Current World Issues

A Fateful Decision That Led to the 1979 Iran Hostage Crisis https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/first-person/qassem-suleimani-airstrike-1979-iran-hostage-crisis/ First Person - Foreign Policy C This entire podcast connected with the Iran project that I did last term.  The general politics and partisan religious split made sense to me.  This was very similar to other times that America has overthrown the original government, messy, with unintended consequences, and motivated by finances.  This connected to the Taliban, to Nicaragua, and America's very own revolution.  E I hadn't realised the partisan nature of the US's involvement in the evacuation and accommodation of the Shah.  In hindsight, it should have been obvious, but I assumed that the US government was fully behind the shelter offered, but actually, the carter administration seemed to be very against the idea of sheltering the Shah, because it doesn't actually make any sense to shelter him f...

And Now the Hard Part How to Reverse the Global Drift Toward Authoritarianism https://foreignpolicy.com/podcasts/and-now-the-hard-part/ CONNECT:   How are the ideas and information presented connected to what you know and understand?  It connected to the idea that everyone needs an enemy.  I had always thought of authoritarianism, facism, nazism, and nationalism needing enemies, but here it was interesting how the way that the left sometimes refuses the idea of an "enemy" per se, which can allow the rise of opposition.  I saw it in last week, and I saw it in this week.  It also connects to something someone sent me which is that the difference between the far left and far right is with the far left, they'll hate you and maybe be violent toward you until you change your views, or stop attending right-wing rallies.  If the far right hates you, however, one can't stop being black, or gay, or muslim.   EXTEND:   What new ideas ex...

Podcast Intelligence Squared - Fighting Back Against Big Tech, with Rana Foroohar and Ros Urwin https://play.acast.com/s/intelligencesquared/df1a9cad-c5b3-49c9-93eb-ff8b8761623e How are the ideas and information presented CONNECTED to what you already knew? I knew that there was incredible danger and the loss of privacy, something that my dad and I talk about a lot (he majored in computer science), but this connected other ways that they provide a threat: through monopoly and manipulation.  I have always heard about the evils of corporations, but those who said that always seemed a little bit fringe, like naysayers.  Here is an actual in-depth analysis. What new ideas did you get that EXTENDED or pushed your thinking in new directions? I had never considered users as raw material and data as a resource, like oil or gas.  This extended me to apply, in my head, the standards I would put on those resources, to an extent on data companies.  Monopolies, govern...

Afghanistan frees 3 Taliban prisoners in bid to secure release of U.S. professor “Afghanistan Frees 3 Taliban Prisoners in Bid to Secure Release of U.S. Professor.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 12 Nov. 2019, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/afghanistan-frees-taliban-prisoners-prisoner-swap-bid-american-professor-kevin-king-today-2019-11-12/. The bias obviously present is against the Taliban.  This is obvious in the wording of something like describing the prisoners of the Taliban as gaunt, while not describing the physical condition of Afghanistan's prisoners, and mentioning the "deadly Taliban attacks."  It's quite interesting though, that the article mentions how little it knows about the deal, they didn't know when or where the deal was being held, they didn't know when the death sentence was due for, among other things.  So in a circumstance with so few hard facts, one can't really be sure of anything. I think that the intended audience is older, ...

Iran announces nuke deal violations 40 years after U.S. Embassy takeover, hostage crisis Hjelmgaard, Kim. “Iran Announces Nuke Deal Violations 40 Years after U.S. Embassy Takeover, Hostage Crisis.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 4 Nov. 2019, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/11/04/iran-announces-nuclear-deal-violations-hostage-crisis-anniversary/4153869002/. The bias present here is a very amero-centric bias. It is evident in the language, choice of details, even in the name of the newspaper.  One thing that stands out to me is when the FAQ video embedded talks about the original coup, orchestrated by the CIA, it gives the fears of communism but somewhat fails to mention that the US and Britain, a co-conspirator, stood to lose an incredible amount, economically speaking.  It mentions the 444-day hostage situation in 1979, claiming that this event "set the tone for decades of animosity and fraught relations with the United States."  T...

Brexit extension: will the EU grant one if the UK requests it? Rankin, Jennifer. “Brexit Extension: Will the EU Grant One If the UK Requests It?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 9 Sept. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/sep/09/brexit-extension-would-the-eu-grant-one-if-the-uk-requests-it Generally, the Guardian is on the left side of the political spectrum.  In this article, as it analyses the upcoming decision of the EU as to whether or not it will provide an extension, there is much sympathetic language used in regards to the EU.  The Eu is made to seem logical, and almost like a parent disciplining a disobedient child, such as quotes like " The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who once  described the UK as a “patient”  that needed careful treatment, seems particular conscious of the weight of history.", " She has signalled she is open to an extension for 'good reasons'." and "The EU has never wanted to be seen as pushing the...