Globalization

Today we are going to talk about something a bit more positive and uplifting than usual: globalization. This sort of ties into world peace. It is saying that we all come together, and put aside our differences like sex, race, and ethnicity. Over the past 12 years, globalization has taken a dramatic turn. The world is overall coming together by things that bring it together, like Facebook, Youtube, and Twitter. The fact that you can watch a video of someone doing something on the other side of the world mere seconds later is amazing. That is one of the main reason the arab spring was so successful: because they had the media on their side. People all around the world saw what was happening.

A human rights video I made.

Another thing that I think brings us together is food. Thousands of years ago, it is believed that ancient people developed language and emotions around the fire while waiting for their food to cook. Now, in our modern age, fastfood restaurants bring us together. This may sound weird, but McDonalds is all over the world. Everyone know what McDonalds is. For the first time in history, people all over the world have access to the same food. Many places in the world are growing together. We are learning each others languages. We play soccer, and basketball, and baseball and so many other sports all over the world.  We are beginning to intermarry. We are listening to the same music. We can get on a plane in the United States, and fly to Mumbai, India in just a few hours. Things are changing and fast. And if we eat the same food, listen to the same music, play the same sports, speak each others languages, and can get across the world in a metter of hours, what situation does that put the world in? We are finally becoming one. Maybe sometime soon, we will realize that no matter what race, sex, religion, or ethnicity you are, we are all human beings, and that is the bottom line. Thank you.

A McDonalds in Japan

A McDonalds in Morocco.

A McDonalds in Spain.

A McDonalds in Argentina.

A McDonalds in Australia.

Remembering 9/11

My fellow human beings...

Today we remember one of the worst loss of life he U.S. has had in decades. On September 11, 2001, which seemed like a normal Tuesday morning, at 8:46 A.M. a plane crashed into the North Tower. Several minutes later at 9:03 A.M. a second plane crashed into the south tower. Now it was clear that america was under attack. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. another plane had hit the pentagon. Everywhere there was chaos. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. Nobody knew who was attacking us. Nobody knew why we were under attack. About two hours later, the South tower came down, closely followed by the North. Another plane headed to Washington D.C. was taken over by the passengers who bravely attempted to take over the cockpit form the terrorists that controlled it. Unfortunatley, they were unsuccessful, and the plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, but the heroes onboard saved hundreds if not thousands of lives. People couldn't believe what was happening. For the week after the attacks, the United States, and the world was in total shock. No cars were in the streets, no airplanes in the air, and no people on the sidewalks. The total death toll of the attacks was 2,996 people. Today we mark the 11th anniversary of this national tragedy. We will never forget the heroes of 9/11.

United Airlines flight 175 before crashing into the south tower.

The pentagon after it was hit.

The 9/11 memorial in New York City.

U.N. Peacekeeping

Hey people!

Today we will talk about U.N. peacekeeping operations and how they work. Peacekeeping operations take up a vast majority of the U.N.'s 10 Billion dollar budget annually. This is because it is it is used in so many parts of the world, and everything costs alot. The way peacekeeping missions start, is when the U.N. general assembly sees it fit to send peacekeepers to a certain region. They then vote on it, and if it passes, peacekeepers are sent. There are 17 deployments of peacekeepers in Haiti, Western Sahara, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur, Sudan, Timor-Leste, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Syria, Lebanon, Middle East, and Cyprus. Peacekeepers are placed to distribute aide, and protect the citizens. They will not fire unless fired upon.

UN peacekeepers on a patrol in the Middle East.

Well, thats it for today, hope you enjoyed!

United Nations Security Council Summary

Hey people!

