Please thoroughly work on this assignment and include as much evidence from the power points as you can. I am missing out pp from week 1-7 and 12-14. But please familiarize yourself with the syllabus if that helps. Only use class resources please.
open bid send amount. Negotiable
Final Exam
Due Back Tuesday, December 12 by 1pm
Answer both of the questions below. Incorporate at least five global issues in each of the answers. All exams must be uploaded as a word file on Canvas by the date and time specified above.
1. Examine the economic and political dimensions of the global issues covered throughout the course.
2. Examine the ways in which these global issues impact the US.
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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Irresolvable Conflicts
Irresolvable conflicts share five characteristics:
1.) The scarce resource is generally land and multiple people are laying claims to that land;
2.) There is a deep emotional attachment to that land (due to historical, religious, or some other reason);
3.) There is a zero-sum component to this conflict where one side’s gain is the other’s loss and vice versa. Any attempt at compromise is perceived by extremists on both sides as treasonous.
4.) It is very difficult for outsiders (including the most powerful nation) to solve these irresolvable conflicts.
5.) Last is the inability to find acceptable outcomes to resolve the conflicts, thereby perpetuating their continuity.
History
Story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar.
Who was Israel?
Historically, the Jewish people have not had a permeant state of their own until the creation of Israel. The Zionist movement emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time, the Ottomans controlled Palestine. The British coopted Arab tribes but tricked them with the Balfour Declaration… Israel was created in 1948.
The British Uganda Plan was an offer by the British government, particularly Joseph Chamberlin to Theodore Herzl’s Zionist movement, to give 5,000 sq miles in Kenya as a home for the Jewish people. This was rejected.
Where is Israel?
The country is on the east Mediterranean coast and borders Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.
Palestinians mostly reside in the West Bank (western bank of the Jordan River) and the Gaza Strip. The West Bank is 2,263 sq miles of territory and is referred to as Judea and Sumaria by Zionist Jews and Christians. The West Bank today is occupied by the Israeli military and has approximately 750,000 Jewish settlers. This is a violation of UN resolutions and international law.
The Gaza Strip is a 25 mile long strip of land, 7 miles wide, along Israel’s southern coast. It is controlled by Hamas which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. government.
Jerusalem
East Jerusalem is holy to all three of the Abrahamic faith traditions. This was the birth place of Jesus for Christians, Jews have the Wailing Wall, and Muslims consider Baitul Maqdis (the holy Mosque) as sacred.
History
On November 29, 1947 the General Assembly voted 33-13, 10 abstentions, to create the state of Israel. A civil war erupted which was crushed by the British government and Israeli militias.
On May 14, 1948 the last of the British officials departed and the General Assembly declared Israeli statehood. Harry Truman 11 minutes later recognized the state of Israel. The next day Egyptian, Syrian, and Jordanian forces invaded Israel, but were defeated by the IDF. The IDF had 108,000 troops at the time who were trained and equipped by western powers. The Jews refer to this as the War of Independence, while the Palestinians refer to it as the Naqba which mean catastrophe.
History
In 1967, Israel pre-emptively attacked Syria and Egypt, and annexed territories belonging to the Palestinians. (West Bank, Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula). The UN Security Council, Resolution 242, called for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Occupied Territories
In 1973, there was Yom Kippur War.
History
In the 1920s, only a few thousand Jews resided in the area. However, prior to 1948, approximately 672,000 Jews had been settled in Palestine
From 1948-1951, about 678,000 Jews came to Israel from neighboring Arab countries and Europe. Immigration continued in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. The Zionists consider this immigrant population to be crucial for Israel because they ensure that the Jewish population will be the majority population.
When Israel was created, 850,000 Palestinians were displaced and made homeless in the first few weeks of the creation of the Jewish state. The population of Jordan went from about 400,000 to close to 1.5 Million virtually overnight.
History
The lowest immigration rate since the founding of Israel was in 1985 when only 9,505 Jews migrated to Israel.
