Economic Crisis continues

The financial crisis of 2007–2009 has been called the worst financial crisis since the one related to the Great Depression by leading economists, and it contributed to the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in the trillions of U.S. dollars, substantial financial commitments incurred by governments, and a significant decline in economic activity. Many causes have been proposed, with varying weight assigned by experts. Both market-based and regulatory solutions have been implemented or are under consideration, while significant risks remain for the world economy.

About all this situations of the economic crisis that has been taking place in this few years the most serious problem, is that Europe and the USA face not just a financial crisis but a major economic crisis.

New official statistics appear every day telling us that consumer demand is weakening, order books are slack and unemployment is rising.

It is the coincidence of continued global financial crisis and recession in the real economy which makes the current situation so dangerous; indeed, it is precisely this combination - together with wrong headed government policies - which can turn a recession into a depression.

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Middle East Conflicts

During the 20th and 21st centuries, there have been a number of conflicts in the Middle East.

World War I

World War II

Arab-Israeli conflict

▪ 1948 Arab-Israeli War

▪ 1956 Suez War

▪ 1967 Six Day War

▪ 1970 War of Attrition

▪ 1973 Yom Kippur War

▪ 1978 South Lebanon conflict

▪ 1982 Lebanon War

▪ 1987-1993 First Intifada

▪ 1982-2000 South Lebanon conflict

▪ 2000-2007 al-Aqsa Intifada

▪ 2006 Lebanon War

▪ 2008-2009 Israel-Gaza conflict

It is interesting to see that in the Middle East there have been always problems between the countries. And all the main characters of the world movement, as the UK and France before and after the world wars I and II, the United Nations, and potencies as the United States and Russia have been trying in certain way to solve the critical situations that are always there.

In a reflection to all this problems, I can say that those problems are caused only because of the religion. The point of view of the Jews and the Palestinians has been always too opposite that that causes many diplomatic problems. And when an external management the situation makes something gets better, but then after some time the situation changes and other diplomatic problems come.

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Uk and the Lisbon Treaty

A day after the Lisbon Treaty to strengthen the European Unioncleared its last major hurdle, the leader of the British Conservatives,David Cameron, announced Wednesday that he would not hold a referendum on the accord if he became prime minister. Mr. Cameron had earlier promised to hold a referendum, but that was before it became clear that all 27 member countries would agree to the treaty. “A made-up referendum might make people feel better for five minutes,” he said in a speech in London, “but my job is to put together a plan that lasts five years.”

In this situation we can see that in the UK, the situation about the Lisbon treaty is still mentioned. All these situation about the Lisbon treaty is not making happy to all the Britain s, even if the government is in favor to the treaty, the citizens are not really in favor or it. The government of the United Kingdom didn't give a referendum to the people. The government only took the decision to sig it. And this I think that is because if all the people could know exactly what the treaty is, it would be even more difficult to be signed by all the countries.

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Global Warming

A variety of environmental problems now affect our entire world. As globalization continues and the earth's natural processes transform local problems into international issues, few societies are being left untouched by major environmental problems.

The reason that I wanted to make a post about the environmental problems is because now days, all the institutions are involve in ecological programs. We too in the school, now we have a trash only for paper, a trash only for inorganic trash. And not only that, the school now is trying to stop the use of paper when it is not necessary.

Also in the world there are certain movements that try to help or to sole the situation. The artist are writing now music about the important of the environment.

The globalization in certain way has augmented the ecological problems, as green organizations says. But even if the situation is quite dangerous and bad for the planet and for the people, there is possibility to solve all this. But this needs the action of every one.

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The EU Treaties

1948 Brussels	1951/52 Paris	1957/58 Rome	1965/67 Brussels	1986/87 SEA	1992/93 Maastricht (founded EU)		1997/99 Amsterdam	2001/03 Nice	2007/09 Lisbon
			European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM)
			European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)						European Union (EU)
			European Economic Community (EEC)		→ P I L L A R S →		European Community (EC)
			↑European Communities↑			Justice & Home Affairs(JHA)
							Police & Judicial co-operation in Criminal Matters(PJCC)
				European Political Cooperation (EPC)		Common Foreign & Security Policy (CFSP)
Western European Union (WEU)

The European Union is based on the rule of law. This means that everything that it does is derived from treaties, which are agreed on voluntarily and democratically by all Member States. Previously signed treaties have been changed and updated to keep up with developments in society.

The history of the European Union can be seen easily by all the treaties that it had.

