On Iraq and Middle East Peace

On Iraq and Middle East Peace

   In Iraq we're seeing a continuation of the traditional Sunni/Shiite riffs developing, with Al-Qaeda working to represent minority Sunni Groups.  Shiite leadership wants helicopters and weapons to put down the insurgency, the government needs them to combat Al-Qaeda; however, based on its record in the Arab spring and in the hinterlands there is a high risk that at some point they may use them against unarmed civilians.  If USA does not provide them; however, the Iraqi government is likely to buy them from Iran, Russia or France with an equal risk of the same result.  Depending on the expertise of Foreign Service Officers in Iraq, their may be means to use those weapons as leverage to curtail political violence, and to remedy some of the legitimate Sunni grievances.  While the Obama Administration has at least publicly avoided discussions of Iraq, it is an integral part of the Middle East picture.  The Shiite dominated Iraq has become a proxy state to Iran, even going so far as engaging in political killings on Iran's behalf, so its hard to say whether Al-Qaeda is the dominant force of Sunni resistance or Sunni Resistance is being labeled as such for the political convenience of Al-Malaki.  This is a question, the State Department and CIA are tasked to answer.  The real presence of Al-Qaeda, however, cannot be denied, nor can its obvious epicenter in Saudi Arabia.  While I am not on the ground, from the more reliable sources from which I am receiving intel it seems clear that where Saudi Arabia is sending troops, Al-Qaeda's is fighting.  

   I do not believe the Saudi Government is directly to blame for this, at least specifically Faisal and Abdullah, the Government has long been a strategic partner of the United States, done a tremendous amount to modernize their country, create a meritocracy and provide access to the sciences that despite all of its chauvinistic cultural norms, carry a degree of civility and development that is praiseworthy.  Closer investigations into the financial pathways leading to real Al-Qaeda fighters, as well as media, communications and the role they play in creating or activating Al-Qaeda fighters can shed valuable insights on the issue.  I suspect to some extent that the Saudi leadership has issues with insurgent youths and so directs the animosity of religious rhetoric away from themselves, away from America and towards nearer geopolitical rivals in Syria, Iraq and Iran, at times facilitating and allowing for the flow of money, troops and soldiers to direct them away towards mutual enemies.  Such may be the convenient policy, and in Syria, it may have been mutually beneficial to an extent, but for the time being its to an extent which has since passed, with the understood reality that these fighters are too radicalized, undisciplined and have ends that are unacceptable to the international community because of a lack of respect for minority and woman's rights.  

   For the liberal coalition behind Barack Obama, it is increasingly difficult for America to justify extensive backing beyond trade, when our country has both Shiite and Sunni citizens and the geopolitical advantage for America is minimal.  A lift on the ban against woman driving in Saudi Arabia, can ease our efforts to maintain domestic support for mutually agreed upon trade and security policies.  Furthermore, it is not to say that Assad's removal from power is not a mutual goal, but a concern as to what happens afterwards where there is a rift, with the US favoring the installation of the Free Syrian Assembly on conditions its constitution protects minority and woman's rights while providing for basic secular institutions.   

   At this point, with all the chaos of the past few years, American invasions, followed by Arab Springs turned to violent revolutions and civil wars, the priority should be peace and stability upon whose backs, prosperity can be built.  American funding, therefore, and the provision of products and services to the region, should be focused on that which advances the organizational goals of peace, stability and prosperity.  At times this includes policing and security equipment; however, it should be balanced by spending on textbooks, medicines, peace officers, courts, legal expertise, infrastructure and business development.  This is not to ignore the necessities of fighting insurgencies, but sometimes the minimal actions of simple arrests, trials and convictions is more effective than heavy handed military responses. 

   Before any weapons sales can be considered, the Shiite leadership in Iraq needs to make more concessions to the Sunni minorities and allow for more regional sovereignty in Iraq and show this by taking clear and progressive reconciliatory steps to ease tensions.  Doing such, will improve the ability for Iraqi law enforcement to garner the cooperation from non-Al-Qaeda linked Sunnis and with an effective use of both sociological or psychological approaches at rehabilitation to augment peace keeping and policing, improvements to the quality of life in Iraq can commence. The prize that all Middle East leaders (particularly Israel) should be looking for is a non-nuclear proliferation agreement between Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Turkey that can help to assuage concerns and stand as an achievable near term benchmark towards regional peace as progress continues to be made towards a two state solution in Israel/Palestine.  Both sides are going to continue fighting each other, blaming the other to justify their actions and neither side is right, cooperation and collaboration, focus on understanding human needs and efforts by the governments and populaces to provide those for each other is the better route.  Democracy and open markets can help achieve these ends; however, by prioritizing the pre-requisites for successful democracy individual dignity, peace, prosperity and stability can often be easier achieved. 

