Ceasefire takes hold in Israel-Palestine Conflict - Josh W.

 

Course theme: 

1. What conditions are necessary to end armed conflict and build sustainable peace?

  In the last weeks, Israel and the Gaza strip experienced the worst violence in years. Fighting broke out between the two groups mainly because of religious differences, Palestinians started protesting outside Jerusalem because of limited access into the city. Because of the Israeli's unwillingness to cooperate, the Hamas forces fired rockets at Israel which resulted in some deaths. In response, the Israelis launched airstrikes on a large scale and major destruction occurred all around. Rioting was one of the many ways that people denounced the brutality. Israeli police forces often used violence to disperse the riots.

    After much more violence occurred and multiple airstrike exchanges, the Hamas and Israelis agreed to a ceasefire, which ended 11 days of fighting. Both sides claimed victory, although Israel's Prime Minister received criticism from regions heavily damaged by the rockets. The ceasefire was heavily pressured by the U.S.'s president Biden, he and many others condemned the violence that was happening. He praised the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's decisions and Blinken, the U.S. Secretary of State offered more than $75 million in assistance to the Palestinians. Many Palestinians celebrated in Gaza, calling the day of the truce "The Day of Freedom."

    Although many people are celebrating the ceasefire now, the future of the situation is unclear, although many prominent leaders are taking action to help stop the fighting. Still, a plausible solution for the root cause of the problem has not been clearly addressed. The tensions are still somewhat tight between the two sides; they doubt the truce will last for very long.

Discussion Questions:

1. What is the significance of using ceasefires to ease global tensions?

2. What is the impact of global powers intervening in such a conflict?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57195537

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/21/world/israel-hamas-news

    

    

The Oppressive Regime of Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian President - Behruz A.

 

Course Theme:

1. What is meant by the expression “winners write history?” How do historical narratives get constructed, and how do they impact thinking in the present? 

Alexander Lukashenko is the president of the country, Belarus. He has long been

affiliated with Russia and the Soviet Union, as he had served for the Soviet Russian army as well as attended the Communist Youth Organization and Party of Belarus when it used to be part of the USSR. Later in 1990, he got his first major government position as he was elected to the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic Parliament. He became the first president of the newly independent nation in 1994 and has still been ruling ever since. During his rule, Lukashenko has committed a number of crimes, such as electoral fraud and violation of human rights. 

Multiple times, Lukashenko has abused his power to get his way and silence opposing voices.(He is also supported by V. Putin, contributing to his power and ability to get away with things.) In 1996, when western democratic nations criticized his choices and authority, he temporarily expelled their ambassadors. He also has been suspected of electoral vote tampering and has also violently crushed all protests against him. Recently, in the 2020 election, he made the absurd claim that he had won 80 percent of votes, which many political leaders believed as a lie, and which also sparked outrage and protests for thousands, in which 450 cases of torture and rape of detainees were reported. Many western leaders described his brutal repression of protests as state terrorism.

Recently, the Ryanair Flight 4978 that was scheduled to land in Vilnius, Lithuania, was subject to Lukashenko’s oppressive regime. The flight had been diverted to Belarus, with the reason behind it being a state/government-sponsored hijacking to retrieve and arrest Roman Protasevich, a prominent Belarusian opposition journalist who had been living in exile since 2019. The operation to retrieve the journalist was allegedly staged, with a bomb hoax on the plane as all a part of Lukashenko’s plan to retrieve the journalist. The reasoning behind Protasevich arrest was that he was a co-founder of an account on the messaging app Telegram, that helped organize the mass protests that occurred  last year as retaliation for Lukashenko’s presidential election. As a consequence, he has been officially identified as a terrorist for Belarus and has now been placed on an official terrorist list. Inside reports have gotten video footage of Protasevich himself stating that he is being ‘corrected’ for his mishaps and organizing mass unrest in the city of Minsk. In this video footage, Protasevich seems to have a broken nose and bruises on his body/face, causing people to believe that the journalist is facing torture and physical assault in prison. All of this is a massive human rights violation and has many crimes charged up with it, as Lukashenko has hijacked a plane with false information, silenced opposing voices, as well as tortured those who rebelled or went against him. 

