You were able to assume the roles of a foreign market analyst, a refugee, and an Ethiopian coffee farmer. Through each of these simulations, you were exposed to different aspects that are all related to "The North-South Gap." Using the course text, your experiences in the simulations, and assigned resources, contrast and compare the differences in levels of development, protection of human rights, and environmental conditions between the Global North (Developed countries) and the Global South (Developing countries). Utilize the videos from Chapters 12, 13, & 14 as well as the News Review to support your argument News Review: Establishing a Truce in the Middle East
Posted on August 1, 2014 | 1 comment
Israeli and Hamas negotiators announced an unconditional 72-hour humanitarian cease fire in Gaza, effective from 8am Gaza time Friday. While Israeli forces will remain in Gaza during the ceasefire, both sides have agreed to continue negotiations in Egypt with the goal of reaching a "durable ceasefire." Two Israeli civilians and 61 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting on the Israeli side. Almost 1,500 Palestinians-mostly civilians-have been killed in Gaza.
Previous efforts to establish a lasting ceasefire have been unsuccessful. Do you think that this effort will be more successful in establishing a lasting truce in Gaza? Why? What conditions are necessary to establish a lasting peace between Israel and Palestine in the Middle East?
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Tagged ceasefire, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Palestine
Preventing the Spread of Communicable Disease in an Age of Globalization
Posted on July 26, 2014 | Leave a comment
Some 30,000 people were quarantined in the Chinese city of Yumen last week after a man was found to have died bubonic plague. Authorities are concerned that he may have come into contact with others and have potentially spread the highly fatal disease. Meanwhile, the ebola outbreak in West Africa continues to spread, having already killed more than 600 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and most recently in Nigeria. And closer to home, in California, a homeless man who carries a drug-resistant from of tuberculosis is being sought by authorities who want to prevent the disease from being spread.
Preventing the spread of communicable diseases has become increasingly challenging as the international system becomes closer entwined through faster international travel and greater international trade. Globalization facilitates the movement of people and goods, but also of disease. But preventing the spread of diseases globally can be a dramatic challenge, as the massive effort to prevent the spread of SARS in 2002 and 2003 highlighted.
What do you think? How can we work to prevent the spread of deadly diseases like ebola and the plague in the context of globalization? Did the Chinese authorities respond appropriately? Why?
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Tagged China, disease, globalization, plague
Were the Tel Aviv Flight Restrictions an Embargo?
Posted on July 24, 2014 | Leave a comment
American and European aviation authorities yesterday issued a directive ordering US and European airlines not to fly to Israel's David Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. The order was issued after a rocket launched from Gaza landed less than a mile from the airport. Less than a day later, the flight restriction has been lifted. According to some, the Federal Aviation Administration was acting out of an abundance of caution after the downing of the Malaysian Airlines flight by pro-Russian separatists operating in eastern Ukraine.
But many critics argued that the flight restrictions represented an effort by the Obama Administration to impose an embargo against Israel. In foreign policy, embargos represent an effort to isolate another country, usually in response to actions to which a country objects. The United States maintains embargos (usually limited to arms and military technology, but sometimes much broader) against 6 countries today. Those against Sudan, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Syria, are widely publicized. However, the United States continues to maintain an arms embargo against China, imposed in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square indictments of 1989. Embargoes are generally most effective when they are widely enforced by many countries, and because they are diplomatic initiatives, they are generally widely publicized to show a country is taking action.
What do you think? Were the FAA flight restrictions intended to serve as an informal embargo against Israel by the United States? If so, why was the embargo not publicized like most embargoes before it? Could an embargo affect Israel's military intervention in Gaza? Why?
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Tagged embargo, flight restrictions, Gaza, Israel, United States