    Imagine, a Middle East sanction free, at peace, with video surveillance of all nuclear reactors visible by United Nations Security council members, guaranteeing the peaceful usage of such nuclear energy and clear, comprehensive monitoring to show that neither are enriching uranium to weapons grade, where Israelis and Palestinians both have their own countries, with mutually agreed upon land swaps and territories close to the 67 borders and a palestinian capital in East Jerusalem for Palestine, where some 200,000 palestinians already currently live, the carrot for full compliance and five years of unbroken peace.  

   

The Classic Roman Virtues of Marcus Aurelius

• The following is a list of the 14 classic roman virtues as defined by Marcus Aurelius.  I'd like for us to reflect on them and how we can makes them habits of practice in our daily lives and modern figures who exemplify the specific virtues we can promote as modern heroes.  Please pick one of the virtues and write a paragraph or paper on it to attach in the commentary section below. 
• Auctoritas - "Spiritual Authority" - The sense of one's social standing, built up through experience, Pietas, and Industria.
• Comitas - "Humour" - Ease of manner, courtesy, openness, and friendliness.
• Clementia - "Mercy" - Mildness and gentleness.
• Dignitas - "Dignity" - A sense of self-worth, personal pride.
• Firmitas - "Tenacity" - Strength of mind, the ability to stick to one's purpose.
• Frugalitas - "Frugalness" - Economy and simplicity of style, without being miserly.
• Gravitas - "Gravity" - A sense of the importance of the matter at hand, responsibility and earnestness.
• Honestas - "Respectability" - The image that one presents as a respectable member of society.
• Humanitas - "Humanity" - Refinement, civilization, learning, and being cultured.
• Industria - "Industriousness" - Hard work.
• Pietas - "Dutifulness" - More than religious piety; a respect for the natural order socially, politically, and religiously. Includes the ideas of patriotism and devotion to others.
• Prudentia - "Prudence" - Foresight, wisdom, and personal discretion.
• Salubritas - "Wholesomeness" - Health and cleanliness.
• Severitas - "Sternness" - Gravity, self-control.
• Veritas - "Truthfulness" - Honesty in dealing with others.

House Republicans need to break the immigration impasse. #TedCruz #GOP #TeaParty

   Upon further research and data driven analysis I retract the below paper.  Clearly, there is a multitude of real threats form within the illegal immigration population that makes any blanket provisions of amnesty inappropriate for any defined groups or classes of illegal immigrants.  Furthermore, doing such would reward illegal entry and violations of the law to the detriment of a long list of law abiding applicants.  Additionally, it is clear that US immigration policies have artificially driven down wages and displaced many American workers.  While I would support an increased number of legal immigrants from Mexico if paired with a tightening immigration enforcement and reduced number of immigrants from Communist and Islamist counties, it is clear that the US needs to take serious actions to make sure that the Government is prioritizing US citizenry's return to high work force participation rates. 

Necessary Immigration Reform

    The deadlock over government funding has ended- at least for now- and our work commences with some glimmer of hope that it will be compensated.  Immigration reform is high on the Agenda for the Obama administration and its high-time we reform our laws away from protectionism and racial paranoia to a sensible strategy that will both improve economic performance and extend the solvency of social security and medicare.  As long as there are low pay, low skilled jobs that American citizens are unwilling to take, we are going to need to find hard-working immigrants willing to take them.  The efforts at radical anti-immigration bills in Alabama, for example, have been disastrous as offers of $15/hour wages to farm have failed to recruit the necessary skilled farm hands as unpicked food sources have rotted on the vines.  

      For many college educated, middle-class workers, the immigrant population offers a less egotistical, hard-working and affordable labor force upon which to build profitable companies and provide valuable services and/or products.  The provision of social security cards and proper collection of social security and medicare taxes widens our tax base and increases the long term solvency of social security.  The Senate bill, as is, works to achieve this end by providing a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.  Eradicating the vagueness and vulnerabilities of illegal residency promotes humanitarian ends by busting bad bosses, reducing potential unlawful sex trafficking and creating a fair field of play on which for businesses to compete.  

