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Nicki Pifer

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

www.thenewamerican.com/

embargo trade Cuba travel

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

Israel's Neighborhood Watch | Foreign Affairs - 0 views

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

Israel Conflict Palestine

shared by Joy Merlino on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Until a decade ago, every Israeli government, left and right, was committed to a security doctrine that precluded the establishment of potential bases of terrorism on Israel’s borders.
  • That doctrine has since unraveled. In May 2000, Israel's unilateral withdrawal from southern Lebanon led to the formation of a Hezbollah-dominated region on Israel’s northern border. Then, in August 2005, Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza led to the rise of Hamas on Israel’s southern border.
  • As a result, two enclaves controlled by Islamist movements now possess the ability to launch missile attacks against any population center in Israel. And Iran, through its proxies, is now effectively pressing against Israel's borders.
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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.
  • Joy Merlino on 08 Mar 11
     
    How does the conflict in Israel affect the future of Israeli children compared to Palestinian children? Halevi, Yossi K. Foreign Affairs. N.p., 1 Feb. 2011. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. . Summary: With the Muslim Brotherhood poised to gain control in Egypt, Israel sees itself as almost completely encircled by hostile forces. Is an Egyptian-Iranian alliance a possibility -- and where would this leave the future of a sovereign Palestinian state.  Reflection: This article has everything to do with the future generation of Palestinians & Israelis. Everything in the Middle East is changing and uncertain at the moment. The current state of Israel & the focus of its conflict is bound to change with these new developments. Especially given the actions of Iran after Mubarak's regime was dismantled. Israel, I am sure, is on high alert at the present, and we will have to wait and see if these new developments have an affect on Israel's borders and their status as an independent state. 
megan lemmen

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

knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm

trafficking drug violence

shared by megan lemmen on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • 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%.
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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."
  • 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
      megan lemmen on 08 Mar 11
       
      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?
  • megan lemmen on 08 Mar 11
     
    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
Leah Hop

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

www.bbc.co.uk/...world-latin-america-11189017

Mexico Drug BBC

shared by Leah Hop on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • 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.
  • Leah Hop on 17 Feb 11
     
    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?
Brielle DeFrell

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

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

Nigeria oil effects

shared by Brielle DeFrell on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Tensions and violence have been rising in Nigeria as Shell Oil has sought the rights to drill more widely for more oil in the Niger River Delta region
  • oil at 67 bucks a barrel,
  • A lot of money is flowing to Nigeria; a lot of money is flowing to oil companies -- not just Shell - but Chevron, Exxon/Mobile, and a number of others that are drilling there.
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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
      Brielle DeFrell on 08 Mar 11
       
      Summary: Tensions between oil companies and the Nigerian people have been escalating for decades. The violence has increased as the years have gone by and the promises the oil companies have said they would do have not been fulfilled. As the oil companies don't have the jobs to give to the Nigerian people, they feel like they don't get any benefit out of the oil companies being there. The people feel like they have been cheated and lied to constantly, although sometimes the oil companies have kept their promises. The environmental issues have continued in the area, but also social issues have risen up too. The government is so corrupt that the people are living on the "outside" of the world. There aren't roads, not many good schools, many don't have electricity or telephone lines. They know there is so much more out there because of the oil rigs they see next to them, but they aren't able to experience it. The people have risen up many times against their "government", also known as our oil companies, that we don't get up to 100,000 barrels of oil a day. Invasions have happened at oil companies and people have been murdered because of the problems here. 
  • Brielle DeFrell on 08 Mar 11
     
    Research question: What are the effects of the competition with oil in Nigeria?  Lehrer, Jim. "Tension and Violence Arise Over Oil Drilling in Nigeria." Online NewsHour. PBS, 25 Aug. 2005. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. . Reflection: Wow, never before did I realize all the problems that Nigeria has. Not only has the oil companies caused many environmental problems, but they have also caused the people to not trust them and the promises they throw at them like candy. I understand that is one of our major places to get oil from, but I really think we need to look into what the companies are causing the Nigerian people to do to not just us, but each other. To think that our oil companies is pretty much their only government, that is really scary. Question: *Is there a way to set up a REAL way to help with environmental issues here? *If companies start to keep companies will people settle down? *Can we help Nigeria set up a functioning, uncorrupt, government?
Brielle DeFrell

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

find.galegroup.com/...retrieve.do

blood oil nigeria

shared by Brielle DeFrell on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
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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.
  • Brielle DeFrell on 17 Feb 11
     
