Sunday, December 22, 2013

New Years Around the World

December 31st is coming up soon, and when the ball drops at midnight we will welcome in the New Year. We all have our traditions that we follow to welcome in the New Year and I thought it would be fun to explore different New Year's traditions around the world. 

Just to generalize most countries will welcome the New Year with parties, fire works, and resolutions. But there are interesting traditions that welcome the New Year around the world.

Ever since 1907 in the US thousands of people gather in Times Square in New York City to watch the ball drop as the clock reaches midnight. And even if you aren't there physically, you will be virtually, by turning on the your TV to watch the party.

In Japan New Years is the largest and most important holiday of the year. Before New Years Eve, Bonenkai or year forgetting parties are held to rid the worries and concerns of the year, so that your clear for the next. At midnight on December 31st Buddhist temples ring their bells 108 times to expel 108 different types of human weakness. People clean their house, car, and their soul, by letting go of past grudges to start the New Year fresh. It is also popular to send friends and family New Years Cards. On New Years day it is also Tradition to wake up early to witness the first sunrise of the New Year.  

In Greece New Years is also on the festival of St. Basil, who was a founder of the Greek Orthodox Church. During the festival St. Basil cakes are baked and eaten, and through out the batch some cakes will be backed with a silver or gold coin in it, and if you find it is supposed to signify a lucky New Year.

People in the Netherlands welcome in the New Year by burning Christmas Trees. The burning is meant to get rid of the old make way for the new.

In Spain it is tradition to eat 12 grapes at the strike of midnight. One grape equals one happy month in the upcoming year.

Columbia it is tradition to walk around the block with an empty suitcase to hope for a year filled travel. Or how I look at it could also be a year with no baggage. 

What I have learned form my Mom and her side of the family, in the Philippines it is tradition to eat round fruit or any thing in the shape of a circle at midnight. The round fruit are meant to represent coins and bring prosperity to the New Year. I don't know if the next one is as popular in the Philippines, but my family has does and you take any coined money and throw it around the house after midnight, and I'm assuming it is for the same reasons as listed above.

In Brazil after the fireworks are over at midnight, people run to the beach and skip over seven waves so that the sea goddess will open new paths for the new year. And with each skip a wish is made.

So there just some of the many interesting New Years traditions that take place over the globe. If you want you could adopt one of these or come up with one of your own traditions, regardless, goodbye 2013 and Happy New Year.

Sources



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Civil War in South Sudan

The recently formed country of South Sudan gained independence in 2011 and was admitted to the United Nations as the 193rd member. The country since then has been facing infighting in the country. On Sunday the 15th of December fighting broke out between two groups of rival soldiers within the capital city Juba and left hundreds dead and injured. Fighting continued into the Monday morning. The South Sudanese, President Salva Kiir declared a curfew from 6 pm to 6 am in Juba. The President has said the fight was started by soldiers who are loyal to Riek Machar the former Vice President before he was dismissed by Kiir in July. Kiir and Machar are political rivals as Kiir has accused Machar of starting a coup. Kiir and Machar come from rival ethnic groups, Kiir is a Dinka, while Machar is a Nuer.

Machar has stated that he did not order the attack in Juba and he said that the current president was “inciting tribal and ethnic violence” and that he should resign, according to the BBC. The Dinka and Nuer have a long history of fighting each other and it is believed this rivalry is being manipulated by different factions to gain more power.

The tension and fighting has escalated since the fighting outbreak in Juba. On Sunday December 22nd, Bentiu, the oil producing capital of South Sudan in Unity a state in South Sudan was taken under the control of a military commander who is loyal to Machar. Bor, the capital city of Jonglei a state in South Sudan, is also the scene of fighting between government troops and those loyal to Machar. Machar Loyalist are also said to have gain control of oilfields in Unity, which would affect the economy of South Sudan, because 99% of the country's budget comes from the oil it produces.

The UN has plans to help to diffuse and clam the situation, as South Sudan is the newest member of the UN. UN already was heavily involved in South Sudan. During the Juba fight, 20,000 civilians took shelter and continue to stay in UN bases. The US, UK and many other countries have evacuated their citizens and other nationals out of South Sudan. US and UN aircraft have come under small arms fire while evacuating foriegn citizens and staff. UN peacekeeping forces are being moved from the Congo and into South Sudan in order to aid with the situation. 

It will be interesting how the situation will last and how involved UN forces will be in South Sudan as the violence continues.

Sources

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Emerging Space Race

On December 15th China completed their first soft landing on the surface of the moon, the Chang'e 3, and as become to third country in the world to soft land onto the moon, the other two being the US and Russia. China has not been the second country to get a man on the moon, as this landing is was unnamed and contained a rover to explore the surface of the moon. But this is still important as this is also been the first time a country has soft landed on the moon in almost forty years, the last being the Luna 24 launched by the Soviet Union in 1976 and the last manned moon landing was the Apollo 17 launched by the US in 1972.

For many years the US and Russia have been the leading nations when it has come to space flight, but recently China has been rising as a power in space among the other rising space faring nations in Asia. China's space program is ambitious, launching their first astronaut in 2003 and planing to establish their own space station in Earth's orbit by 2020. China also plans to have their own manned base on the moon, which is more possible after their successful soft landing.

