Canadian Pullout

A large number of Canadians want to pull their troops out of Afghanistan ASAP with no regard to the consequences. And while even though they dont have all that many troops there, the mental impact of it would be big. That would be showing the rest of the world that we cant even keep our closest geographical ally there to support us anymore. What kind of message would that send? And while we cant force them to stay there, we should do all we can to convince them.

The Bonobos

An African country is taking a new approach to wildlife. They are setting up a much larger preservation to help save the Bononbos, but they are trying something different this time. Usually preservations are useless because almost no one is there to prevent poaching, but now they are haveing people live on the land to protect these animals from being wiped out. Very Creative.

The Oroqen and the Olympics

The group of native people around Beijing (the Oroqen) are slowly being assimilated into Chinese society. Slowly, that is, until recently with the Olympics approaching. I think that they are similiar to the native americans of our country an should be helped, not hindered, into preserving their culture. But look what happened to the natives here, so who knows what will happen with them.

Going Green

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsIFspVzfI
you might have to search "the most terrifying video you'll ever see"

Go and watch this youtube video, it will really change the way you look at global warming. We should just skip arguing about whether it is real or not and come up with solutions for each possible scenario so we are not caught off guard. Dont you thing that the costs of being over prepared far outweigh the socsts of being caught unprepared?

AUSTRAILIAN SOLDIERS BEING SUED

An Iraqi family is suing a group of Australian troops. She claims that they had stopped their vehicle in front of the embassy and then they were fired upon, wounding her and her son. She claims that no warning was given. The soldiers however say that she had not stopped, and in fact was moving quite speedily, and despite several Arabic signals to stop and warning shots, she kept moving toward the embassy. So the unit commander fired 3 shots at the car. One hit the engine block, one hit the windshield ( the glass is what injured her son) and one hit the woman. They have now moved to Australia and are suing the troops.


This is ridiculous, they are just doing their job. And like its not hard enough now they are getting sued for it. That woman was somewhere she shouldnt have been, would not stop or listen to orders, and was a potential threat. Those troops did what they were trained to do and what they should have done.

NORTH KOREAN EXECUTIONS

North Korea publicly executed 15 of its citizens this week to set an example for the rest of its citizens. The people who were executed for trying to flee the country and take refuge in China. This has been a growing problem in recent years. North Korean people complain that they do not have enough food of money to surive there, so they try to go to China. Many of them want change but are to afraid to do anything about it. I think that they will continue to be scared and I dont think they will be rid of Kim Jong Il II until he dies.

EX-SOVIET CRACKDOWN

Many of the former Soviet states have been experiencing repressive crackdowns here lately. The latest of these to take place was in Armenia, following the ones in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgistan. It took place after the elections which the Atmenian people feel was fixed. So they went to the capital and began protesting peacefully. But even though the protests were peaceful the government used security forces to break it up. 8 people were killed, 130 were wounded and over 100 more were arrested. This is not good. It seems like most of the former Soviet countries, including Russia, are returning to their autocratic ways. I have a feeling that either the people will have massive riots and revolutions or they will return to dictatorships.

GIVE THEM WHAT THEY DESERVE

They give their all for us so give them someone who will give them his all, VOTE MCCAIN

A GLOOMY FUTURE

With the way things are shaping up, it looks as though we may be in store for some hard times in the future in relation to foreign policy. It starts with the Turkish invasion of Iraq. I am not saying Turkey should not have done it, on the contrary they shoud have, but it will strain our relations with them and the Kurds. Then, we now have the USS Cole off of the coast of Lebanon and may possibly send troops in to restore order and fight off some of the Syrian militias. Plus, with Syria threatening Israel again there is extra tension. Also, new sanctions were just passed against Iran, but Iran refused to comply and said they will now try even harder on their uranium enrichment program. Even Russia is causing some problems with the possibly fixed elections. And to top it off, Colombia, one of our long time allies, is facing a war with Venezuela and Ecuador. It looks as though we have a tough time ahead of us and will need a strong leader. I hope it is John McCain because he is the only one who will handle our national security how it should be.

