The Fifth Post

This post is dedicated to the beautiful but brilliant Mrs. Lawson. (No more sucking up will take place, all words following are spoken in seriousness....enjoy!)

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you. Not just for teaching me history, but teaching me how to understand. You teach in a way that helps the student open their eyes to the world and pay heed to how the world around them works and how the situations nations faced are caused by how the history played out in that area. You are the first teacher (of my knowing) to beautifully integrate history with current issues and teach the relation between the two. So thank you for this year but I am more greatful for the memories and new ways of thinking you have given me that I will take beyond this year. So for the final time.....thank you.

Necular weaponry is the issue I have decided to investigate

Kim Jong-il

It is considered common knowledge that Kim Jong-il is an unstable leader. It is reported by Fox News that under the Kim regime, tens of thousands of North Koreans have been starved, tortured, and killed. The guy is just down right crazy. He is infatuated with himself, so much so that he ordered his self portrait to be inserted into every North Korean home. There have even been reports that he kidnaps actors so he can watch movies with them. These reports may lead one to believe that this man is crazy. This may be true, but it must not be overlooked that he is also extremely intelligent. He was smart enough to coordinate the assassinations of several South Korean cabinet members. So it is important to see Kim Jong-il as as a ruthless, intelligent, and unstable leader.

The Growing Threat

Unstable leaders with nuclear weapons just does not seem like the concoction that the world needs. However, that is exactly the mix that we are seeing in North Korea. Nti reports that North Korea's tested its first nuclear device on 9 October 2006. After that test, the United Nations passed a resolution telling North Korea to abstain from testing again. Unsurprisingly, Kim Jong-il ignored the UN and had his second test on April 5, 2009. This test, however, showed the many limitations of the North Korean nuclear weaponry has. Still, the ambition North Korea is showing in developing this field is becoming a very big threat since it is only a matter of time before Kim Jong-il gets his hands on some very dangerous weapons. I believe we must find a safe way to intervene before it is too late.

Not only Kim

Only in a perfect world would Kim Jong-il's North Korea be the only nuclear threat. However, this is not the case. There is still much more to be said about North Korea but to understand where the world is with Nuclear weapons I would also like to present the threat that has been hatched in Iran.
It is no secret that Iran is not very fond of Israel. The Iranian president seems to be very open about it, in fact he even said,"As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map." So anyone would agree that a country with such a burning hate should not have nuclear power. Well, Iranians disagree. They say that it is pulley for civilian use but the Obama administration disagrees. CNN reported president Obama saying,"Despite their posturing that their nuclear power is only for civilian use, that they in fact continue to pursue a course that would lead to weaponization." And if Iran were to gain hold of nuclear weapons, the already shaky Middle East would be catastrophically destabilized.

Cause for Suspicion

The NYTimes reports that Iran's first nuclear program began in the 1960s but came to a halt in 1979. In the 1990s they began a new effort which caused some suspicion in the White House. But in 2002, a secret Iranian program was uncovered and forced Iran to suspend work on uranium enrichment in 2003. Work did not continue until 2005, when Iran was under new leadership. On September 25, 2009, a secret underground plant was found raising even more suspicion. Iran agreed to export most of its enriched uranium for processing which would have taken Iran's potential bomb making material for up to a year but Iran later backed out of the deal. This move increased the tension between Iran and the opposing countries.
The tension was increased yet again on February 9, 2010. This is when the Iranian test facility begun processing uranium to a purity level of 20 percent. They claimed they had done so to provide fuel for a research reactor producing medical isotopes. The excuse was not enough to stop from raising alarms in Israel and the West. Many wonder what the concern was for since a purity level of 90 percent is needed to produce nuclear weapons. But experts say the worry is that any effort to produce 20-percent enriched uranium would put the country in a position to produce weapons in a much shorter time.

The Answer for U.S.