China is not the only rising space power in Asia. China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and South Korea are all competing with each other to get the upper hand in space. Japan has launched cheaper rockets for satellites and this year South Korea has launched their first rocket into space. While this year India has their sights on a much farther target.

On November 5th, India launched a space craft headed to Mars and will land on the Red planet next September. If India's mission is successful, they will be the fourth space program to reach Mars, behind the US, Russia, and Europe. The craft is carrying an orbiter, that will orbit Mars and collect data and take pictures of the planet.

China and India have ambitious goals of their space programs and maybe their missions can push further exploration of our solar system and beyond.

Sources
China's Moon rover and Space Program
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/15/china-moon-rover-makes-tracks
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/20/china-jade-rabbit-rover-space-politics
http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucedorminey/2013/12/14/chinas-space-agenda/
Asian Space Race
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-11/india-and-china-move-ahead-in-the-asian-space-race
India's Mission to Mars
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/01/india-mars-mission-mangalyaan-leaves-eath-orbit
Picture Source
Chang'e 3 Moon Rover-http://www.space.com/23997-nasa-spacecraft-china-moon-lander.html




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Sunday, December 15, 2013

Poverty Line or Wall


I saw this image a while ago on Reddit and it also popped up on other sites. The image is titled "Literal poverty line in Brazil". As from the title and the picture, you can clearly see the difference between the two living conditions. On the left of the image, the buildings are small and cramped together. While on the right of the image, they live in towering buildings, with their own pools and tennis courts. I looked up where this was located in Brazil and it was Paraisopolis, Sao Paulo. You can even use these coordinates on Google maps to see it for your self (-23.614497°, -46.730708°). If you zoom out it is very clear to see what are the rich and poor areas. 

Slum or poor areas are every where in the world, I just found this image weird that the two were so close and very different from the other. The two seem to represent the most extreme of both sides of the spectrum.

Another cool example I found of a visible poverty line was an image taken from Egypt. You can see the obvious difference between the rich and the poor. The rich are living in nice and clean apartments, well lit street and clean streets. And the poor are living in half built brick buildings with no windows. The buildings don't even go above 4 stories. There are hardly any people out on the street on the rich side of the line, they are all most likely enjoying their pool and AC, while on the poor side everyone is out and about, because it is probably the same temperature inside as it is outside. Looking at the amount of people out and about on the poor side of the line, it looks like that there are more people then there are space for them to live in. But the most odd and ridiculous part of this picture is that the split between the poor and the rich is a wall, a freaking wall that is three stories high and extents out into the river by eight feet!

There are just two cases I have found when comes to these "literal poverty lines" and they give this feel that you either look up at the top and say "I want that", or look out to the bottom and think "thank god I'm not down there." 

Sao Paulo
Egypt




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The Universal Food

Food, I eat food, you eat food, that guy on the bus eats food, that guy living on the street wants to eat food, North Korea says they eat food. we all eat food. With our world being connected as it is, it can't be too hard to find out what the most eaten food is in the world, the item that would represent the food item of the world. 

Now according to top-food.net, (by the way some of the things on the list, to me at least same odd) the most eaten food in the world is the glorious chicken. This makes sense, considering that as of  2003, the population of chicken in the world was at 24 billion, compared to the human population with about 7 billion. With those numbers every one in the world could about 3-4 chickens. Chicken is obviously popular around the world. So many people use the phrase "it taste like Chicken" when asked to describe the taste of some exotic meat to their friends, and that because it seems to be the most universally known taste.

A good portion of the items listed, are more of how the food is prepared, like pizza, bread, and pasta, while I was looking for the base food item. The 3rd one the list on top-food.net is rice, which I think should be the second one instead of pizza. China and India, the most populous nations in the world have rice as their most eaten food, which makes it pretty popular. Rice is a staple house hold product everywhere. Every household has a rice bag setting in their pantry, weather they use it for making a delicious rice dish or use it to dry out their water damaged phones.

If you find your self to be hosting a party of guest from around the world and don't know what to serve, just play it safe and give them a blow of rice and chicken breast. 
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The Odd Shape of the International Date Line

The International Date Line is an imaginary line in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that splits one day of the calendar with another. The International Date Line  is good for practical purposes, but it is based on another imaginary line, the Prime Meridian.

The Prime Meridian and the International Date Line are on opposite sides of the globe.  Both of these lines were determined and standardized in the International Meridian Conference in 1884. Prime Meridian became 0 degrees longitude and the opposite was the 180 degrees longitude or the 180th meridian. The International Date Line is mostly based off the 180th because most of the line passes through open water except for a small part of Russia and some Pacific Islands, but if you look at a map you can clearly see that the International Date Line doesn't even follow the 180th meridian from the North pole to the South pole. It angles off into other directions and makes weird shapes and finally meets at the South pole. It is hardly a line.

The reason the International Date Line is an oddly shaped line is because of politics, economics, and some other stuff nations like to argue about. Even though a small tip of Russia passes over the 180th meridian into the west part, it is on the east side of the International Date Line instead of the west, the same is said about the US State of Alaska, with the most west part of the state being put on the west side of the International Date Line. these situations make sense, because who wants to live in the same country as another person, but your one day ahead and their one day behind, that would just be confusing and cause some unnecessary problems.