    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. 
Laurel Ackerman

Psychological Burden of Palestine - 0 views

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Mental Effects Israel Palestine Psychological Effects

shared by Laurel Ackerman on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • While the Gaza Strip and West Bank areas have long witnessed the political ramifications of arms conflict, government controls, and economic sanctions, there is another deeper, though less tangible implication of these developments: the Israeli occupation has taken a costly toll on the mental health of the Palestinian population.
  • The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has thus been a product of religious strife as well as nationalistic aggression.
  • As of now, Hamas still controls the area of Gaza while the economic blockade from Israel and Egypt remains in effect.
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  • In addition to the political and military effects of the occupation, there have also been significant health consequences, particularly psychological health. The occupation forces severe limits on the Palestinians, geographically as well as socially. There is a loss of any sense of achievement, since there are not many chances for growth economically and politically. Even more importantly, there is a pervading sense of homelessness, despite the fact that family homes were uprooted generations ago. This sense of homelessness also contributes to their reduced aspirations and growing depression.
  • the trauma and pain of the displacement of Palestinians in 1948 has not left the minds of the community today, but rather remains imprinted in their "collective consciousness." This idea of a "collective consciousness" goes hand in hand with the idea presented by Arthur Kleinman, Veena Das, and Margaret Lock that social suffering is an interpersonal and social experience that occurs due to a range of factors that vary across political, economic, and cultural areas.
  • the violence that inhabitants of the occupied regions of the Gaza Strip and West Bank witness has an impact on mental health
  • Gaza Mental Health Program has reported that the sonic booms caused by low-flying Israeli air force jets caused fear in children, with long-term effects ranging from headaches to shortness of breath, among other emotional disorders. The mental health of the inhabitants of the occupied regions must also be affected by the lack of control in their life. As the UNCTAD study states, access to water and electricity is often a political reward rather than a guaranteed service.
  • Until Palestine can find a solution for its psychological pain, it may have to continue to bear the burden of "collective consciousness."
  • Laurel Ackerman on 08 Mar 11
     
    How does the conflict in Israel affect the futures of Palestinian children compared to Israeli children?  Seth, Divya. "A costly diagnosis: the psychological burden of Palestine." Harvard International Review 32.4 (2011): 11. Academic OneFile. Web. 8 Mar. 2011. http://0-find.galegroup.com.elibrary.mel.org/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=AONE&docId=A250216066&source=gale&srcprod=AONE&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 Summary: Although the political and military effects of the Israeli occupation in Israeli are very severe, the emotional, health, and psychological effects are very prominent as well. Depression, a sense of homelessness, and a loss of any achievement is infecting the Palestinian population and their health is declining as a result. 
Bryce Lutke

BBC NEWS | Americas | Keeping Cuba on the economic road - 0 views

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Cuba

shared by Bryce Lutke on 09 Mar 11 - Cached
  • In many ways, this communist island in the Caribbean has managed to survive despite the odds.
  • One of the effects of the embargo is that the streets of the Cuban capital, Havana, are still filled with many of the same old American cars
  • were here when Fidel Castro came to power 50 years ago.
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  • Geovani Perez drives a red and cream 1959 Buick convertible. It was built the year that Fidel Castro came to power. Like much of the Cuban economy, it's still running - if only just.
  • Cubans have become masters of improvisation.
  • The only cars that Cubans are legally allowed to buy or sell are those built before the revolution.
  • It's the same with housing. Most Cubans have title to their homes and can pass them on to their children but there is no open market to buy or sell land or property.
  • One of the goals of Fidel Castro's revolution was to create an egalitarian society.
  • Private enterprise was banned and everyone from doctors to factory workers was paid the same.
  • Today Cuba has one of the most centrally controlled, state-run economies left in the world.
  • It is inefficient and the average salary is barely $25 (£17) a month.
  • Since taking over from his ailing brother
  • Raul Castro has initiated some modest but symbolic reforms.
  • "Socialism means... equality of rights and opportunities, not salaries. Equality does not mean egalitarianism," he said.
  • President Castro has ordered that workers should receive bonuses based on productivity.
  • Cuba should be self-sufficient in food but instead spends $2bn (£1.4bn) a year on imports.
  • It is the small private sector which produces most of the food
  • Cuba remains a one-party state
  • Politically, though, there are no signs of reform.
  • A few critical voices within the communist party are tolerated.
  • Alongside the old American cars, the roads here are also full of old Russian Ladas.
  • Drive past any school and the children's uniforms are another reminder of the Soviet
  • Primary school children wear red and white, with a red neck scarf. Just like their former Soviet counterparts were, this age group are called the Pioneers.
  • Education and health are both known here as "triumphs of the revolution".
  • Cuba boasts one of the highest literacy rates in the world.
  • The health statistics are equally impressive. All the key indicators from infant mortality to life expectancy are among the best in the Americas.
  • Its doctor to patient ratio is one of the highest in the world.
  • Health care has now become a major export.
  • Cuba sends tens of thousands of doctors and health workers to some of the poorest parts of Latin America and Africa.
  • From the earliest days of the revolution, one of our objectives was to let other countries in the third world share in our achievements.
  • Bryce Lutke on 09 Mar 11
     
