approaches to attaining nationalist objectives. Instead, by changing social and political realities and concretely preparing for independence, Mr Fayyad is trying to change perceptions of what is possible.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Since 2007 when Mr Fayyad took over, the West Bank economy has taken off.
  • Government spending has remained within budgetary targets and improved tax collection rates have resulted in higher than projected domestic tax revenues. Unemployment, close to 20 per cent in 2008, has fallen by nearly a third. More than 120 schools have been built in the past two years, along with 1,100 miles of road and 900 miles of water networks. the prime minister's goal has been for Palestinians to be prepared for de facto statehood by 2011; from an economic and institutional standpoint, he has achieved this.
  • Mr Fayyad's Palestinian critics accuse him of naivety, however noble his intentions. They argue that Israel will never allow the Palestinians to succeed. They want to declare independence now. Yet proclaiming independence without negotiating with Israel will create a state that controls only 40 per cent of the West Bank, leaving Gaza in Hamas's control and all of Jerusalem in Israel's.
  • Israel should end its ambivalence and recognise that Mr Fayyad and PA president Mahmoud Abbas are the best Palestinian partners they are likely to find.
  • Mr Fayyad does not seek to establish Palestine unilaterally – he recognises that Israeli partnership is required.
  • Fayyadism alone will not resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Only an agreement accepted by Israelis and Palestinians can do that. But Fayyadism is helping support that effort, and preparing the groundwork for peace and Palestinian statehood, in a way that negotiations alone and armed struggle never could.
  • Joy Merlino on 08 Mar 11
     
    How does the Israeli-Palestinian conflict affect the futures of both Israeli and Palestinian children? Danin, Robert. "A Bold New Palestinian Approach Can Succeed ." Council on Foreign Relations. N.p., 11 Jan. 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. . Summary: The Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad, has decided to embark on a different strategy in regard to peace with Israel. He has "abandoned 'armed struggle' and international intervention... and instead, by changing social and political realities & concretely preparing for independence, Mr. Fayyah is trying to change perceptions of what is possible." From an economical standpoint, the strategy seems to be working. The economy has been boosted, & Palestine is moving more and more towards being able to become an independent state. Reflection: In theory, this is a great was for Palestine to work with Israel. However, time will tell how this new strategy will pan out. It may be that Israel would take advantage an idealist such as the prime minister, & it may be also that the Palestinian people will not stand behind a solution that is this inactive. Time will tell if this new strategy is a positive step towards Palestinian independence, or if it is merely an idealistic dream. 
Won Geun Jung

South Ossetia News - Breaking World South Ossetia News - The New York Times - 1 views

topics.nytimes.com/...index.html

ossetia Georgia russia NYT news

shared by Won Geun Jung on 09 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • South Ossetia is a small enclave in the Caucasus Mountains that falls within the borders of Georgia but has been all but independent
  • Whatever vestige of control Georgia had it lost in a short war in August 2008, in which its forces were routed by Russian troops. Afterward, it was recognized by Russia as a sovereign nation, a designation not supported by most of the rest of the international community.
  • Russia has supported South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, as quasi-satellites since the wars in the 1990s ended in stalemates.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • In 2005 Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili offered significant autonomy and economic development to South Ossetia if it renounced independence. South Ossetia's president rejected the plan "developed by a neighboring country'' sight unseen. Mr. Saakashvili had made national reunification a centerpiece of his administration.
  • In 2008, tensions between Georgia and Russia rose steadily and during the summer artillery fire was exchanged across the South Ossetian border.
  • In the event, a massive Russian invasion soon followed, and the Georgians were not only driven from Tskhinvali, but lost control of the approaches to Abkhazia and, for a time, large swaths of its own northern territory.
  • Russians saw the attack on Tskhinvali, which they call by its Ossetian name, Tskhinval, as a watershed moment akin to the Sept. 11 attacks, and aid pledges flooded in.
  • But reconstruction has proceeded slowly in this patch of rural land that had a prewar population of 70,000. A report released in December by Russia's federal auditing agency found that of about $55 million in priority aid pledged by Russia, only about $15 million had been delivered and only $1.4 million spent. It also found that of 111 structures scheduled for renovation by the end of 2008, 8 had been completed and 38 had not yet been touched.
  • On July 14, 2009, the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, made a surprise visit to breakaway South Ossetia, inspecting a new Russian military base there and promising citizens that Russia would rebuild neighborhoods destroyed during the brief war between Russia and Georgia.
  • The visit, coming just after President Obama's visit to Moscow, underscored Russian support and the gulf that remained between it and the United States over the breakaway republics. The "reset" of relations has sidestepped the issue of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
  • Won Geun Jung on 09 Mar 11
     
    South Ossetia News - Breaking World South Ossetia News - The New York Times http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/georgia/south_ossetia/index.html?scp=10&sq=south&st=cse Summary: South Ossetia is a small enclave in the Caucasus Mountains that falls within the borders of Georgia but has been all but independent.  Since 1990, South Ossetia and the rest of the regions declared independence from Georgia, and Russia were supported them.  In 2005, Georgia's president Mikhail Saakashvili would support them if it renounced independence but South Ossetia's president rejected.  Then in 2008, Georgia and Russia had a short war and their regions was invaded.  Then Russia pledged that they will support South Ossetia but the reconstruction has proceeded slowly.  In 2009, Russia president visited to South Ossetia after President Obama visited to Russia.  South Ossetia will be sidestepped by Russia and U.S. Reflection:  I think that South Ossetia and the other regions were really dangerous places between Russia and Georgia.  Also, this relationship between Russia and US would be affected because of Russia's president's visit.  If Russia really want to help South Ossetia, then they have to help the reconstruction of South Ossetia and the other parts which was invaded. Question:1) Why Georgia's president helped their economic problems and why South Ossetia's president rejected.                 2) Why Russia president surprise visit to South Ossetia?                 3) Why Russia did not help South Ossetia's reconstruction?
Joy Merlino

BBC News - Israeli presence on Palestinian land 'irreversible' - 0 views

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-middle-east-11611658

Palestine Israeli conflict

shared by Joy Merlino on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Richard Falk said the peace process aimed at creating an independent, sovereign Palestinian state therefore appeared to be based on an illusion.
  • Nearly half a million Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They are held to be illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
  • He said this undercut assumptions behind UN Security Council resolutions which said Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory in 1967 was temporary and reversible.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Such assumptions are the basis for the current peace process aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel. This now appears to be an illusion, said Mr Falk.
  • He said he based his conclusion not only on the deepening expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, but on the eviction of Palestinians from East Jerusalem, and the demolition of their homes.
  • But Mr Falk said both governments and the United Nations had failed to uphold Palestinian rights.
  • He urged the UN to support civil society initiatives, such as campaigns to sanction or boycott Israel for alleged violations of international law.
  • Joy Merlino on 17 Feb 11
     
