Rollout of COVID-19 Vaccinations

 

With COVID-19 still lingering, people all over the world are still vulnerable. With the slow rollout and short supply of vaccines the only thing preventing the virus from it’s opportunities to spread are the countless restrictions on our daily lives. As of right now, the three vaccines developed by Pfizer, BioNtech, Moderna, and AstraZeneca are currently being released to the public. Frustration continues to grow throughout the world as people are eager to get the vaccine as soon as possible. Countries worldwide are shutting down vaccination sites due to low supply of vaccines. President Biden has set a goal for the United States to administer 1.5 million doses of the vaccine daily. Despite the vaccines not being approved by the FDA these vaccines have been given federal approval for an emergency rollout of Moderna, Pfizer and BioNtech. Patients are required to receive two doses of the vaccination weeks apart. It is estimated that 70-90% of the population needs to acquire the vaccination in order to reach immunity. The federal government has recently recommended that states only allow citizens 65 and older to get vaccinated. As well as health care workers and long care residents working in care facilities. With this the only way to keep preventing the spread of this virus is to follow all protocols and stay safe. 

Discussion questions: 

1. Will the rollout of this vaccination be the only way to stop the spread of COVID- 19?

2. Should States start acquiring more age groups to receive the vaccine?

Sources:

 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/covid-19-vaccine-doses.html

 https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/19/health/pharmacies-covid-19-vaccine-demand wellness/index.html 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/19/health/delay-coronavirus-vaccines-second-dose/index.html 

Arms control with Iran by Kayla Roth and Gabriella Sui

 

Ever since 2018, when the US pulled out of the JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), Iran's nuclear activity has been steadily increasing. In 2019 Iran began to ignore the nuclear program limitations, violating the JCPOA. Since then Iran has been resuming nuclear activities. Up until 2021 they have announced new plans to develop activities for uranium metal production. With this they seek to eventually design a fuel for Tehran research reactor. ( Yet another violation of JCPOA) Because of this violation, Iran is not supposed to produce uranium for another 15 years. But what’s to stop them from doing so? 

Iran’s increase of nuclear activity is creating conflict in the middle east, specifically in Israel. In 2020 Iran’s top nuclear scientist ( Mohsen Fakhrizadeh) was killed by a remote weapon controlled by a satellite. In the early 2000’s Fakhrizadeh had a huge role in Iran’s nuclear program.. Now, Iran believes that it was Israel’s doing. Although it is not clear from the Iranian side of what actually happened due to their story changing significantly, it is reported that Fakhrizadeh was wounded with his car completely damaged with bullet holes and later exploded. Iran’s response to this had the media project a threat of revenge for their scientists killing. With all fingers pointed at Israel, they have not yet spoken out on the supposed allegations. 

Israel and Saudia Arabia have recently been seeking support through each other, hoping nuclear activity will wind down in Iran. Afraid of what might happen, these two powers- ones we never would have thought would side together, are eager to establish diplomatic relations.  Some questions we might ask are: Is this an effect of fear? Is fear preventing or creating conflict in this situation?

Discussion questions: 

Why is the majority of the world opposed to the idea of countries getting new nuclear weapons? 

Why do you think certain countries feel they need nuclear weapons? How can this relate to fear?

sources:

BBC 

Nytimes Crf.org  

Nytime- opinion  

Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, explained

un.org

washington post

 Nytimes

armscontrol.org

Anti-coup protests in Myanmar by Kayla Roth

Here is a video to inform you of the history of the Myanmar government

On February 1, 2021, people on the streets of Myanmar found themselves woken up to witness a  coup unfolding. Aung San Suu Kyr, one of the strongest voices of peaceful resistance and the Former State Counsellor of Myanmar, along with other leaders, have been detained by the Junta, or Myanmar military, as they attempt to seize control of the state. Since then, the military has announced a year-long state of emergency. Despite this announcement, the people of Myanmar have not backed down. Terrified of the days of the Junta- they are on the streets, fighting for their newfound democracy to be restored, taking part in a nationwide civil disobedience movement. 

The people of Myanmar are creating a mass uprising, catching generals off guard. In street rallies, artists have held up paint brushes, poems, even spray painted messages mocking the army chief who staged the coup. People outside the capital have gathered together along a railroad line to disrupt train services, as well as forming together to withdraw their own money from a military-owned bank. 

In the capital, people are gathering on the streets holding crimson signs (the signature color of the National League of Democracy), chanting in unison, and holding up images of their detained leader. People fighting on the streets of the capital are holding up a three finger salute, originated from the Hunger Games. It is becoming a common sign in Myanmar's history, symbolizing resistance and solidarity of democracy movements- an anti coup signal. 

What can the three finger hunger games symbol tell us about what the people of Myanmar are fighting for?

What is the effect/ cause of protests? Do you think protests are effective?

