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Nicki Pifer

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

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    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
Nick Mast

Academic OneFile  Document - 0 views

  • Synopsis: Fewer than 3 in 10 Egyptians (28%) in 2010 expressed confidence in the honesty of elections in their country.
  • s that might be included in a new constitution, large majorities said they would support freedom of speech and religion.
  • When asked hypothetically in 2009 about rig
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  • But the 2010 ele
  • ctions that
  • esulted in a landslide victory for Mubarak's National Democratic Party were mired with widespread fraud allegations.
  • nearly all Egyptians (96%) said they would "probably agree" with the inclusion of free speech as a guaranteed right in a new country's constitution. A majority of them (75%) also said they would probably agree with constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion and freedom of assembly (52%) or the right to congregate for any reason or in support of any cause.
  • gyptians' lack of confidence in the honesty of elections in previous years highlights the need for quick constitutional guarantees to set the stage for free and transparent elections.
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    Before Uprising, Egyptians Lacked Faith in Honesty of Elections; Nearly all in 2009 said they would in theory support freedom of speech as a constitutional right.(survey) By: Gallup Organization Byline:Mohamed Younis Summary: In 2010 3 in every 10 people trusted the current Egyptian government. Many people thought that Mubaraks win in 2010 was rigged by people inside the government.  People in the country want in there next leader someone who listens and a lot of people want to be given freedom of religion and freedom of speech.The voting and choosing of leaders after the citizens protests is important they make the right moves and decisions for there country and the world will all be watching as this evolves carefully.  Reflection: To read this article and see that only 3 out every 10 people expressed confidence in the egyptian government, that low of a number just shocked me. No wonder everyone in the country revolted, no one trusted them. So now that the people have gotten rid of there old president they need to put there trust back into the government in making a smart choice about who is going to be the next leader, and they have to make sure they pick a leader who will hear there voices, for freedom of speech and religion and more.  Questions: What do people in Egypt now think of there governmental stand? Are more people starting to believe in the government? Do the people trust the government they have in place now? What would government have to change to make people trust them again?
Heather Kapenga

Agencies Step in to Address HIV/Aids in Prisons. - 0 views

  • Prisoners are rendered vulnerable due to overcrowding, poor nutrition, limited access to healthcare, injecting drug use, unsafe sex and tattooing, according to government officials and NGOs. According to the Zambia Prisons Service (ZPS), last year about 450 inmates in the 52 prisons across the country died from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses.
  • Having identified the challenges and problems posed by the pandemic, the ZPS was developing an HIV/AIDS policy with a range of prevention measures to address the pandemic among inmates, officers and their families, and working with a number of stakeholders to sensitise prisoners to the dangers of HIV/AIDS
  • A project run in collaboration with the Copperbelt University (CBU) clinic has paid some dividends: the 'In But Free' (IBF) programme, which implies that prisoners can be in jail but free from disease, provides inmates with information on how to protect themselves. 'In But Free' teaches prisoners to avoid contracting the disease by not sharing razor blades, and about the dangers of sexual intercourse. "They are also taught how to live positively if they are already infected
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  • Some officials have also been trained to provide psychosocial counseling, and inmates have enrolled as peer educators to disseminate information on HIV/AIDS.
  • The Community Responses to HIV/AIDS (CRAIDS), a component of the Zambia National Response to HIV/AIDS, recently launched a primary healthcare project for prisoners to tackle the pandemic at the Mukobeko Maximum Prisons in Kabwe, the administrative capital of Zambia's Central Province
  • PFZ also conducts weekly mobile clinics in Copperbelt prisons and has formed support groups for positive living.
  • The ZPS and CRAIDS welcomed the government's provision of free ARVs to the prisoners.
  • The Prisons Fellowship of Zambia (PFZ), a prisoner rehabilitation programme operating in 40 jails in the country, recommended that ARVs be provided.
  • PFZ uses a community-based health approach in providing health information and medical services to inmates with the help of volunteer care groups, clinical officers and as peer educators.
  • CRAIDS has trained some prison officers and inmates in home-based care, and has recommended that prisoners should have access to HIV/AIDS education, care and treatment, and cleaning materials such as bleach.
    • Heather Kapenga
       
      Reaction: I was pretty surprised to read that 450 prisoners in 52 jails in Zambia died of HIV/AIDS. It was also interesting to read about some of the ways how prison programs in Zambia have tried to help those who are infected with HIV/AIDS by providing these people with healthcare, ARVs, and counseling as well as also having programs like the "In But Free" programs to help those who have not been infected by HIV/AIDS protect them from being infected by giving them information on this disease and things they can do to prevent themselves from being infected by HIV/AIDS. Questions:1. Are there other things or programs that the jails in Zambia can have to help those suffering from HIV/AIDS?2. Could they allow medications in prisons for those suffering from HIV/AIDS?3. How well will these programs help these inmates who have or don't have HIV/AIDS?
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    Research Question: What are the effects of HIV/AIDS in Zambia? Citation: "Agencies Step in to Address HIV/Aids in Prisons." Africa News Service 5 Sept. 2005. Student Edition. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. Summary: The summary of this article is about those in Zambia who are in prison and are either already infected by HIV/AIDS before they came to jail or while they are in jail. It explains how people in jail can get infected by the disease by doing things like poor nutrition, injecting themselves with drugs, and having unsafe sex. The ZPS (Zambian Prisons Service) has come up with ways for those infected by HIV/AIDS to help these people by doing things like providing these people with healthcare. Also CBU (Copperbelt University) has developed a program called "In But Free" which is a prevention policy that teaches inmates information on prevention from HIV/AIDS and information on how to protect themselves from being infected by HIV/AIDS. Plus the PFZ (Prisons Fellowship of Zambia) has a prisoners rehabilitation program in 40 jails in the country which allows ARVs as well as counseling for those who are infected with HIV/AIDS.
Joy Merlino

