Volume I, Issue I

VOL UME I | ISS U E I

W A SH I N G TON , D.C. W EDN ESDA Y A P RI L 8, 2015

E. ASIA & OCEANIA

Killings of Japanese Hostages by ISIS

A video released on February 1 by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) showed the beheading of Kenji Goto...

E. EUROPE & C. ASIA

Moldova on Front Lines of Russia’s Propaganda On March 17, Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti declared his intent to ban Russian politicians from...

LATAM & THE CARIBBEAN

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Turks enter Syria, relocate tomb of Suleyman shah his tomb.

The operation was conducted amid fears that the tomb and its guards were under threat from ISIS fighters, and was the first major Turkish incursion since the start of the Syrian conflict in 2011.

Suleyman Shah, who is believed to have drowned in the Euphrates in 1236 close to the site of where he is buried, was the grandfather of Osman I, the founder and first sultan of the

Amin Gharad Independent Writer

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efore dawn on Sunday, February 22, just under 600 Turkish soldiers, along with a caravan of 39 tanks and 57 armored cars, crossed the Syrian border and completed an operation aimed at exhuming and transporting the remains of Suleyman Shah, as well as evacuating around 40 Turkish special forces stationed in and around

Ottoman Empire.

Ahead of the weekend’s operation, Turkey notified the US-led coalition, Syrian authorities, local Kurdish militias, as well as Islamic State militants.

Despite reports that ISIS fighters had gathered near the site of the tomb and shouted slogans, no clashes were reported. Turkish officials confirmed that one soldier was in fact killed, but claimed that his death was the result of an accident. continued on pg. 13

PHARMA’S FOCUS ON PROFITS PROBLEMATIC

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A Conversation with Yoani Sanchez on Cuba

anking often is the first industry that comes to mind when one thinks about high profit margins, allegations of collusion, and multibillion dollar fines and settlements.

However, the real front-runner on these issues is the pharmaceutical industry, which produces the medications necessary for saving lives and easing suffering. Undoubtedly, pharmaceutical companies have been developing new drugs and... continued on pg.2

Georgetown’s current Yahoo! Fellow, Yoani Sánchez, met with Georgetown students last Friday to discuss...

MIDDLE EAST & N. AFRICA

The Islamic State on Lebanon’s Doorstep

Ever since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the creation of the Islamic State, the organization has had its...

S. & SE. ASIA

Indonesia’s Crackdown on Drug Offenders

Mary Jane Veloso, 30, a mother of two, was traveling from Malaysia to Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2010 when she was detained by police...

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Mugabe Earns New Title Amid Controversies On January 30, in a move that has surprised experts, African leaders voted to appoint Robert Mugabe...

WESTERN EUROPE

Where to Turn? France’s Far Right The recent victory of Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France’s European legislative ballot certainly says a lot...

Tarik Endale Independent Writer

China Vows Crackdown on Pollution Leo Luo Independent Writer

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n March 9, 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to crack down on polluters that are contributing to the continuing smog problem in major cities. Addressing an audience while reviewing the work report of the State Council together with the National People’s Congress deputies from Jiangxi Province, Xi reiterated the central government’s determination to reduce pollution.

However, despite last year’s declaration of a “war on pollution”,

this announcement comes on the heels of government censorship of the viral film “Under the Dome,” which examines the roots of China’s smog problem. Since the film ultimately lays the blame on the lack of government action, the decision to ban it belies the magnitude of the dilemma that pollution poses to the central government. The government recognizes the dangers of environmental degradation but cannot take the necessary steps against the problem without derailing China’s stability-inducing high GDP growth rate.

Xi’s declaration demonstrates how

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environmental issues have found their way into the national discourse regarding the country’s future. At this conference, Xi remarked how he would “punish, with an iron hand, any violators who destroy the ecology or environment, with no exceptions.”

His announcement illustrates the problems that threaten both China’s economy and its people, such as polluted fresh water supplies, severe droughts, and desertification. One of the most prominent problems is the heavy smog that frequently envelops its larger cities.

A recent term that has skyrocket-

ed in awareness in China is PM 2.5 density, which measures the concentration of airborne particles in the air that are less than 2.5 microns in diameter. These particles can permeate the lungs and cause numerous respiratory problems. An increasing number of urban residents are familiarizing themselves with the PM 2.5 density and its ramifications on their lives, especially the rising number of young professionals in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai that use Chinese social media. Thus Xi’s announcement demonstrates that the government has placed this issue... continued on pg. 5

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After UN Recommends Kim Jong-Un Case to ICC, A Look at Its Limitations EDITOR’S COLUMN: Josephine Moore

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he Front Page of The Caravel analyzes news not confined to regional lines. Its themes, ranging from national security debacles and government accountability to International health and trade, highlight concerns that connect all corners of the world. The politics of ransom have affected both Japan and France in different ways; in response to failing economies, the Indian and French far-right have surged in alarmingly similar ways.

Connecting the dots from different regions, we strive to look more in depth at the ups and downs in world news.

The news from this past month has been plagued by a blend of misjudgement and incompetence.

As Alex Barnes observes in his article “UN Recommends Kim Jong Un Case to ICC, A Look at its Limitations,” the ICC has been failing to prosecute world leaders for criminal actions. Tarik Endale’s article “A Second Glance at Western Altruism,” shows how activities that seem “selfless” and “generous” may in fact directly harm the very beneficiaries of aid.

The recurring problems caused by human error are best captured

by Max Fiege’s “Paradigm Shift in Automation.” As dependence on transportation technology grows exponentially, how should we consider human judgement when defining the ever-changing relationship between humans and technology?

I have had the pleasure of working with Sam Kim, the associate editor for the Front Page and a sophomore majoring in Regional Comparative Studies focusing on Asia and the Middle East. Working together has been an incredibly rewarding experience wherein we have gained new perspectives both through the discussions with our writers as well as their articles. It is only fitting that we desire the same experience for our readers. Written to be understandable even to readers without a strong background on current issues, the Front Page provides a comprehensive view of the international affairs as well as the main factors at play, thereby inspiring the reader to delve deeper into these topics themselves.

Alex Barnes Staff Writer

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n December 19 of last year, the UN General Assembly voted in favor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigating the North Korean regime and preparing for possible charges of crimes against humanity.

This move could help pave the way for strong sanctions and even arrests.

However, examining the ICC record for handling relevant cases,as well as considering the global political situation in which North Korea finds itself, may temper expectations.

Since its inception in 2002, the International Criminal Court has had mixed success in prosecuting war criminals worldwide. Under the Rome Statute of 2002, the Court has a narrow mission wherein it may try suspected war criminals of crimes against humanity, but only if the state authority in question is “unable” or “unwilling” to handle the matter itself.

Support for the treaty varies greatly by region, with only Europe and South America achieving widespread participation. Important non-participants include the United States, Russia, China, India, and North Korea among many others.

In practice, these restrictions have continued from pg.1 improving old ones.

Their actual motivation behind new drug development and enhancement though is profit, which of course is heavily indicative of the industry’s attitude towards health in which lifesaving drugs merely function as a means to an end: profit.

The global pharmaceutical market is worth $300 billion; the 12 pharmaceutical companies in the 2014 Fortune 500 have some of the highest profit margins of any industry. For example, the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer had a 42 percent profit margin in 2013.

With some cancer and hepatitis drugs priced upwards of $100,000, whereas manufacturing costs represent only a miniscule fraction of these prices, it is easy to see where these profits come from. However, drug companies cite high research and development to justify high pricing.

In reality, R&D costs are much lower than pharmaceutical companies and their many defenders claim. It is true that on average only 3 in 10 drugs

severely reduced the ICC’s ability to prosecute those accused of heinous crimes. During early negotiations over the Rome Statute treaty, Israel and the U.S. were vocally hesitant to potentially subject their own citizens to trial by a court whose evidentiary standards might not be compatible with their own. Additionally, politicians such as United States Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) argued that signing the Rome Statute would give the United Nations “a trapping of sovereignty” and undue power over a state’s citizens.

Instead of whisking individuals away at will for international crimes, the Court has since struggled with investigating, arresting, and prosecuting even the worst criminals. Often, those committing the crimes are part of, or at least supported by, governing authorities. As the accused are usually non-signatories, the ICC is often unable to or uncooperative in bringing them to justice.

A prime example of this problem is the case of Omar al-Bashir, who was indicted in 2009 and 2010 for charges including crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide as President of Sudan during the Darfur conflict.

Despite the range of charges against him, six years after his first indictment he remains not only free but the Presmake it to the market, and only one of those will be a “blockbuster drug,” earning more than $1 billion in revenue per year, but the returns are still enough to make incredible profits.

Drug companies point to limited time frames for profit as a reason for high prices. Patents are generally awarded for 20 years and 10 to 12 of those years are spent on drug development, at a cost of about $1.5 to $2.5 billion. This lengthy development time gives a company eight to 10 years of exclusive profit from the drug before competitors can release generics. However, some of these drugs make $3 billion dollars in three months. Moreover, the pharmaceutical industry also commonly employs a tactic called “evergreening,” in which patents are extended through reformulations. Common examples are combining two existing drugs or creating mirror images of the same compound to legally extend patents instead of creating actual innovations.

This emphasis on profit results in research and development that emphasizes areas that will generate the

ident of Sudan. He has since visited the governments of Chad, Kenya, Djibouti, and Malawi, all parties to the Rome Statute and therefore obligated to arrest him. An African Union decision instructing its member states not to arrest al-Bashir was cited as justification for ignoring the ICC’s arrest warrants, despite questions regarding the African Union’s ability to issue such a decision. Calls for the UN Security Council to punish the four countries that have allowed al-Bashir to visit have also been unsuccessful.

One of the Court’s brightest success stories has been the capture, prosecution, and sentencing of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga most revenue. Ninety percent of total medicine purchasing and consumption occurs in the developed world by about 15 percent of the world’s population. The United States alone contributes 52 percent of the market share while low income countries account for less than one percent of sales. Predictably, pharmaceutical companies now target diseases that high income countries are most concerned about, often non-communicable diseases such diabetes or cancer, leaving much of the world’s population and their needs ignored.

Of particular concern is the lack of effort to producing new antibiotics to combat the ever increasing threat of “superbugs,” antibiotic resistant bacteria, due to their fairly low sale prices.

Even when diseases that are endemic to poorer regions of the world, such as malaria, are targeted for drug production, prophylactics for travelers from wealthy countries are targeted to maximize profit instead of attempting to protect or cure those most afflicted in low- and middle-income countries.

Moreover, when the drugs that are

Dyilo, the first individual to be arrested under the provisions of the Rome Statute. From 2001 until 2003, he led a political and military group known as the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) during the Second Congo War. In 2006, then living in Kinshasa after the end of the war, Lubanga was arrested and eventually brought to trial in The Hague, where he was convicted of three charges against him related to his use of child soldiers. Lubanga, however, was only sentenced to 14 years in prison, which include the six years he had already spent awaiting trial and is due to be released in 2020.

The North Korean case is more similar to that of al-Bashir than to that of Lubanga. At the time of Lubanga’s arrest, the Second Congo War had ended three years ago. Arresting him was comparatively easy once he was no longer the leader of an active militant group engaged in a major conflict. By contrast, both al-Bashir and Kim Jong-un are current leaders of countries that have refused to sign the Rome Statute. The ICC barely has power to indict--much less prosecute and incarcerate--heads of state, especially when those individuals’ governments have refused to submit their citizens to the ICC process. Success, it seems, is highly unlikely. produced are brought to developing countries, they are often marked up to extremely high prices. Medicines account for 20 to 60 percent of health spending in developing countries, as compared to the 18 percent of richer OECD countries. Moreover, up to 90 percent of medicine purchases in developing countries are made by family out of pocket payments, causing a huge financial burden. Even at normal prices, medicine is unaffordable for many but with the high markups some countries are facing, access is nearly impossible. Markup rates as high as 694 percent in India and 6894 percent in El Salvador have been recorded.

Without the pharmaceutical industry, modern medicine and millions of lives would be radically different. However, there is so much opportunity to make positive impact on the world and still make a profit.

The growing involvement of groups like the Bill Gates Foundation and governments in partnerships with the industry to promote more equitable pricing and research practices show hope for a better future.

A PRI L 8, 2015 | 3

Paradigm Shift in Automation Needed Maximilian Fiege Independent Writer

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s the TransAsia Airways flight 325 flight took off from the Taiwanese capital of Taipei, its cockpit was soon thrown into disarray by warnings notifying the pilots that one of the its engines had begun to idle. Standard procedure dictated turning off the suspect engine, as the ATR 72 model can still remain airborne with only one engine running. Instead, the pilots chose to panic and shut off the working engine, leading the aircraft to careen into the Keelung river just a minute removed from Songshan airport. As a result, 40 of the 58 passengers perished. Had chief pilot Liao Chien-tsung not redirected its crash course, the airplane would have collided into a densely populated commercial section of the city.

In the morbid realm of airliner crashes, this story is not uncommon.

A well-known report by the National Transportation Safety Board in 1994 determined that 31 of 37 major commercial airliner accidents between 1978 and 1990 occurred due to cockpit crews incorrectly interpreting the airplane’s autopilot mechanisms.

This trend has unfortunately persisted more recently, with flights such as Colgan Air 3407 and Air France 447 in 2009, as well as AirAsia QZ8501 in 2014, all crashing due to pilot incompetence.

Aviation experts are still quick to point out that commercial airlines have never been safer. The number of global commercial crashes has dropped drastically from its height of 55 in 1972 to 12 in 2014, with the lowest number being 10 in 2012.

There has been an inverse correlation between this drop and the exponential increase of aviation automation.

The augmented role of the autopilot in the cockpit has allowed for greater precision in flying, leading to safer maneuvers, especially in poor weather conditions. This greater reliance on automation has affected pilots. The current model for navigation has relegated the pilot to a passive actor, in charge of monitoring systems in an unnatural manner that. A pilot will, on average, directly control the plane for only a few minutes per flight, usually during takeoff and landing. For the most part, their job is to monitor a system that works 99 percent of the time and respond in cases of emergency. Indeed, the original roles of

the caravel’s two cents

Alex Barnes Staff Writer My experience writing for the front page of The Caravel has let me explore topics I might not have otherwise considered through a truly global lens.

Maximilian Fiege Independent Writer

Tarik Endale Independent Writer

Working with the Caravel has been a great way to devote my writing abilities to matters more serious than usual college papers write about.

Writing for The Front Page has helped me look at public health and other topics from a much broader perspective than usual.

“I can explore topics I never considered through a truly global lens.”

-Alex Barnes

artificial intelligence (A.I.) and human pilots have become reversed.

Knowing that they are not needed for hours at a time, it becomes near impossible for pilots not to lose focus. Over the course of a flight, the airplane’s system will be switching throughout a myriad of modes, and the pilot must be aware of what the computers were doing prior to that moment; otherwise, the pilot could potentially be responding with improper protocols. These lapses in judgment provide the evidence necessary for a paradigm shift in our usage of A.I. The automation of public transportation is coming. Google has received much acclaim for its research and development in the realm of autonomous cars. Multiple projects

throughout Europe are experimenting with driverless shuttles and buses.

Even the train industry is heading in a similar direction, having suffered from the same problem of passivity as the airline industry. Acknowledging this progression, governments and companies should reevaluate how A.I. pervades our daily lives. The implementation of automation needs to be human-centered. Instead of pilots, drivers, and engineers acting as safety nets for machines and algorithms, A.I. should be serving that purpose.

This move from a human-passive to a human-active paradigm takes advantage of the expanded capabilities of A.I. in our era, as well as playing to the strengths of the individuals tasked with navigation.

Transportation finds itself in

limbo, between computer-assisted and autonomous. If we are to assume that humans are necessary elements of navigation, the only way to increase safety is to reform the present system of automation. Passive automation has made the airline industry one of the world’s safest ways to travel, and knowing that accidents are the result of human lapses, reforming automation could potentially eliminate nearly all of the danger from the process.

Furthermore, systems of human-centered automation, where autopilot acts as the safety net, could provide the framework for automation in other transportation industries, easing the adoption curve. Technology should exist to aid us, not to replace us.

A Second Glance at Western Altruism Tarik Endale Independent Writer

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n a world of rapid communication, instant gratification, and speedy travel, activism, and altruism has found new life and a new buzzword: awareness.

The Kony 2012 campaign is a recent high profile example. The brainchild of Jason Russel, Invisible Children attempted to raise awareness and funds with the goal of stopping Joseph Kony, the leader of Uganda’s infamous Lords Resistance Army.

The video campaign went viral and Invisible Children raised almost $20 million through donations and “awareness products” such as t-shirts and bracelets.

On the surface, the campaign is extremely successful. But as novelist and Georgetown professor Dinaw Mengistu wrote, “Change has never come with a click, or a tweet; lives are not saved by bracelets.” The fundamental flaw of Kony 2012, and many other campaigns or organizations, is simplification. The campaign took the complex situation in Uganda, narrowed down on one man, then asserted that the solution was a click of a button or a small purchase. The only reason Joseph Kony had not been arrested was supposedly due to oblivion in the West. Even the name of the organization has connotations of the colonist’s attitude toward “the new world”. Something does not exist if we do not know about it. However, to the families terrorized by LRA child kidnappings in Northern Uganda, their children were never invisible.