Some countries have changed their position on what side of the International Date Line they were on. For some time when the Philippines was under Spanish control, the island nation was on the west side of the International Date Line, so that Spanish America and the Philippines would be on the same  date, around the 1840s the Philippines switched to the east side of the International Date Line, so that the country could be on the same date as China and the Dutch East Indies, which in all honesty makes a lot more sense, considering the distance between Central America and the Philippines.

The most recent change to the what side the a country was of the International Date Line was on December 30th 2011, when Samoa skipped the 30th and jumped to the 31st by crossing over to the east side of the International Date Line. Samoa, 121 years ago was originally on the east side of the date line, but the King at the time was convinced by U.S. traders to switch, because trade would be easier between the two nations and making Samoa have the same date as American Samoa. The change was brought along because over the years the nearby countries Australia and New Zealand have become closer trade partners with Samoa, compared to the US, and a large number of Samoans live in Australia and New Zealand.

There are probably more examples of situations like these, but these are just a few. If anything can be learned from the International Date Line it is that no matter what rules are made there are always exceptions.

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Sunday, December 8, 2013

Olympic Perpration

The Winter Olympics is coming up next year in February of  2014 in Sochi, Russia, and all the top athletes of every nation will come to compete in the winter sports. Everyone is hyped up to watch the opening ceremony and watch the top athletes compete, but other nations are going through a lot preparation to host their upcoming games. 

The 2014 games being held in Sochi has had the biggest budget spent on any Olympic games, costing at $50 billion. For comparison the games in Beijing were $40 billion and the London games were $19 billion. Most of the money was used to help build infrastructure in Sochi, because about 85 percent of the infrastructure of the city had to be built from starch. 

Brazil's Rio de Janerio won as the next host of the summer Olympics in 2016 and the country has been preparing for their new arrivals for some time now. The government has put in $25.9 billion  into the making sure the city is ready. Brazil has already completed most of the Olympic arenas and venues for the games. The Brazilian government has upgraded the cities mass transit system, renovated buildings covered in graffiti and gone into disrepair. Brazil hopes to use the games to help boast their country's economy.

Pyeongchang, South Korea was given the right to host the 2018 winter Olympics and according to the IOC (International Olympic Committee) the city is well on track to completing their preparations. The city is located in a provenience near the Demilitarized Zone of the two Koreas and the organizers have stated that they will use the games to promote peace between the north and the south.

The next the city that will be hosting last of the known upcoming games is Tokyo, Japan in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The government plans to use the Olympics to promote health and fitness in Japanese school and public. It is said they will have make Japan more accessible for disabled people, because of the Paralympics that are hosted alongside the Olympics.

The games are not only a way for countries to showcase their top athletes, but also used to promote peace, culture, and health. 

The Olympics


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Enter the Smog

On Friday, December 6th, the Chinese city of Shanghai suffered its worst case of smog. The smog has closed down the city, schools are not allowed to let students out, flights delayed,  and sporting events canceled. People have been advised not to go outside and government vehicles have out numbered the number of civilian vehicles as they watch the smog. The smog is expected to be around till Monday.

Shanghai is not the only city in China experiencing the unsafe smog levels. Beijing and Guangzhou have also been notorious in having smog in the city. The smog also moves closer into inland cities of China, instead of just sticking to the big three on its eastern coast. The smog is attributed to coal burning, factories, and car exhaust from the cities.

China is known for its unsafe levels of smog that plague the cities, for example when Beijing came under attack during the 2008 Olympics, because of its high levels of air pollution. However the cities of China are not the only place that suffers from heavy air.

Smog affects many major cities across the globe. Even here in the US cities are periodically affected by Smog. Most of the the areas in the US that are affected are those in the state of California and on the east coast.

Smog has attacked cities as long as we have been industrialized and there a ways to combat and reduce smog across the world. Car exhaust is a huge contributor to smog across the world. By creating cars that produce less CO2 and that are more fuel efficient smog can be prevented in major cities like Beijing and LA. There is the obvious of creating factories that produce less CO2 and using clean energy instead of fossil fuels. Of course there are other solutions that will get rid of smog in the short term.

The Chinese government has invested about $277 billion dollars into rockets that will make it rain. These rockets will create artificial rain that will help clear up the smog in cities.

One way or another we will have to combat the smog either with weapons that create rain in the short term or reducing the amount of CO2 we produce.

China in Smog
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/07/shanghai-smog_n_4402477.html
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1376388/smog-set-lift-eastern-china-experts-say-solution-long-way
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24700-could-china-combat-smog-with-artificial-rain.html#.UqUx1tJDto0
Locations in the US
http://environment.about.com/od/smogfaq/f/smog_faq_four.htm






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Bitcoin, a Global Currency

Bitcoins has quickly become a new and powerful currency. Bitcoin is an all digital currency which was first introduced in 2009 by an anonymous person that went by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto, and in 2010 left the project. The project however continued because of Bitcoin's open source code, allowing any one to contribute and participate in the project.

Bitcoin is like any other currency in the world, like the US dollar, Euro, Yen, or the UK pound, stored in your wallet, or in the case of the Bitcoin, in your digital wallet, except there is no central authority that facilitates Bitcoin and has completely anonymous transactions. You can acquire Bitcoins in 4 different ways, first accepting them as payment, donations, buying them, or making your own Bitcoins by mining them. Mining is the term used to describe the creation of new Bitcoins. Anyone can sit up a server which through a long and lengthily process unique Bitcoins are produced. Once a Bitcoin is produced the miner, can keep it for them self, sell it, or use it.

