לשם שמ’’ם

‫לשם שמיים‬ Community Discourse on International Relations

Every dispute that is for the sake of heaven will be constructive.

Pirkei Avot 5:20

In This Issue

AUTHORITARIANISM AND DEMOCRACY LeShem Shamayim is a periodic opinion journal featuring the writing of Barrack students, alumni, and faculty. Our goal is to provide interested individuals with a diverse forum in which to express their views, while fostering greater understanding in the community of the critical issues that face us as Americans, as Jews, and as supporters of Israel.

Spring 2022

‫בית ספר ברק‬ JACK M. BARRACK HEBREW ACADEMY

Russian troops parade along Red Square to commemorate the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany.

Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images, via Politico Europe

Authoritarianism and Democracy Amina Levites-Cohen, Editor-in-Chief Niva Cohen, Executive Editor Rebecca Miller, Executive Editor Benjamin Zelnick, Executive Editor & Layout Editor Lilach Taichman, Faculty Advisor

For the victims of authoritarianism and tyranny everywhere

Spare Me the sound of your hymns, And let Me not hear the music of your lutes.

But let justice well up like water, Righteousness like an unfailing stream.

Amos 5:23–5:24

The editors of ‫ לשם שמיים‬would like to thank Mrs. Lilach Taichman for her tireless work to bring this publication to fruition.

In This Issue

Women’s Protests in Afghanistan: When Theocratic Powers Quell Democratic Protests...............6 Amina Levites-Cohen, ’22 When Greed Outweighs Good...............................................................................................................7 Niva Cohen, ’23 The Chinese MeToo Movement.............................................................................................................9 Rebecca Miller, ’23 Every 10 Hours: China’s Systematic Infringement upon American Intellectual Property...........11 Benjamin Zelnick, ’23 International Views on Vaccine Mandates..........................................................................................13 Mikaela Garber, ’24 Juan Guaidó… Good or Bad? You Decide.........................................................................................15 Chloe Hockfield, ’24 France: A Case Study of the Global Rise of the Alt-Right................................................................17 Andrew Jacoby, ’24 Can Similar Interests Outweigh Differences?....................................................................................19 Zoe Kaplan, ’24 and Haley Zabusky ’24 Nicaraguan Corruption........................................................................................................................21 Stacey Lipson, ’24 World Needs Consistent US Leadership.............................................................................................22 Rachel Loeb, ’24

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

Women’s Protests in Afghanistan: When Theocratic Powers Quell Democratic Protests

Page 6

restrictions with peaceful protests, only to be subdued and threatened by the Taliban. One organizer of such protests is Khujasta Elham. Every month, Elham is forced to sign into her office to prove that she is going into work. However, Elham has not worked since the Taliban took over in August, nor has she been paid. She signs into her office once a month Amina Levites-Cohen, ’22 During August of 2021, the Taliban, to cooperate with the Taliban’s attempt to prove that they an Islamic fundamentalist group, have allowed women to remain in government, when in fact, toppled Afghanistan’s government.1 they have fired all women in government agencies. Angered The government, which had been by the seemingly dismal future she and other Afghan women backed by the United Nations, was face, Elham has taken to the streets to participate in peaceful put into place after the September protests. In addition to beatings. Taliban officials have 11 terrorist attacks prompted war sprayed chemicals at protesters. As an organizer of these between the United States and protests, Elham says she has received threatening phone warning her of prison and unstated Afghanistan. At its conception, the calls from the Taliban 8 “consequences.”

Elham’s story signifies the Taliban’s government based itself on a constitution violent attempt to curb dissent and freedom of expression. that required elections and boasted protections for women’s The Taliban has worked methodically to decommission 2 and other minorities’ rights. The Taliban’s swift takeover of any resources designed to aid women and expand women’s major Afghan cities, including Afghanistan’s capital Kabul, rights.

Along with the replacement of the Women’s Ministry coincided with the United States’ military departure from the with The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention country. While initially, the Taliban had promised to regard the rights of women “within [their] frameworks of sharia of Vice, the Taliban has rooted out organizations that provide (Islamic law),” the group has imposed new harsh restrictions women with legal counsel or advocate for women’s rights. that target women.3 For example, under Taliban rule, women Many women’s rights activists have fled Afghanistan for fear are required to wear a burqa outside. Women must also have of persecution. Female police officers were also victims of a mahram, or male chaperone, escort them when they travel. the Taliban’s erasure of women from government agencies. one The Taliban has also cracked down on women’s education, The Taliban reportedly killed two female police officers, 9 of whom was pregnant, at the start of its takeover.

Zarifa enforcing gender-segregated classrooms and banning women and girls from secondary and higher education.4 Ghafari, one of Afghanistan’s first female mayors says that Because of the Taliban’s restrictions on women, the new the “Taliban are trying to erase women’s presence — erase Afghan government represents a loss of democracy and free them from the walls, from the streets, from schools, from work, from government.” As a target of the Taliban, Ghafari expression in Afghanistan.

New limitations on fundamental women’s rights are bore witness to the threats the Taliban used to take over Afghanistan’s government and curb reminiscent of restrictions imposed on free expression. Despite having fled her women by the Taliban in the 1990s. Female employees at the home for Germany in August of 2021, One glaring similarity is the Taliban’s Women’s Ministry were Ghafari advocates for the strength reestablishment of The Ministry for the locked out of the government of women in the face of the Taliban’s Promotion of Virtue and Prevention attempts to target women’s rights.10 building in September of of Vice. This government agency is Freedom House, an organization often (and aptly) cited as the Taliban’s 2021 after weeks of being that aims to rank nations based on how 5 “morality police.” The Ministry is the turned away from work by democratic they are gives the Talibanprimary enforcer of Islamic law and is new government officials. controlled Afghanistan a 27/100 on famous for holding public floggings to its democracy score.

The organization make examples of rule-breakers. To add cites political coercion and the marginalization of women insult to injury, The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue as reasons for this scoring.

For example, the amount of and Prevention of Vice has replaced the Women’s Ministry. registered women voters in Afghanistan dropped from 41 While women’s rights in Afghanistan were by no means up to western standards before the Taliban resurfaced in 2021, percent in 2010 to 34 percent in 2018. Since these statistics the Women’s Ministry was an acknowledgement of the need were reported, Freedom House says that “women’s political for improvement of women’s rights.6 Female employees at participation has been constrained by threats, harassment, the Women’s Ministry were locked out of the government and social restrictions.” Also, the criminal justice system fails building in September of 2021 after weeks of being turned women; women are jailed for straying from their families’ away from work by new government officials. The slew of wishes relating to marriage and while 51 percent of women firings of female government employees at the beginning have experienced domestic violence, only a fraction of the 11 of the Taliban’s takeover indicated the sweeping limitations perpetrators of such crimes are brought before a court.

The data from Freedom House show that the Taliban not that would soon follow.7 Women in Afghanistan have met the Taliban’s harsh new only ignores violations of women’s rights, but is complicit

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

in attacks on women’s autonomy, expression, and physical safety.

The Taliban is responsible for human rights violations against women, signifying a loss of democracy and freedom in Afghanistan. The Taliban works to dismantle modes of dissent and free expression, especially when dissent comes from women. Dissent is often seen as the hallmark of a free society, so the Taliban’s violent efforts to whittle away voices of opposition is a breach of freedom and civil liberties.

1 “What Is the Taliban?” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/taliban-afghanistan.

2 “A Historical Timeline of Afghanistan,” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 4 May 2011, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/asia-jan-june11-timeline-afghanistan.

3 “What Is the Taliban?” Council on Foreign Relations.

Heather Barr, “For Afghan Women, the Frightening Return of ‘Vice and Virtue’,” Human Rights Watch, 4 Oct. 2021, https:// www.hrw.org/news/2021/09/29/afghan-women-frightening-return-vice-and-virtue.

4 “Afghanistan: Taliban Deprive Women of Livelihoods, Identity.” Human Rights Watch, 18 Jan. 2022, https://www.hrw. org/news/2022/01/18/afghanistan-taliban-deprive-women-livelihoods-identity#.

5 “What Is the Taliban?”

6 Heather Barr.

7 Alasdair Pal, “Taliban Replaces Women’s Ministry with Ministry of Virtue and Vice,” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 17 Sept.

2021, https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taliban-replaces-womens-ministry-with-ministry-virtue-vice-2021-09-17/.

8 David Zucchino and Yaqoob Akbary, “Threatened and Beaten, Afghan Women Defy Taliban with Protests,” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 Jan. 2022, https://www.nytimes. com/2022/01/24/world/asia/afghan-women-taliban-protests.html.

9 “Afghanistan: Taliban Deprive Women of Livelihoods, Identity.”

10 Anna P. Kambhampaty, “#Donottouchmyclothes: Afghan Women Protest Taliban Restrictions on Rights,” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Sept. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/29/style/donottouchmyclothes-afghan-women-protest-taliban.html.

11 “Afghanistan: Freedom in the World 2021 Country Report,” Freedom House, https://freedomhouse.org/country/afghanistan/ freedom-world/2021.

Page 7

When Greed Outweighs Good Niva Cohen, ’23

Globalism has brought a plethora of new opportunities for economic success and cooperation, but there’s a catch to an increasingly connected world: mutual responsibility.

Democracies that pick and choose the nature of their relationships with other countries neglect their values in favor of their self-interests.

To engage in the global community economically but not socially, to ignore human rights violations because they are inconvenient, is selfish, irresponsible, and hypocritical. Technology has emerged at the center of conversations about global markets because it is always evolving and universally useful. Highfunctioning artificial intelligence, facial identification, and surveillance equipment are among the fastest developing.

Policymakers, governments, and human rights activists debate how to use these technologies effectively. In placing financial success and security above liberty and human rights, the Israeli spyware program Pegasus has failed to strike a crucial balance: reaping the benefits of such powerful software without letting it exploit democratic values.

NSO Group, an Israeli company comprised of former cyberspies, designed Pegasus to insidiously infect mobile devices, leaving very little trace. Their software is almost impossible to defend against, as it can infiltrate phones without the users having to click on a mysterious-looking link.1 In 2019, Pegasus infected 1400 phones through WhatsApp simply by placing a call, even if the target did not answer it.2 Once “inside” the device, Pegasus can steal photos, videos, GPS information, communications, and passwords; it can even spy on the target by operating the phone’s camera and microphone. NSO sells this spyware technology to foreign governments – Mexico, India, and Hungary, for example – so that they can track terrorists, granting Pegasus software licenses that the Israeli Defense Ministry must also approve.

