Two things to take away from this well-written article. It is important for critics of the Zionist movement and of Israel (the nation-state) to always bear in mind that the Jewish people are very diverse in both their backgrounds and their views of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. No single entity, specifically the Israeli government or army, speaks on behalf of all Jewish people. The second takeaway is being on the lookout for coded language that guises itself as political rhetoric leveled against Israel the state but, in reality, the subtext is covertly anti-Semitic. In place of verbally attacking "the Jews" some people may state "the Zionists" or reference a global Zionist conspiracy theory. Zionism is a specific movement within Judaism advocating for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the ancestral land of Judea/Israel/Canaan/Palestine (or as the Romans called the region, the Levant). Considering these valid points, it must be said that it is okay to criticize the state of Israel and specific actions it has taken against Palestine. But, when doing so, critics must be careful in their choice of words so as not to accidentally encourage anti-Semitic ideas. It is important to note that some Israeli Jews, and some other Arab Jews, disapprove of Israel's human rights violations but still might support having a homeland of their own. It is also worth noting that a person can be a Zionist without condoning the current government and military forces of Israel. One can be a Zionist and pro-Palestinian. In being critical, it is important to monitor the passions and anger that may arise, and not paint the world in black and white. There is always nuance. And there is enough anti-Semitism in the world without liberals who are pro-Palestinian unintentionally adding any more fan to the flames.
This is the story of how Sudan became two nations, and of an ongoing conflict in the Nuba Mountains that has changed the lives of millions of people. In parts 2–5 of our VR series, We Who Remain, follow the lives of four people living through the war: http://ajplus.co/nuba360. Produced in partnership with Nuba Reports and Emblematic Group.
The first video in this 5-part video is a bit slow, but provides the historical and geographic context needed to understand the developmental, ethnic, and political issues that remain so difficult to resolve. The Subsequent four videos provide a more human, personal glimpse into facets of the conflict.
From this video one can see how crucial borders can be to neighboring ethnic groups, especially in Sudan. North Sudan is made up of mostly Arabs and Muslims, while mainly Christians live in South Sudan. Also, the majority of North Sudan is black while the majority of South Sudan is white. Due to these two ethnic groups being so different and previously being grouped into one country, much fighting and a devastating civil war has broken out over the past few decades. Recently within the last decade Sudan was officially divided up into two nations because of the ongoing fighting and cultural differences which seems to be a step in the right direction to reduce the amount of fighting between the two countries.
Afghanistan supplies virtually all of the world's illegal opium. For Afghans themselves, however, feelings about poppy are conflicted: It's harmful to their ...
Part 1 of an 8 part series on youtube documenting the opium-growing process and how the Taliban manages it. Agricultural production and rural land use can absolutely play a huge role in geopolitics and cultural patterns and processes, as evidenced by this example. For more resources on the Afghanistan drug issue, see: www.scoop.it/t/funding-the-taliban-with-opium
Most people would agree that Opium is a devastating addiction. But what most of us don't see is the other side of the drug trade. This video shows the vulnerability of the drug-dealers and poppy-farmers. The Afghanistan government finds and destroys a poppy farm and the interview with a boy of the farming family is riveting. You can't help but feel bad for these people, especially the children who are directly effected by it.
Drug trafficking is a problem all over the world, but this is really something else. Realistically, these people are just growing flowers, but it's their intent that is the problem. I was always aware that Afghanistan was a major producer of drugs, but I had no idea the extent. I agree that if someone has illegal drugs, that they should be punished. But these poppies are these people's life line. That's not to say that what they are doing is acceptable, but you can't help but feel bad. They live in a poor region where they are doing what they need to just to feed their families. It's kind of heartbreaking, but there are laws against these drugs for a reason, and they should be penalized. Then there is the question of how do they choose one family to punish, when this is clearly a huge problem that is not easily hidden; these people are growing these plants in plain sight. The government has every right to punish them, and as upset as they are to have their crop destroyed, I would think it's got to be better than getting thrown into an Afghani prison.
New satellite imagery indicates that China has installed weapon systems on all seven artificial islands it has built in the contested waters of the South China Sea, a move that's likely alarm the country's neighbors.
