Lost at Sea

Lost at Sea

The current issue that has been developing lately is the missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. The whereabouts of the aircraft are currently unknown. There has been a lot of controversy on what happened to the plane. The things we know are that flight 370 left Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 am, 8th of March. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6:30 am that same day; but it never arrived in it's final destination. The traffic control tower lost communication with the aircraft around 1:30 am (CNN). People are saying that two Iranian men entered the aircraft with stolen passports, then took over the flight. The authorities later determined that they were migrants trying to get into Beijing illegally. This is not yet a fact, but authorities are working on the case. Another theory is that the pilot or someone else with the aviation experience could have tampered with the plane's trajectory and brought the plane down. The only problem with the theories of the plane crashing is the fact that no debris has been found; and the fact that the cellphones still ring when their relatives call is another mystery. This means that they could not have crashed into the water, other wise the cellphones would not be functioning. Investigators are trying to figure out why the Black Box isn't responding and why they cannot find flight 370 via GPS. Search parties are looking for the missing plane via air, water, and land, but have not found any trace of the aircraft.   For more information about the missing Boeing 777-200 ER go to http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-knowns-unknowns/.

Work Cited

- Mullen, Jethro. "Missing Malasia Airlines Flight 370: What We Know and Don't Know." CNN. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc... Web. 24 Mar 2014.<http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/10/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-knowns-unknowns/>.

- Unknown, unknown. Flight 370. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 24 Mar 2014.<http://guardianlv.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/may1153067-Search-underway-for-missing-Flight-370.jpg>.

Regional Consequences Caused by Economic Hitmen

Regional Consequences Caused by Economic Hit men

An Economic Hit man or EHM is responsible of convincing countries that are strategically important to the United States to accept enormous loans for info structure development and to make sure that the lucrative projects were contracted to U.S corporations (Perkins). This scheme created by the corporatocracy to cheat countries out of billions of dollars has had many global consequences over the past century. Two places that were highly impacted by the EHM were  Ecuador and Panama.

What caused for the EHM's to go to Ecuador was that they planned to hold purely democratic elections. The problem weren't the elections themselves, but when the elected president, Jaime Roldós Aguilera, wanted to make sure that Ecuador's resources were used to help the people; that's when the U.S got worried, so they sent the EHM's to deal with the problem. They met with Roldós and tried to convince him of taking down his policies in exchange of money, but he didn't yield. Soon after he was assassinated by CIA soldiers called Jackals. They made it look like an accident, so they said that he died in a plane crash. The consequences of his death were that his policies were removed and all the profits from their resources went to the corporation in the U.S.

When the EHM's went to Panama it was for the soul purpose of recovering the rights to the Panama Canal. The Panama Canal is very important to importation and exportation of goods for all the countries in the world. President Omar Torrijos wanted the rights of the Panama Canal to be in the hands of the people of Panama, so he met with the President of the United States Jimmy Carter to arrange a treaty. The United States wanted to keep the rights of the canal because it made huge amounts of profit to the country that had control over it. The Economic Hit Men were sent to Panama to convince President Torrijos of letting the Panama Canal remain in U.S hands in exchange of wealth to him and his family. Torrijos declined because he wanted to free his people of the exploitation caused by the Americans. Torrijos knew that he would have the same fate as Roldós did, but he didn't care because he knew that his actions would help his people be liberated from the American oppression. In June of 1981, President Torrijos was in a plane crash similar to the one that President Roldós was in; it was obvious that he was assassinated. The consequences for his death was that the treaty was canceled and the rights to the canal were back in U.S hands.

Work Cited 

- Perkins, John. "John Perkins: Economic Hit Man." Wanttoknow.info. N.p.. Web. 24 Mar 2014.<http://www.wanttoknow.info/johnperkinseconomichitman>.

- Unknown, unknown. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. N.D. Photograph. n.p. Web. 24 Mar 2014. <http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oYd3KyqvOhA/Td3cd-bKuji/AAAAAAAAG9A/ORuMKaMUd2s/s1600/confenssions-of-an-economic-hit-man.jpg>.