The infantilization of Africa, its many dynamics and its complex issues is what allows a campaign like this to thrive while simultaneously ignoring the years of UN, Ugandan, and Sudanese efforts to ameliorate the situation. Willful ignorance is just as pervasive in another altruism-based industry: voluntourism. Every year, well-off westerners decide to combine volunteer work with a trip to an exotic locale, paying organizations to work on projects such as building houses, educating children, or taking care of orphans. It is a rapidly growing industry; over 1.6 million tourists spend about $2 billion each year.

This industry has a major pitfall.

Many organizations facilitating these trips focus more on the experience of the volunteer than on the actual communities involved. For the organization, accommodations and staffing required for these trips often come with high overhead costs, resulting in increased efforts to please tourists for additional revenue. In situations where the organization works with schools, resources are often diverted from caring for those who need them most to take care of the volunteers’ needs. The trips are mostly short term and involve unsustainable, low skill work. They often drive out local workers who may benefit from the service being provided by outside volunteers and rarely ask or consider what the local population wants or needs.

One illustrative example is that of an American church that partnered with a church in Haiti to build houses for local residents. The volunteers paid their fees, arrived, built the

houses, and promptly left. The Haitian families moved in, but very soon returned to begging for money and food. The underlying issue for this community was poverty, and building houses did nothing to alleviate the lack of jobs, education, or professional skills endemic there.

In South Africa, a particularly popular travel option is volunteering as a short-term caregiver to AIDS orphans. A report by the Human Sciences Research Council outlined many of the issues surrounding the growing niche market. Due to large unemployment and poverty in the area, a large number of local youth would be grateful for opportunities that promise a consistent and long term source of care. Instead, tourists are paying to take those spots for short periods of time. This is potentially harmful to the orphans, who have already lost their parents and are now constantly making new intimate bonds that are terminated as soon as volunteers leave.

There are organizations that get it right, providing donations that do in fact make a difference. They work through existing local infrastructure, avoid quick projects with little long term impact, and focus on finding and addressing local needs in cooperation with the community. Due diligence is key to dispelling what has been referred to SCAN THE QR CODE as the “white-savFOR FRP NEWS ior industrial complex”.

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EAST ASIA & OCEANIA Abbott Denies Apology to Recently Cleared Guantanamo Bay Inmate Summer Lyle-Holmes Staff Writer

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avid Hicks, a 39 year-old Australian inmate at Guantanamo Bay from 2001-2007, has just been declared innocent by the U.S. military court.

Although Hicks’s charges have been dropped, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and former Prime Minister John Howard, who was in office throughout Hicks’ detention at Guantanamo, have maintained that regardless of his official criminal status, Hicks remains guilty of heinous acts, and thus the

government refuses to issue an apology. Hicks himself has not requested one, but has stated that he wants monetary compensation from the government to cover his medical costs resulting from injuries incurred while he was kept in ‘torturous’ conditions at Guantanamo.

Hicks was caught by the Northern Alliance while at an al-Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in 2001 and handed over to the United States. He was convicted of materially supporting terrorism in March 2007 after he was supposedly coerced into a

Killings of Japanese Hostages by the Islamic State Rikako Murakami Independent Writer

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video released on February 1 by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) showed the beheading of Kenji Goto, the second of the two executed Japanese journalists, and marked the end of a hostage standoff that alerted Japan about the increasing threat of ISIS in the Middle East.

On January 20, The Islamic State published a video demanding a ransom of $200 million in exchange for the release of their two Japanese hostages, Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. The request is considered to be pointing directly to the same amount of money that the Japense Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to assist other countries in fighting ISIS earlier that month. Abe responded firmly by pledging not to yield to terrorism, and failed to negotiate before the deadline the militants declared..

The hostage takers then asked on January 27 for the release of an Iraqi suicide bomber held captive in Jordan in exchange for Mr. Goto’s survival, a request that Abe also declined Four days later, the second execution took place. “Let the nightmare for Japan begin,” said the hostage taker in the SCAN THE QR CODE video before killing Mr. Goto.

FOR EAO NEWS Unlike the United States and other western allies, Japan had been relatively

distant from terrorist attacks by ISIS. The 12 day hostage crisis thus came as a shock to the Japanese public. Following the death report of Goto, his mother Junko Ishido said on Sunday, “My son’s final act was to go to Syria to help a fellow Japanese, [Mr.Yukawa], please understand his kindness and courage”. In a country where a sense of family and community is well respected, the Japanese public showed great sympathy and attention to Abe’s handling of the situation. “Japan has not seen this Western-style expression in its diplomacy before,” Akihisa Nagashima, a former vice minister of defense wrote on Twitter, concerning whether Abe means to shift away from pacifist beliefs that Japan has long endured by backing up with military efforts.

Japan’s pacifist ideology, or “weak-kneed diplomacy” from critics’ perspective, has always prioritized its citizens’ safety. Dating back to 1977, the Japanese Red Army, a communist militant group founded in 1971, hijacked a Japan Airlines flight to Dhaka Airport in Bangladesh and took hostage of passengers and crew on board

plea bargain that allowed him to return home to Australia to see out the remaining months of his sentence. Hicks’ father Terry told the Guardian that the plea bargain must be considered in the context of the conditions at Guantanamo Bay. Hicks himself has spoken in detail about the treatment he received while at the prison, recounting periods of solitary confinement, systematic drugging and frequent beating. It is this conduct that lies at the root of Hicks’s quest for government compensation for his medical care, and presumably the Opposition leader Bill Shorten’s concession that ‘clearly there has been an injustice done to him [Hicks]’ while he ‘was probably foolish to get caught up in that Afghanistan conflict.’

It is notable that any conception of injustice, whether by Shorten or the American courts, is concerned with the judicial process or the conditions of Hicks’s prison stay, and not his guilt in becoming involved in terrorist operations. This would be because Hicks himself has admitted to his involvement with al-Qaeda and even to swap for imprisoned JRA members in addition to $6 million ransom.

Former Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda fully met their demand and responded, “The weight of a human life is heavier than the earth itself ”.

Despite many arguments made from both sides in support or against Fukuda’s decision in the Dhaka crisis, Abe’s response towards ISIS has surely affected opinions on the role of the Japanese government. A New York Times article published on February 1 read, “Departing From Japan’s Pacifism, Shinzo Abe Vows Revenge for Killings,” which states that Abe outrageously promised to “make the terrorist pay the price.” A Japanese newspaper organization, in contrast, explained that use of the word “revenge” was too aggressive and that Abe only means “bring to justice,” rather than resort to military actions.

The videos of the two Japanese hostages reaching Japan raised Japanese public awareness of ongoing fight against ISIS, and may provide political capital for Abe to pursue “active pacifism” . If Abe decides to do so, the hostage crisis would prove to be a turning point for his future measures regarding the Middle East, and in presenting Japan’s international image.

meetings with Osama Bin Laden himself. On these grounds, Australian Attorney-General George Brandis argues that under current law, Hicks’s conviction would be valid, but it is simply because his crimes took place before the introduction of the counter-terrorism laws in 2002 that his sentence was able to be overturned, and ‘not about whether he carried out the activities of which he was accused.’

Abbott also claimed, ‘I am not in the business of apologising for the actions that Australian governments take to protect our country,’ seamlessly bringing the security versus individual

liberty debate to the crowded table.

It seems that the Australian government has clearly taken a position which prioritizes security above liberty. Sidestepping the question of whether or not Hicks was unfairly treated, falsely imprisoned, and unjustifiably tried, government officials emphasize that he was incarcerated because of the fact that he was, by his own admission, involved with terrorism in the Middle East. Therefore, the handling of the situation was done according to the best interests of Australia’s and the United States’s national security, and this consideration trumps even the lawfulness of the act.

This attitude is particularly understandable in light of Australia’s recent history with terrorism, including the Sydney Siege and Brisbane and Sydney raids over a suspected ISIS plot.

As a result, Australia is both justifiably more alert to security threats and its public is more likely to support a tougher stance against terrorism, thus making Abbott’s position pragmatically and politically valid, if somewhat lacking in compassion.

the caravel’s two yen

Jackie Landry Researcher

Lynn Lee Researcher

Yuki Shimizu Researcher

I have always been interested in International relations particularly in the East Asia due to my background. I also like how The Caravel is relatively new and has a lot of potential.

There have been so much school work that I have had less and less time to read newspaper.

Researching and writing blurbs for EAO were good reasons to keep up with current affairs.

For travel enthusiasts like myself, a new line of the Hokuriku Shinkansen in Japan opened in March, making it faster and more convenient to reach cities in the northwest of the peninsula.

“KEEP CALM AND READ THE CARAVEL” -Lynn Lee

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Diversity in Membership Shows ‘China-led Development Bank’ Gaining Clout Andrea Moneton Staff Writer

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fter the United Kingdom announced its decision to become a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) earlier in March, France, Italy, and Germany followed suit last week and committed to joining the AIIB’s founding ranks. Australia recently declared that it would also become a founding member of the Bank, and the IMF announced its plans to cooperate with the AIIB. Spearheaded by the Chinese government, the bank’s conception and construction have been mired in controversy. The United States is the AIIB’s leading critic, and the new membership of American allies will surely create new questions about the bank’s future place in the world. The commitment of European countries to the AIIB not only benefits the countries themselves but also lends legitimacy to China in its endeavor.

continued from pg.1 as one of its top priorities.

Although the government is making efforts to reduce smog around major cities, many experts insist that the government must invest even more energy into tackling this problem.

Beijing, one of the most notoriously smog-inflicted cities, initiated a 5-year plan in 2013 to reduce the PM 2.5 density by 20 percent by 2017. This plan includes various measures, such as forbidding the use of coal in certain areas, engaging with the community, and investing more than 10 billion RMB ($1.5 billion) into reducing smog around the city. Despite these advances, issues with government oversight still remain, as demonstrated in the comment of scholar Qin Dahe with the Chinese Academy of Sciences: “Problems such as administration loopholes, weak public awareness and lack of supervision still exist.” This claim demonstrates that the people recognize that implementing new technologies must be paired with strong political will to enforce environmental regulations. Perhaps Xi’s announcement was meant to signal increased government willingness to forcefully address the problem of enforcement.

However, this commitment fails to achieve its desired impact when considering the recent censorship of

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank’s ultimate goal is to stimulate the regional economy. As its name suggests, it will focus mainly on encouraging private sector construction and development of infrastructure.

Currently the bank has more than 30 members in its founding body and is set to launch sometime next year.

Chinese president Xi Jinping first brought up the prospect of creating a bank led by an Asian power in October 2013 in Indonesia, announcing his goal to create a new development bank similar to the World Bank specifically for the Asia-Pacific region.

The announcement came only days after the US-led Asian Development Bank projected that regional growth would slow, and this timing offered a first glimpse into how the project would evolve into another aspect of the rivalry between China and the United States.

Indeed, the project’s controversy has stemmed mostly from United States’s questioning of China’s motives. The United States claims that

another international bank would be redundant and that it merges China’s ambitions to become a regional economic and political power. In addition, it could potentially rival other previously established international financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank.

Although these claims have some validity, maintaining the status quo is in U.S. interests, as the existing international financial institutions are mostly led and funded by the United States. From the US perspective, the AIIB competes not only with these existing institutions, but also with the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership, of which China has yet to become a member.

However, the participation of European nations in the AIIB demonstrates that focusing on underlying intentions of the major proponents and opponents of the project is beside the point. The European nations who joined the Bank in past weeks have traditionally been strong allies of the United States, and their decision to join the AIIB, shows that they are moving away from politics to consider actual economic needs throughout Asia.

The establishment of the AIIB

means that future Chinese investments across Asia are more likely to benefit locals than past Chinese projects. Since the bank’s governing body, not the Chinese government, would control how funds are allocated, this structure would help avoid controversies similar to those that arose in Africa and ensure that projects employ local labor and create jobs, instead of importing Chinese workers. The European countries that have pledged to join the AIIB could also play a role in ensuring that China is not unfairly advantaged, as well as bring in Western ideals such as workplace safety regulations that could help raise living standards in regions in which the AIIB invests.

This shift in focus from politics to concrete change means both businessmen and politicians around the world are sure to keep a close eye on the development of the AIIB’s membership and its implementation. Controversy surrounding the bank, however, is not likely to clear up in the near future.

Ultimately, the diversity of founding members and alliances with other institutions show that even if China has underlying intentions, the AIIB seems poised to make a real difference in the lives of locals across Asia.

the Chinese environmental documentary, Under the Dome. In this film, former CCTV investigative journalist Chai Jing identifies China’s reliance on its coal and steel production industries, as well as the powerless government department responsible for environmental issues, as the main sources of China’s smog problem.

Yet hidden underneath her message was a veiled critique of the central government, as each problem stems from the lack of resolve to punish offenders and strengthen regulation.

She even criticized the historic climate change deal inked by China and the U.S. in November 2014, saying that China’s pledge to cap carbon intensity by 2030 means that its pollution will keep growing until then, despite the current deplorable situation.

Released on February 28, this video reached 200 million views within 48 hours before it was removed from all Chinese media sites on March 7.

Evidently, the central government hopes to solve China’s environmental problems through technical solutions instead of reforming the structure of its economy by replacing jobs in the coal and steel industries with those in cleaner energies such as oil and renewables. In other words, the government plans to tackle the symptoms of pollution by implementing technical improvements at a methodical pace

instead of addressing the root causes of the problem. Unfortunately, time is not a luxury that China can afford with its deteriorating environmental situation.

The environmental problems that China faces have forced Xi into a nearly intractable situation. Although he has repeatedly affirmed the commitment of the central government to addressing pollution, particularly smog, its actions will only have temporary benefits at best. As Chai Jing explained in her now censored documentary, the source of smog stems from the very industries that China relies on to drive its growth in the short term. Placing additional regulations on these industries, let alone abandoning them altogether, would

send a negative shock through China’s economy, which is still adjusting to a slowdown in annual growth. As such, Xi must balance meaningful responses to environmental threats with the maintenance of both the Chinese economy and a credible image of the central government. His actions may not seem enough, but they thus far lie within the realistic boundaries that Xi can achieve without disrupting China’s economic growth. However, if Xi can adapt his current crackdown on corruption within the Communist Party to punish those who take advantage of legal loopholes to emit excessive pollution, perhaps it can be the first step to building political will to tackle pollution’s root causes.

EDITORS’ COLUMN: Tomoyuki Shikata & JJ Phang

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ast Asia and Oceania remains the world’s growth engine, largely fueled by rapid industrialization and international trade. The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a financial institution proposed by China, symbolizes the new financial muscle of the region.

However, whether the upward trend in the Asia-Pacific region will continue or not is another question. President Abe’s economic policies, or Abenomics, have so far failed to significantly enhance the Japanese economy. China’s economic growth hit a 24 year low.

These recent economic slowdowns cloud the pleasant picture of the Asia’s future. Apart from simply achieving high economic growth, the region has new challenges in order to sustain its future development.

The increasing prosperity of the region is attracting an influx of foreigners, which in turn poses new challenges to the receiving countries. Although Australia has been one of the major immigrant-receiving countries, the issue of asylum seekers is a contentious wedge issue. Countries that suffer from aging population are also seeking ways to deal with growing multiculturalism in their societies.

The crowning of Ariana Miyamoto, an afro-Japanese beauty queen, as Miss Universe Japan has brought heated debate in the country that possesses an extremely homogenous population. As the increase of international migration is inevitable, successful integration of immigrants would be a key challenge for sustainable development in these countries.

Furthermore, most Asian countries have made the mistake of aiming for growth at the expense of the environment. The countries now face a hard trade-off between the goals of economic growth and environmental sustainability. The Chinese government censorship on the film “Under the Dome,” which investigates the roots of China’s smog problem, shows the dilemma that developing nations in the region face. To advance sustainable development, it is indispensable to change the course of conventional economic growth in the region, which has enjoyed rapid economic growth but faces environmental challenges.

6 | APRIL 8 , 2 0 1 5

EASTERN EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIA EDITORS’ COLUMN: Morgan Forde & Mack Feldman

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year after its explosive opening, the ongoing Ukrainian crisis has exposed deep sociopolitical issues not only in its own country, but also in much of Eastern Europe, and of course, Russia. The crisis has rippled further east into parts of the world often untouched

by Western media, including Central Asia and the Caucasus. In the West, perspectives on this region often lack the broader historical context that makes these issues so fascinating and gravely important to the greater international system.

For this reason, we chose to devote our column to showcasing local journalists who risk their lives doing what we cannot…

Journalist Viktor Kovalenko faces a choice between a free press and national pride everyday while reporting as a press officer in Kyiv’s 40th Battalion in eastern Ukraine.

In February, Kovalenko’s battalion was besieged in Debaltseve, Ukraine. Ukrainian President Poroshenko insisted that the troops were well-supplied and ready to break out at any moment, but Viktor revealed a far more gruesome truth. Chaotic and leaderless, the Ukrainian units escaped the encirclement piecemeal and at a heavy cost--Kyiv had abandoned them.

Other journalists avoid the dangers posed by war-reporting while creatively finding scoops from Ukraine. Take Eliot Higgins’ Bellingcat program, a citizen-journalist platform that uses opensource information and geolocation tools to pinpoint the location of verified pictures. Using social media, Bellingcat proved that the Buk missile-launcher thought to have shot down MH-17 in July originated from, and was subsequently returned to Russia. The reports reverberations could have geostrategic consequences.

