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International News

Zika Spreads Through the Americas

The mosquito-borne Zika virus is projected to infect up to 4 million people across the Americas in the next year.

Last May, public health authorities confirmed a re-outbreak of the virus in Northeast Brazil. Since October 2015, the virus has spread to other surrounding areas, including southern United States, according to Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

CDC_map_of_Zika_virus_distribution_in_January_2016The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus outbreak as a “public health emergency of international concern.” Margaret Chan, director of WHO forwarded a statement to Al Jazeera on the matter—”Last year, the virus was detected in the Americas, where it is now spreading explosively. As of today, cases have been reported in 23 countries and territories in the region.”

Though there are strong suspicions behind the causal relationship between the virus and birth defects, Chan states that the claim cannot be confirmed yet.

The first outbreak was detected in Uganda in 1947. Fifteen miles outside the country’s capital Kampala lies the Zika forest where the first case was discovered. However, unlike the cases in the Americas, most of the local cases in Africa were mild, only resulting in a “rash, fever, and red eyes” for a few days. Julius Lutwama, top scientist for Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), believes there is an alteration of the virus from the one he discovered in Uganda to that of South America. “What has happened in South America is that it has changed a little bit… and through these changes it has become more aggressive towards humans,” Lutwama said. “This small change has resulted in it posing deep problems in the human population.”

Since there is no treatment or vaccine for the virus yet, countries are focusing their efforts on preventative measures first. In the case of El Salvador, Eduardo Espinoza, Vice Minister of Health, released a recommendation to the Salvadorans to “plan their pregnancies and try to avoid getting pregnant this year and the next.”

WHO, on the other hand, is planning on taking another route of preventative medicine by helping women reduce their risk of mosquito bites. They will implement this by providing more accessible mosquito nets and repellent.

The debate over whether women should abstain from getting pregnant has also brought up the heated discussion around abortion rights. People in this defense are equating the virus to that of a similar case in the 1960’s with the Rubella disease. Like Zika, Rubella had links to birth defects and abnormalities with pregnancies. However, because this was a decade shy of Roe v. Wade, the public debate did not go on for long. But as a result of the widespread discussion, more Americans “came to empathize with those mothers who has an illicit abortion” says Jasmine Garsd of National Public Broadcasting (NPR).

In the case of El Salvador, Espinoza plans to reduce pregnancies through natural ways, such as abstinence and condoms. But unlike the U.S., El Salvador does not have abortion-rights laws. Salvadoran abortion rights activist, Angela Rivas, see the situation differently. She claims that Zika will lead to “more clandestine abortions and a higher number of women being sent to jail.”
An emergency meeting will be held by WHO on Monday to discuss possible ways to battle the Zika virus. Until then, preventative measures have been taken to reduce risk of contracting the virus.

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Opinions

Why I Pray Daily About a Pipeline

I have a friend named Art Tanderup.  Talkative and friendly with the kind of laugh that exemplifies a down-home joie de vivre, Art is a normal Nebraska farmer.  I met Art last April in Washington DC where we both arrived to protest the Keystone XL pipeline.  I came as part of a Facebook prayer band called #PrayNoKXL.  Art came because the pipeline route literally runs through his backyard.

brain.webbI met another friend in DC named Greg Greycloud.  Greg lives in South Dakota and is a member of the Lakota Sioux Nation.  Intelligent and witty with a kind and compassionate heart, Greg leads a ministry encouraging Lakota men to embrace their roles as responsible husbands, fathers, and leaders.  Greg came to DC because the pipeline route illegally crosses land that belongs by treaty to his people.

What the three of us share in common is a deep conviction that the Keystone XL pipeline is a morally and ethically wrong decision.  Here’s why:

The Tar Sands. The purpose of the Keystone pipeline is to transport bitumen (a thick sludge-like mixture of sand, oil, clay, and chemicals) from Alberta to the Gulf Coast for refining and export.  The highly intensive process of extracting bitumen turns once lush boreal forests into alien landscapes largely devoid of life with chemical laden tailing ponds so large they can be seen from space.  This devastation is not only destroying an entire ecosystem, but has also resulted in significant health impacts to Native communities living downstream.