WAR IN LEBANON

It seems as though war is now a real possibility with Lebanon. The US has recently stationed the USS Cole off the coast of Beirut. This follows after a long period of social and political unrest. This is coming at the same time that Saudi Arabia is boycotting the meeting of Arab nations in Damascus at the end of the week. I feel that we may have to move in to combat the pro-Syrian militias that are causing problems. I would not be surprised if there are not Syrian regulars assisting them. Tensions are already high after Syria promised to strike back at Israel for the death of one of their military leaders. I think it would be a good thing if we are there because then it would be much easier to protect Israel from attack and even serve a detterent to one.

WAR LOOMS IN SOUTH AMERICA

Not long after I posted my last blog about Colombia, a series of events occurred. And it is exactly as I feared it would be. Ecuador and Venezuela have started sending thousands of troops to their border with Colombia. They have also withdrawn their ambassadors from the country. I think that Jugo Chavez is just using all of this as an excuse to go to war with Colombia because they are an American ally and to gain more power throughout Latin America. As I stated in my last blog, Colombia has been a staunch American ally and they deserve our support if they are attacked. Plus this would be a good time to get rid of Jugo Chavez, now we see how far he is willing to take things. For both of the articles on this crisis you can go to The Christian Science Monitor.

COLOMBIA LAUNCHES STRIKE ON REBELS INTO ECUADOR

Colombia launched a strike on left wing rebels killing 17 of them. Including the highest ranking leader they have killed in 40 years. But Ecuador is furious because the strike was in their territory. They have withdrawn their ambassador to Colombia and said anymore incursions could lead to "the ultimate consequences". Jugo Chavez has stated that if that ever happens in Venezuealan territory that it will mean war. So tensions are very high.

PERSONAL OPINION
It is unfortunate that this is happening. I hope the tensions die down. Colombia has always been a very loyal US ally. While Venezuela is the complete oppositte right now. They are trying to unite Latin America against the US. Jugo Chavez is trying to provoke a war. If they do go to war we should intervene for Colombia.

TURKEY INVADES NORTHERN IRAQ: AGAIN

Turkey has launched an offensive into northern Iraq aimed at the PKK. The PKK is a terrorist organization made up of ethnic kurds who take refuge just across the border from Turkey and receive help and safety from many Kurds in the region. But most of the Kurds do oppose the PKK. But Iraq is outraged that Turkey has sent in troops to the one basically stable region of the country, threatening to destabalize it. The US called for a timetable but Turkey has refused saying that they will stay there until the job is finished. Many people fear that this will lead to large scale conflict between Turkey and Iraq. This is the 25th time Turkey has gone into Iraq. They are using US intelligence to target the PKK this time. This has strained the US-Kurdish relations as far as they will go.


PERSONAL OPINION
This seems like another difficult situation to deal with. We need the support of the Iraqi people, but we also need the support of Turkey. Hopefully we can satisfy both of them. While I can understand why we are asking Turkey to leave- the tension it is causing- I can also see the Turkish point of view. The PKK is launching attacks into Turkey. If this was done to the US we would do exactly what Turkey is doing. Plus the PKK is a terrorist organization and we have called for a global war on terror so it is hypocritical for us to critisize them. They are acting just as we would in a similiar situation. So both sides have very good points. We need to meet somewhere in the middle of understanding that our allies are getting attacked and therefor reacting and fighting terrorism; while at the same time realizing that this could undermine the hard-earned gains we have made in Iraq so far. And Turkey is a fellow member of NATO. Not only do they have the 2nd largest army in NATO, and have supported us throughout this long war, but they are the only Muslim nation in NATO. It helps us to prove that this is not a war on Islam when there is another muslim nation fighting with us. I have a feeling we will need there support in the future.