The Ministry claims that it “approves the export of cyber products exclusively… for the purpose of preventing and investigating crime and counterterrorism.”3 As robust as Pegasus’s infection mechanisms are now, the software is always improving, finding newer and stealthier ways into phones through all apps.

Despite NSO’s purported goals, its technology has enabled authoritarian countries to surveil threats. Concerns about Pegasus spiked when investigators found an infection on Jamal Khashoggi’s wife’s phone. Saudi Arabian journalist Khashoggi was assassinated in Istanbul for his unfavorable reporting of his native government. The Pegasus Project reasons that the government could have tracked Khashoggi’s movement and mentality by listening to Pegasus-recorded phone calls between him and his wife. To evaluate the extent of spyware misuse, a group of journalists established the Pegasus Project. They compiled a list of 50,000 numbers in more than 50 authoritarian countries being tracked through

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

Page 8

the software. 15,000 – a plurality – are in Mexico, while As much blame as Pegasus deserves, it is only a symptom others are in Middle Eastern countries (United Arab Emirates, of a far-reaching problem. At least 65 countries sell spyware, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain) and Asia (India, Pakistan, and the most successful companies have centers in democratic Kazakhstan). The Pegasus Project has identified 1,000 of nations.10 What follows is the inevitable clash between those 50,000; among them are businesspeople, human rights financial and moral optimization. Arguably, there are cases activists, politicians, and journalists – people essential to in which the U.S. and its allies must engage with human checking and exposing authoritarianism.4 Indeed, those who rights abusers – like China – but it is questionable whether play these roles in unstable countries pose no terrorist threat selling spyware is one of them. As if being a bystander were to civilians. The only people that they not bad enough, democracies enable threaten are the powerful and corrupt human rights abuse abroad by giving Although NSO created perpetuating the flaws in their societies. governments the tools to perpetuate Although NSO created Pegasus to Pegasus to protect it. People blame China for selling protect democracies against terrorism, democracies against technologies to malicious authoritarians, it has endangered them and those terrorism, it has endangered but they are likely throwing stones who fight for them. Reporters cannot them and those who fight for from glass houses. It is time to look in investigate corruption, human rights the mirror and realize that some of the them. organizations cannot provide covert biggest threats to democratic ideals aid, and politicians cannot mobilize come from democracies themselves. the “good guys” to oust dictatorial powers without risking There is a path that NSO can take if they wish to be more their lives: Pegasus is simply too powerful and widespread responsible. NSO officials are right to point to Pegasus’s to take privacy for granted. Timothy Summers, a former benefits. It has helped countries prevent terrorist attacks cybersecurity engineer for the American government, notes and catch human traffickers. No one is suggesting that NSO that “there’s not anything wrong with building technologies stop selling spyware altogether – there is a place for it in that allow you to collect data… But humanity is not in a well-meaning, principled societies. But the company must place where we can have that much power just accessible halt sales temporarily until there are more comprehensive to anybody.”5 NSO is selling its product to countries that bylaws that ensure human rights protection.11 It must take do not have the mechanisms to use it responsibly, even if responsibility for how its software is used. It must require they wanted to do so. Guillermo Valdes Castellano of the transparency among its clients, subpoena anyone suspected Mexican intelligence agency CISEN agrees that “Pegasus is of human rights abuse, and revoke licenses when necessary. very useful for fighting organized crime, but the total lack of The democratic hosts overseeing spyware sales also have a checks and balances [in Mexico] means it easily ends up in part to play. They must create committees to consider licenses private hands and is used for political and personal gain.”6 more seriously and investigate how customers might misuse As a result, Pegasus has infected the phones of multiple technology.12 Though they benefit financially from sales, it is Mexican journalists who have exposed corruption and their responsibility to put human rights first. cartels. Even when government surveillance does not result NSO has endangered challengers to authoritarianism, in deaths or imprisonment, fear of it is enough to dissuade and some of that damage is irreparable. There is still time, whistleblowers and activists from taking risks. NSO clients though, for the company to change its tune and make more have weaponized Pegasus to suppress pro-human rights and responsible choices. If it refuses to do so of its own volition, pro-democracy opposition.

Israel should demand it. Yes, democracies value free markets NSO has turned a blind eye to this weaponization, and innovation, but sometimes, other values take precedence. despite claims to the contrary. The company denied the Yes, catching terrorists is essential to security, but privacy is Pegasus Project’s findings and deflected responsibility for necessary to democracy and freedom. The global community any misuse that had occurred, saying that it has no control must learn to strike these balances now, because Pegasus only over or insight into how its clients use Pegasus once they marks the beginning. Other high-functioning technologies have purchased it.7 But if NSO lacks access to this user will emerge, and without regulations, they will surely land information, it is by design, a feature of NSO’s policy that in the hands of authoritarians determined to exploit them. values customers’ security over activists’.8 While claiming If democracies really care about their founding ideals, they helplessness, the company also insists that it has done its will step in now, before it is too late. part to punish those abusing Pegasus. Chief executive Shalev Hulio cited two instances during the past year when NSO 1 Souad Mekhennet, Dana Priest, and Craig Timberg, “Private ended relations with clients due to human rights concerns but Israeli Spyware Used to Hack Cellphones of Journalists, Activists refused to disclose what countries or causes were involved.9 Worldwide,” The Washington Post, WP Company, July 19, 2021, Even if the company did terminate these relationships, they https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/ are mere drops in the bucket of surveillance. By ignoring nso-spyware-pegasus-cellphones/?itid=lk_inline_manual_3.

2 Sam Cutler and David Pegg, “What Is Pegasus Spyware and clients’ censorship and continuing to sell spyware to them, How does it Hack Phoones?,” The Guardian, Guardian News and NSO is selfishly contradicting the democratic causes it Media, July 18, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/ jul/18/what-is-pegasus-spyware-and-how-does-it-hack-phones. professes to promote.

3 Mekhennet, Priest, and Timberg.

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid.

8 Washington Post Staff, “Takeaways from the Pegasus Project,” The Washington Post, WP Company, February 2, 2022, https:// www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/07/18/takeaways-nso-pegasus-project/.

9 Mekhennet, Priest, and Timberg.

10 Steven Feldstein, “Governments Are Using Spyware on Citizens. Can They be Stopped?,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, July 21, 2021, https://carnegieendowment. org/2021/07/21/governments-are-using-spyware-on-citizens.-canthey-be-stopped-pub-85019.

11 Feldstein.

12 Ibid.

Page 9

The Chinese MeToo Movement Rebecca Miller, ’23

China is known for censorship and repression. Though this might partially be because of Western propaganda, it is true that the Chinese government keeps a tight grasp on the spread of information and ideas in its public. Yet somehow, a revolutionary campaign has ignited in China. The MeToo movement has gained traction and publicity. Workplace gender discrimination is a huge issue everywhere, and the American MeToo movement sparked a hardly-seen-before global discussion of sexual harassment. Though the Chinese MeToo movement was inspired by America’s, it is more impressive because of its battle to improve conditions for all women and its persistence in the face of government opposition.

American celebrities kickstarted the #MeToo movement, triggering a conversation that swept the world, including China. In October of 2017, actress Alyssa Milano posted the tweet heard round the world. Many other celebrities responded to her tweet with the now-iconic “Me too.” The American MeToo movement was powered by celebrities, focused on exposing and disempowering powerful men.

Men like Harvey Weinstein, who for years were untouchable, finally faced consequences for their actions, spreading hope for victims of sexual harassment and panic among the good old boys. These public takedowns, with famous personalities on either side of the equation, were huge news stories. The American MeToo movement gained so much fame and attention that it began similar phenomena in other countries. A worldwide discussion about sexual harassment began. China was one of the slower countries to respond, but inevitably the global revolution took hold there. “I think those [American] actors were so brave,” said Zheng Xi, who led a public campaign against sexual harassment.1 Because of Chinese policy and censorship, the Chinese MeToo movement fielded support from like-minded activists in other countries that have freer speech.2 The American and international campaigns were what led to the creation of the Chinese MeToo movement.

The Chinese MeToo movement is less celebrity-driven and more policy-focussed than its American progenitor, making material differences in the legal rights of all women in China. The Chinese movement is fuelled by a faceless mass of women rather than celebrities. Its central focus is the experience of all women in China rather than telling individual stories. The campaign is all about actual policy change and legal recourse for victims of sexual harassment.

One of its greatest early triumphs was the civil code defining sexual harassment for the first time. In 2018 a grassroots movement began when student Luo Xixi, assisted by journalist Huang Xueqin, accused her Beihang University professor of sexual assault. The university fired the professor after an investigation on the grounds that he violated professional ethics3. Inspired, many other women began to speak out online, particularly about sexual assault on college campuses. The conversation spread to how all women were treated in the workplace, and a widespread public discussion

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

of gender discrimination in China, including many social media threads.4 A study showed that eighty percent of women in China experienced some form of sexual harassment. Huang Xueqin, one of the leading figures in the Chinese MeToo movement, herself was sexually assualted in 2012 and guilt at her own silence drove her to stand up for other women.5 Countless women such as Liu Jingyaou, a student at the Unversity of Minnesota who sued billionaire Liu Qiangdong for sexual assault, battled in court. One of the most high profile cases involved Zhou Xiaoxuan, a screenwriter who took legal action against famed state media anchor Zhu Jun. Both held their ground and refused to sign NDAs or settle for money. Liu Li accused her social worker boss of sexual harassment, and faced severe slander and slut-shaming from people who had never even met her. Nevertheless, in June 2019, a court ruled in her favor and forced her boss to issue a public apology.6 Thus, the movement gradually gained momentum and consequences for sexual harassment slowly became more normalized, and the experience of women in China improved bit by bit.

The Chinese MeToo movement is all the more inspiring for the severe censorship and backlash it has faced from the government. The Chinese government does not allow collective actions, leaving the activists unable to gather and protest. The movement spread through social media, stymying government censorship. MeToo related search phrases were banned, so people coded hashtags in emojis and other clever workarounds. The phrase “Mi Tu” which literally means “rice bunny” was widely used to refer to “Me Too” and cleverly eluded censors.7 Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, suspended the accounts of many MeToo activists and organizations. Influencers attempted to impugn the movement with baseless allegations of being anti-Chinese foreign interference. Zhou Xiaoxuan, who initially received support for coming forward about Zhu Jun’s predatory actions, was sent horrible private messages on Weibo telling her to “Get out of China” and calling her “toilet paper [that] foreigners use and then throw away.”8 It was so bad that she had to shut down her public accounts.