    What is the effect of the trade embargo on the Cuban Economy? Summary: Cuba Has struggled though the rule of Fidel Castro. There are still  many signs of what the effects are today, classic 1950's cars are still quite common in the nation because cars have become so expensive to by from the government. Despite all of these things Cuba has accomplished many things; they have accomplished one of the highest literacy rates in the world and a great health care program. They send doctors throughout the Americas and Africa to help others who are less fortunate then themselves. Response: It is quite impressive what Cuba has been able to accomplish what they have given the fact that their government owns almost all of their businesses and controls so many aspects of their lives. I think it is amazing how they have adapted to how to live in a communist government, making their own repairs to their cars and still making 50 year old cars run instead of buying new cars. They have come a long way as a nation but I think they still have a long ways to go before they can be a great nation.   
Kyleah Vander Klok

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

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Zambia AIDS orphans

shared by Kyleah Vander Klok on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • 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."
  • Kyleah Vander Klok on 17 Feb 11
     
    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? 
Joy Merlino

Testing the water - 0 views

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Israel Palestine

shared by Joy Merlino on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Cakh was outlawed in 1994, following the massacre of 29 Palestinians in Hebron by one of its members, Baruch Goldstein.
  • 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.
  • Joy Merlino on 17 Feb 11
     
    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?
Laurel Ackerman

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Effects on Israel - 0 views

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Israel Decline Society

shared by Laurel Ackerman on 16 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Avoidable because there was a reasonable chance that the conflict might have been resolved long ago, had the Israelis acknowledged the inevitable harms done to the Palestinians by the creation of Israel as well as the subsequent expulsion of some 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages, and resolved to do everything possible to make up for these injustices in any manner possible, short of abandoning the Jewish state in one part of the land of Palestine
  • he real goal of Israeli policy has been, at a minimum, to unilaterally annex some 40 percent of the West Bank, including the most productive lands and most of the water resources of the area. Beyond that, Olmert is continuing the process of what Reinhart openly calls "ethnic cleansing" that began with the expulsion of some 750,000 Palestinians in 1948.
  • The tactics used to achieve this goal include the killing of more than two thousand innocent Palestinians as the result of Israel's indiscriminate attacks on "militants" or "terrorists" via bombs, missiles, artillery fire, and the like.
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  • Beyond even that, other measures seek to destroy the Palestinian economy and ordinary life, including the destruction of Gaza's main electrical power plant; the severe restrictions placed on Palestinian drinking and agricultural water; the daily humiliations and often severe hardships imposed by draconic Israeli laws against the free movement of Palestinians throughout the West Bank; the disruption of the private and public health systems--and more.
  • Reinhart focuses primarily on the Israeli treatment of the Palestinians. She might well have added that the Occupation and repression have had devastating direct and indirect effects on Israeli institutions, society, and quality of life.
  • The judiciary in general, and the Supreme Court in particular, have largely abandoned their imperative role of upholding law and human rights against widespread governmental abuses, so long as the government cites "security needs" as its justification. Not surprisingly, the power of the military and security services in Israel are greater than in any other Western democracy.
  • There are many Israeli commentaries about the radical decline of values and ordinary moral norms and constraints. Among the consequences are the growth of (1) class and intra-Jewish ethnic and religious conflict; (2) organized and unorganized crime, including routine intra-Jewish violence; (3) anti-Arab sentiments and other forms of racism; and (4) the abuse of women, including white slavery. As academics like Aviad Klein-berg and journalists such as Tom Segev have concluded, "interest in human rights has never been so negligible," and Israeli society, gripped by "moral and political paralysis," is "gradually coming undone."
  • Israel has completely abandoned its earlier goal of creating a democratic socialism in favor of "rampant capitalism." Consequently, while some Israelis grow fabulously wealthy, other sectors of the society suffer through high unemployment rates, high inflation, and continuously widening income inequalities.
  • Sharon and his successors has created an environment in which academic freedom is under severe attack, Israel's intellectuals are increasingly regarded with scorn, and the education system as a whole has radically declined, becoming increasingly government-controlled, politicized, and ineffective
  • As Rein-hart puts it, Israel is a "small Jewish state ... surrounded by two hundred million Arabs," and it "is making itself the enemy of the whole Muslim world. There is no guarantee that such a state can survive. Saving the Palestinians also means saving Israel." Sooner or later the most fanatical of the Islamic fundamentalists by one means or another are likely to acquire nuclear weapons--and they may very well use them against Israeli cities, regardless of the obvious consequences to the Muslim world from Israeli retaliation. And that will be the end of Israel, and much of the Middle East.
  • Laurel Ackerman on 16 Feb 11
     