    Plett, Barbara. BBC News. N.p., 22 Oct. 2010. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. . Summary:  This article is saying that israel's occupation of Palestinian land is irreversible. Israeli settlements have been illegally built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. There was a UN security council resolution which stated that "Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory in 1967 was temporary and reversible." This is why the peace talks have been geared towards creating a Palestinian state alongside of Israel. Israel has demolished Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, and continues to create settlements in the West Bank.  Reflection: This article is choosing to completely ignore the Palestinian-Israeli crisis, and focus entirely on Israel's land grab. While I do not believe that it is possible to look at one without the other, it is interesting to note that Israel was given a section of the Palestinian state, and has proceeded to take over more and more land over the years. It is now the Palestinians who do not seem to have a home land, instead of the Israelis. This is going to have an effect on the future generation of both Palestinians and Israelis. This will affect how they live, and how they view one another. If one side is growing up more privileged than the other, peace talks will go from difficult to near impossible.  Questions: 1) If an independent Palestinian state was created, where would the land come from? 2) Would they have to destroy Israeli homes? Would it turn into the same conflict that we are facing now? 3) According to this article, Israeli expansion is irreversible; what do we do with that knowledge? 4) How should we proceed with the peace talks? 5) What does this mean for the future generations of both states?
Bryce Lutke

Cuba History - 0 views

www.countryreports.org/...Overview.aspx

Cuba History

shared by Bryce Lutke on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Indian population died out, African slaves were imported to work the ranches and plantations. Slavery was abolished in 1886.
  • Cuba was the last major Spanish colony to gain independence
  • 1868. Jose Marti, Cuba’s national hero
  • ...26 more annotations...
  • the United States entered the conflict after an explosion of undetermined origin caused the USS Maine to sink in Havana Harbor on February 15
  • December of that year, under the Treaty of Paris, Spain relinquished control of Cuba to the United States. On May 20, 1902, the United States granted Cuba its independence
  • retained the right to intervene to preserve Cuban independence and stability in accordance with the Platt Amendment.
  • 1934, the Platt Amendment was repealed
  • The United States and Cuba concluded a Treaty of Relations in 1934 which, among other things, continued the 1903 agreements that leased the Guantanamo Bay naval base to the United States.
  • Independent Cuba was often ruled by authoritarian political and military figures who either obtained or remained in power by force
  • Fulgencio Batista
  • organized a non-commissioned officer revolt in September 1933 and wielded significant power behind the scenes until he was elected president in 1940
  • Batista was voted out of office in 1944 and did not run in 1948
  • Running for president again in 1952, Batista seized power in a bloodless coup 3 months before the election was to take place
  • On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro, who had been involved in increasingly violent political activity before Batista’s coup, led a failed attack on the Moncada army barracks in Santiago de Cuba in which more than 100 died
  • he was convicted and jailed, and subsequently was freed in an act of clemency, then went into exile in Mexico.
  • There he organized the “26th of July Movement” with the goal of overthrowing Batista, and the group sailed to Cuba on board the yacht Granma, landing in the eastern part of the island in December 1956.
  • Batista’s dictatorial rule fueled increasing popular discontent and the rise of many active urban and rural resistance groups
  • Faced with a corrupt and ineffective military, itself dispirited by a U.S. Government embargo on weapons sales to Cuba, and public indignation and revulsion at his brutality toward opponents, Batista fled on January 1, 1959
  • Castro had promised a return to constitutional rule and democratic elections along with social reforms, Castro used his control of the military to consolidate power by repressing all dissent from his decisions, marginalizing other resistance figures, and imprisoning or executing thousands of opponents.
  • An estimated 3,200 people were executed by the Castro regime between 1959-62
  • As the revolution became more radical, hundreds of thousands of Cubans fled the island.
  • Castro declared Cuba a socialist state on April 16, 1961
  • For the next 30 years, Castro pursued close relations with the Soviet Union
  • worked in concert with the geopolitical goals of Soviet communism
  • funding and fomenting violent subversive and insurrectional activities, as well as military adventurism, until the demise of the U.S.S.R. in 1991.
  • Relations between the United States and Cuba deteriorated rapidly as the Cuban regime expropriated U.S. properties and moved toward adoption of a one-party communist system
  • In response, the United States imposed an embargo on Cuba in October 1960
  • in response to Castro’s provocations, broke diplomatic relations on January 3, 1961
  • Tensions between the two governments peaked during the October 1962 missile crisis.
  • Bryce Lutke on 17 Feb 11
     
    What effects have the US embargo had on the Cuban economy? Cuba - History. Pleasant Grove UT: Country Reports, n.d. Country Reports. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. . Summary: This article gave a summary of the nation on Cuba. It gave information on how Cuba became a country with its revolution though the 1962 missile crisis, how Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba and a little of his history in the nation. It told about how Cuba aligned itself with the soviet union and how the embargo with the United States came into being.  Reflection: I thought this summary of the Cuban history was very interesting. The article was full of great information on Cuba I learned more on how Fidel Castro came into power and why the United States put an embargo on Cuba than I had ever known just by reading this article. I would like to have known more about some critical issues that they mentioned like the missile crisis and some of the things tat Fidel Castro did in their history.
Joy Merlino