"Without trying to defend or absolve U.S. policy, then, it is worth stepping back to ask what shared historical experiences might have left these four countries — Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen — particularly at risk of violent collapse. The following maps help highlight how, at various points over the past century, historical circumstances conspired, in an often self-reinforcing way, to bolster the stability of some states in the region while undermining that of others."
These maps are not cartographically inspiring, but the it's the historical and political insight that makes them valuable. The goal of this set of maps is to find some underlying causal reasons for political stability(or more importantly instability) in the Middle East. These four maps focus on these key issues:
From the western perspective, it's easier just to assume the Middle East is constantly in conflict purely out of their own fault. However, the story is more complicated than that and much of the conflict in the area is due to involvement from the west. These four maps show the different factors that impact the countries in the Middle East. The first one shows that countries that were fully formed states for longer, tend to be more stable. This makes sense because they haven't had outside influence for longer and have had more time to create stronger governments. Looking at just this map, it seems like Iran and Egypt should be more stable than Saudi Arabia today. However, this map doesn't tell the whole story. The second map shows the types of colonial rule that each country was under in recent history. Turkey was the only country in the region that was able to stay fully independent. Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Israel are some of the countries that were under full colonization. Not surprisingly, the struggles they had to gain their independence still effects the stability of these countries today. This shows that the involvement from outsiders has had negative, long-term effects on the area and that the west is not free from blame of what is happening in the Middle East. The third map differentiates between the countries that changed regimes after World War II and those that did not. There is a correlation between which countries experienced the change and the countries that are the least stable today. The final map shows which countries were pro-western, pro-Soviet, or shifted alignments during the Cold War. Once again the outside influence of both the west and in this case the Soviet Union, lead to further divide in the region. The history and shifting geography of the Middle East in just the last hundred years helps to give insight to how the region has become as conflicted in some countries, yet stable in others.
Workers, including children, labor in harsh and dangerous conditions to meet the world’s soaring demand for cobalt, a mineral essential to powering electric vehicles, laptops, and smartphones, according to an investigation by The Washington Post.
We take the luxuries that we have for granite and forget where it comes from, or who pays the physical price for us to have them. One example is electronics and the Congo. The Congo is a country filled with Colbolt which is critical to lithium batteries which powers majority of products that are rechargeable. The price they pay is unsafe mining conditions, indecent wages, and environmental hazards to local communities. 60 percent of the cobalt used today comes from the Congo, and while some companies track it to make sure its "clean" some companies do not check its origins. In 2010 there was a push to add cobalt to a list of resources that come from the Congo to be from a militia free mine. Individual companies have started to be stricter about where they get their Cobalt it's still not mandatory under international law. However with the demand for cobalt is increasing due to more electric power styling for vehicles and other products. In order to meet these demands the cobalt will continue to come from abused people until companies or international law limits and outlines how to deal with the cobalt question.
Given the absurd amount of minerals present in the country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo should be basking in immeasurable wealth. However, as shown by this inetractive and enormously in-depth piece by the Washington Post, the country constantly struggles with child labor, water pollution, and widespread dangerous working condition because of the global demand for minerals like cobalt and copper.
The Congo, like Venezuela, is another example of a post-colonial country rich in valuable natural resources whose people, ironically, live in abject poverty. The Congo is a victim of its own geographical blessings as the industrialized world's bottomless need for Congo's cobalt, copper, and other minerals has put this former colony of Belgium on the map. The Congo reportedly supplies half of the world's cobalt. With few other options for mineral sources, lithium-ion battery manufacturers turn a blind eye as Congolese "diggers" endure inhumane, dangerous, and unfair conditions to produce cheap cobalt. Companies have not reacted to this injustice because of a desire to maximize their profits. With Western consumers acting as indirect accomplices, China leads the pack of this neo-colonial process of exploiting the Congo for its valuable underground minerals. The Chinese companies offer so little money for the cobalt that workers are forced to put up with hazardous conditions and unbelievably low pay for their labor.
The problem lacks an easy solution because it is highly complicated by the forces of globalization and geographical factors. Congolese diggers obtain the raw materials, who sell it to Asian middlemen, who then sell it to big Chinese manufacturers. These manufactures produce rechargeable batteries to sell to Western companies like Apple and Samsung. These products are then sold all over the world. The long supply chain makes it difficult for consumers to feel and see how their actions are impacting the lives of other people. The companies who should be held accountable justify their business decisions because there are not sources of cobalt to turn to. If there were other sources, companies like Huayou Cobalt could turn to other sources that treat their workers better, forcing Congolese suppliers to raise their labor standards.
