http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm The Association of Young Americans Policy Issue of the day. en-us Thu, 09 Sep 2010 08:43:29 -0400 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:28:00 -0400 BlogCFC http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss young_americans@hotmail.com young_americans@hotmail.com http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/12/1/President-Speaking-to-Nation-Tonight-about-Afghanistan-War In a speech scheduled for 8pm tonight, President Obama will outline his plans for the war in Afghanistan, including sending an additional 30,000 tropps to the conflict. The New York Times is reporting that "In bringing the total American force to nearly 100,000 troops by the end of May, the administration will move far faster than it had originally planned. Until recently, discussions focused on a deployment that would take a year, but Mr. Obama concluded that the situation required "more, sooner," as one official said, explaining some of the central conclusions Mr. Obama reached at the end of a nearly three-month review of American war strategy." According to the Washington Times, "A senior administration official tells the AP that President Barack Obama will tell the American people Tuesday night that U.S. troops will start leaving Afghanistan 'well before' the end of his first term." Share you thoughts on the President's plan and the War in our Forums. Foreign policy Military Terrorism Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:28:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/12/1/President-Speaking-to-Nation-Tonight-about-Afghanistan-War http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/11/20/Taliban-in-Afghanistan The Taliban is growing in strength, particularly in southern Afghanistan where it has set up some institutions of government. "Senior American military officials said the Taliban run roughly two dozen law courts in southern Afghanistan, one of the armed Islamist group's main strongholds. Drawing on a fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law, the courts work to resolve conflicts over property, grazing rights and inheritances, the officials said. The Taliban have also appointed unofficial governors and mayors to exercise day-to-day control over remote areas, amounting to a parallel government independent of Kabul, according to the U.S. officials," reports the Wall Street Journal. "The Taliban shadow governments now handle everything from land disputes to divorces, the officers said. In the south, Taliban militants are extorting money -- which they describe as a tax -- from truckers and other merchants who ferry products across provincial boundaries, according to U.S. officials."Share your ideas in the Forums on the war in Afghanistan and your thoughts on what U.S. policy should be in the next few years. Foreign policy Terrorism Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:23:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/11/20/Taliban-in-Afghanistan http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/11/18/Oil-Tanker-Hijacked It sounds like a plot line for a new James Bond movie - Pirates hijack a Saudi Arabian oil tanker at sea. AOL News reports that a "brand-new MV Sirius Star, with a crew of 25, was seized far off the coast of Kenya on Saturday and the bandits were taking the ship to a Somali port known as a hub of pirate activity." Piracy orginating from Somalia have been a growing problem. "A NATO flotilla of seven ships destroyers from the U.S. and Italy, frigates from Germany, Greece, Turkey and Britain and a Russian missile frigate are already fighting piracy around Somalia. NATO, however, says its priority is escorting World Food Program ships that deliver basic rations for 3 million hungry Somalis," reports Yahoo News. Share news that you find of interest in our Forums. Energy Foreign policy Terrorism Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:20:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/11/18/Oil-Tanker-Hijacked http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/25/Pakistan-Coalition-Govt-Breaks Following the resignation of President Musharrah last week, come reports today that the breakup of the coalition government. "The breakdown of the fragile 5-month-old civilian government clears the way for the party of slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to tighten its hold on the government; the West hopes it will make good on pledges to combat terrorism. Nawaz Sharif, another former premier, announced Monday that he was pulling out of the coalition because it failed to restore judges fired by Musharraf or agree to a neutral replacement for the ousted president," reports Yahoo News. This latest development comes amid continued internal violence. Learn more in the Yahoo article above and on the BBC. Share your questions and concerns in the Association of Young Americans Open Forum. Foreign policy Terrorism Mon, 25 Aug 2008 12:55:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/25/Pakistan-Coalition-Govt-Breaks http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/11/Fighting-continues-as-EU-tries-to-broker-Ceasefire Russia and Georgia continue fighting, while a delegation of