Testing the water - 0 views

  • THE PALESTINIAN STRUGGLE FOR national liberation lacks leadership and is currently on hold. What's left for Israel to sort out now are its Palestinian citizens, who comprise 20% of the population in Israel and are increasingly treated as a fifth column, discriminated against at every level.
  • The call for a state for all its citizens, for equality and full democracy, are demands that threaten the Zionist project of a Jewish state with exclusive rights for Jews, preferably without the indigenous Palestinian population.
  • The silent and semi-visible system of segregation, apartheid and racist policies placed against them since the establishment of the state of Israel is taking more aggressive, visible and vocal expression, both within the government and Israeli media.
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  • We are also witnessing an unprecedented and alarming rise in the submission of overtly racist bills that target Palestinians individually and collectively; calling for revoking their citizenship, limiting their political freedoms, banning them from marking the Palestinian Nakba (1948 catastrophe) and banning them from residing in Jewish towns, amongst other things.
  • Racist right-wing activists not only thrive in such an atmosphere but are also given the means to publicly target Palestinian citizens, frequently inciting violence and racism and provoke yet more dehumanising campaigns.
  • he march of the fascist group in Umm AL Fahem on 27 October was a case in point. The march was called for by the extreme right-wing organisation, Eretz Yisrael Shelanu, and supported by Michael Ben-Ari, an Israeli Knesset member from the National Union, an extreme far-right party.
  • He is a leading figure in the colonial movement in the West Bank, and has been sentenced to several prison terms for physical assaults on Palestinians.
  • Marzel is a former member of Cakh, a Jewish terrorist organisation headed by Rabi Meir Kahane, which called for the forced expulsion of the Palestinian population.
  • Cakh was outlawed in 1994, following the massacre of 29 Palestinians in Hebron by one of its members, Baruch Goldstein.
  • According to the organisers, they wanted to impress upon the residents of the town that they "are the landlords of the State of Israel" and called not only for outlawing the Islamic movement, which happened to be their chosen Arab 'enemy' of the day, but also for its expulsion from Israel.
  • Viewed by many as a deliberately provocative act, the march was nevertheless authorised by the Israeli Supreme Court, despite its history of incitement to violence.
  • In the online version of Yediot Aharonot, the second-largest daily publication in Israel, Marzel is quoted as saying: "nothing is more symbolic than the fact that on the day of the 20th anniversary of his murder, Rabbi Kahane's followers will continue his struggle against the Arab enemy."
  • The problem facing Palestinian citizens is not what Marzel and his ilk say: they are merely articulating what the government is not yet able to say. These small, partisan, fascist groups achieve their purpose by successfully organising media stunts such as the event in Umm AL Fahem. However, the real 'performance' was the one choreographed and directed by the official authorities, including the police.
  • Was the Israeli Supreme Court decision and the thousand-strong police presence, including their brutal confrontation with fellow citizens, only intended to protect the freedom of expression of a group that publicly incites violence against Palestinians and Arabs, and calls for the expulsion of Palestinian citizens? No, not entirely.
  • The 'performance' in Umm Al Fahem was a message to all Palestinian citizens and their leadership warning them to beware, telling them "you either accept Israel as a Jewish state, with exclusive rights for the Jews, and live with gratitude as second-class citizens, or we will crack down mercilessly", with transfer remaining a looming option.
  • n Umm AL Fahem, Marzel and his group were simply doing a job for the government with their attempt to demonise the Palestinian citizens as terrorists, this time taking the Islamic movement as their cause celebre, to 'legitimise' future government actions against them. In Umm Al Fahem, just as in Israel's operations in the West Bank and Gaza, where it has been escalating violence against the Palestinian communities in incremental doses, Tel Aviv is testing the ground in preparation for future, more aggressive operations to come.
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    Shiekh, Awatef. "Testing the water." The Middle East Jan. 2011: 22+. Student Edition. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. Summary: This article is talking about the racism that exists for the Palestinians living in Israel. It states that they are "discriminated against at every level." The government as well as the media are taking part in this visible discrimination. The freedom of Palestinians living in Israel is being limited by racist bills. Right-wing activists are publicly targeting Palestinians. An example of this is the group Umm Al Fahem.  Reflection:  We have heard about the seizing of Palestinian land, and the Israelis living in Palestine, but we do not often hear about the Palestinians living in Israel. According to this article, the treatment of Palestinians in Israel is horrible. There is open discrimination, not openly supported by the government, but definitely not stopped by it. In reality, the actions of the Palestinians towards the Israelis are not the only acts of violence. The Israelis act out as well, it is simply not brought to our attention as often.  Questions: 1) How will this affect the peace treaty negotiations? 2) How will this attitude of hatred affect the future generations? 3) Will the refugee negotiations be affected by this treatment? 4) How does this compare to how the Israelis living in Palestine are treated?
megan lemmen