A short-term remedy, it seems, would be to classify Congolese-based cobalt as a conflict mineral. Western countries should fine and punish companies that are linked to the unjust cobalt trade, forcing these companies to raise their standards.
"The invasion of Iraq was supposed to turn the country into a democracy that posed no threat to the United States, or the rest of the world. Thirteen years later, Iraq has collapsed into three warring states. A third of the country is controlled by ISIS, who have also taken huge amounts of territory in Syria. VICE correspondent Ben Anderson gains exclusive access to the three front lines in Iraq, where Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish forces are fighting for their lives. Anderson visits with the Russian military forces in Syria, meets captured ISIS fighters in Kurdistan, and interviews US policymakers about how the situation in Iraq spun out of control."
The number of people displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution last year exceeded 60 million for the first time in United Nations history, a tally greater than the population of the United Kingdom, or of Canada, Australia and New Zealand combined, says a new report released on World Refugee Day today.
We have more displaced people today than we did after World War II (well, we do have about twice as many people on earth). This is huge news, and there seems to be no real end to the problem, only the looming uncertainty as to how the world will handle and respond to the growing numbers of those without homes. Out of every 113 people on earth, one of them is a refugee. The issue of how to handle migration issues today is the very heart of the difference between how liberals and conservatives feel is the best way to make the world a better place.
Armenian American journalist Liana Aghajanian says the German parliament's decision is all the more groundbreaking because it was a politician of Turkish descent who pushed it through.
The German Bundestag's overwhelming vote last week in favor of this resolution, with just one vote against and one abstention, brought both gratitude and anger. Armenian communities, many of them descendants of genocide survivors who are dispersed across the world, are grateful. Turkey, however, was incensed and recalled its ambassador to Germany. Many Turks see the vote as not just a threat to longstanding German-Turkish relations, but to Turkish national identity.
If Turkey wants to move forward it must address its past. This basis of this article is that with Germany, who has its own very bad past history with genocide, officially acknowledging Turkey's genocide when will Turkey finally do so. Germany not only has a history of genocide, but as the article state it has a key history with the Ottoman Empire (formerly where Turkey is located) and thus many Turkish ancestors, including at the time the Prime minister. Turkey who has refused to acknowledge that this genocide ever occurred and that it was simply just a causality of war must make certain cultural changes unless it will continue to fall into a land in which progressive ideas will never reach. Turkey who wants to economically move forward, thus aligning with the EU can not do this until they take ownership of its past and make an effort to continue human rights actions into the future. Will Turkey ever do this? One would think they would have to if they do ever want to be apart of the the EU which would be a major political and economic victory for the Turks. Germany on the other hand can be a world leader in human rights as it tries to correct the wrongs of its past as well.
"The Whitney Plantation near Wallace, Louisiana, is the first and only U.S. museum and memorial to slavery. While other museums may include slavery in their exhibits, the Whitney Plantation is the first of its kind to focus primarily on the institution. John Cummings, a 78-year-old white southerner, has spent 16 years and more than $8 million of his own fortune to build the project, which opened in December of last year.
Cummings, a successful trial attorney, developed the museum with the help of his full-time director of research, Ibrahima Seck. The duo hope to educate people on the realities of slavery in its time and its impact in the United States today. 'The history of this country is rooted in slavery,' says Seck. 'If you don’t understand the source of the problem, how can you solve it?'"
As a student who someday wants to teach social studies at the high school level, this article brought to light one of the hardest concepts to teach. There are always two sides to every story. While the victors get to write history, the victims are often silenced over time. One man's violent rebellion is another man's treasonous operations. Honestly, the Chinese have done an excellent job of keeping this out of the western media. The only real struggle we ever hear about in China that of Tibet and Taiwan.
This is really disturbing to know that China is attacking their ethnic minority who is just protesting for what they believing in. To make things worst, the Chinese government controls the media and they basically can say whatever they want. For example, referring to these ethnic minority as foreign terrorist. That changes the perspective on how people view and perceive the situation happening in Xinjiang.
