Yemen on the Verge of Collapse

Right now in Yemen, civil war is raging from three directions. The Houthi, a group of Shia insurgents from the North of the country have taken over the capital city, San’a after ten years of fighting, displacing the previous ruling party, who represent the majority Sunni population in the country. While these two factions fight for control in the north and central parts of the country, the south eastern area has been taken over by a terrorist group with direct ties to Al - Qaeda. This dire situation was detailed to an audience of nodding old people, me and Spencer by Stephen Seche, a former US ambassador to Yemen. With maps, dates, and geopolitical terms, Mr. Seche described a country on the verge of collapse without ever referencing the people that live there. Sitting in the silent, hot banquet room of the Chicago Club, I had a hard time keeping my mind engaged with the detailed geopolitical landscape that Mr. Seche detailed, and rather found myself imagining a Yemeni kid, living in a war torn village, sitting in on the conversation. Using buzz words like freedom responsibility and justice, its easy to justify the United States’ never ending policy of foreign intervention, especially in a “morally reprehensible” and politically unstable region like the Middle East. However, from a more humanist, objective and rational point of view, our interventions seem misguided, and more like an extension of Imperialism than  an ethical policy intended to help anything other than our own national interest.   But that begs the question, is looking out for national self interest unethical? That’s a question thats never asked at these meetings, where self interest is the foundational priority of decision making. Pragmatically speaking, that is a necessary presumption, because whether or not the US acts in its own self interest, the rest of the world will. But that’s an unsatisfying justification when it leads us to robotically bomb communities throughout the world, and treat our own voice as the gospel of freedom. I guess foreign affairs is no place for an idealist.

Comparing the Depression and the Recession

On April First I went to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs presentation on the Great Recession, with Barry Eichengreen, an Economics professor at UC Berkley.  It was very interesting to hear his analysis of what went wrong in the great Recession, especially because he framed his own opinions as facts of what happened. He compared the recession and the Great Depression of the 1930’s very engagingly.  He argued convincingly that the two crashes which caused the long term collapses were very similar, and that our improved response to financial disaster was the reason that the Recession was so much less damaging than the depression was. After black tuesday in 1929, the US government allowed big banks to fail, while with one notable exception, Merril Lynch, they didn’t do the same in 2008.  As a result, unemployement hit 25% in the 1930’s, while it only barely cracked 10% in the late 2000’s.  He said that the actions of the Federal Reserve Bank and Ben Bernake in the immediate aftermath of the crash saved the US from facing a world altering crisis, but that their decision to allow Merril Lynch to fail is one of the reasons that the crisis lasted so long.  He talked about the dying political support for the much needed stimulus packages, leaving me wondering how the 24 hour news cycle affected public opinion on the issue.  It seems to me that one of the reason law makers were so hesitant to back bail outs or stimuluses was because of the way news disseminates in our culture today.  News broadcasters like CNBC, FOX, CNN and MSNBC use shock and scare tactics so that they might be able to compete with the addictive reality and scripted TV shows on air, so many people heard exaggerated stories of how all the banks were getting off so easily, and their CEO’s were spending so much money.  The other thing that I thought a lot about during his presentation was who this recession really affected. While many rich people were affected in the short term, in the long term the Western World’s rich have only gotten richer, while the poor have gotten poorer, which leaves the wealth disparity at all time highs throughout the world. This seems one of the biggest issue, and one that isn't talked about enough.

Bolero and Other Works

Twelve Classmates and I attended a dance show called Bolero and Other Works, at the Victory Gardens Theatre on Sunday, March 15^th. Though the show was not ostensibly about countries relating to one another, I was amazed by how relevant to my inquiry strand this event managed to feel. Through 6 separate acts, this show introduced tons of interesting themes, from environmentalism, to body image, to cultural relations.  Each separate act was directed by a different person, but they all featured the same cast of dancers. It was amazing to see these dancers transform. One program, they would be up beat and moving with incredible power and grace, and the next they would be moving slowly and out of sync to dystopian music.  This juxtaposition made the viewing experience much more powerful, and I was captivated throughout the show.  The program that affected me most personally, and also applied most directly to my inquiry strand, was a piece that featured a strange industrial beat, and was overlaid with occasional words in many different languages.  The dancers pulsated slowly, at first in unison, but over time they grew apart, as if representing the riff between different languages and cultures.  It is interesting to think about Global Affairs in this artistic medium, rather than the academic medium I have been presented it before.  All the presentations I have been to and lectures I’ve heard have been specifically designed so that their meaning was easily and precisely understood by the audience. On the other hand, this show obscured its message, and did not have a slide featuring the take aways from the afternoon. It allowed room for personal interpretation, and was more about self expression than about general understanding. I took away a message which was deeply cynical about our ability to communicate and maintain separate cultures thanks to the influx of world dominating technology, but I could imagine how one might take away a message almost exactly opposite to that. At the end of the day, I left with more questions than answers, but I felt fulfilled while grappling.