This all connects to the course theme because President Lukashenko, a man with lots of power or a ‘winner’, could be writing history for Belarus. With all of his power and ability to silence those against him, Lukashenko is creating a false historical narrative in Belarus with lots of false information, lack of information, propaganda, and other sorts of manipulation and deceit. 

            Discussion Questions:

1. Can Roman Protasevich's arrest and the hijacking of the plane be justified, due to the fact that he helped organize a protest with thousands involved causing chaos?

2. How can Lukashenko’s oppressive regime be overcome? What can be done to fix his oppressive regime and fix the government/corruption present in Belarus?

3. Why would Lukashenko violate human rights to silence those who opposed him? What benefit does he get from this?

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/05/24/faq-lukashenko-belarus/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/24/belarus-put-on-notice-of-sanctions-over-hijack-of-ryanair-flight

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/world/europe/belarus-flight-ban.html

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Taiwan’s COVID Cases Spike

 

Taiwan’s COVID Cases Spike

by Evan Louie

     Since the pandemic started in 2020, Taiwan has been one of the most successful countries in managing the crisis, and is only now seeing an “end to a Covid-free normality that residents had been enjoying for more than a year” (New York Times). Taiwan is able to draw from their experience in pandemic control from the 2003 SARS outbreak and has a culture of self-discipline where citizens voluntarily wear face masks and the issue is not politicized. Through May 15, Taiwan only had a total of 1,290 COVID cases and 12 deaths. As an island nation, they were able to shut their borders early in the pandemic and require 2-week quarantines of anyone entering the country. But now, Taiwan has relaxed quarantine restrictions, and people are “leaving their masks at home and abandoning social distancing” (New York Times). This has resulted in a surge of cases and Taiwan is currently recording between 200-350 infections a day. 

Compounding the problem is the fact that only 1% of Taiwan’s population has been vaccinated. “Taiwan received its first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in early March, and it has since been gradually immunizing health workers and other priority groups” (New York Times). However, the general population was complacent and did not feel the need to get vaccinated because of how few cases there were. Now in the middle of a growing COVID crisis, Taiwan will look back on their recent decisions as irresponsible and jeopardizing all of their efforts to date to control the pandemic. Taiwan will now have to step up their vaccination efforts and make sure that all of their people take this virus seriously. Previous success in controlling the virus is not a guarantee for the future.

Course Theme: How do geography, culture, inclusive institutions, and the nature of various political and economic systems explain the relative success or failure of nations?

Discussion questions

1. What can Taiwan do now to gain control of the situation? Should Taiwan shut down its borders again or focus more on the virus’ spread within the country?

2. What lessons can be learned from Taiwan’s latest missteps? 

Sources

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/20/world/asia/taiwan-covid-outbreak.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-57153195

China's Space Weaponization

 

China's Space Weaponization

By: Behruz Azimov, Evan Louie, and Sanjna Hegde

Course themes:

1. How should the US and the world respond to the rise of China and the change from a bipolar to a multipolar international balance of power?

China is mapping out their future space plans by building space capabilities for economic, military, communications, and intelligence benefits, with the goal of overtaking US space leadership. To achieve their goal, China is developing innovative technology such as the recently landed Mars rover, anti-satellite missiles, and the Tianhe space station. As a result of China increasing their development of space technology, mishaps have also occurred and questions regarding China’s ability to meet responsible space norm standards are a serious concern. 

According to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, “Spacefaring nations must minimize the risks to people and property on Earth of re-entries of space objects and maximize transparency regarding those operations.” After the recent incident near the Maldives, where China’s rocket re-entered Earth’s atmosphere uncontrolled and landed in the Indian Ocean, government officials within the US are considering reaching a global consensus about global space norms. Space norms not only enhance space safety but are agreements between nations meant to de-escalate the weaponization climate.  They can prevent nations from building a space weapon stockpile similar to the nuclear arsenal the US and USSR developed during the Cold War era.