BBC News - Crunching numbers in Mexico's drug conflict - 0 views

  • According to the new database, the total number of people killed in the conflict between December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon came into power, and the end of 2010, stands at 34,612.
  • Last year was by far the bloodiest since Mr Calderon launched his head-on military confrontation with the cartels, with 15,273 deaths.
  • At least 89% of the fatalities are suspected gang members killed in turf wars between the different organisations that compete for control of trafficking routes into the US.
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  • That one city of less than 1.5 million people was the location for more than 18% of the total number of deaths nationwide in the same period.
  • The state is home to Ciudad Juarez - the city across the border from El Paso, Texas - where 6,437 people have lost their lives in drug-related violence since late 2006.
  • In 2007, there were 244 drug-related deaths. The same figure for 2010 was of 4,427 victims - it grew by an astonishing 1,800%.
  • Meanwhile, in states like Tlaxcala, only 13 people have been killed in the conflict since 2006; in Yucatan, the total figure is 26.
  • In fact, 70% of the homicides, the database shows, have taken place in only 85 of the 2,500 municipalities around Mexico.
  • At least 12 mayors were killed by alleged gang members in 2010, while in the first two weeks of 2011, two more died in incidents related to the drugs conflict.
  • From a list of 37 "wanted" drug barons issued by the government in March 2009, 17 were captured or killed by government forces - including Arturo Beltran Leyva, head of the Beltran Leyva cartel, in December 2009 - while two were killed in clashes between criminal groups.
  • Security forces have confiscated almost 100,000 weapons from the cartels, while the value of the seized narcotics amounts to more than $10bn (£6.3bn).
  • Government security spokesman Alejandro Poire points out that the number of drug-related murders decreased by about 10% in the last quarter of 2010, and officials hope this will become a long-term trend.
  • In a recent nationwide survey by the National Statistics Bureau, more than 70% of respondents said they felt the overall security situation had worsened in 2010 compared to the previous year. More than 30% believed the situation would get worse in 2011.
  • Meanwhile, 41% admitted they did not feel safe to walk alone between 4pm and 7pm in the area where they lived.
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    Research Question: How does the Mexican drug war affect the government and people of Mexico? Source: Miglierini, Julian. "Crunching Numbers in Mexico's Drug Conflict." BBC News. N.p., 14 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <>. Summary: This article stated a number of facts that related to the number of killings since 2006 and their continued increase into 2010. The more shocking and accurate death tolls have recently been released, sending the Mexican government and people into more of a crisis than before. Not only have gang members been killed in the war against drug cartel, but civilians, police,and soldiers as well. This fight against drug cartel could possibly have increased the violence instead of diminishing it. The violence is not located all throughout Mexico; it occurs much more densely in certain areas like Ciudad Juarez, which accounts for 18% of the total number of deaths nationwide during a certain time period. Drug barons have been captured or killed, but so have mayors and journalists. The Mexican people do not feel safe; what can the government do about this?
Joy Merlino

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

  • 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.
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  • 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."
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    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.  
Brielle DeFrell

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

  • 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.
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  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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?
  • 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.
  • 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;
  • 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.
  • 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?
    • Brielle DeFrell
       
      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. 
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    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?
Leah Hop

BBC News - Mexico's drugs gang 'death squad' - 0 views

  • come into existence some seven years ago, when leaders of the Gulf cartel of illegal drugs traffickers took it on as their security network.
  • The gang was called Los Zetas after the Mexican word for the letter 'z', as this was the radio call sign of one of their first leaders, former Mexican Special Forces Lieutenant Arturo Guzman Decena.
  • Mr Guzman took 30 other personnel from Mexico's Special Forces Airmobile Group to work with him for the Gulf cartel.
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  • The original group trained new members, and quickly became known for its ruthlessness, in particular for beheading their victims.
  • The Mexican Defence Ministry has described the cartel as "the most formidable death squad to have worked for organised crime in Mexican history".
  • By 2007, after the extradition of Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas-Guillen to the US, the Zetas are said to have begun running their own drugs smuggling operation from Mexico to the US.
  • In February and March 2010, between 200 and 250 members of rival cartels were killed as they battled to control regions in Mexico's north-east.
  • It says he was a corporal in the Airmobile Group before being recruited by the Zetas in 2002, and it has offered a $5m (£3.2m) reward for his capture.
  • Ten members of the Zetas are on the DEA's most-wanted list, with total rewards offered amounting to $50m.
  • The Zetas have apparently switched their operations from the west coast state of Michoacan to Tamaulipas on the east coast, and down to Cancun in the Yucutan Peninsula.
  • As the Zetas have tried to take over territory controlled by other gangs, there has been a sharp increase in murders of rival gang members.
  • According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in 2009 the leader of the Zetas was Heriberto Lazcano-Lazcano.
  • In addition to drugs, the Zetas have specialised in human trafficking,
  • The Zetas are said to charge $1,000-$2,000 for each man and woman smuggled across the border. The business also gives them contacts throughout Central America, and in the US, where they are suspected of committing a number of murders.
  • In late August 2010, they are thought to have been responsible for the deaths of 72 Central and Southern American illegal migrants
  • They have also become notorious in Mexico for breaking out of jail when they are caught and imprisoned.
  • In May 2009, 53 inmates of Cieneguillas prison in Zacatecas state escaped, freed by gunmen thought to be Zeta members.
  • Some analysts say that Mexican government's hardline tactics, such as the recent raid which ended with the deaths of 27 alleged Zetas near the US border in Tamaulipas, have seriously weakened its capacity.
  • in July 2010 in the northern city of Monterrey, when Zetas leader Hector Raul Luna Luna was captured by the authorities.
  • there are as many as 30,000 youngsters aged between 18 and 24 who have no work apart from the easy money offered by groups such as the Zetas
  • Some 28,000 deaths have been blamed on organised crime since President Felipe Calderon came to power in 2006.
  • He has drafted as many as 50,000 members of the security forces into the fight against the cartels, but is facing increasing criticism because of the surge in deadly violence throughout Mexico.
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    Research Question: What is the cause of all the violence associated with the Mexican drug trade? Source: Caistor, Nick. "Mexico's drugs gang 'death squad' ." BBC News. N.p., 4 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Jan. 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11189017 Summary: The Zeta drugs gang, formed around seven years ago, is known as the most ruthless and threatening death squad in Mexican history. Ten members of the Zetas are on the DEA's most-wanted list with rewards reaching $50m. As a result of the Zetas trying to take over more territory, there have been a rapid increase in murders of rival gang members. "President Felipe Calderon has drafted nearly 50,000 members of the security forces into the fight against the cartels, but is facing increasing criticism because of the surge in deadly violence throughout Mexico." Reflection: To be honest I didn't know a lot about the Mexican drug trade, and had never heard of the Zetas. It's unfortunate to see how influential and dangerous this group has become over the course of just seven years. It disgusts me to read about how ruthless this gang is; particularly for beheading their victims. Also, I read about what Mexico's president is trying to do, however he is being criticized because of the increase in violence. Thinking more about President Felipe Calderon makes me want to look more into what Mexico is trying to do to stop such violence. This article helped me understand more about the Zeta gang but didn't specifically help answer the cause of my research question. Questions: 1) What is the most effective way of trying to reduce violence throughout Mexico? 2) Are the Zetas targeting certain areas or specific gangs? 3) Why do the Zetas want to conquer more territory so badly? 4) Because the Zetas committed some murders in the US, is the US doing anything to stop this from happening?
megan lemmen

