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Katy Field

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf - 0 views

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    In order to promote peace & stability, the United States government should freeze all foreign military financing aid to Israel until the Israeli government agrees to remove all settlements from the West Bank and East Jerusalem so as to return to its pre-1967 borders.
Austin Buben

Hamas: Government or Terrorist Organization? : NPR - 1 views

  • "A democratically elected Hamas is still a terrorist organization."
  • Hamas has targeted and killed many civilians, and Israel's occupation has contributed to a violent political environment.
  • Steven A. Cook, a Middle East expert at the Council on Foreign Relations, started off the evening by acknowledging several facts, which he immediately said were entirely irrelevant. Yes, he said, Hamas was legitimately elected freely and fairly. Yes, Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank and, until recently, Gaza. Yes, Hamas has done much good with its social programs. But, he said, none of that matters. Hamas' central charter calls for the violent overthrow of Israel. Hamas continues to kill innocent civilians. The group must lay down its arms and renounce its violent charter. Until then, Cook said, Hamas can only be labeled a terrorist group.
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  • "A terrorist is a man who murders indiscriminately, distinguishing neither between civilian and innocent and guilty nor soldier and civilian." Terrorism, O'Sullivan argued, is an issue of tactics, not ultimate goals. There can be pro-Nazi and anti-Nazi terrorists, he said; pro-Israel terrorists and anti-Israel ones. In other words, it doesn't matter what we think of Hamas' ultimate goals. All that is important, he argued, is that they employ indiscriminate violence. Until they stop, they should be labeled as terrorists and treated as international pariahs
  • He portrayed a powerful and vicious Israel that has indiscriminately killed many thousands of innocent Palestinians. Cohen argued that Hamas is not a terrorist group, but a nationalist resistance forced to resort to violence because it has so little power compared with Israel.
  • The audience was asked to vote before and after the speakers made their arguments. At the beginning of the evening, 60 percent voted that Hamas is, indeed, still a terrorist organization, 19 percent voted against that proposition and 21 percent didn't know. After the talk, 51 percent were in favor of the motion, 32 percent opposed it and 17 percent were undecided.
    • Austin Buben
       
      This is exactly the webpage that will help us to win.
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    Agreement that hamas is a terrorist organization running a government.
Onurcan Tatman

Drug Control: International Policy and Options - 2 views

  • Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled. Also, street prices of cocaine and heroin have fallen significantly in the past 20 years, reflecting increased availability.
  • Problem More than 14 million Americans buy illicit drugs and use them at least once per month, spending by most conservative estimates over $60 billion annually in a diverse and fragmented criminal market. Such drugs are to varying degrees injurious to the health, judgment, productivity and general well-being of their users. Total economic costs to U. S. society associated with drug abuse are estimated by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to be $160 billion. The addictive nature of many of these drugs, their high price, and their illegality play a role in more than half the street crime in the United States. The U. S. illicit drug market generates enormous profits that enable the growth of diversified international criminal organizations, and extend their reach into local neighborhoods, legitimate business, and even national governments. Such profits provide drug trafficking organizations with the resources to effectively evade and compete with law enforcement agencies, to penetrate legitimate economic structures, and, in some instances, to challenge the authority of national governments.
  • Despite the military's obvious ability to support drug law enforcement organizations, questions remain as to the overall effectiveness of a major military role in narcotics interdiction. Proponents of substantially increasing the military's role in supporting civilian law enforcement narcotics interdiction activity argue that narcotics trafficking poses a national security threat to the United States; that only the military is equipped and has the resources to counter powerful trafficking organizations; and that counter drug support provides the military with beneficial, realistic training.
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    Rensselaer Lee and Raphael Perl, Congressional Research Service Updated October 16, 2002 Efforts to reduce the flow of illicit drugs from abroad into the United States greatly have so far not succeeded. Moreover, over the past decade, worldwide production of illicit drugs has risen dramatically: opium and marijuana production has roughly doubled and coca production tripled.
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    this is a really good source that talks about the effectiveness of the military and how the US could cut down on drug trafficking.
Austin Buben

