Monday, March 26, 2012

North Korean Rocket, 3/11 Aftermath, Macky Sall Senegal

US-China on North Korea's launch

United States President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao met on the margins of a nuclear summit in South Korea on 26 March 2012. The rocket launch is scheduled in april, between 12 to 16 April intended to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of North Korea's late Great Leader Kim Il-sung. Mr Hu indicated to Mr Obama that he was taking the North Korean issue very seriously and was registering China's concern with the government in Pyongyang, and both of them have interest in making sure that international norms surrounding non-proliferation, preventing destabilising nuclear weapons. Deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes said that China has expressed those concerns before and North Korea has continued on with its behaviour and that's why China needs to look at whether it needs to be doing more above and beyond the types of messages and warnings it's been giving to the North Koreans. Mr hu said the North Korean issue was "very complicated and sensitive" and China do not hope to see a reversal of the hard-won momentum of relaxation of tension on the peninsula.Both the South Korea and United States state that they prepare measures to track the missiles and shoot it down if it strays over their territory. The launch site is in north-western North Korea, not far from the Chinese border. Pyongyang agreed to suspend long-range missile tests and uranium enrichment in Febuary which was part of a deal for the United States to supply 240,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea, has now been suspended.

The relationships between the North Korea and South korea has never been good since 1950 as the Korean war begun. On 2010 sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, artillery firing on Yeonpyeong Island and many things happened before that. All these conflicts causes the tension of the two countries to increase.
Until today, Korea is still separated into two. Family members are not allowed to see each other and it is deplorable because the citizens suffer from the effects of the bad relationships between the two countries.

Japan left with one nuclear reactor after shutdown

A tsunami in March 2011 triggered the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns, only one of the 54 nuclear reactors remains in operation, and it is due to be switched off in May. the residents have demanded reactors not be turned back on after routine maintenance due to safety fears. The No 6 unit at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa power station in Niigata prefecture has been taken offline by the Tokyo Electric Power Co for maintenance. This leaves just the nuclear reactor on the island of Hokkaido in operation, so it is unclear when the reactors that have been turned off might be restarted. Before the Fukushima disaster, nearly a third of Japan's electricity was generated with nuclear power, but the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was badly damaged by the earthquake and tsunami, with explosions and partial meltdowns in several of the reactors, so the government has been carrying out stress tests on nuclear power stations to try to persuade people living nearby that they can resist strong earthquakes, however, since the Fukushima disaster, local communities have been refusing to allow reactors to be restarted after routine maintenance, which has to take place every 13 months. Japan has increased its fossil fuel imports, with electricity companies pressing old power plants into service, but there could still be a shortfall of electricity in the summer. Big companies ran factories at night and at weekends after the government ordered them to cut their electricity consumption by 15% last year, and manufacturers have also warned that more production may have to be moved abroad if the situation persists, which would damage Japan's economy.

Japan is very united, and is known well for its spirit. During the second world war, Japan was very greedy and cruel, but when we meet Japanese nowadays, they are very polite and humble. Japan has the lowest homicide rate in the world after Singapore, and it has the longest life expectancy of any other country in the world.

Macky Sall Senegal election win 'example for Africa'

Senegal's presidential election, which saw the incumbent concede defeat peacefully, has been hailed as a "great victory for democracy" in Africa. President Abdoulaye Wade has accepted that he was defeated by Macky Sall in Sunday's run-off. Mr Sall addressed thousands of cheering supporters in the capital, Dakar that he promised to be a president for all Senegalese people. A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said it was a great victory for democracy in Senegal. The peaceful conduct of the presidential elections proved that Africa continues to register significant progress towards democracy and transparent elections despite its challenges said the AU Commission chairman Jean Ping. The election comes just days after a military coup in neighbouring Mali, and Senegal remains the only country in West Africa to have never undergone a coup. Mr Wade brought in a two-term limit for presidential office, but argued that the limit should not apply to his first term which came in before the constitution was changed. His argument was upheld by the constitutional court in January, prompting widespread protests caused six people to die.
The BBC's Thomas Fessy reports from Dakar that Mr Sall owes his political career to Mr Wade, and had held several ministry portfolios before becoming prime minister. Mr Sall has promised that if he's elected, he will shorten the presidential term to five years from the current seven, and enforce the two-term limit. He has also promised to bring in measures to reduce the price of basic foodstuffs.

The Senegalese people has showned the world that they has well organised government. Leaders around the world should stop oppression and dictatorship and be more caring for their citizens.


4 comments:

  1. Good job, but please note these two things.
    1. Please try and put all your three headings into one post!
    2. Phrase what you understand in your own words. This is important because in debate, you are going to use your own words.

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  2. yup. Put all the three headings in one post. (I've done it for you already.) And er also try to conclude with something more related to the topic, like how the shutdowns or catastrophe affected Japan as a whole, rather than the WWII thing lol. Here's a fashion/art documentary focusing on Japan, (probably not very related anyway.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oplrL0E7Ff8 talking about the art in Japan, before and after the 3/11 incident. It's pretty interesting.

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    Replies
    1. Actually I don't think Xianming can help thinking about what the Japanese did during WWII because it has affected his country (China) a lot. It's also a relevant topic for debate as China and Japan's shared history affects their relations with each other. The Chinese and Japanese people struggle with this aspect of their history as you can tell with the textbook scandals. For next Monday, Xianming could possibly do some research on China-Japan relations throughout history and how this has affected them today. I think it would be beneficial for the entire team to know about this. However, I would like this summary of history to be done using facts, and then after that I would open this up as a 'forum' for the rest of the team.

      And as usual, no personal insults, no writing things like "OMG these people are trolls." The idea is to comment constructively on ideas, not make silly remarks about them.

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    2. I also forgot to add this:

      The closing of the Fukushima plant relates to a larger issue - nuclear energy. No country is allowed to use nuclear energy to make weapons - see the NPT (Nuclear Proliferation Treaty) - but only for peaceful means. The fact that the Japanese cannot control their plants after the earthquake bring this question to light - Can Man handle nuclear energy since it's dangerous? Should we use nuclear energy if it's dangerous? And also, how do we educate the people about this? etc.

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