Military expansion in the Pacific

Thousands of American servicemen and their families are being moved from Okinawa, Japan to the US territory in the Pacific and yhis is expected to continue and continue.

Japan's new government invested about 6 billion dollars in this relocation but it will have an additional cost of approximately 10 to 15 billion.

The Guam territoty's population consists of nearly 173, 000 habitants and it will go up by a 25 percent in the next 4 to 6 years of reinsettlement.

Some people say that this has been the biggest build-up in the Pacific since World War II.

About 19000 troops will be relocated from which 8000 are Marines who will bring 9000 family members with them.

Guam will also have to pay for this reinsettlement which is expected to be for about 6 billion dollars. Can you imagine the amount of resources and materials that will be needed to provide each family a home and necessary supplies? Thousands.

The only thing left to know is whether or not the Japanese government will accept to contribute with the amount of money for this situation.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/11/01/2729909.htm

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First women elected to Islamic courts

On February 2009 for the first time, the judges in the Middle East will be represented by two female Palestinians. Hebron and Ramallah, towns in the West Bank, will be the places in which these two judges will try to make differences in the way Muslim women are treated by the courts.

Across the Arab world, it is only in Sudan where women have also een judges in Islamic courts and also Lebanon, Jordan and Syria are slowly progressing in the men-only court rules.

One of the female judges is Asmahan Liwheidi who never thought she would ever become a judge because in their society women couldn't take a charge like that since men where only considered. But, Sheikh Tayseer al Tamimi, the Chief of Justice of the Palestinian state made it possible for women to participate by daring the belief that women weren't able to be Shaeia judges and granted Asmahan Liwheidi in Hebron and Khulud Mohammed Faqih in Ramallah to take the judges' exam.

Good thing was that mostly every Muslim man supported this choice.

It was said that "If you keep a woman under covers she will isolate herself and give nothing to society but if you give her the freedom and equality our religion offer, she can contribute a lot."

These new judges are hoping to change the way things are in the Islamic tradition for good.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/31/2729531.htm

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Heroin, the new weapon

It seems that the Taliban not only uses war weapons but now is trying to get the US troops addicted to heroin to decrease their attacking capacities.

Being the responsible for 90% of the world's poppy crop, Afghanistan soldiers are making money by selling heroin to the US soldiers.

Watch this video to get a better idea of the situation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnIwUSjY0Pk

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Gaza student deported

I found this news article about Berlanty Azzam, a 21 year old college student studying business at the Bethlehem University who will be supposedly graduating in December. She was going to be interviewed for a job in the West Bank capital but unfortunately after the interview she was stopped at a Israeli Army checkpoint on her way back to Bethlehem where she wasn't allowed to leave after she handed in her papers.

The soldiers without any explanation, blindfolded and handcuffed her into a military car after being held for five hours in the station.

Apparently , Azzam was being transported from the Palestinian West Bank to the Gaza Strip becuase the military said she was residing illegally in the West Bank and she had violeted the terms of a permit that allowed her to stay in Jerusalem for a few days in August 2005.

Azzam was aware of this but she said that staying int he West Bank was the only way she could go to school and now that she is back in Gaza it is very likely that she will not be permited to go back to the West Bank to finish school.

Due to this, Israel passed strict restrictions on Palestinians which also extended to Gaza habitants who have been accpeted to universities in the US and Europe.

The Israeli organization, Gisha took Azzam's case and made a petition in the Israeli Supreme Court to allow Azzam to go back to her studies while Azzam is happy to reunite with her family but disappointed that after four years studying she wasn't able to return with her degree.

This case could be a problem since there are surely more students from Gaza in the same situation that haven't been discovered yet.

For more information...

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/10/31/west.bank.college.student/index.html

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Deadly Attacks in Pakistan

In the past few days, Pakistan has been under a series of deadly terrorist attacks leaving more than a hundred dead and several wounded. These attacks, which were five in less than twenty-four hours, are what seems to be a warning to the military to abort its planned attack on the border of Afghanistan. The Taliban threatened the government that the attacks will continue in revenge for actions by the Pakistan Army.

One of the attacks took place in a residential building used by government employees in the city of Peshawar, where a bomb exploded. Nearly seven people were injured and is likely that a child may have died in the attack.

The headquarters of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and two police training centers in Lahore were also attacked by terrorists. This attack took the police three hours to get into control.

In another attack, a suicide bomber drove a car full of explosives into the front of a police station in Kohat. This left at least 37 people killed.