The value of Bitcoins have increased dramatically since its creation. On December first the Bitcoin reached its height, at $1203 and as of now it is $726 per Bitcoin, according to blockchain.info, a popular online Bitcoin wallet. 

$726 is still quite a significant amount of money for one Bitcoin and may continue to rise or fall, depending on how governments plan to handle it. Because of Bitcoins decentralization, many organizations are wary of it. Just as of last Thursday, Decmember 5th, China has restricted banks from accepting Bitcion as a currency, which in return had the value of Bitcoins drop from its over 1,000 dollar value to its current $726 value. 

The Bitcoin has become popular, because of its high value. At football game at Auburn University, broadcasted by ESPN on November 30th, an attendee held up a sign that had scanable QR code, and on the sign it read "HI MOM SEND Bitcoins". The attendee ended up receiving 22 Bitcoins, which at the time was about $24,000.

Another man recently seeing the value of Bitcoin, now has to dig through 4 feet deep of garbage in order to find his fortune in a dump in Newport, Whales. John Howells in the middle of summer through out a hard drive containing 7,500 Bitcoins, worth about 4 million Pounds, or about 6.5 million Dollars. Howell had his laptop set up to mine Bitcoins in 2009 and were stored on his hard drive. Now it is almost impossible to find and will likely be lost in the dump.  

Everyone is going crazy over Bitcoin, but it is hard to determine if its value will continue to rise and be recognized as a legitimate currency.

The Bitcoin
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Sunday, November 3, 2013

The Law of the Sea

When running a country it is pretty easy to determine borders with fences or walls, but determining your coast and how far a countries claim goes is harder to determine, well if your landlocked I guess it doesn't matter as much. For example how far does your sovereignty go out from the coast or how much sovereignty? A total of 165 states have signed a United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which sets the standards for this type of stuff. 

There are different types of waters and how much jurisdiction a state has them. The first are internal waters, these are water ways that are in the land part of the country the state has full jurisdiction in these waters and foreign ships are not at all to pass through these.

The next are territorial waters, this makes up the coast of a country and are based off the countries baseline on the sore. Territorial waters go out 12 nautical miles (22 kilometers; 14 miles) off the baseline. Governments can set up laws and regulations and foreign vessels can pass through here under "innocent passage". Innocent passage in a peaceful matter and no fishing, polluting, weapons practice or spying are not considered innocent, which should be obvious. And underwater vessels like submarines are required to on the surface and fly their nation's flag. And beyond the territorial waters there is the contiguous zone, which is another 12 nautical miles from the territorial waters and states are allowed to enforce laws on customs, taxation, immigration and pollution.

Next there are Exclusive economic zones. These go out 200 nautical miles out from the baseline. Here coastal nations have all rights to exploit the natural resources in this range, from fishing to mining operations and oil drilling.

The last one is the continental shelf. Nations are allowed exploit natural resources that are located within their coasts continental shelf. But if their countries continental shelf exceeds 350 nautical miles, they can only go up to 350 nautical miles.

These sea claims will be under constant dispute. Claims will overlap each other and as different nations claim to control islands that are near each other. For example the sea claims of he South China Sea, with the countries of China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia, with sea claims that overlap the other.

More on the Law of the Sea
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Global Cities

As the world becomes more globalized, cities around the world are connected on a larger scale. There has probably always been cities that have connected people from different parts of the world and have had a huge influence and impact on the economics, culture, politics of the world, but recently people have been calling the major cities of today "Global Cities". There has been research done to determine on how to define what a global city is. Global cities are home to a major stock exchange, participates in international finical services like banking, accounting, and marketing, has great influence in international politics, has world-renowned cultural institutions, world renowned universities and high international student attendance, major media hub, a large public transit network to connect the city, has a large international airport, and has an amazing sky-line. A city that has all of these points would be considered a higher tier of a global city compared to one that has one or two less.

Global cities are split into four tiers, sometimes being categorized by calling the top tier Alpha, then goes to Beta, Gamma, and Sufficiency at last tier. The top 10 global cities as of 2012 are New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seoul, Brussels, and Washington D.C. It is predicted that as time goes one that other Asian cities will rise to or near the top ten. It is predicted that Singapore, Beijing, and Shanghai will rise into the top ten as these cities continue to be influential. New York and London continue to be on the top 2, New York being first and London second, of all of the Global Cities Indexes, from global power, economic power, wealth, and competitiveness. 

While many cities will continue to rise, others struggle to keep their position and might fall in position in the future. Mexico City for example is the most likely to lose its rank. Mexico City has the highest vulnerability score on emerging global cities, it has a score of  7.8, with 10 being the most vulnerable to fall. The highest factor to this is instability in the city and corruption, no doubt because of the war on drugs that continues throughout the city. 

Global Cities play a major role in today's world and will continue to rise and fall.  

More on Global Cities
http://www.newgeography.com/content/003292-what-is-a-global-city
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/map_worldcities.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_city
http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch2en/conc2en/map_worldcities.html
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Hong Kong and Macua

Hong Kong, the city in China with a blending of Chinese and British culture and Macau blending Chinese and Portuguese culture. These cities are in unique situations compared to the rest of mainland China, because of their history and how there are governed.

