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I think it's interesting how this article on the Israel-Palestine conflict puts the conflict into perspective, especially for young readers. The article explains the cycles of revenge that continue to give the violence in the Middle East ammunition. However, the details of the revenge prove relevance because it is about the purposeless murders of teenagers who have nothing to do with the conflict whatsoever. It is also interesting how the writer mentions the irony of all of the immoral killings occurring in a place that has been called "The Holy Land". The article begins with a quote from the Israeli prime minister explaining that Israel is a state of laws. The writer boldly disagrees with this, stating, "This is not what happens in a state of laws". He also accuses Israel's "democracy" as being undemocratically oppressive. Essentially, he is critiquing the leaders on both sides of the conflict and assigning them responsibility for the senseless acts of the killing of innocent youth in the name of revenge.

This article is both intriguing and thought provoking, however, I do agree that it was written in an anti-Israeli tone. This may be do to the fact that the author failed to touch upon the militancy and violence in Palestine. However, it did shed an interesting light on the "state of laws" and how both nations have seemingly become numb to the constant violence.

Sometimes it seems like people forget what they are fighting for

Somalia pirates and politics and a failed state

The 2017 index of failing and fragile states.

I mentioned this op-ed in a comment on somebody else's post. I linked it in case anybody was interested.

This is a really interesting perspective on this issue and on interventionist foreign policy as a whole. The current situation in Afghanistan is clearly reflective of a larger pattern of American foreign policy and attempted nation building.

Thank you for the exchange of ideas here, CoPo students. . . . it sure feels lousy to have left Afghanistan. I do wonder what the next 12 months will bring.

Stateless Somalia is attempting to re-legitimize itself by creating a new electoral process for the 2016 election. Somalia's next president will be elected on November 30th. Some interesting aspects to note is that this election is not universal, but putting a process in place is the country's first step to developing universal elections by 2020 and creating more political participation.

I think it is especially interesting how hard they are trying to get female representation (1 of ever 3 seats in the House of the People will be contested by only women, 30% of seats in the upper house reserved for women, 16 of 51 delegates required to be women, registration to be a candidate is half as much for women compared to men). I appreciate that they are trying to get diverse representation, but did they go so far as to be a little patronizing? I don't know enough about Somalia to answer, but I'm curious what you think.

The article I referred to in class today. Says a lot about how Germany's state has/has not progressed since WWII.

very cool infographics on the effect of the recession on EU nations

This article/graphic poses an interesting but subliminal question about the future of the European Union, or t least its fiscal stability. Started as the unifier of Europe, the EU rests on shaky ground; lacking a powerful central authority with which it can enforce its rules, the ability for the EU to maintain itself is through the combined cooperation of European nations. This article points out that these countries have "failed to follow their own [economic] laws," with "Greece as the biggest offender." If the trend continues towards a disrespect for the EU's laws by the member countries, there could be far more Greece-like economic situations in Europe, it seems, thus jeopardizing the future of the organization.

I love graphic representations of Information! Nice find, Curtis! As a point of comparison, The United States has a national debt of 8.68 trillion. In the U.S., this is 60.8 percent of the American GDP. Source: www.visualeconomics.com › All Infographics

I chose this article about the Israel-Palestine conflict because it talks about how this conflict is not an isolated battle between Israel and Palestine. The Op-Ed columnist David Brooks writes that because of all the conflict in the Middle East each country, group, or "political contour" that is striving for power influences the actions of either the Palestinian or Israeli parties. For example, Brooks mentions how Egypt blocked 95% of the tunnels that connected Egypt to Gaza, which costed Hamas $460 million a year. Hamas could not attack Egypt, so they attacked Israel instead. The public dissatisfaction caused Egypt to end the blockade. Thus, the external parties in the Middle East have a large effect on the Israel-Palestine conflict, and Brooks says that the conflict should therefore be analyzed from a different perspective: "It, like every conflict in the region, has to be seen as a piece of the larger 30 Years' War" (Brooks). This article shows us that we need to think a little more broadly when analyzing certain conflicts.

I think it's interesting that these outside countries are involving themselves by using all the deaths of the Israelis and Palestinians as leverage to get what they want. The violence in Gaza negatively influences all of its surrounding regions. Violence only brings more violence.

This article was a great way to clear the air on many misconceptions that have been floating around that make the Israel-Palestine conflict seem like a very straightforward conflict. This makes it clear that many of the warfare between Israel and Palestine isn't related to conflict between these two nations, rather in some cases it is attempts by Palestinian states and Muslim rebels to show dominance to other Middle Eastern countries and sects in order to make political and economic moves. With so much intertwining of conflict with the Egypt and the Islamists at the Arab Spring and the closing of the 95% of the tunnels being closed between Egypt and Gaza. The Brotherhood, ISIS, and other militant groups are vying for power throughout the Middle East and flexing their muscle on anybody and everybody to establish political dominance.

Interview with Sokeel Park, director of a research and strategy group that aids refugees from North Korea, sheds light on the lives of ordinary North Koreans. He illuminates that North Korea is becoming increasingly more capitalistic in an attempt to lessen their isolation; however, this is all happening under the nose of the North Korean government. Correction: North Korea becomes increasingly capitalistic out of necessity: occurred because the North Korean economy was failing -- North Koreans needed food so they smuggled it into the country. As a result, the North Koreans became less isolated from the outside world. A decrease in isolationism and an increase in capitalism happened independently. -thanks miles

I think that the previous comment seems to make assumptions that were not made in the actual article. The article says that due to an economic collapse, some North Koreans have been becoming more capitalistic while simultaneously they have been exposed to more out side media making them less isolated. The previous comment seems to make it seem that the increased capitalism leads to this increased isolation, which is making a inference not stated or explored in the article.

With all the focus on North Korean Politics and threats it is interesting to hear about culture and day to day life. With spreading capitalism and western influence in the millennial generation, it gives me hope that there could be change from within North Korea. Granted, the article mentions that no organized resistance exists but I believe it starts with the culture and the proliferation of ideas.

When I see a developing nation with an economy that is based almost entirely off of the oil industry, that is a red flag. Oil is an extremely volatile market, and it will continue to be as altrernative forms of energy are sought out and the demand for oil decreases. You can see even today that an oil-based economy has links to many failed states or authoritative governments, such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Venezuela, and Iraq. This point should be especially concerning for those in Angola looking forward at their economy's future. I would like to learn more about what the government and its people hope to do to adapt to the rapidly changing world.

We'll look at the dilemma of "resource trap countries" later in this course. The basic problem is that the government is accountable (effectively) to the owners of the resource extraction process, which usually are multinational corporations. So what the majority of the population wants and needs is immaterial.