South China Sea Political Cartoon

South China Sea Cartoon

Works Cited

Paresh. "Asian Observer." Asian Observer. N.p., 11 July 2011. Web. 29 Sept. 2015.

Response:

This political cartoon addresses how Southeast Asian countries are all in the South China Sea and they're all fishing and it seems that China is taking all the fish from the sea and from the other countries that are using the same water source.  The cartoonists side on this topic is that he seems that he favors Vietnam or Philippines in this situation over China. The cartoonist also seems to favor the ASEAN, but it seems that they have no power in the area. The South China Sea, in general, has been disputed upon and there is even a whole Code of Conduct given by the ASEAN for this specific piece of water. Other people from this district might have the feeling that China is being oppressive almost with the Sea and have command over something that isn't legally theirs. I did find this cartoon persuasive because it puts China in an almost ugly light and it really looks like that in this cartoon. The facial expressions from the characters, countries, are also persuasive with the fact that they clearly express their possible intentions in the Sea. I think the cartoonist could have added more effect to his persuasiveness by adding angry faces from other big countries from the US or maybe Great Britain. This political cartoon clearly describes the situation in the South China Sea. 

The US responds to the Refugee Crisis

U.S. Will Accept More Refugees as Crisis Grows Migrants in Bregana, Croatia, near the border with Slovenia. Authorities in Slovenia on Sunday were halting migrants at its border with Croatia to the south and allowing them to pass in small groups. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times BERLIN — The Obama administration will increase the number of worldwide refugees the United States accepts each year to 100,000 by 2017, a significant increase over the current annual cap of 70,000, Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday. "This Step that I am announcing today, I believe, is in keeping with the best tradition of America as a land Of second chances and a beacon of hope," Mr. Kerry said, adding that it "will be accompanied by additional financial contributions" for the relief effort. The American move, announced after Mr. Kerry held talks in Berlin with his German counterpart, Frank- Walter Steinmeier, still falls far short of the global demand for resettlement from people who continue to flee turmoil in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries. 'This kind of piecemeal, incremental approach is simply not enough to effectively address this crisis," said Eleanor Acer, director of the refugee protection program at Human Rights First, an advocacy group that has been pressing the United States to take I Syrians alone next year. "This minimal increase for next year is certainly not a strong response to the largest refugee crisis since World War Il.




Syrian men camped in Bregana on Sunday. Credit Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times Four million Syrians have fled to other countries, and hundreds of thousands of others from the Middle East and Africa have been pouring into Europe. Mr. Kerry said the United States would explore ways to increase the overall limit of refugees beyond 100,000, while carrying out background checks to ensure that their numbers are not infiltrated by terrorists. "We still need to do more, and we understand that," Mr. Kerry said at a news conference with Mr. Steinmeier. Under the new plan, the limit on annual refugee visas would be increased to 85,000 in 2016. The cap would then rise to 100,000 the following year. The United States has taken in only about I Syrian refugees since the Start Of the conflict there more than four years ago. American officials said that the Syrians accepted in the next year would come from a United Nations list Of about 18,000 refugees. The three largest groups of refugees admitted last year were from Iraq, Somalia and Bhutan. Syrians were at the bottom of the list of nationalities. Refugees are people who have fled their homes to escape war or persecution (and can prove it), while migrants more generally may be relocating for economic reasons. In their meeting, Mr. Kerry and Mr. Steinmeier also focused on ways to end the war in Syria, where 250,000 people have died and 12 million have fled their homes in the past four and a half years. In addition, and the United States will try to rally support next week at the United Nations General Assembly for a significant increase in in the countries neighboring Syria, Mr. Steinmeier said. The American response is unlikely to relieve much of the pressure on European countries, particularly Germany, which remains the most desirable destination for most of the migrants. Other efforts to address the crisis, such as agreeing to distribute migrants equitably among European Union members, have foundered so far, and in the absence of a unified and effective policy, the migrants have been left to find their own way across the Continent.