Both of these city states used to be colonies of European nations; Hong Kong, a colony of the United Kingdom and Macau, a colony of Portugal. The two cities were handed over to the Chinese government, Hong Kong was handed over in 1997 and Macau in 1999. The cities came into China under the "One Country, Two Systems" policy or all so known as "One China, Two Systems". The "One Country, Two Systems" policy was first suggested by the Chinese government in the 1980's and it called for the reunification of China and that there could only be one China, however regions could keep their capitalist economy and political systems, instead of following China's socialists system. The regions that were to fall under "Two Systems, One Country" were Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Of the three only Hong Kong and Macau accepted the deal, while Taiwan has rejected it. The Taiwanese government claimed that there are 169 incidents where China breached the rights of the people of Hong Kong, and others claimed that the Republic of China (Taiwan's Government) should be the One China, not the People's Republic of China (Government of mainland China). The system allows Hong Kong and Macau to keep their way of life and a high degree of autonomy for up least to 50 years after reunifying, but it never has been publicly stated what will happen to the two after the 50 years.

Hong Kong and Macau are responsible for their domestic affairs and are not required to broadcast and publish things in Mandarin and Simplified Chinese. While the Chinese Government is responsible for national defense and diplomatic relations. Hong Kong continues to follow English Common Law and Macau continues to follow Portuguese Civil Law. 

Hong Kong Macau not only have different economic system and laws but different cultures from that of mainland China. Macau was used as trading post and colony under the Portuguese Empire in 1537 and was the last European colony in Asia after its handover in 1999. Because of over four-hundred years of Portuguese influence and control the city and its people have created a blend of Chinese and Portuguese culture, by following traditions and celebrating events of both cultures. A similar thing can be said about Hong Kong, but with British and Chinese culture. In the 1840's Hong Kong was used by the British as a trading post and in 1898 Hong Kong was leased to the United Kingdom for 99 years. Hong Kong is a trade hub and an entertainment hub. Hong Kong is well known for its martial arts movies and actors, most famous one being Bruce Lee, which there is a statue of in the city.

These two cities still get to keep a high amount of control on how they run themselves and their lifestyles, at least until the fifty year deal expires. 

More on Hong Kong and Macau
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Sunday, October 27, 2013

Lost Tribes

Lost Tribes, also known as Uncontacted Peoples or Isolated Peoples are communities of people who have remained isolated from global civilization, either by chance or by choice. Brazil has the highest number of uncontacted tribes, with the government listing 77, Peru has 15, and India has 2 on islands. There are several uncontacted tribes in central Africa and Malaysia and about a dozen in Indonesia and New Guinea.

Brazil and Peru have established laws that prohibit people from interacting with the uncontacted tribes and trespassing on their lands, by setting up areas that are reserved for these tribes, but there are loop-holes in these polices loggers and miners take advantage of to make use of the land the tribes use. A main reason these laws are in place is because of the uncontacted peoples immune systems. They have not been exposed to many diseases that Europeans brought when coming to the Americas and have no natural immunity to fight these diseases and their whole tribe could be wiped out if they contracted one of these diseases. Another reason is that uncontacted tribes are considered dangerous and even hostile to outsiders. 

The uncontacted tribe of Mashco-Piro in Peru are considered dangerous and should be avoided. This tribe chose to isolate themselves from outsiders. Around the 1900s rubber companies in the Amazon massacred many Mashco-Piro tribes people, and since then they have become weary and hostile of outsiders. Most uncontacted tribes choose to remain isolated, and those that do integrate into modern society end up being at the bottom of the social ladder.

There are many movements to leave unconctated tribes alone in order to protect them from disease and to preserve their way of life. These movements prevent the deforestation of the tribes land by companies and governments.

More on Uncotacted Peoples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncontacted_peoples
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24090-how-many-uncontacted-tribes-are-left-in-the-world.html#.Um2xOnAWJRw
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/isolated-peruvian-tribe-tries-make-contact-sparking-standoff-6C10962822
http://www.uncontactedtribes.org/

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The Permanent 5

The United Nations Security Council is in charge of peace and security on the international scale. The Security Council is responsible for operating peacekeeping operations, sanctions and automatism military action. The Security Council is made of 15 member states, 5 of which have a permanent seat while the other 10 are elected by the other member states for 2 year terms. The 5 permanent member states, also known as the Permanent 5 (P5) have the power to veto any decision voted by the Security Council. Under article 27 of the United Nations Charter, each member of the Security Council gets one vote and 9 votes are needed for something to pass. However it may only pass if each of the permanent members allows it, this is where they get their veto power. If one of the permanent members does not vote to pass it or doesn't vote at all, then the action they were voting on does not pass. The Security Council not only votes on military actions, but also if a new member's application is accepted.

 So who are the five permanent powers of the United Nations Security Council, who hold so much power? They are nations who are great powers (a great powers is a nation with a lot of military, political, and economic influence) that were victorious after the Second World War. These great powers that won the war are China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Over the years some of the governments of the permanent 5 have changed. After the World War II France's seat was held by the Forth French Republic, but in 1958 a new constitution was written and the Fifth French Republic was born, or simply the French Republic. Before 1971 China's seat belonged to the Republic of China, but switched to the People's Republic of China, because of the Republic of China's exile to Taiwan and having no power on mainland China. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the successor to the Soviet Union for the Council seat was seen as the Russian Federation.