I found this quite interesting because if we see the time that the European Union has since it started it is not too much, but it already had too many treaties to try to develop and be a more united circle.

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8.0 Earthquake

8.0 Earthquake

While all of us post about interesting thing that are happening or happened in the world, not much of us are interesting in look for topics not related to politics. We had seen a lot of post about history and political situations during the last century. But something amazing happened few days ago. An earthquake was registered in the middle of the New Island and Hawaii. Causing a tsunami.

On September 29, 2009 earthquake took place in Samoa Island. Magnitude of the earthquake was 8.0 and many people lost their lives. Most of the people were killed by the monstrous waves that were generated by earthquake.

The earthquake resulted in tsunami. 3 separate waves were generated by it. The waves were very high. The highest wave was measured by 13.7 feet. Near the epicenter, 3-inch rise in sea level was recorded.

Countries hit by tsunami include Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. High waves were recorded in Samoa.

I took this news from El Imparcial, something that is quite different from the all the other posts. If you want to see a little bit more of this you can visit:

http://www.elimparcial.com/EdicionEnLinea/Notas/Internacional/30092009/405470.aspx

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World Politic Changes

World Politic Changes

The political system during the history has suffered so mane changes.

If we go back in history to see how the system had changed with the leaders of each time. As we now today the world is based in a democratic system, but to understand how does this system arrive we have to see all the changes since the ancient Greek and Roman political systems.

At the beginning the territory that a civilisation had was the most important thing, but with the time other ways of thinking arrived. Passing through Territorial State, Sovereignty, and Nationalism to Democracy. All those contributions from the Greeks and Romans worked and remerged later, but during that time where the entire world was halt the Religious Authority led the world.

It was until the Eighteen and Nineteenth centuries that we could find a notable change in the politic system with the emerging of the sovereign state. During these centuries the most important changes were the Popular Sovereignty, the Westernization of the International System and the Multipolar System. Before the Popular Sovereignty only one person ruled the territories and normally it was sad that he had a divine power, but this was stop when people had the possibility to shows their leader. The developing of technology in Western Europe had an important impact in politics. Europe started to sprit out and makes colonies in Africa and America. After this type of organisation countries started to make alliances and this was called Multipolar System.

In the twentieth century the world had almost 1.5 billion people and there were not global organizations, the world was ruled by Europe as a global power but with all the revolutions and wars during the beginning of this period, other nations begun to play a more important role in the politic world situation. With the organisations as UN and the League of Nations, Africa, Asia and Latin America became stronger.

With the World War II all the multipolar systems formed in Europe ended but the bipolar system emerged. Now the world was rule by two main powers, the USSR and the United States. This time where both power nations were fighting for the control of the world is known as the Cold War. The union of the communist countries made direct confrontations. During the end of the twenty-century the bipolar system ended with the collapse of the communist countries.

After the cold war the United State continued growing rapidly, with this economic and military dominance it was consider a the leader of the Unipolar Sistem.

With the aggressive and unilateral policy of the US, it can cause the union of other nations such as Russia and China as an opposition to the US, making at the moment a Bipolar System. But in this case it is important to see that the multipolar systems that will emerge will be different from the ones of the World Wars, now the alliances are made by International Organizations like the European Union and the United Nations. This will change the dynamics of the international system.

In the actuality most non-western countries are developing so fast making the perspectives and demands of these countries growing and changing the political and economic world system.

Basic information obtained from
The Evolution of World Politics -“International Politics on the World Stage” John T. Roke – Eleven Edition – Mc Graw Hill – Pgs. 29-49

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European Union - Mexico

European Union – Mexico

Seen the history of the European Union since 2004 it had 15 countries joining it. It was the biggest market in the world. The total population was of 380 millions. And the GDP per capita was €24,000.

In may first of 2004 ten more countries joined the EU. And in the actuality 27 countries are joining it. It continues having the biggest market of the world with the 19% of the total market of the world. Now the EU has a free treat with business, services, capitals and people. All this allows to all the members travelling and easy interchange of products. All the members of this Union have to have political stability and the countries with the ones that have commercial treat too.

Considering that Mexico had been involved in international relation in all its history the European Union had evaluated that and its political stability. In September of 2000 a treat between the European Union and Mexico was signed.

As a result of this treat Mexico now has increase its international exportation and importation of products. Now days the 4% of al the exportation of Mexico are with the EU wile the 92% are with the members of the FTA. The 12% of the importations of products to Mexico is with the EU wile the 65% is with the FTA countries.

