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The Arab Spring.

Week 6.

 The Arab spring is a movement that has risen in the late 2010 in the country of Tunisia It all started when a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire in protest against the solicitation of bribe of a nearby official. Since then, this event has emerged on to become an “Awakening” and a movement. One of the countries from the Arab spring I’ve decided to go in depth about would have to be Egypt. In Egypt, it is the second major venue in which an Arab spring uprising had broken out and it has been the most prominent case (Snow, 2014). In January 25, 2011 was the televised demonstration event in Tahir Square in Cairo so that their leader, Mubarak could step down from office. I remember watching this on the news but never really understood the origin of the current events. Now I am able to construct the general issue altogether.. Due to Egypt’s financial situation, the movement was more difficult as well as the transitions.

Currently, it has been four years since the world televised demonstration in Tahir Square and since the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigned during the Arab Spring. According to the article, information activists say that government surveillance is getting worse, not better. Basically The Ministry of Interior and other government officials have implemented more surveillance in the country but mainly for the “bad guys”. The reason behind this is to have a tight control on the internet activity in Egypt and to “make repression clearer and organized for the state.”(Ramy Raoof) They are using the U.K. and the U.S. as a model for their action of surveillance saying that” We are trying to keep up with other democracies around the world, to move our country forward in a direction like the U.S.,” (Ramy Raoof) Based on the article it seems as if Egypt believes if surveillance is used, more control on crime or suspicious events can be done.

Work Cited

Snow, Donald M. Cases in International Relations. Sixth ed. Boston: Pearson Long-man, 2012. Print

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/03/09/arab-spring-surveillance-egypt-intensifies/

-Josephine Jules

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Week 4: The Current Events in Afghanistan.

“ Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Endorses 'Legitimate' Peace Talks In Afghanistan”

In a step towards ending the more than 13 years of violent conflict with the country of Afghanistan, Pakistan has tried to create a meeting of mediation between the Taliban and members of the Afghan high peace council due to the ongoing war between Taliban and Afghanistan.

The  Afghanistan war is widely known as the longest war including their war with America ever since the  attacks of September 11, 2001. “Afghanistan is known as the most forbidding, unforgiving, and difficult country in the world”. (Snow, 2014)  Throughout the years of the Afghanistan war, several efforts have been made to stop and bring this war to an end. In this event, Taliban leader, Mullah Omar describes on this action on having a peace talk as a necessity in order to gain peace in a war torn country. The Afghanistan conflict is also a prime example of an asymmetrical warfare which is defined dictionary.com as, ”opposing groups or nations that have unequal military resources, with the weaker opponent using unconventional weapons and tactics, as terrorism, to exploit the vulnerabilities of the enemy. As of this year 2015, it is apparent that this country is actually trying to make efforts in creating some type of ending to their notorious war-filled country.  

Sources

Snow, Donald M. Cases in International Relations. Sixth ed. Boston: Pearson Long-man, 2012. Print.

Taliban Leader Mullah Omar Endorses 'Legitimate' Peace Talks In Afghanistan

http://www.ibtimes.com/taliban-leader-mullah-omar-endorses-legitimate-peace-talks-afghanistan-2009061

asymmetric warfare. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved July 26, 2015, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/asymmetric warfare

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The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deemed an “irresolvable conflict.” Irresolvable conflicts share certain characteristics and they are all present in the Israeli-Palestinian situation. Those involved in this issue are the U.S., Palestinians, and the Israelis (Snow 65). This conflict surrounds a territorial dispute over the territory that is known to Muslims as Palestine but is being controlled by Israel. A problem exists because Palestinians believe that the territory Palestine is rightfully theirs. The original inhabitants of Palestine were Muslims but there was a massive migration of many Jews to Palestine and other areas which eventually lead to war and Israel taking control of even more Muslim territories om the West Bank and in Gaza ( Snow 68, 81). Palestinians want all land that was seized by Israel to be returned to them while Israel demands that these lands are rightfully theirs and that Palestine should not become a sovereign state. The U.S. Position on the issue is basically attempting peace between both parties involved. Israel has long been an ally of the U.S. and will continue to have U.S. support. However, of all the available options to resolve the conflict the Obama administration is in favor of moving forward with an autonomous Palestinian state (PBS). I am in support of the U.S. position in the issue due to its main aim being maintaining peace as a two-state settlement is a good solution at this point. According to Huffington Post, it appears that the U.S. position has shifted from being aimed at conflict management rather than conflict resolution. Despite this, U.S. Secretary of State Kerry has invested a lot of time on this issue and will continue to do so in hopes that an agreement will be reached. A peaceful solution would be a conclusion to the negotiations that have been going on that both Israel and Palestine could agree on.

Sources

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/uzi-rabi/conflict-management-israel-palestine_b_5147173.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/middle_east-jan-june06-us_05-11/

Snow, Donald M. Cases in International Relations. Sixth ed. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2012. Print.

 Johanna Wilson.

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Iran-A Pivotal State

The United States falls into the category of being major state which means that it exercises significant power and influence on the international scene. Iran, on the other hand, is described as a pivotal state. This simply means that it lies in between the weak and major states. Here, it lacks power to play a major role globally but does have a certain level of power in its region away from manipulation from major states. Iran’s regional power has led to conflict between it and the U.S. especially where nuclear weapons are concerned. Ever since 1979 when Iran's government was replaced by an anti-American theocratic regime, it and the United States have been clashing. This has been due mainly to Iran's nuclear weapons program. The U.S. and other major powers believe that since Iran is such a radical regime it will use its nuclear weapons irresponsibly by sharing them with terrorists or attacking Israel (Snow). Iranians deny this premise and argue that they comply fully with international guidelines.  U.S. opposition to the Iranian program has become nationalistic. Due to the lack of influence the U.S. has in the region the Obama administration chose to reverse President Bush's way of handling Iran which was simply just ignoring the state. A nuclear deal was proposed to curb Iran's nuclear program regarding arms trafficking and ballistic missile capabilities, etc. The new deadline for this deal is set for Monday, July 13, 2015 as the previous July 10th deadline was passed without the major states and Iran reaching an agreement.  Snow, Donald M. Cases in International Relations. Sixth ed. Boston: Pearson Longman, 2012. Print.  http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/08/politics/iran-nuclear-talks-obama-deadline/  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/11/iran-and-world-powers-give-themselves-72-hours-to-clinch-nuclear-deal