The Permanent 5 have used their veto power for a total of 268 times as of 2007. The most belonging to the Russian seat with 123, most of which were under the USSR, and the least with 6 belonging to China. There has been no vetoes this year, but 7 have been used in the years of 2011 and 2012. In 2011 the US vetoed an action regarding Palestine, and in the same year Russia and China vetoed an act regarding the Middle East. In 2012 both Russia and China used their vetoes on issues regarding the Middle East and one regarding the issue in Syria. 

Debate has been sparked by and weather or not the 5 permanent members should hold exclusive right to the veto power. Critics point to the fact the P5 use their veto power to help themselves or their allies. There is also a group known as the G4, which is made of four countries that wish to extend the amount of permanent members in the Security Council. These countries include Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan and each state supports the other in trying to obtain a permanent seat.

More on the United Nations Security Council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_power#Aftermath_of_the_Cold_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Security_Council_veto_power
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/resguide/scact_veto_en.shtml
http://www.un.org/en/sc/
http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/chapter5.shtml
http://www.un.org/en/members/about.shtml




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Eurasian Union (Soviet Union 2.0?)

In 2011 the Prime Minster of Russia, Vladimir Putin, now president, proposed a Eurasian Union. This union would expand on the already established Customs Union between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. The presidents of each nation in 2011 singed an agreement of forming a Eurasian Union, which would be fully operational in 2015. Russia wishes to have six former soviet states join the Eurasian Union, which include  Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. In 2013 Armenia declared they would join the Eurasian Union, while Ukraine wishes to join the European Union instead. Membership is not restricted to those six, it has been stated that they are willing to have any countries join that are cultural or historical close to Russia, like Finland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cuba and Venezuela.

The Eurasian Union would operate similar to the European Union in that borders between the countries that join would be no borders and a common currency. Russian is said to be the language of trade within the Eurasian Union. The union plans on making trading and cooperation between all members easy and beneficial for all involved. The union also includes a military alliance between the member nations. In 2006 a military alliance between Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan called the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) was put into to effect. The Russian military is the most prominent in the military alliance, because it controls the most military bases of all the them. In 2009 the CSTO formed the Rapid Reaction Forces (KSOR), which is meant to act a permanent military force that is ready in a need of crisis. 

Many people have criticized Putin's idea of Eurasian Union. Many claim that this Putin's way of reviving the old Soviet Union. They use the fact that Putin once called the collapse of the Soviet Union "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century" and that Putin is a former KGB agent for the Soviet Union. United States had also criticized Putin's Eurasian Union. In 2012 the US Sectary of State, Hillary Clinton, stated that the Russia's proposal is just a new USSR, and that they will try to find ways to slow it down. Putin has stated that he has no desires to rebuild the Soviet Union and that it will be a bond of today's economic and political values. There are many names being given to the Eurasian Union to describe it, many of which point toward USSR style of running things. The best one I have herd to describe it, is it will be like the USSR without the communism. 

More on the Eurasian Union
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Union
http://www.euractiv.com/europes-east/moscow-fleshes-eurasian-union-pl-news-509042
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/17/idINIndia-60590820111117
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kambiz-behi/russias-growing-economic-influence_b_1696304.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/04/vladimir-putin-eurasian-union_n_993772.html
http://rt.com/news/eurasian-union-eu-better-667/
http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/17/idINIndia-60590820111117
http://armenianow.com/commentary/analysis/41807/usa_against_ussr_clinton_armenia_relations_russia
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/06/russias-eurasian-union-could-endanger-the-neighborhood-and-us-interests


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Sunday, October 20, 2013

Somalia Divided

In 1991 the government of Somalia was ousted by rival clans, but the clans had no agreement on who would secede and how to establish the new government. Since then the country has been divided among different factions fighting for power. Somalia has become vary unstable over the last two decades and the constant fighting has mad it hard for the country to deal with natural disasters and is predicted that about half a million people died because of famine during this time. 

In 2012 the United Nations installed a central government in Somalia, the Somali Republic and the republic is recognized as the legitimate ruler of Somalia. Over the years of the civil war the UN and the African Union have deployed troops to help bring stability to the country. 

The Somali Republic is recognized in the international community, but two regions in the north Somalia are not recognized at all. In north Somalia the regions of Somaliland and Puntland are not recognized by the international community. Both govern themselves and claim to be independent nations. However Puntland is willing to negotiate with Somalia in terms of coming together, while Somaliland has opted out and wants to remain independent. Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 after the fall of the old government and since then has set up their own parliament and military. Somaliland and its neighbor Puntland are in border disputes. Somaliland claims all of the territory of the former British Somaliland, but is only control of the western part. Violence has broken out between Somaliland and Puntland between 2002 and 2009 regarding the border. Both Somaliland and Puntland are not recognized by the United Nations as independent nations. The fighting within Somalia still continues as other factions resist the power of the Somali government.

