Group items tagged

Scientific American Magazine articles on nuclear power

"The core of CANVAS's work is rather to spread the word of "people power" to the world than to achieve victories against one dictator or another. Our next big mission should obviously be to explain to the world what a powerful tool nonviolent struggle is when it comes to achieving freedom, democracy and human rights."

Venezuela's Supreme Court stripped the nation's Congress of budgetary authority, effectively giving more power to President Nicolás Maduro. The Congress is the only institution controlled by the opposition.

Venezuela's government overall seems very corrupt. The Supreme Court does not seem to care about the good of the overall country, more for themselves. An example is towards the end of the article where they overruled a law that would have freed 120 prisoners because they were "opposition politicians or activists." Overall this is a very interesting situation and I would like to see what happens in the future.

solar profits, with help of subsidies, deductions, incentives, make this investment in alternative power generation a safer investment. Keynesianism? Mercantilism? Just plain good long-term planning.

Look what's happening with solar power in CA

"A Plan to Power 100 Percent of the Planet with Renewables"

A deep "insider's view" into the civil war occurring in Syria. Reveals the brutal crimes against humanity that the Syrian government is inflicting upon its citizens including murder rape, and unprecedented violence.

It is really interesting to read an article from the point of view of a person in Syria. The author is clearly begging for help for Syria. I think the last line is incredibly powerful, where the author says that Syria is part of the world and the world needs to help. Unfortunately for the author, not every other country agrees.

This is an interesting perspective on what is going on in Syria. I found it pretty accurate how the author described western powers as masking their "political inertia with empty rhetoric about a 'political solution'". I had no idea that over 7 million people (1/3 of the Syrian population) were IDPs as a result of this conflict. It's truly a horrible story. It's also interesting how the author describes the western powers' switch from being against the rebels to seeing their actions as justified.

This article is a fascinating exploration into the new era of Chinese influence, examining both China's meteoric rise to economic maturity and its continued military advancements. Indeed, looking at the rising role of China in the global military world, it is hard not to foresee a conflict looming, whether it be small or on a larger scale, with the Asian giant in the future. Despite our economy being linked with China's, the possibility for a trade war, which could escalate into something more serious, is a possibility that cannot be forgotten by US policymakers. Ultimately, China's rulership is unstable, revealing the most dangerous aspect of the nation's power, and the greatest threat posed to United States' interests in the future.

Yuri Luzhkov is one of the first Mayors Moscow and the greater Russian nation has ever seen. Since Soviet control, Russia has not had many individuals trying to assume power on a level lower than the Kremlin. Because the higher up Russian officials want to keep all of their power "There can only be one ruler in Moscow" and that is Putin (now Putin and Medvedev)." So, the kremlin started a vicious smear campaign outing many of this pretty-popular politicians secrets. They have tried to sabotage his popularity and kick him out of office.

As EU tension around debt problems mounts, many political parties in Germany, including Merkel's advocate amending the Masstricht and Lisbon treaties to give the EU more power to punish those who disobey rules regarding deficit and debt. 

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.

France took big hits in WWI and WWII from human and economic standpoints, so following WWII they became big proponents of European integration to build from the ground up. The Franco-German alliance has been a key to the integration of European nations since the 90's, but more recently they have been at odds over the austerity policies regarding France's recent economic recession. The French push for integration is quite ironic given France has more than 26 regions with several territories from its colonial past still belonging to France. Even with a rather diverse population, the majority of the French government is quite centralized with very little devolution of power. The voting turnout has not been very high because average French citizens feel like the power is in the hands of only the French elite. The French social and governmental hierarchy dampens the democratic institutions of France. Furthermore, the French don't only have a strong centralized government, they also have a powerful military and the second largest economy in the eurozone. Though the French struck down the proposed constitution of the European Union in 2005, current socialist President Hollande remains faithful to the European Union and German Chancellor Angel Merkel.

If we cut back on funding the UN, we will also lose our power there making room for other nations to take our role: "Finally, to the extent the United States cedes influence at the United Nations, other nations then have an opportunity to up their roles. This means rising powers, most prominently China, can step up as U.S. soft power declines."

Venezuela, under the leadership of President Maduro, has started to to use military force, intimidation, and imprisonment to address the coronavirus and consolidate political power. It is believed that the virus presents a threat to the Venezuelan government because it exposes the country's lack of resources and vulnerability in times of turmoil. It has now essentially become a crime to contract the virus because one can be labeled a bio-terrorist. I was drawn to this article because I wanted to see how other countries have been addressing the virus and this approach certainly stood out to me.

This article is really interesting. I think it highlights the fact that a crisis shows the true colors of a government and what they value. In this case they clearly don't value the lives of their citizens. Although their methods may be effective at slowing the spread of coronavirus, given the conditions the so called "bio-terrorists" are forced to live in, they are not effective at keeping their citizens healthy. Rather, the government is only employing this method to perpetuate power. From what I have seen in this and other articles, it appears that in many places around the world the government's response to COVID-19 has less to do with protecting the health and well being of citizens and more to do with maintaining power and image.

This article is both fascinating and deeply disturbing. Like Jalen said, this really does put on full display what a government actually cares about. I saw in the article that Pres. Maduro said "[his citizens are] given care that's unique in the world, humane care, loving, Christian," and having done a quick google search I've realized that Venezuala is an officially Roman Catholic country. I found this interesting, and I've often wondered why countries that are officially religious seem so often not to adhere to the values of those religions, while claiming that they do. An easy answer is to protect their reputation and economy, but I'd love to look into it more.

"Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro has signed a decree aimed at restricting the powers of social media companies to remove accounts and content"

Wow...this is super topical and unique especially when freedom of speech and social media in the US.

Yes. .. and the US has taken the position that tech companies have "freedom of speech" as well, including the freedom to prohibit material. Personally, it bothers me when corporations are redefined as equivalent to people. Really, however, corporations' speech is SO much more influential than individual people's speech.

In our last few classes we have focused on Jamaica and how its relationship with the IMF has greatly impacted Jamaica's economy. As we all know, Greece is in desperate need of economic help, which is why finance officials from all over the world have come together to decide on how to rescue Greece. But that is easier said than done. This article mostly explains that the IMF wants to change their original agreement with Greece, but Germany, the biggest contributor to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) wants to keep the original policy.

I think it is interesting how the IMF's stance has varied between Jamaica and Greece. From what I understood from the movie, the IMF did not give Jamaica the time of day when it asked for a modification on its loan to make their economy improved and sustainable- their interest seemed more in making it a reliable market place for foreign exports. Greece, on the other hand, has exports that other rich consumer countries want (shoes, oil, and cars come to mind), so it gets greater consideration from the IMF. Since these consumer countries represent a significant portion of the voting power within the IMF, the interests of the IMF and of Germany are understandibly different: Germany wants its money back, and the other countries want Greece to reestablish a functioning economy so they can et their goodies. Side note: Germany has 6% of the voting power in the IMF, and the US has close to 17%, http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/members.aspx

Great find, Michelle! So relevant to our Jamaica discussion.

Russia has been accused of abusing their veto power by vetoing a UN resolution that would halt Aleppo airstrikes. Russia has supported the Assad regime, which has led to disagreements with the US.