The Chinese government is on an all out mission to eradicate terrorizism from the Uighur and anyone else for that matter. Thou news reports are controlled by China its tough to get accurate reports. But their use of force shows they are not playing. Uighurs are suspected Turkish militant Muslims that have been forced out over the years. China has said they have been terrorizing and attacking the people of Xinjiang.
Explore the role of ISIS in the Middle EastInterpret political cartoons on the U.S. response to ISISIdentify the techniques used by cartoonists to express political opinionMonitor the news media coverage of ISIS over time
In recent years, democratic reforms have swept through Myanmar, a country that for decades was ruled by a military junta. As the reforms took hold, however, things were growing progressively worse for the Rohingya, a heavily persecuted ethnic Muslim minority concentrated in the country's western state of Rakhine. The 2012 gang rape and murder of a Buddhist woman by three Muslim men ignited violent riots in which hundreds were killed as Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya attacked each other. In the following months, tens of thousands of Rohingya were rounded up and forced to live in squalid camps; Human Rights Watch deemed the attacks crimes against humanity that amounted to ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya. Thousands of Rohingya have since attempted to leave the country, fueling the region's intricate and brutal human trafficking network.
This kind of ethnic conflict within a country is, in part, a result of colonial borders ignoring ethnic boundaries. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority in a Buddhist majority country, and they are extremely vulnerable to the ethnic cleansing currently happening. The systemic destruction of villages, massacres, and gang rapes by Buddhist vigilantes and Myanmar's military is nothing short of genocide, wiping out the Rohingya by killing them or forcing them to flee the country.
"After four-plus years of fighting, Syria's war has killed at least hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. And, though it started as a civil war, it's become much more than that. It's a proxy war that has divided much of the Middle East, and has drawn in both Russia and the United States. To understand how Syria got to this place, it helps to start at the beginning and watch it unfold."
The war in Syria has been devastating to Syrian's inhabitants. After six years of this conflict it has become a mess and is divided into four sections or groups, all backed different foreign backers. The backers have know become so confused on who there fighting for and what there fighting for, that is how messy this war has gotten. The use of chemical warfare has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions. As to why there is a major Syrian refugee crisis. The conflict started as an internal war against Assad and rebels. This small civil war has know turned into a global conflict. I wish I could say what foreign countries are backing who and why but the lines are very blurred and there has been many back stabbing. All these foreign powers entering this war has established Syria as a great power dispute. The Assad and rebels conflict also brew the other two sections that are fighting in this region the Kurds who want their own nation. The Kurds are the largest cultural and ethnic group without a country. The entrance of the Kurds in the fighting brought in more foreign countries to either support their efforts or squash the Kurds hopes of obtaining a nation of there own. Then you have ISIS who formed as a branch out of the original rebels because there was an internal dispute. Overall this war is bloody and will never end if all these four sections cant come to an agreement. If there is no determination for peace there will never be peace.
Hearing about the news in Syria is usually tragic and frustrating. It is also equally confusing and this video helped to sort out its causes and important transformations over time. Even with the video's succinct explanation, the conflict is still a quagmire to understand. The fighting began during the 2011 Arab Spring when peaceful Syrian protesters were gunned down by Assad's military forces. Instead of backing down and caving into the violent repression, the Syrian civilians retaliated with small arms fire and were joined by Syrian army defectors. The now belligerent protesters formed their own rebel army, causing Syria to erupt into a civil war. Then Islamic extremists, including a terrorist groups, joined the rebels. Countries like Turkey and Jordan began funding and arming the rebels while Iran - a Shiite country - provided support to Assad. Appalled by the out-of-control death toll, the United States began training and arming the rebels - some of whom were from Al Qaeda! Assad's chemical weapons attack escalated U.S. involvement while Russia came to the side of Assad. Putin most likely supports Assad to maintain its lease of a key geographic asset - a warm-water naval base -while also discouraging internal rebellion. At some point a group of ethnic Kurds in northern Syria succeeded (Putin's fear) and began attacking Assad. But, Turkey started attacking the Kurds! Then in 2014 ISIS broke away from Al Qaeda and started attacking the Kurds and the rebels prompting the U.S. to redirect its focus away from the Assad regime. This has to be the messiest conflict in modern history and is entirely defined by proxy wars. Because the war is so convoluted and complicated, there is no end in sight. The relentless destruction over years has caused millions of refugees to flee to Europe because it is the closest stable place to Syria. This unprecedented wave of migrations will surely transform Europe and cripple Syria in the long run.