America,gov reports, "The Iranian regime announced May 17 that it has agreed to an arrangement negotiated by Turkey and Brazil to ship 1,200 kilograms (2,640 pounds) of low-enriched uranium to Turkey, where it would be stored. In exchange, after one year, Iran would have the right to receive about 120.2 kilograms (265 pounds) of material enriched to 20 percent from Russia and France." America did not seemed very pleased with Iran still because it set up sanctions on Iran with Russia and China the day following. This shows the stand that America is now taking on Iran. We are still not pleased with Iran because they said they will continue to process 20 percent uranium which is a violation of the resolution the UN set up. America is now vocal about holding a firm stand on Iran and were also a main reason behind the fourth sanction placed on Iran on February 18, 2010. America understands the danger of nuclear weapons and are not willing to take any chances with Iran, no matter how "peaceful" they claim their research is.

I've learned leaders in many nations of the world face complex problems that they feel cannot be solved without international action or cooperation

Uganda: a dwelling place for the meek

This whole semester has had had one main point: for the students will open their eyes to the world around them. In doing this I begin to realize how many issues that every country faces. The more issues I saw the more I realized that there were certain issues that weren't just a certain country's issue. In fact, the problems they are facing can only be overcome by the intervention of outside nations.
The one problem I would like to address is the inhumane events that are taking place in Uganda. I recently discovered that L.R.A. (Lord's resistance army) has been kidnapping children everyday and forcing them to kill. The children that remain basically live by themselves because they fear of kidnap if they return home. They live off only what they can scavenge of the land and kindness of others.
Uganda really does not have the power to stop this tragedy on their own. They have a very weak and structurally insufficient government. The L.R.A. is just as if not stronger than Uganda's forces. They will need the care of other nations and people if they wish to surpass the enmity of Joseph Kony, the leader of the L.R.A.

WE...are his only hope

I understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed through analysis of primary sources of many kinds

A primary source is a piece of evidence written, created, or otherwise produced during the time under study. An example would be a speech made during the time of what is being studied. The reason they are a primary source is because there is nothing that can tell us what happened at a certain time than an actual piece of evidence that helps explain what might have happened at this time. It is able to give us evidence to an event without any bias of the moder world.

Christopher's Virtual Museum of the

New Imperialism

New Imperialism Propaganda

• Published March 16, 1899


• Created by William H. Walker

This is a political cartoon published after the poem "The White Man's Burden." It shows that the burden is obviously not on the white men. It points out that Europeans are putting stress on other nations and people for their own self-ish reasoning. Instead of the burden being on the white men for having to look after the people that white man are conquering, the burden is obviously on all the people of the conquered nations, or in the picture's case, the people that are carrying the men.

The source for this specific item is very credible because it comes from the highly esteemed Standford university.

New Imperialism Artwork

This was a drawing about the New Imperialism and the "Scramble of Africa." The man symbolizes the Europeans and it shows him stretching across all of Africa. It shows that he (the Europeans) thinks that since there is nothing that is stopping him from being on all of Africa it is rightfully his. This is the way that every global power thought during the time of New Imperialism.

The source for this item is credible because it comes form an edu website. That means the sole purpose for this site is to instruct.

New Imperialism Photograph

• Taken Jan 1, 1900


• Men prospect for gold in a trench on the Rand, South Africa
  

This is a photograph of several men who have come into Africa and are extorting money from her in anyway they can. You can see that Natives are living in tents less then 100 ft. away but yet these men think that they can use the land to benefit them. This photograph is a wonderful microcosm of the New Imperialism.

The source from which this item originates is very credible because it is coming from Life. Life has made magizines for a very long time and have built up a big enough reputation to trust even though they are a comercial website.



New Imperialism Artifact

• The Maxim gun. The First Machine gun
• Invented by Hiram S. Maxim in 1864
  

This is a very significant artifact from the New Imperialism. The Maxim gun was a main reason Europeans and the U.S. were able to oppose their will on the less advanced nations. The global powers just had better technology. There was almost nothing the less advanced countries could do against the superior technology.

