Finish Diplomacy of MP III:
America's Standpoint
UN standpoint
Marking period Four: Reflection?
Notes:
Part I: Analyze Current Event in context of historical occurrence
Part II: Explain conflict
populas vs government
"Just Solution"
next blog: 5 most important things I have learned of changed my opinion about based on the research I have done. To help focus on the Reflection section.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
CE: Ghost War Prt II
I retract my previous sentiment: the ghost war is unwinnable. I believe the Ghost war against Terror is largely set up to fail because of it’s vagueness and lack of direction, however with the White House’s new look into al-Qaeda, post Osama Bin Laden-assasitnation, I believe we can close this chapter of history on top. Let me elaborate- We have no direction, no means to an end in the War On Terror. I am disheartened, pained, to know of the American casualties fighting for an unsecured Democracy in the Middle East, that despite most efforts, will probably always be fill to the brim with corruption and may even collapse once the US leaves. Let’s cut our losses in the Middle East and retract to America. Let’s fight the remainder of this war with intelligence. We should aim to root out al-Qaeda and seek its complete demise. We cannot kill terrorism, but we can disband and disarm these terrorists that have wounded America and scarred it forever. So, this Ghost War may finally have some substantiality to it, but we first need to take a look at how we define terror. After all, there’s only so long we can hunt vapor.
Monday, May 2, 2011
CE: The Ghost of Terror
So, uhm yeah... Happy early 18th birthday Bek, Osama Bin Laden has finally been killed. But, I say this walking on egg shells, for what has any of this accomplished? Revenge? And what does his death mean on the front of the War on Terror? It's like you've killed the queen... too bad Britain has had a PM since, about, eh, the 1800s (extended metaphor, get it? Nu?). I am neither overjoyed nor jubilated. I suppose it's because Osama Bin Laden wasn't just the mastermind behind 9/11, he was the figure head for this whole "War on Terror."
Fundamentally (oh... maybe I shouldn't use that word...) Osama is notorious because he killed a bunch of Americans. But so has the war. My shtick with Osama (aka: why i'd slap him if I got the chance) is because he is the single embodiment of current hatred. My Persian friends (Jewish) were profiled and railed against in US airports because they looked Muslim. Is it just me, or is it getting a little racial in here? The Mosque in NYC? C'MON MAN! Home of the free! Not "home to the free if you look like an anglican brethren!" Osama Bin Laden didn't just take away our sense of security in the U. S. of A. when he attacked us, he literally striped us clean of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (or am I confusing that with the new full-body scanners in the airport?). My point is, he opened up the flood gates for racial profiling and an undercurrent of racial hatred that has been in our country for much longer than either you or I would like to admit. He opened up these flood gates. Did you know that racial violence against Arab-Muslim (or perceived to be Arab and or Muslims) has risen tremendously (Journal of applied Social Phychology found that the number of anti-Muslim attacks in America had risen, in 2001, from 354 to 1,501)?! That's horrendous. But there is one more point I'd like to capitalize on (haha, you see that Osama? I used the word CAPITALIZE as in the WEST and our "WESTERN WAYS," teehee). For the last ten years, we have been fighting a War on Terror. For the last ten years, we have been searching for a ghost. And don't be fooled my fellow people, that ghost is still haunting us.
When I was in third grade, my mom and dad weren't home one day. My mom, she was supposed to be at the world trade centre for some meeting. My dad... he was at work. So I mosied my way on over to my friend Alice's house. While doing homework and being silly little American children, I wandered over into the living room where her mom was watching a horror film. Being eight I was like, oh she is watching that movie with the huge Gurilla, as she was watching the tv in in chinese (now that I'm a bit more edumuhcated, I realize now it was more probably Taiwanese) and was zoomed in on a huge skyscraper. I asked my friend Alice, "HEY ALICE." "YEAH?" "WHAT'S YOUR MOM WATCHING?" As she peaked her head over the kitchen counter she said, oh, that's just the news. WAIT WHAAAA? I called up my brother and he was having a heart attack, he had no clue where I was. My mom, it turns out, didn't go to the towers because her meeting was canceled. My dad, coming back from the city, watched the two towers crumble. Me? Well, I was eight. I thought her mom was watching a horror film. Boy, was I not disappointed.
