Current Event #6

Original Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/28/bishop-arrested-immigration-rally_n_5050704.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

Sally Dyck, Methodist Bishop, Arrested At Chicago Immigration Reform Rally

Protesters protesting the deportations

A protest that included an estimated five hundred people outside the Chicago office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency resulted in the arrests of forty people, including ten Methodist pastors. The group was protesting against the current immigration policy of the United States and how immigrant families are disrupted by the enforcement of the law. According to a letter to the President published in this article, the leader of the protests, Methodist Bishop Sally Dyck, says “I participated in civil disobedience because I find the policy of mass deportations to be morally reprehensible and one that must end.”

The connection to what we are doing in class is the story of Antigone, by Sophocles. Antigone was the sister of Eteocles and Polynices.  After their father dies, his sons (Eteocles and Polynices) are to share the rule of Thebes. The two quarreled over how this was to be done and Polynices formed an army and attacked the city of Thebes. The army of Thebes was led by his brother, Eteocles. Both brothers are killed and a man named Creon becomes the ruler of Thebes. His orders are that the body of Polynices is to be left on the battlefield to rot. Antigone has the moral choice of following a law which she felt was immoral or to follow the customs of her faith and bury her dead brother, Polynices. She chooses to follow her morals and is sentenced to be buried alive for her disobedience – she kills herself before this can happen.

My reaction to this story is that I want to learn more about why people are being sent back to other countries when they have come here to get a better life. The story talks about a family that’s been split up, and I don’t understand why a family would be split up, even if they are not here legally. The protesters want the President to do something about this, but passing laws is something that Congress has to do, not the President. This event does not affect me personally, except that I have friends whose parents were born in other countries, like Mexico.

The author of the article is taking the protesters side of the issue since he has no interviews or quotes from anyone in the government. He uses language in the article such as “…March 27 rally to demand President Obama cease deportations until humane immigration reform is passed”. The author also tells that the Methodist Church “has in recent months thrown support behind a growing immigration reform movement, building upon the denomination's Interagency Task Force on Immigration”. By describing the movement as ‘growing’, the author says that more people are in support of changing how immigrants are treated.

Blumberg, Antonia. "Sally Dyck, Methodist Bishop, Arrested At Chicago Immigration Reform Rally." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/28/bishop-arrested-immigration-rally_n_5050704.html?utm_hp_ref=religion>.

Vollmer, Micheal. Protestors. 2014. Huffington Post. Web. 29 Mar. 2014. < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/28/bishop-arrested-immigration-rally_n_5050704.html?utm_hp_ref=religion>.

Current Event #5

Malaysian Officials Open Criminal Inquiry Into Missing Jet

Article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp

Location A: Kuala Lumpur

Location B: Beijing

9M-MRO, the plane that is missing.

Last Saturday (March 8, 2014), a Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 heading from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China mysteriously disappeared, never making it to its destination. Initially, there were no answers, only theories about what happened to this plane. There are reports that the engines continued to run for hours after the disappearance – this came from the engine manufacturer who receives automatic updates from their engines through satellite transmission. Most authorities now believe that this plane was deliberately taken by hijacking. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had originally tried to calm to the public and tell them that the government was doing everything it could to find the missing plane. Many people, along with searchers along the coast of Malaysia, multiple satellites, and searchers from other countries, have been looking for signs of the missing plane. According to the satellite information, the plane apparently changed course shortly after it left Kuala Lumpur. Searchers have found no debris or other sign of the plane in any of their target areas.

Mr. Razak now believes this course change to be a result of the actions of some individuals: “These movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane”. Thepublic and reporters have speculated on two Iranian passengers who weretraveling using stolen passports. Both of these paid for their flight using cash instead of credit cards and both purchased tickets less than 24 hours before the flight. If this was a hijacking situation, there have been no ‘demands’ or claims of ‘credit’ for the hijacking that have been made public.

          The author used the quotations from Mr. Razak to show the official opinion of what happened to the flight and possibly to prepare the public for more bad news about this flight. The search area for this flight has also changed – originally, it was the route the plane should have taken and now it is a larger circle with the plane’s last location at the center.

Bradsher, Keith, and Chris Buckley. "Malaysia Officials Open Criminal Inquiry Into Missing Jet." The New York Times. The New York Times, 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/16/world/asia/malaysia-airlines-flight.html?hp>.

Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. 2010. HD Wallpapers. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.hdwallpapers.in/kuala_lumpur_malaysia-wallpapers.html>.

Beijing: The Forbidden City. 2006. Travel-earth. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.travel-earth.com/china/>.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. 2003. Plane Spotters. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.planespotters.net/Production_List/Boeing/777/28420,9M-MRO-Malaysia-Airlines.php>.

"Two Iranian Men Identified as Stolen Passport Holders on Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight."South China Morning Post. N.p., 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. <http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1446086/iranian-teen-identified-stolen-passport-holder-malaysia-airlines-flight>.

Current Event #4

Ukraine Mobilizes For War, Calls Up Reserves

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/02/ukraine-russia-putin_n_4884064.html?utm_hp_ref=world

Russian soldiers around one of the captured Ukraine airports



Crimean Peninsula (white), along with Ukraine (green) and Russia (orange-red)

Ukraine is mobilizing for war in response to Russian activities inside Ukraine and the seizing of Crimea. The disagreements between Russia and Ukraine escalated in recent months with protests in the city of Kiev. The president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, had announced in November that Ukraine was going seek closer ties with Russia instead of with the European Union. After three months of street violence, the Ukrainian parliament voted to remove Yanukovych from office and stage new elections. Last week, pro-Russian residents of Crimea protested against the government in Kiev and Russia has sent military forces into Crimea to seize Ukrainian bases. Russia wants the Crimean Peninsula because of their naval base and access to the Black Sea (and the Mediterranean Sea).

This article relates to what we are doing in class (studying World War II) in that the Germans annexed a region called the Sudetenland, annexed Austria and seized Czechoslovakia to 'protect' ethnic Germans. There are similarities between what is happening now and what happened before World War II. Russia has just hosted Olympic Games and Germany hosted the games in 1936. Russia invades Crimea to protect ethnic Russians and the Germans did the same in to their neighbors. The West did nothing to stop Hitler and we will see what is done to stop Russia now.

The authors point of view is that Ukraine is practically defenseless against Russia. The authors of this article said that Ukraine's "tiny armed forces would be no match against the might of its superpower neighbour". Natalia Zinets and Alissa de Carbonnel back this up by described the small army and "planes barely able to fly". They quote the commander of a navy post, Colonel Igor Manchev, refusing to surrender and saying that his men will "...carry out our duty until the end."

I believe that war is not a good way to settle these issues and that violence will not help the situation in Ukraine. I do think that Russia and Ukraine will wind up going to war but that it will be a short war with Russia winning. The west will try to help with speeches, but has done nothing to stop Russia in the past, such as when they invaded Georgia to 'protect Russian citizens'. There are many people in Ukraine who are ethnic Russians who want to be united with Russia again.

Zinets, Natalia. "Ukraine Mobilizes For War, Calls Up Reserves." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Mar. 2014. Web. 02 Mar. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/02/ukraine-russia-putin_n_4884064.html?utm_hp_ref=world>.
Russia Soldiers. 2014. Photograph. CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Feb. 2014. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/28/world/europe/ukraine-politics/>.
Electionworld. Crimean Map. 2006. Photograph. Wikipedia. Mediawiki, 29 Dec. 2006. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crimeamap.png>.