Drug Trafficking, Violence and Mexico's Economic Future - 0 views

  • In August, the bodies of 72 migrants were found in northern Mexico. They had been shot after refusing to work for a drug gang. Days later, a prosecutor and police officer investigating the crime disappeared.
  • Its largest market, the U.S., sources 90% of its cocaine from Mexico.
  • Drug trafficking is a lucrative activity for the Mexican cartels, generating estimated annual revenues of US$35 billion to US$45 billion for Mexico, with a profit margin of approximately 80%.
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  • Currently, seven powerful drug-trafficking organizations occupy different regions of Mexico -- La Familia Michoacán, the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, the Beltrán-Leyva Organization, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, and the Juárez Cartel.
  • For example, the Mexican government is working to improve the effectiveness of its federal police force, planning to hire 8,000 additional police investigators during 2010, while at the same time trying to purge the force of corruption.
  • In August 2010, nearly 10% of the federal police were fired for failing lie detector, drug, or other tests that form the "trust control exams" designed to identify officers with ties to organized crime.
  • In addition, Plataforma México, a recent reform related to information management, aims to create real-time interconnectivity within Mexico's police force by developing a national crime database to facilitate tracking drug criminals.
  • More importantly, the government is taking the punishment of convicted drug criminals seriously and has increased extraditions to the U.S.
  • An estimated 7,000 people died in Mexico in 2009 as a result of the drug war -- significantly more than the 1,300 people who are believed to have died in 2005 before the war began. There were also an estimated 1,200 kidnappings in 2009.
  • Pemex, the state-owned petroleum company, has been a repeated target of the cartels. In 2010, the company experienced multiple kidnappings and theft by the cartels and corrupt employees. Reuters estimates that Pemex loses "US$750 million of fuel and oil from its pipelines each year" along with "valuable spare parts and equipment."
  • In August 2010, the far-reaching impact of Mexico's drug-related violence prompted Calderón to open debate on legalizing drugs.
  • For the past two years, American Chamber Mexico (AmCham) has conducted a survey of its members -- foreign and national managers -- to gauge their sentiment regarding corporate and personal security: 75% say their businesses have been affected by the country's insecurity.
  • Nearly 60% of the respondents felt less secure on a personal level in 2009 than in 2008; but the same respondents were equally divided as to whether their respective companies were more, less, or equally secure across the same period.
  • Of the third of the respondents who viewed their companies as being less secure than the year before, the most commonly noted contributing factors were the strengthening of organized crime activity, impunity in the judicial process, and activities associated with drug trafficking. Among those who felt their companies were more secure, 25% credited the work of the Mexican authorities, while 75% attributed the improvement to the results of efforts within their own companies.
  • As previously noted, vehicle armoring is a principal offering of the security industry, and it is not surprising that the growth of the market is most visible in this subsector. In Latin America, the armoring market has increased by 850% in the last eight years, and Mexico is now the second largest market after Brazil. Since 2008, the number of armored cars has increased by 25% in Mexico City and by 60% in the rest of the country. This market is expected to grow by 20% in 2011. Businesses have responded to this need: There are now 70 registered providers of armoring, compared to only three 15 years ago.
  • Kroll estimates the direct cost of insecurity to the government, businesses, and citizens to be US$65 billion, or 8% of GDP.
  • focuses
    • megan lemmen
       
      Reflection: There is no possible way to completely eliminate corruption, even in the United States; the fact that Mexico realizes, however, that there is a problem is a step in the right direction. While it's great that Mexico is making efforts to decrease corruption in the police force and government, it's a task that will take a long time to complete. It's horrifying to think that a birthday party-a normal, friendly activity-could be so terribly interrupted by the drug cartel. As to legalizing the drugs, I think that it would cause more problems than it would solve. Yes, it would decrease the price of drugs and decrease the demand from drug cartel, but then how would they get their money? They would go to other means of earning a living; men who can be violent like this would have no problem getting money through other horrifying crimes. Questions:1) What are all of the positive and negative effects of legalizing drugs?2) Is there a better way to screen government and police officials in order to decrease corruption?3) What are other safety measures that the typical citizen can go through to be more safe?4) What else can be done to decrease the drug cartels?
  •  
    Research Question: How does the Mexican drug war affect the government and people of Mexico? Source: Duff, Devon, and Jen Rygler. "Drug Trafficking, Violence and Mexico's Economic Future."Knowledge @ Wharton. N.p., 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. . Summary: Mexico is making efforts to cleanse their police force by performing drug tests, lie detector tests, and other exams to make sure that the officers are being honest. There is also a new program called "Plataforma México" that will try to connect the police force better in order to catch criminals. Many Mexican businesses are suffering due to the violence; drug cartels are using theft or kidnapping to gain power or profit. A birthday party was even interrupted by the drug cartel-the violence is now affecting the citizens. Legalizing drugs has been considered as a means to decrease the price of drugs, and thus get rid of the drug cartels. Some think, though, that this will increase their violence in order to earn more of a profit. Private security has increased due to the lack of trust in Mexico's public security. Tourism has decreased, not only due to the violence but swine flu as well in 2009.  ***rest of info is sticky noted on this page
Brielle DeFrell

Nigeria and Oil - Global Issues - 0 views

  • 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
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  • 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
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    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?
Bryce Lutke