Syria's war has gotten crazier and crazier and doesn't seem like there is a end in sight. The insane cross fighting between outside countries and the inner working of independence inside Syria itself is still an issue. A local protest has turned into an international fight against top countries of US and Russia.
One of President Trump's first acts as President was the "Muslim Ban" as it was so often referred to. In this article it explains the changes that the ban has gone through since it was first blocked and the differences between it and what the Obama administration did with it polices. We can also look at Europe and debate its policies as well on immigration and what polices they have enacted over the past few years as well. This is a hotly debated issue between both parties right now and into the future, not just an issue, but an issue I am sure will be debated in elections ahead. When looking at this issue we have to look beyond what the main political points will be and try use some of of our own sense on the issue. With so much upheaval in this area is it safe to take in people from it? It is a legit question one must pose especially with the increase in terrorist attacks over the past few years. Could the US or countries in Europe have avoided with a better process? Who really knows for sure. It is in everyone's best interest to make this area more livable for its current citizens. Since that would calm everyone on the immigration issue. How do major world powers get involved in this situation then? That becomes the issue as the the last elections in the US and other countries alike have pushed for more in house or in country work as opposed to overseas involvement. This will not be the last time this comes up, just wait til 2018 and I am sure in 2020 elections.
The United States is already taking some steps to roll back the Islamic State (ISIS) and restrict its resources and recruits, including airstrikes, armin
Since this video was made we have already had a Presidential election and policy made to deal with some of these key issues. Within the past year US policy (some continuation from the Obama Era) under President Trump has been to destroy ISIS and for the most part it has be done. ISIS has been displaced from the region, however that does not mean that the fighting in Syria has stopped. There are still many issues in the area and one that will not simply be rectified within a few years, this is a battle that we will see repeat over and over again. Much like Afghanistan, this area is one with much upheaval and when one power goes away another one rises and new problems can arise. It is an area in which, like the video states a major conundrum. How can we support one place and not make a country like Turkey angry (the Kurd's example from the video)? So one could say well just stay out of the whole area, while that can make sense it is to important as a world leader (especially America) to not be involved in both a key geographical area for Russia and human rights area. While there is no doubt there has been improvements in the last year, it is the same story in the Middle East, what is the end game? How do we get to the finish line and does anyone have the right answers.
The video was published before the last presidential election, but some of the information in it is still accurate regarding the crisis in Syria. For example this video talks about how Syrian refugees are fleeing from ISIS to other nations in order to escape them. There are many refugees being displaced because of the violence ISIS is causing in the middle east. Refugees that need a place to escape to flee to neighboring countries to get away from ISIS. There is still some debate in America about whether or not Syrian refugees should be allowed to enter the U.S. as well. Ultimately something needs to be done about the terror havoc ISIS is reeking in the middle east.
"A narrow win for Colombia's opponents to a government peace deal with FARC rebels has thrown the country into disarray, leading one journalist to starkly declare, 'Nobody really knows what will happen tomorrow.' Likened to the fallout from the United Kingdom's 'Brexit' referendum, the vote's unexpected failure has left the Colombian political classes reeling and unsure how to respond in order to save four years of hard negotiation with the Marxist militia."
This article highlights the amount of division that is occurring within Colombia. The country is divided in two ways. Those who are supporters and members of FARC who believe communism is how Colombia should be governed are in conflict with the rest of the population who want to maintain their democratic ways. Even among the majority of Colombians who are not associated with FARC, making peace with them is a point of division. A nationwide vote very narrowly rejected a deal that would make peace with FARC. Those who voted no do not want to forgive FARC for the crimes they have committed and feel the only way to make peace is to lock up those in FARC. The rest of the country, including the Colombian president simply wanted to establish peace in Colombia. The country was unsure what would happen going forward when this article was written. This example of Colombian conflict shows the effects of globalization. FARC was inspired by the vision of communism that Lenin had back in the early 1900s and is still effecting a country far from Russia one hundred years later. As the world became more connected, so too were ideas able to spread and take hold in regions far from their origins. Another big source of conflict involving FARC is the drug trade, which was only made possible by the consumption and demand of Americans. Many of the problems facing the world today are often very complex and involve exterior forces, much like the dilemma in Colombia.