    How does the conflict in Israel affect the futures of Palestinian children compared to Israeli children? Slater, Jerome. "The need not to know: the American Jewish community and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.(The Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine since 2003)(Book review)." Tikkun Jan.-Feb. 2007: 65+. Student Edition. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. Student Edition Infotrack searched "Israel Palestine Conflict" http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=STOM&docId=A156555584&source=gale&srcprod=STOM&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 Summary: The conflict between Israel and Palestine does not only negatively affect the Palestinians, but it also negatively affects the Israelis. The Israeli Democracy, Human Rights, Economic Justice, Education, and Culture are all declining leading Israel to a future where it is the enemy of the whole Muslim world. This may lead to some cities being blown up and the future for the Israelis is very grim if things do not change.  Reflection: What we've been learning in class is all about how the Palestinians have no future, but here, it actually talks about how the Israelis also do not have too much of a future. More research on each thing that Slater says needs to be furthered in my research because we could use them as negative aspects of the Israeli children's futures.  Questions: What are specific things that are on the decline for the Israeli children's future? What are positive things? Do the Israeli negatives affect the Palestinians?
Brielle DeFrell

Nigeria and Oil - Global Issues - 0 views

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oil nigeria effects

shared by Brielle DeFrell on 11 Mar 11 - Cached
  • There is a symbiotic relationship between the military dictatorship and the multinational companies who grease the palms of those who rule….They are assassins in foreign lands. They drill and they kill in Nigeria.
  • Human Rights Activist Oronto Douglas
  • Niger Delta in Nigeria has been the attention of environmentalists, human rights activists and fair trade advocates around the world. The trial and hanging of environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Ogoni ethnic minority made world-wide attention. So too did the non-violent protests of the Og
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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
  • Brielle DeFrell on 11 Mar 11
     
    Research question: What are the effects of the competition with oil in Nigeria?  Shah, Anup. "Nigeria and Oil." Global Issues, Updated: 10 Jun. 2010. Accessed: 10 Mar. 2011. Reflection: The more I research the problem the more I realize how big of a problem this really is. There are so many environmental issues and protests that have come with drilling in Nigeria.  Summary: The presence of oil companies have hurt many of the communities on the Niger Delta in Nigeria including environmental pollution, farming and fishing difficulties because of oil spills, drinking water is getting scarcer and scarcer, and malnourishment and disease is showing up more and more. Not only is it bring environmental issues, but economic and societal one too including loss of property, price inflation, prostitution, and bad fathering by oil company workers.Many people have lost their lives to the violence that goes on with both violent protests and non-violent ones. The government is corrupt and there are religious tensions going on between Muslims and Christians in the midst.  Questions:  *What would be best? To stay and get oil or to get out to stop the violence? *Is there a way to stop the violence? And should we take the step in doing so even though it may hurt us? *How many oil spills have happened in Nigeria?
Brielle DeFrell

The Delta-our abused, neglected child: the troubled Niger Delta is the linchipin of Nig... - 0 views

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shared by Brielle DeFrell on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • t is because of the Delta that Nigeria is the largest oil producer in Africa and the sixth largest in the world. Oil accounts for 40% of its GDP.
  • looking at our recent his-tory, Nigeria has suffered particularly badly from a form of Dutch Disease'. This term, coined by The Economist to define the relationship between the exploitation of natural resources and a decline in other sectors of the economy, also implies a decline in moral backbone.
  • Owing to the overweening importance of oil, the body politic has succumbed to temptation to greed
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • The formerly vibrant agricultural sector, which still employs 60% of the national workforce, used to grow its own food and was a net exporter. Now the very crops that once built Nigeria's reputation as the largest sub-regional exporter, are being imported. Despite the mining sector's huge potential, its story is also largely one of neglect: as well as coal and tin, there is iron ore, limestone, niobium, lead and zinc.
  • Asian governments tried juggling fuel subsidies to keep businesses alive and Americans started leaving their cars at home. In a global economy, our crisis in the Niger Delta can have a terrifying impact on all of us.
  • Brielle DeFrell on 14 Apr 11
     
    Research Question: What are the effects of the oil competition in Nigeria? Okhomina, Osamede. "The Delta-our abused, neglected child: the troubled Niger Delta is the linchpin of Nigeria's economy and one of the world's most important sources of oil and gas. But the troubles continue to rumble on with no real solution in sight. Oilman Osamede Okhomina * warns of the dire consequences of a failure to find answers." African Business July 2008: 62+. Student Edition. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. Reflection: It's really hard to realize that the oil competition has actually brought down the morality of people that they can leave a girl with polio laying in a puddle.  Summary: The author of this article was in a taxi in Lagos during a rainy day. As he was being drove around he saw a girl submerged in water that was crippled from polio, no one stopping to help but splashing up the water on her. He believes that since the oil has become such a big part of Nigeria's economy that the morality of people has gone down.The people are getting more greedy. Nigeria also used to be a big agricultural sector, but since the oil growth the same crops they once exported are now being imported because they don't do it themselves. It's also causing the rest of the world to worry because if any crisis hits the Niger Delta, it will have an impact on the entire world. Questions: Is there a way to create a moral backbone again for Nigeria? Should we feel partially responsible for the loss of morals since they are supporting us with so much oil?
Laurel Ackerman