Cuba History - 0 views

  • 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
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  • 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,&nbsp;then went&nbsp;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&nbsp;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.
  •  
    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.
Mark De Haan

The Grass Roots of Success - 0 views

  • Hezbollah won eight seats in Lebanon 's parliamentary elections in Aug and Sep 1992.
  • HIZBOLLAH HAS come a long way from its origins in 1982 as a rag-tag group of guerillas fighting the Israelis. It is now a tightly-organised group with an impressive military structure, a television and radio station, and an extensive programme of social services.
  • A major reason for Hizbollah's successful move into the political mainstream is the backing it has procured through an extensive programme of social services for the Shia population, in place of the scant assistance provided by the Lebanese government.
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  • The electorate in the mainly-Shia area of Baalbek in the Beqaa region, which voted overwhelmingly for the Hizbollah list of candidates, remembered the help rendered by the Islamists during the previous winter's snowstorm which engulfed the area. Hizbollah organised teams of relief workers to open roads and distribute food and blankets to cut-off villagers.
  • The Beqaa, an agricultural region traditionally neglected by the state authorities in Beirut, is Hizbollah's birthplace and springboard from which the group has spread its influence into other areas of the country.
  • Hizbollah finances a wide-ranging welfare system in the region which includes: a free taxi service for farm hands to reach remote fields and villages; sponsored supermarkets which sell food at reduced prices and where particularly impoverished families can get free food packages with ration cards; and low-cost or even free medicine and hospitalisation at one of two hospitals in Baalbek built and financed by Hizbollah.
  • When Hizbollah seized control of the suburbs from rival Shia group Amal in 1988 it embarked on an aid programme to improve daily life for the residents of the woefully-deprived area.
  • Hizbollah provided badly-needed drinking water to the area's residents, organising the daily replenishment of local reservoirs
  • Education is another arena in which Hizbollah is active.
  • The Islamic group pays school fees for children of poor families, thereby ensuring ample recruitment of young Shias into its ever-swelling ranks in the future. One sublime irony is that many Shia students who are Hizbollah sympathisers are sponsored by the Islamic group to study a Western-style education at the American University of Beirut.
  • When Israeli troops moved out of their so-called "security zone" in south Lebanon last February and smashed their way into two villages, it was the Jihad al Baniya (Holy Struggle for Reconstruction), an offshoot organisation of Hizbollah, that financed the repairs of over 1,000 homes and shops once the Israelis had pulled back.
  • Hizbollah's outcry for an improvement in the daily life of the thousands of deprived Shias in Lebanon was a call picked up more by Iran, which forsees the strategic opportunities that could arise from supporting fellow Shias in Lebanon, than by the Lebanese state itself.
  •  
    The grass roots of success (Lebanon's Hezbollah Islamic fundamentalist group) The Middle East - Giles Trendle Trendle, Giles. "The grass roots of success." The Middle East Feb n220 1993: 12+. Student Edition. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. Summary: This article tells of how the group Hezbollah evolved from a smaller Islamic fundamentalist group to a political power in Lebanon in the 90s. The group was not always hurting and attacking Israel and the US, but also looking to make life better for the poor and down-trodden in Lebanon. Reflection: We often think of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization who does nothing but attack Israel with their rockets and their suicide bombers. But at one time, at least in the early 90s, the group was improving the living conditions for the poor in Lebanon, providing education and clean water as well. This group is not strictly terrorists. Questions:  1. How long as Hezbollah able to keep these programs? 2. Do they still hold a majority in Parliament? 3. Have living conditions changed/improved overall since the early 90s?
Joy Merlino

Israel's Neighborhood Watch | Foreign Affairs - 0 views

  • 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.
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  • 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.
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    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. 
megan lemmen

Mexico Finds Dozens Buried in Mass Graves - 0 views

  • soldiers have found at least 51 bodies dumped in mass graves after what appeared to be a series of executions by drug gangs in northern Mexico.
  • The bodies were buried in several graves scattered over an area the size of three soccer fields in an isolated zone east of the city of Monterrey, Mexican officials said
  • There were so many bodies that the authorities were using refrigerated trucks to hold them.
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  • Many of the dead, he said, appeared to have been tortured. ''Some were tied up with rope, others taped up with their hands bound with tape,'' he said. ''There are others with handcuffs. Most of them have tattoos.''
  • Photographs showed charred spots on the ground, suggesting some bodies may have been partially burned.
  • Mexico's drug cartels sometimes use corrosive liquids, fire and other methods to dispose of victims or make it harder to identify the bodies.
  • A state government spokesman said the bodies had been found both whole and in parts, with some buried in pits and others at or near the surface.
  • Officials said it appeared that the victims -- 48 men and 3 women -- had been dead about 15 days.
  • The area around Monterrey, Mexico's industrial capital and an important site for American investors, has become a central battleground in the country's drug wars over the past 18 months, with drug traffickers able to block roads and paralyze the city at will.
  • In May, investigators found 55 bodies in an abandoned silver mine shaft in the Pacific Coast state of Guerrero, near Taxco, a favorite tourist spot.
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    Research Question: How does the Mexican drug war affect the government and people of Mexico? Source: Malkin, Elisabeth. "Mexico Finds Dozens Buried In Mass Graves." New York Times 25 July 2010: A10(L). Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 2 Feb. 2011. Summary: Fifty-one bodies were found in mass graves in northern Mexico, east of Monterrey. This area is extremely industrial for Mexico and is a main point of violence for the drug wars. The bodies seemed to be tortured, tied up, or burned-they had been dead for approximately fifteen days. "There were so many bodies that the authorities were using refrigerated trucks to hold them." The bodies were found both whole and in parts, and at different depths in the ground.  Reflection: My first reaction was "Wow!" this seems like something from a CSI episode. Horrific mass-murders like these seem so distant to me. It's almost impossible to imagine digging up fifty-one bodies out in the middle of nowhere, finding them beaten and maimed. This is just one examle of the horrible violence that is occurring in Mexico.   Questions:1) Were these bodies of members of drug cartels?2) Have all of the bodies been identified?3) How many other instances like this have occurred?4) Was there any way to trace who killed these people?
Won Geun Jung

