Memorial Day 2014 is upon us. While this unofficial start of summer is sure to be marked by picnics and family gatherings of all sorts across our beautiful Country, the largest number of Americans traveling over this holiday weekend since 2005 serves as a sign that the US economy is strengthening. It is, however, important to remember that Memorial Day is a national holiday dedicated to those who died in America’s wars. More than that, it is a day about all those individuals who sacrificed when their Country needed them the most.
Thanks to advancements in medicine and military technology, the death tolls of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were actually far lower than what they could have been. With that in mind, Memorial Day must be about those died in our wars as well as those who survived with less visible scares. This Memorial Day, I am thinking of people like my recently deceased Great Grandfather and Great Uncle, who both served in the US Army and lived a very long life after their service, as well as all those people I know who are currently serving. My Great Grandfather is, in fact, a person who I have always looked to as the embodiment of those characteristics that we expect in all our service men and women. Dwelling on the heroic deeds of America’s troops, I also find myself contemplating the reasons why we have found ourselves at war. Whether fighting to save the world from brutal fascist dictators bent on world domination or sharing America’s blood and treasure to uphold the ideals of our International Community in order to uphold peace and prosperity it fosters for all, remembering why people sacrificed is just as important as who did. All things considered, a simple ‘thank you’ cannot compare to the sacrifice made, but it is one of the few things we can all offer. Thank you.
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Democracy is just another form of government to those who do not experience the benefits of that democracy. The sole strength of democracy is its potential to provide all the Peoples of a nation representation, so the interests of the weak can be balanced with the strong. All societies eventually fail when they neglect the critical interests of significant populations and powerful individuals, thus democracies have the potential to create socioeconomic stability over time. Unfortunately, the inability of represented groups to accept compromise, i.e. forgo some of their interests to fulfill the interests of others, fosters dysfunction and conflict.
In Thailand, a failure of the wealthy elites, who are backed by the military that just seized power, created a situation where the impoverished of Thailand had no choice but to rise up against their leaders in order to address their basic needs to survive. Having elected a government that sought to partially address these interests, which is not to say anything about the quality of the leadership or its policies, the elites were being asked to sacrifice some of their privilege. That said, all power seekers legitimize, solidify, and consolidate every form of power. Although the Thai military is using corruption and national security to legitimize its takeover, which there may be some basis for this argument, the coup was orchestrated to return Thailand to the status quo. Unfortunately, the US is an ally of Thailand that provides the Asian nation with military aid. Where America needs to stand for democracy and the rights of the disenfranchised, the US is also trying to deal with an increasingly aggressive China, so we cannot afford to simply scorn the power elites of Thailand or other nations. Clearly, cutting military aid to Thailand sent the right message; however, America cannot disengage from Thailand. As such, it would behoove us to offer increased diplomatic aid to help the Thai People reconcile this socioeconomically-driven political crisis. Thailand needs to develop solutions that can help balance the interests of the poor and rich alike, before the nation erupts into conflict driven by mass civil unrest. Recently approved by the US House of Representative, the “USA Freedom Act” is America’s attempt to address the controversy surrounding the NSA’s unfettered mass surveillance programs. Where our national security apparatus is desperately in need of proper oversight, along with meaningful checks and balances, this so-called reform addresses a symptom of the much larger disease by supposedly limiting the ability of the NSA to collect mass data on the phone calls of Americans. Although the bill could be a first step, it is largely regarded as the only viable political solution at this moment, even though we should be able to do better.