Until such space norms are reached, China will continue with their space weaponization efforts. In 2005, China conducted their first ASAT (anti-satellite weapon) test. They have also recently developed ground-based laser weapons that can counter low-orbit space-based sensors. China’s overall space weaponization goal is to target US Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance satellites in order to limit/prevent enemy use of space-based assets. By doing this, they are able to eliminate the enemy’s ability to prevent communication regarding strategic information about troop and ship movements, incoming missiles, and navigation. To illustrate the effectiveness of this strategy, the US relies on space satellites for 70‒80 percent of its intel and 80 percent of its communication.

As the leader in space, the US should set the example and de-escalate the situation in order to prevent turning space into a new battleground. The US should lead by example and cooperate with efforts to de-weaponize space.

 

Discussion Questions: 

1. What are the pros and cons of a nation increasing its space capabilities and weaponization and how does this affect other nations? How would other nations react?

2. Why would a nation (specifically China) attempt the weaponization of space? What does China hope to accomplish by doing this?

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/08/app-international-edition/china-space-debris-long-march-rocket-reentry-scn/index.html

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment57045058#:~:text=The%20remains%20of%20a%20Chinese,of%20the%20Maldives%20on%20Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/article/china-mars-space.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/china-lands-on-mars-in-crowning-moment-for-space-program-11621040108?mod=hp_lead_pos10

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-space-exploration-china-moon-timeline/timeline-major-milestones-in-chinese-space-exploration-idINKBN28B5GE

http://www.defensenews.com/congress/2021/04/14/china-aims-to-weaponize-space-says-intel-community-report/#:~:text=The%20Office%20of%20the%20Director%20of%20National%20Intelligence's%20report%20says,counter%2Dspace%20operations%20will%20be%20%E2%80%9C

http://www.ndupress.ndu.edu/Publications/Article/1325996/the-role-of-space-norms-in-protection-and-defense/

 

 

 

 

 

Moroccan Migrants Flooding Spain

 

Moroccan Migrants Flooding Spain

By: Sanjna Hegde

Course themes: 

1. How does domestic politics affect foreign policy choices made by nation-states? What is the relationship between domestic politics and international politics? 

2. How do social alliances like nationalism and religion motivate political activism and change?

 

    On Monday, May 17th, over 6,000 migrants illegally swam around rocky breakwaters from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, creating a humanitarian crisis. According to local media, many migrants included young children and families who sought a better life away from poverty and violence.  

 

    Currently, domestic politics between Morocco and the Polisario Front are shaping the actions of migrants and Spanish policy. The Polisario Front, led by Brahim Ghali, is fighting for independence for Western Sahara which is currently under Moroccan rule. Spain and the EU are trying to build a strong relationship with Morocco for mutual economic benefit, but tensions have risen due to Spain’s compassionate assistance towards Ghali. According to ABC News, Spain admitted Ghali to a hospital for treatment after he tested positive for COVID-19 under a different name and Algerian passport, which is angering the Moroccan government. This humanitarian gesture has led to an influx of illegal migration seeking similar assistance. 

 

    Spain has responded to the influx of illegal migration by deploying its military and other police officers to fulfill the signed agreement between Morocco and Spain, stating that they must expel those who swim across the border. According to AP news “Ceuta’s conservative regional president, said residents were in a state of ‘anguish, concern and fear’ and 60% of the city’s children had not shown up for school on Tuesday.” However, most of the migrants who reached Spain were forced to go back to Morocco.

 

Discussion Questions: 

1. If you were the leader of Spain, would you send the Moroccan migrants back or would you allow them to stay in Spain to build a better life? What would be the benefits and consequences of your decision?

