The Czech President Vaclav Klaus, signed the Lisbon Treaty today at 3pm, Czech time (2pm in London). This means that the Lisbon Treaty can finally become a reality for Europe - probably within weeks.
The Czech Constitutional court said that the Lisbon Treaty was not agains the Constitution of the Czech Republic, which was the barrier that President Klaus gave for not signing the treaty. Now, however, he has accepted the Constitutional court's decision, though he says that it wasn't neutral, and that he still disagrees with it.
December First seemsa probable date to put the Treaty into effect but maybe the Europeans will want to wait until the New Year and start the New Decade with a new European Union.
This is the start of a New Era for the entire world. Whether it will be good or bad, only time will tell.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Czech Republic signs the Lisbon Treaty
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Talibans are willing to switch sides... for money
In Afghanistan, there is a saying: "You can rent an Afghan, but you can't buy him."
However, US President Barack Obama is tryind to do just that. This Wednesday October 28th, 2009, President Obama signed a "defense appropiations bill" which will pay for all the military movements made in the 2010.
Howeer, this bill sets apart a quantity of money to pay Taliban members to quit the organisation and instead support the United States. This is because Talibans seem to be fighting because they need money, and because they are loyal to a leader, so they really are not fighting because of their conviction or because their religion.
Basically, this makes the Talibans mercenaries: no loyalty to anyone but the highest bidder. So... will this tactic by the US to underminde the Taliban's power work? Will they accept the money and switch sides? Will they just accept the money and turn on the US when they are inside their ranks? Or will they reject any negotiations?
We'll have to wait and see. For now, eperts are optimists that by paying the Taliban, the USA can at least prevent them from fighting against the US Army.
Hate crimes: Now punishable by USA federal law
Today, Wednesday October 28th 2009, US President Barack Obama signed that country's first hate crimes bill into legislation, marking a great moment in law of the USA.
This bill states tha tno individual should suffer from hate crimes based on their sexual preferences or because of their gender identity. Before, even though people who did these hate crimes could be punished by law, the charge was only about beating or assault. Now, it can have the real reason.
This bill, named in honor of Matthew Shepard (a gay man who was kidnapped and beaten to death in 1998) and James Byrd (a black man also killed in 1998), is expected to lower bigotry crimes.
About 77,000 hate crimes were reported from 1998 to 2007 by the FBI. That's almost one hate crime for every hour of every day for ten years!
While there is still a way to go before we can eradicate bigotry and hate crimes from the world (we may never be able to do so!) this bill will at least allow for people to walk down the streets being themselves and not having to fear being killed just for being who they are.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
World's Olympics 2016 to be held in Rio
Rio de Janeirohas been elected to host the 31st Olympiad in 2016. The decision was announced after the Olympics Committee met in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday October 2nd, 2009. The President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, considers this a victory for Rio and for Brazil.
Never before had a South American country hosted the events, and to have given Rio such a great honor means that Rio is finally out of its suffering, for Lula da Silva says that "Rio deserves this because Rio is a city that has suffered."
Not only was the President happy, but the Brazilians too. In Copacabana, the famous beach of Rio, thousands of residents gathered there started celebrating as soon as the news got out. The Olympics organizers in Rio promised to start working immediately to make the games a success.
Rio beat Madrid, Spain, in the final round to host the Olympics. Rio has already chosen its theme "Live your passion". The games are to be hosted from August 5 to August 21. The events will be held in four zones all over the city.
Lula da Silva finished by expressing how he sees this as a great opportunity for Brazil to have its time and to show itself to the world.
And Ireland says... Yes!
Prime Minister Brian Cowen gets out the 'vote yes' message in Tullamore. Taken from CNN.
This Friday October 2nd, 2009, Ireland held a vote to decide if they would accept the Lisbon Treaty. Ireland as a country is rather special for doing this, since every other country in the European Union had their parliaments accept the Treaty. But Ireland's Law states that the citizens have a right to vote on any big changes that would change the political structure of the country.
And diverging from last year's 53% of Irish people voting No to the Lisbon Treaty, this year, 67% of Irish people voted Yes in favor of the treaty. This is a huge change for the nation and of course, for Europe.