Eastern Europe and Central Asia encompass a hugely diverse and increasingly volatile contiguous and geopolitical space. The independent reporting that has emerged in response to the crises that now plague the region are a silver lining in an otherwise darkening cloud.

Popemobile Gives Lukashenko a Ride Luis Joy Staff Writer

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he Vatican’s Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, announced that the Holy See is ready to facilitate a rapprochement between Belarus and the European Union. President Aleksandr Lukashenko has ruled Belarus for over 20 years and is known in the West as the “last dictator of Europe.”

His country’s human rights record and political crackdown during the last election in 2011 has lead many European countries to impose a travel ban on him; since then, Belarus has been ostracized from Western forums.

Lukashenko has remained steady in his authoritarian rule, maintained a Russia-oriented foreign policy, and kept the EU at arms length. However, Lukashenko’s key role in pushing for peace in the Ukrainian conflict has raised his prestige and respect within the EU. Lukashenko famously hosted the latest 4-way talks between the leaders of France, Germany, Ukraine, and Russia that produced the “Minsk

II” accord. Amid the current geopolitical environment, certain EU politicians have alluded to extending an olive branch to Belarus, and it appears that the Vatican is more than willing to help the two normalize relations.

The Holy See, under the papacy of Pope Francis, has engaged in serious diplomatic processes. In December, both Presidents Barack Obama and Raúl Castro of Cuba gave credit to Pope Francis for his pivotal role in brokering the talks between the two countries. Last summer, the Pope hosted President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority and former President Shimon Peres of Israel in a bid to pray for peace. The Holy See and the People’s Republic of China do not have official diplomatic relations, but Pope Francis has insisted that he wants to begin talking with the country’s leadership.

The Vatican’s diplomacy is geared toward personal diplomacy, in which enemies can come together to discuss their differences in efforts to seek a solution. Now the Vatican is ready to

ease tensions in Europe by aiding the EU-Belarus dialogue.

The European geopolitical layout changed drastically in 2014 following the fall of Ukraine’s Viktor Yanukovych and Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. Pledges from the Russian Federation to protect the “Russian world” struck fear into peripheral countries with sizeable Russian populations – including Belarus. The nerve-racking environment of early 2014 has died down, but Ukraine is still simmering and all parties are invested in ensuring that Minsk II holds. However, discussions between the EU and Belarus are likely to stumble over Belarus’s deplorable human rights record. Belarus has political prisoners, journalists in jail, and a political opposition that faces an uphill battle against the state--aspects of internal governance that make European idealists uneasy. The Vatican nonetheless helped the United States and Cuba come to an understanding, in spite of the US’s open disdain for the Cuban regime, so that the two

may coexist peacefully. Perhaps the world can expect the Holy See to push for a similar deal with Belarus.

The progress of these talks, if any, will most likely be gradual. Brussels’s overture to Minsk comes in the context of Belarus’s avid bids for peace in Ukraine. Several questions are thus raised. What will happen to this process if the conflict in Ukraine ends? Will the EU still push for a lenient human rights deal for the sake of political expediency? Belarus is not reaching out to the EU in a bid to leave Moscow’s orbit; it is still a founding nation of the Eurasian Economic Union and formally in a Union State with Russia. In the most recent summit, the Eurasian Economic Union mulled the idea of creating a common currency for the bloc. It remains to be seen whether this thaw in Belarus-EU relations will be a genuine process that can outlast the conflict in Ukraine, and survive despite the abysmal state of EU-Russia relations.

Iran, Russia Sign Military Cooperation Accord Ana Rosic Independent Writer

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n January 20, Russia and Iran signed a military cooperation agreement during Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu’s visit to Iran.

Shoigu met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Dehghan in Tehran to discuss the terms of the agreement and hold an official signing ceremony.

It was the first time in 15 years that Iran has received a visit from a Russian defense minister, though Shoigu and Dehghan had met previously in Moscow last May. Shoigu commented that this new military cooperation pact would be the next step in strengthening relations between the two countries that have been growing stronger in recent years. Iran and Russia have both been subject to recent Western sanctions, and both countries have regional interests in the Middle East as well as opposition to United States’s foreign policy.

According to Shoigu, the agreement lays out “a theoretical framework of cooperation in the military sphere,” and includes increases in

exchange of military personnel for training purposes, in the number of port visits by each country’s navy, and in cooperation for counter-terrorism strategies.

There was no mention of arms trade negotiations, as there is still tension resulting from the abrogation of an $800 million contract signed in 2007 for the sale of five Russian S-300 missile systems to Iran. Russia cancelled the missile delivery, and put a halt to all military technical cooperation in 2010 after the UN Security Council sanctioned Iran over its nuclear program. The Center for Analysis of World Arms Trade in Moscow reported that Russia lost an estimated $13 billion in arms contracts because of the sanctions. While the Geneva court has not yet made a ruling on the case, Russian media reports claim that the two countries have agreed to settle their differences over the deal, but no specifics have emerged as to what action will be taken.

Enmity towards the United States is a large factor in bringing Iran and Russia closer together. Minister Dehghan blamed the declining security

situation in the Middle East, and the rest of the world, on the United States’ involvement in the domestic affairs of other countries.

Dehghan asserted that Iran and Russia “as two neighbors,” have common viewpoints towards regional, global, and political issues, and that Russia and Iran have the power to “confront the expansionist intervention and greed of the United States through cooperation, synergy and activating strategic potential capacities.”

Recent nuclear talks on Iran in Geneva preceded the recent military agreement. A spokesperson for the European Union said the talks were “serious and useful,” while others said they were difficult and showed little hope for progress. There were unconfirmed reports of a tentative agreement that would reduce Tehran’s nuclear capabilities by committing the country to ship much of the required materials to Russia, a move that may have spurred this new relationship between the two countries.

The Geneva talks will resume once again at senior-official level early next month, with Secretary of State John

Kerry speaking for the United States and Jarad Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Iran. The six-power group involved in the negotiations is chaired by the EU and includes the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

The group has set a March deadline to agree on a framework for the deal and a deadline of late June to complete the deal. There has been no comment from the group members on the new military agreement between Russia and Iran, but it is very likely that it will have some effect on the outcome of the nuclear talks. As it stands, Iran can either continue with its nuclear program or abandon it to win the removal of Western sanctions and move forward in its trade relationship with Russia. Either way, Iran’s priorities will be clear by the end of June.

Editor’s Note: The negotiations referenced concluded as of last week, with the framework agreement on April 2.

Access the full version via gucaravel. com.

A PRI L 8, 2015 | 7

Moldova on Front Lines of Russia’s Propaganda War April Gordon Independent Writer

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n March 17, Moldovan President Nicolae Timofti declared his intent to ban Russian politicians from entering Moldova outside of official visits. Timofti alleged that Russian diplomats were guilty of spreading subversive, pro-Russian propaganda throughout the country and had persisted in interfering in local election campaigns in Moldova’s autonomous territory of Gagauzia, despite the Moldovan government’s repeated warnings.

Timofti’s comments come after a series of victories by pro-Russian forces in Moldovan politics this year, causing domestic politicians and international observers to seriously reconsider the country’s Western tilt and EU trajectory. Despite Moldova’s signing of the EU Association Agreement last summer, there has been a recent upsurge in pro-Russian sentiment. In Moldova’s parliamentary elections in November 2014, the pro-Russia Socialist and Communist parties had a surprisingly strong showing, resulting in a much more narrow victory for the Alliance for Europe coalition than previously forecasted. Moldova’s future in the EU was

Morgan Forde Editor

a major issue in the elections, with the Socialist and Communist Parties campaigning openly as pro-Moscow and anti-Bucharest.

Gagauzia has been a major leverage point for Russian political influence in the country. Like Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria, the historically russified territory also fought for independence from Moldova in the early 1990s. Rather than following Transnistria’s example to become a “frozen conflict,” however, Gagauzia agreed to rejoin Moldova as an autonomous region in 1994. Since then, Gagauzia’s relationship with the central Moldovan government has remained tense, and both economic and cultural links to Russia have held strong. A February 2014 referendum made Gagauz pro-Russian popular opinion unmistakably clear as the local population voted overwhelmingly to reject membership in the EU

Mack Feldman Associate Editor

Morgan studies IPOL with a focus on Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She hopes to travel the region

by Trans-Siberian rail and ride a bear.

“Democ­racy is the worst form of Gov­ ern­ment except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Winston Churchill

Stefania Lazar Staff Lazar

Kayla Noguchi Independent Writer

Stefania’s obsession with EECA stems from the region’s riveting history of the region and the mouthwatering food, but mostly the food.

Writing about Turkey, she dreams of returning to swim in the Med and devour Turkish Delight to her heart’s content.

Ana Rosic Independent Writer Born in Belgrade, Ana immigrated to the United States at 5, and has always been interested in the culture and politics of the region.

in favor of absorption into Russia’s Eurasian Customs Union.

Moscow has gone to great lengths to strengthen this relationship with Gagauzia, most recently supporting the Socialist candidate for the territory’s governor, Irina Vlah, an outspoken proponent of the Eurasian Union. According to the central Moldovan government, however, Russia’s influence in Gagauzia has overstepped its bounds, devolving into a political force that is openly hostile and subversive to the central government.

In a recent statement endorsing Vlah, an unnamed Russian deputy commented, “We know that Gagauzia speaks Russian perfectly and that every Gagauz citizen considers himself a part of the Russian world. But, unfortunately, the government of Moldova complicates relations with Russia, causing the Gagauz to suffer.” Such propagandistic statements designed to sabotage Moldova’s movement toward achieving EU membership prompted President Timofti’s proposed ban of Russian politicians from unauthorized entry into the country. Whether Timofti’s actions will be enough to slow the momentum of Russian propaganda remains to be seen.

It is clear that the problem of subversive Russian propaganda is not

April Gordon Independent Writer

Luis Joy Staff Writer

April is studying IPOL and Russian and Eurasian Studies. After graduation, she plans to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a goat herder.

I am a sophomore in the SFS majoring in International History from San Juan.

I’m enthusiastic about Eurasian, in light of the conflict in Ukraine.

meet the EECA staff

unique to Moldova, causing particular alarm in the Western-leaning governments of Ukraine, Georgia, and the Baltic states. The EU recently recognized the prevalence of Russia’s “disinformation campaign” in former Soviet bloc countries as a major security concern, prompting Brussels to develop an action plan for “strategic communication” in Eastern Europe in addition to continued commitment to their ongoing economic sanctions

against Russia. Up to this point, however, EU attention to capturing hearts and minds in areas of high Russian sympathies has been conspicuously lacking. It may prove difficult to turn the tide of the Russian propaganda machine, which has been running at full force. Like President Timofti’s ban, these EU actions run the danger of simply being too little, too late.

Kazakhstan and Russia: Too Close for Comfort Stefania Lazar Staff Writer

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azakhstan seems to be using a very Russian approach to deal with internal turmoil. Could Russia potentially transform the former member of the Soviet bloc into a modern 21st century satellite? And most importantly, do these similarities mark the official establishment of a modern sphere of Russian influence?

Kazakhstan is a former Soviet nation led by President Nusultan Nazabayev, who has held the position since 1991, when Kazakh gained independence from the Soviet Union. The president’s close relations with Russia and the country’s influential Russian minority have significantly affected internal political approaches, mostly to the disadvantage of the population at large. The government recently shut down nonviolent protests, claiming that such protests could easily get out of hand and lead to Ukrainian-like civil turmoil. These restrictions make for a cloying “peace” in Kazakhstan, a façade plastered over a country overrun with ethnic disagreements.

Clashes between Kazakhstan’s over 140 ethnic minorities come as no surprise, but the excessive efforts of the Kazakh government to block the nature of these clashes from the general public has struck many external actors as suspect.

Recently, news of ethnic tumult that resulted in the murder of a Kazakh villager at the hands of his Tajik neighbor shook southern Kazakhstan. Disagreements between the two groups have produced an undeniable sense of uneasiness throughout the region, which spread throughout the country. The government has censored reports of the event and only those providing a very general, non-ethnically-oriented perspective,

have been made available to the general public. Such a restrictive approach to news, in an era when journalists pride themselves on honesty and transparency, has the rest of the world worried about the Kazakh future overrun by serious infringements on civil rights.

On the other hand, the Kazakh government’s fears of internal unrest are not unfounded. There are uncomfortable parallels between Kazakhstan and Ukraine in the recent years. Both countries harbor a large ethnic Russian minority; 17.3 percent of Ukrainians are ethnically Russian, while 21 percent of Kazakhstan’s population is ethnically Russian. Eastern Ukrainian is heavily russified, as is Kazakhstan’s northern region. President Nazabayev’s worries about Kazakhstan’s future in relation to Russia are valid, but some find his and his subordinates’ approach to these incidents somewhat oppressive. It is also important to note that the uprisings President Nazabayev fears were pro-Western and occurred in response to Russian presence in the country. Aversion towards pro-European protests again demonstrates Russian influence seeping into Kazakhstan’s internal politics.

The main worry from the Western perspective is Kazakhstan’s willingness to resort to measures that limit the population’s freedom of speech in relation to Russia’s similar efforts to suppress pro-European movements in Ukraine. On the other hand, Kazakhstan’s president is attempting to keep peace within his country through the implementation of the aforementioned measures SCAN THE QR CODE as well as glossing FOR EECA NEWS over the ethnic nature of civil conflicts.

8 | APRIL 8 , 2 0 1 5

LATIN AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN EDITOR’S COLUMN: Daniel Sandoval

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he Western Hemisphere is headed for yet another awkward reunion. On April 10 and 11, the Summit of the Americas will bring the region’s leaders together to discuss common values and address shared challenges. The summit is the perfect setting to discuss the current state of affairs in LAC, as it illustrates relations across the hemisphere.

The summit may have good intentions to provide a forum for discussion, but given the fractured relations that define diplomacy in the Americas, it is bound to become a grand stage for political intrigue. This year will feature Cuban President Raul Castro, whose country has been barred from attending the event ever since 1994.

However, the shadow of the U.S.’s deteriorating relationship with Venezuela hangs over the conference. As a long-standing supporter of Venezuela, Cuba may be forced to choose between an old ally with a wavering economy and an old rival offering a truce. Venezuela and its allies can potentially turn the conference into a bitter fight and further split the region. It remains to be seen whether moderate states like Brazil and Argentina will choose to get involved with this latest clash.

Despite the political infighting, there are urgent issues the conference should address.

Most of Latin America is facing economic difficulties that deserve multilateral discussion and would benefit from sharing ideas on how to relieve widespread inequality.

Furthermore, Colombia will likely finish its peace negotiations in the course of 2015, making it crucial for the international community to determine how to best support the negotiation results.

The 2015 Summit of the Americas will be critical to the region’s diplomatic development.

The region’s heads of state will determine whether the summit becomes a showcase of renewed Cuba-US relations, a stage for Venezuelan complaints, or a forum for productive discussion.

Colombian Court Called into Question Jesse Reiff Independent Writer

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wo hundred thousand dollars can buy a lot, including, allegedly, the vote of the President of Colombia’s Constitutional Court. Justice Jorge Ignacio Pretelt has been accused of asking the oil company Fidupetrol for $200,000 in exchange for promising to revoke a $9 million fine imposed on the company by a lower court. If Pretelt is found guilty, his conviction would be the largest corruption scandal in the court’s 24-year history.

Understandably, these accusations have “cast doubt on the transparency and honesty of the court,” according to the Inter-Institutional Commission of the Judicial Branch of Colombia. As a result, the other justices that sit on the court have requested the resignation of Justice Pretelt, who has refused to resign, telling the media that this scandal is a plot constructed by the Attorney General of Colombia, Luis Eduardo Montealegre to “take over the court.” Pretelt insinuated that the

Santos administration is attempting to remove him from power and replace him with someone more ideologically aligned with the president’s liberal party.

It appears that corruption has reached even the highest rungs of the Colombian government and judicial system. Even the Attorney General himself is not free from scandal. In 2011, it came to light that SaludCoop, where Montealegre was a judicial advisor, illegally embezzled approximately $500 million in public health funds. Moreover, the Supreme Court of Colombia has been accused of attempting to suppress evidence in investigations of congressmen with

A (Single) Day of Democracy for Nicaragua Sylvia Cesar Staff Writer

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n February 25, Nicaragua celebrated the “Day of Democracy” for the first time in its history in commemoration of former President Violeta Barrios’s victory in the 1990 elections, a time that, for many, marked the beginning of a true democracy in Nicaragua. Today, 25 years later, the country is led by the Sandinistas, with President Daniel Ortega in power since 2006. Ortega’s recent constitutional reforms and his monopoly over all branches of the state, along with a fragmented political opposition, paint a dim outlook for Nicaragua’s democracy. Many Nicaraguans frustrated with Ortega, both at home and abroad, hope the Day of Democracy will have an impact beyond historical reflection by promoting activism among the opposition.

Ortega is not a new face in Nicaraguan politics. In the 1980s, he led a communist regime as a military commander and was the primary op-

ponent to Barrios in the 1990 election.

