Crimean Crisis

As most of you probably know, there is an ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Before we come to the actual crisis let us look at some background story.

Backstory

From 1922 to 1991, Russia and Ukraine were parts of the Soviet Union. The Crimean peninsula belonged to the Russian part of the massive Soviet Union. The Soviet leaders decided to ‘’give’’ the Crimean peninsula to Ukraine. Crimea was still a part of the Soviet Union; however, the Ukrainian soviet republic was managing it. Ukraine and Crimea were still under the domain of Moskva, the capital in today’s Russia. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Ukraine was declared as an independent state after 90% of the people voted for independence. The leadership in Moskva accepted that the Crimean peninsula was going to be a part of the new independent Ukraine, even though the majority of Crimea’s citizens was so-called ethnic Russians.

Build up

Ukraine has borders to both Russia and the EU. Ukraine originally had interest for a good relationship with both parts. Still, different groups in Ukraine favoured a closer cooperation with just one of the parts. Identity plays a big part for what side you will favour. Most of the EU supporters live in the west, while most of the Russian supporters live in the east. They have the choice between a connection to the EU/west or Russia. Which created the Ukrainian crisis. The EU had offered Ukraine an association agreement. This agreement would bring Ukraine closer to the EU. The EU meanwhile insisted that a deal like this would exclude a future membership in a Russian led economic union. Russia has established an economic union with among others, Belarus and Kazakhstan and they planned to include Ukraine in this deal.
  

The actual crisis

The proposal EU made, forced Yanukovych[GML1]  to pick sides. Yanukovych was originally positive to closer cooperation with the EU; however, Yanukovych did not want to make the gap between Russia and Ukraine any bigger. Because of this, he declined the proposal. The EU supporters in Ukraine didn't [GML2] like this at all. As following pro-Russian demonstrations took place in the capital of Ukraine Kiev where hundreds of thousands participated, from November 2013. The protests was[GML3]  also aimed towards the government’s lack of management, because of corruption. The Ukrainian government’s harsh reaction on the demonstrations led to an escalation of violent clashes in Kiev. It ended with that the parliament deposed president Yanukovych in February 2014.

The act can be defined as a coup d’état because the elected didn’t follow the procedure and they didn’t have the ¾ majority that the constitution requires for such a decision. Despite this, a lot of people means[GML4]  that this wasn’t a coup d’état, because after all the majority of the parliament voted for the disposal of Yanukovych. Even though the disposal of Yanukovych was based around illegal terms, the majority of western commentators and politicians viewed it as positive for the democracy of Ukraine. An interpretation like this emphasized that the disposed Ukrainian management was corrupt, among other things because of the violent treatment of the Ukrainian protesters and the introduction of the Anti-protest law. Russia had a very different view on the recent events: The west had been helping protesters, and later get an illegitimate, pro-western leadership, which signed the Association agreement with the EU.

Russia’s reaction was rather extreme as they proceeded to take control over the Crimean Peninsula with military forces. Russia had already a legal military base on Crimea, which made the operation fast, easy and no blood shed so far. Then there was held an election on Crimea, which evolved around joining Russia. Almost everyone who participated voted yes. The election was never recognized internationally. Thirteen of the fifteen members in UN’s Security Council considered the election not valid.  A problem with the election was that the people of Crimea weren’t legally permitted to take such decision. The election choices were also problematic because the choices were between two kinds of secession from Ukraine .In March of 2014, Russia declared domain over Crimea, which means that Crimea was considered a part of Russia. Most other countries in the world do not consider Crimea a part of Russia.

Russia’s actions were partly motivated by fear of that the Crimean Peninsula could have been used as a NATO base under the new Ukrainian regime. Russia also gave support to pro-Russian in East-Ukraine. These pro-Russians were against authorities in Kiev and were inspired by Russia’s adoption of Crimea. This led to battles between the pro-Russian rebels on one side, and the Ukrainian army and para-millitary nationalists on the other, from April 2014. The battles went on primarily in the provinces Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s actions on Crimea and Eastern Ukraine were considered as clear violations on the international law. This laid the foundation for the west to introduce sanctions against Russia, primarily economic sanctions. Russia reacted with equivalent sanctions, including no food imports from the west. In addition to being a reaction on the coup d’état and the deal with the EU, Russia’s actions on Crimea and Eastern Ukraine were related to Ukrainian domestic policies, including the rights of ethnic Russians in Ukraine.

