The Begin of The Second Cold War

Josef Reuther
10/19/13
811

   The article "A New Cold War" by Peter Baker and Steven Lee Myers of the Upfront Magazine focuses on the current tensions between the United States of America and Russia. The presidents of the two respective countries Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin are unable to agree on several controversial issues.

   Since Putin's reelection last year the two countries have been unable to agree on anything. One piece of evidence that supports this claim is that while the United States is trying to help Syrian rebels in the fight against their government Russia is selling the Syrian government billions of dollars worth of weapons. "In September, as the U.S. was poised to launch air strikes against the Syrian Government in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack that killed 1,400," as the article stated, Russia was using its power in the Security Council to veto any actions against Syria's President Bashar al-Assad. In the end Russia managed to aid its ally as well as take control of the debate over the chemical weapons. As can be seen Obama and Putin are not able to agree on currently pressing issues such as the Civil War in Syria.

    In August of this year Russia granted Edward , who is wanted by the United States, political asylum. Snowden who leaked information about U.S. surveillance programs instantly became one of the United States most wanted. Russia is offering him protection from the United States and most experts now agree that "U.S.-Russian relations are at a historic low since the collapse of the Soviet Union,"as the article aptly states. As can be seen Obama's goal of rebuilding bonds between America and Russia seem even more elusive than they did before. 

   Cooperation between the United States and Russia have always revolved around the U.S. accepting a certain amount of Putin's authoritarianism in return for help on global issues. It is clear that Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin are unable to agree on certain very important issues. The result of this appears to be the begin of a second Cold War.

Is the Arab Spring Failing

Josef Reuther
811

    In the article, "Has The Arab Spring Failed" by Upfront Magazine's author Patricia Smith, the revolts of several middle eastern countries are discussed, and how despite that many of them have been successful in overthrowing their dictators these countries are still poorly ruled.
    One piece of evidence that substantiates this claim is that in June of 2012, Morsi a member of the Muslim Brotherhood was elected into office in Egypt. Under Morsi's rule Egypt started having electricity outages quickly followed by gas becoming scarce. Instead of solving these issues "Morsi enacted measures that restricted freedoms and moved closer to Islamic Law," as Patricia Smith aptly stated. As can be seen, although Egypt fought hard to overthrow its dictator, those who came into power following him also had the wrong ideas for Egypt. When Morsi was removed from office for his strict Islamic doctrine by the army many Islamic Egyptians revolted against the army which resulted in more than 600 deaths and over 4,000 injuries in a span of 12 hours alone. Even though Egypt managed to get rid of its dictator it still struggles to get on the path of democracy.
    Another piece of evidence that corroborates this claim about the revolts in the Middle East is that Libya also managed to oust Muammar el-Qaddafi, nonetheless however Libya now finds itself ruled by a series of armed militia groups who control the nation and fill in for a proper president. Although Libyans thought that getting rid of their dictator would solve their issues, Libya currently finds itself disorganized and in a catastrophic state. Tunisia, another country inspired by the Arab Spring, replaced its dictator with an Islamist government still finds itself in a very fragile state. As can be seen, although several countries have succeeded in defeating their dictators many of the Arab people living in these countries do not find themselves living in better conditions than they did before their revolts.
    One last piece of evidence that supports this claim about the Arab Spring is that as Patricia Smith stated "Arab countries that had suffered political and economic stagnation under decades of autocratic rule were poorly equipped to build new governments." The countries that revolted against their dictators are not in proper shape to rebuild and improve their governments. Egypt being the largest of the middle eastern countries has a large influence on the other countries. If democracy is not able to properly function in Egypt many experts believe that democracy will not work in other countries either.
    As can clearly be seen although several Middle Eastern countries have succeeded in overthrowing their dictators the most find themselves still not living under a properly ruled government. Egypt replaced its tyranny with a democracy, however even though this gave the public voice the newly elected president had different ideas for Egypt;.
 

Josef Reuther
English Language Arts

          In the books "The Power of Six" by Pittacus Lore and "The Death Cure" by James Dashner characters face many similar issues however they treat them very differently. Both Thomas and John face many internal as well external issues.

           John the main character of the "Power of Six" comes from a foreign planet called Lorien. He was forced to flee Lorien with nine other children to Earth as a rival civilization known as Mogadorians attacked Lorien seeking its natural resources. John and the other children develop legacies, which give them extraordinary abilities such as being able to turn invisible. On Earth they continue to be hunted down by the Mogadorians, for they alone have the power to take back Lorien. On Earth John is constantly on the run hiding from the Mogadorians, which is the greatest external issue that he faces. At one point John falls in love with a girl named Sarah, but as he always did he had to leave that life behind after a short time. He longs for her all the time while he is on the run. And returns to see her. But because John was believed to be terrorist she turned him in despite her love for him. John felt betrayed by Sarah for turning him in and is haunted by the thought constantly. John also falls in love again with another member from Lorien named Six. John feels conflicted between loving Sarah and Six and is reminded by it every time he sees six.
           Thomas the main character of "The Death Cure" finds himself in an apocalyptic world. The flare, which is a disease that has turned 99% of the people on Earth into primitive animals as there brains rot to nothing. Thomas is one of very few people who is immune to the flare. He and several other teenagers are being used to find a cure for the flare by a department called WICKED. WICKED has forced Thomas and his friends through three trials studying their reactions to terrible things. All the time Thomas is unsure about whether WICKED is simply evil or if they are forcing them through this for a greater good.