Letter From Palestine - 0 views

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Israel Palestine

shared by Laurel Ackerman on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • The Tel Aviv suicide bombing a week earlier, in which twenty-one Russian-immigrant kids were killed and about a hundred wounded, was a good thing, and many more such bombings are needed in order to throw off the yoke of Israeli occupation.
  • The Palestinians I talked to were just as harsh on their own leadership, excoriating the Palestinian Authority for its incompetence, corruption and brutality. The signs are everywhere: You can drive through Gaza and see, amid the shocking poverty, sumptuous palaces built by Arafat's cronies, many of them paid for by the crooked import/export monopolies they wangled after the Oslo agreements were signed
  • In Deir al Bala, there was still animated discussion and approval of the January assassination of Hisham Makki, the notoriously corrupt head of the Palestine Broadcasting Authority (the hit is widely believed to hav
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  • e been carried out by dissident elements of Yasir Arafat's Fatah organization). The PA has done little to relieve the suffering of civilians impoverished or made homeless by Israeli army closures and shelling, though it should be pointed out that the majority of its revenues, tax transfers from trade, have been withheld by the Israelis since the beginning of the intifada.
  • I visited the village of Al-Khadir, near Bethlehem, the day after the army had set up new blockades that prevented the villagers from getting to 5,000 acres of their farmland, the lifeblood of their community, land that the nearby settlement of Efrat has had its eye on for some time
  • The government will prevent villagers from going to their fields, using various pretexts; then it will declare the fields "abandoned" and seize them. Finally, they'll be handed over to a new or existing settlement.
  • n an attempt to head this off, the villagers had set up tents next to their fields, to let everyone know they weren't giving up without a fight. I could see the Israeli tanks patrolling on the next hilltop. "Don't point at them!" one man told me. "They'll shoot at you." A few days after I was there, a coalition of villagers from Al-Khadir and Israeli anti-occupation activists marched up to the hilltop together and held a peaceful demo. The army ordered them to leave in ten minutes. After deciding that they weren't leaving quickly enough, the soldiers began to beat the protesters, breaking the arm of one Israeli activist, Neta Golan.
  • the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut, in which 1,000-3,000 Palestinian civilians were butchered by Israel's Phalangist allies while under close Israeli army supervision
  • The latest signs from the region are ominous. After the recent killing of a settler near Hebron, Israel carried out a scorched-earth campaign, demolishing dozens of houses and wells, destroying fields and expelling hundreds of occupants. This was followed by the demolition of dozens of homes in the Jerusalem-area refugee camp of Shuafat and in southern Gaza. For its part, Hamas has vowed revenge and more suicide bombings in response to the Israeli army killing of an 11-year-old boy in Gaza.
  • Laurel Ackerman on 17 Feb 11
     
    How does the conflict in Israel affect the futures of Palestinian children compared to Israeli children?  Carey, Roane. "Letter From Palestine." The Nation 273.4 (2001): 28. Student Edition. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. Searched InfoTrak Student Edition: Israel Palestine Conflict http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=STOM&docId=A76563733&source=gale&srcprod=STOM&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0 Summary: This is a letter explaining the issues between Palestine and Israel. It starts with talking about some radical Palestinian men who are bent on bombings being the way to throw off Israeli occupation. Then, the author talks about the violence between the two people groups and the futile attempts of the Palestinians to dissuade the Israelis. It also talks about the history of the conflict.  Reflection: I realized that even though we did listen to Abdullah in class, there are people who still want the bombings. I think that will have to have a play in the futures of the Palestinian children. Depending on the families of the Palestinian children, do their futures change? It's also interesting that the Palestinians are even harsh on their own government. Nothing is working in Israel. It's an issue. Questions: What are the statistics of Palestinians killed? What are the statistics of Israelis killed? Is there any way to get a kid's perspective?
Katie Feikema

GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONCLUDES ANNUAL DEBATE ON LAW OF THE SEA ADOPTING TWO TEXTS BOLSTERIN... - 0 views