      The Senate bills is extensive in its expansion of border securities, a great place to create jobs for individuals tired of working for corporate America and troops returning from our campaigns in the Middle East.  Border security is an important component of containing a mexican drug war that has spiraled out of control.  Increasing the border security will help prevent the flow of drugs into our country, while also improving our capability to stabilize mexico and minimize the risk of a narco-state emerging in our neighbor, ally and vital trading partner.  Reducing the cross border flow of illegal drugs will change the nature of drug supply from massive and complex violent transnational operations to tolerable and peaceful domestic suppliers.  With a peaceful domestic supply, demand can then be appropriately addressed by better preventative drug education in schools and medical approaches to detox, dependency, addiction and rehabilitation. 

      The formation of W-Status visa's, or limited duration visas, are a valuable legalized means of allowing for an economically necessary immigrant workforce that can be monitored by Homeland Security, protected by law while benefiting the overall economic performance of our country. Every country that has growth, depends on an affordable labor market and W-Status visa's will alter the dynamics driving corporations oversees creating more management and corporate positions for American Citizens and higher tax yields for government.  This bill has bipartisan support and authorship, the frustration with an obstinate congressional element engaged in what will be spun as sabotage in mid-term elections and the continued effort to play winner-take-all politics by the radicals of the right wing is only going to allow for the Democrats to take-all in 2014.  Passing this legislation is a no-brainer, that all Americans should get behind.   The negotiating ends, conversations and discussions about the science based merit of various laws, policy and legislation can commence but only if it they are conducted based on accurate facts and properly conducted scientific policy studies.  The bible, ideological doctrine and a creed of shortsighted and narrow self-interest is not an appropriate basis for administrable policy in a cosmopolitan and diverse nation such as ours.

       The policy charade created by the tea party has to end, the whole sale purchasing of elections by business interests and idiocratic squandering of financial resources on antigovernment propaganda ploys can only be defined as corruption and borders on both subterfuge and subversion, charges attorney generals and federal agencies may pursue with increasingly effectiveness.  The callous desire to deprive millions of hardworking Americans affordable healthcare is outrageous, particularly as the Making Healthcare Affordable bill infuses a healthy dose of capitalism that should be viewed as a necessary compromise between a wide range of constituencies that has already been negotiated, passed, tested and is now law.  This is a hard fought reality that has made it true for the first time in American history that health insurance companies cannot deny you coverage for pre-existing conditions or drop your coverage because if you are not right now, at sometime in the future you will be sick and need medical attention. 

     625,000 people died in the Civil War because repugnant ignoramuses persuaded a sizable minority to believe that owning other human beings as property somehow had something to do with a state's rights.  Brothers were forced to fight brothers, friends were forced to kill friends and over half a million Americans died unnecessarily.  Our country was weakened, the damage immense and the scars persist across the South today.  The short-sighted greed of plantation owners is mirrored by the business owners of today looking to deprive their employs of basic healthcare, looking for unfair advantage in a competitive marketplace where health savings become investments in advertising or research and development that drive profits but also reduce our standard of living.  The issue is closed.  The Union will be preserved, our great nation shall stand United and our Democratic Republic will persist to be ruled by its constitution and its laws from which no citizen will be deprived of their protections.  Congress is welcomed to review and suggest changes to the senate immigration bill, but it is encouraged to promptly facilitate its passage as a sensible protection of American sovereign soil and a creator of quality jobs.  

On Political Science, Political Theory, Comparative Politics, International Relations.

On Political Science

   I had the good fortune of attending the University of California in Santa Barbara and studying Political Science.  UCSB is what is considered a public ivy because despite its status as a public university it continues to produce nobel prize winning research influencing the future of the world and improving the plight of humanity.  For individuals out there looking for a field of study, I highly recommend political science as a subject matter of high value to any future career and your life as a citizen. Traditionally the subject of political science is divided into the four basic subfields:  political theory, international relations, comparative politics and American politics.  

    Political Theory or political philosophy looks at overarching purposes and theories behind governance.  Political Theory looks at the why's of governance and political behavior.  Studies of Political theory require a look at the greats and survey of the great influences from Socrates to Cicero, Martin Luther to Machiavelli, Marx to Nietzsche, Hegel to Weber, Arendt to Strauss, Washington to Clinton, all in an effort to uncover the best principles of citizenship, the reason for governance and the logic of policy.  "Socratic Citizenship" by Dana Villa is a phenomenally extensive review of citizenship and what not only our negative protections include, but also our positive responsibilities.  As a Princeton Professor who taught two of my favorite classes at UCSB there are few professors with more passion, better articulation of truth and encompassing answers to the problems our country faces.   Political Theory is where we argue the role of government and the role of citizen and how the relationship should be managed. 