European Union officials have been attempting to negotiate a cease-fire. The BBC reports that "Georgia said dozens of Russian bombers attacked targets inside its territory, including around Tbilisi and Gori. Russia said Georgian attacks on the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali killed three of its troops. Georgia's president backed a draft EU ceasefire proposal for a ceasefire, but Moscow reportedly rejected the plan." Russian Prime Minister (and former President) Putin criticized "the United States for airlifting Georgian troops from Iraq. Putin said Monday that the U.S. move will hamper efforts to solve Russia's conflict with Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. The U.S. military has begun flying 2,000 Georgian troops home from Iraq after Georgia recalled them," reported Yahoo News.What do you think of the situation between Russia and Georgia? Do you think the US was right to return the Georgian troops who had been recalled from Iraq? Share your views in the Open Forum. Foreign policy Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:34:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/11/Fighting-continues-as-EU-tries-to-broker-Ceasefire http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/8/Fighting-between-Russia-and-Georgia Fighting has broken out between Russia and the former Soviet state of Georgia. "Georgian troops launched a major military offensive Friday to regain control over the breakaway province of South Ossetia, prompting a furious response from Russia which vowed retaliation and sent a column of tanks into the region," reported Yahoo News in an Associated Press piece. The article notes that "Georgia, which borders the Black Sea between Turkey and Russia, was ruled by Moscow for most of the two centuries preceding the breakup of the Soviet Union."The BBC reports that "Georgia is reported to have said any involvement of Russian forces in the conflict will result in a state of war between the two countries. Russia says it is sending reinforcements to support peacekeepers. Reports from Georgia claim Russian jets have attacked an airport near Tbilisi. Nato, the US and the EU have all called for an immediate end to hostilities."Share your thoughts and concerns in the Forums. Foreign policy Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:03:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/8/Fighting-between-Russia-and-Georgia http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/5/French-role-in-Rwandan-Genocide A Commission in Rwanda released a report that claims French officials and troops were involved in the genocide which occurred in 1994. The BBC reports that "the commission spent nearly two years investigating France's alleged role in the genocide. It heard testimonies from genocide survivors, researchers, writers and reporters. The 500-page document was presented to Rwanda's government last November, but was not made public until now. Rwanda has repeatedly accused France of arming and training the Hutu militias that perpetrated the genocide, and of dragging its feet in co-operating with the investigations that followed. France has maintained that its forces helped protect civilians during a UN-sanctioned mission in Rwanda at the time."Share your thoughts on this and any other foreign policy concerns in our Open Forum. Foreign policy Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:09:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/8/5/French-role-in-Rwandan-Genocide http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/7/31/New-Intellegence-Rules In a new executive order, disclosed today, President Bush revised and reordered some of the relationships between the various intellegence agencies. The New York Times reports that "The new order gives the national intelligence director, a position created in 2005, new authority over any intelligence information collected that pertains to more than one agency -- an attempt to force greater information exchange among agencies traditionally reluctant to share their most prized intelligence. The order directs the attorney general to develop guidelines to allow agencies access to information held by other agencies. That could potentially include the sharing of sensitive information about Americans."The revised order is not yet on the White House website, but you can check back on the section of website with executive orders. Share your thoughts and questions about intellegence gathering, privacy and security in our Open Forum. Foreign policy Privacy Terrorism Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:57:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/7/31/New-Intellegence-Rules http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/6/30/Al-Qaedas-Growth-in-Pakistan Almost 7 years since the terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington, D.C., and western Pennsylvania, Osama Bin Laden remains at large and Al Qaeda has apparently reconstituted itself in Pakistan. A detailed article on the front page of today's New York Times states the following:Just as it had on the day before 9/11, Al Qaeda now has a band of terrorist camps from which to plan and train for attacks against Western targets, including