All this is important to Mexico because of all the benefits that it can have. Beginning with the possibility of Mexico to import a lot of products, without expensive taxes. And also because with all the exported products that Mexico gives to other countries augment the GDP.

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China & India...

When we talk about the economy all over the world, it s obvious we will say that China’s economy is one of the most powerful. Knowing about the US crisis, instead of think of Europe, we think in Asia, especially China. The most important thing to note of the economy growing in Southeast was because of the infrastructure development in those countries. The cheap labour in those countries had helped a lot in the manufacturing, therefore the massive exportation of products had made an extreme impact in the world.

We would not view China as a threat to the rest of the world, but it will definitely be the next big power. The reason for this is their working force, since it is the most populated country of the planet and their work ethic in unparalleled. Besides, no nation in the world can match up to their costs and they also offer a very good quality, in contrast to how their products were in the future.

However, I think China will have to achieve a higher level of political credibility before being recognized as the next big thing. They should focus on developing good relations with all the other big countries in order for their voice to be heard on the global stage.

All in all, we agree with the idea of China as the world’s next most powerful country, but they are still lacking in some important areas. They have to develop their international relations if they want to be taken into consideration seriously, but all in all, only time will tell…

Of course, globalisation will have a positive impact on the people of India and China. With the expansion of trade and technology, communication between all kinds of people will grow and even more people born in these countries will travel to live in different ones. However, there will also be some negative consequences. As we know, with better communications and relations between countries, India and China could develop into even more diverse countries, with a wide array of languages being spoken and more foreign influence every time. Last but not least, all the development and technological advances will end up in a decrease of Chinese and Indian culture, since people will focus more on their everyday lives and in keeping up with time than in carrying on with traditions.

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China & India, "Two Economic Monsters"

We've all heard that China is becoming one of the most powerful countries, economically speaking, yet there is another country who does not want to be left behind, and it is a country not everybody is aware of; India.

Both countries have somehow found a way to improve their economic situation across the years. But, how have they done this?...

We can say China's Economic improvement started after 1978, after World War II was over. Before this, China's average growth per year was of roughly 6 percent a year. After 1978, it's average growth was of about 9 percent. There were also several years that it reached 13 percent of average growth.

Even today their economy is still on the rise. Though, today, China's impressive GDP growth might face a few threats, such as: Undervalued Currency, Nonperforming Bank Loans, Inefficient state-owned prices, and growing income disparities.But still, there is another fact, development, both economical and social in China go hand to hand; what used to be the lower classes can now we considered middle class. The countries' infrastructure has been improved as well, and there is a chance that China could stop being just a "very large industry" that supplies treats all over the world.This issue has created a worldwide doubt... Will China become a threat to the world? Especially, for its major rival, The United States.

"Per capita income has nearly quadrupled in the last 15 years, and a few analysts are even predicting that the Chinese economy will be larger than that of the United States in about 20 years". Say Zuliu Hu & Mohsin S. Khan in their article "Why is China Growing so Fast"

For more information visit this link: [http://www.imf.org/EXTERNAL/PUBS/FT/ISSUES8/INDEX.HTM]

China and India are countries recognized by all the world. Their economic growth has been really fast in the last century. Both countries have developed their economic situation using infrastructure, low labor and high trading range to raise their position in comparison with other power countries. Indiaprincipally started to trade with high industry products, not only with products of rawmaterial.This is how their numbers have increased since 1980.

To know more about the way India's economy has being managed visit: [http://www.indianchild.com/india_economy_growth.htm] and

[http://www.economywatch.com/indianeconomy/indian-economy-overview.html]

- Globalisation, a current issue.

How positive can Globalisation be? What are it's negative aspects?

In one hand, globalisation has really opened doors to new cultures in different countries. It is easy now to see anItalianin Mexico, a French in Tokyo or a Mexican in Los Angeles (haha).

Trading opportunities has also being encouraged by this matter. Countries are now basing its economy a little bit more in trading than they used to.

Also the appearance of new technologies thanks to globalisation, although most of the time you read in tags "Made in China", "Made in Japan", "Made in Taiwan" etcetera. But still, it has become a positive aspect in countries development.

But Globalisation is still not a fairytale. The mixing of cultures is slowly "destroying" them. This new technologies, well, if you've seen the film "I Robot", you might think about it twice before having a robot doing your chores.

Another issue of globalisation is the fact that countries have become more and more dependent to each other; and this, in the long run, could become worse.