Palestinians to hold elections by September - USATODAY.com - 0 views

www.usatoday.com/...12-palestinian-elections_N.htm

palestinians Elections Hamas

shared by Joy Merlino on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank on Saturday promised to hold long-overdue general elections by September, a surprise move spurred by political unrest rocking the Arab world and embarrassing TV leaks about peace talks with Israel.
  • The announcement appeared to be an act of desperation by an embattled government that has been weakened by the standstill in peace efforts with Israel, its rivalry with Hamas and the loss of its key Arab ally in Egypt. Mubarak had served as an important mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, and rallied Arab support for Abbas when needed.
  • Still, it c
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • uld become difficult for Hamas to reject elections at a time of growing calls for democracy throughout the Middle East. Hamas itself has praised the downfall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as a victory for the Egyptian people.
  • The call for elections came a day after Mubarak stepped down, forced out by mass protests against his ironfisted 30-year rule. The Egyptian uprising and another successful revolt in Tunisia a month earlier have inspired calls for democratic reform throughout the region.
  • Abbas aide Yasser Abed Rabbo said Saturday that preparations were underway for legislative and presidential elections later this year. "We call on parties to put aside all of their differences and to focus on conducting the elections by September at the latest,"
  • In principle, elections could help end the deep political split between West Bank-based President Mahmoud Abbas and the Islamic militant Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, the other territory the Palestinians want for their state.
  • The documents showed that in 2008 Abbas agreed to major concessions toward Israel by dropping claims to parts of east Jerusalem, the hoped-for Palestinian capital, and acknowledging that most Palestinian refugees would never return to the lost properties in what is now Israel.
  • With the call for elections, Abbas is trying to signal that he is attentive to his people's demands. By putting his job on the line, he can portray himself as a leader committed to democracy. It was not clear whether Abbas, who has said he would step down after his current term, would seek re-election. But the move is a gamble. With peace talks on hold, Abbas and his Fatah party will have no major accomplishment to present to voters.
  • And Hamas, which seized Gaza from Abbas' forces in 2007, said it would not participate in the elections. Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, called the election "illegitimate."
  • September is shaping u
  • At that time, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad expects to complete a two-year process of building the state from the ground up. The Palestinians have also signaled they will ask the U.N. Security Council, whose decisions are legally binding, to formally recognize an independent Palestine at that time.
  • Israeli officials have dismissed the Palestinian tactics, saying unilateral recognitions will not change the situation on the ground and that there is no replacement for direct negotiations. However, Netanyahu's hardline government, already reluctant to making deep concessions to the Palestinians, appears unlikely to make any bold offers while the Egyptian situation remains fluid.
  • Joy Merlino on 14 Apr 11
     
    Research Question: How does the conflict in Israel affect the future of Israeli children compared to Palestinian children? Summary: This article states that the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank is planning on holding general elections by September. This has been brought about as a response to the TV leaks, and the unrest in the surrounding Arab countries. This is an attempt to end the conflict between the Hamas and the West Bank. However, this article does not think that the Hamas will respond favorably to this call for democracy. But with the unrest in the surrounding nations, they might be pushed into cooperation.  Reflection: If these elections do in fact take place, this would mean a dramatic change for the future generation of Palestinians and Israelis alike. If Palestine could become an independent state, this would mean that there would hopefully be an end to the conflict that is associated with the borders. However, this is not certain. The Palestinians best hope would be to get the recognition of the UN. Unfortunately, this could be a challenge due to the relations held between the US and Israel, and the veto power that the US holds. This would also have an effect on the future generation of Israeli citizens. As the conflict would almost certainly dissolve to an extent or reach a boiling point that would inevitably lead to military action. The occurrence of these elections -- or lack thereof -- has the potential to entirely reshape the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. 
Joy Merlino

Israel's Neighborhood Watch | Foreign Affairs - 0 views

www.foreignaffairs.com/...israels-neighborhood-watch

Israel Conflict Palestine

shared by Joy Merlino on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Until a decade ago, every Israeli government, left and right, was committed to a security doctrine that precluded the establishment of potential bases of terrorism on Israel’s borders.
  • That doctrine has since unraveled. In May 2000, Israel's unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon led to the formation of a Hezbollah-dominated region on Israel’s northern border. Then, in August 2005, Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza led to the rise of Hamas on Israel’s southern border.
  • As a result, two enclaves controlled by Islamist movements now possess the ability to launch missile attacks against any population center in Israel. And Iran, through its proxies, is now effectively pressing against Israel's borders.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • For Israel's policymakers, the nightmare scenario of the recent Egyptian upheaval is that Islamists will eventually assume control
  • Until now, the Muslim Brotherhood has faced a sworn enemy in the Mubarak regime. But if it were to take control in Egypt, then Hamas, the Brotherhood's descendant within the Palestinian national movement, would suddenly have an ally in Cairo. Hamas has significance for the Arab world: it is the first Sunni Islamist movement to align with Shiite Iran. So far, Hamas has been an aberration in this regard. But it could be a harbinger of an Egyptian-Iranian alliance that would create an almost complete encirclement of Israel by Iranian allies or proxies.
  • At the very least, Egypt’s instability will reinforce the urgency of Israeli demands for security guarantees as part of a deal on a Palestinian state. Those demands will include a demilitarized Palestine, Israel’s right to respond to terror attacks, and an Israeli military presence along the Jordan River.
  • The Israeli centrist majority views a Palestinian state with deep ambivalence.
  • On the other hand, centrists see a Palestinian state as an existential threat to Israel. An unstable Palestinian state on the West Bank could fall to Hamas, just as Palestinian Authority–led Gaza did in 2007. Israel would then find itself “sharing” Jerusalem with an Islamist government, turning the city into a war zone.
  • In that balance between existential necessity and existential threat, Egypt’s unrest only heightens Israeli anxieties of a Palestinian state.
  • Even a relatively more benign outcome -- such as the Turkish model of incremental Islamist control, with the government maintaining ties to the West -- would mean the end of Israel’s sense of security along its long southern border. And this uncertainty will certainly adversely affect the Israeli public’s willingness to relinquish the West Bank anytime soon.
  • Contrary to much of the public reaction in other Western nations, President Barack Obama's instant abandonment of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the United States’ closest ally in the Arab world, is being cited by Israeli commentators on the left and right as a warning against trusting the administration.
  • The Obama administration, along with much of the international community, has been motivated in its approach to the Middle East by two assumptions -- both of which have been proven wrong in recent days. The first is that the key to solving the Middle East's problems begins with solving the Palestinian problem. The second is that the key to solving the Palestinian problem is resolving the issues of the West Bank settlements and the status of Jerusalem.
  • The first premise was undone in the streets of Cairo.
  • Even if the Palestinian issue were to be somehow settled, the Arab world would still be caught in the shameful paradox of being one of the world's wealthiest regions and one of its least developed.
  • Moreover, as the WikiLeaks documents revealed, Arab leaders are far more concerned about the prospect of a nuclear Iran than about ending the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
  • The second premise -- that settlements and Jerusalem are the main obstacles to an agremeent -- has been disproven by leaked documents from the Palestinian Authority published by Al Jazeera and The Guardian. Those documents reveal that on the future of Jerusalem's Jewish and Arab neighborhoods, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were largely in agreement
  • Instead, the main obstacle remains what it has been all along: the Palestinian insistence on the "right of return" -- that is, the mass immigration to the Jewish state of the descendants of Palestinian refugees.
  • Olmert also rejected Palestinian demands that Israel accept blame for creating the refugee problem -- given that the 1948 war that led to the refugee tragedy was launched by Arab countries. And so Olmert's offer to withdraw from more than 99 percent of the territory was, in the end, a nonstarter, with the disagreements between the two sides about the refugee issue remaining irreconcilable.
  • All of which only underscores for Israelis the grim logic of developments in the region. With peace with Egypt suddenly in doubt -- a peace for which Israel withdrew from territory more than three times its size -- I
  • sraelis are wondering about the wisdom of risking further withdrawals for agreements that could be abrogated with a change of regime. Such a dilemma is all the more pressing when the territory in question borders Israel's population centers.
  • For Israelis, this is a time of watching and waiting. Despite conventional wisdom in the West that a Palestinian state needs to be created to contain the Islamist threat, Israelis believe the reverse to be true. Only in a Middle East able to contain the Iranian contagion can Israel afford to take the risk of entrusting its eastern border to a sovereign Palestine.
  • Joy Merlino on 08 Mar 11
     