During his rule, however, Ortega’s ideology is much more centrist. His first victory in 2006 emerged from relatively transparent elections as a result of a divided opposition and a resurfaced support from Sandinistas. From then on, however, his rule has displayed several features of a single-party dictatorship, becoming more and more stable each year. The Sandinistas hold a majority in Congress while monopolizing the executive ministries, the judiciary, and the electoral council. According to some observers, the 2011 presidential elections in which Ortega ran unconstitutionally were unfair and lacking in transparency. While Organization of American States and European Union observers vaguely expressed criticism, Nicaraguan opponents to Ortega took to the streets the day after the results, demanding a recount.

Perhaps the most prominent example of Ortega’s unconstitutional leadership occurred when he proposed reforms to the constitution in 2013. The reforms would, in

alleged ties to the right-wing paramilitary group AUC. The Accusation Commission of the Colombian House of Representatives, the government body responsible for investigating alleged crimes by top officials, including judges, has been implicated in numerous corruption scandals, such as violating electoral rules.

In response to these immediate corruption allegations, President Santos proposed a number of major changes to the court. The current process to become a justice in the Constitutional Court requires the President to provide a list of justices to Congress, which in turn makes a final choice from the list. Santos now proposes that the justices be selected based on merit by fellow justices from a list provided by the president.

Justices would be required to have 20 years of experience and would not be allowed to practice law for at least five years after retirement. These changes would not directly affect sitting justices, but according to Santos they would “break, once and for all, the

umbilical cord between politics and justice, something which has caused a lot of damage.”

Additionally in response to questions of corruption, Santos proposed replacing the Accusation Commission with a so-called “super commission” that will have increased powers not only to investigate officials but also to suspend and dismiss corrupt officials.

The members of this committee would be initially chosen by the president and later based on merit for a period of eight years. Ultimately Santos said “We cannot tolerate — and will not tolerate — the slightest hint of corruption from those who hold the highest positions in the justice system or any other branch of government.”

While President Santos is attempting to cut off the foot to save the leg, he must truly ponder if the cancer of corruption is contained in order to effectively rout out corruption. That said, these latest measures are likely to increase transparency and honesty among Colombian officials and judges.

the words of Nicaraguan journalist Carlos Chamorro, “legalize everything that until now he has done illegally.”

Among the goals of these reforms were an indefinite re-election for Ortega, a vaguely stipulated “direct democracy” through organs called Sandinista Family Councils, and the involvement of the military in civilian posts in the state. While the majority of civil society, including opposition parties and think tanks, opposed these reforms, one of the more prominent organizations of civil society actually negotiated the reforms privately with Ortega. The Chamber of Private Enterprise, COSEP, managed to secure its power and the private enterprise’s independence from Ortega’s politics, substantially diminishing the undermining effects of the reforms on democratic processes and institutions.

This new “pact” between business leaders and Ortega is in line with his relatively stable macroeconomic policy, marking an important difference between the current regime and that of the 1980s. Government spending is austere, inflation rates are no more than 7 percent, and private investment grows, albeit at a sluggish pace.

While many Nicaraguans fear a rise in gas prices due to Venezuela’s fragile

economy and the consequent decrease in foreign aid from oil revenues, the government does not seem to address this issue in its expectations for 2015.

All the while, the Chinese enterprise HKND has begun preliminary construction of the famous interoceanic canal, a megaproject that inspires much skepticism in terms of its legality and its environmental consequences.

Even though Nicaragua is growing slowly, there is no chaos, and no economic disaster. Ortega and his parades and speeches are kept to the Plaza in central Managua and certain roundabouts, which the rest of Nicaragua avoids on national holidays. The national police is ever more corrupt, taking $10 bribes in exchange for an excused ticket, yet no one seems particularly unsettled. The Sandinistas have a solid base of political support, the country is in relatively good standing, and the opposition has yet to unite into a coalition for next year’s presidential elections; a sense of urgency is missing. According to Violeta Barrios’s daughter, in 1990 “the opposition was as fragmented as it is today,” yet a victory over Ortega, to many, seems even more impossible than the one 25 years ago.

A PRI L 8, 2015 | 9

A Conversation with Yoani Sanchez on Cuba Sylvia Cesar Staff Writer

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eorgetown’s current Yahoo!

Fellow, Yoani Sánchez, met with Georgetown students last Friday to discuss her work as a censored journalist in Cuba and to share her insight on Cuba’s situation since last December. On December 17 last year, a day Sanchez remembers well, President Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro came to an agreement on re-establishing relations between the two countries after more than 50 years of animosity. While the news erupted in headlines all over the world and resonated with a hopeful audience, Sanchez brings us back to the painful reality that is still present in Cuba and reminds us of the slow steps that are being taken to normalize relations.

She also turns our attention to the upcoming Summit of the Americas, a conference held in April in Panama, an opportunity in which leaders can further reach out to Castro in order to establish relations with the island.

Sanchez expressed her optimism on the December 17 agreement while acknowledging the inevitable obstacles that these renewed relations

will face. She expects that an open market between the two countries will certainly bring about positive economic consequences. More remittances, an amplification of Cuba’s private sector through new opportunities, and a slight liberalization of the press are among her expectations from the normalization of relations.

Perhaps the most significant achievement stemming from the end of the embargo, Ms. Sanchez explains, will be how the Cuban government’s old excuses for poor performance will be rendered illegitimate. The oft-alleged symbol of David against Goliath—the American imperial power out to crush the small island—will hold even less credibility once relations resume and Cubans profit from them.

Nevertheless, Sanchez expects that the most difficult obstacle ahead will be changing the mentality Cubans have developed over years of dictatorial regime. “Fear,” she says, “is the greatest tool of the Castro regime,” and it is evident in all aspects of Cuban political culture. The few journalists the Castro regime is willing to tolerate often practice self-censorship, knowing that any form of opposition could result in terrible retaliation. In fact, fear of government is so hard-

wired into Cubans, Sanchez claims, that locals shy away from speaking Castro’s name out loud, instead using a hand gesture to mimic his emblematic beard. The only alternative to fear is escaping the repression, and Sanchez points out this is one of the most unfortunate aspects of Cuba’s situation. Thousands of talented and ambitious Cubans decide to leave the islands to seek refuge, often in the United States. The resulting brain drain deprives Cuba of the hope for future economic restoration.

Cuban civil society was another important topic in Sanchez’s discussion with Georgetown students.

She estimates that in Cuba roughly 10 percent of voters are pro-Castro because of ideological reasons or opportunism. On the other hand, another 10 percent stands in clear opposition to the government and appeals for democracy. In the middle, she claims, there is an 80 percent that will agree with whomever they believe offers them the greatest benefit and improvement of standard of living.

While this group’s position has fluctuated erratically over the past years, Sanchez hopes that opening to trade will empower the private sector and ensure the 80 percent stands with the

the caravel’s two centavos Kytle Tillotson Researcher

Michael Harrison Independent Writer

“In smaller countries, particular stories can be a huge deal. Ecuador’s political system is excessively complex.”

“Latin America is an incredibly diverse continent! Its cultures and politics make it very fun to research and develop stories.”

Jesse Reiff Independent Writer “Latin America is our ‘backyard’ yet many people know little about it and its often complex relationship with the United States.”

Shirley Zhan Independent Writer

“The Caravel helps me keep up with current events in Latin America and spread the news to our readers.”

Brendan Keena Independent Writer “Did you know that Mercosur’s primary international trade agreements are with Israel and Palestine?”

Slyvia Cesar Staff Writer “There are over 30 playlists of Latin music on Spotify.

Basically, no one beats us in music.”

“I love feeling like we write Georgetown’s The Economist.”

-Slyvia Cesar

opposition.

The next political challenge for Cuba will be the Summit of the Americas taking place in Panama, where Cuba will once again participate in the Organization of Americans States after more than 50 years. Sanchez laments the slow pace at which changes are occurring, if at all, and

the secrecy behind the agreements.

However, she thinks there is no turning back from the December 17 agreement, and that it is only a matter of time before Cuba embraces further reforms, such as officially welcoming the Internet. Only time, and perhaps the upcoming Summit, will tell just how much change Cuba undergoes.

Off to the Olympics – Challenges in Rio Shirley Zhan Independent Writer

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ising flags, clutch finishes, and bright stadium lights. The Olympics would not be complete without them.

The Games are an exciting event for everyone: a time for fans to cheer, athletes to shine, and for the host nation to showcase the best of the country.

From the planner’s perspective, however, the greatest challenge comes long before the opening ceremony.

In 2016, the Summer Olympics will be set in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but scandals, protests, and mishaps have created tensions that can be felt in every corner of the nation just as Brazil enters its most intense preparation period.

The seed for unrest was sown early on when it was announced that Brazil would host two mega-events within the span of three years.

Leading up to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Rio, mass protests broke out when protests against increasing bus fares escalated into an all-out attack on the government. Authorities were accused of pouring exorbitant amounts of spending into preparation for the World Cup while failing to provide adequate services to their own citizens. Now, with the Summer Olympics within sight and President Dilma Rousseff re-elected to a second term, more than two million people took to the streets of São Paulo on March 15 in one of the largest political demonstrations in the nation’s history.

Anti-government protests have targeted their attacks against Dilma and her Workers’ Party administration, with some calling for the president’s impeachment over a bribery scandal at Petrobras, the state-owned oil giant.

The protests also come at a time when the nation is desperately grappling with a difficult energy and water crisis, further implicating the current administration for its ineffective policies and neglectful governance.

In addition, the planning period has been fraught with logistical problems with regard to time, infrastructure, and event locations. With deadlines approaching quickly, there has been a great deal of pressure on event planners as they race against the clock to finish building and preparing venues for various sports events.

Furthermore, as São Paulo faces one of its worst-recorded droughts, there is fear that the city could drop as the Olympic host, and there is currently no plan B for a location to host the Olympic soccer tournament. The dirty bay in Rio also adds to the list of complications, as Brazil races against time to clean up the polluted waters of Guanabara Bay, which is supposed to be the venue for the Olympic sailing events. The Brazilian government has pledged to cut the bay’s pollution by 80 percent, but much work remains to be done, and it is still too early to tell whether the bay will be ready in time.

In short, the planning period for the 2016 Summer Olympics appears to be a logistical nightmare for the main planners involved. Brazilians perceived winning the bid as a great opportunity for the nation, but hope and pride quickly deteriorated as feelings of frustration took over instead. Domestic unrest coupled with logistical challenges have made the road to the Olympics a bumpy one for Brazil. In many ways, Brazil is seen as an example of success in Latin America, and for many, Brazil is perceived as a world power. As a country with great potential, Brazil has experienced difficult times reaching that potential. Many problems have become manifest as the Olympics near, and only time will tell SCAN THE QR CODE whether or not FOR LATAMCA NEWS Brazil will be able to pull through and overcome its challenges in time for summer 2016.

10 | APRIL 8 , 2 0 1 5

Edwin Lopez Kelly Lui Tomoyuki Shikata Matthew Whang Jun Jie Phang Morgan Forde Mack Feldman Josephine Moore Samuel Kim Daniel Sandoval Harry Xu Connor Swank Shaiesha Moore Geeva Gopalkrishan Kevin Chen Ho Yao Nian Naa Adjeley Kome-Mensah Sophie Haggerty Alexandra Ma Juan Daniel Gonçalves Brandon Greenblatt Eric Henshall

One week to print Co-Founder & Publisher Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief Co-Founder & East Asia and Oceania Co-Editor Executive Director EDITORIAL BOARD East Asia and Oceania Co-Editor Eastern Europe and Central Asia Editor Eastern Europe and Central Asia Associate Editor Front Page Section Editor Front Page Section Associate Editor Latin America and the Caribbean Editor Latin America and the Caribbean Associate Editor Middle East and North Africa Editor Middle East and North Africa Associate Editor South and Southeast Asia Editor South and Southeast Asia Associate Editor South and Southeast Asia Associate Editor Sub-Saharan Africa Editor Sub-Saharan Africa Associate Editor Sub-Saharan Africa Contributing Editor Western Europe Editor Western Europe Associate Editor Copy Editor EXECUTIVE BOARD

Jeffrey Lin Patrick Lim Rainier Go Margaret Hansen Christopher Zawora

Director of Marketing Director of Public Relations Director of Sales and Director of Design Director of Web Design Web Creator

(ˈkarəˌvel)

caravel (ˈkarəˌvel, -vəl) noun a small, fast Spanish or Portuguese sailing ship of the 15th 17th centuries.

“What is the Caravel?”

“So … are you the sailing club?”

“Caravel—like the ice cream?”

The moment we decided to represent ourselves with the somewhat antiquated choice of word, perhaps a bold marketing move, we anticipated questions about our name.

It was not easy to choose the right name for our organization.

When eleven of our founding members gathered in ICC 219A last March, two names were on the table: “Satellite” and “Caravel”.

After over an hour of debate, two rounds of voting (the first round was too close to call), and dignified defenses by proponents of each name, the majority finally settled on “The Caravel.” It was not an arbitrary decision, nor was it purely

an aesthetic one. Ultimately, we decided on the name because of the parallel we saw between our mission and the purpose that caravels served.

The caravel was unique among its peers in that its original model was weaponless. It embarked on expeditions around the world not to colonize but to explore. As it landed on the shores of the West Indies and the Horn of Africa, it sought to map out and understand the new lands discovered and return home with a web of knowledge to share.

Similarly, The Caravel strives to present an honest rendering of the world, one region at a time, absent of imposition. It is our mission to bring under-reported regions to light as we cover foreign affairs. Through our staff and their respective regional expertise, we aim to deliver news from the local perspective and context so as to create an authentic and comprehensive portrait of each region. Ultimately, we hope to inculcate in both our staff and our readers an enhanced understanding and curiosity about

Edwin Lopez Publisher

W

ednesday, April 1–The realization struck like lightning: Just one week from the rollout of The Caravel, nothing was complete. Like a whirlwind, the publisher arose from his table to inventory the distribution racks across campus, and learned that 19 of the 30 distribution spots needed a newsstand. Meanwhile, the editor-in-chief was at her wit’s end trying to gather sixteen editors for one-ontwo meetings and ensure the articles arrived on time (a feat that remained unfinished on Saturday). The printing press was on call for an unfinished design, as the designer waited for further instructions on the contents of a blank page 20. Everyone had a project underway, and everything was due in two days.

The date was finalized a month before, if not the previous year. From the start, The Caravel envisioned spring 2015 as the newspaper’s print launch. After several concessions on the frequency and quantity, the dream

regions other than their own.

Carrying out our mission has been challenging at times. A telling example is the question, “Where does Afghanistan belong?” In the beginning of The Caravel’s life, an urgent task was to divide the world into different regions for the sake of operation and presentation. While it appeared simple at first, our editors engaged in heated debates when we discovered that several major countries, such as Turkey and Afghanistan, were absent from our map. Our editors for South and Southeast Asia, Middle East and North Africa, and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, each made their case for rejecting Afghanistan from their sections for historical, ethnic, religious, or other thematic reasons. In seeking a final judgment, we consulted various major publications, only to discover there was no consensus.

For us, this anecdote is the perfect reflection of the challenges inherent in covering international news: sometimes, there are simply no absolute answers. The episode remains one

became reality on February 20, when the Media Board granted the organization the funds for the 3,000 copies distributed today.

In the midst of midterms, the editors and directors discussed the scope and content of our first, milestone issue--to be decided after spring break. As with any good debate, the result was a compromise: the first issue would feature the mission of The Caravel in its coverage but recognize its limitations as a non-weekly print publication.

The reality is that The Caravel’s final product requires each of the 106-member staff, whether freshmen or seniors, to operate on a set weekly schedule, committed to providing Georgetown with the world’s news every Wednesday at 8:00 AM. On an ideal week, each member of the organization contributes roughly four hours to production.

First, researchers contribute news summaries twice a week--displayed as a newswire online--of their region’s events; foreign language sources are encouraged. The editor then filters and compiles the news into a story-

of the fondest memories of our founding members, because it demonstrates the passion and knowledge our editors have toward their regions, the same passion that has fueled The Caravel’s work thus far.

So, where does The Caravel think Afghanistan belong? The answer lies somewhere on our website, gucaravel.com, our main platform of operation.

The Caravel’s journey has only just begun. While we have taken significant strides toward our goals, many of our dreams have yet to be fulfilled. We have worked hard to deliver these pages and words to your hands, but to make this a sustainable reality, we need your support. We ask you to let us know what you think through our market survey, and continue to follow us online via a newsletter subscription.

Will you join us on our grand voyage?

board, and communicates it to the writers as newsworthy topics. On a four-day deadline, the writer creates and refines, per their editor’s suggestions, their piece into a cohesive narrative, before it is transferred to the copy section and uploading team for publishing a full week later. With 16 weeks of practice, the print issue seemed no different; but print was a different beast.

Our articles for this issue are not a race against the clock, discussing what is most relevant today. Rather, we recognize that deep-seeded events consistently reshape each region. As these pages hit the press, our world continues to change.

As a proud student publication, we urge you to look at our first issue as a beginner’s guide to regions you never thought of exploring, not just as a window to the world you know. We can only hope that with the launch of this project, we project your curiosity beyond the boundaries of Georgetown and help shape the world at large through you, The Caravel’s first-generation reader.

LOGO PROGRESSION

A PRI L 8, 2015 | 11

TRUTH: THE FIRST VICTIM Kelly Lui Editor-in-Chief

“A

ustin Tice is Alive.”