The harassment was not limited to the online sphere- she was also booed and followed in public.9 The Chinese government goes as far as to arrest activists. In 2015, five feminist activists were detained for conspiring to pass out stickers about sexual harassment on public tranportation.10 Huang Xueqin was detained for nine months in 2019 with no explanation.11 Then in September of 2021, Huang and another MeToo supporter, Wang Jiangbing, were arrested and charged with subversion of state power. Neither have yet reappeared. Peng Shuai, a tennis star who accused a Chinese government official of sexual assault, was disappeared in November 2019 and gained international attention. When she finally suddenly returned, she mysteriously took back all of her previous allegations.12 But despite this systematic suppression, the feminist movement in China has persisted and gained steam. “This is not so simple that you find a few female bloggers and shut down their accounts,” said Zhou Xiaoxuan, explaining that “becoming a feminist comes from

Page 10

discovering what kind of problems you face. And once you become a feminist, then it’s very hard to give it up. And #MeToo’s very important meaning is that it has inspired a broad feminist community.”13 China’s MeToo movement is beyond inspiring, a shining example of bravery and perseverance in the face of oppression. Considering this, the Chinese MeToo movement is pretty underrated. The American MeToo movement is so prominent in the global conversation, as it should be, but the Chinese MeToo movement deserves just as much attention. It uplifts all women in the country rather than just focusing on celebrities. It makes sense that legal battles are not as exciting stories as Hollywood exposés, but what these women have accomplished is amazing. Women all across the country working in concert, contributing to this amazing effort, are dragging their country toward progress, in spite of great obstacles and impediments.

1 Tom Phillips, “China’s Women Break Silence on Harassment as #MeToo Becomes #WoYeShi,” The Guardian, January 8, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jan/09/china-women-break-silence-harassment-metoo-woyeshi 2 Yaqiu Wang, “#MeToo in the Land of Censorship,” The Washington Post, May 8, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ opinions/2020/05/08/metoo-around-the-world/#Wang 3 Huizhong Wu, “China’s crackdown on #MeToo movement extends far beyond tennis star Peng Shuai,” PBS News Hour, November 24, 2021, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/chinacrackdown-on-metoo-movement-extends-far-beyond-tennis-starpeng-shuai 4 Huizhong Wu 5 Phillips 6 Lily Kuo, “‘It is not hopeless’: China’s #MeToo movement finally sees legal victories,” The Guardian, November 3, 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/nov/04/it-is-not-hopeless-chinas-metoo-movement-finally-sees-legal-victories 7 Lily Kuo 8 Huizhong Wu 9 Huizhong Wu 10 Tom Phillips 11 Yaqiu Wang 12 Huizhong Wu 13 Huizhong Wu

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

Every 10 Hours: China’s Systematic Infringement upon American Intellectual Property

Page 11

warned, are more likely to steal information from companies that tout their studies. In the digital age, China’s rapidly expanding technical prowess—particularly in the area of computer hacking—renders it a serious threat to American corporations.

In addition to its cyber espionage campaigns, China Benjamin Zelnick, ’23 uses the age-old tactic of on-the-ground spies to accomplish On February 27, 2020, United States its goals.

For instance, in 2020, the American government Green Card holder and Chinese discovered that Yanqing Ye, a Chinese woman with a student citizen Hongjin Tan received a twovisa to study in Boston University’s high-profile physics, year prison sentence in the U.S. chemistry, and biomedical engineering programs, was after conspiring to transfer billionactually a lieutenant in the PLA who was illegally sharing dollar trade secrets to a Chinese 1 information with authorities at home.7 Even if a Chinese company. One month earlier, an ex-employee at the Los Alamos citizen is not working for the government like Ye, China’s National Laboratory—a high- 2017 “National Intelligence Law” requires them to 8“support, security government facility known assist, and cooperate with state intelligence work.” William for its role in the top-secret Manhattan Project— Schneider, Jr., former chair of the Defense Science Board, confessed to having worked for the Chinese government.2 warned that under this law, the country’s authoritarian Earlier this year, Chinese technology company Hytera regime could compel the 350,000 Chinese students in Communications was indicted for bribing employees at America’s academic institutions to abscond with classified Motorola to steal and share confidential research.3 These information stolen from research projects. China’s farinstances are only three in the multitude reported on the FBI reaching intelligence operations have proven to be highly website, all relating to China’s theft of American intellectual effective means of stealing American IP. Perhaps the most subversive strategy that the Chinese property. The Department of Justice (DOJ), in fact, claims government uses to exploit U.S. intelligence is what the that four out of every five economic espionage cases are tied Communist Party terms “talent plans”—programs that to China, and in February of 2020, FBI Director Christopher recruit and lavishly compensate American researchers and Wray announced that the bureau was managing around one academics for sharing their expertise. For example, the Senate thousand open investigations into the country’s “attempted Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs theft of US-based technology … spanning just about 4 reported that the “Thousand Talents Plan” was launched in every industry sector.” As the Chinese Communist Party 2008 to encourage experts to “transmit the knowledge and pirates American intellectual property (IP) by strategically research they gain here [in the U.S.] to China in exchange for infiltrating organizations and government agencies, the salaries, research funding, lab space, and other incentives.”9 United States must educate the public and proactively develop plans to deter and remediate these transgressions by According to the FBI, although many countries run talent plans, China continues to invest in them more heavily than an authoritarian foreign power.

10 One of China’s most dangerous strategies for stealing any other nation. In 2019, for instance, the Chinese Ministry to paying American ideas is its widespread use of hacking operations. of Science and Technology allocated $44 million 11 participants in these recruitment operations.

In a recent The 2017 Equifax breach, perpetrated by members of the case, the DOJ discovered that Harvard University professor Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), not only exposed a trove of confidential data but also allowed China to glean Charles Lieber, who had received over $15 million of U.S. information on the credit agency’s infrastructure design. federal research grants, had failed to disclose his position as Then-Attorney General William Barr characterized the “Strategic Scientist” at the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) under the Thousand Talents Plan. incident as part of a larger “pattern of The DOJ’s press release stated that WUT state-sponsored computer intrusions WUT was transparently paid him $600,000 per year, allocated and thefts by China,” warning that attempting to funnel Lieber’s $158,000 for his living expenses, and Chinese hackers sought not only data on knowledge away from granted $1.5 million for him to lead a American citizens but also “trade secrets 5 new research laboratory in China. The America and toward its own and other confidential information.” true motive behind this arrangement was The American government also reports students. evident from one line of the contract: that cybercriminals routinely attack Lieber was obligated to “cultivat[e] healthcare and research facilities and young teachers and Ph.D. students” in Wuhan.12 WUT was search for information that could benefit their country. Tonya Ugoretz, a high-ranking official at the FBI’s Cyber Division, transparently attempting to funnel Lieber’s knowledge away commented that when medical research corporations from America and toward its own students. His contractual publicized their activities during the coronavirus pandemic, requirement to report findings to his foreign benefactor was they became “a mark for other nation-states that are interested by no means atypical: the FBI confirms that a caveat in the in … what exactly they’re doing.”6 Foreign countries, she majority of Chinese talent programs is an obligation to “[s]

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

hare new technology developments or breakthroughs only with China.”13 This condition allows China to make itself the sole beneficiary of valuable American knowledge.

The coordinated effort to siphon American ideas to China’s advantage has had a detrimental effect on America’s corporate and economic progress. In 2018, the United States Trade Representative reiterated earlier findings that the yearly cost of Chinese IP theft might be as much as $600 billion, which is more than the impact of every other nation combined.14 In a 2019 survey of CNBC’s Global CFO Council (whose current membership includes the CFOs of Verizon, Paypal, Target, and even the NASDAQ itself), one in five corporations reported that China had stolen proprietary information from them within the year.15 In a July 2020 speech, Christopher Wray bluntly concluded that “the greatest long-term threat to our nation’s information and IP, and to our economic vitality, is the counterintelligence and economic espionage threat from China.”16 The FBI website clarifies that “the adversary is not the Chinese people or people of Chinese descent or heritage,” but it affirms that “an authoritarian government … is seeking to become the world’s greatest superpower through … systematic theft of intellectual property, and brazen cyber intrusions.”17 These warnings must be heeded, as the devastating impact of China’s intellectual theft on American enterprises has soared to harrowing levels in the past two decades.

Despite the seemingly bleak circumstances, several strategies to raise academic, public, and corporate awareness have proven effective in securing American information against China’s attacks. For instance, U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina launched a sweeping awareness and training campaign for high-ranking officials in academic institutions and corporations. The government presented cases of “strategic plans by the Chinese” to steal IP in a confidential meeting with 150 university presidents.18 Other activities assisted companies in creating information security strategies and rehearsing protocols for a breach of proprietary data.19 The FBI is also teaching the workforce to recognize the indicative behaviors of Chinese government employees, including abnormal interest in sensitive company activities and atypical digital access patterns.20 For years, the bureau has used a network of special agents to conduct training exercises and successfully protect sensitive corporate information.21 Non-governmental organizations such as the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) have also recommended new strategies. In an eightynine-page report, the NBR’s IP Commission compiled a list of innovative ideas to discourage China from stealing American intelligence. Among the document’s suggestions were unaffiliated IP evaluation organizations, programs to improve counterfeit detection, stricter evaluation of IP diplomatic attachés, and retaliatory sanctions for violations by the Federal Trade Commission. These proposals, the report holds, would fortify the U.S. government’s stance on IP theft, provide enhanced measures to protect American innovation, and pressure China to punish offenders.22 The

Page 12

United States must continually improve upon its existing strategies and develop new methods to counter the evolving threat from China.

In 2020, the FBI told the press that it was launching a new investigation into Chinese spying “every 10 hours”23— clear evidence that Americans must be vigilant and proactive in safeguarding their IP against piracy. The victims of this theft have extended from academic institutions and sprawling corporations to the U.S. government itself: only a few months after the FBI statement, a government article admitted that ninety-three percent of the scientists under investigation at the National Institutes of Health were tied to China.24 In its educational film, Made in Beijing: The Plan for Global Market Domination, the FBI warned that if Americans fail to recognize this threat, the “efforts by the government of China to undermine … American industry, and … ingenuity” will succeed.25 What is truly terrifying, ultimately, is that China will claim a more sinister victory: the triumph of an authoritarian state over American democracy and economic liberty.

1 “Chinese National Sentenced for Stealing Trade Secrets Worth $1 Billion,” Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice, February 27, 2020, accessed April 22, 2022, https://www.justice.gov/ opa/pr/chinese-national-sentenced-stealing-trade-secrets-worth1-billion.

