Signaling Discord, Russia and U.S. Clash Over Syria in Security Council Vote

The United Nations Security Council recently held a vote concerning punishing Syria for its illegal use of chemical weapons at the beginning of the civil war. While the United States voted in favor, along with France, the UK, and the majority of the Security Council, Russia and China both vetoed the resolution. Because of the vetoes, the resolution did not pass so Syria will not experience any consequences.

When Syria first used chemical weapons against its people years ago, the US and Russia together pressured Assad to sign the chemical weapons treaty and dismantle the Syrian stockpiles. Since Syria signed this and it includes consequences for breaking the treaty, it should not be a question of if Syria should experience consequences for using chemical weapons. With Russia and the U.S. arguing about it, it becomes a much more political discussion rather than holding the Syrian government responsible for crimes it committed against its own people.

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Barring Reporters From Briefings

Last Friday several news outlets including The New York Times, Buzzfeed News, CNN, The Los Angeles Times, Politico, and Huffington Post were denied entrance to a briefing at the White House. According to White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, this blockade was “push back”. He said, “We’re just not going to sit back and let, you know, false narratives, false stories, inaccurate facts get out there.” People are questioning whether this is a violation of the rights of the press protected under the first amendment. Michael W. McConnell a law professor at Stanford was hesitant to call this barring unconstitutional, “Criticism of the press is not an attack on the freedom of the press, any more than criticism of the president is an attack on the presidency.” I thought this perspective interesting, but still find this very distressing. While this news outlets may have a liberal slant, it is their right to publish news. I think it is a very scary thing if the head of our government is also the person who decides what information is given out. It is often said that the press is the fourth of government, and this past election is great evidence of how important the media is. It is a privilege to be able to openly support or criticize our government/ country. A bad word against the president (while I do wish that news sources would just report the news with no biased or opinion) should not be something to hide or attack. It is scary that President Trump doesn’t want the spreading of “inaccurate facts” but is perfectly willing to give us alternative ones.

Fish or Food?

Photo By: Flip Nicklin

The Vaquita is going extinct. A mere 30 remain in their only natural habitat, the Gulf of Mexico. Mexico’s government has been trying desperately to prevent the fishing in this area that kills the fish. When large gillnets are used the vaquita ( a small porpoise ) is trapped and suffocated even though they aren’t what is being fished. However, it is hard for the Mexican government to stop the use of gillnets because no alternative exists and they are sympathetic to the fact that preventing the use of gillnets would take away the livelihood of the fisherman.  So, the vaquita continue to die. They will have to be placed in captivity in order to preserve the species. Nothing else can be done while fishing practices remain the same. How can we create a better fishing alternative? Should we care more about the preservation of a species than we do about the jobs of fishermen? What should come first?

Full Article Here

Hospitals: Are they making us sicker or healthier?

When one of your loved ones is sick or injured, you accompany them to the hospital in hopes that you will see them receive top-notch medical attention that will get them back to normal health. Luckily for us here in the United States, we have many incredibly talented doctors who specialize in all different fields that are available to take care of us and cure our ailments. However, this article which was written by a current medical school resident, sheds light on one of the biggest problems with American healthcare today: the physical organization and upkeep of our hospitals. Design flaws within the hospitals make it so infected patients have to lie in the same room as patients with other infections and they end up sharing their diseases which leads to longer hospital stays and even death. Simple navigation through the hospital rooms and hallways is far too difficult for patients who are often disoriented by pain or medication. Bad lighting, wet and slippery floors and even toilets that are too high or too low are just a few of the current conditions in hospitals that make it difficult for a patient to be comfortable and ultimately get better quicker. Lastly, decentralized nursing stations, incredibly high average noise and inconveniently placed elevators make for an undesirable patient experience which actually has been proven to lead to longer hospital stays and longer recovery times. In summary, there is a lot of change that needs to happen in order to improve our health systems.

With all of the technological advances in the medical field and all the miracles happening in modern medicine, it seems like we should be able to design our hospitals in a more efficient and patient-friendly way. It is interesting to read an article such as this one because it causes you to think about all the negative aspects of healthcare in America today. Obviously our healthcare systems and facilities will never run perfectly, there will always be some sort of problem because that’s the nature of it, but after reading this article I now see just how much room there is for improvement. In reality, we have some of best doctors in the most state of the art facilities in the world and for that I am very grateful. However, I am very interested to follow this topic and see how healthcare professionals and hospital administrators choose to fix these prevalent problems in the future

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Coal Executives Embrace Clean Energy Initiative

Although the coal industry has been criticized for the past several years due to their large contributions toward greenhouse gas emissions and global warming, the three leading coal producers are now focusing on more environmentally friendly methods. Arch Coal, Cloud Peak Energy, and Peabody Energy are giving themselves a public makeover by raising concerns about global warming and seeking new methods to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. All three companies are aligning themselves with environmentalist movements and lobbying for government subsidiaries to aid in the cost of reducing the impact of burning coal. Currently, the coal companies are promoting a process that captures the carbon dioxide emitted from burning coal before the carbon dioxide becomes part of the atmosphere. Such a process is very expensive and still imperfect, but coal executives argue that, despite the recent gains in other natural energy sources, coal and fossil fuels will continue to dominate the energy industry for at least several decades more. They also contend that their carbon-capturing process will allow us to continue burning coal and meeting our energy needs in the coming years while still reducing the impact of carbon on the environment. Personally, I am a huge proponent of clean, renewable energy from sources such as solar panels and windmills. However, I also recognize that the energy obtained from such sources is much less than what we are actually consuming. I’m glad the coal industry is lobbying for cleaner, more environmentally friendly methods for burning coal and sustaining our energy needs. On the other hand, it leads me to wonder if the coal industry is lobbying for such subsidiaries because they’re actually interested in the environment or because they’re simply trying to encourage their investors to pour money into the industry again. Whatever the case, we will probably hear soon whether the coal industry was approved to start using their carbon-capturing power plants.