"At least 37 killed in Pakistan attacks." ABC News. 15 oct 2009. Australian Broadcasting Corporation , Web. 24 Oct 2009. .

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The Lisbon Treaty

The Lisbon Treaty was discussed by the European Union member states and it was signed in Lisbon on December 13, 2007 by the Heads of Government of the 27 EU member states.

This treaty consists of amendments to the two main EU treaties which are the EU Treaty and the Functioning of the EU Treaty.

It sets out the EU's values and gives legal effect to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Lisbon Treaty expands the rights of individuals and makes changes in the conduct of the EU's external relations. It also gives its citizens the right to deal with the EU institutions and any EU language.

The Lisbon Treaty is currently is undergoing a process for an approval to apply and control freedom, security, and justice within the European Union, without minding its internal borders.

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/fco-in-action/institutions/britain-in-the-european-union/eu-lisbon-treaty/

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G-20 Pittsburgh

The G-20 Summit took place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 24 to 25, 2009. US President Barack Obama handled the conference of the leaders from different countries around the world which represent about 85% of the world's economy.
In this event, the leaders examined the development made since the London and Washington Summits. Later on, future actions to reassure a supportable and improving reconstruction from the global economic crisis.

A group of approximately thousand people expressing liberal causes marched through downtown Pittsburgh allied against G-20. The main cause of this protest was a demand for solutions for the world's economic and environmental problems the we are facing. There were also strong anti-war protesters. For more information, check out this video of the protest:


https://www.pittsburghg20.org/index.aspx

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German Elections 2009

ANGELA MERKEL WINS GERMAN ELECTIONS


German chancellor Angela Merkel won this year's German national elections. She is known for her stabilized governance of the economic posture. She said the country needs to lower taxes in order to prompt Germany's economy. She has also been among the first European leaders to neglect the Global New Deal along with Nicolas Sarkozy and Pedro Sorbes.
Angela Merkel gained victory with 34% of votes for her Christian Democratic Union party and the Bavarian Christian Social Union party. Both of this are conservative.
Since WWII, the Social Democratic Party had done very well on the elections but apparently not anymore.

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Future Population Boom

It is expected than in the year 2049, Australia's population will increase about a 65% due to migration and fertility rates. According to Marck McCrindle, who is a social researcher, new cities will have to be built in order to be able to provide homes for all the population. The problem is that since approximately 45 years ago the cities have already been doubling its size as well as its population. Not to mention all the environmental problems that this population boom brings because more resources are needed and more wastes are produced which lead to more pollution and care for the environment is forgotten.

Nowadays, Australia's is not even in the top ten's most populated countries in the world so, what about the most populated ones? If it is a really big growth estimation for Australia, how much more would it be for those which are on top right now?

To read more about this article, which by the way it is discussed in our third video here's the link in which you can also watch videos for more information: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/18/2689697.htm

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China...a threat?

China's sudden rapid growth has made the United States wonder if it will be a threat for them economically and/or military.

Economically speaking, I think China could be a threat. The rapid grow of China as a major economic power is causing the United States to be concerned and they don’t let anything escape so they can start planning how to respond to China's economic rise. However, if China has a slowdown in its economic growth it would reduce China’s demand for U.S. products but it could be very likely that China at some point will overtake the United States as the world’s largest economy. If this happens, China could produce more products than the U.S. consumes and even consume more products than the U.S. produces. It will also increase the demand for natural resources and this could affect the U.S. trade.

http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2006/09/is_china_a_threat_to_the_us_ec.html

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL33604.pdf

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Missiles US vs. Russia

About this picture I think that russia and USA have a not so healthy discussion about their nuclear programs. And they are consantly threatening each other.

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NATO, innocent or guilty?

While looking for a news article for our video I casually ran into an article about NATO, which we saw in class.

A NATO air force accidentaly killed about 90 people which were member of the Taliban and civilians. NATO says they were hijacked by the Taliban but the UN isn't so sure about that so they are commiting to further investigation in this case because apparently Taliban attacks have become more frequent.

Was this really and accident or was it planned?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/09/04/2677327.htm

Here is a short video of the NATO air strike:

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Communism vs Capitalism

This video is about how communism affects America. I thought it would be interesting since we saw this topics in class :)

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Another Cold War?

I found this video which is a compilation of news about the tension between Russia and the United States because of the challenge and insecurity Russia feels toward the United Stares due to warfare.

Apparently the maker of this video thinks Russia has the best weapons, is this true?

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