    How does the conflict in Israel affect the future of Israeli children compared to Palestinian children? Halevi, Yossi K. Foreign Affairs. N.p., 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. . Summary: With the Muslim Brotherhood poised to gain control in Egypt, Israel sees itself as almost completely encircled by hostile forces. Is an Egyptian-Iranian alliance a possibility -- and where would this leave the future of a sovereign Palestinian state.  Reflection: This article has everything to do with the future generation of Palestinians & Israelis. Everything in the Middle East is changing and uncertain at the moment. The current state of Israel & the focus of its conflict is bound to change with these new developments. Especially given the actions of Iran after Mubarak's regime was dismantled. Israel, I am sure, is on high alert at the present, and we will have to wait and see if these new developments have an affect on Israel's borders and their status as an independent state. 
Joy Merlino

Impatient Palestinians Eye Arab World In Flux : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...story.php

Palestinian Middle East Uprising

shared by Joy Merlino on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Could the Arab Spring pass over the Palestinians?
  • With the peace process going nowhere, the threat of new violence increasing and the Palestinians badly divided, people in the West Bank and Gaza are surveying the rapid changes in the rest of the Arab world — and growing impatient with stagnation at home.
  • In Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, officials are quietly working on a plan: Going for statehood without agreement with Israel, bypassing the moribund peace process.
  • ...20 more annotations...
  • Although revolt seems unlikely for now, the crowded coastal strip has experienced a series of demonstrations with youths calling for national reconciliation between the two Palestinian territories.
  • "I believe that change is coming to our part of the world. We need as Palestinians to catch the moment," said Saed Issac, a 22-year-old law student in Gaza. "It's time for national unity first, to elect new leaders, and to work hard to achieve our task to end the occupation."
  • Issac was referring to Israel's control over Palestinians' lives — which Palestinians feel applies not only to the West Bank, where power is shared in a complex arrangement dating back to the 1990 autonomy accords, but also in besieged Gaza, even though Israeli settlers and soldiers pulled out five years ago.
  • In Israel, many eye the changes in the Arab world warily, fearing freedom could unleash more hostility — and that is doubly true when it comes to the Palestinians.
  • the Palestinians were influenced by "the trauma of Hamas' rise in the Gaza Strip, relative prosperity in the West Bank" and the expectation of statehood materializing within months. If that expectation is disappointed "a political tsunami" will result, he predicted.
  • A paradoxical challenge results: Hamas won elections but rules Gaza in authoritarian fashion, while Fatah, despite canceling recent elections, has made strides in convincing the world community that in the West Bank it is genuinely laying the foundations of a functioning independent state.
  • The picture that emerges from interviews with top Palestinian Authority officials, most off the record, marks a break from past policies that ranged from negotiations to violence and terror attacks. It combines what seems like genuine commitment to nonviolence with utter impatience with more talks with Israel.
  • "Negotiations have hit a dead end, and the U.S. administration is not willing to pressure Israel. Therefore, we have no other option except taking our case to the international community," said Palestinian negotiator Mohammed Ishtayeh.
  • Abbas' prime minister, Salam Fayyad, has long cited September 2011 as the moment his people will be ready for independence, after a two-year program of rehabilitating courts, police and other institutions. It also coincides with the annual meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly.
  • The Palestinians say 120 of the 192 countries in the General Assembly have already granted full diplomatic recognition to Palestine, including a recent string of Latin American nations. Many have said the state should be based along the pre-1967 boundary between Israel and the West Bank — effectively taking the Palestinians' side on the border question, since Israel hopes to keep parts of the West Bank under a future deal.
  • Israel had previously dismissed the General Assembly as toothless, but that is starting to change.
  • In an interview with the Jerusalem Post Friday, former Israeli U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev warned that a General Assembly resolution might be meaningful if passed under the auspices of so-called Resolution 377, a little-used device dating back to the Korean War that permits the body to recommend measures ranging from sanctions to the use of force in cases where the Security Council members cannot reach unanimity and peace is imperiled. "This would seek to impose on us some kind of Palestinian state," Shalev was quoted as saying.
  • Although a General Assembly declaration might not force immediate change on the ground, the Palestinians see it as a major step that would "give us new political, moral and legal standing against the Israeli occupation," Ishtayeh said.
  • Inspired by the unrest elsewhere in the region, the Palestinians are also considering backing the diplomatic offensive with peaceful — and photogenic — mass marches and sit-ins across the West Bank, confronting Israeli checkpoints and settlements.
  • One senior Palestinian official said the strategy, following the successful uprisings that ousted leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, would be meant to push the U.S. to take action.
  • A Facebook group called "Let's End the Occupation" has already sprouted up, saying it is preparing demonstrations near the Beit El settlement near Jerusalem later this year.
  • If all else fails Palestinians warn they might disband the Palestinian Authority — a move that would saddle Israel with responsibility for civil and security affairs in the West Bank, huge expenses and a public relations nightmare.
  • As long as peace talks were an option, Abbas could not afford to alienate Israel by embracing its archenemy this way. But the equation changes now that hardly a single Palestinian official can be found who believes in peace talks anymore: World recognition demands a unified front. And because the new strategy does not actually require the Palestinians to offer Israel formal peace, Hamas could be more likely to go along.
  • But there is a certain foment growing from within. Its scale is difficult to gauge, because fear is still widespread, but recent weeks have seen repeated popular protests, which Hamas has alternately supported and violently dispersed.
  • "Hamas needs to listen to the young generation's demands," Fahmi said. "The whole world is changing. You can feel it. So can Hamas."
  • Joy Merlino on 14 Apr 11
     
