Terrorism

Terrorism is defined in the Code of Federal Regulations as “the unlawful use of force and violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives'. Depending on the origin, terrorism can be either international or domestic. Domestic terrorism originates within the United States. International terrorism relates to the unlawful acts of terrorists that violates the United States and any other state. Terrorists related activities are usually split up into two categories, incident and prevention. A terrorist incident relates to the violent act that endangers a person’s life. Terrorist prevention is when those violent acts are intercepted (stopped) due to suspicion and investigation.

“Supreme Court blocks challenge to anti-terrorism law” is a relatively new article (so new that it was published less than an hour ago) that I found very interesting because it relates to the prevention of terrorism. According to this article, On Tuesday, the United Stated Supreme Court ruled the 9/11 anti- terrorism maybe beyond normal judicial review.  In 2008 a similar very similar case was under review. In this case Lawyers, journalists, human rights activists and others believed that government's ability to intercept international communications was unconstitutional and that it violated the fourth amendment. What I found to be furthermore interesting about this case was that, the ability of the government's intelligence wasn’t being questioned, but the ability of the plaintiff’s to find out if they were even being intercepted was up for questioning. The plaintiff’s argument was that the fear of being heard made them conduct business in an abnormal way. The United Stated Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiffs did not have proper standing to challenge this law. Justice Samuel Alito called it "hypothetical future harm." when he announced the decision.

Surprisingly I agree with the court’s decision. I understand where the plaintiffs were coming from because I am a very private person, but I believe the government should have the right to prevent terrorism in any way they feel fit to do so. Terrorism is such important issue that unfortunately it puts America’s privacy rights at stake.

The United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights." The main bodies of the U.N. consists of the general assembly, the economic and social council, the security council, the trusteeship council, the secretariat, and the international court of justice. There are 193 member states apart of this organization.

 

"Women,girls increasingly victims in Afghan war, U.N. says" is a relatively new article that I found very interesting, not only because I am a female but because the U.N. thought this issue was so important, it needed to be addressed and announced publicly. According to this article, the United Nations stated that women and girls in Afghanistan have increasingly become victims of civilian casualties. Though these casualties have lowered as a whole, women victims have experienced a twenty percent increase. They are either injured or killed. To quote U.N. human rights director in Afghanistan, Georgette Gagnon, "The sad reality is that they were killed and injured while going about their daily work, their daily business." The Taliban and their insurgent groups is said to be responsible for 81 percent of all civilian casualties. The U.N. is addressing this "high human cost" and has been offering their assistance in Afghanistan since 2007. (UNAMA)

I've always been a great supporter of the United Nations. I'm all for maintaining international peace and security and I believe human rights is an important issue we should never stop fighting for. I've particularly been a fan of the U.N. because their work extends from here to the other side of the world. When you think of the U.N., you might think of peacekeeping, international security, humanitarian interventions, and economic sanctions, but they do a lot more to make the world a more suitable place to live in. The U.N. focuses on a wide range of world problems. This organization works to keep the environment healthy, and as the article shows, they promote democracy, woman’s rights and gender equality.

Democracy

A democracy “is a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.” I have always considered the United States to be a democracy, but after further research, I found out that the U.S is not a democracy, but a republic, a Federal Constitutional Republic to be more precise.” A republic is where the rule of law governs the nation. But here in the US not only does the law govern us but it also governs the government. It limits their power.” We the people of the United States have the right to vote for who we want to represent us. Thankfuly this right has progressed. Lately there have been ballots that consisted of law passing questions instead of just candidates, therefore,“the type of system we employ is a representative form of democracy” The article Democracy is Under Challenge under Zambia is about Zambia (which is located in southern Africa) experiencing a lack of democracy while gaining statehood. Zambia became independent in 1964. Unlike the United States, who gained their independence in 1776. Since Zambia is relatively new to independence there has been a major concern that their government has been manipulating power to their advantage lately, which exemplifies their undemocratic government from the past. Zambia's government have been accused of government interference and corruption, banning and blocking political events, and arresting competitive leaders. I honestly believe that most democratic countries, if not all have a treacherous government. Do I believe this right, of course not, but with that being said, there's not much we can do about it. Yes, we have the right to vote and can do things like petition and protest (just to name a few) if we have a major concern with the way things are being conducted, but overall we have a very limited say in what goes on. Over time, we as a people have gained a lot more say in how our government operates, so in the near future I am almost certain and hopeful that this trend will continue. After all, without us, there is no one to govern so why not listen to us, we are the people who have to live by these laws.

War

Now the topic of war can get a little tricky. I'm pretty much biased when it comes to war but then again I'm pretty much biased when it comes to just about everything. When it comes to war, I only support it when there is no other option. IT HAS TO BE WORTH IT. There are various reasons why states go to war. Some of those reasons being territory, economic gain, aiding an ally at war, and retaliation, just to name a few. When those reasons are childish and translates to plain bullying on an international scale, I disagree with it.

 

Take the nine year U.S. War on Iraq for instance. America decided to go to war with Iraq because they believed that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In the article, Ten Years Since Colin Powell Presented Case for Iraq War, the article acknowledges today (February 05, 2013) being the ten year anniversary of the day former Secretary of State Colin Powell made his case to the United Nations to go to war with Iraq. With this being said, one year ago Colin Powell stated this an interview "I feel bad about any loss of life on either side of the conflict, but I think it was a justified decision based on what we knew at the time. I did it, and as I say in the book (It Worked For Me), I had to move on. I was still Secretary of State. I couldn’t go in a corner and go fetal."

 

After doing further research on the War on Iraq, I found out that yes chemical and biological weapons that had been missing for years were recovered after US troops invaded Iraq, but since we then we have not found nuclear weapons that Intel suggested we would find. In other words, Colin Powell acknowledged that he was wrong in the best way he could, because the amount of money this war cost, plus the total number of deaths not only on our end, but caused by us definitely does not say "worth it" to me.