BBC News - Regions and territories: Abkhazia - 0 views

  • 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.
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  • 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.
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    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?
Brielle DeFrell

Oil unrest grips Nigeria; Turbulent delta raises fears of global energy shock - 0 views

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  • On Jan. 11, a militia group calling itself Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) seized four Shell engineers and held them hostage for three weeks. Armed forces attacked a flow station, killed several workers and cut Nigeria's oil exports by 10 percent. Shell removed more than 500 employees from the region.
  • 1998, a military group from the Ijaw, the largest ethnic tribe in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta, stormed Shell pipelines and platforms, cutting off one-third of the country's oil exports.
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  • the fifth-largest exporter of crude oil to the United States
  • Before Nigerian elections in 2003, an ethnic uprising shut off 40 percent of the country's oil exports.
  • From January to September 2004, there were 581 cases of pipeline vandalism in Nigeria, according to the Energy Information Administration, a U.S. agency that provides official statistics.
  • "We don't see an end to conflicts in the near future," said Taylor B. Seybolt, an analyst at the U.S. Institute of Peace. "There is a host of problems entangled together, and we expect to see more violence coming."
  • China
  • National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) struck a $2.27 billion deal with Nigeria in mid-January.
  • The Nigerian government aims to increase oil output from 2.5 million barrels per day to 3 million by the end of the year and to 4 million in 2010
  • MEND has adopted tactics different from the old pattern. It asked Shell to pay $1.5 billion to Bayelsa state, stop all oil exports and expel all foreign workers from the delta. It also demanded that the government release Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, a Niger Delta militia leader arrested in 2003.
  • Mr. Albin-Lackey, however, said the government is reluctant to push the militias too hard. "It is afraid that cracking down on the militias would ignite bigger conflicts, which would disrupt the country's oil production,
  • Nigeria's oil revenue accounts for 40 percent of the nation's gross domestic product and 76 percent of the federal government's revenue.
  • . A civil war in Nigeria could send the global oil price to $98 a barrel,
  • "Oil can be stolen on such a large scale that they have to use oil tankers to carry the oil out without people being caught," Mr. Albin-Lackey said. "They must be connected with people in a position of influence."
  • . "After only two or three months in power, officials have already begun their lives of luxury."
  • The nine oil-containing states of southern Nigeria have been plagued for years by oil spills and air pollution. After a half-century of drilling, many pipes are leaky. Explosions occur now and then, and the frequent sabotage adds to the spills. Acid rain and toxic water damage fishing and farming, and pose great threats to the health of residents.
  • Even as gasoline prices increase in the United States, Nigeria burns oil by-products 24 hours a day.
  • Sitting atop the world's ninth-largest concentration of oil, many ordinary Nigerians don't have basic necessities such as running water, electricity, health clinics and schools. The wealth from oil does not return to the land that produced it.
  • Nigeria, which exports oil worth $30 million to $40 million per day, average personal income per year is $390.
  • The federal government has promised that 13 percent of oil revenues would be returned to the oil states, but most of the money seeps away through various level of officialdom.
  • Shell began drilling in Nigeria in 1956, when it was still a British colony. Over the past 50 years, the company has become an icon of oil wealth to many Nigerians, and for most of the time, a quasi-governmental institution.
  • In 1993, after a massive spill in Ogoni state, local poet and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa began the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni people and demanded $10 billion from Shell for environmental damage.
  • On Nov. 10, 1995, he and eight Ogoni colleagues were executed by the Nigerian government for campaigning against the devastation of the delta by oil companies, prompting international condemnation.
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    Summary: As NIgeria has grown in their production of oil they have been dealing with many uprisings from the Nigerian people and different groups. The NIgerian government is planning on increasing oil output as the years go on, hoping they can have more world oil giants join them. MEND has used new tactics than in the past and has asked Shell to pay $1.5 billion and to stop all oil exports. They also asked them to get rid of all foreign works from the delta and to release Mejahid Dokubo-Asari, a militia leader they captured in 2003. The government knows to take care of the violence it needs to push the militias, but is afraid that doing so will create bigger problems. Since oil is 40% of Nigeria's revenue it is afraid that more violence would hurt the country's economy, also effecting the rest of the world's energy market. A civil war in Nigeria could send the global oil price to $98 billion a barrel! The militia is able to take the oil without getting caught, which has told the Nigerian government that the people taking it are connected to those of people in a position of influence. They are usually able to figure out who these people are after two or three months because the officials start showing their money in lives of luxury. All of the oil production has caused many oil spills, air pollution, explosions, acid rain, and toxic water, all posing great threats to the health of the Nigerian people. 
Haley Luurtsema

Survey Highlights Haitians' Vulnerability; Access to food, shelter, healthcare less pre... - 0 views