2. How can the lack of transparency between nations affect diplomatic relations?

 

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/europe/migrants-swim-morocco-spanish-enclave-ceuta-intl/index.html

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/spain-returns-6600-migrants-morocco-border-spat-77822734

https://apnews.com/article/spain-europe-africa-morocco-migration-9833744a7058cc9438a8d7417d2944c6

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-14115273

India's Black Fungus

    

    According to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mucormycosis is a rare invasive fungal infection caused by molds that can be found in most moist or wet environments. Notably, the fungal infection mainly affects individuals with already compromised immune systems and often attacks their respiratory tracts. The infection’s mortality rate is also incredibly high, with an overall mortality rate of 54% but does vary from patient to patient. Currently, you might know of the infection by another name, the ‘black fungus’. 

    With India’s recent and still ongoing COVID crisis, the already overwhelming numbers of patients requiring care increased with cases of mucormycosis infections piling into various Indian states. The western state of Maharashtra has been hit especially hard, with 2,000 cases recorded, 90 deaths, 800 hospitalized patients, and almost 100 cases every day (all as of May 19, 2021). In addition, the liposomal amphotericin B injections that the nation has used to treat prior infections are manufactured domestically. And these domestic manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the sudden surge in infections and demand for the drug. In response, many desperate patients and families have turned to the black market and other sources for replacements. Though, on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, India’s Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers came out and stated that the government is already “committed to making all possible and necessary efforts to make it available to needy patients… the shortage is expected to get resolved at the earliest.” 

Researchers also have reason to believe that the ‘immunosuppressants like’ steroids that Indian COVID-19 patients receive in their treatment place those patients at a higher risk of contracting the infection. This is due to the steroid's purpose of lowering a patient’s hyperactive immune system back down and thus compromising the immune system. Furthermore, the surge in cases can also be linked to the humidifiers the nation has been using to deliver oxygen to hospitals and COVID patients. Again, this is because mucormycosis is caused by molds found in wet environments and on wet forces. Overall, since the rise in infections is still incredibly recent, we still do not know India’s next steps in fighting the spread and how they might juggle the weight of both mucormycosis and COVID-19.

Sources: 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57191507

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/19/asia/india-black-fungus-drug-shortage-intl/index.html

https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/mucormycosis/index.html#:~:text=Mucormycosis%20(previously%20called%20zygomycosis)%20is,to%20fight%20

germs%20and%20sickness.

https://www.cdc.gov/fungal/diseases/mucormycosis/statistics.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2021/05/20/india-declares-black-fungus-epidemic-as-infections-rise-among-covid-19-patients/?sh=4e6f741d10af

Discussion Questions:

1. In a fight against two infectious and fatal diseases, which should a country choose to prioritize and why? 

2. When should nations step in to help other countries in need? And do you think there may be a point where another nation might be helping out too much? 

Rocket launched by China Heading Back to Earth

Rocket launched by China Heading Back to Earth

By: Jacob Berenstein 

     On April 28, 2021 China launched their first space module carrying astronauts into orbit. This launch of the Long March 5B was supposed to demonstrate a new way to launch astronauts into space. When rockets are launched, they are typically aimed to fall into the ocean or a massive body of water once they have served their purpose. This is so the falling debris does not cause any harm to cities, landmarks, or any protected land. Many countries have been very successful in getting rockets to hit their detach destinations, however China has not. In the past we have seen many failed attempts of this coming from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) including many spaceship parts being dropped on populated cities and other launch sites. 

 Because this rocket was built in a different manner to demonstrate the new way to launch astronauts into outer space, it made it harder for them to get the right trajectory and safely land the rocket stages and other debris. The design for this new rocket was very different from any other rocket that has been sent into space. According to Quartz, “Rather than using two stages, the vehicle only has a single core and four disposable boosters”. This caused many problems when it came to the detachment stage of the expedition. The main body of the rocket is abnormally large making the disposing stages different. 