Stem the violence, make marijuana legal - 0 views

    • Austin Buben
       
      Austin Found this First
    • Austin Buben
       
      This article basically tells how drug cartels would be hurt if marijuana is legalized.
  • Mexico's drug cartels would continue to be, in the words of the Justice Department's National Drug Threat Assessment for 2009, "the greatest drug-trafficking threat to the United States."
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  • "Marijuana is the (Mexican cartels') cash crop, the cash cow," says Brittany Brown
  • Marijuana is cheap to grow and requires no processing. More than a million pounds of it was seized in Arizona in each of the past two years
  • First, Prohibition didn't work. • Second, even though alcohol sales are regulated, back-alley or school-yard sales of moonshine is not a billion-dollar problem. • Third, alcohol, like its addictive killer-cousin tobacco, is taxed, which helps cover its costs to society. Not so with marijuana
  • "People who smoke pot in the United States don't think they are connected to the cartels," Brown says. "Actually, they are very connected."
  • stead of paying taxes on their vice, pot smokers are enriching thugs and murderers
  • The DEA says cartels are "poly-drug organizations" that routinely smuggle cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and precursor chemicals through our state. "(But) marijuana generates the most profit,
  • Legalizing marijuana would not stop pushers from selling other, more lethal poisons. But taking away their most profitable product would hurt criminal organizations that have grown richer, more powerful and better armed during the so-called war on drug
  • While U.S. drug users enrich the cartels, the U.S. government pours huge amounts of money into defeating them.
  • According to a report last fall from the Government Accountability Office, the United States has provided more than $6 billion to support Plan Colombia since fiscal 2000. The goal of reducing processing and distribution of illicit drugs (mostly cocaine) by 50 percent was not achieved
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    Decriminalizing marijuana reduces the enormous cash flow to drug cartels fueling the drug wars in Mexico. 
Neha Kukreja

Mexico Debate Resolution - 19 views

-Value to be promoted: peace and stability -Actor: The United States Government -Action: 1.shift funding for military/ military equipment for Mexico to substance abuse treatment and prevention prog...

Kevin Gregor

Netanyahu: Israel Cannot Return To 1967 Borders | Fox News - 1 views

  • A peace agreement, he said, must assure Israel's security: "Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 borders," he declared, rekindling the dispute with Obama in a possible effort to placate territorial hardliners in his government.
Ellen Mischinski

End American Aid to Israel?: Yes, It Does Harm :: Middle East Quarterly - 0 views

  • The economy would have collapsed in 1973 due to the balance of payments problem following the Yom Kippur War. Today it is still important to shoulder the economy from external shocks such as the Persian Gulf War and the massive flow of Russian immigrants to Israel in the past few years. If the aid were reduced or eliminated, a sharp reduction in government spending would be required. Sussman adds: "The $1.5 billion in emergency aid allocated to Israel in the mid-1980s was responsible for helping to stabilize the Israeli economy and stifle hyperinflation."6
  • In fact, American defense and aerospace firms reap substantial benefits from U.S. aid to Israel, for it guarantees them a $1.35 billion captive market each year. Out of $1.8 billion in grants, then, Israel receives about $450 million in cash that can be converted into Israeli currency and used either to purchase Israeli-made military products or develop weapons (such as the Arrow anti-missile system). Steven L. Spiegel, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, points out that Israel performs invaluable services by testing and developing weapon systems for the United States, improving American-made equipment, and providing crucial intelligence information.11 Moreover, Spiegel argues that Israel's use of American-made arms not only saves the United States money but earns it more: For example, after Israel's much advertised successes with U.S. weaponry in the 1969-70 War of Attrition and the 1982 war in Lebanon, U.S. arms sales worldwide in 1972-82 nearly tripled, from about $6.8 to $19.6 billion in constant 1982 dollars.12 And while of course it does not wish for wars to occur, the United States gains valuable information by seeing its arms perform against those of Israel's enemies, lessons that "cannot be purchased, developed, or simulated."13
Caroline Yevak

Israel Needs U.S. Support Now More Than Ever : New University - 0 views

  • nd the Israeli government. Currently, in Washington, D.C., President Bush is promising aid to the Palestinians, ai
  • aid that they desperately need, in order for them to be able to establish good, peacekeeping forces that can rein in terrorists and serve as a police force in the region that Israel is trying to move out of.
  • Israel needs America’s help now more than ever.
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  • Israel’s economy is one of the better economies, and their military is by far one of the strongest in the world. But with the election of Mahmoud Abbas, and his efforts to control the extremist groups, European and American support has been shifting.
Mckenzie Hudson