I was eight when I witnessed the crash and two days shy of 18 when Osama was finally caught. I grew up during the War on Terror, and the hunt for a ghost. I sit here writing this hoping to tell everyone that we can't kill a ghost!
Again, I grew up during this War on Terror. This is my childhood. When I was fifteen, I lived in Israel. The Middle East. The epicenter of this war. And here I am to tell you: it is a ghost war. Israel fights terrorist on a daily basis in order to protect, yet the US sends American troops to fight an ideology. Cold War anyone? I believe Osama Bin Laden has finally been killed. But he is still the figure head of this ghost war, and I ask you again, has anything really been accomplished?
Fundamentally (oh... maybe I shouldn't use that word...) Osama is notorious because he killed a bunch of Americans. But so has the war. My shtick with Osama (aka: why i'd slap him if I got the chance) is because he is the single embodiment of current hatred. My Persian friends (Jewish) were profiled and railed against in US airports because they looked Muslim. Is it just me, or is it getting a little racial in here? The Mosque in NYC? C'MON MAN! Home of the free! Not "home to the free if you look like an anglican brethren!" Osama Bin Laden didn't just take away our sense of security in the U. S. of A. when he attacked us, he literally striped us clean of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness (or am I confusing that with the new full-body scanners in the airport?). My point is, he opened up the flood gates for racial profiling and an undercurrent of racial hatred that has been in our country for much longer than either you or I would like to admit. He opened up these flood gates. Did you know that racial violence against Arab-Muslim (or perceived to be Arab and or Muslims) has risen tremendously (Journal of applied Social Phychology found that the number of anti-Muslim attacks in America had risen, in 2001, from 354 to 1,501)?! That's horrendous. But there is one more point I'd like to capitalize on (haha, you see that Osama? I used the word CAPITALIZE as in the WEST and our "WESTERN WAYS," teehee). For the last ten years, we have been fighting a War on Terror. For the last ten years, we have been searching for a ghost. And don't be fooled my fellow people, that ghost is still haunting us.
When I was in third grade, my mom and dad weren't home one day. My mom, she was supposed to be at the world trade centre for some meeting. My dad... he was at work. So I mosied my way on over to my friend Alice's house. While doing homework and being silly little American children, I wandered over into the living room where her mom was watching a horror film. Being eight I was like, oh she is watching that movie with the huge Gurilla, as she was watching the tv in in chinese (now that I'm a bit more edumuhcated, I realize now it was more probably Taiwanese) and was zoomed in on a huge skyscraper. I asked my friend Alice, "HEY ALICE." "YEAH?" "WHAT'S YOUR MOM WATCHING?" As she peaked her head over the kitchen counter she said, oh, that's just the news. WAIT WHAAAA? I called up my brother and he was having a heart attack, he had no clue where I was. My mom, it turns out, didn't go to the towers because her meeting was canceled. My dad, coming back from the city, watched the two towers crumble. Me? Well, I was eight. I thought her mom was watching a horror film. Boy, was I not disappointed.
I was eight when I witnessed the crash and two days shy of 18 when Osama was finally caught. I grew up during the War on Terror, and the hunt for a ghost. I sit here writing this hoping to tell everyone that we can't kill a ghost!
Again, I grew up during this War on Terror. This is my childhood. When I was fifteen, I lived in Israel. The Middle East. The epicenter of this war. And here I am to tell you: it is a ghost war. Israel fights terrorist on a daily basis in order to protect, yet the US sends American troops to fight an ideology. Cold War anyone? I believe Osama Bin Laden has finally been killed. But he is still the figure head of this ghost war, and I ask you again, has anything really been accomplished?
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