Soon after the rocket launched into space it entered a temporary orbit that would soon lead to one of the largest uncontrolled re-entrys at an unknown landing point (The Guardian). According to the BBC “[The rocket] originally injected into an elliptical orbit approximately 160km by 375km…[but] the Long March-5b core stage soon began to lose height.” The rocket began losing more and more height and on Tuesday, April 29 the rocket was orbiting Earth at about 27,600 km/h. It also made one orbit around Earth once every 90 mins. Because of how fast the rocket is traveling, it is impossible to predict where it will land but because Earth is about 71% water there is a likelihood that it will land in a body of water.

                           

As the rocket got closer to Earth's atmosphere scientists began to figure out a rough idea as to where the rocket would land. On May 7, 2021 EU Space Surveillance and Tracking provided a map of possible landing locations for this rocket. The map depicts a series of lines which are the orbital paths of the rocket across a 12 hour period and it could land at any point during these orbits. When this map came out it was predicted that the rocket would re-enter Earth's atmosphere on May 8, 2021 at around 2:30 PM ET give or take 6 hours. These lines go through the bottom of North America and the top of South America. There are also some orbits in Africa and India. And there are also some in China and Australia. Most of these lines are going through the Ocean or some body of water demonstrating the high possibility of the Rocket landing in the water.

On May 8, 2021 at around 7:30 PST (2:24 GMT) the rocket landed in the Indian Ocean at point 72.47° East and 2.65° North (BBC). Luckily there have been no reports of injury. This is one of the biggest uncontrolled re-entries in years. China is pointing fingers at the US for letting the media make the re-entry of the rocket seem like a big deal. Scientists even said that there was a very small chance of the rocket hitting land, but the media made headlines like “Rocket tumbling back to Earth” and “Uncontrolled Rocket at risk of hurting innocent lives. By using words such as “uncontrolled” and “tumbling” the media made it seem like it was a giant threat. Others are criticizing China for letting this happen and for not taking responsibility for this rocket. Overall we do not know the CNSA's next steps for this rocket or how they will go about future space missions.

Discussion Questions

1. If you were a part of the CNSA, how would you work to improve this situation? How would you make sure that this does not happen again?

2. How can the media make situations seem worse than they actually are? How big of an influence does media have on people's everyday lives?

Sources:

https://spacenews.com/huge-rocket-looks-set-for-uncontrolled-reentry-following-chinese-space-station-launch/ 

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57045058 

https://qz.com/1856233/a-chinese-rocket-appears-to-rain-rogue-parts-down-from-space/ 

https://www.eusst.eu/newsroom/eu-sst-monitors-reentry-cz5brb/ 

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/may/04/out-of-control-chinese-rocket-tumbling-to-earth 

Deadly Protests in Columbia

 

Deadly Protests In Columbia

By Kaylah Bresee

    Columbia is in the midst of deadly protests. Conflict between the government and it’s citizens grows daily as the conflict is not resolved. But, what is the conflict? It began when President Iván Duque proposed a tax hike. A tax hike is the amount by which taxes are increased. Critics say the tax hike would increase prose of both food and taxes for middle class workers. Duque originally proposed the idea in an effort to unburden the government from COVID19 financial strains. 

How would the tax hike affect the middle class workers? According to ABC news, the tax plan aimed to raise 6.7 billion to pay for the country's debt. In addition, it would also allow the country to help provide shelter to 3 million lower income workers. Due to COVID19, Columbia’s economy shrank by 7% last year and the poverty level grew from 36% to 43%. Furthermore, 16.8% of Colombians have been unemployed since March of last year.    

Following major outrages, Duque quickly repealed the proposal and canceled it. However, by the time his efforts were made, protests were already gaslighted with anger. The government pushed back on the protests by using the police forces. However, this quickly escalated to police brutality. By definition, police brutality is when police forces use excessive and unwarranted use of law. Many citizens are calling for both police reform and major social changes. When interviewing citizens, ABC news was told “What is happening in Columbia is a massacre.” and “I have been walking every day peacefully with friends. We can observe undercover cops ... they even tried to shoot us on Monday. I was not injured.” Colombian celebrities have went on social media to speak on the topic. Shakira tweeted, “Bullets will never be able to silence the voice of the one who suffers. And it is essential that we are not deaf to the cry of our own.”  