When the Soviet Union collapsed, immigration reached its peak. From 1990-2000, more than 1 million Jews migrated to Israel.
Today 6.8 million Jews live in Israel, and 5.4 million Palestinians. The Palestinian population is growing at a rate three times faster than the Jewish population.
The Wall
In 2000, Israel built a wall, 450 miles, which created a physical barrier between Israel and the West Bank. The Palestinians complained that this has sealed them off from their farm land and families.
Economy
Israel’s per capita income is about $45,000 while the per capita income of the Palestinians is about $3,000. The unemployment rate in Israel is 6%, but 20% in the West Bank, and significantly higher in the Gaza Strip.
The major industries in Israel include. High technology, chemicals, plastics, textiles, and pharmaceuticals.
Thorny Issues (Palestinians)
What would constitute a Palestinian State? Would East Jerusalem be its capital?
The right of return of Palestinian refugees. There are still refugee Palestinian refugee camps in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.
The removal of settlements in the West Bank.
Thorny Issues (Israeli)
Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state.
The entirety of Jerusalem would be its capitol.
The West Bank would be settled by Jews
Demilitarization of Hamas.
Current Conflict
History did not begin on October 7th
The current boycott demonstrates the reality of occupation…
There is no Hamas in the West Bank and yet Palestinians are being killed and forcefully removed.
Genocide taking place… The IDF says these are collateral damages… (Timothy McVeigh, active shooter in a school, COVID restrictions, etc.)
Current Conflict
Hamas as baby killers spread by Netanyahu and Biden and later recanted
President of Israel blames all people of Gaza and has legitimized collective punishment. He said, “It is an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d'état.”
Israeli officials have maintained historically that Israel conducts the most humane form of warfare because it gives prior warning.
At the same time, Palestinians are described as animals, not human, and Amalekites who need to be exterminated…
The American Connection
Military Aid given to Israel.
Jewish Lobby in the U.S.
The American Evangelical Movement.
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Iraq war: 20 years later
1
Pretext
The Iraq war in 2003 must be understood in the backdrop of what occurred in 1991.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmfVs3WaE9Y&ab_channel=guyjohn59
September 11th gave the neocons a pretext to go to war. Discuss also the casus belli of the past.
Pretext
The Iraq War began in 2003 and all combat troops withdrew in 2014. It was justified in the following grounds:
Weapons of mass destruction
Uranium troops from Africa
Saadam Hussein support of Al’Qaeda
Saadam Hussein was responsible for 9/11
Mushroom cloud
Other things we were told
We were also told:
The war would pay for itself
We would be treated as liberators
The ethnic rivalries would not be destabilizing
There would be minimal casualties
Untold casualties
The physical costs are easy to measure:
Hundreds of thousands of deaths on both sides, trillions of dollars in loss revenue, the country divided in 3 parts, the destruction of Iraqi cities, daily suicide bombings, the presence of ISIS, ethnic civil war, and so forth.
But consider the psychological costs on both sides: suicide, PTSD, divorce, alcohol and drug abuse raids, having to live with the suffering of others, Socrates who taught that worse then the oppressed is the oppressor, secret rendition and Guantanamo and Abu Guraib, the torture program, etc.
Continued
Just the American embassy in Iraq, the largest embassy in the world, costs $750 million each year.
Prior to the war, 1 Iraqi dinar was equal to about $3.1. After the start of combat operations, $1 was equal to 12,000 Iraqi dinars. Today it is about 1,310 dinars for every dollar. The wealth of the country was sold to corporations.
Mistakes
There were two fundamental mistakes: the first was the order to eliminate the Iraqi military. The second was the de-Bathification of Iraqi society which prevented Bathist members from holding public office. This alienated Sunni masses who were in power before.
The reason this was done was because this strategy worked in World War II.
But in Iraq the command and control systems that held Iraqi society together collapsed leading to the erosion of public order. Donald Rumsfeld justified looting and theft of a country’s rarest artifacts as an expression of freedom.