Privileges of Race

Privileges of Race

The concept of race has benefited some social groups and downgraded some others. Since “race” became popular, the Arian race or “whites” have been the seen as the dominant race, while the African or "blacks" have been seen as unequal beings that should be enslaved.  The white people have always been viewed as the perfect/beautiful beings, while the black people have been viewed as ugly and unlovable beings that don´t know better. According to the PBS documentary I recently watched, the black person is a better athlete that a white person because they are closer to the wild (PBS). This is just another excuse for the White man to show that his lack of strength or agility is because the Black man is closer to the wild, so he excels thanks to his wild instinct. This is why black people are seen as the better athletes, but the white people as the more educated beings. I feel that the idea of race has benefited me because of the color of my skin, but I can´t imagine what a black person has to go through in this racist world. Yes, racism can be used against any race including Latinos, Jews, and Asians, but the Black people are the ones who are targeted more often. Personally I´ve never been verbally or physically abused because of the color of my skin even though I´m Latino. This is due to the fact that my skin is still white, just a little tanner. If I had black skin more people would see me as different and would target me easier. I do believe that race has privileges, but I´m not saying that I´m ok with it being that way. We are all equal, so there is no point for this Black vs. White dichotomy. In conclusion, having a certain color of skin will have privileges to some people, while it will downgrade others. This is a reality we have to live with even though its wrong. We are all equal and should have the same privileges just for being human. 

Work Cites

Unknown, . Raza. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 17 Mar 2014. <http://crisisynegocio.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/raza.jpg>.

Unknown, . "What is Race." PBS.org. N.p.. Web. 17 Mar 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm>.

What is Race?

What is Race?

What is race? This is a very complicated question for most people. Before learning about race I would say that race had to do with the physical appearance of different people, as most people would say; but now I´m not too sure about what race is. According to Ian F. Haney Lopez, who wrote the article titled “What is Race?”, race is a “socially constructed concept” (Lopez 1994). Most people would say that race has to do with the biological genes of the human DNA, but they would be mistaken. People use race as an excuse to classify different types of people into different social categories. Lopez specifically defines race as “a vast group of people loosely bound together by historically contingent, socially significant elements of their morphology and/or ancestry” which illustrates that race is nothing to do with genes, but instead it was created to socially categorize people with different physical features.

What would people say if I would ask them “What is your race?” I think they wouldn’t be sure what to answer me because there are so many different categories of race that one can be part of many different categories. I´m not sure what race I belong to because I have many little traits of various races. I don’t believe a person can be from just one racial category because everybody has some similar features to other people that belong to different racial groups. The truth about race is that is only skin deep because in the inside we are all the same; no physical feature should be the reason of unfair treatment.

For the people that need to classify people with different facial characteristics, so they can feel superior I only have one thing to say to you; you have no leg to stand on with your argument. According to the PBS documentary I recently watched, a person from Asian descent has a greater chance to have a similar DNA sequence as a person from African descent (PBS). This means that even if two people look nothing alike, they can still have a similar to even an exact DNA sequence. This disproves any idea that associates race with biological traits.

In conclusion, race is just an excuse to classify different types of people into different social categories to, so a specific racial category could be dominant over the others. Humans are the most alike species in the entire world, so it is ignorant to believe that a certain racial group is better or worse than another. It doesn’t matter if you are Black, White, Asian, Latino, etc. we are all the same in the inside. We are all equal.

Work Cited

Ian F. Haney Lopez, The Social Construction of Race: Some Observations on Illusion, Fabrication, and Choice, 29 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 1-62, 6-7, 11-17 (Winter, 1994)

Unknown, . Race. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 17 Mar 2014. <http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/dallasweekly.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/11/a11de424-08dd-11e2-8b05-0019bb30f31a/5064afe0ca066.image.jpg>.

Unknown, . "What is Race." PBS.org. N.p.. Web. 17 Mar 2014. <http://www.pbs.org/race/001_WhatIsRace/001_00-home.htm>.

Evolution of Conflict, Ukraine

Evolution of Conflict, Ukraine

The current issue that has everybody concerned is the one that’s happening in Ukraine. Now people are saying that what started off as simple protests could now become an armed conflict. The conflict began on November 2013; the purpose for the first protests was the failure to sign an EU Association Agreement, but then the issue turned into a social movement after violent police attacked young pro-European students. The people demanded the punishment for the policemen responsible, but this did not happen. Instead of punishing the responsible for the beating of the students, more police brutality occurred. Now the issue has escalated to an armed conflict. The article by Andreas Umland in the Social Europe Journal explains the issue in more detail.

Here is the link to the whole article: http://www.social-europe.eu/2014/01/ukraine/

Work Cited

unknown, . Issue in Ukraine. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 9 Mar 2014. <http://im.ft-static.com/content/images/af42cd64-cb45-42e5-bfc3-20e9dc340984.img>.