Cool video, hopefully ill be going there next year

Barrack Pulls Ahead Of Hillary

In the primaries a few days ago that took place in Maryland, Maine, and New Jersey Barrack Obama won the Democratic Primaries by gaining at least 60% of the vote in each one. This makes me reall happy, not because I support Hillary Clinton, but because I dislike Hillary Clinton. As of right now I want John McCain to win come November but if a Democrat is going to win then I dont want it to be Hillary. I feel like she is the worst person for he job. So I would love it if she is not even an option in the race come November. Again, this doesnt mean that I like Barrack, but he is the lesser of two evils to me.
Some people have accused me of being sexist just because I dont want Hillary to be in office. Does that mean I am also racist because I dont want Barrack in office, NO. I dont want them in office because I dont agree with their views, not because of their sex or race. If Condoleeza Rice ran I would vote for her in a heartbeat, and she is a woman and an African American. But thats not what I look at when voting. I look at her views, which I almost 100% agree with. And she is extremely intelligent and I feel that she would do an outstanding job at running this country. So just because I dont like those two individuals doesnt mean I dislike minorities as a whole. That would be like saying that I dont like white people either because I dont like John Edwards.

HILLARY CLINTON

I am strongly against Hillary Clinton. If there was ever a person that was more unqualified to lead a country than her, I would be hard pressed to find them. She will ruin this country. I totally disagree with all of her views. Especially of war. And since I am going into the military, I dont want a president who is going to cut funding to where I dont get the protection I need. Plus, she is using her husband too much for her campaign. If you watch enough of her speeches you begin to wonder who is really running, her or her husband. I dont like either of the democratic candadates but if Barack is president, it would much rather him win than Hillary. I might even vote democratic in the Ohio primary just to keep Hillary from even being on the ballot. So even though I want a Rpublican to win the election, as long as Hillary isn't president, I will be content.

IRAN RECIEVES NUCLEAR FUEL FROM RUSSIA

Iran has reported that it has recieved the final shipment of enriched uranium from a company in Russia that has been supplying its nuclear reactors. A spokesperson from that company confirmed the statement. Now they have all the uranium they need to run a 100,000 megawatt reactor. The U.S. was initially against Russia supplying them with uranium, but they compromised in order to get Russia to go along with the sanctions against Iran. But instead of Iran stopping its research and enriching of uranium, they continue to progress their nuclear program. When asked why, they claimed that it was because they want to build another 20,000 megawatt reactor. They claim it is strictly for energy puroposes, not nuclear weapons.

PERSONAL OPINION
This is absolute bull crap. Iran should not be aloud to have nuclear power. It is different from other countries who aren't a threat to the rest of the world. If Iran develops nuclear weapons, only bad can come from it. They are obviously a hostile nation. They have openly anti-western policies. And its not that they just dont agree with our policies (which would be fine), but they openly suggest violence to solve these disagreements. Their president even said that he "Would like nothing more than to blow Israel off the face of the earth". How can we sit back and allow such a violent and hostile nation that will help destroy the world develop the weapons of which to do it with. And it is obvious that weapons is what they are aiming for. They constantly said that all they wanted was nuclear powerplants to power their country. Well now they have that power plant and what do you know, they have yet another excuse as to why they should not stop. They will always want more. Have we learned nothing from the lessons of Hitler, appeasment is not an acceptable policy. They will keep taking more and more until it is to late to stop them without a long and horrific war, except this one will involve nuclear weapons. Russia shouldn't have given them the uranium in the first place. Iran says it will return the depleted plutonium back to Russia. But after a while I have a feeling that will stop. And the UN takes so long to decide on anything, even if they do decide to get some backbone and do something, it will be to late. Something needs to be done.

Post your solutions or ideas on this site

Immigration (personal opinion)

I have mixed views about immigration. I have no problem with people who come into this country legally, after all, we were founded by immigrants. But people who are not willing to do things the proper way should not be allowed here. For them to do it illegally shows that they obviously do not have respect for the laws of this country. And if they start off by breaking laws and get away with it, who says they wont do it again.
So if they want to be a citizen or legal resident, they can do it the legal way like everyone else has had to. I do feel that the more people we have in this country the better we are off. Plus, it just means that more will get done. A lot of time immigrants (not just from Mexico) are more wiling to work harder for less money, this is because they didn't have the opportunity back home, so in many ways they do help.
But I am realistic and know that illegal immigration is not going to stop even if we build a huge fence all along the border. So we should put that money to better use (like intelligence or defense) until we figure out a better way to regulate and manage these illegal aliens.