The Lisbon Treaty entails a lot of changes for the European Union and its member countries, since the Charter of Fundamental Rights, among other things, would become legally binding for all the 27 members of the Union, forcing them to change their actual policies. In the case of the Union itself, new posts, such as a President fo the European Council who would last 2 and a half years on the post, are being created. Some things like are being removed too.
It rests to see if this is a positive or a negative thing. For now, we can congratulate the Irish on the unified front they have presented.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Student Exchange
In order to get the World's countries to be closer and have better ties, which will eventually lead to agreements to bolster education or economy or healthcare, all countries in the world (At least most of them), have Embassies and Consulates. The people in charge of this areas strive for a better understanding of the World's problems through cooperation between the countries. But sometimes, we need to truly experience what living in a country is. It's very different being an ambassador, living in your consulate, with all the politician friends, or being a university student where there are already many other foreigners.
Then, there are Student Exchange programs. These programs are usually for students in highschool, with ages ranging from 15 to 19 years old. Rotary International is very well known in this Student Exchange area, as they have been doing this since 1929, when the Rotary Club of Copenhague (Denmark again!) started the first exchange.
I was a Rotary Exchange student myself, and we Exchange Students are almost always referred to as "Ambassadors of Goodwill". The theory says that, the younger we open our mind to new places and cultures and ways of life, the better.
Being an Exchange Student, you get to meet people from all over the world. Taiwan, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Finland, Bolivia, Chili, Argentina, Canada, USA, Austria, Sweden, Russia.... And of course, you meet the people of your host country, where you live. A whole year is the usual, though semester programs also exist. But imagine a whole year of living the life of any other French or Japanese or Turkish highschool student!
This truly enables you to get to know a country, its culture, its way of life, and also, you get to know a bit about other countries. You ask and get asked so many questions about your country, you fight against the stereotypes, and even against racism. But in the end, it's all worth it, for the friends and the knowledge you acquire.
Somedays, it will be our turn to be the leaders of the world. But with these kinds of exchanges, the world will be even more connected and more friendly towards each other than ever before.
The Happiest Country in the World
It has been said that the strenght of a Nation comes from its people. The people give the Nation what it needs, the people provide the backbone for everything. But why are some nations still better off than others, when some nations have a lot more people than others?
Well, happiness plays a huge part there, it would seem. The happier the people are, the "stronger" the country, at least in most cases. But still, this is a never-ending cicle, since it is considered that wealth, education and health-care are the factors affecting a country's overall happiness. So it was said in a 2006 study conducted by the University of Leicester, in the UK. For this study, the happiest country in the world was Denmark. The free and high-quality education, the health-care options, and the overall GDP made this country really happy.
A study done last year reveals that the happiest country in the world is... Denmark, again! The World Values Survey is conducted by the University of Michigan. This survey asks people just two questions: "How would you rate your happiness?" and "How satisfied are you with your life these days?"
Pretty basic? Perhaps. But still, using two different surveys, Denmark came up as the first place in both of them! So, what are the Danes doing?
Professor Kaare Christensen of the University of Denmark, went out to ask questions to the Danes about why they had been named "The Happiest Country in the World." Their answer? "We have lower expectations." For Danes, not expecting too much, or at least having realistic expectations, helps them to cope with life. A student says they are not so happy as they are content. When asked to describe contentedness, he replied "Well, if you're content you don't have so much to worry about. That's what I think."
So, what do you say? Are Danes happy or just content? It might be one or the other, or maybe the two... but Danemark is still the Happiest Country in the World.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/14/60minutes/main3833797_page2.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
Sunday, September 27, 2009
What is International Relations?
Well, as it says in the syllabus, this class is mainly about International Relations in all its forms. But what are International Relations, really?
The name says lots about it. The relationships between the Nations of the world. But these relationships are not only in the political areas. Indeed, as we have seen in class, it also covers the social, economic and historic fields, amongst others.
So, for people interested in this career... I can say that it's basically a big mix of lots of careers. You have to learn about so many aspects of life in a nation... I would say this career makes you a jack-of-all-trades.
