Airborne Toxin in Afghani High School

I know that we aren't required to post another blog this week, but while compiling my log I couldn't find my post for Week 11, so I thought I'd post this interesting article that I read yesterday. I hope you guys find it as interesting as I did!

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/03/what-caused-illness-at-3-girls-schools/

This article discusses the attack of 3 girls schools in Afghanistan last month. Three schools were gassed, harming 124 girls total. It is still unknown who attacked the school, or why, but many speculate that the Taliban is responsible. The attack itself, however, is not the most interesting part. One week after the attack, 80% of students from the three schools had returned back to school. Although parents were reluctant to send their daughters back, they decided that the risk was worth educating their daughters. These girls are the future of a war-torn country, and therefore an adequate education is necessary.

I found the growing importance of female education in Afghanistan to be quite interesting. As many of us know, the Middle East holds a reputation for failing to educate their female population. This article lets it be known that women do in fact receive and education, and that it is quite important to them and their families. In addition, the importance of education is a result of constructivism, created by each individual nation's necessity for an educated population and driven by social values among the population. As time as passed, a growing necessity for an educated population (due to the effects of war) caused the growing importance of education among women.

Yuhui's Blog Post :China’s Economic Power Unsettles the Neighbors

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/world/asia/10jakarta.html?_r=1
This article is primarily concerned with China’s swift economic growth and its impact on its neighbors. Many Asia countries, such as Indonesia and Vietnam, have to compete with an ever-growing Chinese economy, which is not easy.
This article reminds me of the arguments about semi-peripheral countries in the Wallerstein’s World Theory. Semi-peripheral countries have to be very cautious in terms of economic development to accelerate their development and become a core country; otherwise, they will one day find themselves peripheral countries, like Jamaica. Generally speaking, there fierce competition between semi-peripheral countries because they all desire becoming cores. The ever-growing tensions between China and other developing countries in Asia adequately demonstrate this perspective. Countries, like Vietnam and Indonesia, all strive to become cores and have to compete with an ever-growing China. Thus, there are tensions between these countries.
Constructivism does not work very well here. It cannot be applied to account for the tensions between these Asia countries.I will take the relationship between China and Vietnam as an example. China and Vietnam have very similar culture traditions and they got along pretty good in history. Before the PRC was founded, there were some trade between China and Vietnam. It might be argued that it was because of the Vietnam War that demolished the two countries relationship by Constructivism. But I think it was not very appropriate to argue this way because it is hard for constructivism give a reason for which accounts for China's decision on the Vietnam War in the first place.The problem with Constructivism is that it prioritizes political reasons over economic factors and it does not take economic relationship between countries into account. Thus it is cannot give a good explanation for the tensions between China and Vietnam.

Ellen's blog post

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/opinion/25kristof.html?ref=opinion



Nicholas Kristof is famous for publicizing horrific human rights violations that the Western world has ignored. He won his first Pulitzer prize for his work regarding the Cambodian sex trade and his second for his work regarding the genocide in Darfur.

His column today, Kristof writes about a school started in Southern Sudan, because of the ambition of Valentino Achak Deng the boy who inspired the book What is the What and the resources of the book’s author Dave Eggers. The school is a boarding school and each class comprises 50% girls. Kristof sites government statistics that last year in all of southern Sudan, only 11 girls sat for graduation exams. This school is attempting to raise that number exponentially. The administrators perpetually have to resist the constant pressure from the government officials to admit their own children. However, the school’s administrators insist that admission is based solely on test scores, with a slight preference given to orphans.

Though this school in itself is not an international event, the girls and boys that it educates may someday become players on the international stage and find peaceful solutions to the turmoil that has enveloped their country. The international support for the school, particularly from United States citizens is proof that international relations is more than just state relations. Realism cannot explain why people feel compassion for those who do not influence or threaten them at all. This school and its international support are proof that people care and effect international relations with no obvious motive other than compassion.

Here is the New York Times article about Powerpoint and the Pentagon-- it shares some similar themes with Gregory's arguments about technology influencing how complex situations are viewed.

Future Pope’s Role in Abuse Case Was Complex

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/europe/27vienna.html?ref=world

This is an article about current Pope Benedict’s previous responses to allegations of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, specifically a case during the 1990s involving a high-ranking Austrian cardinal. Given the influence then-Cardinal Ratzinger seemed to hold over the Pope and other important Catholic institutions, his critics are unwilling to forgive what they perceive to be his failure to prosecute more vigorously the sexual crimes committed within the church, despite his more recent demonstrations of remorse regarding the scandal. Though the clergyman at the center of this scandal died in 2003, there is still significant interest in the way is case was handled by the current pope, a prominent example himself of the continued relevance of an undead history. The article refers to the matter as a Rorschach-type evaluation that would serve to predict his future approach to such issues. This is in itself an example of a past that is not yet past, but more broadly, the influence of the Catholic Church and its legacy retains an unsettled legacy developed over millennia of power that continues to hold serious implications for current international relations.

Noriega is extradited to France

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8645584.stm

This article discusses an event that took place about 20 years ago. A Panamanian military leader, Manuel Noriega, who previously had good relations with the US, was convicted of drug trafficking, and spent 17 years in prison in the US. After 17 years, Noriega wanted to return back to Panama to serve the rest of his sentence, but his appeals were rejected and he has now been sent to France to serve the rest of his time. This article brings up the issue of the rights of prisoners of war, one that is very much alive today. With the controversy going on in Guantanamo Bay, it is evident that the lines are still hazy concerning the label of "prisoner of war," and the rights they have. In this sense, this article brings up the past, which is still very present today.

Dream election result for Sudan's President Bashir