2 “Former Scientist from Los Alamos National Laboratory Pleads Guilty in Federal Court to Making False Statement about Involvement with Chinese Government Technology Program,” U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico, Department of Justice, January 24, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https:// www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/former-scientist-los-alamos-national-laboratory-pleads-guilty-federal-court-making-false.

3 “Federal Indictment Charges Telecommunications Company with Conspiring with Former Motorola Solutions Employees to Steal Technology,” U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, Department of Justice, February 7, 2022, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/ federal-indictment-charges-telecommunications-company-conspiring-former-motorola 4 David H. Laufman, Joseph M. Casino, and Michael J. Kasdan, “The Department of Justice’s National Security Division Chief Addresses China’s Campaign to Steal U.S. Intellectual Property,” National Law Review, last modified August 24, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.natlawreview.com/article/ department-justice-s-national-security-division-chief-addresses-china-s-campaign-to; quoted in Reuters, “China Theft of Technology Is Biggest Law Enforcement Threat to US, FBI Says,” The Guardian, last modified February 6, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/06/ china-technology-theft-fbi-biggest-threat.

5 Megan Gates, “How to Confront Intellectual Property Theft

by Employees,” Society for Human Resource Management, last modified July 12, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www. shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/risk-management/pages/ how-to-confront-intellectual-property-theft-by-employees.aspx.

6 Gates.

7 “How the Chinese Communist Party Steals Science,” U.S. Embassy in Georgia, last modified August 19, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https://ge.usembassy.gov/how-the-chinese-communistparty-steals-science/.

8 Murray Scot Tanner, “Beijing’s New National Intelligence Law: From Defense to Offense,” Lawfare (blog), entry posted July 20, 2017, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.lawfareblog.

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

com/beijings-new-national-intelligence-law-defense-offense.

9 “Threats to the U.S. Research Enterprise: China’s Talent Recruitment Plans,” Senate Report (Nov. 18, 2019), 1, accessed April 21, 2022. https://www.hsgac.senate.gov/imo/media/ doc/2019-11-18%20PSI%20Staff%20Report%20-%20China’s%20Talent%20Recruitment%20Plans%20Updated2.pdf.

10 Chinese Talent Plans,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/the-china-threat/chinese-talent-plans.

11 Ryan Fedasiuk, “If You Want to Keep Talent out of China, Invest at Home,” Foreign Policy, last modified September 17, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/09/17/ china-thousand-talents-plan-invest-us-xenophobia/.

12 “Harvard University Professor and Two Chinese Nationals Charged in Three Separate China Related Cases,” Office of Public Affairs, Department of Justice, January 28, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/harvard-university-professor-and-two-chinese-nationals-charged-three-separate-china-related.

13 “Chinese Talent Plans.”

14 Sherisse Pham, “How Much Has the US Lost from China’s IP Theft?,” CNN Money, last modified March 23, 2018, accessed April 21, 2022, https://money.cnn.com/2018/03/23/technology/ china-us-trump-tariffs-ip-theft/index.html.

15 Eric Rosenbaum, “1 in 5 Corporations Say China Has Stolen Their IP within the Last Year: CNBC CFO Survey,” CNBC, last modified March 1, 2019, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www. cnbc.com/2019/02/28/1-in-5-companies-say-china-stole-their-ipwithin-the-last-year-cnbc.html.

16 Christopher Wray, “The Threat Posed by the Chinese Government and the Chinese Communist Party to the Economic and National Security of the United States,” speech presented at Hudson Institute Video Event: China’s Attempt to Influence U.S. Institutions, Washington, D.C., July 7, 2020, Federal Bureau of Investigation, last modified July 7, 2020, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.fbi.gov/news/speeches/the-threat-posed-by-the-chinese-government-and-the-chinese-communist-party-to-the-economic-and-national-security-of-the-united-states.

17 “The China Threat,” Federal Bureau of Investigation, accessed May 1, 2022, https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/counterintelligence/the-china-threat.

18 Gates.

19 Gates.

20 Laufman, Casino, and Kasdan.

21 “Combating Economic Espionage and Trade Secret Theft”: Hearings Before the Subcomm. on Crime and Terrorism of the S. Judiciary Comm., 113th Cong., 2d Sess. (2014) (statement of Randall C. Coleman, Assistant Director, Counterintelligence Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation). Accessed April 23, 2022. https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/combating-economic-espionage-and-trade-secret-theft.

22 The Report of the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, 77–78, May 22, 2013, accessed April 21, 2022, https://www.nbr.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/publications/ IP_Commission_Report.pdf.

23 Wray.

24 “Communist Party Steals Science.”

25 Made in Beijing: The Plan for Global Market Domination, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2022, accessed April 22, 2022, https://www.fbi.gov/video-repository/made-in-beijing-030722. mp4/view.

Page 13

International Views on Vaccine Mandates Mikaela Garber, ’24

Since COVID-19 first made headlines in late 2019, it has spread across the entire world and wreaked global havoc. Two years and multiple variants later, the pandemic still seems to be as prevalent as ever.

With the emergence of a safe and effective vaccine in December of 2020, many people hoped that the pandemic would soon end. However, much of the eligible population still has not gotten the shots. Whether it is due to safety, religious, economic, or political concerns, only 76% of the US,1 and a mere 64% of the world, has received at least one dose of the COVID vaccine.2 Regardless of the rationale of the unvaccinated, many believe that COVID will prevail until the world reaches herd immunity, something that is predicted to happen when approximately 70-85% of people are fully vaccinated.3 Fully vaccinated means that a person has gotten all the recommended doses. Nevertheless, creating a vaccine mandate has sparked many arguments about human rights, free will, and whether or not a government should have the power to force people to get vaccinated. Although there is much debate as to whether vaccine mandates are ethical, research and observation of diverse policies have shown that there is no end to the pandemic until everyone, all over the world, is vaccinated, whether that be through a mandate or a more moderate approach.

Due to the fact that there is no global guidance on vaccine mandates and the increase of cases because of new variants, countries around the world have created vastly different policies. Guidelines range from mandatory vaccination for all adults – like in Australia and Ecuador – to only for public health workers to only for kids.4 Those in Australia and Indonesia who refuse vaccination face fines and the threat of losing governmental or social services.5 Other countries, such as Canada, France, and the United States, have opted for less radical policies by only mandating that government employees get vaccinated.6 Still others, including Britain and New Zealand, have decided to only mandate shots for those most vulnerable: the elderly, health care workers, or both.

Finally, a slightly different mandate has been put in places such as Britain and Czech Republic. They do not explicitly require vaccination but instead limit people’s entry to public places if they have not received their shots.7 These varied policies, along with the countless others around the world, are a product of the lack of international guidance on the matter of vaccine mandates.

It is evident that there is much benefit to vaccine mandates. With each new variant, COVID-19 has the ability to get milder, but it also has an equal chance to become more contagious and deadlier.8 In addition, people who have gained immunity from one variant after getting sick

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

may not be protected against another, making infection possible.9 That is why the pandemic cannot be stopped by waiting it out; COVID just keeps on mutating. According to Jeffrey Lazarus, a global health researcher, variants emerge when there is a lot of transmission due to a large number of unprotected people. If people refuse to get vaccinated on their own, the government should force them to do so for everyone’s safety.10 Despite their benefits, many people hold that vaccine mandates are unjust and unethical. They claim that a mandate could obstruct people’s rights, such as their right to freedom of religion and to work, among others.11 In addition, they argue, a vaccine mandate would violate Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, which protects personal liberty.12 Similarly, the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution proclaims that no state can deprive “any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” Therefore, in the United States, for example, the introduction of a vaccine mandate could cause serious mistrust of the government, leading to harsher, long-term consequences such as unrest and riots.13 Furthermore, a mandate only works if the entire world abides by it, which is both practically and politically unlikely. For high-income countries, being able to afford enough vaccines for the entire population is not a problem.

But some developing countries, such as Yemen and Congo, are struggling to vaccinate even a tenth of the population.14 A mandate simply is not realistic until an equitable amount of shots are available everywhere, because not all countries would be able to enforce it otherwise.15 Even if every country could put a mandate into place, the world currently lacks the cooperation needed to adhere to the cohesive policies necessary for achieving herd immunity. Essentially, the US cannot force France to enact a vaccine mandate, nor can France demand such a policy in the US. Therefore, creating an American mandate might be useless in isolation.

In light of both sides of the argument, perhaps a more moderate approach is the best option. Research shows that one of the best ways to convince people to get vaccinated is to encourage them to talk to a health professional about their concerns. Educating adults, along with children, about the safety and benefits of the vaccine could help to alleviate any hesitations or fears. Another idea is to make vaccines more accessible to people all around the world to make sure that everyone has a convenient way to get vaccinated.

In order to achieve this goal, global health services could send reminders to people who are due to get their next shot16 or combine COVID-19 vaccination with services for other diseases.17 In addition, many stores, such as restaurants and movie theaters, around the world have opted for a less direct approach at mandating vaccination by requiring it at their business, without expressly forcing people to get the shot.18 In this way, those that own companies can strongly encourage vaccination, as it is necessary for a normal life, without demanding it of people.

The introduction of vaccine mandates worldwide has sparked discussion about the morality of enforcing them and the means by which the world can put an end to the pandemic.

Page 14

On the one hand, the more people who get vaccinated, the less likely COVID-19 is to mutate. On the other hand, a mandate could very likely interfere with people’s rights, and its introduction cannot solve the problem without global cooperation. Countries around the world have taken many different approaches, from lenient to strict. Due to these diverse policies, the pandemic has still not gone away and will continue to exist until everyone is vaccinated. There may never be agreement as to the best course of action, but hopefully, the world will unite to find the most beneficial and ethical solution for everyone.

1 “US coronavirus vaccine tracker.” USAFacts. March 14, 2022. https://usafacts.org/visualizations/covid-vaccine-tracker-states.

2 Josh Holder, “Tracking Coronavirus Vaccinations Around the World,” NYTimes, last modified April 11, 2022, https://www. nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker. html 3 Ralph Ellis, “Fauci: Child Vaccinations Needed for Herd Immunity,” WebMD, March 22, 2021, https://www.webmd.com/ vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20210322/fauci-says-child-vaccinations-needed-for-herd-immunity#:~:text=Fauci%2C%20 director%20of%20the,to%20reach%20herd%20immunity 4 “Factbox: Countries making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory,” Reuters, December 31, 2021, https://www.reuters.com/business/ healthcare-pharmaceuticals/countries-making-covid-19-vaccines-mandatory-2021-08-16/.

