World News 04.17.13

• AFGHANISTAN: Taliban official says “You won’t find any link with Afghanistan to the Boston attack. The Taliban neither has the inclination nor the capacity for such an attack on the West.” (Daily Beast)
• NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand becomes thirteenth country to legalize same-sex marriage (Slate)
• SAUDI ARABIA: Saudi prince tweets support for women driving (CNN)
• IRAN: Dozens dead after massive quake hits Iran-Pakistan border (Huffington Post)
• CUBA: Guantanamo prisoner hunger strike gaining stream (NPR)
• THE NETHERLANDS: Outrage after Justin Bieber says he hopes Anne Frank "would have been a belieber." (Time)

Reflection 09: Fire in the Sky—Understanding the Predator Drone Debate

Since 2002, American tactical operations in the Middle East have utilized unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), commonly referred to as "predator drones." Predator drones were used increasingly by the Bush Administration through 2007. However, it has been the Obama Administration that has aggressively expanded the program. The current administration argues that these high-tech drones are an effective and precise weapon in the war against terrorism. They also point to a number of high-ranking al-Qaeda and Taliban officials that have been killed as a result of the program. Additionally, predator drones allow the Unites States to carry out significant tactical operations without the use of soldiers on the ground, something the American public has lost its appetite for after a decade of war. Opponents argue that the program is immoral because it allows the United States to keep its hands clean while unleashing terror on foreign populations. Critics also point to the increasing number of civilian causalities. These deaths, they argue, are significantly damaging to our efforts to win over "the hearts and minds" of the Arab world. The fact that the program is operated (largely in secret) by the CIA, and not the military, is another point of contention. Here at home, drones remain popular with Americans despite increasing liberal and conservative resistance in Congress. What do you believe should be the American policy on predator drones? Are drones simply as an efficient means of carrying out American military objectives or are we now responsible for our own weapons of terror in the Middle East? Is it realistic for America to expect to both achieve ambitious military goals and keep our troops at home?

Include at least three of the following pieces in your discussion:

• "Drones: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know But Were Always Afraid to Ask" (Mother Jones)
• "Are Drones Any More Immoral than Other Weapons of War? (Guardian)
• "Drones Save Lives, American and Other" (New York Times)
• "Why Our Drone Warfare Campaign is Right and Moral" (Daily Beast)
• "In Swat Valley, US Drone Strikes Radicalizing a New Generation" (CNN)
• "The View From the Wreckage' (New York Times) 

Requirements:

• MLA Style
• Two full pages in length
• Works cited page

Due: Th 04.25

BREAKING: Twin bombs detonate at Boston Marathon

Live updates:

• The New York Times
• ABC News 
• The Guardian 

 

WEEK 13: AUSTRALIA

“The people are immensely likable—cheerful, extrovert,
quick-witted, and unfailingly obliging. Their cities are 

safe and clean and nearly always built on water. They have
a society that is prosperous, well ordered, and instinctively 

egalitarian. The food is excellent. The beer is cold. The
sun nearly always shines. There is coffee on every corner.
Life doesn't get much better than this.”

                                                                                               ―Bill Bryson, In a Sunburned Country

WEEK 13: AUSTRALIA

Read: GOOD—pg. 1 – 125

Tu 04.16
Reading discussion; Presentations
Due: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS ESSAY

Th 04. 18
Reading discussion; Presentations
Due: REFLECTION 08

Upcoming:

WEEK 14: SPAIN

Read: GOOD—pg. 126 – 300  

Tu 04.23

Reading discussion; Presentations

Th 04.25

Watch—Paradise Now (2005)

Due: REFLECTION 09