Today we are going to talk about the Security Council in the United Nations. The Security Council makes decisions about international security, and often decides where to put sanctions. The Security Council consists of 15 countries. They vote like a democracy. Five of the countries on the security, China, Russia, the U.S., France, and Great Britain, are permanently on the Security Council. The other 10 positions rotate the other 188 member countries for a period of time. The 5 power countries also have veto power. This means that if any of the five countries votes against any of the propositions, they automatically fail. However, the non permanent members were able to block votes that the big 5 agreed on. The current members include Togo, Pakistan, Morocco, Guatemala, Portugal, South Africa, Colombia, Germany, India, and Azerbaijan.It has been argued that the security council is unfair because all the permanent member states are major nuclear powers. Some of the kind of resolutions they attempt to pass are interfering in Syria and the arab spring, putting sanctions and embargos on North Korea, sending peacekeeping missions different places, and sending aide to various countries. Something else I found interesting is that all the permanent member countries are in the northern hemisphere. The U.N. Security council is an intriguing commitee.

                                    This picture shows the U.N. Security Council in a meeting.

Olympics

Hello people!

Now we are going to briefly talk about the olympics. The thing about the olympics, is everyone loves them. For a few short weeks every few years, the world puts aside its political differences and disagreements, and comes together to cheer, stand together, and remember that we aren't all that different from each other; we are all human beings. It is a time of hope and happiness for everyone. Billions of people watch the olympics. That is what makes the Olympics so magical, not the sports, but the fact that the world comes together, and puts aside their differences.

The olympic torch.

The olympic medals.

Thats all I have to say, thanks for reading!

An Introduction to theUnited Nations

Hello world!

Today we will talk about the United Nations. The United Nations, or U.N. for short, was founded in 1945 right after the end of World War II. After WWI the league of nations was founded, but failed because of WWII. The U.N. has a budget of 10 billion dollas annually, but most of it is spent on peacekeeping. The UN passes resolutions by voting. They need a two thirds majority to pass. Peacekeepers carry guns, but are instructed not to fire unless fired upon. They often distribute food and medical supplies. The UN also has court, where countries can kind of 'sue' each other. The UN gets their money from the 193 member countries which pay to be in the UN.

The U.N. flag.

U.N. peacekeepers during a drill.

Well thats all for today. We will go more in depth with this tomorrow. See you later!!!

Violence In Syria

Welcome to my blog!

     Today we are going to talk about Syria. Syria's population is roughly 22.5 Million people. They speak arabic there, and most of the citizens are Muslim. The current Syrian president is Bashar Al Assad. Syria's alles include Russia, China, and Iran. Syria is also a member of the United Nations. 

The Syrian flag.

                                                        A small map of Syria.
                                           


       However, there is a darker side of the story. On December 18, 2010, a Tunisian roadside fruit vender with a college degree named Mohammed Boazizi lit himself on fire in front of a government building showing how the government was able to eliminate all opportunity of the pursuit of happiness. This sparked huge protests against the government all over the country. The government was quickly ousted, and the protestors had succeeded. Other middle eastern countries with oppressive governments also began there strikes. The fire had been lit. The people had realized that they had the power to overtake the government. Even when snipers were on the rooftops killing protestors, more protestors showed up. It had a backfiring affect. The citizens were so tired of the oppressive dictatorships, they were willing to die. Soon, Egypt's dictatorship fell to the protestors. A few months later, Libya was also liberated with help from several western nations including the U.S., France, and Great Britain. 

This map shows the countries affected by the arab spring.

       Syria meanwhile, was still fighting. The government has killed thousands of innocent civilians over the last few months. Russia is helping the oppressive dictator of Syria by shipping them supplies such as guns and ammo. Syria has ignored many U.N. policies. Many experts say that Syria is entering all out civil war. The west has condemned the actions of Syria, but done little else. What the west could do, that I believe is a good idea is give aide to the protestors and medical supplies, but not weapons, so it doesn't anger Russia. The west has a duty because to help their fellow human beings in a time of need. Not to kill more, but to heal. Maybe that is why the U.S. is known as 'the great saton'. Maybe it is time to build instead of destroy. Instead of coming in with guns and taking charge, we could bring in food, with american flags attached, medical supplies, water, and other aide. We could have medics that help the wounded, and builders that reconstruct what we have destroyed in the past. Maybe it is time to forgive. Just some food for thought.