What crystalized the insurgency
There were two things that galvanized the insurgency: the Haditha incident and Abu Guraib.
Such incidents paved the way for ISIS which ironically did not exist before under Saddam Hussein.
Propaganda
Leading up the Second Persian Gulf War, media personalities were advocating for American military involvement in Iraq for the express purpose of overthrowing Sadam Hussein holding him responsible for the 9/11 attacks. Military and media luminaries began to appear on the various networks to promote the idea that the Iraqi people wanted a US invasion to liberate them from tyranny. Through it all and on a daily basis, they silenced opposing voices and castigated them as unpatriotic. News outlets scheduled the appearance of so called experts as part of their propaganda blitzkrieg to shift public opinion in favor of war.
Message Force Multipliers were hired by the Pentagon with a series of talking points: Iraq possessed chemical and biological weapons, was developing nuclear weapons, and WMDs, imported uranium tubes from Niger, and had plans to smuggle dirty bombs to Al-Qaeda. They reinforced the message from the White House that the war would be quick and decisive, the US would be treated as liberators, and that we need to act immediately before a mushroom cloud over our cities.
Prior to the invasion, 70% of Americans came to believe that Sadam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 attacks.
Five arenas of a democracy
There are five arenas of a democracy
1. Political society: refers to parliaments, legislatures, independent courts, etc.
2. Civil society: refers to self-existing and autonomous groups in a society. Discuss the coexistence of conflicting interests.
3. Rule of law
4. Economic society: refers to the protection of property rights, that reduce risk for investment and trade.
5. Functioning bureaucracy: refers to administrative agencies that provide public good.
The Clairvoyance of Dick Cheney in 1994
US-Iran relations
Basic Information
Use to be called Persia. Literally means “Home of the Aryans.”
Silk Road
3x the population and 4x the land area as Iraq (size of Alaska).
It is situated in one of the most volatile regions (Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey and Pakistan). These are mostly Sunni countries and several are war-torn societies. Saudi Arabia sits on the other side of the Persian Gulf.
The Strait of Hormuz gives it strategic advantage (flow of oil, raw materials, and trade).
Population of 80 Million is the second largest in the Middle East
Over the past 200 years, it has not invaded a single country but has been invaded on 12 different occasions (Ottoman, England, Russia, US, and Iraq).
Basic Information
The Shiyah interpretation of Islam was officially introduced in 1501. Today Iran is the largest Shiyah state.
It is the 4th largest producer of oil in the world.
9% of World’s Oil and 18% of World’s Natural Gas
The US severed diplomatic ties after the hostage crisis in 1979. Followers of the Ayatola stormed the American embassy and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Since then, neither country has had an embassy (tourism and virtually no contact at the highest level).
Basic Information
Its economy is the size of New Jersey and its military budget is the size of Finland and about 70 times less than the US.
It has a strong industrial base and is a leading producer of cars in the Middle East, and exports construction items.
In the last years of the Shah, military spending accounted for 17% of GDP and today it is about 3%.
Political System
SUPREME LEADER
Guardian Council (12 members) Assembly of Experts
MAJLES Executive Judiciary
IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL
Iran along with the US, China, Great Britain, France and Russia signed a nuclear deal in 2015 that entailed the following:
Dismantle parts of it’s nuclear program including nearly 15,000 centrifuges
Convert it’s heavy water reactor so to produce less plutonium
Reduce enriched Uranium by 98%
Iran agreed to IAEA inspections
The US along with other countries agree to lift economic sanctions on Iran in return.
The IAEA as well as former members of the Trump Administration (James Mattis and Rex Tillerson) had concluded that Iran had upheld the terms of this agreement.
Iran Nuclear Deal
Lifting of sanctions would have benefited Iran by freeing close to $100 Billion in frozen assets. Iran was still selling countries such as China, India, and Japan oil, but due to sanctions the money was trapped in foreign reserves where it could not be accessed by the Iranian government.