The local conflict: Pro-Russian and anti-Russian

In Russia, about 17 percent of the population is ethnic Russians In addition, even more people speak Russian as their mother tongue. The authorities in Russia, with president Vladimir Putin at front, claims that Russia has a responsibility over ethnic Russians in Ukraine, where most of them lives in the eastern part. This is despite that they are Ukrainian citizens. One of the things that have created unrest between groupings in Ukraine has been the question of which status the Russian language would have in Ukraine. This part of the conflict raised when the Ukrainian parliament declared that they would deprive the regions on Ukraine the right to give Russian (among other minority languages) status as an official language. A lot of Russian speaking Ukrainian’s felt that Ukraine was about to become an anti-Russian place and feared raised Ukrainian nationalism. Ukrainian nationalism is looked upon as frightening, not just by Russians but also by other ethnic minorities.

On the 25th of May, there was a new presidential election in Ukraine. Businessman Petro Porosjenko won. Shortly after the election, the new Ukrainian government set the army in a major offensive against the rebel controlled areas in the east; Donetsk and Luhansk. Ukraine’s government and NATO accused Russia to have sent soldiers and military gear to support the rebellions in East-Ukraine. Russia later rejected this. Russia’s actions on Ukraine are not just related to the deposal of Yanukovych, the question about the EU and the treatment of the Ukrainian Russians. It is also a reaction of NATO’s eastern expansion since the fall of the Soviet Union. Russia’s actions signals that Ukraine is a part of Russia’s security area. Ukraine works like a sort of border of how far Russia will allow NATO to expand eastward.

Summary

To sum it all up, this crisis has not only affected Russia and Ukraine, but rather the whole world. Many countries’ relationship with Russia has changed for the worse. This crisis in one way or another has affected most countries in the world. Attempts at peace have been made but not with much success. There was signed a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the 20th of September 2014. The peace agreement has been violated several times and does not seem to have any affect at all.

Sources:
http://www.globalis.no/Konflikter/Ukraina
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/ukraina/dette-maa-du-vite-om-krim-konflikten/a/10137547/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation_of_Crimea_by_the_Russian_Federation
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28969784
http://www.summer.harvard.edu/blog-news-events/conflict-ukraine-historical-perspective

Task 2B

There are many immigrants in the world today. They often move because of the conditions in their own country. However, this does not mean that their new life in their new country is going to be a walk in the park. Immigrants face many problems with culture, norms, values etc.

Hounour

In the extract of the novel Honour, we get many signs that shows that the people in the text are immigrants. Right of the bat we see the name Adem Toprak. This indicates that they most likely are immigrants because the whole text is written in English with English dialogue. One of the main clues we get in the text is about a nameplate.

‘’ ‘We live here as well,’ she grumbled. ‘Why write only Dad’s name?’ Esma was a frail girl but she always expressed herself with giant ideas: equal opportunity, social justice, women’s rights … My friends thought she was either barmy or a Communist. If it were up to her she would have written instead: THE TOPRAK FAMILY Or else, ADEM, PEMBE, ISKENDER, ESMA, YUNUS & THE GOLDFISH Either way I didn’t give a toss. I, myself, would have left the nameplate anonymous. That would have been more decent, more straightforward. It would be my way of saying nobody lived here. Not really. We didn’t live in this flat, only sojourned.’’ (Shafak)

The Protagonist says he would like to leave the nameplate anonymous because no one really lived here. This shows that they may just be here for a little while, or that they haven’t got permission for a permanent stay. His sister however, thinks that all the names should be on the nameplate. It might be that she fails to understand that their permanent stay isn’t certain. The word sojourned also comes up in the extract which means a temporary stay; a brief period of residence. The protagonist also says: ‘’We Topraks were only passers-by in this city – a half-Turkish, half Kurdish in the wrong end of London.’’ By this point, it’s certain that they are in fact immigrants. We also get an insight in the difficulties with being an immigrant. In this case not fitting in and being afraid of deportation. It seems to that the protagonist in a way wishes to be sent home. He seems very negative about everything in his new home. The food, not fitting in and even small things like the nameplate. Maybe he thinks it’s better for everyone if they got deported. His negative ways may also because he doesn’t want to get his hope up for nothing.

Freedom Writers

We follow the English Teacher Erin Gruwell, that is working with college students other teachers deemed ‘’unteachable’’.  The students are not even a little bit concerned with homework and assignments. They have other more important things on their mind. Gangs, drugs, violence, and murder is sadly a big part of their lives. The class is multiracial with Latinos, blacks, whites, Asians and so on. This leads to many conflicts. They almost have a divided race system in the school. Everyone has their own group with their ‘’own people’’. The story focuses little on immigrants but more on the offspring of all the immigrants in the school. As a following of all the different races, there’s conflicts. We see a lot of gang related violence in the movie. A lot of it is about respect and defending what is yours, even though you might die for it.

 The students in the movie ‘’Freedom writers’’ tend to stick with their own people, and have a negative viewpoint on all the other groups of people. This leads to difficulties for the teacher Erin Gruwell. When everybody refuses to cooperate, it is almost impossible making class work together. A lot of the people in the school furthermore the class speaks Spanish as well as English. This may indicate that they or their parents are immigrants from for example Mexico.