More on Somalia
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City States

City States are cities and sometimes surrounding areas that are either completely independent or are autonomous and are not administrated by the local government, but just do it themselves. In history the most popular are the city state Rome or the cities of Greece, like Athens and Sparta. City States are still around today. There are two main types of city states, sovereign ones and non-sovereign ones.

Sovereign city states are recognized, treated, and operate like any other nation in the world. Today there are only three sovereign city states. Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City are city states that have full membership in the UN, expect Vatican City only being a observer. Each one make their own laws and rule how they please in their territory. Vatican City is located within Rome, Italy and has the smallest populations out of the three with about 840 people and is famous for home of the Pope of the Catholic Church. Monaco's land border is completely shared with France and has population of about 30,000 people. Monaco has been a member of the UN since 1993. Even though Monaco is its own nation it relies on France for military aid. The largest city state is the city of Singapore. Singapore has a population above 5,000,000 people and rules over islands on the tip of Penang, Malaysia. Singapore is not only a city, unlike Monaco or Vatican City but also has rural areas that surround it. Out of the three city states, Singapore is the only one with its only military.

The other types of city states are non-sovereign city states. These city states either have restricted autonomy or are administrated by a federal government. Hong Kong was handed over to China from the United Kingdom in 1997. Since then Hong Kong has been under the One China Two Systems policy. The policy allows Hong Kong to keep its economic systems and political systems while being part of the country of China. Hong Kong gets to make their own laws all while being part of China. Federal administrated cities are cities that are in federations that are ran by the federal government. Countries like the United States and Russia are countries that are federations. The two countries capitals, Washington D.C in the US and Moscow in Russia are both governed by their federal government. In the case of D.C, the city is not part of any US state but under administration of the US government.

More on City States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City-state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monaco#Security
http://country-facts.findthedata.org/compare/106-135/Singapore-vs-Monaco
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_country,_two_systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singapore
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Is Taiwan on the Map?

Looking at a map if the world, at least in the US will most likely have Taiwan as a different color than that of China. Problem with this is that the Chinese government, the People's Republic of China (PRC) claims that the island of Taiwan and any other islands are under the rule of the PRC and is supported by all of the nations in the UN expect 23 of them. Taiwan and other neighboring islands under the rule of the Republic of China (ROC) and claim to have rule over mainland China. So how is it that there are two different governments that claim to have jurisdiction of the same lands? The ROC was established in 1911 and was exiled to the island of Taiwan after being defeated in a civil war in 1949 and in the PRC taking over. And in 1971 the ROC lost its seat in the United Nations as the government of China and was replaced with the PRC and other nations started to recognize the PRC capital of Beijing as the capital of China, instead of the ROC capital of Taipei located in Taiwan.

Only 23 nations recognize the ROC as the legitimate government of China and keep diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Because of the PRC's One China policy, the PRC will cut off all diplomatic relations that recognizes Taiwan and the ROC. Because of the tension between China and Taiwan other origination and nations must be careful about their wording and actions when regarding China or Taiwan. For an goverenment to publicly regard Taiwan as country or simply leaving the word People's out of the People's Republic of China will get a reaction from the PRC.

The US and The ROC have an odd relationship. After the ROC was exiled out the China, the communist party in China gained more influenced, which did not sit well the US government and till 1979 the US supported the ROC as the government of China. The US supported the ROC because the PRC were communists and supported other communists in wars like the Korean and Vietnam Wars. Since the ROC's exile to Taiwan, the US has given weapons and military training to Taiwan in hopes of them taking power back from the PRC, but no such power shifts have happened. In 1979 the US recognized the PRC as the sole legal government of China and cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The US embassy that was in Taiwan is now replaced with the American Institute in Taiwan.  The US government does not support Taiwan independence, but both are close business partners and allies and there unofficial relationship is dictated by the Taiwan Relation Act of 1979.

China and Taiwan is a rocky subject to debate. It seems now there is no way possible for the Republic of China to ever take power away from the People's Republic of China, which leaves only three options. Taiwan is reunified completely either peacefully or by force, which if by force the US would most likely get involved, Taiwan declares independence which would probably be meet with Chinese retaliation, or the relationships remain the same.

More on Taiwan
http://eng.taiwan.net.tw/
http://www.taiwanembassy.org/US/ct.asp?xItem=266456&CtNode=2297&mp=12&xp1=12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Taiwan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China-United_States_relations#1945-1949
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_Republic_of_China
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35855.htm
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=32177#axzz2iISHhuI4
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/united-states-announces-that-it-will-recognize-communist-china
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Sunday, October 13, 2013

Stateless people

Almost every person is the world is born with some type of citizenship. When someone is born they will get the citizenship of their parapets and in some cases the nation they are born. So everyone in the world should be a citizen of some country in the world. But some people in the world are do not have a citizenship and are stateless. Being stateless comes with many difficulties and hardships. The person is unable to obtain healthcare, public education, have no property-rights and can't move freely.

