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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.
Shana Thomas

Georgia Is Warned by Russia Against Plans to Join NATO - NYTimes.com - 1 views

    • Shana Thomas
       
      So- I'm guessing that Russia would not approve of Abkhazia being known as independent? Wouldn't this also "threaten" Russia? since Russia borders Abkhazia?
  • President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia warned the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, on Friday that Georgia’s joining NATO would deepen the conflict between the former Soviet states.
  • Mr. Medvedev told Mr. Saakashvili that his quest for NATO membership would not help resolve the simmering tensions in the separatist Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
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  • Russian troop buildup in Abkhazia could destabilize the region,
  • German leaders had expressed their concern to him about relations between Russia and Georgia
  • Russia wanted to resolve the conflicts, but not with outside help,
  • Mr. Saakashvili, however, did not back away from his long-term goal of joining NATO. Georgia has applied for membership, and NATO has promised that it will eventually be accepted.
  • Mr. Medvedev has argued that NATO membership for Georgia or Ukraine, which has also sought membership, would threaten Russian security.
  • Abkhazia borders the Krasnodar region of Russia
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    -Kevin Gregor
Austin Buben

10 Contemporary Drug Problems 1981 Review of the Effects of the Decriminalization of Ma... - 3 views

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    Good back up organizations to support your quotations.
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. 
Onurcan Tatman

RUssia is mean - 0 views

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    Talks about Russia and what it has done involving south ossetia and how it takes advantage of its resources
Kevin Gregor

No Comparison Between Kosovo And South Ossetia - 0 views

  • Under the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution, Kosovo was granted the status of an autonomous province with virtually the same rights and responsibilities as the six Yugoslav republics, granting Kosovo an implied right of secession. Kosovo's autonomy included its own identity, territory, international-relations powers, and representation in all organs of the Yugoslav Federation. As a result, Serbian actions to deprive Kosovo of its autonomy, beginning in 1989, were clearly inconsistent with the existing Yugoslav Constitution and law and with accepted international practice.South Ossetia had no such right under the Soviet Union. According to Article 72 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution only the 15 republics possessed the right to secede from the union. Georgia emerged from the Soviet Union as an internationally recognized, independent state, and South Ossetia was considered part of its territory.
Shana Thomas

International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Abkhazia and South Ossetia are two breakaway republics in the Caucasus with disputed status over whether they are a part of Georgia or sovereign states.[1] The Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia were recognised following the 2008 South Ossetia War between Russia and Georgia
  • South Ossetia declared independence from Georgia during the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War on 29 May 1992, with its Constitution referring to the "Republic of South Ossetia".[6][7][8] Abkhazia declared its independence after its war with Georgia in 1992–1993. Its Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1994.[9][10
  • Kosovo's declaration of independence on 17 February 2008 and its divided international acceptance prompted speculation that there could be implications for the frozen South Caucasus situation.
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  • In April 2008, the United Nations Security Council unanimously passed Resolution 1808 that reaffirmed "the commitment of all Member States to the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders and supports all efforts by the United Nations and the Group of Friends of the Secretary-General, which are guided by their determination to promote a settlement of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict only by peaceful means and within the framework of the Security Council resolutions
  • President Medvedev stated that "Western countries rushed to recognise Kosovo's illegal declaration of independence from Serbia. We argued consistently that it would be impossible, after that, to tell the Abkhazians and Ossetians (and dozens of other groups around the world) that what was good for the Kosovo Albanians was not good for them. In international relations, you cannot have one rule for some and another rule for others."[21]
  • After hearing the aforementioned appeals from both the Abkhazian and South Ossetian leadership, on 25 August 2008, the Federation Council and State Duma passed motions calling upon President Dmitry Medvedev to recognise the independence of both states and establish diplomatic relations.[15][16]
  • South Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity flew to Moscow on 23 August 2008 to address the Federation Council of Russia, and in his appeal stated "what the Georgian leadership has done in South Ossetia can only be described as a Caucasian Stalingrad." On 25 August 2008, President of Abkhazia Sergei Bagapsh also made a presentation to the Federation Council. In his address to the Council, Bagapsh stated "I can say for certain that Abkhazia and South Ossetia will never be part of Georgia."[15]
  • Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili considered Russia's move as an attempt to alter the borders of Europe by force. Below are some excerpts from his statement:[32] This is the first attempt on European territory ... since Hitler's regime and Stalin's Soviet Union where a large state is trying unilaterally, with the use of force, to completely crush a neighbouring country and openly annex its territory. This is inconceivable lawlessness and insolence ... Russia has done unthinkable damage to its place in the international community. The question of the re-establishment of the territorial integrity of Georgia and the protection of its freedom — this is not an internal Georgian problem, or a question of Georgia and Russia. This is now a question of Russia and the rest of the civilised world. Georgia's future, is not only the future of Georgia, this is the future of the whole civilised world...
    • Shana Thomas
       