  • Haitians' lack of access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and healthcare, even relative to neighboring Dominicans.
  • The effects of a 7.0-magnitude
  • 60% of Haitians said there had been times in the past year when they didn't have enough money to purchase food that their families needed, while 51% said there were times when they could not afford adequate shelter.
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  • Haitians were far more likely than any other population in Central America or the Caribbean to say they have had trouble providing shelter
  • Haitian President Rene Preval said some hospitals have collapsed as a result of the quake, further handicapping a public healthcare system poorly equipped to handle a disaster of this proportion.
  • Fewer than one in four (22%) said they were satisfied with the availability of quality healthcare in their communities, and one in nine (11%) said healthcare is accessible to anyone in the country.
  • Poor sanitation and lack of access to clean water are likely to make cholera and other waterborne diseases a major problem
  • including roads and highways, and schools -- were decimated by the quake. These facilities too were already seen as insufficient by most Haitians polled a year ago. About one-third were satisfied with the roads and highways (31%) and the schools (35%) in their communities
  • n the wake of a disaster, friendships and family ties become lifelines, serving as conduits for material as well as emotional support.
  • 30% said they have no relatives or friends they can count on for help
  • foreign aid both to make the country more resilient to natural disasters, and to improve access to basic social services like healthcare
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    Research Question: Still today, what are the social, economical, and political effects of the earthquake in Haiti? Citation Source: "Survey Highlights Haitians' Vulnerability; Access to food, shelter, healthcare less prevalent than in neighboring countries." Gallup Poll News Service (2010). Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. Summary: This Article is about the Haitian people and their lack of basic needs such as food, shelter, and healthcare. The 7. magnitude earthquake effected manly lives of civilians in Haiti. Although, 60% of the people said that in the past year they didn't have enough money to even purchase food for their families needs. While 51% said that they could not afford a shelter. President Rene Preval said that hospitals having been destroyed, the public healthcare system is even more helpless. The Article tells us that less than 22% say that healthcare was fine to begin with in Haiti. Along with 11% that said healthcare was accessible to anyone in the country. Which leads to poor sanitation and lack of clean water in the area. In conclusion, Bill Clinton emphasized that foreign aid must make the country more resistant to natural disasters, and improved basic needs such as healthcare if people wish to survive. 
Mallory Huizenga

"Costa Rica Expands Marine Protected Area Around Cocos Island" - 0 views

  • Costa Rica has just announced the creation of a large new marine protected area (MPA) around Cocos Island National Park.
    • Mallory Huizenga
       
      Reflection: I found this article very helpful. The articles shows that Costa Rica is stepping beyond, and is beginning to conserve the water as much as the land. Costa Rica is working towards accomplishing a goal of ecological conservation. In protecting the water, and the ocean life community they are getting one step closer to their goal. National Geographic writes a wonderful article. This article shows the positives this protection has created, but it also highlights what Costa Rica still needs to work towards. The articles ends by saying, "The protection of the seamounts south of Cocos Island, by contrast, is a very important step in preserving a sensitive habitat that previously had no protection at all in Costa Rica". Costa Rica is taking the steps that need to be taken, and they are continuing to take the steps that are need to conserve the environment. Questions: 1) Will Costa Rica ban fishing in the park? 2) What other steps is Costa Rica taking in the protection of their waters? 3) How do fisherman feel about the possibility of losing their fishing grounds? 4) If fishing is ban in these waters how will the life of Costa Rican dependent on fishing change? 5) How does this broaden the answers to our research question?
  • called the Seamounts Marine Management Area
  • 35 miles south of Cocos
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  • after more than a year of discussions between the Costa Rican government and conservation organizations, including National Geographic
  • highest abundances of large ocean predators (such as sharks) found anywhere in the world.
  • The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, Fundación de Amigos de la Isla del Coco--recommended the creation of a no-take marine reserve covering 25,000 square kilometers around Cocos Island National Park.
  • The government of Costa Rica instead created a 9,640-square-kilometer MPA that excludes purse seining for tuna, but will allow long-lining for tuna in some of its waters.
  • This is great news for marine conservation, and a good first step for Costa Rica to fill its gaps in ocean protection.
  • I believe this will not be sufficient to accomplish the goal of protecting Cocos' extraordinary undersea communities, however, because long-line fishing--which already accounts for the largest amount of illegal fishing at Cocos--will be allowed in much of the new MPA.
  • The protection of the seamounts south of Cocos Island, by contrast, is a very important step in preserving a sensitive habitat that previously had no protection at all in Costa Rica
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    Research Journal # 2: Article One Question: How is ecological conservation effecting Costa Rica? Source: National Geographic: "Costa Rica Expands Marine Protected Area Around Cocos Island" by Enric Sala Citation: Sala, Enric. "Costa Rica Expands Marine Protected Area ." NatGeo Newswatch. National Geographic, 6 Mar. 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2011.. Summary: This article focuses on how Costa Rica is expanding their conservation to the waters. Costa Rica "has created a huge new marine park". The waters are being protected around the Coco Island National Park. The water houses tuna, sharks and other large ocean predators. The area is called the Seamounts Marine Management Area. The Costa Rican government has been in discussion of this protected area for over a year. Studies show that the Coco Islands National Park has one of the "highest abundances of large ocean predators". One problems remains. Fishing is still allowed in the park. Until fishing is no longer allowed the goal will not be accomplished. Costa Rica has taken one step forward in protecting the ocean life community, but more steps still need to be made. Reflection & Questions located on Sticky Note
Kyleah Vander Klok

