The National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created when a treaty was signed in 1949 by all the Allies except for the Soviet Union after World War II. That means that approximately 65 years after WWII ended and thirteen years after the end of the Cold War NATO is still active. The NATO website states that there were three main reasons for creating NATO. One reason was to build an organization of countries that could rely on each other to work together against any threat from the Soviet Union. The second reason mentioned was to get a North American presence in Europe to help stop any other movement like Nazism from starting again. The third reason mentioned was to help Europe become more politically connected.
The first video I watched on the natochannel.tv was titled “Afghanistan’s Heart of Marble.” The video was made in Heart, Afghanistan and it was about the quarrying of the high quality marble that can be found in Afghanistan. A sentence on the website which describes the video reads, “Modern equipment and better infrastructure can help to develop one of Afghanistan’s finest most lucrative industries” (Afghanistan’s, 7/6/12) NATO forces can protect areas in war torn countries so businesses and trade can thrive. This is a way to help Afghanistan increase their comparative advantage. The video did not explain how the presence of NATO relates to the reasons why it was created.
NATO has served its historical purpose especially in reference to the Soviet Union no longer being a threat. It was a necessary organization when two super powers existed in the world and everyone perceived the need for a balance of the powers. So I think that ideally NATO should be dissolved; based on the fact the reason they were created is no longer an issue. NATO has helped trade which is great. In a way though it is slowing down progress in trade because it keeps alive the idea that the Cold War is still important when in fact Russia offers great opportunities for American entrepreneurs and businesses. The experience and expertise of NATO leadership would be more useful in training and working with the United Nations’ peacekeepers or an international force of rescuers who could help during times of natural disasters.
G-20 seems like a buzzword for protests because wherever the G-20 decides to meet many people are on the streets protesting. In 2009 the G-20 met in London. Some of the people on the far-left and other protestors like anarchists were quoted as declaring that capitalism had its chance but that it has failed as a global economic system. President Obama made two weekly addresses from the White House to explain some of the reasons he was going to the meeting. First he explained that his trip to London was necessary was “because we know that the success of America’s economy is inextricably linked to that of the global economy.” (Obama, April4, 2012) This meeting is classical trade theory and is a place to negotiate the varying trade advantages. The leaders in the richest countries made decisions about exports and imports. Countries want to have a positive balance of trade which means exporting more than they important so that a profit shows. In Pres. Obama’s weekly address on July 14, 2012 he stressed the need for jobs to get the USA economy working again. He also discussed the political problems that have made that goal impossible to meet.
Benjamin (April 2, 2012) noted that protests are a sign of a good democracy but destruction is not. He points out that anti-capitalists are forgetting the positive gains from capitalism including their way of communicating on computer, with cell phones and through social networks. I agree with Benjamin on the point he makes. In general extremist against capitalism are not balancing the risks with the benefits. And the way they are showing their dissent is not helping in any way. If they read Adam Smith or David Ricardo they might have a different and positive view of classic capitalism. They need to realize that the theory of capitalism is not the problem but bad politics cause the problem.
Obama, Barack. (4 2009 April). “Obama hails unprecedented G-20 Action Address on
Benjamin, Todd. (2 April 2009). “What did the demonstrators achieve?” Blog Post. Business 360. CNN.http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/02/did-the-demonstrators-to-too-far/
Viotti, Paul R. and Kauppi, Mark V. “The Political Economy of International Trade, Finance, and Regional Integration.” Chapter 12. International Relations and World Politics, 4th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions.
Islam is a type of religion has similarities to Christianity but a lot of time and effort has been made to try to demonstrate the Muslims are bad people and in fact that they are terrorist. I don’t think that the US government has seen much success in demonizing Muslims while at the same time trying to protect peaceful Muslims. The main problem seems to be mixing politics and religion instead of addressing problems how terrorists (whoever they are) gain access to money and weapons.
Elasanousi (n.d.) has written a blog post that gives an example of how all kinds of people from different religions have been working together since the 1960s to help Muslims integrate into North American society. The US government and/or politicians in many ways have made their job more difficult. For example there are several examples that have been in the news about FBI agents who are instrumental in planning a “terrorist attack” but they were just trying to entrap a Muslim person in order to arrest them. Ditz (2012 February) reports on an FBI operation that resulted in “the arrest of an unnamed Moroccan-American in his 30’s, apparently the only non-FBI agent in the entire scheme.” This makes Muslims look bad but for those who read into the details of the reports it also makes the FBI look bad which is not fair to the agents who are doing an honest job.