   Comparative Politics is a science of comparing and contrasting different countries' governments, for example a comparison of the representative democracy of the United States and the parliamentary system of England.  The idea is to study the pros and cons, costs and benefits, in an effort to synthesis, hybridize and optimize.  Its a fascinating field of study, inclusion of legal, economic or other social institutions are an integral component of comparative politics that helps establish best practices and a framework for meaningful debate and improved policy.  

    International relations splits between two schools of thought, idealism and realism with idealism emphasizing international bodies and law and realism emphasizing international competition and self-interest.  While the United Nations and treaties composed the basis for international law, realism looks at the realities and argues that within the backdrop of international anarchy self-interested nations compete for limited resources. In the realist studies of international relations we look at the individuals who shaped or are shaping history, including their psychology, ideology, philosophy and belief structure to grasp the nature of the individuals influencing national behavior.  The second levels look at the makeup of states and what is influencing them, from religion to economics and everything in between.  The third level looks at the systemic level, or the international landscape described by realists as anarchic or in a perpetual state of chaos as leaders of autonomous nation-states compete to represent the interests of their constituents.  Kenneth Waltz is considered the founder of neorealism, Kant is the favored international relations theorist of idealists. 

     Political Scientists, in addition to making great government employs and attorneys having an in-depth understanding of the mechanisms of human affairs and bureaucratic administration make them valuable to employ at any company.  Training in political science makes one logically cogent and principled in the formation of compelling arguments.  The encouraged participation by trained and educated individuals in such arguments flushes out a higher truth and by allowing for a lively debate across the country better conclusions and policies can be reached that better serve the interests of us all.  This is the vital role of liberty expressed by John Stuart Mill and David Hume, the political counterparts to the fundamental economic theories of Adam Smith and John Locke that were so influential in the founding of the United States of America.  

Somali Youths

Responsible Leadership and the Nobel Peace Prize

   Responsible leadership sets the preconditions and expectations for peace, so that violent actions make the other appear a tyrant to the people.  Still, in the anarchic international realm of foreign affairs foreign policy must identify and advance national interests aggressively on appeal to the mutual interests of whom we are negotiating.  In the most stubborn of circumstances, leadership must be willing to use force and show its willingness to use a big stick as soft talk outlines the demands.  Its important to see your adversaries point of view, to understand their world view, grievances and empathize with their struggles; however, in the conceding of inconsequential points leadership needs to only find the lowest common denominator that will allow the negotiator to save face with their constituents, dangle the carrot and bargain hard to get what your constituents want before you release it. 

    In Syria, we saw this type of negotiation where a President's decision to attack slammed the fist to awaken everyone around from their slumbers to get hard to work on a deal.   The fact Assad goes unpunished is problematic, but America's show of force in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, prevail in demonstrating their resolve to combat both terror and tyranny with military might.  Assad giving up his arsenal of chemical weapons, allowed Obama to save face with the Americans, while preventing American intervention allowed Putin to save face with his client state.  

    By maintaining a resolve and willingness to use force at the first sign of delay Obama managed to set the conditions of compliance within which the OPCW has worked heroically in dismantling Syria's arsenal of chemical weapons.  While this may not have been done to perfection, silent military strikes from Israel may be necessary as accurate intelligence on the ground dictates, yet a larger war has been avoided and progression towards peace remains the course. 

     America can approach negotiations with Rouhani and Iran with cautious optimism, the Israeli's can push for an eradication of the nuclear program, America will destroy their nuclear program if red lines are passed, yet the hope of an end to sanctions and the face saving of a security council monitored video surveillance system on all of Iran's nuclear reactors to verify their usage for peaceful enrichment and energy can make for prosperous strategic partnership.  Iran, however, must halt its exportation of weapons throughout the region shifting to humanitarian support to troubled areas.  Conformity to the Peace Plan laid out by Hillary Clinton, sabotaged by Benjamin Netanyahu in defiance of the majority opinions of the populace he's charged to represent cannot continue, nor can any military aggression from within Palestinian territories. 

    While an authentic peace deal between Israel/Palestine moves closer, a non-nuclear proliferation treaty between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran may be the easier Foreign Policy triumph for Jon Kerry's State Department.   To avert a regional arms race and cool Saudi/Iran Proxy wars breaking along Shiite/Sunni lines can calm regional tensions and foster the prosperity necessary to end anti-semitism and the potential for larger scale armed conflict.  