This message, dated October 2012, is the last we heard about the whereabouts of Austin Tice. He was kidnapped more than two years ago in Syria, where he was reporting as a freelance journalist.

However, this February, reports from credible sources confirmed that Tice is still alive, bringing hope to his supporters. In response, students at Georgetown University are holding a campus campaign in mid-April as part of the #freeAustinTice campaign launched by Reporters Without Borders to raise awareness for Tice, a Georgetown alumnus, and to call for further government efforts to return him to safety.

Austin Tice is only one out of many cases that illustrate the dangers confronting journalists internationally. In 2014 alone, 118 journalists were killed across the globe while on assignment, either from targeted at-

tacks due to their work, getting caught in crossfire, or from accidents and natural disasters. Indeed, the past year marked some of the darkest times in the history of freedom of press and speech, with the 2015 World Press Freedom Index reporting that press freedom on all continents declined in 2014.

The firm grip of authoritarian states on freedom of the press continued contributing to the grim outlook of global press freedom. For example, China and Russia, two of the most influential nations in the world, are both ranked among the lowest in the World Press Freedom Index. Both nations continue to sustain and step up their efforts to control the free

OCTOBER 2014

FEBRUARY 2014 MARCH 2014

FEBRUARY 2014

Following a casual chat about the concept of an international newspaper, Edwin, Kelly and Tomo contacted all their friends who might be interested in the idea, and called the first meeting in the name of the project. It was the successful turnout at this February meeting, held in the corner of a Starbucks at Georgetown, that marked the birth of The Caravel.

flow of information and censor media content. Similarly, no improvement is seen in one of the most notorious dictatorships, North Korea, which continues to occupy the second-tolast place in the index.

However, the pressure on press freedom takes many forms. Government desire to control news content in increasingly authoritarian or politically polarized environments was a major source for the significant global decline in press freedom. For example, in the Middle East and North Africa, conflicts and political shifts were accompanied by increased state hostilities toward the press. The same theme of reduced press freedom also runs through other cases outside of the conflict-prone region.

My hometown, Hong Kong, is an indicative example. Though not commonly thought of as a victim of media repression, the city was downgraded by nine ranks in the 2015 World Press Freedom Index compared to the year before. As the struggle for democratic elections intensified in the city through the past year, press freedom

MARCH 2014

After recruiting an initial team of founding members, the next urgent task was to seek funding. The Global Generations Grant was a great fit with the mission of The Caravel, and we succeeded in securing a small fund from them.

GIRA allowed us to continue our journey, but more than that, it forced us to grow rapidly as an institution and as individuals.

was the first victim. In January 2014, Lau Chun-to, the chief editor of the newspaper Ming Pao, was replaced by a Malaysian citizen deemed more easily controlled by the Chinese government. Lau, famous for his investigative work on the administrations of China and Hong Kong, was then badly wounded in a stabbing in February. In the following months, more independent media were harassed in violent episodes. Others were forced to close under behind-the-scenes pressures, both political and financial. In September, as the student-led Umbrella Movement broke out, many reporters at the site were assaulted by police or counter-protesters. Television channels and other news outlets exercised self-censorship in reporting the events that unfolded.

Even countries with relatively open media environments experienced tightening press freedom in 2014. In the United States, government attempts to control the flow of information, revelation of government surveillance activities, the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, and arbitrary arrests

of journalists in demonstrations about the Ferguson police shooting all contributed to a significant slide in the U.S. press freedom status.

The past year also witnessed the power of non-state actors in silencing the press. It will likely take us a long time to forget the horrors of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris, and the beheading of Japanese journalist Kenji Goto by ISIS in Syria. But it is precisely these moments of distress that remind us of the fragility and value of freedom of press.

The Caravel believes that there are no regional boundaries to the truth.

While we do not operate on the frontline of reporting, we strive to expose events unfolding in regions traditionally obscured by the popular media.

We hope to inculcate empathy and curiosity in our members and readers toward regions other than their own because everyone’s voice deserves to be heard. After all, truths everywhere are truths just the same.

APRIL 2015 DECEMBER 2014

OCTOBER 2014

We operated a few trial runs over the summer of 2014 to test and fine-tune our operations. In October 2014, with a functioning website and a staff of around 90 members, we officially launched online, beginning regular weekly production. This was The Caravel’s introduction to Georgetown, gathering 16,000 views in 15 days.

DECEMBER 2014

Fall 2014 was full of challenges, but also important progress. In December, we were officially accepted as an organization under the Media Board at Georgetown University. It was a major boost to our morale, but also an important milestone for The Caravel, as it signifies our recognition by the school, providing us with access to new resources and benefits.

APRIL 2015

Finally, a round of funding from the Media Board allowed us to produce a print issue in April--a moment that we have been waiting for since our conception. These 14 months have been a crazy ride, but our journey is far from over.

We dream that one day, there will be a new issue of The Caravel everywhere on campus every Wednesday morning.

12 | APRIL 8 , 2 0 1 5

MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA

Will Saudi Oil Diplomacy Extinguish Syrian Flames?

Nick Simon Independent Writer

S

ince the Arab Spring protests of 2011, Syria has been plagued by a devastating civil war as disparate Sunni militant factions have fought to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The combatants have drawn support from a number of foreign powers, each seeking its own gains.

Now Saudi Arabia, one of the central supporters of the Sunni rebels, using oil as leverage in ongoing diplomatic talks to pressure Russia, one of Syria’s

staunch allies, to withdraw its support for Assad.

Holding one fifth of global oil reserves, Saudi Arabia is the most influential player in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and is wielding its influence to control the price of oil and weaken competition. In November, the Saudis blocked an OPEC proposal to cut oil production and restore the high price of oil. While low oil prices are detrimental to the Saudi economy, Saudi Arabia hopes to use its vast savings to maintain low oil prices and cripple

The Islamic State on Lebanon’s Doorstep Kelli Foy Independent Writer

E

ver since Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi announced the creation of the Islamic State, the organization has had its eye on territorial expansion beyond established strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

In the past few months alone, ISIS provoked Jordan by killing a Jordanian pilot, forced Egypt into retaliatory air strikes following the execution of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, claimed responsibility for an attack on a museum in Tunisia, and linked up with the Nigerian Islamist militant group, Boko Haram. Now, it appears that the organization has turned its gaze to Lebanon, with reports indicating that it may have plans to declare an Islamic emirate in the country.

ISIS fighters have begun preparations to set up a military organizational committee in Lebanon, though they have yet to designate a commander for the mission.

The fighters are demanding support from the northern Syrian faction in order to extend the group’s geographical reach into Lebanon.

Khalaf al-Zeyabi Halous, a Syrian who was involved in the ISIS offensive to capture the Raqqa province in 2013, is allegedly playing a crucial role in the planning. However, many doubt the SCAN THE QR CODE credibility and seFOR MENA NEWS riousness of these preparations, as major Islamic State backers have yet to sign off on this expansive

operation in Lebanon.

Nevertheless, Lebanon has faced an increasing threat from ISIS. The group has been training new recruits from small rebel factions in the Qalamoun mountains on the Lebanese-Syrian border. It is estimated that 3,000 fighters from both the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front are active in the area.

As Major General Abbas Ibrahim, head of Lebanon’s Directorate of General Security, explained to Reuters, “Islamic State does not want to dominate Qalamoun … but they want to use it to secure their backs in the region through controlling [Lebanese] villages in contact with the Qalamoun area.” He stressed that Lebanese forces are on high alert to prevent militants from gaining any ground.

In early February, U.S. ambassador to Lebanon David Hale announced that the United States provided the Lebanese army with $25 million worth of weapons and ammunition “of all shapes and sizes, including heavy artillery.” American aid to Lebanon has greatly increased since August, when militants conducted a major attack on the border town of Arsal. Hale stated that the new equipment will be

Russia and Iran.

Russia is the world’s third-largest oil producer after Saudi Arabia and the US, and petroleum revenues fund 52 percent of the Russian national budget. Due to low petroleum prices, sanctions over Ukraine, and the plummeting value of ruble, the Russian economy is predicted to shrink by 3 percent this year. Russia is heavily invested in the Assad regime, and it has used diplomatic maneuvers and arms deals to support the Syrian government. However, Saudi oil diplomacy aims to exploit Russia’s current economic vulnerability in order to hinder its alliance with the Assad regime.

The war in Syria is also enmeshed in the rivalry between Saudi Arabia, a Sunni monarchy, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, a Shia theocracy.

Iran has forged a close alliance with Assad, a member of the Alawite branch of Shia Islam, and the Islamic Republic has become Assad’s most generous benefactor. Iranian armed forces have assumed direct involvement in the fray, and thousands of additional troops from Hezbollah, a used in “the battle to defeat terrorism and extremism that is pouring across the border from Syria.” France is also scheduled to begin delivering weapons purchased with a $3 billion Saudi grant to the Lebanese military in the next couple months.

Lebanon has recently stepped up its counterterrorism efforts. The military court indicted 17 nationals for belonging to ISIS, engaging in clashes with the Lebanese army in the northern city of Tripoli, and attempting to flee to Syria to fight alongside the Islamic State. Six of the suspects are in custody while 11 were indicted in absentia. The Lebanese army has also claimed the arrest of key ISIS commander Abu Hareth al-Ansari.

However, there are conflicting reports suggesting that he may actually be a Syrian national belonging to the Nusra Front.

The biggest priority for Lebanon going forward will be ensuring that the Islamic State does not gain any ground, territorially or ideologically, within the country. “We are determined that Daesh [ISIS] does not reach one village. They should not even be one meter inside Lebanese territory,” said a senior Lebanese army officer.

Lebanese Shia militant group funded

by Iran, have also joined Assad’s forces. However, like Russia, Iran is in a delicate economic position. Sanctions imposed by the United States over Iran’s nuclear program have halved Iranian oil exports. Facing sharp economic pressure, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has staked his career on the success of a nuclear agreement with the US. Thus, Saudi oil policy has been seen as a move to halt Iran’s attempts to bolster its political position.

Iran’s economy has contracted by 8.6 percent in the last two years, and the Saudis aim to cripple their beleaguered rival, forcing Iran to withdraw

its overextended geopolitical reach.

Doubts remain as to whether Saudi oil diplomacy will succeed in discouraging Assad’s Russian allies.

The Saudis already tried unsuccessfully to use oil leverage against Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013.

Although Russia’s economic situation has significantly diminished in the last two years, Putin has demonstrated that Russia’s current policy prioritizes geopolitical interests over economic concerns. It is therefore doubtful that Putin will fold now in Syria, where he has faced far less opposition from the international community.

the caravel’s two dinar

Matthieu de Gaudemar Independent Writer

Scott Goldstein Researcher

Nick Simon Independent Writer

I wanted to gain a better understanding of the important current events shaping the region, and to delve deeper into the social and cultural context of those events.

I’m fascinated by the Middle East: its history and culture and politics and how high the stakes always seems to be.

I am interested in the Sunni-Shia conflict and the relationship between Israel and the Arab States.

Shaiesha Moore Associate Editor

Kelli Foy Independent Writer

A PRI L 8, 2015 | 13 continued from pg.1 In March of last year, the Islamic State issued a three-day ultimatum demanding that Turkey lower its flag and withdraw its soldiers from the site. The Turkish government responded with a warning that an attack on the tomb of Suleyman Shah would be treated as no less than an attack on Turkish soil,echoing the words of then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in 2012 when he warned that an attack on the monument would be considered “an attack on our territory, as well as an attack on NATO land.”

The longstanding tomb of Suleyman Shah, located in a Turkish exclave within Syria’s Aleppo Governorate, lies along a critical travel and supply route and sits less than 20 miles from the border. Islamic State fighters are particularly dependent upon this route when it comes to transporting supplies and personnel between their major population centers such as Raqqa and Aleppo.

Suleyman Shah’s remains were relocated to the town of Esmeler, just yards from the Turkish border but still technically within Syria, in a move that the Foreign Ministry described as “the temporary relocation of the tomb, conducted on the basis of security assessments.” The Ministry added that the move “does not constitute any change in the status of the tomb and its annex stated by the agreements.”

These “agreements” establish Turkey’s rights to and custodianship of the tomb under Article 9 of the Treaty of Ankara. While Turkey claims the land around the tomb to be sovereign Turkish territory, and the operation to have been in accordance with international agreements, the Syrian government strongly rejected this claim and called the move a “flagrant aggression” that indicated Turkey’s “deep connection” to groups like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra.

Timing and Symbolism A number of recent developments

Netanyahu Pivots Right to Decisively Win Israeli Election Nick Simon Independent Writer

O

n March 17, Israelis elected representatives for the Knesset, Israel’s national legislature. The campaign was marked by intense competition between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s center-right Likud and the Zionist Union headed by challenger Isaac Herzog. With Likud and the Zionist Union running neck and neck in Israeli opinion polls, Netanyahu made last-minute appeals to conservative voters by promising to prevent the creation of a Palestinian state. Netanyahu’s strategy paid off, and Likud won 30 seats to the Zionist Union’s 24.

While the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was not a high-profile election issue, Netanyahu’s rejection of the two-state solution alienated Israel’s Arab citizens while attempting to woo right-wing Israelis. However, in an NBC interview two days after the election, Netanyahu insisted that his policy had not changed.

On Election Day, Netanyahu’s campaign posted a video on Facebook in which the Prime Minister warned, “The rule of the political right is in danger. The Arab voters are moving in vast numbers to the polling stations.

The left-wing NGOs are busing them in.” Likud also sent a text message

claiming, “Voting percentages tripled among the Arab population! The concern is coming true: The call by [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas] and American money are bringing Arabs to the polls. Go vote!”

Netanyahu’s remarks have garnered criticism. Israeli President Reuven Rivlen chided Netanyahu, “Everyone must be careful in their comments, especially those that the entire world hears.”

The Joint List, an alliance of Israel’s Arab candidates who won 14 seats in the Knesset, filed complaints with Israel’s Attorney General and accused the Prime Minister of racism. On Monday, Netanyahu apologized for the remarks.

Likud’s rhetorical pivot to woo right-wing voters paid off in the election. Pre-election polls showed Likud trailing the Zionist Union, and exit polls showed both parties running neck and neck. However, Likud emerged victorious and won more seats than expected at the expense of other conservative parties. Despite six months of polling as Israel’s second largest party behind Likud and Zionist Union, the right-wing religious party Bayit Yehudi failed to stop a stream of votes to Likud.

Although Netanyahu’s rightward pivot succeeded in garnering votes,

may have contributed to the particular timing of this operation.

Turkey’s incursion comes just days after an end of months of negotiations with the United States and the signing of a deal committed to training and arming Syrian opposition fighters who would fight both ISIS and Syrian government forces.

This “train-and-equip” deal includes plans to train and arm some 15,000 Syrian opposition fighters by 2018. Scheduled to begin in March, the program would be hosted in Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia and would include a bolstered training force of an additional 400 US troops.

While the US has an interest in winning its fight against ISIS, Turkey has remained insistent on the indispensability of plans to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well.

Additionally, given the Islamic State’s penchant for explosive shrine and mausoleum destruction, an overrunning of the tomb of Suleyman

Shah would likely spell major embarrassment for the Erdoğan government in the form of an ISIS propaganda video. The decision to temporarily relocate the remains of Suleyman Shah to the border village of Esmesi just a couple hundred yards away from the Turkish border but still within Syria— instead of Turkey—indicate that the government also likely sought to avoid the embarrassment of losing its claim to the last piece of land beyond its national boundaries.

Other recent factors that pertain to Turkey’s actions include major shifts on the ground with respect to Turkey’s engagement with the anti-ISIS coalition, the defeat of ISIS in the city of Kobanî, and fear that the tomb site and its military personnel might come to be used as leverage to further bind Ankara.

it may be a Pyrrhic victory. The win could harm Netanyahu as he forms his new coalition in the Knesset. By pocketing votes from other right-leaning parties, Netanyahu reduced the number of conservative representatives.

U.S. President Barack Obama may be capitalizing on Netanyahu’s controversial comments. The White House condemned Netanyahu’s comments as “deeply concerning” and “divisive.” In his first comments after Netanyahu’s reelection, President Obama said, “We take him at his word when he said that [the creation of a Palestinian state] wouldn’t happen during his prime ministership, and so we’ve got to evaluate what other options are available.”

For decades the U.S. has used its position on the UN Security Council to block any resolution towards a final agreement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. However, the U.S. could change its approach in response to Netanyahu’s success. The growing influence of the Israeli right has increased the probability that the United States would support a U.N. resolution on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We’re currently evaluating our approach. We’re not going to prejudge what we would do if there was a U.N. action,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday.

EDITOR’S COLUMN: Connor Swank

H

ow to describe the politics of the Middle East today? The past year has seen the rise of ISIS, continued anarchy in Libya, intense negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program, and the election of yet another military official to the Egyptian presidency. Iraq, so recently left to its own devices by the U.S. military, has seemingly come within inches of dissolution, while Saudi Arabia—for decades one of America’s closest allies in the region—has increasingly distanced itself from the White House over an alleged deficit of trust. With an uprising of Shiite Houthis in Yemen, a seemingly interminable civil war in Syria, and ISIS-inspired terrorism in North Africa and beyond, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Middle East will remain a region of chaos, violence, and instability for decades to come.