Umland, Andreas. "The Situation In Ukraine Could Easily Turn Into An Armed Conflict." Social Europe Journal . n. page. Print. <http://www.social-europe.eu/2014/01/ukraine/>.

Lemon Tree, The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict From Another Point of View

Lemon Tree,  The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict From Another Point of View

The 2008 Israeli drama film, Lemon Tree, explains the Israel-Palestinian conflict in a simple, but powerful manner. The simplicity by which director, Eran Riklis, used to create this film was purely genius to illustrate his audience of the ongoing conflict in Palestine. The plot of the film is that the Israeli Defense Minister moves into a new house right at the border between Israel and the west bank. Their neighbor is a simple Palestinian woman named Salma Zidane that owns a lemon grove. The Israeli secret service views Salma´s grove as a potential threat to the Defense Minister and his wife, so they obtained a court order demanding the uprooting of her lemon trees. Salma decided to take her case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court´s decision is not to uproot the trees, but instead cut them down to a few centimeters each. During the film Salma and the Defense Minister’s wife, Mira Navon, develop a bond that was rarely seen between and Israeli woman and a Palestinian woman. A long the film there are certain settle moments between Salma and Mira that seem very simple, but are really very powerful. These moments where there is only silence and staring show how two completely deferent woman that should hate each other start developing mutual respect for one another. This is very rare because the Palestinians and Israelis have felt nothing but hate towards one another, so it’s not usual to see how these two women develop a bond that has never been shared between these two cultures. In conclusion, the subtlety by which this drama film shows the current Palestinian-Israeli conflict is just brilliant. When it comes to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict this movie gives its audience and experience that has not been achieved by other films because of its unique approach to the ongoing issue. 

Work Cited

Unknown, . Lemon Tree. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 9 Mar 2014. <http://www.impawards.com/2009/posters/lemon_tree_ver3_xlg.jpg>.

10 Biggest Conflicts in 2013

10 Biggest Conflicts in 2013

Since the beginning of times there are have been millions of conflicts that have lasted for s very long time.  2013 was a year filled with fairly recent conflicts and some very old conflicts.  Louise Arbour wrote a great article about the top 10 conflicts of 2013 which is called "10 Conflicts to watch in 2013". This article explains all the conflict in a very detailed manner. 

Here is the Link to the article: 

 http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/27/10_conflicts_to_watch_in_2013

I am amazed by all the conflicts in that article mainly because some of the conflicts are as old as 10 years old and they are still fighting. The worst part is that those are only the top 10. There are thousands of other conflicts that are still going on today and have been going on for decades. Another thing that amazes me is that even if one conflict ends or improves; 5 or 6 or 7 more emerge. If all this conflicts keep on growing and growing we will not have a world to live in because it will be just a huge warzone. The UN needs to pull their shit together and do some serious decisions that will actually help fix these problems instead of sitting around vetoing ideas that could eventually save millions of lives.

Work Cited

Arbour, Louise. "10 conflicts to watch in 2013." n. page. Print. <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/12/27/10_conflicts_to_watch_in_2013>.

Uknown, . 10 conflicts to watch in 2013. N.d. Photograph. n.p. Web. 5 Mar 2014. <http://www.foreignpolicy.com/files/fp_uploaded_images/121221_central asia_RS.jpg>.

Crisis in Syria

Crisis in Syria

The crisis in Syria has been going on for a few years now and it seems to never end. The new conflicts that are happening in other parts of the world like Egypt, Venezuela, Ukraine, etc. has foreshadowed the conflict in Syria, but the people should still be concerned with what is happening over there as well. This article from the New York Times explains the current status of the conflict in Syria. 

Here is the link to the New York Times ‘page:

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/?offset=0&s=newest

In the link you can click on the different page numbers to see the latest articles about the conflict in Syria.

In my opinion I think that the U.S should get involved and deploy some ground troops to protect the civilians, instead of just trying to negotiate. Negotiations aren´t getting the problem fixed, so might as well try new tactics and strategies to end the ever going conflict. 

Work Cited

-Uknown, . "Crisis in Syria." New York Times n.d., n. pag. Print. <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/syria/?offset=0&s=newest>.

-Unknown, . Syria Crisis. N.d. Photograph. unknownWeb. 5 Mar 2014 

<http://previous.presstv.ir/photo/20130516/reportint20130516214837543.jpg>.