Conclusion

I will conclude with that immigration definently has some sort of place in both ‘’Freedom writers’’ and the extract from ‘’Honour’’. In ‘’Honour’’ immigration seems to be the main theme. A family of immigrants that doesn’t seem to fit in. In the movie ‘’Freedom writers’’ it’s maybe not so much about immigrants, but the offspring of immigrants living in America.

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” 

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

The global refugee problem

I want to start my text of explaining what exactly a refugee is.

''A refugee is a person who is outside their home country because they have suffered (or feared) persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion; because they are a member of a persecuted social category of persons; or because they are fleeing a war. Such a person may be called an "asylum seeker" until recognized by the state where they make a claim.''

Extract from wikipedia (source at the bottom)

But where do these refugees come from? Every year about 43 million people are leaving their homses because of war, natural disasters etc. In 2014, Syria, Palestine, and Afghanistan were the largest source country of refugees. The country hosting the largest number of refugees at the moment is Syria, with 2.47 million refugees. Pakistan is second, hosting 1.6 million refugees. The current amount of refugees is largest since the 1990's. These refugees face a lot of problems. They have to leave their home, leave their past behind and start from scratch. For someone this may be a good thing, but leaving everything behind is never easy. If they have to move from their home land forever, they will also have to adapt to a new society and adapt to its norms and values.

Refugees will often end up in refugee camps. Approximately 700 refugee camps locations around the world. A refugee camp is a place built by governments or NGOs such as the International Committee of the Red Cross. The refugees in these camps may stay for food and medical help until its safe to return to their homes. Some times, the refugees never get to return to their homes for safety reasons. As a result they are resettled in "third countries", away from the border they crossed. However, more often than not, refugees are not resettled. In the meantime, child soldier recruitment, they are at risk for disease, terrorist recruitment, and physical and sexual violence.

When war or civil unrest ravages a community, masses or people are forcibly displaced. At the extreme, they are left with only two options: death by privation, assault or genocide, or life in exile. By 2010, UNHCR had identified 6.6 million stateless persons in 60 countries. Yet it estimated that the overall number was the double of this. Unfortunately, natural disasters and conflict continue to take their toll on people like this. But it is much, much better than it might have been, thanks to the commitment of the UN to help them return to their homes.

I will leave you with an extract from the New York times showing problems with illegal immigration by boat in Australia.

''Last fall, Prime Minister Tony Abbott launched Operation Sovereign Borders, a campaign involving the military to divert boats full of asylum seekers to Indonesia before they can reach Australian shores. Immigration Minister Scott Morrison now says that no boat has arrived in Australia in the last six months, and vows to

take “every step necessary to ensure that people who arrive illegally by boat are not rewarded with permanent visas.''

My sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/05/opinion/australias-refugee-problem.html

http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/refugees/

The voices of immigration in America

These videos show the importance of immigrants influence on America. America is a country of immigrants, and has always been this way. President Obama said the following in his speech about the American immigration system: ''We were strangers once to''. Immigrants have contribued to a lot of good causes in America. A lot of help on scientific research and business has come from abroad. You could say that immigrants are the backbone of America. After all, the founders of this country were immigrants. 

“More than any other nation on Earth, America has constantly drawn strength and spirit from wave after wave of immigrants… Bearing different memories, honoring different heritages, they have strengthened our economy, enriched our culture, renewed our promise of freedom and opportunity for all.”

  BILL CLINTON     June 13, 1998

I like this quote by Bill Clinton because it shows how USA has become better, and better by the ever increasing amount of immigrants comign to contribute one way or antoher. The way i see it, is that it doesn't matter where you are from, who you are, your past, We are all in this together improving America, and continue making it a desirable country to live in with freedom for all.

    Obama's speech

a)
1. He wants to enforce the border patrol in the south by giving the personnel additional resources

2. He wants to make it easier for high skilled immigrants, graduates and entrepreneurs to stay and contribute to the economic

3. He also wants to make it an option for illegal immigrants who meet the criteria, to stay and work or study in USA.

b)
There is still actions president Obama can take as president. Although he can’t pass the bill himself he can still make some change in the immigration system himself

c)
He says that what makes Americans is their shared commitment to an idea. He also says that the USA is a nation of immigrants, and all are equal

d)
Obama wants the House of Representatives to pass immigration reform that combines border enforcement with a realistic path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.

e)
I think it seems like a great idea, and really cannot see why anyone would oppose this. It seems fair for both American citizens and illegal immigrants. Sadly I cannot imagine this bill being passed anytime soon. If the congress has refused to pass the bill for 1,5 years now, the chances are that the bill is not going to be passed

Do you think the bill, will be passed?