In the midst of all these horrors, however, there is hope. ISIS took control of much of Syria and Iraq almost overnight, but its gains have been halted by American-led airstrikes and resistance from various factions in Iraq. Tunisia recently suffered a terrorist attack on its Bardo National Museum, but its democratizing reforms have rendered it something remarkable in the region: a success story for the Arab Spring. And while Israel and Iran may never become the best of friends, perhaps the recent nuclear deal with the P5+1 countries will at least alleviate Israeli concerns about Iran’s breakout time and provide a window for continued dialogue and negotiations.

Our mission at The Caravel is to educate our readers about these and other developments as they unfold across the Middle East. In a region where the death of a single man can spark a wave of revolution from Tunis to the Levant, it is vital to understand that a single event in one corner of the Middle East can alter the future of the entire region. With chaos, violence, and political upheaval remaining the order of the day, this lesson will remain our guiding principle as we continue to cover the most important trends and political events in the Middle East.

14 | APRIL 8 , 2 0 1 5

SOUTH & SOUTHEAST ASIA EDITOR’S COLUMN Geeva Gopalkrishnan

T

he South and Southeast Asia region hardly hits the international news if not for its embroilment in territorial disputes or being affected by natural disasters.

Reporting only incidents deemed “significant” sometimes results in a new perspective that parallels a “deficit narrative.” Bhutan is more than just Gross National Happiness; Bangladesh is more than just sweatshops; Singapore is more than just an illiberal democracy.

Southeast Asia, in particular, is a region of growing importance in global affairs. The region is home to 600 million people, encompasses the world’s third-largest democracy (Indonesia), and is populated with critical shipping routes.

Though Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population, it is one of the few Muslim-majority countries that does not have Islam as the state religion. This had and will continue to have significant implications for navigating global political and Islamic affairs.

Cambodia, though marred by stifled economic development, has displayed immense promise through reform measures regarding rule of law, transparency, infrastructure investments, and economic development.

Going away from politics or economics, South and Southeast Asia possesses a myriad of fascinating cultures that offer a glimpse into the lives and legacies of different communities. Beginning to understand that which motivates and is dear to the communities in the region is the first step to comprehending these communities’ reaction and adaption to the changing global climate.

This section of The Caravel seeks to present the various facets of Asian societies--going beyond just economic and political coverage to present societal and even cultural news. We invite readers to dive into the range of unconventional and engaging news articles that promises a sneak peek into what may be considered one of the fastest growing regions in terms of strategic and economic importance.

Indonesia’s Crackdown on Drug Offenders Belinda Lei Staff Writer

M

ary Jane Veloso, 30, a mother of two, was traveling from Malaysia to Yogyakarta, Indonesia in 2010 when she was detained by police in the airport. Inside the lining of her luggage, they found 2.6 grams of heroin. Last week, after a long battle in the Indonesian Supreme Court, she was sentenced to execution by firing squad, the latest in a series of planned executions, many of which involve foreigners.

In the past few months, Indonesia has declared drug use a “national emergency.” Last December, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, claimed that there were 4.5 million drug users in Indonesia with 1.2 million incurable addicts. He also claimed that 40-50 young people each day die from drugs. As a result, Jokowi decided that clemency would no longer be given to drug convicts on death row.

“No clemency for convicts already receiving death sentence. No, no, no,” he said during a general lecture given in the Senate Hall. Jowoki wants the denial of clemency to shock Indonesia out of its drug problem.

However, some experts have contested these alarming statistics.

Claudia Stoicescu, PhD Candidate at the University of Oxford, claims that the figures are based on studies with “questionable methods and vague measures.” Additionally, critics argue that the harsh policy is not only ineffective but merely applied out of political convenience.

The majority of Indonesia’s public currently supports the death penalty.

In a country plagued with corruption, the “war on drugs” is a convenient distraction for a president whose popularity is decreasing. By taking a hardline stance against drugs, Jowoki wants to rekindle the faith and optimism the population gave him when he was elected last October.

The arrival of strict drug laws and death penalty enforcement have strained Indonesia’s foreign relations.

There are currently more than 130 people on death row in Indonesia.

Fifty-seven are drug convicts and a large majority are foreigners.

In January, Indonesia executed six convicts, five of them foreigners. Last minute high level attempts by Brazil’s

President Dilma Rousseff and Dutch Foreign Minister Ber Koenders were not enough to prevent the executions. In response, Brazil and the Netherlands withdrew their ambassadors from Indonesia, while Nigeria summoned Indonesia’s ambassador in Abuja. Australia threatened to recall their ambassador as well if two of the Australians currently on death row, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, meet the same fate.

The Human Rights Watch has also raised concerns over Indonesia’s recent use of the death penalty, calling the affair “particularly odious”. Indonesia had unofficially discontinued its death penalty for four years following concerns over wrongful executions before resuming it in 2014.

Veloso’s lawyers argue that their client’s lack of knowledge about her luggage should give her a reprieve from the death penalty.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has taken numerous measures to prevent the execution of Veloso. The latest rejected appeal was the third measure that the Department took to release Veloso. The Philippine government plans to submit a second appeal to Indonesia’s Supreme Court for judicial review.

“We’re doing everything possible to explore all other options including a request for second judicial review, that’s where we’re at,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told reporters following Veloso’s trial.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo wants to hasten the review process of the ten convicts and called the rejection of Veloso’s judicial review “good news.”

Following the trial, Veloso’s mother went on “24 Oras,” a Philippine

television program pleading the Indonesian government to overturn their decision. She claimed that the heroin found within her daughter’s luggage was secretly put into the luggage by another relative. Veloso had no knowledge of what she was carrying.

Besides Veloso, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, ringleaders of the infamous “Bali Nine,” also hope to appeal to Indonesia’s highest court on Monday. Both of them are awaiting their fates on Nusakambangan island as the final appeals of 10 drug offenders are reviewed.

The Bali Nine refers to nine Australians, eight men and one woman, who were arrested at Bali’s Denpasar airport in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 18 lbs kg (8 kg) of heroin, worth $4 million, into Australia.

Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, then in their 20s, were identified as the ring leaders and sentenced to death in 2006. The seven other smugglers were given sentences ranging from 20 years to life in prison after some with death sentences were revoked on appeal.

Lawyers for the two men have appealed to the courts asking for pardons, arguing that the two smugglers had rehabilitated in jail. Their arguments have so far fallen on deaf ears.

Earlier this month, Australian Foreign Minister Julie bishop offered to swap three Indonesian prisoners for Chan and Sukumaran. The three Indonesians were caught smuggling heroin in 1998 that was 47 times greater than the amount Chan and Sukumaran were found with. Indonesia has not responded to the offer.

The combination of a large proportion of foreign nationals on Indonesia’s death row and Indonesia’s own

actions towards saving its own citizens from foreign death rows has drawn cries of hypocrisy.

Last year, Indonesians raised funds in an attempt to save an Indonesian migrant worker, Satinah, from execution in Saudi Arabia. Fueled by the pressure of the Indonesian people, including a trending hashtag #savesatinah, then Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono paid 7 million riyals to save the woman’s life. She was convicted of killing her 70-year old employer and stealing $10,000.

Satinah’s case was not the only instance in which the Indonesian government was willing to take great pains to save its citizens from imminent death. The government has previously employed calls for leniency, willingness to pay blood money, and diplomatic threats. Now, Australia, Brazil, and the Netherlands have used these same threats in an attempt to save their own citizens to no avail.

Currently, 360 Indonesian citizens face the death penalty worldwide, most of whom are migrant workers. Indonesia’s lack of regard for international citizens and governments in their justice system may also threaten their ability to save their own nationals from death row. The Human Rights Watch believes Jokowi still has time to alter the damage that he has done to Indonesian bilateral relations.

“President Widodo has an opportunity to demonstrate wise leadership by recognizing the well-documented failure of the death penalty as a crime deterrent and joining the growing number of countries that have abolished capital punishment,” said Phelim Kine, Asia Deputy Director for Human Rights Watch. Jokowi has the choice between increasing international outrage and death or saving the lives of his own people.

The inmates are not the only ones suffering. Family and friends have struggled in exhaustion, doing everything they can to save their convicted loved ones from the death penalty while waiting for what little information is available about their loved ones on death row. Indonesia plans to execute all 10 drug offenders at the same time, although, the exact time has not been disclosed. The location and date of the execution is required

by Indonesian law to be released at least 72 hours beforehand.

A PRI L 8, 2015 | 15

Reform Controversies in Pakistani Elections Yuzana Kline & Kevin Chen

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n early March, elections to the Pakistani Senate enabled the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) to add to its gains from previous elections, while weakening the power of the Pakistani People’s Party (PPP). As protests have erupted in the past over electoral controversies, it will be crucial for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his PML to channel their success into meaningful reform.

During the previous elections in 2013, the PML won a majority, pushing out the PPP and allowing Nawaz Sharif to take control of the government. Notably, this was the first ever peaceful transfer of power from one civilian government to another in Pakistan’s history. However, the peace did not last. From August 2014 to December 2014, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party (PTI) launched mass protests called the Azadi March in opposition to Prime Minister Sharif, alleging that Sharif had rigged the elections in 2013 and demanding his resignation.

The movement only ended when

PTI called for a period of unity after the Taliban had attacked a public school in December of 2014, killing over one hundred children. However, the attack sparked additional protests, unrelated to PTI’s opposition to Prime Minister Sharif. These protesters, led by civil society activists and progressives, accused the government of not taking meaningful action against the Taliban.

In the weeks leading up the election, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) made news by rejecting nearly two dozen candidates for tax evasion in an attempt to improve Pakistan’s deeply flawed voting system. Most of the rejected candidates came from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and faced charges of tax evasion or pending criminal cases. Those who had their applications rejected argued that the FATA were tax-free zones, and thus they had no obligation to pay taxes. However, officials from Pakistan’s government have insisted that all candidates must file their taxes even if they earn less than the minimal income or live in a tax-free area.

The strict implementation of these rules by the ECP has been applauded

region in numbers... region in numbers Thailand: Mobile phone penetration stands at 89% and smart-phone penetration is 40% in Thailand.

Vietnam: Although Vietnam is a developing country, it has a literacy rate of 94 percent.

Among all developing countries, Vietnam has one of the lowest unemployment rates.

Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka is an island which is surrounded by the Indian Ocean on the West and Bay of Bengal on the East. Area of Sri Lanka is 65,610 square kilometers, slightly bigger than West Virginia.

by several of Pakistan’s newspapers as “good housekeeping”.

Another area of reform has been the attempt to end the practice of votebanks, organizations in which political patrons deliver votes to candidates in return for favors. In February, Prime Minister Sharif called for an end to the “undemocratic practice of horse-trading” in senate polls and for increased transparency in elections, noting that democracy will only flourish if such acts of buying and selling of votes are stopped.

The Pakistani Parliament is currently considering three new amendments in order to make elections fairer. In addition, an open voting policy in place of the previous secret ballot policy has been included in the draft law. The PPP and several other smaller parties have expressed their opposition to these proposed changes, arguing that the issue of vote buying should be an internal party issue.

The PML increased its number of seats in the Senate from 16 to 26 while the PPP lost a total of 13 seats, dropping from 40 to 27 total seats.

However, allegations of fraud in the election have led to the temporary suspension of results in the FATA region. Prime Minister Sharif has vowed to look into these allegations, creating a Judicial Commission to thoroughly evaluate electoral practices.

The recent results demonstrate the fragility of Pakistan’s nascent democracy. Although parties have shown their willingness to peacefully transfer power, more progress needs to be made. The Azadi March and other protests have signaled dissatisfaction with Sharif ’s government among the population. Hopefully, the additional seats afforded to the PML will allow it to push through badly needed reforms in Pakistan’s electoral process. Not doing so may fester more unrest and protest and threaten the country’s short history of peaceful power transition.

India: Page with Largest Indian Facebook Audience - Narendra Modi with 27,784,547 Total Fans Bangladesh: Bangladesh exported between $500 million to $1 billion worth of World Cup jerseys and merchandise this football season.

This approximates 2 to 4 percent of the total yearly ready-made garment exports of the country.

Not only were clothes for fans manufactured here, the Brazil

The Rise of Islamic Finance Kathleen Guan Researcher

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he Bank of Maldives has officially incorporated Islamic banking into its list of services as part of the bank’s wider efforts to cater to personal and business customers wishing to strictly follow Islamic principles in their financial matters. Islamic finance--banking or financial services compliant with Islamic Shariah law and beliefs--is generally perceived to be “more ethical, compared to conventional finance, which is traditionally viewed as predatory”. Islamic banking was first introduced in the Maldives in 2011, with the establishment of the Maldives Islamic Bank. In Asia, it has also seen a recent growth in India, Pakistan, Brunei, and Indonesia among other countries.

Similar to conventional banking, Islamic banking institutions aim to make money by lending out capital while upholding the principles of Islamic law. Islamic rules on transaction (Fiqh al-Muamalat) prohibit simply lending money at interest, as money is seen merely as a medium of exchange with no intrinsic value.

Instead, Islamic banking focuses on risk sharing, rather than risk transfer as seen in conventional banking.

Home mortgages operate “more like a partnership,” as opposed to conventional Western interest payments.

Investment in businesses providing goods and services against Islamic principles (such as alcohol, pornography, and gambling) is also considered sinful (haram).

To alleviate youth poverty, The Bank of Khyber, a leading regional bank providing Islamic banking services in Peshawar, Pakistan, has distributed US$20 million interest-free loans to over 21,000 youth. The bank is also promoting relationship-based Islamic microfinance services for entrepreneurs lacking access to banking services. Pakistan’s Islamic banking industry posted a profit of $94 million in the July-September 2014 quarter, a significant rise compared to $56 million in July-September 2013.

Despite its origins and name, Islamic banking is not restricted to

Muslims. With its restrictions on overleveraging, strong governance, and transparency, Islamic banking services can contribute to financial stability for people of all walks of life.

There are currently more than 1500 organizations for Islamic banking, Islamic funds and microfinance in over 90 countries--40 percent of which are non-Muslim nations. The economic pull of Islamic finance has proven hard to resist. In 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Treasury plans to create a £200 million Islamic bond, or sukuk, as part of efforts to make London one of the world’s “great capitals of Islamic finance.” Most recently, regional heavyweights Russia and Japan have both taken steps towards tapping into the Islamic finance boom.

In October 2014, the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia, Malaysia’s central bank, noted that the $270 billion global market for the sukuk, is a potentially “important source of funding for infrastructure and other long term projects.” Islamic banks, which are mostly concentrated in the Middle East, Indonesia, and Pakistan, have begun rebranding their initiatives to appear less religious and more comparable to interest-free cooperative banking services offered in countries such as Sweden. Developing economies in Africa have also been looking to the sukuk market to obtain finance for infrastructure development.

As the global economy becomes increasingly intertwined with society, a pragmatic and receptive approach to banking is highly pertinent. The recent global financial crisis and troubles in the eurozone have raised important questions about ethics in the financial sector. Banks around the world are beginning to see the benefits of Islamic banking, not just from the perspective of economic incentives, but more importantly, from one which considers SCAN THE QR CODE Islamic finance FOR SSEA NEWS as an inspiration for reform of the conventional financial system.

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SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA EDITORS’ COLUMN: Naa-Adjeley Kome-Mensah & Sophie Haggerty

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n April 2, opposition leader General Muhamadu Buhari defeated long-standing incumbent Goodluck Jonathan in the Nigerian presidential elections, marking the first party transition since 1999. Buhari’s support base in the Muslim-dominated North East, which was recently assaulted by Boko Haram, may also empower Northern Nigerians politically. We hope this peaceful power transition will not only unify the disjointed north and south of Nigeria, but also send a message of political progress across the continent.

The peaceful transition of power in Africa’s most populous country set a tone of stability throughout the continent. The change was certainly felt in Zimbabwe, where Zimbabweans expressed hopes that Mugabe could learn from Nigeria and relinquish power. We included the article on Mugabe’s recent political actions to show the challenges still obstructing progress of certain states.

Africa is no monolith, but many problems face modern African states. We included the story on food security since systemic changes need to be made in the near future to feed Sub-Saharan Africa. This issue will remain important as countries like Ethiopia continue to make strides in agriculture to spur economic growth.

Our fascination with the region stems from the wide variance in governance across the continent. Studying these differences shows how even slight changes in post-independence governance can lead to sizeable consequences for a country’s well being. Our section attempts to mitigate the extremes of Afro-pessimism and Afro-optimism by striking a balance between stories that feature positive outlooks on economic or political growth and those examining the challenges facing Sub-Saharan Africa. We aim to discuss these topics fairly, bearing in mind the intricacies between Africa’s varying regions, states, and peoples. We hope to eschew any bias in our stories to clarify the complexity of the continent and dispel common misconceptions.

Anything But Jonathan: Nigerian Elections Anirudha Vaddadi, Staff Writer

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n a decision that sparked outcry and criticism, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that it would postpone the country’s elections. This ruling stems from the ongoing havoc wreaked by the Boko Haram militant group in the northeast region. This year’s elections are deemed to be “too close to call”, with the two main contenders, incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and challenger Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressive’s Congress (APC), running neck and neck. Such a tight election may come as a surprise, given Jonathan’s failure in curbing corruption and stopping armed insurrection in Nigeria. However, his primary opposition, Buhari was formerly Nigeria’s military ruler in the 1980s, ascending through a coup only to be overthrown in a year.

