news commentary: due Tues, 12/13 before school
Ken Sklar (Radnor High School)
were absent, please post a commentary on any NYT article you read over
the past week - 12/5 to 12/11 (12/10 on the web) that interested you
that we did not discuss in class. Please identify the article title
and date.
Josh Klag
12/15/11
This article is about Putin's public comments on the rampant
protesting that currently surrounds him and his party. He seems to
have no problem udermining the protesters, making their cause seem
completely foolish. His
willingness to do so truly shocks me. It shows the shocking amount of
arrogance that Putin has regarding his political endeavors. Any true
democratic leader would do their best to address the protesters and
listen to their cause, while Putin simply sits back and laughs at the
fact that the symbol of their movement resembles a condom. Even many
corrupt leaders would pretend the protests aren't happening and try to
win back the support of their people. Putin, however, has the gall to
openly bash the protesters and (ridiculously) accuse them of being
paid agents. His words further prove his unwillingness to govern with
a true democratic system in which the needs of the people are heard,
and not mocked.
On Dec 12, 10:12 am, "Ken Sklar (Radnor High School)"
Ben Cohen
E. Kramer
12/13/11
Prokhorov joining in the Russian presidential race intrigued me the
most out of any news this week. The New Jersey Nets' owner has been
known for being a Russian playboy, and has certainly not been Putin's
favorite Russian billionaire. The fact that Prokhorov has managed to
be this rebellious and yet still be alive is a pretty amazing feat,
but running for president takes it to a whole new level. According to
the article Prokhorov has the resources to challenge Putin's reign,
but the bigger question is will Prokhorov even be able to make it
through a fair election. Russian elections have been widely thought of
as fraudulent. To add to that anybody in Russian that speaks against
Putin disappears within a couple of days. With all the uproar that has
been going on in Russia following an inspirational Arab Spring it will
be very interesting to see if anything big happens to change Russia in
the immediate future.
Lizzy Hilt
By Michael Schwirtz
December 12th, 2011In this article, Schwirtz reports on how Putin held
a rally in Moscow to show the support of his party after the huge
protests that took place over that weekend. Students and workers
reported that their classes were canceled and were forced to attend
the rally. They were unsure of why they were even in the square.
However, the masses were way fewer than predicted. The rally was held
in a sizable square and nowhere close to the expected 25,000 people
showed up. While, 40,000 people showed up for anti-Putin protests just
days before. Reflecting United Russia's poor election results.
I believe Putin should redo the elections. An extremely large group of
people are unhappy with him and if he doesn't have the support of the
people and forces himself upon them, he will be overthrown. These weak
masses should be a wake up call for him to realize he needs to step
down from power because he has overstated his welcome. It infuriates
people even more when you tell them they are lying when they say the
elections were unfair on top of not doing anything about it. He had to
force people to go to a rally that supported him, this should show him
that he obviously does not have the support of the people. I believe
he should step down from his government position and allow elections
to carry on without him.
Connor
Melissa Lee
By Tom Shanker and Liam Stack
12/17/11
American Defense Secretary Panetta was the first US defense secretary
to arrive in Tripoli on Saturday. His aim was to monitor the current
postrevolutionary situation in Libya, alongside Prime Minister Keeb of
Libya. He assured US support of their security and the new government.
With militias asked to leave, after having lingered for too long in
the nation, there remains much conflict. While in Libya, Panetta also
stopped by a cemetery to honor US sailors who died in 1804 sailing the
Intrepid in Tripoli. The generally good condition of the cemetery
spoke well to Panetta, showing somewhat mutual respect among the US
and Libya for having kept it in tact amid much violence. Panetta’s
visit in Libya showed how far the US and Libya have come together,
having overcame the tyrannous regime of Qaddafi with NATO force. The
calm meeting showed the capability for the officials of two very
different nations to take a second to talk diplomatically and
appreciate each other. Hopefully the fusion of US and Libyan efforts
may create a fair, stable government and rid most of the excess
violence left.
On Dec 12, 10:12 am, "Ken Sklar (Radnor High School)"
<kenneth.sk...@rtsd.org> wrote:
Erica
by Nada Bakri 12/12/11
This article is an update on the conflicts in Syria. According to the
U.N., death tolls from the ongoing clashes between the Syrian people
and Assad's military have reached 5,000 and are continuing to rise.