The US government is missing an opportunity to make jobs for millions of Americans by creating consumer goods to export to Muslim communities all over the world. This would be a regular, classic supply and demand plan
The Sahel region is a very dangerous part of the world because of the insensitive way colonial powers set boundaries. Lock (2012) reported on the Voice of America blog that an expert on the area, Jeremy Keenan noted the root of the problem as being the “arbitrarily-drawn colonial boundaries parceled the once nomadic tribes into various nations.” These boundaries broke up the separate cultures in that area of Africa. People speaking the same language were living in different politically designated areas. Their skills and abilities were expected to be used for the economy of the nation rather than their tribes; but the main problem is that all of a sudden a group of people can become a minority in a country. Keenan explained that minorities that get treated poorly rebel. When they rebel homes, families and non-soldiers are destroyed. This is a terrible human rights violation.
Breaking up naturally occurring culturally homogenous groups is not good for trade. Trade communities who provide goods and buy goods are disrupted. Trade routes are disrupted, too, which causes less efficient movement of goods. This raises the question should the IMF and the WTO put more emphasis on supporting culturally linked peoples or continue to support nation-states. The artificial boundaries (political boundaries) also have a huge impact on who has what natural resources. The natural resources may be water, metals or good soil but availability to natural resources must be taken into account.
The Sahel Blog cited an interview by The Economist with President Ahmed Mohamed Silanyo of Somaliland in which he said “If the international community accepts South Sudan’s independence, which opens the door for us as well. It would mean the principle that African borders should remain where they were at the time of independence would changed.” Maybe the situation will improve because the resulting genocides and atrocities taking place have to end somehow.
References
Look, Anne. (2012 April 2). “Tuareg Rebellion Poses Security Risk for Fragile Sahel Region.” News. Voice of America (VOA). http://voanews.com
Mulford, M.R. (1994). “Government, Population and Ecology in the Sahel: A Study in Disaster.” FrontierNet.net. http://www.frontiernet.net/~mmulford/sahel.htm
Thurston, Alex. (2011 January 12). “South Sudan, Somaliland, and Border Changes in Africa.” Blog Post. Sahel Blog. http://sahelblog.wordpress.com
Viotti, Paul R. and Kauppi, Mark V. “The Political Economy of International Trade, Finance, and Regional Integration.” Chapter 12. International Relations and World Politics, 4th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions.
Elsanousi, Mohammad A. (n.d.). “The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Faith Groups. Blog Post. Learning to Give. http://learningtogive.org/faithgroups/phil_in_america/islam_na.asp
Ditz, Jason. (2012 February 17). “FBI Arrests DC Muslim After Phony ‘Terror Plot.’” Antiwar.com. http://news.antiwar.com/2012/02/17
Viotti, Paul R. and Kauppi, Mark V. “The Political Economy of International Trade, Finance, and Regional Integration.” Chapter 12. International Relations and World Politics, 4th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions.
“European Union, Council of Europe and OSCE/ODIHR launch three regional projects to improve situation of minorities and vulnerable groups in Western Balkans.” (2012 July) News. Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Blog Post. Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. http://www.osce.org/odihr/91869
Micossi, Stefano. (2008 February). “Democracy in the European Union. CEPS Working Document No. 286. Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS).
“The history of the European Union.” (n.d.) European Union. Europa.eu http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/index_en.htm
Viotti, Paul R. and Kauppi, Mark V. “The Political Economy of International Trade, Finance, and Regional Integration.” Chapter 12. International Relations and World Politics, 4th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions.
Global Economy.” Weekly White House Address. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/weekly-address-president-obama-hails-unprecedented-g-20-action-address-global econo
Obama, Barack. (14 July 2012). “It’s Time for Congress to Pass the Middle Class Tax Cut
Extension.” Weekly White House Address. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/07/14/weekly-address-it-s-time-congress-pass-middle-class-tax-cut-extension
