Change in the World´s Policy – Subject GUANTANAMO!

“I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that. I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture. And I’m gonna make sure that we don’t torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.”

Barack Obama
(On CBS 60 Minutes, November 16, 2008)

It was one of his first future plans: Closing the US. military prison at Guantanamo Bay! After 2 months of his administration he mentioned it would be “a challenge” to close it even within the first 100 days ..and now Mr.Obama?

In January he celebrated his first anniversary as President-elect and Guantanamo Bay isn´t closed until today! (about 250 prisoners still there)

But, what are the main problems with closing the prison Mr. Obama?

Congratulations Mr.Change – 1 Year President Barack Obama!!

From "Badische Zeitung"

..as you all know the purpose of my blog “Change in the Word´s Policy – Subject Obama” is to summarize every week the latest news of Obama´s politics and *as you hopefully have recognized* it doesn´t pall because every week there´s enough “stuff” to talk about! …to be honest, SO MUCH stuff that I often can´t easily decide what are the MAIN NEWS to talk about in my next blog entry!  

Regardless the hundreds of news which would definitely worth to be discussed I want to post something like an “Out-of-order-entry” today! “Out-of-order” because it shouldn´t be discussed Obama´s politics of the last week but 

THE POLITICS OF “ONE YEAR OBAMA”!!

(“One year Obama”: January 20, 2010)

Change in the World´s fiscal policy – Regulation of financial markets

 

The financial crisis of 2007–2010 is called to be the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Many causes have been proposed years ago, only the dimension remained questionable among leading economists.    

What were the reasons for that global collapse? Let us have the cartoon speak for itself:

  

Just for reminding – the five most responsible facts a bit more precisely:

1.) Growth of housing bubble
    (Many homeowners refinanced their homes
     at lower interest rates by taking mortgages)

2.) Easy credit conditions
    (Encouragement to borrow money by lower interest rates)

3.) Sub-prime lending
    (Making loans that are in the riskiest
     category of consumer loans)

4.) Deregulation
    (Simplification of government rules which
     constricts the operation of market forces)

5.) Predatory lending
    (As the name implies: unfair, deceptive practices
     of loaning money in the hope the consumer will default
     and the lender will be able to take the collateral)

 

How did President Obama react on that global crisis? Could we expect a CHANGE in the World´s fiscal policy?

Change in the World´s Policy – Subject Crisis Management

 

…USING THE EXAMPLE OF HAITI!

 

…one of those pictures like I inserted above is familiar to everyone of us in these days!

THE EARTHQUAKE OF HAITI!

Definitely you´ve heard, saw or read enough about the earthquake in the media. So  for now it´s sufficient to summarize just the most important facts for you to remember:

   1.)  Date: 12 of January, 2010; 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC)
   2.)  Magnitude: 7.0 M (with 33 aftershocks)
   3.)  Epicentre: Léogâne (approximately 25 km west of
        Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti)
   4.)  Number of People affected by the quake: three million
   5.)  Number of People died: almost 200 000

 ⁽For further information have a look at this video)  

Nevertheless the main challenge of that blog shouldn´t be to report about the world´s crisis but to debate how President Obama deals with such crisis!  

Change in the world´s policy – Subject TERRORISM!

…subject TERRORISM – using the example of the failed Al-Qaeda bombing attempt on Christmas Day, December 25, 2009

 

 

 

From "New York Daily News"

 

 What happened:

On December 25, 2009 the passenger Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to set off plastic explosives during the airline flight from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam to Metro Airport in Detroit. The plane made an emergency landing in Detroit, 20 minutes before scheduled landing approach. The assassin was restrained by a Dutch passenger. Three of the 289 people on board were injured: the bomber and two other passenger.

Who was the bomber – some facts:

1. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23 years old
2. Native Country: Nigeria
3. Religion: Islam
4. He is the youngest of 16 children of Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, one of the richest men in Africa. (Former Chairman of First Bank of Nigeria and former Nigerian Federal Commissioner for Economic Development.)
5. He had studied engineering in England and earned a degree in mechanical engineering in June 2008.

From "Pic App"

Mr. Obama, who is responsible for that?

 

Discussion at the American Embassy in Berlin – “Are more troops REALLY necessary in Afghanistan?”