      This section will be useful * debate card #3??
  • The European Union,[44] NATO,[45] the OSCE,[46] the United States[47] and other countries immediately voiced displeasure with Russia's decision
  • Comparisons with Kosovo
  • support Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty.
  • Ukraine categorically reprobates an adventurous decision of Russia to recognise the self-declared independence and calls for international community to combine efforts in relation to absolute confirmation and observance of territorial integrity of Georgia and implementation of the undertaken international obligations of Russia".
  • Ukraine does not support the decision of Russia to recognise the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. "We are sorry about [the] adoption of such a decision. For Ukraine it is unacceptable therefore we cannot support the position."[215] However, the parliament of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea passed a resolution, supporting independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, backing Russia's actions in the regions, and urging the Ukrainian parliament to "accept" the independence of these states
  • October 2009, Ukrainian Ambassador to Russia Kostyantyn Hryshchenko said that "We must not recognize neither Kosovo nor Abkhazia, nor South Ossetia in no case"
  •  Kosovo President of Kosovo Fatmir Sejdiu said that Kosovo cannot serve as an example for Russia to recognise South Ossetia or Abkhazia. He said, "We have always stressed that Kosovo has special characteristics; that it is sui generis and it cannot be used as a precedent for other conflict zones, areas or regions"
  • UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated that "the question of recognition of states is a matter for sovereign states to decide.
  • "this is in direct violation of numerous UN Security Council resolutions regarding Georgia's territorial integrity, resolutions that Russia itself has endorsed. Russia's actions in recent weeks call into question Russia's commitment to peace and security in the Caucasus. NATO firmly supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia and calls on Russia to respect these principles".[156] In December 2009, following NATO summit it was announced that NATO member states will not recognise Abkhazia and South Ossetia and called on Russia to reverse its decision.[262]
Austin Buben

"Traditional Gap" In The ICJ's Advisory Opinion On Kosovo - 0 views

  • Of course, one can argue that the territorial integrity of Georgia, Azerbaijan and Moldova has already been recognized by many international organizations and by the majority of states in the world. The UN Security Council, notably, adopted many resolutions affirming the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia and Azerbaijan.47 That is why one could conclude that this standpoint reflects already the position of the international community, according to which the secession of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Nagorno-Karabakh has not been recognized (apart from Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru in Abkhazia’s and S. Ossetia’s case).
    • Austin Buben
       
      Shows the difference between Abkhazia being allowed their own independence and the international community recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Sovereign States; Which will never happen. (IF it would have, it already would have been expressed.)
  • The Court did not state in the Opinion that Kosovo through its declaration of independence effectively seceded from Serbia and thus the new state of “Kosovo” emerged. As it did not call into question the validity of UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999), which legitimizes the presence of international territorial administration in Kosovo, one can conclude that this resolution is still in force until a new resolution is adopted by the Council. In fact, according to this resolution, Kosovo shall only be given substantial autonomy within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia). Hence it can be stated that, from a legal point of view, Kosovo still can be seen as part of Serbia.
Mckenzie Hudson

5 Loyola University Chicago International Law Review 2007-2008 Merida Initiative for Me... - 1 views

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    This is mckenzie's drug use stats.
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    Mac. Stop stealing other peoples pages. I found this cite on friday. Scroll down to one of the first few pages and you will see this same website, just tagged differently.
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    well i don't see it, if i did, sorry. i have a back up source in case.
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    yeah i looked again and still don't see anything.
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