A war in the Middle East had been averted by the signing of this deal by the Obama Administration.
Iran Nuclear Deal
In exchange to dismantle Iran’s capabilities, the US agreed to lift sanctions and do business with Iran. But even under the Obama Administration, Iran did not get access to the global economy. Once President Trump came into office, he undermined what Obama did simply because Obama did it. He imposed onerous sanctions and punished anyone who did business with Iran. America’s allies tried to come up with an alternative payment arrangement, but it failed. In retaliation, the Iranians shot down an American drone in the Persian Gulf, made things difficult for ships in the area, and may have been responsible for the oil refinery attack in Saudi Arabia.
Similarly, Libya gave up its weaponry in exchange for promises to be integrated within the world economy and the normalization of relations. A few years later, Muammar Gaddafi was humiliated and killed, and today Libya is a failed state.
Dynamics
About 60% of the population of Iran is below 35 years of age (globalization, American culture, and quality of life).
Benjamin Netanyahu Joint Address to Congress… Israeli lobby is also strong.
Dynamics
Education: Iranians are far more educated than their Arab neighbors. Literacy rates are nearly universal for men and women. Primary school education is over 99%.
Urbanization: About 70% of Iranians live in cities and have access to the benefits of urbanization. Over 50% of Iranians are classified as middle class.
Role of women: One-third of Iran’s doctors are women, 60% of its civil servants, 60% of its university students, and 80% of its teachers. In contrast, women recently got the right to drive in Saudi Arabia.
Dynamics
Shiyah and Sunni alliances are being created in the Middle East and elsewhere (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, etc. on one side while Iran, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, etc. are on the same and yet opposing sides).
Iran’s influence in Iraq remains strong
Iran’s ties with China and India have been strengthened as well as Iran’s influence in Pakistan.
There is the beginning of normalization of relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia…
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Assessing the Threat From Terrorism
Terrorism
The attacks on 9/11 shattered America’s notion of imperviousness
Terrorism differs from two different forms of violence
International Crimes-drug trafficking or human trafficking
Wars
Definition
The definition of terrorism is as follows, “Terrorism is the intentional targeting of a civilian population to achieve desired objectives.”
Asymmetrical warfare
Terrorists employ asymmetrical warfare. The US has:
600,000 bridges
170,000 water systems
2,900 power plants, 102 of them are nuclear plants
190,000 miles of natural gas pipeline
Thousands of public places (theatres, stadiums, malls, etc.)
Power grids, telecommunications cables, hydroelectric damns.
20,000 miles of railway and border
Al-Qaeda
In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and the Afghan Service Bureau was established supported by the US
In 1984, it changes its name to Al-Qaeda
The Soviet Union was defeated in 1989.
Expansion
Al-Qaeda was dispersing after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. But three things happened that spearheaded the organization:
1. First Persian Gulf War
2. UBL and his supporters were expelled from Saudi Arabia
3. US put troops in the sacred territory
UBL
Studied engineering in Saudi Arabia
Came from a wealthy family background in charge of construction contracts
He became in charge of Al-Qaeda when Abdullah Azam of Egypt died in 1989
After being expelled from Saudi Arabia in 1992, he took refuge in Sudan
He was expelled from Sudan in 1996
He then went to Afghanistan and was welcome by the Taliban
Killed by Navy SEALs in May of 2011
Grievances
In 2002, the UNDP issued a report concerning the Muslim world. It was drafted by leading Muslim scholars who found that the Muslim world is far behind in the areas of globalization, pluralism, and tolerance.
It is noted that institutions in the Muslim world are backwards and undemocratic. This is largely due to American support of dictatorship and the undermining of democracy.
These institutions are oppressive and fail to address the legitimate grievances of the masses.
Defeating Terrorism
Terrorism cannot be defeated only on the battlefield. If every Hamas warrior was killed and Israel destroys Gaza and kills thousands of innocent Palestinians, then terrorism will reemerge in a different form and at a different time. The President of Israel has openly stated that all Palestinians are responsible for what occurred on October 7.