The Future of Cuba US Relations

Sitting down to the Chicago Council on Global Affair’s panel on Cuba, I was immediately struck by the faces before me. One black woman stood out amidst a line of seven old white men. Cuba is a country primarily of black people, and I immediately doubted the ability of this panel to accurately gage the situation in the country, or present viable solutions. The Castro family is far from perfect: they have a unavoidable record of forcibly silencing political opponents in the country. However, the Cold War informed message of Castro as an evil dictator who wants nothing but power and doesn't care for his people is a large roadblock towards collaboration between these two countries. For 50 years the US supported a dictator in Cuba who treated common people like slaves, and stole billions of dollars in cane sugar and other goods.  Castro came along and represented the common people of Cuba, and succeeded in overthrowing the ruling class, stopping centuries of American Imperialism in the region.  How could a bunch of white Americans, who are inherently opposed to Castro and his message, possibly paint a fair picture of how we ought to treat Cuba in the coming years? The vast majority of the panel supported President Obama’s recent moves to reconnect with Cuba, now allowing some trade and tourism with the country.  However, they were universal in their weariness towards trying to create meaningful diplomatic relations with the country. They talked in sweeping terms about the danger of a culturally accepted Cuba, and of the possibility of terrorism on the island. Their fears echoed with the sounds of Mccarthyism and the red scare, and felt more aimed at communism in general than at Cuba specifically. It’s panels like these that hinder and even prohibit the possibility of productive and collaborative dialogue between two countries that are 90 miles apart. While in the room, I didn’t think much about the voices that were represented in the room, rather I was preoccupied imagining the voices that weren’t.

Putin's Russia

As I listened to John Beyrle, the former US ambassador to Russia, describe the current political climate in Russia, I couldn't help but see a mirror image of the US national psyche. Mr. Beyrle described how deeply influenced by a strong slavic nationalism and pride for everything that is “Russian” the current political landscape is. As his position continues to head towards extremism, Vladamir Putin’s popularity in his home country is shooting up. People in Russia that are facing hard times want someone to blame, and they're finding it in the increasingly diametrically opposed Western Europe and United States. All the same, rural poor people throughout the US are rallying around the reactionary Tea Party, and a shared hatred and fear of all things islamic. Though the extremest party is not in power in the United States like it is in Russia, it has still had a sweeping influence on the way that political conversations are had here. A vitriolic rage has risen up in many people, both in Russia and the US, and the flame is fanned by political leaders’ inflammatory and impassioned words.  That is why I find it so ironic that the same man who lambasts Russian nationalism talks about the importance of spreading and exerting America’s interest on nations thousands of miles away. Combating Russian extremism from an ideologically American standpoint will be completely ineffective and even counter productive; it will further isolate Russia, giving more fuel to Putin’s fire.  It is for this reason that I struggle to see how sweeping economic sanctions will improve the climate in Eastern Europe. Putin is running Russia’s economy into the ground, and the powerful, wealthy oligarchs in his country will be at Putin’s neck whether or not the US and EU put sanctions in place, but as long as they are in place, Putin has a scapegoat for the people: the cruel west, which like always hopes to destroy mother Russia. As long as Putting is able to stir nationalistic fever in the hearts of the public in Russia, he will stay in power.  

Inquiry Strand Choice: International Relations

For my last semester and colloquium presentation I’m going to focus on public events related to international relations. I made this decision after looking at the public events list, and noticing the high quality and quantity of events brought by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. There are a number of interesting lectures and question and answer sessions with very relevant and cool speakers.  I’m interested in learning about international relations because it will contextualize my time spent in Model United Nations, and let me consider my position in relation to an increasingly connected world.  It also allows for a flexible schedule, and will be a very direct way of engaging with important ideas.  I’m looking forward towards learning!

Feasting on the Earth

I went to the Fall Feast and enjoyed a delicious meal with my classmates. Although it was not the most socially charged event, it was fun to be with my classmates and friends, and it effectively reminded me that environmentalism is important, and it can be fun. It’s surprisingly easy to forget about global warming on a day to day basis. With my mind occupied by school work and social time, I don’t tend to ruminate on the catastrophic failure that this system called earth might be headed towards.  If we haven’t already passed the point of no return, it must be coming soon. We are already in the midst of the sixth great extinction, and who really knows how rising water levels and increased chances of natural disaster will affect our society or the earth at large.  There is such a present bias in our collective consciousness, that if it isn’t trendy, global warming isn’t really talked about in media or in day to day conversation.

The argument against global warming, that this is all a statical anomaly, is clearly naive and flat out wrong, but that means that Humans had the agency and might to, in the span of a century, alter irrevocably the future of the Earth. I’m very conflicted about this reality because on the one hand it feels wrong for us to alter our environment, but if we have the intelligence and sheer power to completely change Earth, maybe we are above and beyond it.   

At the fall feast, I spent a couple hours goofing around with my friends and eating tasty food, but it (and by extension the great work environmental committee did) managed to make me consider more deeply what’s happening on our planet, and indeed what my role is in its destruction.