the United States. Officials say the new camps are smaller than the ones the group used prior to 2001. However, despite dozens of American missile strikes in Pakistan since 2002, one retired C.I.A. officer estimated that the makeshift training compounds now have as many as 2,000 local and foreign militants, up from several hundred three years ago.Current and former military and intelligence officials said that the war in Iraq consistently diverted resources and high-level attention from the tribal areas. When American military and intelligence officials requested additional Predator drones to survey the tribal areas, they were told no drones were available because they had been sent to Iraq.Even critics of the White House agree that there was no foolproof solution to gaining control of the tribal areas. But by most accounts the administration failed to develop a comprehensive plan to address the militant problem there, and never resolved the disagreements between warring agencies that undermined efforts to fashion any coherent strategy. The full article is available here, on the NYTimes website, and is worth reading for those concerned about the threat Al Qaeda poses to the US. Are you concerned that a terrorist group will launch another attack on the U.S.? What do you think we should be doing as a nation to prevent such an attack? Share your thoughts and concerns in the Terrorism Forum. Foreign policy Middle East Terrorism Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:35:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/6/30/Al-Qaedas-Growth-in-Pakistan http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/5/19/President-Bush-in-Middle-East Yeterday President Bush copncluded a 5 day trip through the Middle East with a speech at the World Economic Forum. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported the following exerpts from the speech "Too often in the Middle East, politics has consisted of one leader in power and the opposition in jail, [...] America is deeply concerned about the plight of political prisoners in this region, as well as democratic activists who are intimidated or repressed, newspapers and civil-society organizations that are shut down, and dissidents whose voices are stifled.""I call on all nations in this region to release their prisoners of conscience, open up their political debate, and trust their people to chart their future."The President also called for the creation of a Palestinian state. What do you think about the stability of the Middle East and what role do you think the U.S. can play in helping the peace process. Share your thoughts in the Open Forum. Foreign policy Middle East Mon, 19 May 2008 08:44:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/5/19/President-Bush-in-Middle-East http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/2/26/Army-out-of-balance In testimony today before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General George Casey discussed the need for reduced combat tours. "'The cumulative effects of the last six-plus years at war have left our Army out of balance, consumed by the current fight and unable to do the things we know we need to do to properly sustain our all-volunteer force and restore our flexibility for an uncertain future,' said Gen. George Casey, chief of staff of the Army," reports the USA Today, "Casey told the [...] Committee that cutting the time soldiers spend in combat is an integral part of reducing the stress on the force. He said he anticipates the service can cut combat tours from 15 months to 12 months this year, so long as the president reduces the number of active-duty Army brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan to 15 units by July as planned." This report comes following security gains credited in part to the "surge" of US troops and some progress by the Iraqi government on important legislation (see post of 2/13/08 - Iraq Passes 3 Important Laws). How does Gen. Casey's testimony and the recent progress by the Iraqi government impact you view of the situation in IRaq and America's continued military presence there? Share your thoughts in the Iraq Forum. Foreign policy Iraq Military Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:12:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/2/26/Army-out-of-balance http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/2/19/Pakistan-Election-Results After being postponed following the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, elections were held in Pakistan with parties opposed to President Pervez Musharraf winning. "Pakistan's ruling party conceded defeat Tuesday after opposition parties routed allies of President Pervez Musharraf in parliamentary elections that could threaten the rule of America's close ally in the war on terror," reported Yahoo News. "With the support of smaller groups and independent candidates, the opposition could gain the two-thirds majority in parliament needed to impeach Musharraf, who has angered many Pakistanis by allying the country with Washington in 2001 to fight al-Qaida and the Taliban after the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States. Musharraf has promised to work with whatever government emerges from the