Aside from the loose technical language, which the NSA is likely to use to circumvent any legal consequences as they go about business-as-usual, the weakened version that passed does not include any provisions requiring the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approves surveillance requests, to appoint lawyers to offer a counter argument to the NSA’s views. Judges exist to ensure a request can be sufficiently justified to fit within the technicalities of the law, thus no one is there to defend the victims of potential abuses. Meanwhile, USA Freedom Act never even attempted to create safe “official channels” for whistleblowers, i.e. the only reason we know about our government’s wrongdoings. These and a whole host of other issues mean the USA Freedom Act is essentially another example of our government addressing a political problem at the expense of solving a far more difficult real problem. With some evidence surfacing that suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin is finally following through with his latest promise to withdraw troops from Russia’s border with Ukraine, the Ukrainian Crisis may be easing for the International Community. Clearly, the internal strife, which was inspired by Russian aggression/manipulation, lingers and must be addressed by the Ukrainian People. That said, escalating tensions between China and its neighbors, as well as the US, could be easing with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge to resolve territorial disputes, even though his statement was made alongside a warning offered to neighbors that try to strengthen military ties in order to counter Chinese power.
At the very least, these latest developments could be a recommitment by both Russia and China to cooperate as members of the International Community, instead of using their size to aggressively pursue their interests. All this news, of course, comes on the heels of a 400 billion dollar natural gas deal between Russia and China. The optimist would say the two friendly nations decided together that it was in both their interests to restore calm to their hemisphere by working within the context of the International Community. The cautious would, however, look to the future. Although China and Russia may be playing nice in the immediate future, they may well be playing a long game that involves quietly building their own economic, political, and military community in order to undermine the overall American and Western dominated International Community. By cooperating with the Western-lead International Community, these two global powers can slowly expand their spheres of influence and polarize the globe by cultivating relationships with rogue states like North Korea, Syria, and Iran, along with other countries that have interests being neglected by the West as they reap the benefits being a member of the International Community. If this is the case, such a shift in global power would surely take a great deal of time, thus the US and the rest of the West would have to be complacent in order to prevent instability that would surely hurt China and Russia more than the West. Obviously, this is not a new fear of the West, but China and Russia’s recent attempts to prematurely exert their wills in such a domineering fashion have created backlash. As such, both nations have learned the exercise of power can cost power, especially when big nations like India and blocks of nations like the UN can be used to counter balance the exercise of a power grab. Accordingly, cooperation with China and Russia moving forward must be based on mutual interests, i.e. China and Russia can only be expected to pursue their interests, and not blind trust, whether or not these nations are sincere in their efforts to rebuild partnerships. Trust is like an intricate glass figurine; built patiently, yet easily broken. Unlike when Russia invaded Georgia, the fact that Crimea is now a part of Russia and not Ukraine will likely serve as a reminder of Russia’s true intensions when it comes to forming partnerships with the former Soviet power while India now has the opportunity to make itself the alternative to China. For over a year, the world has heard one news story after another revealing the cyberespionage exploits of America’s national security apparatus thanks to leaked documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden. Although these insights into America’s secrets were both embarrassing and undermined the credibility of the United States, they were a particular problem when it came to addressing the Chinese government’s efforts to help Chinese businesses outflank American businesses by stealing secrets for them.
It appears the Obama Administration finally saw an opportunity to strike back at this one seriously hypocritical critic of America’s cyberespionage programs thanks to a lull in reports about America’s activities and China’s increasingly aggressive assertion of its interests. Because the activities of the Chinese government are aimed at private economic and technology interests, the Obama Administration’s decision to charge officials responsible for China’s cyber espionage is a very important step for our Country when it comes to getting serious about protecting America’s private economic and technology interests from national actors. Unfortunately, bringing those individuals responsible to American justice is unlikely while China’s decision to stop cooperating with the US on cybercrime is regrettably, but the decision to confront China is more important. At the same time, it appears the Obama Administration is recycling the tactics it is using against Russia by targeting individuals instead of confronting whole countries. In some respects, this is unsettling as we can expect similar targeting of Americans as these tactics become more common; however, it is a way to force change in disruptive governments without siding against the Peoples of nations. That said, the overall bad behavior of the US and Chinese governments, among many others, undermine economies, international cooperation, and the free sharing of information, thus all the revelations, criticism, and actions now being taken are all constructive steps in preventing governments from abusing information technology, when they should be fighting those who commit cybercrimes. |
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April 2020
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