2012 Predictions

I don't think that the world will 'end' in 2012.  Rather, I think that a drastic change will occur.  First, I feel that the world's economy will undergo some extreme changes.  With the recession in Europe and the USA combined, along with the SOPA act, I feel that the global economy will crash.  When this happens, I think that the world economy will revert to one of two extremes: a total global currency incapable of failure like in a communist state or each country having its own individual currency (ie. Marx, Francs).

The politics of our world will also undergo some extreme changes.  I think that with the death of Kim Jong Il the new ruler of North Korea will feel obliged to exercise his power and attempt to launch a nuclear weapon.  This will lead to invasion and warfare with North Korea, adding to the already burdening load of the Middle East.  This will cause the USA to neglect the drug wars in Mexico, causing it to start spilling over into American soil.  This will cause the US to invade Mexico and occupy it.  This will lead to the eventual 'manifest destiny' of the US taking over North America.  I feel that Europe will retry the Euro but with more of a global constraint, having all countries become one. This will eventually cause 1984.

Finally, I feel that humans will begin contemplating colonizing Mars.  With advanced medical technology, humans will begin to live longer and syart to deplete Earth's netural resources to almost nothing.  Humans will plant trees on Mars to start converting its atmosphere to oxygen.  in the next 30 years, colonies will begin to be established, helping lighten the load of Earth's population.

Although may some see it as unrealistic (including myself), we never know whats going to happen in the future.  I just took all of whats happening now and made sense of it.

AIC NSA Response

I felt that the final response from the NSA was very encompassing.  His response to us collectively as a team was constructive and helpful; outlining out individual achievements and accomplishments as a whole.

Personally, he outlines my character's one major achievement which was forming a strong bond and eventually becoming trade partners with Russia.  He stated that this required a lot of diplomacy and communication skills and that I have developed greatly over the simulation.

He did not, however, clearly outline how well our team did in taking strides to our overall goals.  The individual efforts undertaken by each of us could have been totally nonlinear and random.  He never addressed our goals directly and related how well we pursued them.

Lastly, I feel that the NSA never provided constructive criticism in any way.  He only pointed out the positive aspects of our performance and outlined our accomplishments.  Although that is very helpful and lets us know we did a good job, he could have provided some feedback to our endeavors that didnt work out.  He did not point out where we could improve specifically or at all.

"

Dear Saudi Arabia, 

I hope you have had as good of a time as I have throughout this simulation. It has been a tremendous learning experience for myself and, hopefully, for you too. You have done an amazing job fulfilling the role of your country. It has been a pleasure watching your team develop and grow into your characters. I have been thoroughly impressed at how quickly you picked up on you countries needs and strategized how to fulfill them. With each press release and interaction within the simulation I have seen you develop into a stronger team. You have done a great job and have really played an intricate role throughout this simulation experience. I hope you have learned alot and can take away from this a greater appreciation for international politics and team work. You have witnessed first hand how hard it can be to work with other groups with different ideals. I think you will find that the lessons you have learned throughout the simulation play a large part in situations you will encounter in the future. Individually, I think you all have brought a unique approach and outlook into the simulation. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, I really appreciated your communication with Russia. You did a great job at finding one of the most powerful allies in the simulation and rallying them to your cause. I was impressed that you not only acquired them as an ally, but also made them take up your cause and become a trade partner. All around, I think this showed great strategy and sent a very powerful message to the rest of the teams.  Overall, you guys have been great to work with and I wish you all the best as you take your next steps. 

"

My fellow teammates comments have been removed from the NSA message above.

Commencment the the Obedience Academy - Aesop Rock

"Must not sleep must warn others
Trust blocks creep where the dust storm hovers
I milk my habitat for almost everything I want
Sometimes I take it all and still can't feel this pitfall in my gut"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7snfXC4mJ0

These lyrics say a lot about personal responsibility.  It pretty much says that the person the artist is talking about has "milked his habitat" meaning that they used up the environment.  It speaks of the lack fo remorse that we feel when being environmentally unsustainable because we may not see the reprecussions right away, but they are real.  Eventually disaster will happen, and as a good global citizen you must "not sleep, must warn others".

Canada and Iran

I found all the terms used in this article clear.

Discussion Questions

1)Why would Iran want to 'cross the nuclear threshold'?  Is it right that we assume they will?

2) Is Israel attacking Iran the smartest thing to do in this situation?  Could a more peaceful resolution be reached?

3) Why is there so much ambiguity and unsettledness surrounding the issue of Iranian nuclear arms?  Do you think that the war on terror and claims of nuclear arms in Iraq has anything to do with it?  Why?

MacLeans Article Response

http://www2.macleans.ca/2011/12/02/europes-ugly-little-dictatorship?

I understood all the words in this article.

Discussion Question:
How is it that such political corruption can fly under the radar so easily?

Response:
The rescue efforts of developed nations are stretched thin as is, we must focus on helping countries that are in dire need of us over nations that need us, but are not living in such bad conditions as others.  In short, we need to work our way up form the biggest problem area to areas that can sustain themselves for a while longer.

Church and State

The idea of separation of church and state had been a controversey over the last 100 years.  Only recently has it been believed that church and state have been completley seperated.  This is true for the matter of religion having a direct impact on political matters, but it is not true in other senses.

If we look back, many laws (especially conservative laws), have been put in place based on religious morals.  Back when the laws were made, the church still had a very big role in politics.  This is fine for the time, but to suit our current multi-cultural environment we require laws free of religious moral.  The fact that the morals are probably all of catholic origins, makes it unjust and unacceptable to pin those morals on others of different religions who may disagree with said morals or have different ones.