AnthonyBurdo_BrianWebbThe Ogallala Aquifer.  The Keystone pipeline runs directly over the Ogallala Aquifer—at 174,000 square miles, North America’s largest.  In many places the aquifer sits just a few meters below the surface of the ground.  In spite of all the modern safeguards pipelines do leak.  Just last week a pipeline in Montana spilled 50,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone River.  A leak in an Arkansas suburb spilled five times that amount in 2013, and in 2010 more than 1 million gallons of bitumen spilled into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.  The Kalamazoo leak was so devastating that 5 years and $700 million later it still hasn’t been completely cleaned up.  What happens when the primary water source for our nation’s breadbasket Great Plains states becomes polluted?

Native Treaties.  Despite their protests, the pipeline route in South Dakota crosses over land legally granted to the Rosebud Sioux Nation by United States treaty.  Sioux President, Cyril Scott went so far as to call Keystone “an act of war against our people.”  With our country’s shameful treatment of Native Americans going back hundreds of years, shouldn’t it be time to stop breaking our treaties and start showing respect and honor to those whose land we have already taken away?

Eminent Domain.  TransCanada, the foreign private corporation who owns the pipeline, is now using eminent domain to take away the land of ordinary Americans who don’t want the pipeline to run across their property.  Shouldn’t private property rights be a concern of all Americans, and particularly for ideological conservatives?  Shouldn’t my friend Art have the right to refuse 900,000 barrels a day of toxic bitumen running across his farm (his livelihood)?

Climate Change.  Because of the highly energy intensive processes associated with their extraction, transportation, and refining, the tar sands have a much larger impact on the global climate system than does conventional oil.  While oil continues to form an important part of our economy, it’s time to modernize our infrastructure by forgoing antiquated fossil energy and focusing on clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, that will always create domestic jobs, that are endlessly renewable, and that don’t harm God’s creation or his people.

Proponents of the pipeline spout all kinds of claims about jobs, but the reality is that it will only create 35 permanent jobs.  35 jobs in exchange for more broken Indian treaties, unethically enforced eminent domain, pipeline spills of toxic tar sludge, possible contamination of our country’s largest aquifer, environmental destruction, and a bleaker outlook for the global climate system.  Keystone is not a political issue.  It’s a common sense one.

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News

Republicans Dominate Midterm Elections

On Tuesday Nov. 4, millions of Americans turned out to vote in the Federal midterm as well as local and state elections. Dominating the mindset of a majority of the voter-base was disappointment in the last two years under the Democratic Party’s majority in the Senate and dismally low approval ratings for President Obama.

LukeLauer_Elections_Horizontal_CMYKAs a result of these ongoing themes, The Republican Party saw a sweeping set of victories in both houses of the United States Congress, as well as in the state governor setting. Already having a majority, the Republicans gained 14 seats in the House of Representatives – most significantly, ousting three incumbent officials in New York State as well as in Texas, Florida, Iowa, West Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina (among others). John Boehner, of Ohio’s 8th Congressional District, continues his tenure as Speaker of the House and third in line to the Presidency. The current house demographics stand at 243 (R) to 178 (D) with 14 districts undecided (as of Wednesday) due to close calls, run-off elections, or inconclusive results.

The Republicans also managed to pull off a 7-seat gain in the Senate – putting them in the majority for at least the next two years. The incoming Republicans successfully defeated long time Democrat strongholds in Colorado, Arkansas, and North Carolina defeating ex-Senators Mark Udall, Mark Pryor, and Kay Hagan respectively. In addition, the Republicans picked up Montana, Iowa, South Dakota, and West Virginia – and by the end of the week it is predicted Alaska will also be picked up by Republicans.

Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada ends a seven year stint as Majority Leader and will pass off his position of control to the Republican’s Mitch McConnell from Kentucky. The current results from Tuesday’s turnout place the Democrats with 45 and the Republicans with 52. Though the races in Alaska, Virginia, and Louisiana have not been decisively announced (as of Wednesday), no possible outcome would change the final count.

Andrew Cuomo was re-elected to as the Governor of New York State, defeating Republican adversary Rob Astorino. However, the Democrat-laden New York State legislature did see some change with the Senate being overtaken by a Republican majority. New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio teamed up with long-standing U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and Governor Cuomo in an attempt to rally Democratic voters to a victory in the Senate. Despite their efforts, key districts in Long Island and upstate New York swung sharply to the left, increasing the Republicans margin of control.

For Houghton, the reelection of longtime representatives Assemblyman Joseph Giglio, Senator Catherine Young, and U.S. Representative, Thomas Reed, comes as no surprise. A highly Republican region, all three were incumbents and faced little real challenge in getting re-elected (Giglio and Young ran unopposed). Reed faced Martha Roberts from Ithaca, but defeated her.