Germany recently has been under pressure from a seemingly unstoppable influx of migrants, and it reinstated border checks a week ago to better manage the crowds. The flow from Austria slowed over the weekend to less than 2,000 registered arrivals each day, according to Lars Rebel, a spokesman for the German federal police. But Austria received about 20,000 newcomers over the weekend on its eastern border with Hungary. Most "still want to go to Germany, their great goal, their great dream, their great vision," said Alexander Marakovits, a spokesman for Austria's Interior Ministry in Vienna. At least 10,000 arrived or passed through Sunday at the small Austrian village of Nickelsdorf, a city in the State of Burgenland near the border with Hungary that links Budapest to the east and Vienna to the west, Mr. Marakovits said. The main highway linking the two cities was closed amid concerns that crowds of refugees would spill into traffic. Although everyone insisted the flow was manageable, the director Of the state's police, Hans Peter Doskozil, hinted at the strain. 'In the worst case, if there is no shelter, then the buses can go on the highway and make a kind of sightseeing tour," Mr. Doskozil told the Austria Press Agency, "as crazy as that sounds. "But they must drive away, so that the others see something is happening," he added. "Otherwise you can't hold the crowd back anymore." ntin a in th main t Gerry Foitik, head of the Austrian Red Cross, said his volunteers would probably manage to accommodate most migrants somewhere in Austria on Sunday night. But he said about 5,000 might remain in and around Nickelsdorf. Mr. Kerry met with Mr. Steinmeier in Berlin at Villa Börsig, a palatial German guesthouse overlooking a lake. Later they met with a small group Of Syrian refugees, who asked not to be identified by journalists out Of concern for friends or relatives still in Syria. The Syrians, asked by Mr. Kerry why the Surge Of migrants had been so great in recent weeks, said they had despaired of being able to return home and that life in refugee camps was becoming harder as food rations were Cut back "The reason people are coming now is because they gave up hope completely," one woman said. One man asked: "Are not five years enough for the international community to intervene, especially the United States?" Asked at his news conference why the United States cou d not accept more Syrians more quickly, Mr. Kerry said that budget constraints and vetting requirements established after the Sept. 1 1 terrorist attacks limited the scope Of the response. "We are doing what we know we can manage immediately," he said. But he did not rule out the possibility that more might eventually be done. Along the migrant trail those who had appeared boxed in on Friday — stranded in Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Hungary — somehow managed to continue their trek. With help from the Serbian authorities, who made no secret Of their policy Of pushing them through as fast as possible, most Of the migrants who had been thwarted at the Hungarian border made their way west into Croatia.




From there, some continued toward Slovenia, where the authorities said around 2,500 had crossed the border by Sunday morning; the Croatians took a larger number to the Hungarian border in the northeast. In Hungary, angry officials, who have been struggling to extend a razor-wire fence at the Serbian border to include the Croatian frontier, received the arrivals, packed them on trains and buses and moved them quickly to the Austrian line. The authorities there were allowing them to enter — 5,000 on Saturday alone. The authorities in Slovenia, meanwhile, were halting migrants at the border with Croatia to the south and allowing them to pass in small groups, taken by bus from border crossings at Obrezje and Rigonce to several locations around the country. By Sunday morning, the crowds had diminished, with only about 300 people waiting at the huge Obrezje crossing, and only about half as many in Rigonce. Those who continued to straggle toward the border from deeper inside Croatia were simply allowed through by the Croatian authorities, leaving it up to the Slovenians to stop and process them. The Slovenians took the migrants, one busload at a time, to a processing center in Brezice, a few miles from the border. There, they were registered but not fingerprinted. Slovenia is a member of the European Union, as is Croatia, but unlike Croatia it also is part Of the Schengen accorgl. which allows passport-free travel but encourages strong external borders. Illustrating how hard it is to keep the refugees from their main goal — Germany — only seven migrants had requested asylum in Slovenia by Sunday. The rest were taken to six refugee centers around the country. From there, many simply decided to make their own way north toward the Austrian line, where a few hundred had crossed by Sunday morning. Excerpted from US, Will Accept Mon? Refugees as Cnsis (hows The YO'* limes http:h'WMv.nytimesconv'201S/09,'2 AvorId/europe'us-tcFincrease-admi.ion-of-refugees-to-1 00000-in-2017-kerry-sayOtmI?