Sources

https://www.nbcnews.com/video/protesters-defy-myanmar-s-military-coup-with-civil-disobedience-101083717593 

https://www.nytimes.com/article/2021-myanmar-coup.html 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/06/asia/myanmar-coup-what-led-to-it-intl-hnk/index.html 

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/17/world/asia/myanmar-coup-protest-art.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/07/world/asia/myanmar-coup-protests.html 

Indian Farmer Protest. (repost)

 India's Farmer's Movement

By: Harishkumar Selvakumar

In the busy metropolis of New Delhi, a rare sight is to be seen: hundreds of tractors thundering down the highways. This is the response to a serious and growing problem in India: the hard and suffering filled life that farmers are subjected too. The farmers have been receiving severe blows from their own government. The recent actions concerning the restrictions of private companies and their relations with farmers have been described as "pro corporate" and harmful to the large population of agriculturalists. These new regulations give companies more freedom in the agriculture market, and on the contrary make lives of farmers a much more difficult. As a heavily agriculture dependent nation, India's farmers are an important asset to both itself and the world, with nearly 4 billion dollars of agriculture being exported to various countries every month. However, such an important job comes at a price: half of the country's farmers are in debt due to the absurd and tyrannical laws in place. Nearly 10000 farmers committed suicide in 2019 alone, and the rest live with laws of extreme privatization above them. This protest sparked more conflict, with the Indian army bearing weapons and tear gas and beating down on the angered farmers, resulting in one death. The treatment of the farmers sparked a rage across the world. This conflict has impacted the food production in India considerably, and in turn impacts a major source of food imports in many other nations. The entire world has begun a movement to protest the unfair, selfish, and greedy regulations in place. The farmers and activists both hope that at the end of this movement, the Indian farmer's life will be much better than now, and the world will be able to receive food knowing that those who worked hard for it were rewarded and treated fairly. 

Discussion Questions:

1. To what degree should the interests of private corporations and companies be considered and met in areas such as farming?

2. Some critics have described the actions of the Indian farmers as violent and rioting. Are the emotions and reactions of the farmers an appropriate response to the government? Should actions be taken against corporations themselves, rather than the government?

Sources:

The Star

CNN

NYT

Guardian 

Wikipedia

Current Events Week 1: The New Space Race

 (Look below Harish's post to find summary of Russian Protests for Navalny)

by Andre Wang

The New Space Race

Related Course Themes:

1. Is history shaped more by individual people or by systemic forces beyond any one person’s influence
2. To what extent do international institutions serve the interests of global elite, or specific nation states, or of humanity generally
3. How has technological change affected the course of social, political, and economic history
4. What are the challenges and benefits of the historical trend towards economic and environmental interdependence?

   

"The first space race was a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union for national pride and military advantage. Now NASA is farming out missions to private companies, and other countries have joined the race — notably China and India. The moon and Mars remain tantalizing goals for many nations, as are the technological advances that space exploration can drive." - Washington Post

In addition to countries flying to space, private companies are now flying to space ( SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin ) - bringing down the cost of traveling to space. Much like how the first space race was fueled by political differences between the Soviets and the US, it seems that the impending one could also be influenced by nations wanting to assert political dominance. Instead of this being between the Russians and US, it's now mostly between the Chinese and US. China has recently poured in huge sums of money in the last few decades in order to support the in the last couple of decades. Other players involved include the ESA, ( European Space Agency ) UAE, ( United Arab Emirates ) and India. 

I actually had the opportunity to discuss problems with outer space treaties and the current state of the space race in a ( Model United Nations ) conference at Berkeley. The specific committee I was in was UNOOSA. ( United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs ) Although most of the people there were experienced delegates ( seniors ), and my partner and I were first timers ( freshmen ), it gave me a huge insight into current international affairs in Outer Space. Specifically, our committee addressed two topics: militarization of space, and inequality in space. While these topics may seem trivial at first glance, further research leads one to believe that not addressing these topics could result in major catastrophes and a larger economic and power gap between developed and developing countries. "Over 2,000 operational satellites are in orbit around Earth, providing a wealth of services to humanity. They form the backbone of our society, the 'infrastructure of our infrastructure.' Satellites provide critical timing data to global financial institutions, strategic data to militaries, data services to telecoms. If all satellites were to vanish suddenly, society could very well collapse" ( BMUN executive summary ) In terms of space inequality, asteroid mining in the future was the main topic of discussion. Although asteroid mining currently is largely expensive and doesn't make sense economically, "Space mining could become a real thing — and it could be worth trillions. Minerals that lie in the belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter hold mineral wealth equivalent to about $100 billion for every individual on Earth." (CNBC) The question is, with the current state of space in which a few countries dominate the scene, how will we prevent asteroid mining from only benefiting a few countries and leaving others ini the dust?

Questions to Consider:

1. How do you think affairs in outer space will effect international politics and national affairs between and within countries?
2. What would you propose for a solution towards the two issues? ( militarization and inequality in space ) Say you are China or the US, how would that effect your view in what is the best way to solve the problem? What if you are a developing country? ( Egypt or Argentina )
3. How can you tie back ideas in this post to the related course themes?

The Navalny Protests

The Navalny Protests

By: Andre Wang and Harishkumar Selvakumar

 For almost 18 years, fraudulent elections have been a problem at the forefront of the minds of Russian citizens. Police brutality has been an even greater and longer problem. For many many years, the Russian citizens have held peaceful protests against elections and votes thought to be biased and unfair, going from constitutional votes all the way to presidential elections. The current protests, however, are different. Sparked by the Poisoning of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader who was excluded from elections previously in the year, these protests have gained the ears of the entire world. As Putin’s biggest critic, Navalny has been facing backlash and punishments for his efforts against fraudulent elections with the infamous president. Very much like previous free speech and election fraud protests, these current ones are not being received well by the Russian government or police force, but now Navalny and the citizens of Russia have gained the attention of the world, hoping for a reformed voting process and more democratic freedoms.

1. How do Russian protests mirror BLM protests and highlight police brutality and abuse of power?

2. When do you think illegal protesting and general illegal actions are justified?

sources:

Washington Post

MIT Technology

Guardian

Futurism

Observer