Though most may consider midterm elections unimportant in comparison with Presidential elections, this weeks results and incoming politicians will determine many of the issues that will be hot topics during the 2016 presidential election. Time will tell if Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren or another Democratic presidential candidate has been handily equipped with a Congress they will need to get elected.

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News

World // ISIS Crisis Continues

The violent acts being committed by the Sunni-Islam extremist group ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) has prompted the United States and other nations take military action. ISIS, which has its base in Raqqa, Syria, has taken over large areas of Syria and Iraq. The group has declared this area to be the “Islamic State,” according to a CNN article. Its oppressive rule and interpretation of Islamic law has been ravaging civilians, including ethnic and Christian minorities. Video of public executions has been released on the internet as ISIS continues to tighten its grip in the Middle East.

MaryCroninAccording to CNN, the beheadings of two American journalists was an impetus to the United States’ military intervention. The offensive has mostly included missile strikes by sea followed by air raids by bombers and fighter jets. According to the US military, training compounds, headquarters, storage facilities, supply trucks, and armed vehicles were hit in the initial strike on Tuesday September 23. The Pentagon also stated that some ISIS operatives were hit, but the number was not specified.

Other nations have joined the United States, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, and Qatar. As stated by a Washington Post article, France has also lent its support to the offensive.

According to Army Gen. Ray Odierno, who was quoted in the Washington Post, there is a possibility that civilians may be at risk as ISIS moves from more open areas with visible targets to urban areas. “We’ll have to determine that, as we go forward, if we can sustain the level of preciseness that is necessary to limit civilian casualties,” he cautioned.

Another complication threatening progress in the fight against ISIS may arise. Though there has been much cooperation in the Arab world with the West on this matter, the fact that ISIS is technically a Sunni Muslim group may be problematic for some governments. As stated in a CNN article, some governments may face dissent from their people, and they disagree with Sunnis fighting against other Sunnis.

Furthermore, Syria has cited disregard of its sovereignty, according to the New York Times. The nation has complained that American military actions on its soil without its cooperation is a violation of sovereign rights. President Obama and other US officials, on the other hand, insist this is not the case. Civil war in Syria helped extremist movements like ISIS to take root and spread, and Obama contends that by striking only ISIS and not “Mr. Assad”, the United States is helping Syria, thus the nation’s sovereignty is still intact.

Recent action involved the US-led air strikes targeting ISIS positions in northeastern Syria while the Syrian government aimed at other insurgents near its capital, Damascus this past Saturday. Meanwhile, ISIS attacked a Kurdish village near the Turkish border, according to the New York Times. At roughly the same time, two car bombs were detonated in the Syrian city of Homs, killing at least 45 people, including 41 children. The group has not taken official responsibility for this, though it is likely that it is responsible because of their recently increased presence in Homs. This, among other issues, has caused even more civilians to flee to Turkey, joining more than 150,000 refugees already there, the New York Times reported.

Military officials, including General Odierno, have dismally predicted that this conflict could endure much longer than previously anticipated.

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Opinions

Your Vote, Your Voice

Election season has become a monotonous time that typically has lacked the interest of many college students. But why? Why do students fail to exercise this Constitutional right as a United States citizen? Maybe it’s because students don’t think it affects them? Or perhaps they think their voice won’t be heard? Either way, when voting time comes, students remain unengaged and uninformed.

A statewide survey released by the California Voter Foundation (CVF) found that 23% of unregistered voters say they’re too busy to vote. While two-thirds of those surveyed noted that they didn’t turn out to vote because they believed that elections are controlled by special interest groups. In addition, the foundation found that 76% of nonvoters have no more than a high school diploma.
KatharineLebrecqueQuoteBased on a 2012 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, young adults have been found to vote more often in Presidential elections than in congressional election years. Voting rates have been historically low, especially between the ages of 18 and 24, since 1964. However, within recent years, voting-turnout rates among young adults have seen a dramatic increase. It appears that students are often drawn to particular parties based on single issues or interests. For example many individuals, and not solely students, are attracted to parties that have issues on their agenda such as climate change, the economy and social welfare, and bioethics.

Yet despite these daunting facts, voting is arguably one of the most important civic opportunities available to United States citizens.  Voting does matter. Not just in presidential elections, but in local and state elections. Elected individuals represent the interests of the people. Our country was formed on the premise that we were to have a government “for the people [and] by the people.” We have a civic responsibility to exercise this right. You have a voice. You have a vote.