    How does the conflict in Israel affect the future of Israeli children compared to Palestinian children? Summary: This article is discussing whether or not the uprisings in the Middle East will spread to the palestinian lands. Given the fact that the leaders in the Palestinian lands no longer believe in the effectiveness of Israeli peace talks, the thought is that the spirit of the riots being held in neighboring countries will be caught by the Palestinian people. The attempt is to become recognized as a sovereign state; before this was to be attempted through peace talks, now the thought of many is to forgo the peace talks and deal directly with the international community.  Reflection: Our research question was focused mainly on the Israeli conflict alone; however, with the current rebellions and unrest in the rest of the MIddle East, it makes logical sense to explore their effect on this conflict as well. It is very true that these uprisings may lead to a want for an expedited statehood. We will just have to see how this all plays out.  
Luke Terpstra

Putin meets South Ossetia leader in Moscow - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review - 0 views

www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php

Putin South Ossetia Georgia assistance

shared by Luke Terpstra on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • ussian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that a Russian-funded “plan on rehabilitation” launched after the August war between Russia and Georgia that led to Moscow’s recognition of South Ossetia as an independent republic “is practically over,”
  • Putin, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Eduard Kokoity, the de facto leader of the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia, said problems might remain
  • After the meeting Kokoity said it was possible to say that “consequences of the Georgian aggression of August 2008 will be fully eradicated in a year or two.”
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • “Despite the global economic crisis, Russia has completely met its commitments,” said Kokoity, regarding financial assistance to Tskhinvali, adding that a total of 792 of South Ossetia’s facilities were rehabilitated with Russian assistance.
  • Luke Terpstra on 17 Feb 11
     
    "Putin meets South Ossetia leader in Moscow." Hurriyet Daily News 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 17 Feb. 2011.   Summary:    Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, says that he and Eduard Kokoity,  the leader of the region in Georgia called South Ossetia, and stated that hostilities may still exist, but they have assisted South Ossetia in rehabilitating some of their facilities. Putin claims that with Russian aid, nearly 800 facilities were rehabilitated.  Reflection:      I find it hard to believe that Russia would help restore South Ossetia at all. They have constantly met all hostilities from Georgia with more offense, and not with the respectful defense they should have. I also find it strange that they find it strange that Georgia would attack them back.  Questions:  1. What do you think caused Russia to help South Ossetia out. Was it that they were obligated to do it, or did they just want to play the good guy role?  2. How much help do you think South Ossetia got, and what kind?  3. Why do you think Georgia is still hostile to Russia?
Nicki Pifer

Obama Opens Trade and Travel Relations With Communist Cuba - 0 views

www.thenewamerican.com/

embargo trade Cuba travel

shared by Nicki Pifer on 01 Mar 11 - Cached
  • Nicki Pifer on 01 Mar 11
     
    On Friday, January 14 President Obama announced that he plans on easing trade and travel relations with Communist Cuba, including making it easier for U.S. citizens to travel directly to the island from American airports. The President added that he had instructed the relevant government departments to allow religious groups and students to travel to the communist-run island. For almost half a century, the debate has been raging over the United States' policy towards Cuba, which has been communist since Fidel Castro's coupe de etat in 1959. Free travel from the U.S. to Cuba was halted in 1963 under President John F. Kennedy. The explanation at the time for why Americans could visit the Soviet Union but not Cuba was that the communist government in Moscow was permanent but that Fidel Castro was temporary. In 1977, with Cuba still unchanged, President Jimmy Carter relaxed the travel ban. In 1982, President Ronald Reagan restored it. n 1998, with the Soviet Union "gone," Clinton loosened it and in 2004, with Cuba still unchanged, President George W. Bush tightened it again. Now President Obama is going back to the Clinton policy, which will make it easier for churches and universities to sponsor trips to the communist state. Obama's announcement calls for changes in policy at the Departments of State, Treasury, and Homeland Security, as both travel and remittances are involved in the changes, and the new regulations will be promulgated as modifications of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations and the Customs and Border Protection Regulations. The new policies call for the following reforms to Cuba-United States relations. According to the BBC, Obama's new proposals: * Allow religious organizations to sponsor religious travel to Cuba under a general license; * Allow accredited institutions of higher education to sponsor travel to Cuba; * Allow any U.S. person to send remittances (up to $500 per quarter) to non-family members in Cuba to support private e
Brielle DeFrell

Online NewsHour: Tension and Violence Arise Over Oil Drilling in Nigeria -- August 25, ... - 0 views

www.pbs.org/...oil_8-25.html

Nigeria oil effects

shared by Brielle DeFrell on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Tensions and violence have been rising in Nigeria as Shell Oil has sought the rights to drill more widely for more oil in the Niger River Delta region
  • oil at 67 bucks a barrel,
  • A lot of money is flowing to Nigeria; a lot of money is flowing to oil companies -- not just Shell - but Chevron, Exxon/Mobile, and a number of others that are drilling there.
  • ...29 more annotations...
  • last several decades violence has been building off and on in the Niger River Delta
  • lucrative industry, which is living right next to very, very poor people and there is been a lot of conflict over time, a lot of mistrust built up between residents and the companies.
  • People feel that they have been cheated; people feel that their rights have been violated; they end up protesting against the companies or in some cases attacking the companies. The companies end up -- have to be protected by the military.
  • RAY SUAREZ: Not gaining but also feeling themselves burdened -- don't they -- by environmental concerns, fouling of the groundwater, that kind of thing?
  • t money paid to Nigeria's government in taxes - and the Nigerian Government will admit this -- a lot of the money over the years has been stolen.
  • Nigeria has a tremendous corruption problem, and the money that's disappeared is probably in the billions -- not the millions -- over the years -- perhaps the tens of billions
  • don't really have much of a functioning government
  • There aren't any roads in many areas; there aren't good schools in many areas; many places don't even have electricity; many places don't have telephone lines, although cell phones are now spreading through independent companies.
  • oil companies will say first off that they don't employ that many people
  • various ethnic groups in the Delta and tribal groups and different villages and individuals, many, many different groups, and it is often felt that the oil companies have taken sides, that they have gone about a divide and rule practice as some people will call it.
  • the face of the government to many people is a police officer or a soldier or sailor who is there fundamentally to guard an oil installation and not to help the people, or protect the people.
  • a feeling that the government has taken sides in this triangle and it's with the companies and not with the people who live there?
  • Shell acknowledged more than 200 oil spills last year alone. Thousands of barrels of oil were spilled in the water and there have been many oil spills over the years. And that has contributed, by many people's accounts, to environmental degradation there.
  • So each company is trying to do something but the question is: Are they doing something that's just public relations or that's too small to make a regional difference in a region of millions of people, or are they really going to do something that could change the situation?
  • We get 1.2 million barrels a day from Nigeria; it's the fifth largest supplier of oil to the United States
  • Every day there is some more than 100,000 barrels, 140,000 from one company, as a matter of fact, that doesn't get out of Nigeria because of violence over the last couple of years and some days that's a much higher number.
  • in some cases you simply have people who live next to an oil facility, who feel they have been cheated, who feel that they're actually worse off for the facility being there because of pollution and other problems - who feel they're not benefiting and they go and they protest.
  • terminal in 2002 and again in 2005 was invaded by residents from nearby villages who simply felt that they were not gaining anything from Chevron.
  • They invade the terminal; they shut it down; Chevron makes promises; people feel the promises aren't kept; they come back again. That's one way that there's violence.
  • ethnic conflicts; there was a major one in 2003 revolving around elections
  • one group that felt that another group was having the election rigged in their favor and so they struck out. And they battled with Nigeria's military to some degree and they also attacked oil facilities because that was a way that they could strike back at the government.
  • disputed who owned a bit of oil land. The question who was got paid a little bit of money for the oil that was discovered on that land. They ended up fighting over it; a number of people were murdered.
  • military came in and essentially, by some people's account, settled matters by burning one of the villages. The military denies that the burning was intentional but, in any event, we went and visited -- a great number of buildings were destroyed, a number of people were killed.
  • no evidence of the government in many of these places. Does the oil company become -- in effect -- the government, and how do they respond to these challenges? What did they tell you about what they're trying to do in that part of Nigeria?
  • oil companies will have showcase instances in which they provided some community development.
  • instances in which oil companies have to acknowledge they have made promises that haven't been kept.
  • They will promise, for example -- in a village near the Chevron Terminal there is erosion of the land, which is blamed on the way that Chevron has managed its land. Whether that's fair or not, Chevron has promised to fix it by building some new housing on some new land. It hasn't been done yet, and Chevron has its own reasons why that hasn't been done -- they'll say because the situation is too unstable and there's been too much violence.
  • when they get frustrated, when there is an ethnic militia or an ethnic group that is going to engage in violence, they'll often turn it against oil companies, which they will see as perfectly justified, even though the oil companies will find it an outrageous disruption;
    • Brielle DeFrell
      Brielle DeFrell on 08 Mar 11
       