I've heard people say "So, what is your Escenarios class about?" and the most common answer is "a bit about everything." Well, that is true, but one must not forget that now, more than ever, International Relations is of utmost importance in the professional life. We need to understand how to relate with other nations, whether it be in the Political aspect (with the governments), in the Economic one (with the enterprises) or even in the Social aspect (bringing cultures closer).
You might not think that knowing about the economic aspects of the world will help you if you want to be a doctor, for example. But that doesn't mean you have to forget bout the rest of the areas of International Relations. As a doctor, the social aspect helps alot. You'll know what treatments use with your patients, based on their religious beliefs or the social codes in their country.
In the end, I'm sure that, if we think hard enough, we'll all find something in this class, and in International Relations, to help us in our future careers.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The strenght of the EU
In our latest video, my team and I analyzed the strenght of the EU during this crisis. As we have recently been learning about the levels of Economic Integration, I believe this is a good time to see the advantages that an Economic Union, like the European Union can bring.
As the crisis deepened, it was thought the EU might break apart, due to the richer countries not wanting to pay the debt of their poorer counterparts in the Union. Since most countries in the EU use the Euro as their currency, the old tactic of devaluating their currency would no longer work, so what these countries needed was someone to help them pay their debt.
This is where the Economic Union comes to play. Thanks to the coordination of their economic policies, and with the ECB (European Central Bank), the EU managed to remain quite intact, and also become stronger! Because every country helped the others in someway, either by supplying workers, or money to pay the debt, the EU is now economically and also politically stronger.
Do you think that, by seeing this example, USA, Canada and Mexico could potentially agree to make a NAU (North-American Union)? Do you think they would see the benefits of working more closely together? Or do you think that pride, or the notion that they can solve their own problems would interfere?
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Economic integration = Utopia....?
After today's class I have been thinking about economic integration. Is it really better that way or is it just a shortcut for problems. I think it will be better if we could discuss this a little more. I know that in class we do not have enoguh time but we can use this cyber-space(blog) to create kind of a forum inside a post.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
World War II Memories
We all know that WWII was a conflict between world powers in their constant struggle to defeat one another. Well, what happens when the war ends? Far from having a happy ending, Europe was in its worst position in history, not only economically, but people's spirits were beyond comfort. Husbands who arrived home after years of being absent became strangers to their families. It's time to dig into a more individual perspective of what hapenned after 1945.
The link below contains a version of this story that we have not heard of just yet. I hope you find it as interesting as did I.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/91/a3886491.shtml
Abfab, Sandy. "WW2 People's War." BBC 12 Abr 2005. Web.1 Sep 2009.
Liberalism vs. Realism or maybe both
Right after I left the classroom I opened my laptop and took a look at today's news. For my surprise I saw an interesting topic. The Article is called: "Iran has 'updated nuclear package'; ready to hold talks” And after reading it, it got me thinking that maybe the world has more liberals than we thought. In the UN they are seeking to get to an agreement in the limits of the nuclear program in Iran. And why is Iran willing to talk to the UN? The only reason they are willing to talk to the UN is because Germany threaten Iran if they did not meet to talk and reach an agreement. So it gets me thinking maybe we are not just Realist nor Idealist; but maybe just a combination of both. Is this really what we need right now?, or is it the future of International Relations. http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/09/01/iran.nuclear.talks/index.html
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The Power of Nations
The other day in class, we talked about what nations were powerful, what powerful meant, what nations could become powerful and things like that...
So, that got me thinking. What makes a nation truly great? Economic power? The natural resources? Military prowess?
Yes, mayhaps that does help the nations achieve greatness. But I think we all forgot to mention the prime resource of any nation. The backbone of it all, the base upon which the nation was founded!
Its people.
Truly, the treasure of a nation if its people. If not for those workers who toil most of their lives, in whatever they do, be it farming or working in an office, teaching or taking care of a family... In the end, any nation could not be what it is without the work of the people!
So, all those people that think that some nations will never be outstanding in anyway... well, one thing I have learned, is that, when there is people... anything is possible!
So let's make sure we, as the true treasure of not only our countries, but of the world, make the best out of the time we have been given on this earth.