5 “Factbox: Countries making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory” 6 “Factbox: Countries making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory” 7 “Factbox: Countries making COVID-19 vaccines mandatory” 8 Holly Ellyatt, “New Covid variants are a danger until the whole world is vaccinated,” CNBC, January 6, 2022, https:// www.cnbc.com/2022/01/06/new-covid-variants-are-a-danger-until-the-whole-world-is-vaccinated.html.

9 “Antibodies and COVID-19,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, November 10, 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/about-covid-19/antibodies.html#:~:text=It%20is%20important%20to%20remember,infection%20 (reinfected).

10 Smriti Mallapaty, “Researchers fear growing COVID vaccine hesitancy in developing nations,” Nature, December 23, 2021, https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03830-7.

11 Jennifer Bray, “Vaccine mandate could lead to mistrust of government - report,” Irish Times, March 1, 2022, https://www. irishtimes.com/news/politics/vaccine-mandate-could-lead-to-mistrust-of-government-report-1.4815510.

12 Sohini Chowdhury, “Vaccines Can’t Be Mandated Without Evidence That Unvaccinated Persons Pose Health Risk : Prashant Bhushan Argues In Supreme Court,” Live Law, March 2, 2022, https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/supreme-court-vaccine-mandate-constitutionality-adv-prashant-bhushan-193214.

13 Bray 14 Holder 15 Indermit Gill and Michele Ruta, “Why global vaccine equity is the prescription for a full recovery,” Brookings Institute, February 11, 2022, https://www.brookings.edu/blog/future-development/2022/02/11/why-global-vaccine-equity-is-the-prescriptionfor-a-full-recovery/.

16 Claire Wright, “Should vaccination be mandatory,” Meningitis Research Foundation, July, 2017, https://www.meningitis.org/ blogs/should-vaccination-be-mandatory.

17 Mallapaty 18 Michael Klein and Joseph Hernandez, “These Philadelphia restaurants still require proof of vaccination,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Last updated February 24, 2022, https://www.inquirer. com/philly-tips/philadelphia-restaurants-proof-vaccination.html.

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

Juan Guaidó… Good or Bad? You Decide.

Chloe Hockfield, ’24

The United States of America is famous for engineering modern democracy; however, the U.S. recognizes a dictator as Venezuela’s leader over its elected President. On January 23, 2019, a member of the National Assembly, Juan Guaidó, declared himself acting President, taking control of Venezuela’s government.

For the past three years, Guaidó has been recognized by many countries, the U.S included. While dictatorship is usually the worst way to gain control of a country, in this case, it is okay because of the controversy on the legitimacy of the elected President, the support of other democratic countries, and the positive impact on all Venezuelans.

Being a democracy, America was right to withhold recognition of President Maduro because he took away others’ voices and limited the democratic power in Venezuela. Venezuela’s elected President was put in office in April of 2013. President Maduro won by 1.6% of the votes, and many opposing parties said that the poll was not fair and other candidates were banned from running while some were thrown in jail or forced to flee the country.1 That year, the election poll had the lowest turnout with only 46% of citizens casting their vote.2 A large percentage of the population was upset about Maduro becoming the President and wanted an interim president who would listen to the people’s views instead of silencing them. Not only was he elected in 2012, but Maduro was re-elected into office for another six-year term in May of 2018 in just as equally controversial polls.3 His re-election was not recognized by the opposition-controlled National Assembly - which said that the Presidency was vacant. Later that year, on January 23, 2019, Juan Guaidó declared himself acting president of Venezuela with the support of the National Assembly.4 The National Assembly is a democratically elected group that supports Guaidó, and America is following in their footsteps by supporting Guaidó as interim President. Once again, Maduro proved himself to be a threat to Venezuela’s democracy as he tried to undercut Guaidó’s legitimacy by trying to get Luis Parra elected as the Assembly’s president in January of 2020. Maduro went as far as to have military forces stop opposing parties from participating in the vote.5 Most of the world’s democratic countries, the United States included, said the results were illegitimate and that they had no reason to believe that Maduro would oversee a fair election.6 Now, an elected official has lost control of the country he had unrightfully become the leader of, and Venezuelans should be able to feel safe under the power of President Guaidó.

America’s support in Guaidó gives support to its citizens who know how valued democracy is. While some may say that Guaidó is a dictator taking away the democratic rights to

Page 15

vote for a President, he proves to protect Venezuelans from the unsafe conditions that President Maduro has put them in and restores democratic rights that were taken away.

Not only is the elected President affected, but so are all other democratic countries that are witnessing these events unfold in Venezuela. Donald Trump has previously recognized Juan Guaidó as the President of Venezuela and is showing America’s support in his rise to Presidency, and president Biden has continued to recognize Guaidó. The U.S had started sweeping sanctions on Venezuela but has failed to drive Maduro from office. Instead of weakening Maduro, this attempt provides him with a scapegoat to blame for the condition of Venezuela’s economy.7 Trump’s failed attempt has given the opposite effect by driving Maduro’s regime closer in alignment with Tehran, Moscow, and Beijing, providing him with many more needed allies.8 Other countries being forced to take sides are impacted as their citizens watch the events unfold, and people start talking about if their government made the right decision. More than fifty countries recognized Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela, including the U.S, Canada, and Columbia.9 In contrast, other countries like Russia and China, which are known as historical allies with an economic interest in Venezuela, have stood by President Maduro and his right to lead Venezuela.10 But the difference in support is shown through the fact that less than twenty countries initially recognized President Maduro while Guaidó had over fifty countries who initially supported him.11 Before taking office in January 2021, U.S secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke up about America’s views on the intense citation and called elected President Maduro a “dictator” and said he would continue Trump’s policy of recognizing Guaidó as the interim president. Supporters of Guaidó have labeled Maduro, a dictator who rigged his 2018 re-election. They say that Maduro has clung to power by persecuting rivals which put surrounding countries in a sticky spot when deciding who to support.12 Democratic countries have to use their own judgment to decide who is in the right and if Guaidó stepping in was necessary to protect Venezuela. These countries also must carefully choose if they do not want to support a candidate and step out of the argument altogether. While the U.S has done a great job demonstrating its support of Guaidó, one can only wonder if its attempts to drive Maduro from power are doing more harm than good, and they should stop what they are doing.

Surrounding countries may be impacted by the events unfolding in Venezuela, but no one experiences the dispute more than the people who live there. Venezuela has been circling in a downward spiral for years with a dictatorship that was fuelled by terrible inflation and shortages of food and medicine that have caused more than 5.6 million out of approximately 32 million to flee the country since the crisis of hyperinflation started in 2014.13 For the first time in four years, Venezuela has a monthly inflation rate of less than 50% which is not classified as hyperinflation. Nevertheless, Venezuela continues to have the highest inflation in the world, with poverty going from 87% in 2017 to 96% in

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

2021.14 According to the U.S government’s congressional research service, Venezuela’s economy has shrunk by more than 75% in the past eight years which is the largest economic collapse that did not come from war in over 45 years.15 Many people blamed President Maduro for the economic struggle since he has consistently failed to publish crime statistics and economic data, including monthly inflation statistics.

In May of 2021, Transparencia Venezuela proved that the government withheld information and fraudulently altered statistics on the number of people in Venezuela who received Covid vaccines.16 Now, the people of Venezuela should be able to feel safe knowing that the information they receive on the economic status of their home is true and that no one is lying to them about what they deserve to know as citizens.

Even with the help of Guaidó, bringing Venezuela’s economy up will be extremely difficult. Transparency International has given Venezuela a score of 14 out of 100 zero being highly corrupt and one hundred being very clean - on its Corruptions Perceptions Index. It is ranked number 177 out of 180 countries. On the other hand, the United States has a score of 67 out of 100 and a ranking of 27 out of 180. Being in much better shape than Venezuela, America is able to show its support and help them while Venezuela’s citizens are struggling. According to ACAPS, “Inside Venezuela, hyperinflation and increased prices have reduced access to food, medicines, and other basic goods, while import restrictions hamper the general availability of goods. In recent years, malnutrition has reached emergency thresholds for children under 5, with 50% Since 2014, the number exhibiting some of Venezuelans applying degree of malnutrition for refugee status has and some 280,000 at risk of death due to increased by 8,000% undernourishment.

Pregnant women and people in impoverished parts of the country are also more vulnerable to malnutrition.”17 Since 2014, the number of Venezuelans applying for refugee status has increased by 8,000%!18 With the help of a President who understands what democracy means and with the support of other countries, Venezuela can slowly climb its way out of the hole that Maduro had dug for them.

While faced with these very difficult times, Venezuela needs an ally to turn to and defend its citizens and its President. Interim President Guaidó needs a democratic country to stand up for him and assert his leadership during the intense times of hyperinflation so that the inhabitants of Venezuela can once again feel safe from all of the negative political disagreements happening in their country. Even though some may call it a dictatorship, when looking closer at the root of the problem, it is clear that an interim President is the only way to go because it gives voice to all those suppressed by President Maduro, lets neighboring countries show their support, and gives the citizens hope for a brighter future in Venezuela.

Page 16

1 “Venezuela crisis: How the political situation escalated,” BBC News, August 12, 2021, Accessed November 28, 2021, https:// www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-36319877.

2 “Freedom in the World 2022 Venezuela,” Freedom House, Accessed May 17, 2022, https://freedomhouse.org/country/venezuela/freedom-world/2022.

3 “Venezuela’s Guaido, US top diplomat, discuss ‘return to democracy,’” Aljazeera, March 3, 2021, Accessed February 3, 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/3/blinken-guaido-discuss-pressure-against-venezuelas-maduro.

4 “Venezuela crisis: How the political situation escalated.”

5 “Freedom in the World 2022 Venezuela.”

6 “Freedom in the World 2022 Venezuela.”

7 “Venezuela crisis: How the political situation escalated.”

8 Fransisco Toro, “The U.S can’t topple Venezuela’s regime, but it could change its behavior,” The Washington Post, February 3, 2021, Accessed November 28, 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/02/03/venezuela-biden-maduro-regime-diplomacy-human-rights/.

9 Chris Arsenault, “State win for Venezuela’s opposition masks deeper problems,” Aljazeera, January 11, 2022, Accessed January 9, 2022, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/11/out-of-options-venezuela-opposition-struggles-to-unseat-maduro.

10 “Venezuela crisis: How the political situation escalated.”

11 “Freedom in the World 2022 Venezuela.”

12 “Venezuela’s Guaido, US top diplomat, discuss ‘return to democracy.’”

13 Arsenault.

14 Manuel Herrera, “Will Venezuela’s economy recover in 2022?” Al Diá, December 23, 2021, Accessed April 13, 2022, https://aldianews.com/politics/policy/hyperinflation-venezuela.

