Blog Topic # 11

This is a map of the United States, with the most-known movie associated with the state it is from. I have seen only a handful of these movies, but I found this to be interesting on a personal level as I am from South Dakota and take great pride in the fact that the movie listed on the map for SD is Dances With Wolves, both a popular and well-known film. 

I have been to the actual spot where this movie was filmed, a few minutes' drive from my house (off of Highway 16, on the way to Mount Rushmore to the Black Hills), located at the Ft. Hays Chuck wagon Dinner and Show (a tourist attraction that I highly recommend). I have not seen the movie itself, however, but it is on my list of movies  to watch, as I hear it is a great one.

Blog Topic #10 Sub-Saharan Africa

After reading the sections in the textbook regarding foreign aid to Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as the article from CATO institute, it is my opinion that the people of Africa need leadership, not aid. The old adage "Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man  how to fish, feed him for a lifetime" could not be more applicable than in this situation.

It is my opinion that by giving the country aid, it merely teaches dependency, not independence. It creates money laundering and scams, not development.
Rather, there should be a greater focus on development, and creating an infrastructure and industry.

Blog Topic #9 Civil Unrest in the Middle East

Yemen.

Opposition rejects Gulf plan, Saleh accepts

Yahoo News.

 The protests in this Middle Eastern country are taking place mainly because the president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was given the option to step down through a Gulf Arab initiative. The protesters do not like this plan, partly because it gives Saleh immunity from prosecution against his past wrongs.

Saleh himself welcomed the plan.

Opposition spokesman, Mohammed al-Sabry, is quoted: "Who would be a fool to offer guarantees to a regime that kills peaceful protestors? Our principal demand is that Saleh leaves first."

Since early February, Saleh has been dragging his heels over U.S. attempts to have him agree to step down, trying first to win guarantees that he and his sons will not face prosecution.

More than 100 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces, and activists have said that they want to see legal action taken against Saleh and his sons.

Tens of thousands of protesters filled the streets of Sanaa, Taiz, Hudaiba, Ibb, and the SE province of Hadramat to protest against the Gulf plan. General Ali Mohsen, a kinsman of Saleh whose units are protecting those protesters in Sanaa, is quoted to have said on Monday, "[Saleh]...hopes all parties will accept this initiative and not miss the opportunity."

Shortly after the opposition rejected the Gulf initiative, Saleh accepted it. He believes that it is his duty to oversee the transition of power in new elections, and he "has no reservations about transferring power peacefully within the framework of the constitution."

Blog Topic #8 Google Earth

 I found this image from Google Earth to be interesting because it shows  the Earth from an almost entirely water-covered perspective. It made me realize how isolated Hawaii is from the other land masses.

Blog Topic #7 - Opium in Afghanistan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJnbV8SkhVo&feature=fvst

This video explains the topic of American farmers combating the production of opium in Afghanistan, helping the people of Afghanistan learn to plant alternative crops such as wheat, apples, rice, or melons. 

The region (highlighted in this video) produces 90% of the opium produced worldwide, and the Taliban receives $100 million from this production. Opium yields $1,500/acre. This is comparable to the alternative wheat crop, which only yields $500/acre. Therefore, opium is three times more productive (in monetary terms), which explains the difficulty in stopping the production.

President Obama implemented a plan called The Civilian Surge, which is explained in the following article.  As of March 2010, it was hoped that 450 civilians would be implanted in Afghanistan. This objective has not been accomplished, partially because of funding, allocation, and implementation all being on a late time frame, according to Jacob Lew, deputy secretary of state for management and resources. 

There is also difficulty with finding people with the right set of skills who are willing to stay in Afghanistan for a yearlong deployment.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112976965

I found the following quotes from the National Geographic article interesting:

"We have two forms of money here: poppy, and American dollars," says a beardless 33-year-old Helmand farmer named Rehmatou as he leaves the Marine base with his fertilizer. "This is our economy. The Taliban aren't pressuring me—that's just a story you see on TV. I grow for myself. I smuggle for myself. The Taliban are not the reason. Poverty is the reason. And they'll keep growing poppies here—unless they're forced not to. Force is the solution for everything. As we say in Pashtu, 'Power can flatten mountains.'"

"This is a bad way to make money," Rehmatou says gravely. "It trains you for no other occupation. When a father feeds a boy with money from poppies, he will grow poppies too. He'll have no other skill. We have no carpenters, no engineers, no mechanics. We have nothing."

With a sad smile, the farmer says, "It is a kind of cancer on our country."

And so to eradicate poppy, we would first have to eradicate corruption.

 

 

The Great Firewall of China

 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/The-great-firewall-of-China/articleshow/7583878.cms

This article gives an overview of the revolt in China caused by the fear the government has of social networking sites. This explains the closure of sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. 

There has been cause for further government infiltration, as a few "Twitter clone" social networking sites (Fanfou, Jiwai, and Digu) have caused civil unrest in China. The site Fanfou (which had over a million subscribers) was closed because of suspicions that rebels were using this networking site to spread awareness. 

China closely scrutinizes these social networking "clones", but information still slips through the cracks of China's internet police force. This is evident when looking at a popular trend among the young people of China: translating articles written about China (by foreign journalists) and circulating the translations in mass emails or blog posts. 
 This unrest and suspicion begs the question: will the people of China convert this "chat room" revolution to the streets?

 

Blog Topic #5

This map represents the exporting of groceries. Groceries include sugar, honey, cocoa, chocolate, tea, mate (a tea-like drink) and spices. Territories in South America and Asia Pacific together make up three quarters of net grocery exports, as you can notice from the cartogram. Net exports at regional level seem to be from South America, Asia Pacific, North America, Southeastern Africa and Northern Africa. The majority of both Asia and Europe are not visible on this map. The imports to these places exceed the exports. 

 Mauritius (an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about 560 mi east of Madagascar), exports (net) the nineteenth highest value of groceries. It makes most money per person from this trade.

This map represents globalization because of the correlation between the type of land, and the reality of what it is exporting and where it is exporting it to. The majority of Asia and Europe appear to not be driven by grocery exportation; that is obvious from the map. Instead it is Africa, the Americas, and Asia Pacific that share the net of grocery exports.