Monday, July 24, 2006

Open Thread for Current Events

Here's a place for you to post and discuss current events, but put this at the bottom of your priority list...
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6 comments:

  1. Anonymous7/24/06, 2:56 PM

    There is still unrest in Afghanistan. Taliban insurgents attacked a police station, killing three and wounding others. This attack is one of several that have occured in recent weeks.
    Can the Afghan government handle this situation?
    There are many tribal disputes over power, but I feel that the government has to do something to show its authority. The central government must show strength in order to maintain control.
    There could also be an outside force aiding on the insurgency. The US presence still may cause resentment against the regime change during the invasion.
    No matter which course of action the government chooses, something has to be done before the insurgency picks up pace and causes larger problems.
    Later,
    Charlie Street

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  2. Anonymous7/24/06, 5:04 PM

    It turns out that hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit money has been coming into the US over the last couple of years, and experts believe it might be coming from North Korea.

    I've read that under international law, counterfeiting money can be seen as an act of hostility. Given North Korea's position against the United States and its economic issues, this story is definitely believable. Right now we're trying to avoid war with North Korea, and if they're faking our money, well, that's just not a good idea on their part. I'm not saying that the US needs to invade North Korea over this, but we should definitely do something about it. How dare they not respect our currency!

    Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/23/magazine/23counterfeit.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

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  3. Anonymous7/24/06, 5:30 PM

    Today. Isis published images of what it says is a new nuclear reactor being built in Pakistan. They also said it would be capable of making enough material for 40-50 nuclear weapons a year.

    This is an event comes at a poor time for India-Pakistan relations. They have been on the brink of war for a while and something like this is just the thing to put them over the edge. it also furthers the arms race in south Asia, which is also not good. I think that pakistan and India might end up in a similar situation as Russia and the US in the cold war, but who knows. Let me know what you guys think.

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  4. Anonymous7/24/06, 7:06 PM

    The headline for this article, 'Iran activist snubs Whitehouse' might be a little misleading. Akbar Ganji, visiting the U. S. to try to bring attention to the conditions in Iran opted not to attend a meeting with U. S. officials because he thought current U. S. policies could not help promote democracy in Iran, and because such meetings would affect the credibility of dissident activists in Iran.

    Mr. Ganji was against the U. S. invasion of Iraq, arguing that it had only given strength to Islamic fundamentalists. Fitting in nicely with our pre-emption debate, he asserts "You cannot bring democracy to another country by attacking it." And if it's hard to bring democracy to another country by attacking it, it's probably near impossible to bring American morals, freedom, justice, hot-dogs, watermelon and lemonade; all those good things that will inevitable follow a pre-emptive strike.

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  5. Anonymous7/24/06, 8:06 PM

    The Israeli Air Force has been ordered to hit 10 buildings in Lebanon for every rocket fired into Israel.

    This further instills the point that Israel is no longer going to tolerate any violent actions against it. It is important to keep in mind that Israel is not engaging in preemptive strikes because they are attacking only after Hezbollah launches offensive attacks against them. While reports indicate Israel is targeting civilians I am not sure they are doing so purposely. I would never condone the use of force against civilians, but if regular citizens are in such close proximity to buildings controlled by Hezbollah one must wonder if they are truly ordinary citizens. One of the biggest challenges in fighting terrorism is distinguishing the terrorist from ordinary citizens. At this point I think Israel needs to reduce the number of air strikes and use its troops on the ground to hunt down people who are members of Hezbollah. The extreme violence involved in the conflict may end fairly soon, but the overall operation will most likely continue for quite some time.

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  6. Anonymous7/24/06, 10:23 PM

    Okay, I see that Charlie has already reported on this story--but I honestly wrote this earlier in the day. Here goes:

    Suspected members of the Taliban have killed three and injured seven more in a recent attack. Hundreds of members of the Taliban used pick up trucks and fired rocket propelled grenades in their attack against a police post. They also reportedly attacked government offices in the Bakwa district. This attack was most likely designed to send a message—a message to the police and the United States, as well. The Taliban probably wants everyone to know that they are not finished ruling Afghanistan and they have plans to regain their control. The attack on police was a clear indication that they do not approve of the new ruling system.

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