HEART OF DARKNESS.(AIDS and HIV in Zambia). - 0 views

  • The country is 17 years into an HIV/AIDS pandemic.
  • One in four of the 9.5 million population is infected, according to experts in Zambia, and in some areas it's risen to one in three.
  • 1.5 million children in Zambia have lost one or both parents to AIDS
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  • Zambians are reluctant to accept that HJV is the cause of all the dying. The stigma of AIDS is so enormous here, survivors prefer to say that family members died from tuberculosis or meningitis, common AIDS-related conditions.
  • a baby who manages to avoid contracting HIV in utero or during delivery has about a one in three chance of getting the virus from breast-feeding
  • We have 45 orphans in our extended family already
  • This disease has become a wa
  • One generation has been wiped out due to AIDS, says Salvation Army social worker Thebisa Ghaava. "The next one will be lost due to a lack of schooling," she says.
  • Zambia has little in the way of a national HIV/AIDS education program
  • Life expectancy has dropped from 56 years to 37 in recent years, and observers believe it could reach as low as 30 within the next decade.
  • For 19-year-old Rachel Musonda, who lives in the Copperbelt mining region in the north of the country, the past four years have been a nightmare, as first her father, then her mother, and then her three older siblings died of AIDS. With each new casualty, Musonda, who was forced to drop out of high school to nurse her parents and who has no skills or financial means, has been left with more children to raise. At 15, she had no choice but to become mother and father to her six younger siblings, then aged from 13 down to one year. With the subsequent deaths of her two older sisters and brother, and their spouses, she had to take on three more children, bringing the total to nine, because there was nowhere else for them to go.
  • Anti-AIDS medications cost $10,000 to $15,000 a year, more than the vast majority of Africans earn in a lifetime.
  • Consequently, the country's budget for health care is a pitiful $6 to $8 per person per year, and that sum includes the cost of hospitals and treating other rampant health problems such as malaria.
  • And even the discounted price of $2000 a year per patient is still a fantastical sum for Zambians, representing as it does an average of nearly seven years' income for the 40 percent who are fortunate enough to be employed.
  • medications must be taken on a strictly observed schedule around meals. In Zambia, the reality is that many people can eat only when food is available. And that is increasingly becoming only once every several days.
  • 50 percent of children are chronically malnourished.
  • In spite of Christianity's wide reach, traditional beliefs still run deep, and AIDS is often attributed to witchcraft
  • Another growing factor in the spread of AIDS is the legion of street kids, often AIDS orphans, many of whom must turn to prostitution to survive, as the country has only a handful of orphanages. About 750,000 children, some as young as four, have already been forced onto the streets.
  • In 1991, they underestimated the number of infections in the year 2000 by 40 percent. Already, 17 million have died, and today there are more than 25 million infected.
  • n the capital, the HIV rate among pregnant 15-to 19-year olds is beginning to drop for the first time
  • Twenty-five percent of our population is positive," she says but that means 75 percent is negative. Three out of four of us have the means to turn the situation around. But to do that Zambians need to take control of their lives."
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    What are the effects of HIV/AIDS in Zambia? 1.Harper's Bazaar: GOODWIN, JAN. "HEART OF DARKNESS." Harper's Bazaar Mar. 2001: 450. Student Edition. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=STOM&docId=A72411528&source=gale&srcprod=STOM&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 2. This document is about how so many people are orphaned because of AIDS. People do not want to hear about AIDs and they pass it off for witchcraft or other Viruses.The lifespan of the people has dropped significantly over the years.People are trying to help by letting themselves be open to the youth and be models. 3. It is terrible the effects of the virus, so many have died because the don't know or they can't do anything about it. Those poor children having to raise other kids when they themselves are still to young and have no way to support any of them.  4. WHat can be done to help kids stay off the street and not to sell their bodies to feed their family? Where can the people turn to to know what is happening and what is better for them? 
megan lemmen

Blowback: the Mexican drug crisis - 2 views

  • Calderon's continuing offensive has been underwritten by the United States in the form of the Merida Initiative, a security pact that funneled $830 million to Mexico in 2009 alone, making it the largest U.S. foreign aid program.
  • more than 26,000 people killed since 2007
  • U.S.-led attempts to contain drug trades in the 1980s and 1990s had two critical effects on Mexico, both unintended and unforeseen: first, to make drug commerce increasingly violent and menacing to U.S. interests, and second, to bring the center of dangerous trades closer and closer to its consumers and the prohibitionist apparatus within U.S. borders.
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  • As a result, 90% of the United States' cocaine supply now arrives across the long, intractable U.S.-Mexican border, handled by homegrown Mexican trafficker groups.
  • the main entry point for Colombian cocaine was Dade County, in south Florida, where some 80% of cocaine passed into the U.S. market.
  • By the mid-1980s, cocaine had some 22 million users in the United States.
  • SINCE THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY, borderland towns like Tijuana, Nogales, and Juarez saw smuggling activities--first, banned patent drugs (including cocaine concoctions) and prohibited alcohol before World War II, then homegrown opiates and marijuana from the 1940s to the 1960s
  • By the 1970s, in this murky prehistory of Mexican drug organizations, the city of Culiacan, Sinaloa, emerged as the storied capital of Mexican drug trades, steeped in a vibrant regional outlaw and smuggling culture.
  • According to State Department estimates, a third of cocaine for the U.S. market entered through Mexico in 1989; by 1992, that figure reached one half, and by the late 1990s, 75% to 85%. (6) In the mid-1990s, the income generated by drug exporting in Mexico, led by this cocaine surge, ranged from $10 billion (according to U.S. officials) to $30 billion (Mexican figures)--either way exceeding Mexico's revenues from its largest legal commodity export, oil ($7.4 billion).
  • According to a 1994 study by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, overall trafficker bribes rose from between $1.5 million and $3.2 million in 1983 to $460 million in 1993, larger than the Mexican attorney general's entire budget. (8) Thousands of federal agents became active in facilitating drug trades during this time.
  • The apogee of this state exposure, in 1997, was the highly embarrassing discovery that the military chief of Mexico's equivalent of the DEA, General Gutierrez Rebollo, was in cahoots with the Juarez cartel, an incident sampled in the Hollywood drama Traffic. The U.S. war on cocaine had come home to roost. (9)
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    Research Question: How does the Mexican drug war affect the government and people of Mexico? Source: Gootenberg, Paul. "Blowback: the Mexican drug crisis." NACLA Report on the Americas 43.6 (2010): 7+. Academic OneFile. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. Summary: There is a lot of history behind the drug cartels in Mexico. It all started with the "blowback" which means that the longer war on drugs has "unintended consequences" like an "escalation of violence" (Gootenberg). Cocaine originally came to the US through Florida from the Columbians; however, after the government began stopping this trade, most of the cocaine came to the US through Mexico. The amount of drugs, specifically cocaine, that come through Mexico has increased drastically over the last 40 years. This industry takes in more money than Mexico's largest export, oil. In addition to the drug cartel increasing, government officials have also been pulled into this money making industry. In 1997, General Gutierrez Rebollo was found to be helping the Juarez cartel.
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