15 Arsenault.

16 “Freedom in the World 2022 Venezuela.”

17 “Venezuelan Humanitarian and Refugee Crisis,” CDP, Disaster Philanthropy, January 25, 2022, Accessed May 4, 2022, https://disasterphilanthropy.org/disasters/venezuelan-refugee-crisis/.

18 “Venezuelan Humanitarian and Refugee Crisis.”

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

France: A Case Study of the Global Rise of the Alt-Right

Page 17

in the years since this crash. In the elections of 2008 and 2009, the RA was able to manipulate that crisis to their benefit, winning 24% of the vote.9 Since then, their power has continued to grow. In 2017, Marine Le Pen won 33% of Andrew Jacoby, ’24 the presidential vote in the final runoff election, the highest Globally, the far-right nationalist percentage RA had achieved up to that point. However, that movement has experienced a record was beaten most recently in the 2022 election, where massive uptick in populist support Marine Le Pen won 41% of the vote.10 The comparison and, as a result, political power. between the 2017 and 2022 election maps is striking: in Nationalistic, far-right movements 2017, Le Pen only won 2 districts in the French election, have grown from a relatively but this year, she won 25 districts. That secures her party a insignificant part of the political strong position for the parliamentary election in June, which 1 spectrum to major powerhouses. would be particularly remarkable as no far-right party has This growth can be directly held a substantial number of seats in the French parliament correlated to economic downturns and since World War II.11 accompanying periods These developments in a country of social unrest. France is a perfect Current conditions in France that traditionally has been incredibly case study, as economic and social are particularly conducive liberal, beg a consequential question: instabilities have caused a political shift to the rise of extremist, why did France take a turn to the from a socially progressive democracy, nationalist, and far-right far-right? While this may seem like with nearly universal distrust of fara straightforward question, it is parties. right parties as potentially too akin to significantly more complicated. People the Nazism of World War II, to the slow often turn to political extremes during economic crises.12 embrace of far-right ideologies and parties socially and Current conditions in France are particularly conducive to politically over its past few election cycles.2 the rise of extremist, nationalist, and far-right parties.13 This In France, the leading party representing these alt-right is because France never fully recovered from the 2008 global ideas is the National Rally party (Rassemblement National market crisis. Its GDP never returned to its peak, which was - RA), formerly known as the National Front (le Front right before the 2008 recession.14 France’s economy tanked 3 National - FN). The RA was founded in 1972 by Jean-Marie once again during the pandemic, and has not adequately Le Pen, French politician Marine Le Pen’s father.4 Initially, it recovered from this blow either. The French unemployment was not very successful. The RA had no significant election rate is also relatively high, at 7.4%,15 when compared to the results for more than a decade after its founding. However, global average of 6.5%.16 While this rate is down from its as nationalism in France rose in the 1980s, so did the RA’s 2015 rate of 10.4%, today’s high levels of unemployment power.5 Its platform is based on immigration restrictions, still yield political unrest. France is also facing inflation anti-communism, the reduction of governmental power, rates that are quadruple what they were in 2021, at around and the elimination of social services. The xenophobic 4.8%.17 With rising costs, especially in the energy sector, part of its platform became more popularly appealing as many French citizens increasingly feel like they are facing France’s economic woes began to emerge in the mid-2000s. pervasive economic hardships. Research shows that when Both due to the increased popularity of the movement and faced with economic hardships people often turn to the significant election reforms, RA was slowly able to gain extremes.18 seats in the French parliament. The RA’s number of seats Economic hardship can then lead to xenophobia, was still relatively small in its first few decades. However, especially when politicians use immigration as a scapegoat the momentum it had built up in the 1980s continued into for the country’s economic problems.19 Immigrants only the 1990s and early 2000s, reflecting a growing acceptance make up about 9.1% of France’s population. However, of far-right ideology.6 when surveyed, the French public believes, on average, In 2002, Jean-Marie Le Pen became the first RA candidate that immigrants make up approximately 18.1% of their to qualify for the second round of voting in the French population.20 This same survey demonstrated that 38% of 7 presidential election. Unlike the United States where there the French population believes that immigrants from outside are primary elections followed by a final election, in France, of the EU are a problem for France; furthermore, 61% of the all candidates run at the same time, with a second election French population believes that immigration from Muslim to decide between the top two candidates if no candidate countries should be stopped.21 8 achieved over 50% in the initial round of elections. While What makes Le Pen so attractive to some French people the RA making it to the final round of the election showed right now, is her economic policy. During her most recent its increasing power, it also aroused a strong opposition campaign, she used that policy to rebuild her image for movement that temporarily reduced the party’s power. this election cycle and tout her practicality. Historically, However, the 2008 global market crash re-invigorated the however, both Le Pen’s party and her campaigns have party’s success, which has grown exponentially (along with touted her more regressive social beliefs.22 In previous other expressions of alt-right nationalism on a global level)

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

years, she relied on anti-immigration, Islamophobic, and anti-EU positions. However, in her campaigning this year, she focused more on using the public’s anger over inflation rates, rising energy prices, and the overall cost of living.

She planned to combat these problems by lowering taxes on energy bills. Another aspect of her plan involves allowing citizens to bypass lawmakers and pass laws themselves once they have achieved 500,000 signatures. Apart from these few economic and legislative components, large parts of her platform remained the same. Le Pen still wants to strictly control immigration and ‘stop uncontrolled Islamist ideologies.’ For example, along with her anti-Islam policy, she wants to ban Muslim headscarves in public spaces as she views them as “an Islamist uniform”23 which she believes serves as an ideological, religious symbol that is antithetical to “French culture.”

The rise of the far-right nationalist political platforms around the world share many of the above-named ideologies with France. Repeatedly, over history, nationalist parties gain strength during times of economic struggles.24 As people look for economic relief and government social policies that will help them, some people believe that more isolationist and xenophobic stances will help address their problems.25 These beliefs are often fed by politicians pushing anti-immigration platforms. As Le Pen learned with her platform over several runs for office, formal political platforms still have more success bringing moderate constituents into their party when they overtly focus on economic recovery rather than directly focusing on xenophobic positions. However, this change in primary focus does not negate the back-end regressive, often xenophobic, and isolationist policies, which continue as a part of their formal platforms.26 As a result, for many people, in many countries, the principles of social conservatism and economic conservatism can become intertwined. Thus, the current economic crises guide parties to directly focus more overt energy on economic recovery, a widely popular and acceptable platform, that allows struggling voters to at best excuse and at worst begin to adopt their far-right messaging.27 While the relationship between economic struggle, bias, and racism is very complex, it is important to recognize as it is a driving force behind the rising tide of right-wing nationalist movements in France and around the world.

1 Nova Robinson, “The Rise of Neo-Nationalism and the Front National in France”, Edited by Allie Schiele, Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal, vol. 4, no. 14, 2020, pp. 98118, https://scholarworks.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1136&context=suurj 2 Robinson 3 Robinson 4 Michael Ray, “Marine Le Pen | Biography, Policies, Party, Father, & Facts”, Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 April 2022, https:// www.britannica.com/biography/Marine-Le-Pen, Accessed 29 April 2022 5 Robinson 6 Robinson 7 Ray 8 McNicoll, Tracy, “Explainer: How Does France’s Two-Round Presidential Election Work?”, France 24, https://amp.france24. com/en/france/20220211-explainer-how-does-france-s-two-

Page 18

round-presidential-election-work 9 Robinson 10 Berlinger, Joshua, and Ataman, Joseph, “French election results: Emmanuel Macron wins”, 25 April 2022, https://www.cnn. com/2022/04/24/europe/french-election-results-macron-le-penintl/index.html, Accessed 29 April 2022 11 Ganley, Elaine, “Marine Le Pen’s far-right vision: Retooling France at home, abroad”, USA Today, 23 April 2022, https:// www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/04/23/marine-le-penvision-france-far-right-vision/7422392001/, Accessed 29 April 2022, 12 Robinson 13 Alsaafin, Linah, “What is behind the rise of the far right in France?”, Al Jazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/7/ what-is-behind-the-rise-of-the-far-right-in-france, Accessed 29 April 2022 14 Robinson.

15 “France Unemployment RATE2022 Data - 2023 Forecast 1975-2021 Historical - Calendar”, France Unemployment Rate - 2022 Data - 2023 Forecast - 1975-2021 Historical - Calendar, https://tradingeconomics.com/france/unemployment-rate 16 “Unemployment by Country 2022”, Unemployment by Country 2022, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/ unemployment-by-country 17 Horobin, William, “French Inflation Jumps More Than Expected to Hit New Record”, Bloomberg, 31 March 2022, https:// www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-31/french-inflationjumps-more-than-expected-reaching-fresh-record. Accessed 29 April 2022 18 Robinson.

19 Alsaafin.

20 Robinson.

21 Robinson.

22 Ganley.

23 Ganley.

24 Ray. 25 Alsaarin.

26 Ganley.

27 Alsaarin.

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

Can Similar Interests Outweigh Differences?

Zoe Kaplan, ’24 and Haley Zabusky, ’24

Full diplomatic relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia were established in 1933 as the desire for oil increased.1 As a democracy, the US typically does not align itself with an authoritarian government like that of Saudi Arabia, but many factors pushed for the relationship to stay strong. In 1940, the US sent an ambassador to Saudi Arabia, signaling the degree to which the nations associate, and in 1951, a Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement was established, initiating the promise instituted by the nations to protect each other when necessary.2 For the past 90 years, this relationship has been sustained as the two countries have aligned more aspects of their policy with each other. Even though the authoritarian Saudi government is highly corrupt, the US must maintain its alliance with Saudi Arabia due to mutual material benefits and common educational and military interests and goals.

As an authoritarian country in which a single family holds all of the power, Saudi Arabia is corrupt on many fronts.

Firstly, the Saudi regulatory agencies are highly secretive.