      Summary: Tensions between oil companies and the Nigerian people have been escalating for decades. The violence has increased as the years have gone by and the promises the oil companies have said they would do have not been fulfilled. As the oil companies don't have the jobs to give to the Nigerian people, they feel like they don't get any benefit out of the oil companies being there. The people feel like they have been cheated and lied to constantly, although sometimes the oil companies have kept their promises. The environmental issues have continued in the area, but also social issues have risen up too. The government is so corrupt that the people are living on the "outside" of the world. There aren't roads, not many good schools, many don't have electricity or telephone lines. They know there is so much more out there because of the oil rigs they see next to them, but they aren't able to experience it. The people have risen up many times against their "government", also known as our oil companies, that we don't get up to 100,000 barrels of oil a day. Invasions have happened at oil companies and people have been murdered because of the problems here. 
  • Brielle DeFrell on 08 Mar 11
     
    Research question: What are the effects of the competition with oil in Nigeria?  Lehrer, Jim. "Tension and Violence Arise Over Oil Drilling in Nigeria." Online NewsHour. PBS, 25 Aug. 2005. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. . Reflection: Wow, never before did I realize all the problems that Nigeria has. Not only has the oil companies caused many environmental problems, but they have also caused the people to not trust them and the promises they throw at them like candy. I understand that is one of our major places to get oil from, but I really think we need to look into what the companies are causing the Nigerian people to do to not just us, but each other. To think that our oil companies is pretty much their only government, that is really scary. Question: *Is there a way to set up a REAL way to help with environmental issues here? *If companies start to keep companies will people settle down? *Can we help Nigeria set up a functioning, uncorrupt, government?
Luke Terpstra

Georgia names Russia enemy number one: Voice of Russia - 0 views

english.ruvr.ru/...44645681.html

russia conflict georgia

shared by Luke Terpstra on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Georgia has unveiled its new national security strategy, declaring Russia its major enemy. 
  • Actually, there seems to be nothing new about the document. The Saakashvili regime has just stopped beating around the bush
  • After the 2008 conflict when Georgia invaded its breakaway republic of South Ossetia and Russia sent its troops there to protect the local population, as well as that of neighboring Abkhazia, official Tbilisi has made its choice.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • It was already clear in 2006
  • And it has become absolutely evident by now that Tbilisi is ready to officially put Russia on its blacklist."
  • The document was submitted to parliament, inviting parties to deliver their take on the problem of national security
  • It is clear, however, that the president will get the document he wants.
  • In case he decides to launch another military campaign, he will use this document as justification.
  • Vladimir Zharikhin explained to the VOR what stands behind the newly unveiled national security strategy:"By designating Russia its major enemy, Georgia has actually unveiled its plans for revenge. And all promises it has made to the EU, primarily about the non-application of force to restore its territorial integrity, no longer sound truthful."
  • At the latest UN Human Rights Council session, Georgia was criticized for a lack of independence of its judiciary system, suppression of the opposition and journalists, as well as Georgian nationalism and anti-Russian propaganda.
  • Luke Terpstra on 17 Feb 11
     
    Vatutin, Alexander. "Georgia names Russia enemy number one." Voice of Russia (2011): n. pag. Web. 17 Feb 2011.   Summary:       Georgia is officially declaring Russia an enemy of state. They have an official document in the works and it seems there is nothing stoping it's passage through Georgia's parliment. Russia is saying that Georgia has always been this way and claims that it has always known this.       My big thing is why would Russia need to go out and state that they already knew it. If you would think about it from both sides, I'm sure you could come up with a lot of different stuff. But one thing is for sure it is the agressivness of both sides that got them in this fist fight. If after the civil war they did lots of peace talks and negotiations they might be friends by now.  Questions:  1. What caused the hurt between the two countries?  2. Why is Russia not giving Georgia its space?  3. What does this mean for peace talks?
Brielle DeFrell