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Costa Rica Environment Food

shared by Katie Feikema on 14 Apr 11 - No Cached
  • GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONCLUDES ANNUAL DEBATE ON LAW OF THE SEA ADOPTING TWO TEXTS BOLSTERING UNITED NATIONS REGIME GOVERNING OCEAN SPACE, ITS RESOURCES, USES.
  • States News Service 
  • deep concern at the serious adverse impacts on the marine environment and biodiversity,
  • ...16 more annotations...
  • the links between the health of the world's oceans and sustainable human development,
  • the essential need for cooperation, including through capacity-building and transfer of marine technology, to ensure that all States, especially developing countries, small islands and coastal African States, were able to implement the Convention and to benefit from the sustainable development of the oceans and seas
  • omnibus resolution on oceans and the law of the sea, reiterating,
  • the Assembly called upon all States that had not done so to apply widely, in accordance with international law, the precautionary and ecosystem approaches to the conservation, management and exploitation of fish stock.
  • fish stocks in many parts of the world were overfished
  • particular concern that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing constituted a serious threat to fish stocks and marine habitats, to the detriment of sustainable fisheries, as well as food security and the economies of many States, particularly in developing countries. It urged States "to exercise effective controls over their nationals [a] in order to deter and prevent them form engaging in" illegal fishing activities.
  • topics central to the debate were the protection of the world's deep waters, their biological diversity and fishing stocks, as well as international capacity-building in marine science and ocean affairs.
  • Least developed countries and the small island developing States, the success of capacity-building, and related transparency, depended to a large extent on international cooperation. That was true for Costa Rica. He urged promoting cooperation among all countries, including South-South cooperation, saying that for its part, Costa Rica had implemented national measures for the sustainable use of its marine resources. In July 2009, Costa Rica created two new management categories to sustainably use its marine wealth, designed to protect ecosystems.
  • Through a broad consultation process, Costa Rica last year had adopted a national strategy for managing marine and coastal resources, which established policies for integrating conservation efforts with socioeconomic development.
  • The Secretary-General's report was clear in showing that oceans and coastal ecosystems played a key role in mitigating the impacts of climate change, and he called on United Nations bodies to cooperate in the promotion of capacity in that regard.
  • he reiterated the importance of using scientific criteria in conservation management decisions. It was vital to ensure more information exchange on fish stocks and to implement the precautionary principle. He urged sanctions be carried out in the practice of shark finning, and in the transhipment of sharks on the high seas.
  • cooperation was important in identifying coastal marine areas' vulnerability to climate change.
  • referred to the importance of regional seas agreements and conventions in protecting and preserving the marine environment, and such schemes had proven useful in helping countries enforce multilateral treaties on such protection.
  • the draft resolution
  • Source Citation"GENERAL ASSEMBLY CONCLUDES ANNUAL DEBATE ON LAW OF THE SEA ADOPTING TWO TEXTS BOLSTERING UNITED NATIONS REGIME GOVERNING OCEAN SPACE, ITS RESOURCES, USES." States News Service 7 Dec. 2010. Student Edition. Web. 13 Apr. 2011.
  • Document URLhttp://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T004&prodId=STOM&docId=CJ243758226&source=gale&srcprod=STOM&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.0
  • Katie Feikema on 14 Apr 11
     
    What are the effects of Costa Rica's ecological conservation, on their people, economy, environment, and food?  Source: Highlighted Summary: This article is discussing the United Nations law of the sea. It tells about the concerns they have for the low number of fish and other sea life. They are also pushing for this law in order for there to be a support system or larger more developed nations along with the newer smaller developing nations. Reflection: I think that what the United Nations was doing was a good idea. We always put a lot of pressure on protecting the earth, but less is done for the seas. Costa Rica is strongly green on land, and they seem to have been and still are taking steps to protect the sea. They are also protecting a good source of food for their country. Questions: 1) Does this article cover enough on green food sources to cover that section of our research question? 2) Should we rethink the "green" food part of our research question? 
Kyleah Vander Klok

World Health HIV counseling and testing. (the effects of HIV/AIDS in Zambia). - 0 views

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Zambia effects of AIDS

shared by Kyleah Vander Klok on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • When people know what their status is, they can cope better and make plans for their own and their family's future.
  • Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, has been severely affected by HIV. The seroprevalence among women, as shown by anonymous antenatal screening surveys, is around 30%, and recent community surveys indicate that 26% of both men and women aged 15 to 39 years are HIV-seropositive.
  • most households have to care for sick family members or for the children of relatives who have died.
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Zambia's first VCT centre, the Kara Counseling and Training Trust, was established in November 1992 and offers a variety of support services outside the workplace or medical centre. These include a skills training programme for people with HIV
  • There are tens of thousands of AIDS orphans
  • there is still often great reluctance to be tested.
  • there is little medical help available for people with HIV
  • More than 20 million of the 30 million people estimated to be living with HIV at the end of 1997 live in sub-Saharan Africa. UNAIDS estimates that more than 90% of these are unaware of their infection.
    • Kyleah Vander Klok
      Kyleah Vander Klok on 17 Feb 11
       