election. But the former general is hugely unpopular among the public and opposition parties that have been catapulted into power are likely to find little reason to work with him particularly since he no longer controls the powerful army."Share your thoughts on Pakistan and the War on Terror in our Forums. And don't forget to complete the National Issues Survey as to what issues are most important to you. Foreign policy Middle East Tue, 19 Feb 2008 09:24:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2008/2/19/Pakistan-Election-Results http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/12/27/Former-Pakistani-prime-minister-Benazir-Bhutto-Killed After a political rally today (Thursday) Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. "Bhutto, 54, was being driven from the rally in her bulletproof vehicle when she asked that the rooftop hatch be opened so she could bid supporters farewell, according to several aides, including one who was sitting next to her. As she leaned her head through the hatch, between three and five gunshots rang out, aides said. Bhutto sank back into her seat, just as a large bomb detonated to the left of her vehicle. Those inside the car said her face was badly bloodied. It was not clear whether she'd been hit by bullets or shrapnel from the bombing. She lost consciousness, aides said, and never regained it. The explosion, apparently by a suicide bomber, killed at least 20 people outside the car, and injured many others. Police were investigating whether the bomber was also the gunman. One possibility was that the assailant fired the shots and then, after being tackled by security officials, detonated the bomb," reported the Washington Post. "Bhutto was running for Parliament, and her Pakistan Peoples Party was expected to win enough seats for her to become prime minister. She was the most popular candidate running, and had fared well in recent polls. Before the rally, Bhutto had met with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Appearing before reporters late in the day, a shaken Karzai called Bhutto a brave woman who 'sacrificed her life for the sake of Pakistan and for the sake of this region.'" Additional articles and updates on the assassination are available from the BBC, Washington Times and the New York Times. Share your thoughts and concerns about Pakistan in our Open Forum. Foreign policy Thu, 27 Dec 2007 14:30:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/12/27/Former-Pakistani-prime-minister-Benazir-Bhutto-Killed http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/11/6/Unrest-in-Pakistan Pakistan remains under a state of emergency, as delcared by its president, General Pervez Musharraf. President Musharraf "ousted independent-minded judges, put a stranglehold on the media and granted sweeping powers to authorities to crush dissent. Thousands of people have been rounded up and thrown in jail since then. President Bush and other Western allies have pressured Musharraf to resign as army chief and hold crucial parliamentary elections in January as originally planned, but so far no new date has been set," reports the Boston Globe. "Though anger is mounting, there does not appear to be a groundswell of popular resistance in the nation of 160 million, which has been under military rule for much of its 60-year history. With many people apathetic about politics, rallies so far have been limited largely to opposition activists, rights workers and lawyers angered by the attacks on the judiciary." Pakistan is bordered by Afghanistan on one side and India on the other. It is generally believed that Osama Bin Ladin is somewhere in the mountainous regions along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistan has nuclear weapons. The country has been considered an ally in the 'war on terror' by President Bush. Share your thought on the situation in Pakistan in our Open Forum. Foreign policy Tue, 06 Nov 2007 14:06:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/11/6/Unrest-in-Pakistan http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/8/19/Russian-Military-Rising With the focus of the US largely on the Middle East and Al Qaeda, Russia has been investing in it's military infrastructure. "President Vladimir Putin caused consternation on Friday by announcing the resumption of regular, long-range nuclear bomber patrols, but there is more to come. Russia is planning to double combat-aircraft production by 2025, with more nuclear missiles, aircraft carriers and tanks at the top of its shopping list. The message to the West is clear: The days of dismissing Russia as a spent force are over. Bolstered by the cash from sales of oil and gas and President Putin's steely determination to re-establish the country on the world stage, the Russian military machine is back in business." reports the Washington Times. Much closer geographically to the Middle East and Afghanistan, a growing Russian military coupled with a reassertion of its sphere of influence could put the US and Russia back at odds with each other. Share your thoughts on this possibility in our Open Forum. Foreign policy Sun, 19 Aug 2007 16:50:00 -0400 http://associationofyoungamericans.com/blog/index.cfm/2007/8/19/Russian-Military-Rising