I find this ironic that our country and many others still have laws in place that do not reflect a churchless state.  In countries we are currently occupying, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, we prosecute the people for having a certain religious affiliation with an organized government.  I find this very hippocritical that we can comfortably tell other nations what is 'right and wrong', just because of what we believe.  Our morals that we were raised with and that, unfortunatley, are laws, may seem ok to us but completley disgusting to people from different religious backgrounds.

Stza

Scott Sturgeon, also known as Stza, is most notably the lead singer of ska-punk band 'Choking Victim'.  He is an active Anarchist, and portrays very strong messages in his songs.  The biggest message he conveys is the imbalance of power in our society.  He is very anti-authoritative and is an activist against police brutality and political corruption.

Although he is associated with being a squatter, drugs, train hopping and multiple arrests, he still has educated countless fans of alternative political views and the disadvantages of living in a capitalist society.  He also shares his experiences with police brutality and unfair treatment to help show people what actually happens behind the scenes in our society.



An example of one of his songs is the song 'Money', from the album 'No Gods, No Masters'.  This song is about how money is unevenly divided in our society and about the huge gap between the rich and poor.  It also is about how money leads to corruption in people, countries and societies in general.

Money: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY7yGEAMfPs

Although he is not exactly a human rights activist, he has still helped people grow more aware of the world around them.

Quote Analysis

" We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace; that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations, far away.... We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community." 

- Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former US President, 1945.

Given this statement was made before globalization 3.0 occurred, the knowledge and wisdom displayed in this quote is substantial.  Roosevelt realized that the world is all interconnected and that in order for an individual to thrive another individual must be thriving somewhere else in the world.  He realized that the world is just one big global community, which is very insightful to see before the term was truly defined.

Globalization; A New Strain of Anarchy

 " It has often been said that globalization is just another word for colonialism. Explain. "

First, the definition of both terms.

Colonialism:
a : control by one power over a dependent area or people b : a policy advocating or based on such control 

 

Globalization:

the act or process of globalizing : the state of being globalized; especially : the development of an increasingly integrated global economy marked especially by free trade, free flow of capital, and the tapping of cheaper foreign labor markets 

I strongly disagree with the claim that globalization and colonialism are the same thing.  First of all, colonialism suggests that one power be in control.  With globalization, the entire GLOBE is involved.  Hence the name.  Secondly, there is no control in globalization.  Friendman suggested that one of the 3 convergences was that we, as a society, need to horizontalize.   Such changes came in the year 2000 that we, as a society, lost control over globalization.  When all the flatteners came together, there was no more policy.  Globalization is basically anarchy.  There is no rule over how much information is shared and collaborated on.  Friendman used his example of call centers in India at the beginning of his lecture as an example.  Sure there are American laws and policy over the corporation based in India, but Indian laws apply to the workers.  With corporations aside, piracy of copyrighted works is a perfect example of anarcho-globalization.  If i want to download a CD, I go to thepiratebay.org.  This is a torrent website based out of Sweden.  I download a torrent file that taps into seeds in, for example, China, India, Nepal, Japan, Switzerland, Latvia, Russia, Canada and Paraguay.  There is no rule anymore.  Anything can be accessed form anywhere.

 

AIC

The AIC simulation has been very enlightening and at the same time, in my opinion, somewhat irrelevant.

It has been interesting because it gives us an idea about what internal issues the Arab nations need to resolve among themselves.  When we, as students, are exposed to such issues we really get a detailed view of what issues are present in the world.  Such issues as territorial claims, religious endeavors and economics endeavors are very present and very different than I imagined they would be.

I feel it has been somewhat irrelevant because even though our countries collaborate with each other regarding certain issues, the manner in which said issues are addressed can be very unrealistic.  I feel that the AIC simulation is a valuable educational tool, but at the same time students should be educated on how the present issues really are being resolved.  This can help coach decision making and give an adjusted view on the individual needs and concerns of countries involved.

The Economic Impact of the Police

The amount of power given to a select few in our society is a scary thought.  The police force is in place to 'serve and protect', but most of the time the police force does more harm than good.  In the economic sector, for example, the police responding to a crime costs more than the crime in question.  The economist Michael Parenti once said :

"I could demonstrate to you that every single bank robbery..., the cost of the police was more than the money that the robbers actually took from the bank.  Does that mean..., theres no real economic intrest involved, theyre not protecting the banks...  Of course its an economic system.  If they didnt stop that one bank robbery, regardless of the cost, this could jeopardize the entire banking system.  There are people that believe the function of the police is to fight crime.  That is not true.  The function of the police is social control, and the protection of property."

- Michael Parenti

Assignment Number 1 - My Summer

Create POST # 1: What did you do this summer and how can what you did this summer be connected to an important issue? This post should be at least one paragraph in length.

This summer I was a Camp Councilor at a summer camp.  I was assigned to a group of ten 12-year-old boys.  For a month, I taught them skills such as canoeing, swimming, archery, nature, etc..  We all lived together with another councilor.  This taught the boys to get along with other, patience,  friendship and confidence.  I feel this related to the issue of crime in big cities.  Since all the boys are from Toronto, I feel that everything they learned at camp will contribute to the decrease of youth drug use, crime and other issues that happen in the city.  Since these boys now know compassion and patience, they will be able to get along with people a lot better and will be confident in what they do.  This will most likely keep them away form gangs, and keep them out of fights; decreasing youth issues in urban environments.