Full article here:

Ecuador to Hold Runoff in Tense Presidential Election

These past 18 months many new leaders too office in Latin American countries. Ecuador is going to face a runoff this April for its new president. In Ecuador, the government candidate, Lenin Moreno, is leading the votes in the first election day, last Sunday. Lenin Moreno is the candidate from current president’s party. I think that the current president Rafael Correa has lead this country to a great economic, social and political stability. Many Ecuadorians who left the country in the previous years to Correa’s presidency, has returned to Ecuador. Another big issue that Correa criticized during his presidency was the conflict of interest in the media business. Also, Mr. Correa and his leftist party combined has been very supportive to others left leaders in the region. Correa’s attitude in social issues was very important dealing with environmentalist during the boom of the commodities. Correa leaves the country in good shape for the next years. He has a big support and approbation from the common people that many of his neighbor leaders would wish to have. He could have run for more years in office like other left regular parties and turning the country into an autocracy, but he is going to leave the office for another leader to take his place which is a good sing for the people. Finally, the favorable results and responds to Lenin Moreno this last Sunday elections were because of Correa’s administration.

Hate Crime in Kansas: Two Indians Shot

Photo Credit: New York Times

This week, Srinivas Kuchibhotla and Alok Madasani were insulted by Adam W. Purinton. He called them a combination of racial slurs and then suggested that they were outsiders in this countries. Customers from the bar where they were sitting began to complain and Purinton was tossed out. A few minutes later, he came back armed and shot the two Indian men and another 24-year-old who tried to defend them. Out of the sutaiton were born everyday heroes- people who took their shirts off to stop the bleeding, and others who helped in various ways. Despite their help, only Madasani survived the shooting. Some say the attack was fueled by Trump’s strong opinions on immigration and the recent development of new policies concerning them. The community, led by Madasani’s forgiving example, are determined to keep their home peaceful and not cause any more pain than has already come about because of the incident. Mayor Michael Copeland encouraged them by saying, “One evil act does not divide a united community.” Does this one event reflect the increased tension towards immigrants within our country or not? Should we do anything about it?

See the whole story here.

Immigration Agents and Deportation

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have been staking out for foreigners all over the United States, including a church in Virginia where immigrants had gone to stay warm, and courthouses in Colorado and Texas. In New York, passengers on airlines  had to show their documentation before even getting off the plane. This is a dramatic plan of the Trump administration to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. Already the task has fallen to the ICE agents , and the time of focusing on hard criminals is past. In the past, they were not allowed to arrest these immigrants, but times have changed. They even avoid approaching them in their homes, preferring to apprehend the immigrants in public spaces to avoid upsetting the families. This tactic does not always work.

With these new changes, the question of how ethical the practice is arises. Should we not be focusing more on criminals rather than people who are trying to escape from a bad situation in their own country? While this is not always the case, perhaps a more lenient rather than stringent security measure would alleviate the problem for immigrants who are coming for this cause. Security needs to be shifted, to allow those who are coming for the same purpose as many of our own ancestors came– that is, for a better life– while only keeping out those who wish harm on the country. The Trump administration seems to have trouble distinguishing the two, and this seems to be a blatant attack on all immigrants.

https://nytimes.com/2017/02/25/us/ice-immigrant-deportations-trump.html

 

 

Killings in the Philippines

The drug war in the Philippines continues to be a horrifying look at how political rhetoric can turn into increased corruption and human rights violations. When President Duterte took office, there was no illusion or deception. He proudly bragged about killing criminals before and said that his focus as president would be to rid the country of its drug problem. This war on drugs has resulted in over a million arrests, and thousands of murders and deaths.

Despite the fear and great rise in the number of killings in the nation, the war on drugs remains popular throughout the Philippines. While citizens may not condone killings, they see it as a necessary evil to rid their nation of corruption and crime. While this may be the popular view, in fact the strict enforcement and rhetoric has resulted in a 51% increase in murders. Vigilantism is on the rise in the Philippines with many people taking justice into their own hands to rid their neighborhoods of drug users and sellers. Duterte’s promise to pardon all officers who kill a citizen while doing their duty has brought on corruption within the police force. Killings are hardly investigated and every attempt is made to keep journalists, especially international journalists, from the scene of the crime. Human rights are being violated in this attempt to rid the country of criminals. It has become a “war on the poor” as users are the only ones being punished and corrupt politicians receive no punishment.

read more here

Maintaining Momentum Against ISIS

 

In the first few days of the new administration, President Trump requested a preliminary plan to defeat ISIS from defense secretary James Mattis. The defense team has been working for about the last 30 days to develop a plan, that according to top United States Commander for the Middle East could require more troops being sent to Syria. There has been significant momentum against ISIS by US, Iraqi, and Syrian Kurdish coalition forces and the coalitions want to keep up that momentum. President Trump promised many times throughout his campaign and during his first few weeks as President to eliminate ISIS completely. Due to his strong rhetoric towards the situation and apparent willingness to go to great lengths to fulfill his campaign promises, I believe it is very likely he will be a proponent of sending more troops to the region. Until this point the US strategy in Syria has been advising and arming local defense forces with a limited number of US troops actually on the ground. With the new plan, I believe the President is willing to allocate a much greater number of people and resources in order to defeat the ever looming threat of the Islamic State.

 

Full story here.