Alexander Buska, a senior political science major encourages students: “Vote local. Elected officials only respond to those who vote. State and town officials will be much more interested in what you have to say, and better able to accurately represent your point of view. Look at how they came out to Houghton for the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Kerr-Pegula Athletic Complex – they are plenty interested in what is going on.”

 

Moreover, these decisions and legislations made at the local, state, and federal level have a major impact on our lives. When asked, “Why don’t you vote?” responses included: “I’ll care when I pay my own bills,” or “I’ll register [to vote] eventually when I settle down.” The problem with waiting is

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that your vote counts now. Voting on elected officials affects not just the present, but the future. Your voice matters. Your vote matters, and it matters now.

So when is your next opportunity to vote? Midterm elections are November 4. You can pick up registration forms at your local county elections office, post office, library, DMV, or print out a registration form online at your state and local board of elections website. Also, be sure to request an Absentee Ballot. This can be requested by state for midterm elections at www.yourvoteyourvoice.org.

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News

Snowden Controversy Continues with New Report

He has been called a hero and a villain, a patriot and a traitor. However he will be judged in history, Edward Snowden’s actions have nevertheless caused something of a ruckus for one of the largest intelligence organizations in the United States, the National Security Agency, and has reopened conversation on the ethics and lawfulness of government surveillance.

Courtesy of guim.co.uk
Courtesy of guim.co.uk

The leaks obtained by Snowden, a former contractor for the NSA, represent one of the largest breaches in security that the United States government has experienced in its history. Snowden’s critics warn that these leaks will threaten American security and interests and will enable terrorist organizations throughout the globe. On the other hand, privacy advocates say that Snowden has performed an important act of civil disobedience.

The full 58,000 files that Snowden leaked to the Guardian (a British newspaper) and the Washington Post last summer have not, as of yet, been fully revealed. The Guardian’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, reporting to a parliamentary committee investigating the newspaper’s handling of the Snowden leaks, explained that the Guardian has only published one percent of the files and has withheld the rest, mostly on account of the sensitive nature of the information. “I would not expect us to be publishing a huge amount more,” Rusbridger also said to the committee.

Nevertheless, some of the information that Snowden provided is still forthcoming. On Wednesday, the Washington Post published a report that revealed the details of NSA’s cell phone tracking program, in which the agency monitors the data of individuals – wherever they happen to be in the world – using their personal mobile devices. The NSA accomplishes this by tapping into cell towers and tracking the movements of individuals using the signals from their cell phones to the towers. From this information, the NSA can also track the movements of possible associates, called “co-travelers”, if they pass through a number of the same cell tower zones. Furthermore, if monitored for a period of time, a target’s relationships and patterns of movements can also be uncovered using this information.

Though the NSA has said that it has no desire to map everyone’s movements, this is nonetheless the byproduct of tracking down target individuals that the NSA deems as dangerous or potentially dangerous. The Washington Post reports that the NSA is collecting almost 5 billion cell phone records every day throughout the globe, which in turn amounts to 2 trillion per year.

Throughout the course of the “Snowden scandal”, the US government has insisted that these measures are lawful, but they have been challenged by many privacy advocates – seeing a boost in support and attention – who argue that these measures violate civil liberties and privacy of American citizens. Other groups think that Snowden’s actions have put the United States in peril.

The American public remains divided, however, according to a survey put forward by the Huffington Post in late October. According to the survey, 51% of respondents described Snowden as “something of a hero,” while 49% described him as “more of a traitor.”

Who is Edward Snowden and what will his actions prove? Only time will tell.

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Opinions

Missiology 101

Hello, Phil. I hear you’ve got to know this new fellow who has moved into your town lately, and I’ve been wondering what you think about him. He’s an immigrant, a missionary from a Muslim country, here to try to convert Americans to Islam. He certainly seems surprising, in some ways. He knows nothing about Christianity, or about what Christians believe. When someone asked him, he had no idea which country was on the other side of the United States’ northern border. And it was complete news to him that America had begun as a collection of British colonies, which rebelled against British rule and achieved independence in the eighteenth century. He doesn’t speak English, and is certainly taking his sweet time about learning it. But then, as he says (through an interpreter), some people just aren’t good at languages.