      When people know what their status is, they can cope better and make plans for their own and their family's future. The seroprevalence among women, as shown by anonymous antenatal screening surveys, is around 30%, and recent community surveys indicate that 26% of both men and women aged 15 to 39 years are HIV-seropositive. most households have to care for sick family members or for the children of relatives who have died. tens of thousands of AIDS orphans here is still often great reluctance to be tested there is little medical help available for people with HIV More than 20 million of the 30 million people estimated to be living with HIV at the end of 1997 live in sub-Saharan Africa. UNAIDS estimates that more than 90% of these are unaware of their infection.
  • Kyleah Vander Klok on 17 Feb 11
     
    What are the effects of HIV/AIDS in Zambia? Ignatius Kayawe, Michael Kelly, and Rachel Baggaley. "HIV counselling and testing." World Health 51.6 (1998): 12. Student Edition. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=STOM&docId=A54902050&source=gale&srcprod=STOM&userGroupName=lom_accessmich&version=1.02. After a VCT test people can more easily prepare their life with or without the disease. They say how counseling and preparing for the future will be help the people and bring down the rate of people who get it. They examined why people do not what to take a test. The reasons they do not is because of fear of having it, and what others will say, the strong denial of it ever happening.3. I did not realize that there was so much fear that was behind having AIDS. I knew there probably was some but not in the want to get rid of it. I really like that people are at least trying to help people cope with having the virus and that people with the discovery are changing their lives against getting the virus. It is terrible to think that their are so many orphans living in Zambia and having to support themselves after their parents die.4. Do people realize how many kids live without parents? What can be done to encourage people to take the tests and get help? Is there research being done to eliminate the virus? How long can a person live with the virus?
Katie Feikema

Costa Rica's citizens of conservation: in their newly adopted homes, enclaves of foreig... - 0 views

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costa Rica environment

shared by Katie Feikema on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Historically, Costa Rica has been ecofriendly. It has set aside a higher percentage of land as national parks than any other nation in the Americas. Government programs assist landowners with reforestation, helping to bring land back to its natural state.
  • a number of examples exist where foreigners have become agents of change who add to the richness of Costa Rican fife. The Costa Rican government hopes to encourage such balanced exchanges.
  • Out of the Kyoto Protocols and through the World Bank, Costa Rica was selected to sell carbon credits. "They are paying people to produce oxygen,"
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  • Several times a year, they bring groups of university student volunteers to work in this small Costa Rican community. Last year, the volunteers renovated the school by painting it, sanding and varnishing the desks and chairs, and repairing windows. They also helped build an organic garden and learned about the value of growing their own foods.
  • The group also had a dream to create a library to serve the schools in the four communities of the Valle de Diamante. This past February the library opened right next to the freshly renovated school in La Florida.
  • The library, which serves the four community schools, will enhance the quality of education and create long-lasting opportunities for the areas children.
  • Villages are looking for a new ways to sustain themselves and their culture. This library, along with new skills related to farming organically, composting, using bio-fuels and alternative energy, and rehabilitating and reforesting land will bring greater financial abundance to the communities.
  • Their dream is to create a sustainable environment and a balanced ecology benefiting their region and the entire planet.
  • I see my role as making them aware of what's available through national programs and then facilitating the implementation." When he leaves after two years, the community will be more aware of the resources available to them and more able to fight for their own development.
  • Over time, Ewing's interest in cattle was replaced with an enthusiasm for the natural world of the Costa Rican forest. Little by little, he began thinking of the hacienda as a nature preserve.
  • Ewing allowed other parts of the hacienda to regenerate naturally. The rich, fertile, volcanic soil of the region, along with the vast seed bank of the primary forest and the average 150 inches of yearly rainfall, brought rapid reforestation.
  • In August of 1995, President José María Figueres signed a decree designating Hacienda Barú as a National Wildlife Refuge. The forest continues to regenerate.
  • Hacienda Barú's story is one of enormous success, and it is not just an ecological success, as spectacular as that is. Perhaps more importantly, the experience of Hacienda Barú has pioneered a way for others to follow.
  • Hacienda Barti National Wildlife Refuge. The densely forested 830 acres belie its previous incarnation as a cattle ranch and rice farm.
  • Source Citation"Costa Rica's citizens of conservation: in their newly adopted homes, enclaves of foreigners support their local communities by using sustainable methods to preserve the land and the environment." Americas [English Edition] July-Aug. 2010: 22+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.
    • Katie Feikema
      Katie Feikema on 17 Feb 11
       
      Reflection: I think that what these people did in Costa Rica seems to have been very beneficial to them and the native Costa Ricans. Through the experience they are able to serve and get close to nature which can be a very relaxing and rewarding experience. They are also able to improve the education, environment, and quality of life for the Costa Ricans. They are teaching them a bit about how to farm better as well wich will be a great asset to the natives as they build up their economy through better agriculture.Questions:1) I wonder how the natives feel about what American's are doing there. Do they give their full support? Or are they skeptical?    2) Is the impact they have made becoming more noticeable in the economy as well as the environment?3) Do they plan to slowly back out of the leadership positions and teach the natives how to carry on for themselves? 
  • Katie Feikema on 17 Feb 11
     