    America and her allies needs to cement the gains made in Afghanistan with moderated expectations, air bases to the North East and North West of Afghanistan with nuclear armed strike fighters are necessary security measures against Tehran and Beijing should either pursue bolder military expansion.  I don't think there is any type of negotiation on this issue aside from perhaps an end to drone strikes in Afghanistan.   America should act on overtures from Turkmenistan and Kazakhastan to develop a limited naval presence in the Caspian Sea.   

    Libya has shown immense promise as even in the backdrop of chaos and insecurity it has proven it earned the distinguished place as fastest growing economy in the world.   Training in forward policing can help improve security issues in Libya and encourage greater outside investment into the hot and fast growing economy.  The successes in Libya are a testament to the virtue of secular leadership when juxtaposed to the struggles of its neighbors in Egypt and Tunisia.  With Al-Qaeda looking to bleed America to death, America and Western Civilization's winning strategy to defeat religious extremism is going to live in doubling down in terms of technical and financial resources in the regions of the Middle Eat and North Africa that have promise and supporting those governments efforts to tackle Al-Qaeda and its affiliates influence regionally.  The West needs to support Nigeria's efforts to defeat Boko Haram, Ethiopia and Kenya's efforts to contain Al-Shabaab with technical and material assistance.  

      For all of our love of freedom, aside from song, satire, book or film, America should rigorously police the internet's fraudulent reporting as it is vital for the functionality of our democratic institutions that the information we are receiving is accurate, misinformation is a disservice that is detrimental to our ability to make smart decisions and perform as a nation.   This isn't to say we prosecute or infringe on people's first amendment rights, its that we remove their websites from the public information source of the internet.  By removing enemy propaganda from the internet-- regardless of its source-- we can end the recruitment and radicalization of the public that pose such grave risks to our national security.  It would be interesting if we could contact individuals exposed to such false or poor information and explain to them in a compelling way why the information they received is factually wrong, replace it with what is factually correct and an argument for a better solution. This shouldn't involve attacking the source of the information, simply the facts, argument and/or conclusion not as a matter of spin or agenda, as in war "Truth was the Fist Victim," the necessities of poverty and war's "brass rule" can be replaced by the prosperity of peace, scientific veracity and the "golden rule" as a guiding measure of humanitarian moral authority.

#RepublicanParty #NobelPeacePrize #KingTheo #DemocraticParty #Episcopalian #Royalists #EpiscopalChurch #BarackObama #MiddleEast #USA 

The Daily Brief: Required Reading for the Citizens of the United States of America

The Government Shutdown Continues

I'd rather remain impartial; however, in times of gridlock their should be reverence and a default to the requests of the president- whatever party- as the president and vice president are the only two individuals elected popularly by our country as a whole. Gerrymandering has rigged the districts as they are and many regional representatives have thin margins of electoral support in their region- as they are- so it is with certainty that the views, policies and vision of Barack Obama is more closely in line with what the majority of what Americans want. It is inhumane and savage for a contingent of Republican radicals to shut down our government and expose our country to immense and immediate national security threats so that they can glow from a false sense of self-righteousness for denying medical insurance to 12 million people who need it and allow for teenage pregnancies and unwanted pregnancies by denying access to birth control. What America has seen, is the sabotage of a trojan horse, unable to see any interest beyond the walls of their glass castles. People are going to do die because of their actions. Without insurance, curable diseases will go undiagnosed. The decline in government services will have dire consequences for the poor and sick dependent upon them. With our intelligence agencies unfunded, terrorists will cement gains within the United States of America and to our enemies abroad, we will look divided and weak. The blame and shame rests squarely on the shoulders of congress charged with constitutional responsibility to pay our governments bills. Strict liability for any harm caused by their vote should be upheld by law. Should the shutdown continue to the point where America defaults on its debts, Corruption, Sabotage and Treason charges against the ringleaders of the tea party's political circus should commence.

America and Japan Agree to modernize their Defense Alliance

America and Japan, as the number 1 and 3 economies of the world, central components of the “Pacific Rim Empire” have to remain United in a strong military alliance capable of responding to any North Korean attacks and deterring any Chinese imperial expansion. Despite the challenges of an aging population and high debt levels slowing growth, Japan continues to be an economic powerhouse, key trading partner and reliable ally that provides quality products and quality markets. Japanese companies such as Toyota, set the bar for management practices. Abe has been aggressive and responsible in preventing economic retraction and taken the actions necessary to alleviate the short term struggles of his populace while responsibly promoting continued growth. Continued cooperation in addressing Cyber Threats is going to be central to our evolving relationship.