In fact, self-deprecation seems to be his long suit. He keeps saying what a dummy he is, how naïve etc.. Though I notice that, when you give him information that will be useful to him, he almost makes a point of forgetting it again right away, as though he didn’t want to be contaminated by it — as if naïveté were a treasured part of his self-image.

And then there’s the strange matter of American names. You can’t have failed to notice. As he explains, there is a custom in his country that all foreign names containing a simple ‘i’ sound have to be pronounced with ‘oo’. It’s not that the ‘i’ sound is difficult for him (there are plenty such names in his own country, for goodness’ sake); it’s just that they have a rule among themselves to pronounce all foreign names this way. So he calls Philadelphia ‘Fooladelphia’, and addresses you as ‘Fool’ — and, in the nicest, humblest possible way, he rather expects you to answer to it. And if you tackle him on this, he does his favorite ‘hurt feelings’ look, and says it’s the custom of his country, a part of his identity. And how could you try to take that away from him?

So what I want to know is this:  What do you think of this fellow, Phil? (or ‘Fool’?) Please don’t tell me merely that you expect him to be rather unsuccessful in converting Americans to Islam. I think we can take that much for granted. No: I’m playing the shrink here, with the big “So how do you Feel?” How do you feel about him?

missionaryMy guess is that, at a minimum, you will view him as a pitiable but also unwelcome intrusion into your town. Maybe you go further, and hold him in some degree of contempt for his attitudes. It’s possible you even go so far as to view him with actual anger and hostility.

Since it’s hard to feel threatened by him (although his country is powerful, it’s nowhere near as powerful as the U.S., and people there are an awful lot poorer than they are here), I suspect that you go for the more moderate reactions toward him. If the relationships were reversed, though, and his was the more powerful and wealthier society that was influencing our daily lives in countless ways, I suspect that your reactions would move over toward the more virulent end of the spectrum.

Scratch all that. I just made it up. And anyway, you’re not Phil. So let me tell you instead about a young couple I really have met, who really were surprising, in exactly the ways our imaginary Muslim in Phil’s home town was surprising. And I have to say that it’s OK — not great, but still OK — not to have any idea who Cyril and Methodius were. Or whether Istanbul is at the eastern end of Turkey, or the western. Or which country Belgrade is in. Maybe you know none of those things. It’s not great to be ignorant about them, because they matter. But the world is a big place, and I’m sure you could easily find facts of equivalent importance about, say, western China, concerning which I would be equally ignorant.

And anyhow, we’re in America. Indeed, it would still be OK not to know those things if we were in the U.S. and planning to start a business (or some political move, or do some Christian missions work) in, say, Peru or India. But this couple? They were missionaries in Macedonia. By that I mean, they had already arrived there. Now, Macedonia is a predominantly Orthodox country (Cyril and Methodius are the crucial figures in Slavic Orthodox history), that was under the rule of the Ottoman Turks for more than five centuries until just about within living memory. And it spent most of the twentieth century as part of Yugoslavia — which was ruled from the Serbian capital of Belgrade. And our couple knew nothing about these fundamental features of the country’s culture, religion, history, or geography.

A missionary is a person who, to put it bluntly, goes somewhere to tell the locals what’s what. But our friends didn’t know what’s anything.

We’ll take as read the fact that they didn’t know any of the language until they arrived. Who would expect anything else? And, of course, they pronounce the capital city of Skopje as ‘Skoapje’. You can say that’s the American pronunciation — like calling the Italian city of Firenze ‘Florence’ — if you want. Except that it wouldn’t be true. Because, even if we accept the unlikely assumption that they’d even heard of the city before they arrived, or had heard American pronunciations of it, they pronounced it that way straight away anyway, and ditto for smaller places that would have been completely off their radar. No: everyone around them in Macedonia says one thing — so they say another. It’s the custom, right? And my friend Kosta gets addressed if he were a beer mat: Coaster.

Can we see that anything milder than furious outrage would be altogether too kind a reaction by the unfortunate hosts?

But our friends are not the exceptions: they’re typical. To be sure, I know counterexamples. There’s an American pastor who has lived in a small town of that country for nine years. He looks and dresses like a local, sends his kids to the local school, and speaks so well that many can’t even tell he’s a foreigner.

But he’s the exception. The clueless young couple are the rule. So how should they respond to the points I just made? I’d tell you how they will respond — but you already know. Smile; look bewildered; make self-effacing jokes about what dummies they are; do something groovy that’ll entertain the local kids; look hurt and keep what they fondly imagine to be a ‘holy’ silence. But, whatever they do, make no change.