Many government-run organizations and companies have been known for bribery and irregular payments, and the lack of transparency within the Saudi regulatory system has made it difficult to speak out against fraud. However, they are left unconvicted due to the complete control held by the government. While freedom of speech and freedom of expression are supposed rights of the Saudi Arabian people, excessive control of the government completely removes the ability to question such fraud.3 Unlike the US, where people are able to use social media and peaceful protests to expose important information, Saudi Arabia carefully manipulates its media to only present the government in a positive manner. Just last year, a major anti-corruption demonstration was shut down by the Saudi government, which feared that the realities being presented might expose the unprincipled regime. Even further, the government had over 200 of the protest’s leaders arrested on the claim that they were allegedly involving themselves in private matters that supposedly did not concern the people. On top of this mass arrest, there have been many more examples to prove how freedom of speech is highly limited, including the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, an innocent journalist. After criticizing the Saudi Arabian government in one of his articles, Khashoggi disappeared, and was later found to have been violently killed by Saudi agents. In addition, the judicial branch holds a disproportionate amount of power compared to the executive branch, corrupting this side of the government too. Punishments are assigned selectively, and laws are not enforced uniformly, encouraging illegal behavior by the higher-ups. Moreover, various reports via Saudi citizens

Page 19

have proven that upper-class Saudi administrative bodies settle disputes, not trained judges, causing major injustice and bias.4 As almost all authoritarian governments are, Saudi Arabia is filled with corruption, and the people—deprived of many fundamental liberties—are left helpless.

Despite the widespread corruption of its government, Saudi Arabia provides the US with many material resources, enforcing the maintenance of a diplomatic relationship.

America is Saudi Arabia’s second-largest trading partner, and Saudi Arabia is a crucial partner to the US since they exchange technical and educational ideas and goods. The country is America’s number one export exchange in the Middle East.5 They exchange technical and educational ideas and goods with each other, and both have the common goal of maintaining safety and sustainability for their countries.6 If the alliance was broken, then it would be detrimental to the US economy because as of now, the partnership between the two countries is effective on many levels including the economy and security. Saudi Arabia is one of the main providers of strategic information regarding peacemaking in the Gulf Region since they are located near a lot of important countries and know a lot of data which will ultimately strengthen the government and its relationships.7 Likewise, Saudi Arabia depends on the US as a mainstream trading partner, making the bilateral relationship a valuable asset that provides it with much-needed technical and military support. With the US’s help, Saudi Arabia was able to increase its security and sustain programs such as the Ministry of Defense, the National Guard, and the Ministry of Interior. All of these programs are part of the military that provide forces, serves the community after war, and deals with public land. 8 It is clear that this is not a onesided relationship—each government helps and needs the other, and maintaining the relationship is beneficial for both sides. The nations’ mutualistic relationship is evident from their fossil fuel trade: both countries are major oil producers, which is an additional reason why they need each other. Oil is used by the majority of Americans, every day, making it an essential resource, and Saudi Arabia is the third-largest and least expensive oil provider to the US, supplying half a million barrels per day.9 Without this alliance, the US would have significantly less oil, which would drive up the cost of gas. Moreover, Saudi Arabia is the US’s largest foreign military sales customer, currently using one hundred billion dollars worth of security and weaponry.10 If the relationship was terminated, the US would lose a major customer, and Saudi Arabia would have a weaker military and less protection, making the country less safe. Although the Saudi Arabian government is guilty of corruption, the US government must think about the country and consider what will make it better and keep it safe. The two countries produce necessary resources for each other, so the corruption in the Saudi government is counterbalanced by the benefits of the relationship.

The American relationship with Saudi Arabia is not only reinforced by the countries’ mutual material benefits but the desire for an even stronger allyship is also driven

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

by common interests. For example, both nations prioritize peace, prosperity, stability, and security. Most recently, these ideals have been collectively applied to the Gulf Region and the Middle East, both significant regions to the two countries.11 For the US, the Gulf Region and the Middle East support a whopping fifteen percent of its exported oil supply, so cutting ties would put the US at a disadvantage.12 With regards to the common idea of security, the two nations have military agreements, such as the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement which increased sales of US arms in Saudi Arabia and prompted American training of the Saudi military.13 Since there are multiple shared enemies in the Middle East, like Iran, the US provides the Saudi forces with training, equipment, and support, allowing the Saudi military to take action when threatened. Additionally, the ongoing war in Yemen has served as another incentive for Saudi Arabia to maintain steady relations with the US. Furthermore, one of the US’s most critical military bases, the Riyadh Air Base, is located in Saudi Arabia, so cooperation between the nations gives the US a strategic advantage when conflict arises.14 Lastly, another important value to both the US and Saudi Arabia is education, so an alliance between the two enhances global knowledge and opportunities. The US offers an International Visitor Leader Program, which admits tens of thousands of Saudi exchange students into American colleges every year, further motivating international cooperation.15 Various shared foundational values, like peace, security, and education, further legitimize the allyship between the United States and Saudi Arabia.

It is often difficult to get over differences, but when many driving similarities are also present, the differences must be overlooked. This is the case for Saudi Arabia and the United States, where in spite of the contradictions between the two nations’ governments, one being a strong democratic nation and the other being a corrupt authoritarian nation, mutual dependencies have proven to be more crucial.

1 Beauchamp, Zack. 2016. “Beyond oil: the US-Saudi alliance, explained.” Vox. April 5, 2022. https://www.vox. com/2016/1/6/10719728/us-saudi-arabia-allies.

2 “US Relations With Saudi Arabia - United States Department of State.” 2020. State Department. https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-saudi-arabia/.

3 “Corruption in Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia Corruption Report.” 2020. GAN Integrity. April 5, 2022. https://www.ganintegrity.com/portal/country-profiles/saudi-arabia.

4 “Corruption in Saudi Arabia” 5 “Our Relationship - US Embassy & Consulates in Saudi Arabia.” n.d. U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. Accessed April 5, 2022. https://sa.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/.

6 “U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Saudi Arabia - Policy & History.” 2020. State Department. https://www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-saudi-arabia/ 7 “US Relations With Saudi Arabia” 8 “US Relations With Saudi Arabia” 9 “Oil imports and exports - US Energy Information Administration.” 2021. EIA. https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/ oil-and-petroleum-products/imports-and-exports.php.

10 “US Relations With Saudi Arabia” 11 “U.S. Embassy and Consulates in Saudi Arabia”

Page 20

12 “US Relations With Saudi Arabia” 13 Beauchamp 14 “Eskan Village Air Force Base in Riyadh, SAUDI ARABIA.” n.d. Military Bases. Accessed April 5, 2022. https://militarybases. com/overseas/saudi-arabia/eskan-village/.

15 “US Relations With Saudi Arabia”

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

Nicaraguan Corruption Stacey Lipson, ’24

Daniel Ortega has been the president of Nicaragua since 1984 alongside his wife, Vice President Rosaria Murillo.

Their leadership has restricted any new citizens from holding or attempting to hold a position of power in public office and has allowed them to keep their reign of terror for so long by limiting any opposition that could arise.1 Ortegas’ new reforms and regimes have turned him into the very leader he formerly fought to conquer and has increased the violence in Nicaragua by unconscionable amounts.

Before Ortega, Nicaragua suffered through another period of totalitarian rule by Anastasio Somoza. The Somoza family was the most powerful Nicaraguan dynasty and had been ruling Nicaragua since 1937. In 1967, Somoza was elected president and led with the intent of creating strong workers, disregarding the importance of education entirely.2 He repealed the term limit law stating that immediate reelection was not allowed but ultimately lost. When a devastating earthquake struck, Somoza was re-elected in 1967 to help Nicaragua recover from its losses. However, his reign did the opposite. Three-quarters of the entire population had no literacy skills and hunger and malnutrition almost doubled.3 The Sandinista National Liberation Front, a socialist political party, saw the Three-quarters of the entire damage Somoza population had no literacy was doing to skills and hunger and the country and malnutrition almost doubled. revolted against his government in the 1970s. This revolt enacted extreme social change and ultimately overthrew the Somoza dynasty for good. Daniel Ortega was an active member of this revolutionary group and condemned the dictatorial rulings and unfair treatment of the people. Though he did a lot of good for the country, after he left the Sandinistas and rose to power, his liberal views and stance completely changed.4 When Ortega was elected president in 1984, he focused on helping the impoverished citizens of his community, however, after 7 years, he was defeated by Violeta Chamorro.

He continued dedicating his time to the less fortunate and this strategic election campaign helped him win again in 2006. However, once in office, none of his promises to help the poor were carried through. Since his return to power in 2006, Ortega has completely repositioned his platform and is determined to do anything possible to stay in power.

He now aligns himself with the Catholic Church and has banned abortions completely, accepted the Superior Council for Private Enterprises as an ally, and has implemented violent tactics to prevent migrants from traveling to the US. These new reforms have wiped the country of Nicaragua of any democratic freedoms that may have been in place and have left the community stripped of basic human rights.5 The marginalized sectors, mainly university students, felt they were being overlooked and were unhappy with

Page 21

authoritarianism and decided to revolt in 2018 against Ortega and his government. A widespread protest broke out that insisted Ortega resign instead of running for his fourth consecutive term. Ortega’s new government had suppressed freedom of speech and the protest was forcefully shut down, killing over 300 people in the process.6 Yet, Ortega did not care that so many of his citizens were being killed and encouraged the police to continue using violence and any means necessary to stop resistance from breaking out again.

Now, it is almost impossible to oppose Ortega without fear of being brutally murdered or unfairly reprimanded, leading to no new defiance against Ortega and allowing him to continue his rule.7 While Daniel Ortega continues to rule, Nicaraguan citizens become increasingly unhappy with his repression of free speech, unfair wealth redistribution, revoking public funding of universities, and much more, and flee to find more constitutional and free societies.8 Though people are scared to publicly challenge Ortega, it is possible that there will be a breaking point and an inescapable ending will come for him, forcing him to finally resign as president of Nicaragua.

1 Ommen, Eline. “Nicaragua: former revolutionary Daniel Ortega now resembles the dictator he helped overthrow.” The Conversation, 5 November 2021, https://theconversation.com/ nicaragua-former-revolutionary-daniel-ortega-now-resembles-the-dictator-he-helped-overthrow-171235. Accessed 6 April 2022.

2 “Daniel Ortega: From revolutionary leader to opposition hate figure.” BBC, 10 January 2022, https://www.bbc.com/news/ world-latin-america-15544315. Accessed 6 April 2022.

3 “Is Nicaragua’s Descent into Dictatorship Irreversible?” United States Institute of Peace, 15 November 2021, https://www.usip. org/publications/2021/11/nicaraguas-descent-dictatorship-irreversible. Accessed 6 April 2022.

4 Noriega, Roger F. Back by Unpopular Demand: Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. American Enterprise Institute, 2016, http://www. jstor.org/stable/resrep02977. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022.

5 “Is Nicaragua’s Descent into Dictatorship Irreversible?”

6 “Daniel Ortega: From revolutionary leader to opposition hate figure.”

7 Jarquín, Mateo. “Analysis | Two years after Nicaragua’s mass uprising started, why is Daniel Ortega still in power?” The Washington Post, 1 May 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/ politics/2020/05/01/two-years-after-nicaraguas-mass-uprisingstarted-why-is-daniel-ortega-still-power/. Accessed 6 April 2022.