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Afghanistan

After eight years that The United States, NATO, the European Union, and other nation have been interested in stablish Afghanistan, now the Taliban is starting to take control of it as the United States begings to leave.

The US has influenced a lot in the actual situation of Afghanistan. All the campaings against the terrorism and all the strikes against Qaeda leaders have been influenced by the US government.

If America leaves the country, what's happening right now, all the groups of the regions neer to Afghanistal will start to fight for influence in the country.

What afghanistan needs is to stablish a central government and a viable economy. But this can't happen in just cuple of years. This need to be changed in la ong time period and with help from a deleloped country. If the Afghan's government doesn't have a suport, all the groups as the Taliban and Al Qaeda will influence the country and it will be a total caos.

It is important say that there are only three ways to to change the actual situation in Afghanstan. One is the incrising of American troops, an other could be incease the Afghan troops, or shrink the number of enemy forces by making them switch sides or lay dawn their arms.

In my point of view all the influences that Afghanistan can have, could afect it in other ways, becasue when a country has power in other country many times they take advantage of that.

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Kennedy's Brothers

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This past August was witness of the passing of a very important character of US history, or so, the last of a line of important characters in US history. Former Senator Teddy Kennedy, the youngest in the Kennedy bloodline. This family has been known for the roles they have played in US Politics, and also, because of the “extreme” way they have all passed out. Teddy´s death is probably the most normal of them all.

I found this link to a very interesting article about the deaths of all the brothers, hope you like it.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=104519&sectionid=3510203

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Ozone Layer

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The hole in the ozone layer

It is amazing that the ozone layer in Antarctica has 10 million square kilometers. All this is because of the emotion of gases like CO2. It is sad to think that even us, when wit row something in the road or when we use ear spray in our houses we contribute in the world contamination.

There are organizations that fight for this, but the sad think is that those organizations are from the countries that affect more in this king of problems. So they control the situation and nobody can do anything against them.

I find an interesting article about the Ozone Layer in Antartica but it is in Spanish. If you would like to see it here you have the link:

http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?idc=199741

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Global Warming

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You can see their point. China and India account for 10 percent and 3 percent, respectively, of the man-made greenhouse gases now in the atmosphere, compared with 75 percent for the developed world (according to data compiled by the World Resources Institute). So why, they ask, should they cut their emissions of carbon dioxide? In July, an Indian official bluntly told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that his country (the world's fifth-leading greenhouse-gas emitter) would not accept emissions cuts as part of a global climate treaty. China, now the world's No. 1 carbon emitter, has been less belligerently recalcitrant, but in a policy statement demands that developed countries "take responsibility for their historical cumulative emissions and current high per capita emissions to … substantially reduce their emissions" while developing countries pursue "economic development." Read: no emissions cuts here.

Full Article -> Sharon Begley

China and India Will Pay

Though others started global warming.

Published Aug 27, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Sep 7, 2009

Newsweek Magazine

It is interesting to note that every country that is well developed always cause problems with the environment. First the US was accused of being the country that emitted more greenhouse gases. During the history we had seen many countries that fight against this kind of problems, but economically spiking the most developed countries give more money against this problem, but at the same time they are the ones that increase it.

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Advantages thet The Cold War brought to human race

While enjoying my weekend I realized that "The Cold War" gave many triumphs to human race. I think it is important to talk about this because if we just talk about the bad things, we would not be able to discuss the things that were invented in this époque of time.

For example, we would not have the ability to collaborate in this blog if it hadn't been for the invention of the transistor, because as we now transistors are used in the fabrication of computers and other technological devices we use in a daily basis.

If it hadn't been for the Russian entrepreneurs that wanted to conquer space we wouldn’t have the ability to make a cell phone call across seas at the speed we can. The Russians were the first ones to send an artificial satellite to space; that satellite was called The Sputnik, after this satellite was put on orbit, a few more started to circle the Earth. This has helped in many process of communication. Another step was when Neil Armstrong arrives to the Moon.

How can we forget about ARPANET??? ARPANET was a net between computers used in the military to send information between military bases. Maybe we can think that the ARPANET is not important for us, but ARPANET is the pre-stage of what we call nowadays "the internet."

So next time you login in Facebook remember that The Cold War was the catalyst for the internet and many other things.

Dasguta Partha, War and Progress. Retrieved August 21st, 2009, from Arizona State Universtiy Web Site: http://cactus.eas.asu.edu/Partha/Columns/09-24-war.htm

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