The site from which this artifact originated is very credible because it is frmo a non-profit website. This means it isn't trying to sell anything so they are just in it to give information.

I Have Become More Kowledgeable About the World

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva provides hope

Before entering this class, I was naive to the world. But now, my eyes are open and am now much more aware of the events that are unfolding all around me in the world today. I just recently studied the corruption in Pakistan which plays a huge role in my life since I am an American citizen. I never thought that an issue such as this would matter in America but it turns out that America has lost more than 5 billion dollars in the scandalous government of Pakistan. I was also reluctant to see that global news does not always have to be negative. For instance, Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been president for only seven years and has already improved Brazil's economy and decreased the size of Brazil's infamous income gap significantly.

The soldier is oppresed by war

The 20th century began with a new found desire in Industry. All around the world, countries began to industrialize and do so rapidly. Industrialization led to a technology increase in machinery, agricultural, and most importantly, weaponry. I believe that the 20th century will forever be known as the Red Century due to the amount of bloodshed in a very high number of wars.

The new weaponry did contribute to the dauntingly high number of wars in the century passed. However, I believe the underlining reason for the majority of the wars is simply opposing ideology. The idea of communism feed the hottest fires of the Cold War and many civil wars. Fascism was the driving point of Nazi Germany, which was a main cause of WW2. And nationalism led to unrest in pre-WW1 Europe.

There past 100 years have been years of violence (as I stated earlier) and they were also times of social unrest. Civil rights started at nothing in 1900 for women and Africans in America. Women and Africans both won the right to vote and actual citizenship through much vigor, tears, and deaths by 2000. But just because America treats all people the same doesn't mean the world does. Starting from the beginning, people have been treated unfairly and now, even in this new millennium, the sad reality is that people still face oppression every day.

We are all one race; the human race!

I know that race is a huge part in today's society and this class helped me get down to the nitty gritty details of it. I always thought that race was just something that we would classify ourselves in. But I learned that race is basically a misconception formed by society. I thought that you could be able to classify somebody by looking at them but i see now that it is naive for anyone to think so. Humans have always wanted to be dominant over one another, it's our cruel instinct. And back when most lived by impulse, they decided people where different than one another because they had lighter skin and spoke differently. They even began to think they were superior. It is scary to think that this naive and ignorant thought has been carried all the way into today's society and still plays a huge role. It actually gives me great fear that the void between "races" will never be filled. My dream is that one day, it will not be the first reaction to classify someone as a certain race when we first see them, rather we just see them simply as another human.

Venice, Italy

This year I learned about some places that just blow my mind. I will give credit when credit is due and say that watching the movie about Mount Everest made me look into other phenomenons in nature. Every place is different than the other but there are places that are just so far off it blows my mind! I remember when I was twelve I went to Italy and had never heard of Venice. Sure I heard the name once or twice, but imagine my surprise when we got to Venice and I saw the city sitting on top of water. Science will tell you it is not very difficult to build a city on water but I don't care because that is just plain cool. This class has taught me not to just open my eyes to the world issues around me but also the great beauty the world presents to me everyday.

This book title sums it up as well as I could myself

Culture is one of the greatest feasts for the tongue of knowledge. So much can be discovered every day and I personally find it fascinating that a group of people can react so differently to a slight gesture. For instance, in Japan, a slight smile may mean that the person may feel awkward, yet in America it may just mean that the person is trying to be polite. Nothing is more intriguing than studying human nature, and throughout the course of this year, I have begun to realize that human nature varies dramatically within each culture. Perhaps the most valuable lesson I've learned this year is that culture is much different from race. Culture is real and present, whereas race is almost an illusion. And I am now socially aware enough to never connect a racial stereotype to a culture. For instance, Cubans and Mexicans may talk the same language and look similar but they have very different customs. It is a big mistake to confuse the two. Especially since culture is so vast and always a drinking well for the intellectually curious (myself being one of those people).