Works Cited

Gordon, Michael R. "U.S. to Increase Admission of Refugees to 100,000 in 2017, Kerry Says." The New York Times. The New York Times, 20 Sept. 2015. Web. 21 Sept. 2015.

Response: 

The US's response to the migrant situation seems to be very clear and in good timing. The US is doing well with cooperating with the EU as more migrants flee the middle east to reach European shores. Some countries in the European Union are reacting well to the influx of migrants and refugees. The US also makes a great point by understanding the difference between the regular migrants and refugees. However there is some criticism on how long it took the US to respond to the crisis of the refugees and the amount that they are taking in, but I think that they are making the right decisions in the little time they have had to figure things out. The bias of this article is from an angle from an American perspective. The US is definitely given a good reputation and if it had been from a source outside of the US, the point of view may have been different and even hard on the US. 

North Korea's Reboot of Fuel Plants

North Korea says it has restarted nuclear bomb fuel plants. In this June 27, 2008 file photo from television, the 60-foot-tall cooling tower is seen before its demolition at the main Nyongbyon reactor complex in Nyongbyon, also known as Yongbyon, North Korea. (Photo: Anonymous, AP) North Korea on Tuesday said it has restarted operations at its atomic bomb fuel production plants, in a move that pushes Pyongyang further toward a standoff with Washington and its allies. The secretive state says it is fully ready to use nuclear weapons against the United States "and other hostile forces" at any time if they "persistently seek their reckless hostile policy towards the (North) and behave mischievously. " In state media, the North said its plutonium and highly enriched uranium facilities at the main Nyongbyon nuclear complex had been "rearranged, changed or readjusted and they started normal operation. " It follows a warning by Pyongyang on Monday that it is ready to launch "satellites" — which the West considers banned long-range missiles — aboard long-range rockets to mark the ruling communist party's anniversary next month. The 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party falls on Oct. 10. The director of the North's National Aerospace Development Administration told Pyongyang's otT1cial Korean Central News Agency that scientists were pushing forward on a final development phase for a new earth observation satellite for weather forecasts. On Tuesday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said a rocket launch will be a "serious provocation," a military threat and a violation Of U.N. resolutions, Yonhap reported. In a briefing, the ministry's spokesman Kim Min-seok said: "South Korea and the United States are jointly watching for all possibilities with regard to North Korea's (potential) long-range missile launch,' according to the news agency. "So far, no particular signs have been seen." North Korea has spent decades trying to perfect a multistage, long-range rocket. After several failures, it put its first satellite into space with a long-range rocket launched in late 2012. The U.N. said it was a banned test of ballistic missile technology and imposed sanctions. Experts say that ballistic missiles and rockets in satellite launches share similar bodies, engines and other technology. An angry North Korea then conducted its third nuclear test in February 2013, inviting further international condemnation and sanctions. Washington sees North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles as a threat to world security and to its Asian allies, Japan and South Korea.
Contributing: Associated Press 

Works Cited
Onyanga-Omara, Jane. "N.Korea Says It Has Restarted Nuclear Bomb Fuel Plants." USA Today. Gannett, 15 Sept. 2015. Web. 15 Sept. 2015.

Response:

North Korea is a rising international threat to the United States and its allies as it is rebooting its nuclear bomb fuel plants. South Korea, also feels the pressure as realization start to kick in as the North is making investments towards weapons of mass destruction. The world recognizes the North's activity as dangerous, and as a threat to international security. The actions taken by North Korea will be followed up with action won't be taken lightly.

