Category Archives: International Events

Any event that involves two or more nations.

Pentagon releases pictures

A Pentagon General told BBC “If we lose America, we lose the war, ” and this seems to be happening already. Ralph Begleiter is a professor at the University of Delaware. Some time this year he brought the US Defence Department to court in order to force it to publish pictures of coffins coming home from Iraq.
The Pentagon then published 700 pictures, and this – together with the increasing number of deaths and a lot of resistance from victims’ families – had a big impact in American public opinion about the Iraq war. As American soldiers’ casualties have reached 1850, American public support for the war has dropped to about 40%.

Thanks again to BBC news for the information and picture.

India Providing Aid to Afghanistan

The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, sees that stability is needed in Asia, and one way that India can help keep things stable is by helping Afghanistan more. Already New Delhi ranks in the top six contributors to Kabul.

On a recent visit to Kabul, Singh noted that more reconstruction is needed and has said publicly that India will continue to help Afghanistan as well as further their economic and political ties.

China’s Firewall

Harvard’s Law School is trying to figure what which websites China’s internet firewall is blocking. They have provided a page where you can go and test if a website is blocked. They also have documentation on internet filtering worldwide.

At the time of this posting it is unknown whether or not ThingsAreGood.com is blocked. A list of sites known to be blocked is also online. Harvard is looking into China’s firewall (and other places are too) to better understand why China is blocking them.

It is also a good resource for people to see how constraining internet censorship can be, and maybe provoke people to voice their concern. The list is used be other organizations that are always looking to get around the firewall.

Iran (not so) Far Away From Negotiations

Iran has taken a firm stance on continuing its nuclear ambitions, but recently they have shown interest in further negotiations with the EU. Nukes are no fun Iran has decided to come up with its own plan about how to go about the nuclear issue. Important to note that Iran has openly expressed interest in getting other nations involved.

Previously the EU ended negotiations and currently they are preparing for sanctions on the nation. France is open to more talks.

Uzbekistan Tells U.S. to Leave

The Uzbek government has given the American military six months to leave Uzbekistan. Infrastructure supporting the base has cost the state upwards of $160 million US, which the US has not contributed to.

The American government was going to contribute about $20 million, but withheld it because the way Uzbek government handled May protests. Troops fired on a crowd of peaceful protesters and the government has not launched an inquiry into the incident which killed 750 people. Russia and China have also called for an inquiry, hopefully China and Russia will have success where the American’s didn’t.

Removal of the air base in Uzbekistan will help ease political tension in the area since China and Russia are both rightly concerned of the American military presence. The demilitarization of the world is always good.