Nigeria and Oil - Global Issues - 0 views

www.globalissues.org/...nigeria-and-oil

oil nigeria effects

shared by Brielle DeFrell on 11 Mar 11 - Cached
  • There is a symbiotic relationship between the military dictatorship and the multinational companies who grease the palms of those who rule….They are assassins in foreign lands. They drill and they kill in Nigeria.
  • Human Rights Activist Oronto Douglas
  • Niger Delta in Nigeria has been the attention of environmentalists, human rights activists and fair trade advocates around the world. The trial and hanging of environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Ogoni ethnic minority made world-wide attention. So too did the non-violent protests of the Og
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • oni people
  • Ogoni, Ijaw and other people in the Niger Delta, those who have been worse affected for decades have been trying to stand up for themselves, their environment and their basic human and economic rights.
  • divide communities by paying off some members to disrupt non-violent protests.
  • threaten the livelihood of neighboring local communities. Due to the many forms of oil-generated environmental pollution evident throughout the region, farming and fishing have become impossible or extremely difficult in oil-affected areas, and even drinking water has become scarce. Malnourishment and disease appear common.
  • loss of property, price inflation, prostitution, and irresponsible fathering by expatriate oil workers.
  • Organized protest and activism by affected communities regularly meet with military repression, sometimes ending in the loss of life.
  • While the story told to consumers of Nigerian crude in the United States and the European Union—via ad campaigns and other public relations efforts—is that oil companies are a positive force in Nigeria, providing much needed economic development resources, the reality that confronted our delegation was quite the opposite
  • oil company operating in the Niger Delta employing inadequate environmental standards, public health standards, human rights standards, and relations with affected communities.
  • Far from being a positive force, these oil companies act as a destabilizing force, pitting one community against another, and acting as a catalyst—together with the military with whom they work closely—to some of the violence racking the region today.
  • Oil For Nothing: Multinational Corporations, Environmental Destruction, Death and Impunity in the Niger Delta, Essential Action and Global Exchange, January 25, 2000
  • in the killing of Ken Saro-Wiwa to Chevron-marked helicopters carrying Nigerian military that opened fire upon protestors,
  • The military have been accused of thousands of killings, house/village burnings, intimidating people, torture and so on.
  • oil companies have neglected the surrounding environment and health of the local communities
  • oil spills that are not cleaned up, blatant dumping of industrial waste and promises of development projects which are not followed through, have all added to the increasing environmental and health problems.
  • corruption and religious tensions between Muslims and Christians
  • into 2004
  • Shell companies have worsened fighting in the Niger Delta through payments for land use, environmental damage, corruption of company employees and reliance on Nigerian security forces.
  • Shell companies and their staff creates, feeds into, or exacerbates conflict.
  • Voilence in the Niger Delta kills some 1000 people each year,
  • With over 50 years of presence in Nigeria, it is reasonable to say that the Shell companies in Nigeria have become an integral part of the Niger Delta conflict
  • Human Rights Watch’s 2010 report. They note although free speech and independent media remain robust and there have been some anti-corruption efforts. However, this is overshadowed by religious and inter-communal violence that has seen Muslims and Christians killing each other and by Nigeria’s political leaders’ “near-total impunity for massive corruption and sponsoring political violence”.
  • latest escalation of violence began in early 2006, hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between rival armed groups vying for illicit patronage doled out by corrupt politicians, or between militants and government security forces. Armed gangs have carried out numerous attacks on oil facilities and kidnapped more than 500 oil workers and ordinary Nigerians for ransom during this period
  • June 2009, followed a major military offensive in May against militants in the creeks of Delta State, which left scores dead and thousands of residents displaced.
  • — Nigeria, World Report 2010, Human Rights Watch
  • Brielle DeFrell on 11 Mar 11
     
    Research question: What are the effects of the competition with oil in Nigeria?  Shah, Anup. "Nigeria and Oil." Global Issues, Updated: 10 Jun. 2010. Accessed: 10 Mar. 2011. Reflection: The more I research the problem the more I realize how big of a problem this really is. There are so many environmental issues and protests that have come with drilling in Nigeria.  Summary: The presence of oil companies have hurt many of the communities on the Niger Delta in Nigeria including environmental pollution, farming and fishing difficulties because of oil spills, drinking water is getting scarcer and scarcer, and malnourishment and disease is showing up more and more. Not only is it bring environmental issues, but economic and societal one too including loss of property, price inflation, prostitution, and bad fathering by oil company workers.Many people have lost their lives to the violence that goes on with both violent protests and non-violent ones. The government is corrupt and there are religious tensions going on between Muslims and Christians in the midst.  Questions:  *What would be best? To stay and get oil or to get out to stop the violence? *Is there a way to stop the violence? And should we take the step in doing so even though it may hurt us? *How many oil spills have happened in Nigeria?
Luke Terpstra

Georgia Blames Border Shootout on Russian-Fueled 'Criminality' - Bloomberg - 0 views

www.bloomberg.com/...ssian-fueled-criminality-.html

Border Blames Deaths Russia Georgia

shared by Luke Terpstra on 12 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Georgia said Russia’s support for “black holes of criminality” in the country’s two disputed provinces led to a clash that killed a Russian border guard last week.
  • The shootout in the breakaway region of Abkhazia on April 8 killed one Russian border guard and two Georgians, one of whom was a wanted criminal
  • Russia routed Georgia’s army in a five-day war in August 2008 over South Ossetia, another breakaway region in the Black Sea nation. Russia recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent states after the conflict and agreed to defend their borders.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • The local Abkhaz prosecutor’s office opened a criminal case for terrorism, Russia’s state-run news service RIA Novosti reported on April 8, adding that the two killed Georgians were members of the Interior Ministry’s special forces.
  • Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili’s government continues to claim sovereignty over the regions and says Russia has occupied them.
  • The Georgian Foreign Ministry said shootouts between the Russian forces and criminals over the division of spheres of influence and money have become a fact of life in the two regions.
  • Luke Terpstra on 12 Apr 11
     
    Bedwell, Helen. "Georgia Blames Border Shootout on Russian-Fueled 'Criminality'." Bloomberg News 11 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. .  Summary:  Georgia is claiming that Russia's melting pots of crime led to the deaths of a Russian border guard and two Georgians. This happened on April 8th in Abkhazia. The prosecutor's office in the local Abkhaz area opened up a case on terrorism for the incident, but Russia said the two Georgians that were killed were members of the Ministry of the Interior's special forces.   Reflections:  I think they are both still hot-headed countries, and need to reach a peace. What I mean is a peace that will last, and is imprinted in their minds. If they do not do this, things like this will keep on happening.  Questions:  1. Why do you think Georgia & Russia still show quite a bit of hostilities towards each other?  2. Out of the two countries, is one country in particular at fault for the conflict? Why or Why not?  3. When do you think a permanent resolution to this conflict will come? For how long will it last, if not permanent?
Laurel Ackerman