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News Opinions

Iraq 10 Years after the Invasion

It has been controversial since it began.  It divided Americans: some watching as the number of troop deaths mounted, others warning that the costs were worth it if Saddam Hussein’s threat of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) had any merit.  After over one trillion dollars invested in the country, no WMDs discovered at all, the capture and execution of Saddam Hussein, 4,000 dead American soldiers and over 130,000 Iraqi civilian deaths, many still wonder whether the Iraq war was worth it.

Courtesy of propublica.org
Courtesy of propublica.org

The average current college student was 10 to 11 years old when the invasion began.  I remember staying up with my Dad late that night watching television and waiting for the bombs to fall on Baghdad, Iraq’s capital.  I remember the “Mission Accomplished” banner after the fall of Baghdad just a few short weeks later.  Then the insurgency began, for which nobody was prepared.

Bush’s claim that cutting off the head of the problem would immediately resolve it proved to be wrong as the United States found itself bogged down with al-Qaeda groups and Shi’a extremists using car and suicide bombs in hope of dominating each other through attempting to get their respective populations to hate and kill each other.  It looked as though the United States was about to fail miserably, as critics said it would whenever the country attempts “nation-building”.

But then the surge happened and, after 120,000 U.S. soldiers were sent to Iraq, along with “Awakening Councils” that joined the U.S. troops to drive out al-Qaeda (whose brutal tactics had alienated large swaths of Sunnis), violence began to decline.  As security increased, investments for Iraq’s oil reserves, which some argue are larger than Iran’s, helped to bring more stability to the country.  Even after U.S. troops withdrew in December 2011, violence has remained relatively low.  There are still the occasional bombings, such as the one that killed over 60 Iraqis on the anniversary of the invasion, but, overall, Iraq remains much more stable than it was throughout the insurgency.

However, problems remain.  Iraq is a shaky democracy set up to distribute power equally among the three big ethnic groups: Shi’a, Sunni and Kurd.  But after the attempted arrest of a Sunni vice president for supposedly running death squads, arguments began between the central government and autonomous Kurd regions. These debates were over who has rights to oil reserves. With numerous Arab Spring-style protests against the government of Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi’a that Sunnis accuse of becoming increasingly dictatorial, and suicide bombings continually trying to stir sectarian tensions, Americans may wonder if, in fact, the U.S. should have ever even invaded in the first place.

In the end, nobody can say that the United States made the right choice.  Regardless of the critics that say it only stirred ethnic tensions, Iraq never did slip into a civil war or become a failed state.  At the same time, a democracy was set up, but it remains incredibly fragile, particularly considering that for almost 11 months in 2010 the country could not form a government due to political infighting between Shi’a and Sunni politicians. Nevertheless, economically, the country has been recovering; tourism flourishes as millions of Shi’a pilgrims flock to mosques and shrines throughout the country.  Foreign direct investment in the country’s oil reserves has helped to rebuild a crumbling infrastructure, and in the Kurdish regions cities bustle and commerce thrives, with virtually no violence.  The Sunnis, however, claim to be finding themselves marginalized politically and economically, creating the potential for a new conflict as frustrations rise.

Whether or not you agree that it was a good idea to invade Iraq, never forget that despite the bad, many good things have happened in the country.  This is a milestone for our generation and continues to be pertinent to an American foreign policy that promotes the establishment of liberal democracy around the world, as liberal democracies do not fight each other.  Based on this logic, this war was in America’s national interest.  A good choice?  I am not sure, but it is something that will have a large impact in the Middle East for years to come.

Caleb Johnson is a third-year student with a double-major in international relations and history.

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News

Iran and Pakistan Inaugurate Natural Gas Line

On the 11th of March, Presidents Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan inaugurated the construction of a pipeline to take natural gas from Iran to Pakistan. The move, which is part of an effort to alleviate the power shortages in Pakistan, has drawn sharp criticism from the United States due to the Iranian involvement.

Courtesy of stateofpakistan.org
Courtesy of stateofpakistan.org

The pipeline has been under construction for some time already. Iran has reported that it has finished construction on its side of the border—some 1,150 kilometers of pipeline which run from the gas fields of southern Iran. Pakistan will complete the project by laying the remaining 750 kilometers in its own territory.