Feel free to leave a comment.

This text is about 3 different countries and their relation to English. English is a language you will find in every corner of the world. There are many people in the world with English as their mother tongue, but there is also a massive amount of people around the world that speak English as a second language.

Russia

 Russia has kind of a complicated relationship to English. Mainly after World war 2. Usa’s and Russia’s political views and ideals aren’t exactly the same.

Russian is part of the Slavonic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is closely related to other Slav languages such as Czech and polish. Russian is spoken as a mother tongue by about 150 million people in Russia and the former republics of the USSR. Russian is written using the Cyrillic alphabet, some of whose letters are similar to letters in the Latin alphabet used by English. Russian learners of English may experience initial problems writing in English. Russian has a similar number of consonants to English, but their sounds do not fully overlap. As with many other learners of English, the ‘’w’’ and ‘’v’’ sounds are troublesome. The ng sound at the end of words like sing or thinking is difficult for Russian learners to produce accurately. Due to differences in the phonological systems, it is relatively difficult for Russians to acquire native-speaker-like standards of pronunciation.

Germany

German is spoken by approximately 95 million people around the world and is the official language of Germany, Austria and parts of Switzerland. Both English and German belongs to the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Because they are so closely related, they share many features. The use of English especially in business in Germany, is widespread enough that it is mandatory in school often from grade 5. So most Germans under about 50 will have had English in school at one point or another. The differences will come in how much they practice it how often they encounter English speakers. Germans as a culture are into travelling, and studying abroad is very common. They are in the middle of Europe with different languages on nearly every side. The more a German has travelled the more likely that their English will be passable.

South Africa

English in South Africa dates back to the arrival of the British at the Cape of Good Hope in 1795. As was the case in most colonies. English was primarily introduced by soldiers and administrators, then by missionaries and settlers.

As a result, English is generally understood across the country, being the language of business, politics and the media, and is regarded as the country's lingua franca. However, it only ranks a joint fifth as a home language.

Because of South Africa’s linguistic diversity. All 11 languages have had a profound effect on each other. South African English, for example, is filled with words and phrases from Afrikaans, isiZulu, Nama, and other African languages. South African English is an established and unique dialect, with strong influences from Afrikaans and the country's many African languages. As a home language, English is most common in Gauteng, where more than a third of all English-speaking South Africans are found.

Here are my sources:

South Africa
Russia
Germany

Here is the link to the video i used in my presentation.

Can terrorism ever be justified?

Can terrorism ever be justified?

This essay shall provide a case that terrorism will never be justified. For starters, terrorism is the random use of violence to achieve political ends that inflicts damage on innocent people and property creating terror or fear in them. Terrorist try to get attention and focus on their problem by killing innocent people, and perhaps worst of all that they claim to fight for human rights. However, do they not realise that they break one of the most vital human right? The right to live. In addition, one should not walk around fearing to face death.

A problem with terrorism is that there is no choice. You either agree to their terms, or die. When you put it like this, the answer seems obvious, but it is not. The terms of the terrorists aren’t exactly practiced within the human rights. Some terrorist groups might have some fair points, but the way they excecute the operation is horrendous. For example the tragic fall of the twin towers in The United states of America the in 2001. 911 was a act of terrorists and is possibly the most famous terrorist act in the world.

There is hard to see how terrorist doesn’t get affected by all the killing of civillians themselves. They seem to think they are some kind of freedom fighters that are here to save humanity. It doesen’t seem like they see the bigger picture. They are killing people, tearing apart families and supressing human rights. They are like a pest, a setback in human development. To push things to the extreme, I see that the only good thing that could come out of a terrorist action is if the only on they managed to blow up was themselves.

The majority of people think of the Middle East when they hear the word terrorism. It is not wrong at all, but terrorism exists in other parts of the world. Like for example the ETA in Spain who wants the Basque country to be an independent state. Even here in Norway terrorism exists. On the 22th of july 2011 Anders Behring Brievik who is a right-wing extremist murdered 69 teenagers aged 14-19, at the Norwegian island of Utøya.  before the shooting began, Breivik detonated a car bomb in Oslo which killed 8 people. He then boarded a ferry to the island of Utøya were roughly 600 teenagers were attending a youth summer camp. Brievik wore a police uniform and used a fake police ID badge to pass through security without incident. He then proceeded to go on a killing spree on the Island. This is the biggest one man slaughter in history. And he executed this operation for political reasons.

 So to answer my own question. Can terrorism ever be justified? The answer is no. No cause is worth fighting for if it involves the death of innocent people. I believe that we that we have to fight fire with fire. Show them no mercy. Because I know sure as H*** they wouldn’t show us any.