The calculation came after local Syrian elections, which had very few
participants due to the country's conflict (90% abstained from
voting). Many didn't think elections were beneficial at this time. The
only thing to come of the elections are some statistics regarding the
last several months of turmoil. Nearly 14k people have been arrested,
in addition to the 5,000 who are dead. This number has dramatically
increased from the 2,000 dead in August- showing that the conflict is
not getting better, but worse.
On Dec 12, 10:12 am, "Ken Sklar (Radnor High School)"
<kenneth.sk...@rtsd.org> wrote:
Jeremy Rhome
post twice because the first one did not post.
Leader Denies Use of Violence as Violent Crackdown Persists
David D. Kirkpatrick
After the takedown of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians were hopeful that they
would have a democracy. But with the recent news of violent
crackdowns on protestors this brings irony to the whole situation.
The people of Egypt revolted only to lay the way for a newly formed
dictatorship. As protestors were being violently and mercilessly beat
in the streets by military personnel the military leader denied
accusations of it despite video evidence. This video evidence I
witnessed when I went on Youtube and found the video on the homepage,
it showed crowds of military personnel relentlessly beating people
with no defenses. This made me truly angered at the military of
government of Egypt and a supporter of the protestors. However this
support of the protesters clashed with my thoughts if a true democracy
succeeded in Egypt and how it would affect the national security of
the United States.
Maddie Chapin
Kantor
12/13/11
One article that I found interesting was the article about a man in
Belgium, who had already had many run-ins with the law, killing
several people at a bus station and then after this, killing himself.
I thought this was a really sad article and this was one that touched
me more than others. Especially in a country like Belgium, I feel like
we don't hear as much about these incidents compared to other more
corrupt countries, such as countries in the Arab Springs so this is
why I thought this was especially sad. I empathized with these people
and the clear description of the article really helped me to imagine
and feel for the mood and devastation. Also, this week, I read another
article about a man killing himself after shooting many so I just
found it saddening and interesting to compare the two articles. This
specific article shows how things in Belgium might be slowly degrading
and becoming more corrupt with the unstable economy so I am interested
to see what happens in Belgiums future and if the people of Belgium
are getting fearful.
I'm sorry this is late!!!!
On Dec 12, 10:12 am, "Ken Sklar (Radnor High School)"
<kenneth.sk...@rtsd.org> wrote:
Michael Wong
Cabinets
by Matt Siegel
12/14/11
When Michael Somare, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, left the
country to undergo heart surgery and never returned from the hospital
in good enough condition to retake his post, Parliament held
elections to fill the "vacancy" in the Prime Minister position.
Michael Somare, being widely unpopular, was replaced via the
parliament's vote by Mr. O'Niell an opposition leader. However, in
september Mr. Somare returned and began to demand that he be granted
his position back. Last Monday Papua New Guinea's parliament, the same
one that sponsored the vote in the first place, announced that Somare
was actually still Prime Minister. Mr. O'Niell refused to abide by
their ruling will not step down. In recent developments around the
Arab world some world leaders have refused to step down despite the
people's requests, then demands, and then war cries. However, Mr.
O'Niell has the support of his people and is the more popular party.
The issue calls into question how important it is to honor the
country's legal standing or the desire of its people. Perhaps which
the way in which the police respond will be a representation over how
much control the government has vs how much popular opinion does. The
article references a blogger called Tavurvur who says, "PNG's
political sandwich: a popular illegitimate Government versus a
despised legitimate government."
I doubt that Somare or O'Niell will be swayed to give up their bid for
Prime Ministership simply by the rulings of parliament or by the legal
interpretation of the constitution. I think that in a situation here
in a democracy where the government is in gridlock all the power
trickles down to the people, who's support is more important than any
legal basis- and in that regard Mr. O'Niell has already
won.
Kaleigh Link
By HIROKO TABUCHI
Published: December 16, 2011
i don't remember if this topic was brought up or not BUT. I found this
article very intriguing because it involved the Fukushima Nuclear
Power Plant where a natural disaster occurred in March this year. The
tsunami and earthquake that hit the Eastern side of Japan unleashed
radioactive materials which in turn leaked into water and food
supplies. Nine months after the disasters Japan Prime Minister Noda
announced that the reactors at Fukushima were stable. But I think that
Noda's decision to announce that to the people was as "experts" say
premature because as the article says, "the plant is like a black box,
and we don't know what's really happening." so there could be things
that may have been overlooked that could be potentially fatal to
unprotected humans. Basically I just think that the gov't of Japan
needs to really make sure that they have EVERYTHING under control in
Fukushima before they 1. announce it to the public and 2. let the
citizens that live in the affected area's are let back in their
homes.