Skittles and terrorism
Muslim Ban
The CATO Institute has calculated the number of Americans killed from 1975 to 2015 by citizens from the seven Muslim countries on President Trump’s original Muslim ban. Their results are as follows:
Iraq: 0
Iran: 0
Syria: 0
Libya: 0
Yemen: 0
Somalia: 0
Sudan: 0
Muslim Ban
Including 9-11, the chances of an American being killed by foreign terrorists on American soil over this 41 years studied by CATO is 1 in 3.6 million per year. The chances of being killed by a refugee is 1 in 3.54 billion per year.
Are All Deaths Treated the same?
Boko Haram continues to account for more terrorism deaths than any other group. It is responsible for over 20,000 deaths over the past 6 years.
Thousands of people continue to be the victims of terrorism in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, etc.
Over 150 people are killed each day in some of these countries.
“When my people died, no country bothered to light up it’s landmarks with the colors of our flag. When my people died, they did not send the world into mourning. Their death was but an irrelevant flack along the international news cycle.” (Dr. Elli Farris, The New York Times, November 15, 2015)
Clip from npr
http://www.npr.org/2014/09/25/351277631/prominent-muslim-sheikh-issues-fatwa-against-isis-violence
BORDER SECURITY
Background
Inside the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty are the words “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”
The U.S.-Mexican border is about 1,933 miles and the U.S.-Canada border is about 4,000 miles.
Background
The U.S. border patrol was created in 1924. It began with 450 officers who were responsible for protecting the over 6,000 square miles of the US-Canada/Mexico border. The immigration act of 1924 set quotas for the number of people who could come from each country.
There was a labor shortage during WWI, in which the US admitted about 80,000 workers from Mexico. But due to high unemployment during the Great Depression, thousands of Mexicans were deported. Close to half a million Mexicans were admitted in to address the labor shortage during WWII.
Background
The U.S. Border patrol agents were mostly sent to protect the U.S.-Mexican border. The U.S.-Canada border was called “the longest undefended border.” The Northern border was the place where alcohol was smuggled into the country during prohibition.
Illegal immigration increase in the 50’s and 60’s because immigrants wanted to take advantage of the post-War boom. In 1954 the INS initiated operation Wet Back during which thousands of agents went from city to city and rounded up illegal immigrants. Over one million undocumented immigrants were deported.
Background
Illegal immigration continued at a hyperbolic rate during the 70s and 80s. In 1986 there were 1.6 million arrests for illegal immigration. In 1996 it was 1.5 million, and 1.6 million in 2000. It fell to well below 400,000 in 2011-2012 due to the poor job prospects in the U.S.
Background
Border patrol agents on the Mexican border jumped from 2,500 in the early 1980’s to 21,000 in 1986. In 1996, only about 14 miles was fenced. Today, the U.S. has built over 700 miles of fencing on the border and has set up sophisticated surveillance and has begun to use drones. Hundreds of billions of dollars are dedicated to border security.
Background
Border Security took on more primacy after the September 11th attacks.
The more immediate possibility is a terrorist attack emanating from the Canada border which is porous and significantly longer. 2,500 border security agents guard the Canadian border. There are 10 agents for every mile on the Mexican border and 1 agent for every 2 miles along the Canadian border.
The other concern is the trafficking of narcotics, namely Methamphetamines, Cannabis and Cocaine.
Immigration
It is estimated that 40% of the people who are illegally in this country entered legally but overstayed their visas. This includes all of the 9/11 hijackers, constructing a fence will not stop the illegal flow of undocumented aliens living in the country. We also don’t have a system to track such people without compromising our principles.
Even the Berlin wall could not prevent the flow of undocumented aliens, and neither does the wall built in the West Bank. The people of Gaza dig tunnels to get to the other side and more recently have used gliders.
Solutions
Amnesty given in 1986
Dream Act today