Israel Delays Approval Of East Jerusalem Housing : NPR - 0 views

www.npr.org/...story.php

Israel Palestine Peace talks East Jerusalem Housing

shared by Laurel Ackerman on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked a government panel to put off final approval of 2,500 new apartments in east Jerusalem, an official said Monday
  • Negotiations with Netanyahu never got off the ground because he refuses to commit to an internationally mandated settlement freeze, and Palestinians say they won't negotiate without one.
  • Israel's controversial foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, voiced concerns that any lull would merely allow Hamas to strengthen and regroup. He told Israel Radio that restraint was "a grave mistake" and that Israel's main objective should be "the toppling of the Hamas regime."
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • no confirmation Monday that cease-fire conditions had been nailed down
  • The easing of tensions along the Gaza border came as the Palestinian Authority moved forward with plans to gain international recognition for an independent state. The Palestinians hope to take their case to the United Nations in September and sidestep talks with Israel
  • Amid reports of an unofficial, foreign-mediated cease-fire, Palestinian militants appeared to be stilling their rocket and mortar fire Monday, and Israel was refraining from retaliating for previous attacks.
  • The Palestinians plan to tell a conference of donor countries this week that they are ready for statehood.
  • Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has been laying the groundwork with a series of developments and reforms.
  • Ali Jarbawi, the Palestinian minister of planning, said Monday that the Palestinian government has reduced its dependence on foreign aid by 35 percent in the past two years
  • One added that Netanyahu's office had asked the Interior Ministry to delay the discussion of the project, citing pressure from the Quartet of international peacemakers — the U.S., European Union, United Nations and Russia
  • Netanyahu on Monday accused the international community — "people with good intentions," he called them — of putting peace even further out of reach by telling the Palestinians they don't have to negotiate.
  • Laurel Ackerman on 14 Apr 11
     
    How does the conflict in Israel affect the futures of Palestinian children compared to Israeli children?   "Israel Delays Approval Of East Jerusalem Housing ." National Public Radio. NPR, 11 Apr. 2011. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. . Summary: Israel is building in East Jerusalem, a part of Jerusalem under Palestinian control. Along with that, Israel and Palestinians have been fighting; however, they are trying to get a cease-fire. Even with an unofficial cease-fire, Israel is delaying the East Jerusalem housing project because of pressure from the Quartet although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is against the settlement freeze. But, Palestine will not negotiate an official cease-fire without one. 
Luke Terpstra

Georgia, Russia may continue WTO talks in April : Ukraine News by UNIAN - 0 views

www.unian.net/...news-425198.html

Georgia Russia Breakaway Nations old ways WTO Membership

shared by Luke Terpstra on 11 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Georgian-Russian talks on Russia`s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) could continue in April, a spokesman for the Georgian government said Friday
  • The talks resumed on Thursday in Switzerland after being suspended for almost three years following Russia`s decision to lift economic sanctions against Georgia`s breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Os
  • setia in April 2008
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Russia has been in membership talks with the 153-nation WTO for 17 years and remains the only major economy still outside it.
  • However, Georgia says it will not allow Russia to join the global free trade club unless it cedes control of customs in the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
  • U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Washington supported Russia`s WTO bid and had tried to talk Georgia out of blocking Russia`s accession,
  • Georgia severed diplomatic relations with Russia in August 2008 when Moscow recognized the independence of the two former Georgian republics following a five-day war, which started when Georgia attacked South Ossetia in an attempt to bring it back under central control.
  • Luke Terpstra on 11 Apr 11
     
    "Georgia, Russia may continue WTO talks in April." Russia Information Agency 11 Mar. 2011. Web. 24 Mar. 2011. . Summary: Georgia is denying Russia it's membership into the WTO because of it's fight with russia. They wish to get a deal with russia by blackmailing them into giving back what Georgia lost in the 2008-present fight with Russia, and plans to use this as a bargaining chip. Most of the current members of the WTO do not like this and asked Russia a Georgia to settle it quickly so as to make Russia a member. Reflection: I think Georgia should use what ever tool of pursuasion they can against Russia. Russia had no business in Georgia from the start, and do not deserve anything in return but retribution. The people of Georgia have endured Russian opression for decades, and deserve a full withdrawl of russian troops from their land. It almost seems as if Russia is still hostile to it's former satilite nations, and as if none care for them, the world turns a blind eye and trades their freedom for oil, and other goods. The sattilite nations of the former soviet union are not completely washed away from these countries, and a lot of them are communist nations with a bad economy. Questions: 1. Why are the former soviet break-away nations so similar in the form of government and economic status as Russia? 2. Does Russia still play a big role in these countries? If so, how? 3. Does Georgia give a good mirror example for the american revolution? explain?
Laurel Ackerman

Israel Marks 60 Years Since Palestine Split - International News | News of the World | ... - 0 views

www.foxnews.com/...0,2933,314105,00.html

Israel Palestine History Choices Partition

shared by Laurel Ackerman on 26 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • Three full-scale wars and two bloody Palestinian uprisings
  • Three full-scale wars and two bloody Palestinian uprisings have failed either to change the two-state formula or bring it much closer to reality
  • Violence has marked the process from the outset. When the General Assembly voted to partition the land on Nov. 29, 1947, it was clear it would set off a war between Jews and Arabs.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The day of the vote is legendary in Israel. Its 600,000 Jewish inhabitants huddled around their radios to listen to the live broadcast from the United Nations.
  • d, the partition was approved, 33 to 13, with 10 abstentions.
  • With the end of the British mandate on May 14, 1948, Israel declared its independence, and Arab armies invaded from three directions.
  • Local Arabs, charging that the Zionists stole their land, responded to the 1947 vote with violence, launching a series of attacks that left dozens of Jews dead. Nov. 29 is considered a day of sadness by Palestinians, and they mark May 14 as the "day of catastrophe," because about 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes during the war that followed.
  • Today about 1 million Arabs are Israeli citizens, another 4 million live under Israeli control in the West Bank and Gaza, and hundreds of thousands still languish in refugee camps in neighboring countries.
  • Forty years passed before the main Palestinian organization, the PLO, recognized Israel and abandoned its stated goal of destroying the Jewish state. In 1993, Israel and the Palestinians signed their first interim accord, setting out a formula for peace talks to resolve the conflict.
  • Laurel Ackerman on 26 Apr 11
     
    How does the internal conflict between Israel and Palestine as well as the social, political, and geographical tensions of the region affect the political status of Palestine?  Associated Press. "Israel Marks 60 Years Since Palestine Split." Fox News. Fox News, 30 Nov. 2007. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. Summary: This article gives a brief explanation of the history between Britain, Israel, and Palestine and it gives an insight into the Palestinian view on what has happened with the partition. This article also gives a few statistics on deaths, percentages, refugees, and dates.  Reflection:
1 - 17 of 17
Showing 20▼ items per page