This article is written from an American stand point so the article will be biased from that point of view. If it was written from a communist news source, then the reaction and the information given may be different. However, this still is big news and an issue for many.

Angela Merkel's Migrant Agenda

Angela Merkel hailed as an angel of mercy as Germany opens its doors The German response "can make us proud," Chancellor Angela Merkel said. Just two months ago, Germany was suffering from yet another image problem, deplored as a harsh and heartless overlord in its effort to impose financial discipline on its European neighbors. Its hard-nosed bailout negotiations with debt-ridden Greece and apparent willingness to throw Athens under the bankruptcy bus triggered protests around the world and caricatures of Chancellor Angela Merkel as Adolf Hitler.

Angela Merkel announced the nation was reallocating up to $9.6 billion to deal with the influx Of migrants. Only two months ago, Mrs Merkel drew mockery for stroking a deportation after she had reduced her tear,s. Now Mrs Merkel is being hailed as an angel of mercy and her country as a paragon of virtue for flinging open the doors to a massive influx of refugees. The sight of Germans whooping in welcome and thrusting gifts at bedraggled asylum seekers arriving on chartered trains has stood in sharp contrast to the indifference or outright hostility directed at them in other European nations. The Palestinian girl has since had her residency permit extended. Some Germans hope that such positive images might help remove some of the stains on their reputation, including older, darker associations with trains full of unwanted people — those who were systematically sent to their deaths by the Nazis. Mrs Merkel said she was moved by the sight of hundreds of migrants stuck at a railway station in Hungary last week, chanting their desire to come to Germany.

A migrant from Syria holds a picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. "This wasn't always the case," she said with characteristic understatement. More recently, Berlin has been cast in the familiar role of villain for taking a tough line on Greece and on debt in the eurozone. "Some started saying that we are financially overtaking Europe and that we are only thinking of our own interests," said Jonas Walther, a 25-year-old choreographer. "Now everybody is praising Germany for its intake of refugees. "But we should not be taking refugees to improve our image," he added. "We should be taking them because of the humanitarian situation, and I think that this is currently the case." German officials say they are prepared to accept as many as 800,000 asylum seekers this year, a number equal to 1 per cent of the population. The government announced on Monday that it would set aside billion ($9.6 billion) to deal with the influx. "Germany is very reluctant in accepting a leadership role," said Alexander Goerlach, editor of the European magazine here in Berlin. "This is due to Germany's past. We are haunted by the ghosts and demons of the nationalistic era of the 19th century that in one way or another laid the ground for the two world wars." Mrs Merkel is working with the EU's other main power, France, to come up with a solution to the biggest migrant crisis to hit the region since World War Il. The two partners have agreed on a proposal, to be unveiled on Wednesday, to distribute 120,000 asylum seekers among EU nations based on each country's size and economic strength.