Despite these setbacks, the two

candidates have emerged as the top contenders for the second consecutive election. While Buhari lost in 2011, this year may be different. His unlikely coalition of supporters includes those who will vote for him based on clan affiliations and those who want anyone but Jonathan. This reflects the strange state of Nigeria’s politics.

As a result of the borders drawn by its British colonizers, Nigeria is incredibly diverse, with over 500 indigenous languages. Tribal, ethnic, and religious affiliations have played a major role in determining votes.

Consequently, Nigeria’s political system is largely structured around these affiliations. Presidential preferences over the past few elections reflected the Muslim-Christian composition of the country, splitting along a northsouth line. This year’s election is no different: Jonathan is a Christian of the Ijaw minority group in the south and Buhari is a Muslim of the Fulani ethnicity in the north. Buhari himself has run three times before, capturing the northern portion of the country

without fail each time. Virtually all political parties, with the possible exception of the PDP, which has more of a national appeal, are regionally or ethnically based. This divide is a major roadblock to national unity, with voters tending to choose candidates based on demographics rather than their competence.

A number of Nigerians have decided to vote not by clan affiliations, but by the mere fact that they would rather have any president other than Jonathan due to his inability move the country forward. This “Anything But Jonathan” approach drew widespread attention when former president Olusegun Obasanjo, a PDP member himself, declared his support for the opposing party’s candidate, Buhari.

This endorsement reflects a general lack of trust in Jonathan’s ability to solve Nigeria’s problems, even though his opponent, Buhari, had his own unsuccessful tenure as the head of Nigeria over 30 years ago. Recently, Lola Shoneyin, a Nigerian novelist and poet, explained that she supported

Buhari, despite the fact that his regime jailed her father during her childhood because “[Buhari] talks about his three main priorities: unemployment, insecurity and education [...] For some Nigerians, he might not be an ideal candidate; but for many more, people want anything but Jonathan.”

This lesser of two evils situation has been a major factor for some in their voting decisions.

With the election’s delay, it seems that this dramatic saga might continue for at least another six weeks.

But, regardless of who wins, unanswered questions will remain about Nigeria’s long-term stability. With a general lack of faith in governing institutions--only 29 percent of polled Nigerians said they trusted their government--and ongoing internal divisions, Nigerians will keep asking themselves whether their country can carry the torch for Africa.

‘2014: The Year of Food Security?’

Alexandra Weissman Researcher

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n July 2012, the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government declared 2014 the Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa. As the world scrambles to fulfill the first Millennium Development Goal, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) trails behind in eradicating extreme hunger.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, over 214 million people, or one in three, are chronically hungry in the region.

Despite such harrowing statistics, 65 percent of SSA are farmers, compared to two percent in the United States. As world leaders and scientists grapple with the overwhelming need for agricultural aid, reform, and even revolution, many look to genetically modified organisms (GMOS) and genetically engineered (GE) seeds as the answer to Sub-Saharan Africa’s food woes.

Today, just three companies, Monsanto, Syngenta, and DuPont, control 50 percent of the world’s seeds. U.S.based Monsanto especially excels in

terms of its influence, omnipresence, and infamy. In the U.S., Monsanto is responsible for an estimated 90 percent of soybeans and 80 percent of corn. These seeds are genetically tailored to have desirable genes, such as resistance to drought and pesticides.

Today, this agricultural giant, worth over $58 billion, desires to spread the use of its products to developing nations. Its website shows a plethora of evidence of Monsanto’s charitable endeavors as it not only campaigns for the necessary diffusion of GMOs in Africa, but also funds organizations like AGRA (part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation), Helen Keller International, and Africare. It has donated $400,000 in Burkina Faso, $195,000 in Kenya , and $200,000 in Tanzania. Monsanto’s behavior suggest that it believes the only way to improve the agricultural practices and eventually eradicate hunger in SSA is to use GMOs and GE seeds. This mindset is best encapsulated in its Water Efficient Maize for Africa (WEMA) program.

Ninety-six percent of the agriculture in SSA is dependent on rainfall.

Yet, three quarters of the world’s most

severe droughts in the past decades have occurred there, with catastrophic results on the continent’s agriculture. Monsanto’s answer is WE1101, a drought resistant, water efficient maize strain. Monsanto estimates that WEMA could produce an extra two million tons of food for 14 to 21 million people.

The seeds that Monsanto offers to WEMA countries are free of charge, just like the other seeds and pesticides it has donated to the region. Yet, many countries in SSA remain apprehensive about GE seeds, and many others are steadfast in rejecting them. There concerns generally stem from Monsanto’s history with patents.

Monsanto currently has about 4,000 patents in use and is known for aggressively pursuing farmers whom

they believe have infringed upon their rights. For example, Monsanto sued farmers using its seeds from the previous harvest for the next cycle without paying royalties. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Bowman v. Monsanto Co. that farmers must pay Monsanto to reuse seeds, allowing Monsanto to change a practice as old as farming itself. Today, Monsanto continues to bring suits against over 500 farmers per year over similar practices.

Mindful of Monsanto’s reputation for aggressive legal action, Sub-Saharan African farmers are wary of Monsanto and its “free” gifts. Most Sub-Saharan African farmers do not have the means to repay Monsanto every year for seeds that are byproducts of previous purchases, instead saving their seeds because they are imperative for having any sort of food security in the wake of climate change. Even though the seeds and aid that Monsanto offers is currently without charge, there is no evidence that Monsanto will not treat Sub-Saharan African farmers in a similar way if their GE seeds are widely adopted on the content.

A PRI L 8, 2015 | 17

Mugabe Earns New Title Amid Controversies Nicolas Alonso Staff Writer & Airton Kamdem Staff Writer

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n January 30, in a move that has surprised experts, African leaders voted to appoint Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president since 1980, as chairman of the African Union.

Less than month later, the European Union renewed its sanctions against Zimbabwe for another year.

These sanctions were instituted in 2002 after an investigation into suspicious election results revealed electoral fraud on the part of Mugabe.

Around the same time, Mugabe was linked to a series of human rights violations, said to be for the purpose of guaranteeing an electoral victory. At 91 years old, he is far from providing the progressive political views that the country desperately wants after 27 years in power.

Given the European Union’s commitment to sanctions since 2002, it is evident that although the sanctions are officially placed against Zimbabwe, their primary objective is to cripple and eventually dethrone Mugabe.

Although Mugabe’s new role is largely ceremonial, his assignment

could weaken the African Union’s voice in world politics due to the unpopularity of his governance. The West sees Mugabe as a despotic pariah responsible for frequently violating human rights, manipulating elections, and turning one of Africa’s most promising countries into a “basket case.”

Despite the symbolic nature of the role, Piers Pigou, project director for the International Crisis Group in Southern Africa, recognized that it sends a negative signal of African solidarity for other leaders who have also misruled their countries. A Western diplomat told Reuters that regardless of its chairman, the West would continue to work with the African Union, and that Mugabe’s role would not disrupt these relations.

Obert Gutu, a spokesman for the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), described Mugabe and his party as having “trashed democracy in Zimbabwe and ruined the economy.”

In Gutu’s opinion, Mugabe does not have the legitimacy to build an Africa based on the widespread values of good governance and democracy after ruining Zimbabwe under violent authoritarian rule.

what drew you to SSA?

Alexandra Weissman

Researcher

The fact that people still speak about Africa as a country and not a continent is what drew me to SSA.

Nicolas Alonso Staff Writer Since I was little, I have traveled to Sub-Saharan Africa several times and have expanded my interest in SSA at Georgetown.

Airton Kamdem Anirudha Vaddadi Staff Writer Staff Writer As a Cameroonian, It is particularly keeping up with high-growth area news and changing of the world but what I believe to people still generbe a broadly nega- ally do not know tive outlook on it is much about the important to me. region.

“What is covered by each newspaper are always the same stories.”

- Alex Weissman

It remains uncertain how Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe will influence the African Union. In his inaugural speech, Mugabe declared that as chairman, he would push African leaders to pay special attention to infrastructure, climate change, agriculture, and value addition. He also called for more assistance for African farmers and for the need to guard against foreign exploitation of the continent’s resources.

Although sanctions ban international travel for Mugabe, many question whether they are effective.

The sanctions have been in effect for almost 14 years, yet Mugabe has not

only remained wealthy and relatively unrestricted but also just won another election under conditions similar to those which first earned him these sanctions. Although the sanctions are set to be renewed on February 20 of next year, the European Union might consider increasing their severity to bring about the possibility for political change.

In some respects, the European Union has eased restrictions lately, granting Zimbabwe and thus Mugabe €234 million in aid in the past year.

This aid package was the first granted to the country since the sanctions first took effect in 2002. Additionally,

Mugabe’s travel ban has been waived on the continent if his trips pertain to official African Union business.

Whether or not the European Union chooses to renew the sanctions again next year, one must keep in mind their goal. Given his age and obstinacy, Mugabe’s political practices will likely never change, and therefore the sanctions shall remain. So long as these sanctions alter his actions enough to not completely destabilize the political system and leave some semblance of a democratic system for the next leader, they have achieved their purpose.

Ethiopia’s Prolific Growth — What’s Next for Africa’s Tiger Economy?

Anirudha Vaddadi, Staff Writer

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ccording to a recent Poverty Assessment report by the World Bank, poverty in Ethiopia, Sub-Saharan Africa’s second-largest country, fell by 33 percent from 2000 to 2011.

Ethiopia remains one of Africa’s most remarkable success stories, boasting nearly double-digit growth in the past decade, prompting many to label it one of the “African tigers.” This recent improvement in economic conditions is remarkable for a country that lacks significant commodity resources, and was known for a famine that claimed the lives of a million people just 30 years ago. By adopting agriculture-orientated strategies, Ethiopia’s government successfully stimulated growth, lifting millions out of poverty.

Still, much more needs to be done if the country hopes to reach its goal of becoming a middle-income country by 2025.

The World Bank cited agricultural development as a primary multiplier of farmers’ incomes. Agricultural growth has reduced poverty by four percent every year since 2005. High food prices and good weather have been a blessing for the agricultural sector, but government policy has also contributed to growth. The Productive Safety Net Program has ensured that millions of consistently food-insecure Ethiopians receive transfer payments that enable them to remain productive. Those living in rural areas have also substantially benefited from the government’s increased investments in basic services.

Furthermore, Ethiopia’s growth

has not only been limited to agriculture. The government’s Agricultural-Development-Led-Industrialization (ADLI) strategy has emphasized agricultural production as a means to drive exports and spur manufacturing. From 2005 to 2010, the non-agricultural sector grew by an impressive 23.6 percent, mainly due to greater production in the manufacturing and energy sectors. Exports, once mostly coffee-based, now include oil seeds, flowers, gold, textiles, and leather products. The construction sector has also boomed; large-scale public infrastructure projects costing about 15 percent of annual GDP have provided roads, rails, and dams that are meant to better integrate the country’s economy.

There is still room for improvement. According to the 2013-2014 ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report, Ethiopia’s business climate stands as the 14th best in Sub-Saharan Africa.

While it has excelled in areas such as construction permits and contract enforcement, it ranks near the bottom in terms of credit access and trade facilitation. Ethiopia also suffers from high levels of corruption: According to Transparency International, it is only the 20th least corrupt country in Sub-Saharan Africa and 110th in the world. Some have even accused Ethiopia’s quasi-dictatorial government of pocketing gains from its economic boom and regular reception of development aid. In 2013, Global Financial Integrity found that approximately $12 billion has illicitly flowed out of Ethiopia since 2000.

Despite the recent growth, the

government needs to push the country’s production up the value chain in order to maintain economic competitiveness and growth. This change does not necessarily call for a switch to more industrialized products; a July 2014 World Bank study on Ethiopia’s exports recommends that the country can do more to improve the quality of the products that it already exports. For instance, 29 percent of its shipments are from unroasted coffee beans-- yet, turning these raw, unprocessed beans into roasted ones could result in a price gain of $38 per kilo.

Ethiopia has come a long way from the brutal 1984 famine that one journalist described as “hell on earth.”

The World Bank study illustrates how the country has succeeded in translating GDP growth into improvements in standards of living. Indicators such as life expectancy, caloric intake, and infant mortality have improved tremendously over the past 30 years. Despite the expected slide in commodity prices this year, Ethiopia’s economy is expected to move along smoothly, and the country’s progress demonstrates how double-digit growth is possible even without dependence on natural resources. At the same time, it must battle significant obstacles such as inflation, corruption, and slow private sector growth in order to maintain its “tiger” status in the long term. With a large, young population and a growth-oriSCAN THE QR CODE entated governFOR SUBS NEWS ment, expect Ethiopia to stay in the headlines for years to come.

A2 | APRIL 8 , 2 0 1 5

WESTERN EUROPE

Limitations on Schengen to Curb Flow of Terrorism Ty Greenberg Staff Writer

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t an informal meeting of heads of state held in Brussels on February 12, European Union leaders agreed that stricter measures need to be put in place for travelers entering the Schengen Area, or the free-movement zone encompassing twenty-six European countries. Although EU citizens will be able to avoid extensive ID checks under the pre-existing Schengen agreement (signed in 1985), leaders hope that these strengthened measures will help disrupt terrorist travel

and increase safety within the EU. Recent terrorist attacks—most notably in Paris, which left 17 people murdered—have prompted this sudden political development. European leaders have emphasized that their immediate priority is “ensuring the safety of their citizens”, and to help meet this goal, they have urged legislatures to implement additional safeguards, including the expansion of databases to better identify threats and the improvement of border control procedures.

As an example, Dutch liberal MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld said the European

WHERE TO TURN? Jonathan Thrall Independent Writer

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he recent victory of Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France’s European legislative ballot certainly says a lot about the current perception of the Union. However, given France’s history of using these ballots to voice national grievances, this outcome must be understood within the context of domestic politics. Just as how French euroscepticism can be traced back to the shortcomings of mainstream political parties, so can their endemic infighting and official party positions explain Le Pen’s increasing traction amongst France’s alienated voters.

The vote for Le Pen was at least as much against sitting President François Hollande as it was in favor of any of Le Pen’s ideas, and Frontists were not alone in expressing dissatisfaction with two years of Socialist presidency. Failing to deliver on a promise-filled election platform, the incumbent stands as France’s least popular president to date, with his popularity trailing at the low 20th percentile. The number has only continued to slope downward and is unlikely to experience any significant reversal until Hollande can finally show either improvement in the stagnant unemployment rate, reduction in the budget deficit, or growth in the economy while at the same time displaying SCAN THE QR CODE enough authority FOR WEU NEWS and charisma to successfully disavow his mellow reputation.

Hollande’s plummeting

support rates have dealt a considerable blow to the Socialist Party. During the Sarkozy years, the Left profited from the contentiousness of the president’s policies and singular style of governance, emerging as the dominant party in nearly every major ballot. In 2008, they even obtained a majority in the historically conservative Senate for the first time in France’s Fifth Republic. Hollande’s ascendance to the presidency was the natural continuation of this trend, but it also marked its abrupt end. Since 2012, the ruling party has lost every major ballot, and it seems unlikely that it will experience a reversal of fortune in next year’s regional and departmental elections. Recent figures have even shown a 60% decline in the party’s revenue from membership dues, a sign that Socialists might be losing their strong militant base.

Hollande’s weight on the Socialists is such that many of their elected officials don’t even bother concealing dissatisfaction with the government.

Despite having a clear majority in the National Assembly, the executive was only narrowly able to pass its proposed budgets for state and social security due to growing abstention of numerous left-wing representatives.

The right-wing Union for a Popular Movement, the de facto opposition of this government, has taken little advantage of popular disillusionment with the executive power as it suffers through its own political crisis.

Marred by a highly publicized war of succession following ex-president Sarkozy’s ephemeral political retirement and a series of scandals related to the financing of his failed re-election

Commission should counter the terror threat to the continent with a “tailor-made and evidence-based” security response, while offering substantive safeguards to protect personal data. If member states cannot agree, these proposals (like the current MEP resolution) will likely fail—even if they are only in their nascent stages.

That being said, it seems unlikely that the European Parliament’s call for greater unity and common information exchange will be denied. The terrorist attacks, although tragic, have finally given the EU a reason to consolidate, and perhaps begin to build a stronger, more integrated security community (a major weakness of the larger EU project).

In many ways, the situation is reminiscent of the U.S.’s decision to prioritize security over personal freedoms like privacy, embodied in the 2001 Patriot Act. As it was for Americans in the wake of 9/11, fear is now a powerful motivator for European leaders, and it may provide the impetus to forge a level of political integration unseen since the 1992 signing of the

Maastricht Treaty—which lead to the creation of the Euro, and has since been referred to informally as “the pillar structure” of the EU. The possibility of increasing data-sharing among EU member states is of particular importance, largely because such efforts have been met with failure in the past. Member states have resisted efforts to build a comprehensive database, citing high costs (in terms of time and physical resources necessary for building an adequate technological infrastructure), as well as typical civil liberty and privacy concerns. Nevertheless, better information sharing would be an important step toward bringing the EU into the 21st century. Not only would it help officials identify possible terrorist threats, but it would also enable better communication between regional governments and diminish bureaucratic slowdown.

Meanwhile, European leaders have also acknowledged that they may need to do more than simply reform border control to prevent radicalization. In the wake of the recent Charlie Hebdo

campaign, France’s center-right has struggled to position itself as a sensible alternative to the incumbency.