Highest among most concerns regarding the project is the possibility that Pakistan will be unable to afford the pipeline. Its main funding comes from two separate $500 million loans from the governments of Iran and China. The remaining cost will ostensibly be met by user fees.
Another concern is security. The pipeline will cut through the Balochistan region of Pakistan, which has been a hotbed of terrorist attacks in recent years, and attacks have shown a tendency to favor pipelines.

The pipeline risks incurring international sanctions due to the Iranian involvement in the project. The Pakistani government has insisted that their need for power outweighs their fear of international repercussions, as there are places within Pakistan which go for multiple hours without power every day, and the problem has been getting worse over time. The United States has suggested several other strategies to the Pakistani government in the past few years. The most prominent of these has been a pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan. However, the Pakistani government has insisted that production on such a pipeline would take too long, considering the extreme nature of their present power shortages.

Iran is beset by numerous international sanctions as a consequence of its pursuit of nuclear technology. Many governments have expressed concern that Iran is developing nuclear bombs. Ahmadinejad insists that the pipeline at least should not incur the sanctions, as it is not possible to build a nuclear bomb out of a gas pipeline.

The pipeline is a popular move in Pakistan as it provides an expedient solution to their incessant power shortages, and because it is in direct defiance of the United States to find an alternative. Although the United States provides millions of dollars of aid to Pakistan, its drone strikes and other efforts against al-Qaida and the Taliban in the region have left it highly unpopular among the Pakistani people.

Planning on the project started back in 1994, but it has faced numerous delays. The Pakistani and Iranian governments hope to have the pipeline complete by 2014, but as it has faced numerous setbacks in the past nine years and skepticism is high.

Although the pipeline itself has been planned for a long time, the timing of Monday’s ceremony was highly political. Pakistan’s elections will be held next month, and so the ceremony was likely motivated by a desire to kindle support by the currently-dominant Pakistani People’s Party (PPP). Its main rival is the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), which has ties to the strongly anti-Iranian government of Saudi Arabia. Because of the pipeline’s popularity, the PML-N will be put in the tight spot of appeasing its allies in Saudi Arabia or continuing the project and keeping its people happy.

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News

Next Up in Congress: Immigration Reform?

During the State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Obama spoke on the topic of immigration reform, saying, “Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign it right away.”

Courtesy of bigthink.com
Courtesy of bigthink.com

During his speech, Obama mentioned three things that he wishes in an immigration reform package. One, he desires to continue to increase border security; two, he would establish “a responsible pathway to citizenship” for illegal immigrants already here; and three, he would reform the process of legal immigration so that there would be fewer waiting periods and would attract those that would help create jobs and help to grow the economy.

This was not merely talk. In recent weeks, comprehensive immigration reform has been steadily approaching legislative reality. A bipartisan group of senators, four Democrats and four Republicans, was formed only a few weeks ago with the task of developing a framework for reform that could possibly develop into a bill. This group has spearheaded the effort to come up with solutions to the many problems of immigration in this country – namely, illegal immigration, undocumented workers, insecure borders, and problems with the process of legal immigration, along with other issues.

For once, this seems to be a movement that will receive much, if not total, support in Congress. Both Democrats and Republicans agree that immigration reform makes economic sense as immigrants are a key part of economic growth and development. Given the current economic uncertainty, immigration is a vital issue to address. The GOP also seeks to broaden its base, especially after the last presidential election where most of the Hispanic vote went to President Obama. Offering solutions to the immigration problem and presenting themselves as open to discussion will help develop support for the GOP platforms.

The public has also demonstrated consistent support for immigration reform. According to a Gallup poll, more than seven in ten Americans support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and more than eight in ten Americans support legislation that would require that all employers verify that their employees are living in the United States legally.

Efforts to reach across the aisle and compromise about immigration also seem to be gaining ground, particularly from Senator Marco Rubio (R.-FL) who is quickly becoming a GOP superstar. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, has been consistently leading the effort on behalf of the GOP to get discussion going. However, a hurdle that must cleared for legislation regarding immigration is a pivotal controversy within the Republican Party itself.
There are a significant number of GOP members who do not wish a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, saying that it amounts to amnesty. There are others within the party that disagree. Rubio dodged this issue in his speech in the GOP response to the State of the Union Address on Tuesday evening, but in recent weeks he has shown his support for a process of citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

The United States may well be on its way to immigration reform within the coming weeks. As talks and discussions among Congress become more serious and legislation begins to develop, the United States may even be implementing new immigration reform by the next State of the Union Address in 2014.