Well thats it for today. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!!!

North Korea and the Outside World

Hello fellow carbon based life forms!

Today we are going to talk about North Korea's relationship with the outside world. This is the last day we are going to talk about North Korea. As i mentioned yesterday, their only ally is China. The reason for this is that they are both communist countries. The Soviet Union also used to be allies with them, but they switched from communism to democracy. After the end of the Korean war, North Korea became sealed off from the rest of the world. Their technology hasn't become anymore advanced than it was when the korean war ended. Most of their machinery still runs on coal. North Korea is the most sealed off society in the world. It is EXTREMELY hard for journalists to enter the country. Whenever something is wrong in the country, they almost always blame the west. They have a very large army, and nuclear weapons. This is what stops other countries from interfering with the human rights violations. there.

The North Korean army in a military parade.

A giant statue of Kim Il-Sung in Pyongyang.

Well, thats all for today! Hope you enjoyed. Tomorrow we will be talking about the Syria.

Introduction to North Korea

Hey people from the third planet from the sun!!!

    Over the past few days, we have talked about the concentration camps in North Korea. Today we will talk about the country itself. The current leader of North Korea is Kim Jong-Un. He took power in 2011, after his father Kim Jong-Il died suddenly. Kim Il-Sung was the first leader. He is the father of Kim Jong-Il, and the leader of North Korea during the korean war. He lead all the way to the mid 1990's. North Korea also is in possession of nuclear weapons.

The North Korean flag.

    Adults in North Korea are an average of 6 inches shorter than adults the same age in South Korea. This is because of malnutrition in North Korea. Only the richest of the rich eat enough. There is only about 1% of the entire population (there are 14 Million people in North Korea). Citizens are so hungry that hundreds starve every day. People will pick through cow droppings to find undigested kernels of corn that they can eat. They will eat grass. There are no birds in North Korea because they were all eaten decades ago. Their technology is stuck at where it was when there was a cease fire at the end of the korean war in 1953. They have no allies (with the debatable exception of China).What I find even more sad is that while all this is happening, the rest of the world just sits around and watches. What will the next generation say about us???

This satellite image taken in 2003 shows how much light there is in North Korea at night.

A starving North Korean child.

North Korean Concentration Camps Part 2

Hello people of the world!

   Today we are going to go deeper into what we talked about yesterday. So we will dive right in. There are roughly 20 concentration camps in North Korea. In the camps, parents do not care for their children, and children don't care for their parents. The oppressive dictators of North Korea have destroyed that instinctive bond. Shin said while he was in the camp he never heard the words kindness, trust, loyalty, generosity, and love. He was born in Camp 14, and taught to snitch on anyone who was doing anything bad. He beat several of his classmates to death without thinking twice about it. He was taught that he was living a very good life. There are between 150,000 and 200,000 prisoners in these camps.

                        This is a map of where the North Korean concentration camps are.

Thats all for today. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading!

North Korean Concentration Camps Part 1

Hello people of the world!!! Welcome to my blog! This is the first day of my blog. This blog is going to be mostly focused on human rights issues around the world.

Today I am going to talk about Camp 14. Camp 14 is a concentration camp in North Korea. This concentration camp has existed for decades. North Korea denies their existence, but in 2005, a prisoner escaped. His name is Shin Dong-Hyuk. He tells of the horrors in these camps. His teacher beat a 6 year old girl to death with a chalk board pointer. Guards often beat and torture prisoners because they are bored and desire some form of entertainment. Prisoners are always starving, and many die from it. Adult prisoners do labor like mining coal, hauling rocks, sewing military uniforms, breeding pigs (the meat is for the guards only), farming rice, and much more. They usually work 15-17 hour work days. Nothing can compare to the horrors in these camps...

Well, thats all for today, I'll post more about this topic tomorrow. Thanks for reading!!!