The Colombian government has reported 26 deaths. However, civil rights groups are reporting at least 38 deaths due to the protests. It is still unclear which statistic is accurate. In addition to the deaths, it is reported that about 900 were injured and there were 145 people missing, 55 of which were found. One of the deaths that are confirmed was 17 year old Marcelo Agredo. Video evidence demonstrates Agredo kicking a police officer, the officer provides to open fire on the young man. A government agency is now looking into his death. In addition, video footage and photographs show evidence of police blatantly shooting people and firing tear gas into the large crowds. 

With no ending point in sight, many health experts suspect a 3rd wave of COVID to hit Columbia in the coming weeks. With the government and it’s citizens unable to come to an agreement, tensions rise each day. We can compare these events to similar ones that happened in the USA in 2020. During the BLM protests that began in March of 2020, many called for police reforms and protesters were met with police brutality. Similarly, the police in the US put out tear gas to large masses and opened fired on protestors using rubber bullets.

Course Themes: 

1. The individual's relationship with the mass society 

2. The evolution of the nation- state and contemporary international system 

Questions: 

1. How is the current state of Columbia similar to the BLM protests in the USA? How do they differ? 

2. If you were the president of Columbia, what would you do moving forward and how would you help your citizens? 

Resources:

https://abcnews.go.com/Inte
rnational/explainer-bloody-protests-colombia-leave-26-dead/story?id=77539421

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/colombia-protests-continue-no-end-site-first-meeting-leaders-governmen-rcna898

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html 

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/national-international/a-look-at-police-brutality-in-america/2152297/ 

Lampedusa Immigration Crisis

 Lampedusa Immigration Crisis

By: Ethan Kang

 Course themes: 

What helps explain the radicalization of individuals, political movements, and governmental institutions? 

Why were many nation states organized on the basis of ethnic identity? Did this do more to solve conflicts or create conflicts?

On Sunday, May 9, about 1400 migrants arrived on the small Italian Island of Lampedusa in the Mediterranean. According to local media, it was in just the span of a few hours. One fishing boat alone was carrying close to 400 refugees according to the Italian media. More boats were spotted near Malta, and a total of 15 came that day. Since the start of 2021, 11,000 migrants have arrived on Lampedusa, up from 4,105 in 2020. Since 2015, there has been a surge of migrants coming into Europe especially from Syria. Lampedusa, though a small island, is the first stop migrants take in order to enter Europe. However, the issue has divided European nations, and many discourage immigration into Europe due to nationalistic and racist ideologies

Another boat carrying 325 people was found eight miles off Lampedusa. Politician Matteo Salvini, an Italian politician and former minister of interior, is a strong believer in banning migrants from entering Italy, claiming that Italians already have enough to deal with during this time. He is currently on trial for not letting a migrant boat with 100 people on board dock in Lampedusa in August 2019. He could go to jail for up to 15 years. Oftentimes, the Italian law enforcement in motorboats is the only one to take people off these overcrowded boats if they cannot dock. "One rescue operation could put a total of around 231 people out of danger of drowning," says the charity Alarm Phone. This is especially important because many migrants arrive by boat, and often are in small, overcrowded vessels, and the Italians are the one of the only ones who can help the migrants. 

Discussion Questions:

1. Are all human beings worth saving? When must people say yes to helping others despite challenges?

2. If you were a migrant, would you trust a questionable government to help you? What outweighs the fear of long term suffering?

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57049130

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/four-boats-carrying-hundred-migrants-land-italys-lampedusa-report-2021-05-09/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/10/more-than-2000-migrants-arrive-on-italian-island-lampedusa-in-24-hours (image)