With French voter faith in mainstream parties and their Union in Brussels at an all time low, there are some who see Sarkozy as the political class’ only hope. For the moment, his rivals and most voters disagree.

Given the recent shipwreck of mainstream parties, little was needed of Le Pen to present her platform as the only one with a seemingly coherent and clearly defined plan that addresses the growing concerns of the population. It is no surprise that a majority of French voters now see her as Hollande’s main opponent.

Nevertheless, despite the National Front’s aspirations to the presidency, France is unlikely to be ruled by the likes of Le Pen anytime soon. Still, her increasing popularity ensures that she will occupy an ever-larger role in the political arena – one that can no longer be derided by traditional parties. Rather than perceiving (and lamenting) a rise in anti-immigrant and nationalist sentiment, the French political class should heed the real message behind Le Pen’s popularity: French voters want a new direction for the future of their country.

why do you work for The Caravel?

Tomas Alvarez Staff Writer

Gemma Corsi Researcher

Being at Georgetown means knowing about the world, being curious about it.

Without a doubt, The Caravel is the best way to stay informed.

Because I love ice cream cakes. You know...Carvel?

But really, writing about world events teaches me how to interpret international media critically.

attack, the EU, whose anti-terrorist initiative began in 2005, has recognized the need to adopt a more comprehensive strategy in the face of an increasingly prevalent phenomenon.

According to the European Council, such strategies would include: “removing internet content promoting terrorism or extremism, creating novel communication strategies to promote tolerance and solidarity throughout the EU, and narratives to counter terrorist ideologies.”

Should these initiatives be replicated in other areas of the EU, we may be witnessing the onset of an unprecedented upswing in government spending. If terrorism does end up becoming a catalyst for progress, it is likely that, in typical EU fashion, development will capitalize on existing institutional designs, as policy-makers stress that any reform will occur through the existing Schengen framework. While the EU may never form a European CIA, these modest steps would be very important toward the creation of a safer, and certainly more efficient, European Union.

Juan D. Gonçalves Brandon Greenblatt Editor Associate Editor The world is a big place, and all of its stories deserve recognition. We do precisely that, as our agenda doesn’t cater to investors.

The EU is a fascinating project, and The Caravel allows me to explore the dynamism of its economic, political, and social interac-

“I’m glad that it’s more than politics and journalism: we are a team.”

- Tomas Alvarez Belon

A PRI L 8, 2015 | A 3

Swiss Leaks: HSBC’s Tax Haven Exposure Tomas Alvarez Belon Staff Writer

H

ervé Falciani, an ex-software engineer for the Swiss branch of the HSBC bank, revealed an ‘informational bomb’ that may, finally, change the secretive practices of modern banking. Between 2005 and 2007 Falciani extracted confidential data of thousands of clients who, through HSBC, engaged in complex tax evasion practices. Upon extraction, he handed over the complete set of data to French authorities and, when citizens from other countries were involved, to those governments as well.

The question that remains is whether this publication will instigate profound reforms in the banking system or merely be swept under the rug.

While the Falciani List scandal, or ‘Swiss leaks’ as it has become known, has been in the news for a while, recent efforts by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, composed of over 60 international newspapers, have brought this topic back to the front page of newspapers all around the world. According to The Guardian, “The revelations will amplify calls for crackdowns on offshore tax havens and stoke political arguments in the US, Britain and

elsewhere in Europe where exchequers are seen to be fighting a losing battle against fleet-footed and wealthy individuals in the globalised world.”

This coordinated publication is meant to strengthen the fight against ever-more prevalent fiscal misconducts.

In the ICIJ’s website, where all the data is neatly divided into “countries, people and stories”, anyone can read about the “$100 billion from 106,000 clients of 203 countries”. Every foreign-owned dollar concealed sealed

by Switzerland’s hermetic banking privacy laws does not pay taxes, and therefore deducts from countries’ budgets for education and health care.

Notwithstanding, it is even equally concerning that as many as 106,000 clients took advantage of the lax tax policy of the HSBC branch in Switzerland to evade taxes, thus essentially creating an international tax evasion consortium. According to Falciani, the pressure of international

competition drives banks to carry out practices that attract the most valuable customers but also border or infringe upon legal standards. The Falciani List, available online, displays the profiles of all of the tax evaders, with clients from over 203 countries.

European nations within the ‘Top 30’ ranking account for an amount of untaxed money totaling $95 billion.

Spain, for example, has been able to utilize the published information to rightfully identify and tax $340 million of previously unreported money. While these developments are promising for international transparency, there still remain greater hidden amounts all over the world. It is thus imperative to improve upon banking laws by carrying out much needed structural reforms. In Britain “prosecutions are up fivefold” according to British politician George Osborne. In France for example, where HSBC hid €5.7 billion in tax havens, the government has shown a firmer reactionary stance and has already declared that they will investigate HSBC’s practices.

However, these countries’ jurisdictions are limited by Switzerland’s sovereignty, meaning that international political pressure will become the most probable policy measure used to modify the latter’s controversial

banking laws.

In an interview with Italy 24, Mr. Falciani declared that he is skeptical that transnational organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which oversees the CRS (Common [tax] Reporting Standard) – a transparency measure adopted by many middle-to-high-income nations- will successfully implement change.

Moreover, it is countries such as Switzerland, with infamous reputations for secretive banking practices, that seem least interested in undertaking reforms. Switzerland has indicted Mr. Falciani and not, unsurprisingly, HSBC or its administration.

Hopefully, the legislative representatives of some of the 203 countries will accurately portray the indignation surrounding the scandal and demand an effort to end tax havens worldwide.

Countries need to revisit their own legislation to ensure that their laws on tax evasions are more stringent and better enforced, in addition to ensuring that sufficient resources and disposition are dedicated to the prevention of such financial crimes. Only collective pressure combined with national responsibility will drive Switzerland and other tax haven locations towards more transparent and more

Voting Under the Influence of British Airwaves I

Eleanor Armstrong Foreign Correspondent, Oxford University

n the lead-up to the United Kingdom’s general elections of May 2015, American-style TV debates will be held to inform the public on the different stances displayed by political parties across various issues.

There will be three debates held on the major public channels throughout April, however the problem facing broadcasters in the UK at the moment revolves around deciding which parties should in fact be included in these debates. It’s not as easy as having the two politicians that come out on top for the Primaries of major parties go head to head, especially given how new political movements have held their sway in terms of garnering substantial electoral support.

A cursory glance may suggest that the UK features a two-party system revolving around Labour and Conservatives, something analogous to the politics of the Republican-Democrat divide in the US. Evidently it is correct that most of the Members of Parliament align themselves either with

the government or the opposition, but each side is not necessarily made up of only one party – a number of other, smaller parties are involved as well.

Moreover, perhaps the fundamental reason why UK legislative politics differ from those in the USA rests in that Britons never directly elect the leader of their executive power. What actually happens is that the Prime Minister is appointed by the Monarch under the assumption that he/she is able to command the majority representation of parties within the House of Commons.

When the UK goes to the polls in May next year, the votes in each constituency will count towards electing a Member of Parliament from that area. They generally (but not always) are aligned with a nationwide party, and whichever party manages to hold the most seats in Parliament (ie. the largest number of MPs) will be able to acquire the majority position. As previously mentioned, the majority party has a leader who might then potentially become Prime Minister,

but if no single party has a majority, then a coalition government must be formed such as it is right now.

This then explains why instead of having the Prime Ministerial candidate debate for each major party, we have the Conservative Party leader and the Labour Party leader debate, because the two of them are most likely to be leading the country given their parties’ traditional dominance over voter shares. On the other hand, there are other parties that despite being smaller, still command significant support across different sectors of the population.

Despite all the aforementioned considerations, this is only the second general election expected to feature televised debates, and the format of presentation is still being discussed.

For example, no one really knows how many party leaders will be displayed.

Should participation be determined arbitrarily? Or should it be decided by each party’s particular percentage of voter share?

Nevertheless, the initial line up has already been selected for the various debates, suggesting that selection criteria for some of them does indeed

hinge on voter support. Chosen candidates should expect to receive an important political boost from this nationwide media opportunity as a large proportion of the voting public watches these debates given their accessibility.

It is important for each party’s public platform that in the lead-up to the elections they are visible to the electorate, and the plurality of modern British politics suggests that a display of political diversity will be demanded by the people. Notwithstanding, public opinion is extremely divided regarding recent media representation. For example, some believe that part of the UKIP’s current popularity is due to extensive coverage that is not enjoyed by other minor parties.

Would it be easier to only have the two main parties in the debate? Including these would guarantee a more streamlined argumentative platform with less bickering between smaller parties, and in essence, solely televising the political giants would appeal to the median voter. However, the UK doesn’t run on a two party system, and it shouldn’t be represented to the electorate as such.

EDITOR’S COLUMN Juan Daniel Gonçalves

U

pon analyzing the current state of Western European affairs, there is certainly more optimism regarding its future horizons, with Greece having recently re-issued bonds on international debt markets since the crisis and regional GDP growth outlooks remaining positive.

Additionally, the region has been acting in unison by condemning human rights abuses, denouncing and pledging reform of questionable banking practices within their borders, and even acknowledging the need for a thorough reform of existing energy infrastructure.

Nevertheless, the Old Continent must learn how to understand and adapt to new problematic scenarios: Growing racial, religious and cultural tensions emanating from a persistent influx of predominantly Middle Eastern immigrants, dependence on mid-stream hydrocarbons’ distribution from a conflictive neighbor, intra-regional developmental inequality, a seemingly unavoidable inverted demographic pyramid, and loss of faith in the European integration project, despite how the EU could actually be what the region needs to assume its new role in changing global paradigms.

Traditional beacons of productivity and value creation are losing out on their share of the world economy to emerging markets boasting an arsenal of cheap labor, plentiful commodities, convinced investors, and a long path ahead for growth.

Instead, what Western Europe must do is fortify its comparative advantages created by Brussels and individual countries’ legislations, such as having an enforceable rule of law, institutional strength and transparency, vast human capital and developed financial markets, and a free flow of labor and incentives to share information and technology.

Western Europe is unique in its social, political, cultural, and economic interactions, and I sincerely invite you to watch closely how citizens vote to determine the future of generations to come.

Finally, I am extremely grateful and proud to have worked with such an intrepid group of individuals who continue to provide our student body with such thoughtful insight, and I hope that The Caravel becomes a lasting institution of Georgetown University for years to come.

20 | APRIL 8 , 2 0 1 5

Israel’s Arabs Join Together Baghdad’s Economy on the Verge of a Joshua Shinbrot US Middle East Youth

A

communist, an Arab nationalist, and an Islamist walked into a bar…

While the unlikely unity of this group of three may sound like the introduction to a joke, it was reality in this past Israeli election and it has the potential to transform Israeli politics. Traditionally, several Arab parties attain a small number of seats in Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) each Israeli election cycle. This year, for the first time in Israel’s history, the various Arab parties have joined together with Hadash, Israel’s communist party, and ran together on one ticket. Approximately twenty percent of Israeli citizens are Arab Muslims, Christians, Bedouins, and Druze. In the past, voter turnout has been lower among Israeli Arabs than among Jewish Israelis. The unity of Arab political parties with Hadash seems to have inspired greater Israeli Arab participation in elections. Voter turnout for this demographic was 56% in this election cycle, the first increase in voter turnout for Israeli Arabs since 2000. This is still low compared to the overall voter turnout of 71.8%. Increased Israeli Arab participation combined with the decision to run on a joint ticket greatly increased the electoral and political significance of Israel’s Arab parties. The Joint List is now the third largest party in Knesset after Likud and the Zionist Union. Previously the Arab parties were among the smallest.

Having won 13 seats, the Joint List controls more seats in Knesset than centrist party Yesh Atid and Naftali Bennett’s modern orthodox, nationalist party, The Jewish Home. Currently, The Jewish Home is in coalition with Likud and it is unlikely that the party would form a government with the Zionist Union. The Joint List also won more seats in Knesset than the powerful, ultra-orthodox Shas party, which has been a part of every governing coalition since the party’s creation except for three (including the present government).

While the Arab parties joined together to run on one ticket, questions still remain about the extent to which these groups have put aside their differences. One of the Joint List members is Hadash, Israel’s communist party. Hadash has a different social agenda from the United Arab List, a party that has strong support among

Arab nationalist and Bedouin citizens of Israel. Ta’al, a party that normally runs jointly with United Arab List, is Islamist. It will likely find it difficult to advocate its strong religious views in a coalition that involves a communist party, given the communist tendency to suppress all religion. As a result of these internal differences, it is possible that these parties may have run together not out of ideological unity, but as a result of the practical consideration that Israel’s increased electoral threshold would likely lead to vote wastage if the parties were to run seperately.

Moreover, the power of an Arab party with thirteen seats is dependent on its ability to join a governing coalition. By helping to form a governing coalition, the Joint List would be able to negotiate key posts in the government for several of its ministers.

However, in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on March 3, Joint List spokesman Raja Zaatry said, “there was no chance it would join even a left-wing government at this time.”

Refusal to join any Israeli government has consequences that are twofold. First, it will limit the influence of the Joint List, as none of the party’s ministers will be appointed to the cabinet. Second, if Joint List chooses not to join any government, it will be practically impossible for the Zionist Union (or similar center-left parties that may emerge) to form a form a majority coalition even if they win more seats than Likud in future elections. Given its support of a settlement freeze and recent criticism of Israeli construction in Jerusalem, it is unlikely that the Zionist Union would form a coalition with Israel’s smaller, right wing parties. Consequently, without Joint List support, it may not be possible for the Zionist Union to capture the minimum 61 seats needed in Knesset to form a government.

As the twentieth Knesset begins governing in the coming months, it will be interesting to see whether the Joint List remains united as a block.

The power of the Joint List will be largely determined by the extent to which the Joint List can control internal ideological divisions between its members and the degree to which the Joint List cooperates with other parties.

The selected article is an excerpt of a longer piece by the US - Middle East Youth Network, at www.usmeyouthnetwork.org.

Comeback Chris Solomon

I

Global Risk Insights

n the 1950s, Iraq was an emerging center of tourism and commerce.

Powered by the revenue of the Iraq Petroleum Company, Iraq’s last king encouraged grandiose projects, such as the “Plan for Greater Baghdad” collaboration with American architect Frank Llyod Wright. Wright’s urban designs were unrealized, as King Faisal II’s assassination in 1958 led to international isolation of Iraq. Is it possible for Baghdad to return to the beacon of culture it once was?

With a population of 7.26 million, Baghdad is growing rapidly. The city’s basic infrastructure and the electric grid are lagging behind of demand.

Flooding is also common due to inadequate drainage. But the end of the curfew, ordered by Prime Minister Al-Abadi on February 8th, signals that change is in the air. Roadblocks, checkpoints, and concrete barriers are starting to dwindle. Al-Abadi is also pushing hard for economic reform.

At an investment conference last fall, he said the government was restructuring, including privatizing, several

state-owned companies.

Iraq is taking strides to invest in social projects. Major developments include The Baghdad Gate Housing Project ($238M), Bismayah New City Project scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015 ($7.75B), and the Madinat Al Mustaqbal (City of the Future) housing project ($15B). Many of these projects include the implementation of green building standards that will reduce power consumption by 30 to 40 percent. 22 Baghdad development projects are now under way.

In 2012, Baghdad hosted the Arab League, a major regional event that saw $500M spent on renovating roads, hotels, and beautification. The National Museum of Iraq just reopened to the public after having been closed since the US invasion of 2003.

Approximately 4,300 recovered looted artifacts are back on display. This is the Iraqi government’s response to the horrendous destruction by Islamic State in February of pieces dating back to the Assyrian Empire in Mosul.

The future of Iraq’s investment depends on the oil market. As the government struggles to navigate the low oil market in preparing 2015’s national budget, the Iraqi Ministry of

Oil remains confident oil prices are growing. February’s government oil profits were just shy of $3.5 billion.

Politically, Al-Abadi is also bringing changes. Dr. Thikra Alwash was recently appointed by PM Al-Abadi as the mayor, an unprecedented move as none of the senior ministers or regional governor posts are occupied by women. Even more remarkable is Dr. Alwash’s credentials as a civil engineer Ph.D., and previously the Director of Projects Department in the Ministry of Higher Education.

The new government in Baghdad also seems to be taking a more practical approach in dealing with the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG). The Iraqi government has finalized a deal with the KRG to share oil revenues, although momentum for Kurdish independence is still building. If Baghdad plays its cards right, repairing the relationship with the KRG will have enormous economic benefits in the long run for the country as a whole.

Currently, the world is watching how Baghdad handles the situation in the northwestern region. In the meantime, most Baghdadis remain determined and defy the notion that

the city’s will is broken. Social media activists were quick to spread the hashtag #Baghdadisfine after the start of last summer’s crisis.

Whether the positive trends in Iraq’s recent development can be sustained depends on whether Iraq can defeat the enemy of corruption.

But one hopes that the quiet influx of trade, reform, and political change may be laying the groundwork for a new era of prosperity and calm long desired by the people of Iraq’s capital.

Global Risk Insights provides actionable, timely political risk analysis for businesses and investors. We produce actionable, timely analysis on how political events are impacting economic climates worldwide.