Caste System

In the caste system of India if you are an untouchable, you will always be an untouchable. In the India caste system their is no moving from different classes. Once you are in a class that is the class you will be in for your whole life. As soon as you are born you are put into a class. The classes are Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Kshudras, and the Dalet. The Brahmins are the highest class. They are mostly made up of priests and teachers. The Kshatriyas are the 2nd highest class and they are made up of warriors and militaries. Vaisyas are the upper middle class or 3rd class and they are made up of the businesses and the communities. The Kshudras are the lower middle class or the 4th and they are made up of servants. The last class and the poorest are the Dalet AKA the untouchables. The little children won't even go near them because they may get "infected". These people are very close to homeless and have no money.

Middle East Video Part 2

What sources of tension, new and old, in the Middle East are revealed by the movie?

Their is a new revolt going on the Arab Spring this is called. This is happening in Bahrain. They are protesting against their dictator. These protesters are being tortured or sexually harassed. They want democracy and they expect the United States to help them get it. But we are friends with their dictator so he says no because he doesn’t want to get on the wrong side of their dictator. But if we don’t like the dictator of another country that is harassing another country we will just jump right in and start a war. 

The Saudi Arabian troops helped squash the revolt. And they helped the government stay the same and not have big changes with these protesters. The government wrecked the church’s of the Shiite muslims. We have a lot of U.S troops on that island and with all of this kidnapping and harassment going on they except some of this to be stopped by the U.S but we are doing nothing.  

Middle East Video

What source of tension, new and old, in the Middle East are revealed by the film? 

Libya wants Gaddafi to leave and to die. They want them to leave their country and their people alone. In Libya their are recruiting young men. Their are showing them how to fire a gun, most of them have never even fired a gun. All of these people fighting for the rebel cause aren’t necessary happy with the U.S government, but they still fight with the rebels. United States has global responsibilities around the world. They need to keep global economy the same and not make decisions that will change that. 

Every time a tanker comes in there are tanker watchers. There is now and industry of tanker watching. As they were leaving when told to leave there was a gun fight at the gate. After being told many times by the rebels that there has been no oil being exported they went to a president of an oil company. 

A lot of politicians say that we should have looked over the ups and downs of this situation more than we did. We did not think of the other countries involved as much as we should have. 

The Conflict

The causes of the conflict were that the Jews were placed in the Arab homeland. They thought that the placement of the Jews in their homeland was an outrage. Each one of the superpowers sold arms and weapons to their allies. Israel was a center of guerilla warfare and terrorist activity. I think that the Jews deserve the land because their argument has the strongest points.

Yemen

1. What role have natural resources played in the politics and economy of the Middle East?
Petroleum fields dominate the nations economy.

2. Describe the country's physical geography.
Strategic location one of the world's most active shipping lanes is near.

3. What is the climate?
Mostly desert, it is hot and humid along the west coast. Very hot, dry and harsh desert in the east.

4. Does this country have a fresh water supply?
Yes rivers.

5. What industries does this country support?
Crude oil production and petroleum refining.

6. What international issues is the country currently facing?
They are protesting Saudi erection of concrete filled pipe as a security barrier.

7. What is the population of the country? What is the average lifespan for women and men?
23,580,220 people in Yemen. Male lifespan is 59.89 years old. Women lifespan is 63.71 years old.

8. What is the countries GDP? What is the GDP per capital?
$26.37 Billion. $1,118.

9. How much oil and natural gas does the country possess? What other natural resources are there?
11.9 million barrels of oil. 478.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Other natural resources are gold.

10. What percentage of the land is arable? What percentage of the gross domestic product is contributed by agriculture? What crops are grown?
2.9% of land is arable. 8.2% of the gross domestic product is contributed by agriculture. Grain, fruits, vegetables, qat, coffee, cotton, dairy products, poultry, beef and fish.

11. How much does the country import? Export? What are the major imports/exports?
$8.35 billion in imports. $7.535 billion in exports. Major imports are textiles, petroleum products, fuel oils, and cement. Major exports are crude petroleum, refined oil products, seafood, and tobacco products.