8 Noriega, Roger F. Back by Unpopular Demand: Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. American Enterprise Institute, 2016, http://www. jstor.org/stable/resrep02977. Accessed 6 Apr. 2022.

‫לשם שמיים‬

Spring 2022

World Needs Consistent US Leadership Rachel Loeb, ’24

Through recent years, the political divide in the United States has become increasingly polarized. This divide leads to dramatic policy changes from one administration to another and undermines our leadership abroad. The United States has a crucial role in the international community, and the inconsistency of successive administrations has diminished our influence on the world stage.

While some prominent Republicans support an isolationist foreign policy, the United States is only strengthened by restoring its leadership abroad.1 Given polarization and its effects, we must restore our leadership within the global community and thereby strengthen our nation.

One issue detrimentally impacted by America’s frequent policy shifts due to polarized leadership is global climate change. In 1997, President Clinton recognized this issue, initiating the effort to organize international conferences, negotiating to ensure that nearly every country would be on board with the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement mandating nations to limit their greenhouse gas emissions. Despite his efforts, the U.S. Congress formally rejected the protocol in 2001 under different leadership.2 The pendulum swung back in 2015 under President Barack Obama when the United States led the charge against climate change through the signing of the Paris Agreement. This was the first legally binding climate agreement that set a framework for how countries must reduce emissions. It was signed by the European Union and 192 countries; the only holdouts were Iran, Eritrea, Libya, Yemen and Iraq, which has since joined the agreement.3 But President Trump’s victory marked another change in the U.S.’s approach to climate policy. In 2017, the Trump administration gave the United Nations official notice that the United States would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. As promised, the United States became the first nation to formally withdraw from the agreement in 2020, causing international condemnation and slowing progress in the fight against environmental destruction.4 America was a key architect in crafting the agreement, but it left because of the lack of ideological consistency in consecutive administrations.

Not only did this result in disappointment within the United States, but many world leaders also spoke out against America for this action. While reaffirming Germany’s commitment to the agreement, Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany at the time, stated that “The decision of the United States to pull out of the Paris Agreement is utterly regrettable, and that is me choosing very restrained language. The Paris Agreement continues to be one of the cornerstones of global cooperation, and this agreement is indispensable to reach the goals of the 2030 agenda.”5 The

Page 22

United States is the world’s second-largest carbon emitter, contributing around 12.6% of total global emissions,6 and since American pressure got nearly all other countries to comply with the Paris accord in the first place, its leaving sets a terrible and hypocritical precedent. Others may follow suit.

Fortunately, current President Joe Biden moved to re-enter the climate agreement and reassert America’s commitment and leadership to the climate change issue.7 However, America’s changing policy has damaged its relationships with key allies and will take valuable time to rebuild.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the United States was ill-prepared to fight the virus because the disease was so heavily politicized. Instead of working with the international community to resolve the pandemic, the United States blamed its own failures on WHO, the World Health Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for international public health. President Trump claimed that WHO had attempted “to mislead the world when the virus was first discovered by Chinese authorities.” President Trump officially notified the United Nations that he planned to leave the World Health Organization, a decision that would threaten America’s influence as well as jeopardize global health.8 America has shipped over 540 million free vaccine doses to a total of 112 low-income countries. This is part of the Biden Administration’s commitment to donate at least 1,100,000,000 doses, which will, in turn, stop the spread of this terrible disease and prevent the emergence of new variants, perhaps even deadlier than the delta variant and more virulent than the omicron variant.9 Given its intellectual and economic resources, the United States needs to take major action on global issues, such as pandemics.10 Divided leadership and inconsistent policy hurt not only domestic issues but also poses a global problem as it threatens public health.

Another major issue on the global stage and subject to many disputes across parties is the proliferation of nuclear arms. In 2002, the George W. Bush administration alerted the world to the suspected acquisition of weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear bombs or chemical arms in Iraq. His Secretary of State, Colin Powell, informed the United Nations, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld launched a full-out war against Iraq.11 These claims were later determined to be unfounded and Powell later admitted that “the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases, deliberately misleading” but the concern of hostile or unstable countries and terrorist groups acquiring nuclear weapons remains.12 Consequently, it is vital that the international community monitor the nuclear capabilities of countries in a preventative and peaceful way.13 The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was an agreement between Iran, the United States, and several other countries in 2015.

It asserted that Iran would close its nuclear program and allow international inspections of its facilities in exchange for the end of sanctions. The relief of these sanctions would stop the $160 billion loss in oil revenue and would release their assets in the United States, around $100 billion, which had been frozen in the 1979 Iranian revolution. It is vital

‫לשם שמיים‬

Authoritarianism and Democracy

that Iran not become a nuclear power, as this would further destabilize the Middle East.14 Nevertheless, President Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018, putting the safety of countries such as Israel in jeopardy. President Trump claimed that he would get better terms than the original deal had, but he could not compel Iran to negotiate. President Trump’s unilateral decision to leave the deal meant that Iran could once again enrich uranium and plutonium, the needed components of nuclear weapons. President Biden is attempting to rejoin the treaty, and according to a senior State Department official, Biden is prepared “to make the political decisions necessary to achieve that goal.”15 While the nuclear deal has its limitations, it is necessary in ensuring the safety of the world, and the United States has to lead the way in guaranteeing international peace, rather than undercutting itself at every opportunity.

While President Biden is trying to restore the partnerships that had been broken during the Trump Administration, doubts about America’s reliability linger in the minds of the European public. They fear that if our agreements were broken under one president, it would be possible for a future president to do the same and undo any pacts Biden makes. A survey of over 15,000 Europeans conducted by the European Council of Foreign Relations revealed that public sentiment towards the United States has worsened across the 11 countries surveyed. When asked if “the identity of the U.S. president affects [their] relationship with the U.S.,” 68 percent agreed or strongly agreed, compared to the 7 percent who disagreed or strongly disagreed. Accordingly, 54 percent agreed or strongly agreed that “the world is in a worse place because of Trump’s presidency,” relative to only 18 percent who disagreed or strongly disagreed. These statistics show that Europeans blame Trump’s administration for the inability to address the world’s problems and that their relationship with the U.S. is no longer immutable but rather conditional on the policies of the president at a given time.16 European leaders like French President, Emanuel Macron, reflect these views which are held by his constituents.

In response to America’s uncooperativeness at the 2017 summit of G7, an organization of seven of the world’s most developed economies, Macron announced, “The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be.”17 The only way to allay these fears in both leaders and the general public is through consistent U.S. policy across presidencies, including presidents from both political parties.

Since its birth, the United States has been a model of freedom and democracy, and its influence in international affairs is undeniable. However, to maintain our strong presence, we need to unite under a consistent foreign policy that represents our values. Our commitment to foreign affairs must be a priority lest we lose our credibility and allow our relationships with our allies to deteriorate. Going forward, America needs to be a more active and trustworthy ally in order to protect global health and security.

Page 23

1 Stephen M. Walt, “America’s Polarization Is a Foreign Policy Problem, Too,” Foreign Policy, March 11, 2019, https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/03/11/americas-polarization-is-a-foreign-policy-problem-too/.

2 “Kyoto Protocol Fast Facts,” CNN (Cable News Network, April 7, 2022), https://www.cnn.com/2013/07/26/world/kyoto-protocol-fast-facts/index.html.

3 Lisa Friedman, “U.S. Quits Paris Climate Agreement: Questions and Answers,” The New York Times (The New York Times, November 4, 2020), https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/04/climate/paris-climate-agreement-trump.html.

4 ibid 5 Arne Delfs and Rainer Buergin, “Merkel Says Climate Fight Is ‘Irreversible’ Despite U.S. Leaving Paris Agreement,” Bloomberg.com (Bloomberg, June 2, 2017), https://www. bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-02/merkel-says-climatefight-is-irreversible-despite-u-s-pullout.

6 “Carbon Footprint by Country 2022,” World Population Review, accessed May 16, 2022, https://worldpopulationreview. com/country-rankings/carbon-footprint-by-country.

7 Nathan Rott, “Biden Moves to Have U.S. Rejoin Climate Accord,” NPR (NPR, January 20, 2021), https://www.npr.org/ sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958923821/ biden-moves-to-have-u-s-rejoin-climate-accord.

8 Pien Huang, “Trump Sets Date to End Who Membership over Its Handling of Virus,” NPR (NPR, July 7, 2020), https://www. npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/07/07/888186158/trumpsets-date-to-end-who-membership-over-its-handling-of-virus.

9 “U.S. International COVID-19 Vaccine Donations Tracker – Updated as of May 20,” KFF, May 20, 2022, https://www.kff.org/ coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/u-s-international-covid-19-vaccine-donations-tracker/.

10 Amy Maxmen, “What a US Exit from the WHO Means for COVID-19 and Global Health,” Nature News (Nature Publishing Group, May 27, 2020), https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586020-01586-0/.

11 Ahsan I Butt, “Why Did Bush Go to War in Iraq?,” Opinions | Al Jazeera (Al Jazeera, March 20, 2019), https://www.aljazeera. com/opinions/2019/3/20/why-did-bush-go-to-war-in-iraq.

12 David Corn, “Powell Admits False WMD Claim,” The Nation, June 29, 2015, https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/ powell-admits-false-wmd-claim/.

13 Ahsan I Butt?

14 “Iran Nuclear Deal: What It All Means,” BBC News (BBC, November 23, 2021), https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middleeast-33521655.

15 David E. Sanger, Lara Jakes, and Farnaz Fassihi, “U.S. and Allies Close to Reviving Nuclear Deal with Iran, Officials Say,” The New York Times (The New York Times, February 1, 2022), https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/us/politics/iran-nucleardeal-biden.html.

16 Mark Leonard and Ivan Krastev, “The Crisis of American Power: How Europeans See Biden’s America,” ECFR, January 19, 2021, https://ecfr.eu/publication/the-crisis-of-american-power-how-europeans-see-bidens-america/.

17 Damian Paletta, David J. Lynch, and Heather Long, “France’s Macron Threatens Rare Rebuke of U.S. at G-7, Trump Fires Back,” The Washington Post (WP Company, June 8, 2018), https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/frances-macron-threatens-rare-rebuke-of-trump-at-g-7-says-us-faces-isolation/2018/06/07/f73f3de8-6a99-11e8-bea7-c8eb28bc52b1_story. html.

Copyright © 2022 The Students of Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy. All Rights Reserved.

272 S. Bryn Mawr Avenue Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

Spring 2022 Edition