India not to recognize Kosovo - 0 views

  • .' 'It has been India's consistent position that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be fully respected by all states,' the Indian government had said. According to officials, India is concerned that the Kosovo matter could set a 'dangerous precedent' for other cases around the world. India also grapples with internal secessionist issues in certain provinces. So
    • Mckenzie Hudson
       
      Big Countries like India are concerned that kosovo's independence might establish a dangerous precedent for similar issues around the world
Shana Thomas

The Clear Benefits of Decriminalizing Marijuana - 3 views

  • The Justice Policy Institute argues that locking up drug offenders is an ineffective and inefficient way to address drug abuse
  • With 2,310,984 people being held in local, state, and federal prisons in 2008, the “number of people in prison is nearly 5 times what it was 30 years ago, despite crime rates being at historic lows
  • drug possession is the sole reason 83% of those arrested for drug offenses are charged with a crime and thrown into prison.
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  • Marijuana Policy Project found that between 1995 and 2008 nearly 9.5 million individuals had been arrested due to connections with marijuana (whether it is cultivation, possession, or distribution).
  • Ongoing scientific research has shown tobacco and alcohol to be more addictive, harmful, and socially costly than marijuana.
  • As we have explored, marijuana is proven to be a less dangerous substance than tobacco and alcohol. Not only is it less dangerous in terms of its addictive properties and physical harm to people, it has critical cannabinoid chemicals that may relieve pain and aid the recovery of certain illnesses.
  • Marijuana is essentially in the same situation today that alcohol was in during Prohibition. Government law prevents marijuana from being sold in a legal manner, but it by no means eliminates the suppl
  • Rather than being produced and distributed peacefully through free trade, the marijuana market is limited only to the black market. This artificial legal limitation of the supply raises the p
  • of marijuana to extraordinary heights, thus attracting suppliers to enter the black market.
  • ome argue that criminalizing marijuana is a more harmful endeavor than the impact of the plant itself on society. The Marijuana Policy Project describes the situation: Because of marijuana prohibition, America’s largest cash crop is grown exclusively by unregulated criminals, often in environmentally damaging locations such as national parks and wilderness areas. Such problems are virtually unknown with legal, regulated crops such as tobacco or wine grapes (“Marijuana Prohibition Facts”).
  • Given that marijuana is less harmful to the human body than alcohol and tobacco, it makes little sense to continue the current policy of cannabis prohibition (particularly when you consider the detrimental results of alcohol prohibition).
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    why decriminalization is a good thing/ help promote stability and peace
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    found this article!
Austin Buben

BalancedPolitics.org - Legalization of Marijuana (Pros & Cons, Arguments For and Agains... - 1 views

    • Austin Buben
       
      Austin Buben found this document first.
    • Austin Buben
       
      Everything that I highlight is something that is a weak topic.
  • Some c
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  • are likely
  • could
  • could
  • could
  • harmfulness of marijuana are inconclusive and contradictory
  • Most doctors would agree that it's not very harmful if used in moderation
  • isn't abuse of almost any bad substance a problem
  • Most doctors believe that marijuana is no more addictive that alcohol or tobacco.
  • All illegal drugs are higher in price because the production, transportation, and sale of the drugs carry heavy risks.
  • chemotherapy
  • if someone in the drug trade screws you over, there's no police to call or lawyers to litigate. You must settle disputes yourself.
  • enormous amount of money is raised through government taxation of alcohol, cigarettes, and other "sins".
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    This is a basic website that should help lead everyone in a general direction of what they should get started on and further research these subjects.
Neha Kukreja

National Drug Threat Summary - National Drug Threat Assessment 2009 (UNCLASSIFIED) - 0 views

  •   In September 2008 there were nearly 100,000 inmates in federal prisons convicted and sentenced for drug offenses, representing more than 52 percent of all federal prisoners.
    • Neha Kukreja
       
      Wow.... just wow..... is it possible to even argue against how prevalant drug abuse in the US is with this stat? More than half the 2008 American federal prisoners were jalied on account of convicition of drug offenses!!
  • For 2009 the federal government has allocated more than $14 billion for drug treatment and prevention, counterdrug law enforcement, drug interdiction, and international counterdrug assistance.
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    • Neha Kukreja
       
      So we can already see a shift in funding that began in 2009......
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