     

From "BBC News"

Hey Guys! ..even though I always write to you at the weekend about a SPECIAL, INTERESTING

CHANGE concerning the world´s policy, I want to make today a little “out of order-post”!!

You could be curious, …I´ll even include a SELF-MADE video, filmed at the American

Embassy in Berlin! But now, let´s start with the topic of today!!  

I want to deal with a topic which is – let´s say – really close to my heart:

The troop surge in Afghanistan!    

Change in the climate policy – Welcome to Copenhagen Mr. Obama!

From "Guardian"

 

Heaven on earth was promised but – once elected – heaven on earth is neglected! 

In many cases that´s policy in my opinion!

It was last Wednesday, December 9 2009, when Barack Obama travelled to Copenhagen to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference.  Until that day it remained disputable if Obama would come up to his expectations he raised on the hustings in 2008!

…so, have a quick review WHAT Barack Obama promised when he campaigned in 2008 (concerning the climate change):

Change concerning Afghanistan – 30 000 more troops to the Hindu Kush

 

December 2, 2009 – IT IS DONE:

President Barack Obama ordered another 30 000 American soldiers to Afghanistan!

From "Blogspot"

The reason:

-> “The Taliban has gained momentum. There is a danger that Afghanistan could once again become a base for terrorist operations.” (B. Obama)

-> “The status quo is not sustainable.”

 

(You like to watch the hole speech? Just click…)  

Are the American citizens convinced of that reasons?

From "Onstream media"

 

Change in the World´s Policy: Subject IRAQ!

 

 1.) The War under George W. Bush:

 “No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure,

but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq!”

(George W. Bush)

 SO…

 

From "Politicalhumor"

-> Start: March 20, 2003 

-> Invasion of the Iraq by: Invasion forces of United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Poland and Denmark

-> Reason (official version): Weapons of mass destruction possessed by Iraq; reforming the human rights of the Iraqi; stopping financial support for the families of Palestinian suicide bombers; democratising the country

-> Soldiers in action: 682 200 (255 000 American soldiers; 45 000 British soldiers; 2200 Australian soldiers; – 380 000 Iraqi soldiers)

-> Criticism: (I only deal with the six  most  important ones according to my personal opinion. In reality there could be easily found thousands of arguments for criticism!)

1.) Till this day there weren´t found weapons of mass destruction!

2.) Up to now around 14 000 soldiers killed in that war (4700 soldiers of coalition of invasion, 9300 Iraqui)

3.) Disturbance of the oil production of the Iraq (the price of oil has quadrupled since 2002)

4.) Health of the Iraqi population has dramatically worsen since the beginning of the war (i.e.: 5 million orphans today;  68% of Iraqis have no access to safe drinking water; etc.)

5.) Financial total costs of the war to U.S. taxpayers will be around $1.9 trillion. (a multiple of stopping the hunger wordwide!)

6.) Legality of the invasion stays questionable! (Kofi Annan, the United Nations Secretary General, still states “Iraq was illegal”)

-> Status: “CONFLICT ONGOING!” …

Change in the World´s Policy: Subject HEALTHCARE!

   

From "BrandChannel"

“It will provide more security and stability to those who have health insurance. 

It will provide insurance to those who don´t.  

And it will lower the cost of health care for our families, our businesses, and our government.” 

  

  

?? Do you catch the remodelling of Obama´s picture on the right (original picture) to the picture on the left (modified picture for the healthcare campaign) ?? 

FACT: 50 million citizens of the US have no health insurance until  today! 

OBAMA´S ANSWER: healthcare reform with such a dimension that 31 million of those 50 million US-citizens will be insuranced! 

DISADVANTAGE: Financing by inserting new taxes for the US-citizens! 

ADVANTAGE: Change in America´s healthcare policy could be seen as an impulse for 

– the policy of other countries!? 

– the policy of global institutions and organisations!? 

FURTHER IDEA: Is it possible that the leading role of the US-policy becomes a model for global rethinking – 

Rethinking that rich people pay for the poor ones!?? What do YOU mean?  

ACTUALITY OF TODAY: The Senate of the United States came today (22.11.2009!) to the decision: 

Approving the healthcare reform 60 to 39! 

(Obama has spent much of his first year to bring the healthcare system forward!)