The Taliban Launch Suicide Attacks in Pakistan

The Pakistanis failure to take the threat from the Taliban serious and aspirations to utilize them as an ISI asset to counter an Indian/American aligned Afghani government has cost the lives of thousands and prevented the formation of a secure democracy in Afghanistan. A clear promise to provide key Taliban members with jobs in an Afghani national fire department could have brokered acceptable peace, but the stubbornness of both sides have prevented such a deal from being made. With a clear leader in charge of the Taliban, it is inexcusable that Mullah Omar has never been captured and delivered to negotiate a surrender. While the Afghani military is showing increasing capability to stand its own, the Pashtun ethnic group that feeds the Taliban with men and supplies is too large to defeat in a humane way acceptable to the decencies of the world. Nabi Hanafi was a competent commander and one of the few courageous enough to do is duty in combatting the Taliban on the Pakistani side of the border, and his loss- along with the other 17 dead- in the most recent Taliban suicide attack is tragic. American Security interests have been bruised by this assault. The failure of Pakistan's government to take the war on the Taliban serious, has exposed their country to the risk of collapse and Islamist take-over, something that will require prompt and massive American intervention to secure nuclear weapons and nuclear sites. This attack should stand as a wake up call to the Pakistani military and ISI to move to the right side of history by implementing a competent strategy to prevent the radicalization of the next generation of Pashtuns. Better education, closer monitoring to keep at risk Pashtuns to their farms in the spring time along with better integration of young adults into the economic/political system of the region can augment better intelligence and improved policing operations. America's State Department and Peace Corps can help by providing training for teachers and adequate text books for schools can augment the missions of the CIA and military across the border in Afghanistan.

America should insist on maintaining military and air fields in the North East and West of Afghanistan as security insurances against both Tehran and Islamabad in a quiet, out of sight out of mind manner. Better aerial surveillance capable of identifying suspicious behavior hinting at the planting of roadside bombs can halt the Taliban advance as foreign troops withdrawal. Providing the Afghani military an early advantage by using an Electro Magnetic Pulse to devastate Taliban electronics should be considered, as two months in the heat of spring where the Taliban unable to coordinate online or electronically, may be the advantageous head start the Afghani military needs to hold ground and stand on its own two.

Syria

Assad's regime has continued to lay siege to the town he gassed with Sarin gasses killing over 1400 people. The Republican in congress unwillingness to authorize Barack Obama's usage of force, has allowed for a despicable tyrant to go unpunished and signaled to other rogue leaders that America no longer has the resolve to punish international atrocities. It seems that the Republican Party for miscalculated and fleeting regional political gains is content to surrender America's position as global leader by undermining our president and sabotaging free people of the world everywhere with their selfish business interests. Its an unforgivable offense that will cost them the house in 2014 and prompt constitutional changes that will make such sabotage impossible in the future.

Gambia

The United Kingdom should not surrender Gambia as a British Commonwealth or abandon the citizens of Gambia in the face of Yahya Jammeh's rogue dictatorship of bigotry and use all the tools in its belt from MI6, financial aid, UN resolutions and Allies to get Yahya to back down or else oust him from power.

NIGERIA

Nigeria will become an increasingly important country in North Africa and its success in its fight against Boko Haram is vital to long-term security of the United States, our allies and the citizens of Nigeria. Their recent attacks university students are inexcusable and demand aggressive forward policing operations to punish, prevent and deter any future attacks hindering the development of Nigeria, a country that is on the path to democracy and prosperity.

Greece

The fact that the cradle of western civilization and birth place of democracy, Greece, is in such dire straits speaks to the issues that the west is facing as a whole. The Golden Dawn movement and its leader are allegorical for the ideological plague threatening our liberties, freedoms and prosperities. The European Union, has failed, because the single currency has robbed its members from flexible currencies, putting them dangerously in debt to Germany with a cold weather industrial edge with which the Mediterranean countries cannot hold parity, prompting borrowing to pay for German exports. Fair trade is a crucial component of global prosperity and peace, but uniform currency, the lack of minimum wage/labor standards, the surrender of national sovereignty and the right to a reasonably bounded democratic self-determination is only going to exasperate the regional and class frustrations that drive conflict and set the conditions for armed conflict and war. 

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