"Globalization hit organized crime over the last decade and now is integral to its most profitable business -- the international narcotics traffic. Once a regional problem involving a customer base of a few million, and barely a billion dollars in sales, the illegal drug industry is now a worldwide enterprise with tens of millions of hard core consumers spending hundreds of billions on opiates, cocaine and amphetamines and marijuana, as well as other drugs."
"Violence and insecurity are so bad that other war-torn countries have become sites of refuge."
In 2015, nearly 100,000 Ethiopians and Somalis traveled by boat to Yemen, one of the world's most dangerous countries. Last year, nearly 5,000 citizens of Congo, which is fighting powerful rebel groups, were seeking refuge in the Central African Republic, itself torn apart by civil war. And yet 10,000 Burundians have fled their country's own growing civil unrest for Congo. Thousands of Nigerians escaping the extremist Islamist group Boko Haram have gone to Chad, where different strains of that same insurgency conduct frequent deadly attacks.
Developing countries have long taken in a disproportionate number of the world's refugees — roughly 80 percent, according to the United Nations. But even for migration experts and relief workers, the willingness of refugees to leave one war for another is shocking. It's also proving an enormous challenge for humanitarian agencies, which are already overstretched and often not equipped to welcome refugees in countries that are still racked by conflict.
Tags: refugees, Africa, migration, conflict, political, war.
When we hear of migration or refugee issues we tend to think towards Europe and many of the current day issues with Syria. Most date proves that as well, as listed in the article roughly 80% of refugee movement comes in the developed world. Now we get to the more shocking part of the article that we are seeing a refugee crisis in Africa. First off this is the first time for myself hearing this and probably because its not major national news and is buried way below the more "important" problems of the developed world in Europe. However, yes this is a problem and many people who study migration are shocked by it. People are leaving one war zone and immediately move to a possible more unstable land into more war. Why and how does this make sense? People have fled there own countries to find worst situations and have gone to governments that can not support them and an outside world that while trying to help support some of these current countries can not help support refugee as well. This will be a continuing problem until Africa can become more stabilized and we stop seeing genocide and other authoritarian government policies. The study of why people move is always very captivating as we often tend to think we know exactly why people move to and from areas. However, as the article shows until you are put in a desire situation one can not truly know what you would do, such as move your family to a war torn country because just maybe its better than your war torn country. We need to continue to assess this area and try to not just fund the area, but try to find ways in which we can stabilize an area. The major importance of this article is that we realize there is a problem first, with out articles like this the focus would continue to stay on Europe and more developed areas.
Competing territorial claims have led to maritime disputes off the coast of Asia. See a map of the islands at issue.
This is an nice interactive map that allows the reader to explore current geopolitical conflicts that are about controlling islands. This is an good source to use when introducing Exclusive Economic Zones, which is often the key strategic importance of small, lightly populated islands.
This interactive page gives relevant information about islands that are disputed over in southeast Asia. I liked it because you could see the information in context with the map.
This is like a game of Monopoly when people try and get all the houses or businesses. Except this is real life and real isles. Whose is whose? How does Asia decide where and how the EEZ's should be divided.
considering that half of the nations involved are island nations, this is hardly surprising. every nation has issues with their neighbors. even the us and Canada dispute some territory. but these disputes can hardly end as well, when half of these nations have fought wars with each other for most of their histories.
it is truly insane that turkey would shoot down a Russian jet engaging anyone in Syria, especially when the Turks are shooting at the Kurds, who are fighting the people that the Turks claim to hate. this is especially troubling, as Turkey is a part of NATO and may drag the rest of the NATO nations into any war they start.
To get content containing either thought or leadership enter:
To get content containing both thought and leadership enter:
To get content containing the expression thought leadership enter:
You can enter several keywords and you can refine them whenever you want. Our suggestion engine uses more signals but entering a few keywords here will rapidly give you great content to curate.
Your new post is loading...
Scoop.it!