Why do they hate Us? Reading 3

1. What questions do you have about the reading? How might they be answered?
Why hasn't there been any negotiation in with the Muslims and U.S? This could be answered by tell me why there hasn't been any communication directly from the U.S to the Muslims. 

2. What U.S. policies do most Muslims hate and why? If you need more information, how might you find it?    
The U.S policy that most Muslims hate is our decisions to choose sides. We always seem to pick sides. And when we pick sides it is never in their favor. If I needed more information I would find it by researching our policies and see what might aggravate the Muslims. 
3. Why might acknowledging that U.S. policies have anything to do with jihadist attacks be seen as "politically incorrect" and "blaming the victim"? 
Maybe because we weren't on their side in the first place so we didn't even look at their side of the argument. And we just went with what we knew. 


4. Despite a year of effort by Obama's special envoy George Mitchell to move the Israelis and Palestinians toward a negotiated two-state solution, there's been no visible progress. Why not? If you need more information, how might you find it?
Their has been no visible progress because their hasn't been any progress at all. They aren't getting anywhere. The Israelis and Palestinians don't want to become a two-state solution. If I need more information I could watch the news or do some research on the subject. 

5. How and why are the people of Gaza suffering? If you need more information, how might you find it?

Because they are being blockaded so they can not get food in, or money. Therefore their economy is going down. 


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Why do they hate Us? Reading 2

1. What questions do you have about the reading? How might they be answered?
Is Osama saying that our acts to help the Jews are a bad thing and we should be punished for those? This could be answered by saying why our helping the Jews is such a big deal. 
2. Years have passed since President Bush's comments. What knowledge and evidence do you have to support, add to, amend, or oppose his explanation for terrorist acts? Why might jihadists want to overthrow certain Muslim governments? Drive Israel out of the Middle East? If you don't know how might you find out? 
Some knowledge that we can add to is that we sent American troops into Afghanistan, which didn't make them happy. Jihadist's might want to overthrow Muslim countries to show who has the power. If they are superior other extremists might want to do business with them. If they drove Israel out of the Middle East they would have the power. If I didn't know I could ask a friend, do some research, or watch the news for a little to get updated. 
3. Even more years have passed since Bin Laden's harsh critique of the United States. What knowledge and evidence do you have to support, add to, amend, or oppose that critique. 
Now he is dead, but his same thoughts are carried out by his followers. Some evidence that we have now is that he hated us so much that he killed thousands of innocent people to make a point. 
4. According to Wright, what has led young men in Arab countries to find martyrdom attractive? 
Wright says that what has made martyrdom so attractive is the religious part. If they die performing a "good cause" to their country. They will have served a good life. Instead of living a bad one this is pretty much their only choice. 
5. According to polling in Muslim countries, how popular is Al Qaeda? Why?

Al Queda is very popular but not a good popular. They are disliked very much because of their actions. 


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Why do they hate Us? Reading 1

1. What questions do you have about the reading? How might they be answered?
       The questions I have is that why doesn't John Brennan answer her question of why Al Qaeda wants to kill Americans. It would be answered if he would just say why they wanted to kill us. Maybe it is something our citizens do, and if they told us we could change it and not have them hate us. 
2. What is President Obama's answer? Brennan's? 
They didn't answer her questions they just kept avoiding it and saying that the Al Qaeda organization was an organization that wanted to kill Americans.

3. Thomas was clearly dissatisfied with Brennan's answer. Why? Would she have been satisfied with the president's? Why or why not?
She was dissatisfied because she did not get an answer. No she was not satisfied with the presidents answer because he did not answer her question. They just kept avoiding it.


4. Why does Glenn Greenwald think it important to consider terrorist motivations? Do you agree? Why or why not?
       He thinks it is important to consider terrorist motivations because even hearing that their might be a terrorist attack puts fear into the enemy. In a way I agree that to consider terrorist motivations is a good idea. But I think they should look into it more before actually doing it. I don't think it should be done but if they look into it they might figure something out something else that they can do. 


5. How would you answer Thomas' question, "Why?" Why do Hasan, Abdulmutallab, and others commit such acts?? If you need more reliable information, where might you find it? 

       I would say that the answer to why these countries make these acts is because they are afraid. They are afraid that if they don't hit us first we will hit them. They pick us because we are one of the biggest and most powerful nations. 
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