Mrs Merkel said that the public outpouring of donations and assistance to refugees who arrived by the thousands in Germany over the last few days ought to make her compatriots feel "proud and grateful". The German response "can make us proud," Merkel said. But there's unease here as well: over how far the country's resources can be stretched, over the backlash already brewing in some areas and over Germany's being a leader and an outlier in the crisis, even if laudably so. Despite all the praise for its generosity toward refugees, the government in Berlin feels far more comfortable acting in concert with other European nations, precisely to avoid accusations of German high-handedness or exceptionalism. But the country's economic might has turned it into first among equals in the European Union whether it likes it or not. But agreement among all 28 EU members appears elusive, with several central and eastern European states saying categorically that they do not want to accept any refugees. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose heavy-handed treatment of asylum seekers has drawn international criticism, dismissed the quota plan on Monday, saying that residents' right to free movement within the EU would make country- specific numbers unenforceable. Hundreds of refugees and migrants continued to push their way north from the Balkans into Hungary en route to their preferred destinations Of Germany and Sweden. They broke out Of a receiving centre 011 the Hungary-Serbia border, then began walking north along one of Hungary's main highways, The Associated Press reported. More asylum seekers, many from Syria and Iraq, also continued to land in Europe on one of Greece's eastern islands. More than 230,000 have come ashore to date, including 61 rescued from the sea off the coast of the hard-hit island of Lesbos on Monday. Among those plucked from the waters were a baby and more than a dozen other children. With no hint that the flood of arrivals would abate any time soon, the southern German state of Bavaria, where most refugees have entered the country, began exhibiting signs of strain. About 20,000 asylum seekers arrived in Germany over the weekend, and Bavarian officials said at least 2500 more arrived on Monday, leaving them scrambling to find shelter for each new batch. "We will still do our best to create new places," Christoph Hillenbrand, the president of the government of Upper Bavaria, told reporters at the train station in Munich, the state capital. "But we are pushing up against the limit now." Although polls show a strong majority of Germans in favour of accepting refugees, Mrs Merkel's influential political allies In Bavaria warned that assistance to newcomers could not be unlimited. Some Germans who disagree with their government's generosity, including suspected neo-Nazis, have done so violently, burning down facilities intended for migrants and staging angry protests. Five asylum seekers in south west Germany were injured on Monday when the house they were living in caught fire, German media reported. The cause of the blaze was unclear. But such incidents have been drowned out in recent days by the numerous accounts and images of ordinary Germans turning out in droves to help the newcomers in their midst. In Munich, such efforts shifted into high gear at a donation bank, where half a dozen people sorted through heaps of clothing, toys, bicycles and bedding earmarked for refugees. The welcoming attitude was particularly noteworthy in a city that has long had to live with the stigma of being the birthplace of the Nazi Party. "This is the nicer side of Germany you are seeing," said retired banker Eddie Lauer, 64. Filmmaker Doris Doerrie said that the spontaneous gestures of goodwill undoubtedly benefited the country's reputation abroad. "Germany does worry about its image," she said. "But I worry a little about us getting too full of ourselves, applauding our actions. We shouldn't get carried away by the idea of our own goodness."


Works Cited
Chu, Henry. "Migrant Crisis: Angela Merkel Hailed as an Angel of Mercy as Germany Opens Its Doors." The Sydney Morning Herald. N.p., 8 Sept. 2015. Web. 08 Sept. 2015.

Response:

The EU is all over the news today as thousands of migrants are fleeing the Middle East to Europe. The question though many have been asking is "who is going to take responsibility?" Germany, the EU's financially strongest, is taking responsibility of the crisis and is acting as the main player in this recent world event. Germany's Angela Merkel has introduced a plan that offers billions in support of the refugees, which is definitely progressive. In previous weeks, these European countries have been so shocked by what has been happening that they have no idea what to do and they're standing there with their mouths open wide. I am in complete agreement with Germany's standing on the crisis, but I think that Germany should be weary of the fact that these migrants are also bringing along with them their culture and religion and these will be influential factors in the upcoming years as they will change and shape Germany, and the bigger picture of Europe. 

However, we have to keep in mind that this article was written from an American stand point and that not everyone agrees with Germany. In fact, there are quite a few countries in Europe that don't want these migrants flooding into their countries, Austria being one of them. Also, Germany and the US have a steady relationship, so most Americans, and publishers, will think highly of Germany and also because it is a EU superpower.

Biography

Hey! My name is Peter Ndizi Kuguru, and I currently live in Nairobi, Kenya. I attend Rift Valley Academy where I am now a Junior. I was born in Kenya, but I've lived most of my life in Georgia in the US. I also lived one year in Cambridge, Massachusetts. So, I've experienced many different types of cultures and have been exposed to ideas and opinions that I don’t always share. I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior and so my world view will definitely come out of a different lens than maybe most others. However, that doesn't mean that I will automatically turn down any opinion or view just because I don't necessarily believe that. Follow me!