The Problem With Syria

The regime of Bashir Al-Assad has reached the point where Reuters pre-ponders that there could be an upcoming Civil War.  The importance of natural resources to meeting the basic needs of the people of the Middle East has become increasingly important.  As the world changes into a more open democracy (although all eligible voters do not get to vote) and there is an increased openness in communication between member countries, along with the launch of satellites for countries like India and China, there must be a need for greater focus on policies that allow countries to adapt to an increasingly international climate.  Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League Envoy, has come up with a six-point plan for Syria. The omission of the Syrian ambassador to the United Kingdom from the guest list of the April 29 Royal Wedding was significant enough to make news way before the 14 month conflict that has emerged until now.  The United Nations now has to deal with 1.5 million Syrians who are able to meet basic needs. The situation becomes even more unstable when the people of Syria are unable to meet needs for future generations.  Currently, the 59 UN monitors on the ground are going to explode into 300 monitors in the not-too-distant future.  Reports from the Middle East diginitaries that they think that Annan's plan will fall, and that is significant given the overarching experience that Mr. Annan possesses in International Affairs.  The six-point plan features some key points including freedom of the press including freedom to travel, implementation of humanitarian aid, bring about a cessation to the carrying of heavy weaponry and cessation of armed violence, a relay that carries messages from the Envoy to and from the government as well as an increase in arbitration.  The Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has called for the removal of Al-Assad, and as a number of countries may send missions including China, Russia, Italy, and the United States with the latter only obliging for 90-days till the Assad regime complies with U.S. regulations.  Given the geographic importance following events in Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, it is bodes that the conflict in Syria be pacified as much as possible. The former Security General needs to contain this through his diplomatic and peacekeeping efforts.  Hopefully the people of Syria will experience better times.
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Internet Security, Mobile Commerce and Commencement

The issue of internet security has arisen in a number of shapes and forms as this new medium of communication expands.  Just like other technologies before it, the younger generation have been said to adapt to it faster than the old, but one article in particular highlights the need for parents to get up to date and monitor their children's activity as well as mediate their own.  New laws have been placed through parliament which supposedly are to supposed to protect internet rights.  The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Internet Securtiy Bill has been voted upon in the U.S. House of Representatives to a 248-168 final tally.  The Bill specifically looks at protecting against cyber attacks and investigating such attacks by sharing information concerning such security. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was the predecessor to this bill and along with the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) Bill.  Both bills were under intense scrutiny by groups like Facebook and others which have attempted to stop the passage of such bills before proper and intense discussion about some of the clauses within the bill which was delayed by Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid and placed back into law.  http://tiny.cc/2ipoew

The African continent has increased it's use of monetary transfer by mobile phone especially in those areas where remoteness precipitates the need for greater interaction of business entities much like the Grameen initiative in Bangladesh. Kenya in particular is utilising mobile phones for business transactions for certain items. The widespread use of this is yet to be seen. http://tiny.cc/qhpoew

Given the numerous commencement speeches that exist, the one that received a lot of attention is that of Eric Schmidt of Google where he said that the challenge to college graduates is to take their eyes off of the screen for at least an hour a day and turn to the person they loved.  The increased use of Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and Tumblr and numerous other social networks consume many a college students days, so the importance of interpersonal interaction being imputed on these graduates says a lot about the challenges faced in communication but also because of the utilization of many different avenues of communication.
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