Somalia's Progress

As many of you know, Somalia has been a "black hole" for many years now. Rebel groups have battled for control of cities, pirates have hijacked ships off the coast, and the government is barely existent. After the failed United States Operation Black Hawk, the west has mostly stayed out of the affairs of Somalia. However, in recent months, Somalia has made giant leaps of progress into becoming a more organized and peaceful nation. The government has become much stronger and has held control of Mogadishu for many months now. Shops and stores are opening up again, and the city is beginning to become more like it was so many years ago. The economy is picking up and they are currently exporting at a greater rate than ever before in the last 30 years. Although this progress is promising, there are still many who believe this progress is only temporary. The militant group Al-Shabab is still powerful in other parts of the country, and has tried several times to take back control of the Capitol. The future is promising, but can they hold on to it?

A Somali government soldier patrolling the streets.

Total Control

     Modern society is in slavery. Not to a particular person, but to a thing that controls everything. Oil. People in Africa live in extreme poverty, thousands dying every day from starvation. Meanwhile, in the middle east things are going good all because of their oil. The U.S. Government and other western governments turn a blind eye to the atrocities in smaller African countries, because to them, they don't get anything out of helping them. When Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, under the first President Bush, the U.S. launched gulf storm, meant to protect Kuwait from Iraq. The total civilian casualty rate is believed to be roughly 4,500. However, a mere four years later when the Hutus were massacring the Tutsis by the thousands in Rwanda. A very large portion of the casualties were children. The Hutus were targeting the child Tutsis hoping to wipe out the next generation of Tutsis. A total of at least one million Tutsis, 15% of the country's total population, were ruthlessly massacred. What did the U.S. and other western powers do? Absolutely nothing. For three months, Bill Clinton and congress decided that no action was necessary to defend these helpless people who had never wronged us. Fear is still in the hearts of the Tutsis in Rwanda. They won't forget when they needed us, we weren't there for them. Perhaps one day, we will need them, and they will remember this occasion, and simply let us suffer, as we made them do.

     Our country has become completely dependent on oil. It's a drug for the whole country that we can't stop using, but sooner or later, it will all run out. When that happens, unless we find a better source of energy within the next few years, will be the end of western prosperity. It's a time bomb we are holding in our hands, not knowing when it will go off, only knowing it eventually will. Time is running out and when it does, it will be too late.

American fighter jets over Iraq during Desert Storm.

An American tank patrolling an oil field.

A pile of machetes used in the Rwandan Genocide.

Corpses of massacred Tutsis.

A common makeshift graveyard.

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!