    Research Question: What effect does Costa Rica's ecological conservation have on it's environment and economy? Source: "Costa Rica's citizens of conservation: in their newly adopted homes, enclaves of foreigners support their local communities by using sustainable methods to preserve the land and the environment." Americas [English Edition] July-Aug. 2010: 22+. Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. Summary: This article is about the success and help that people, not native to Costa Rica, have been able to bring to their "adopted land" in Costa Rica. They tell about what got them interested, what they did and how it has helped the country of Costa Rica. 
Mallory Huizenga

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

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National Geographic

shared by Mallory Huizenga on 08 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • Costa Rica has just announced the creation of a large new marine protected area (MPA) around Cocos Island National Park.
    • Mallory Huizenga
      Mallory Huizenga on 08 Mar 11
       
      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
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • 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
  • Mallory Huizenga on 08 Mar 11
     
    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
Nick Mast

Academic OneFile  Document - 0 views

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egypt

shared by Nick Mast on 11 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • 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
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • 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.
  • Nick Mast on 11 Mar 11
     
    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?
Mark De Haan

The Future of Lebanon - 0 views

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Hizbullah Hezbollah Hizbollah Israel Lebanon

shared by Mark De Haan on 17 Feb 11 - No Cached
  • Hezbollah ended up in a full-scale war, in which it won some battlefield victories and popularity in the Arab and Muslim world but which devastated its Lebanese Shiite constituency and narrowed its tactical and political options.
  • srael, despite unleashing massive airpower on Hezbollah strongholds, failed to knock out the organization or even to stop its missile attacks, while the setbacks suffered by Israel's ground invasion had the effect of puncturing the aura of invincibility long projected by the Israel Defense Forces.
  • When Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, Hezbollah claimed a historic victory. At the time, many argued that it was time for Hezbollah to give up its arms and cede its territory to the Lebanese army.
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • Tehran reaped some benefit from Hezbollah's increased popularity and perhaps can point to the organization's robust performance as a warning to those considering military action against Iran, but this war wasted much of the deterrent power that it had vested in Hezbollah for its own hour of need
  • But instead, Hezbollah managed to put itself at the center of Lebanese politics, leading an anti-American coalition against the anti-Syrian March 14 coalition.
  • As the guns fell silent and the dust began to settle onto a scene of extensive devastation, many Lebanese were initially preoccupied with the debate about who had "won" or "lost" the war. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader, rushed to declare a "divine victory": the war had not ended with triumph for Israel (as all other Arab- Israeli wars have)
  • Hezbollah fighters had routed Israeli armored columns and elite brigades, and Hezbollah had continued to launch missiles and inflict heavy losses on Israeli troops throughout the war.
  • Hezbollah's victory was trumpeted throughout the Arab and Muslim world.
  • But it also became clear that Lebanon, and particularly the Shiite areas in southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, had paid an enormous human and economic price. Some 1,200 civilians (almost a third of them children) died, 4,000 were wounded, and a million were displaced. Some 130,000 housing units, thousands of small businesses, hundreds of roads, 300 factories, 80 bridges, dozens of schools and hospitals, and the country's electricity network were destroyed or damaged. This was the costliest Arab-Israeli war in Lebanon's history - - more devastating even than Israel's 1982 invasion. Economic losses were initially estimated at around $7 billion, or 30 percent of GDP. For a country still paying for a decade of laborious reconstruction and with a debt burden equal to 180 percent of GDP, the war dealt a staggering blow.
  • Mark De Haan on 17 Feb 11
     
    The Future of Lebanon Foreign Affairs - Paul Salem Salem, Paul. "The Future of Lebanon." Foreign Affairs 85.6 (2006): 13. Student Edition. Web. 16 Feb. 2011. Summary: This article talks about what the future holds for Lebanon and Hezbollah after the 34 Day War between Hezbollah and Israel. After all the fighting had ceased, Hezbollah was quick to claim themselves victorious. They were able to break Israli amored columns and Israel's elite brigades.  Reflection: Although Hezbollah has often been a nuisance to Israel, as well as a constant pain to the IDF and UN forces attempting to make peace, what is often lost in all this is the impact that Hezbollah has had on Lebanon. The 34 Day War between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006 was the cause of death for 1,200 civilian, the displacement of a million, and destruction of 130,000 housing units. Economic losses were estimated at $7 billion. Hezbollah, through their resistance toward Israel, has not only been a pain to Israel, but also to Lebanon, to some extent. Questions: 1. Has Hezbollah gained strength or have they weakened since the 34 Day War? 2. Has Lebanon recovered from the disaster of this war? 3. Have there been any other large exchanges of warfare between Hezbollah and Israel since this incident?
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