There are two types of stateless people, there is de jure stateless people and de facto stateless people.
De jure stateless people are not considered to be a national by any state according to their laws, while de facto stateless people is someone outside of their country and is unwilling or unable to receive the protection of their country. A person can become stateless when their nationality is no longer valid because the nation does not exist any more and a completely new government gains power and excludes groups of people from being citizens or does not recognize them as one of them. Someone can become stateless if the country does not have the same laws for nationality for women and men. The women could give birth to a child and not be able the obtain the nationality of the father to give to the child. There is also state succession, when a territory is handed over to a different government and the people of the acquired territory can slip past and do not gain the new nationality and become stateless. Another way someone can become stateless is by unregistered birth, because birth certificates are used to document and determine someones nationality. And there are many examples of stateless people across the world. When the Soviet Union fell many of the former citizens did not have a nationality that was recognized, In Kenya Nubian people do not receive citizen rights. And in the case of Sudam Hussein he and his regime stripped the nationalities of Feili Kurds, which was later repealed in 2006.

There are groups and agreements to help reduce statelessness and help those who are stateless. There is the UN Refugee Agency, the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness of 1961 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The convention set ground rules in order to reduce the chances of someone being stateless. Some of these included the right for a nation to grant nationality to any one with any reason and that someone born on a sea vessel or aircraft will be granted the nationality of the flag the craft is under.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that every person has the right to citizenship and that no one can have their citizenship stripped or denied to change citizenship. 

Being stateless can cause many problems for those who are effected by it and it is best to reduce the chances of someone becoming stateless, either because of their birth or because of governments not recognizing the nationality of certain groups of people.

More on Statelessness


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Create Your Own Nation - Micronations

Fed up with the government? Think you can do better? Or just want to have your own nation? Well just create one and declare independence and become a Micronation. Just get your flag and claim your land. Go from to your back to your front yard or just claim the land the size of the entire state of Texas. Now you and your followers can now live in peace the newly created Kingdom of Tacos, or the Republic of Jamborees, or the Empire of French Fries, or what ever you choose to name it because it is your nation. However micronaitons have almost no legitimacy and are never recognized at all by the international community. There are probably at least hundreds to thousands of proclaimed micronations, but it is hard to keep track of them all. You would think these micronations declaring independence and land within an existing country would spark some type of concern by the government. But most governments don't act or simply don't care because these nations are no treat, have no power and in some cases are kind of ridiculous and amusing.

Many micronations have the title of republics, kingdoms, federations, empires and even issued their own stamps and currency, but most are just composed of one family or a small group of people, which is not enough people to be legitimate. According to the Micronation wiki, the largest amount of citizens in a micronation is the Free land of Dodoa with 274 registered citizens and the largest amount of unregistered citizens is the New Republic of Texas with 25,000,000+, because they claim almost all of the state of Texas as part of their nation. Other micronations do not get any legitimacy because the material of the land they claim. The most well known micronation is the Principality of Sealand that is located 6 miles off the coast of England. Sealand is not an island nation, but a nation that has claimed a retired sea fort from the Second World War. The United Kingdom has addressed the legitimacy of Sealand and has stated that Sealand can not be a nation because the United Kingdom claims that a nation must have some type of territory claim and not be man made structure.

Some micronations might be started by people for real reasons, but a good amount seem to made just for the fun of it, a experiment or out of protest. The Republic of Awesome seems to be the best example of people just having fun, located in Australia. The Republic of Awesome has many misters that are in charge of affairs in the their country, just to name a few there is the Minister of Visual Arts and Pancakes, the Minister of Nostalgia and 42, the Minister of Magic and many more. The Republic of Awesome has two police forces, the Federal police, who enforce laws and the Fun police, who allow anything that promotes fun, but if the fun infringes on the rights or hurts other citizens the Fun police must step in and stop the fun. Other micronations are started out of political protest. The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands in Australia for example was declared in 2004 to protest the Australian's government not recognize same-sex marriage.

Micronations, some more ridiculous than others, are interesting ways for people to experiment with government, have some fun, send a message to governments. Some are most definitely amusing to look at on the outside and even the world governments seem not to care much as long it doesn't get to big. But maybe in the post apocalyptic future of the Sealand will expand across Europe, the Republic of Awesome will bring Fun to all of the destroyed lands of humanity and the New Republic of Texas will come to annex and rebuild the shattered nuclear wasteland of the United States.

More on Micronations
http://micronations.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_micronations_by_establishment
http://micronations.wordpress.com/resources/what-the-world-says/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micronation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_and_Lesbian_Kingdom_of_the_Coral_Sea_Islands


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Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Nation in Italy - The Republic of San Marino

The Republic of San Marino is the 5th smallest recognized country in the world. The entire country is 23.63 square miles (61.2 square kilometers) and is completely surrounded by Italy on Mount Titano. San Marino claims to be the oldest surviving republic in Europe, being founded in 301. The origin of San Marino is shaped by both fact and legend. It is said that Marinus and Dalmatian fled from the Roman Emperor and Marinus (Marino) founded a community of Christians at Mount Titano. It is possible that Saint Marino, who the capital city and country are named after did not exist in the 300s, but instead he was around between 500 and 700. It is also possible that the Saint Marino was not actually a saint and that this was added later to give legitimacy and help defend the monastery on the territory from being claimed by the Bishop of Rimini, because the territory was not referred as San Marino till 885. Regardless if San Marino's life story is partially made up the, country is named after him and have a celebration in his honor of his death, which is said to be in 366 on September 3rd.

Even though San Marino is not part of the European Union the country participates in many things with the EU. San Marino is part of the European Union Customs Union. San Marino made the Euro their official currency and are allowed to a set amount of Euros. San Marino's only neighbor is Italy and ever since Italian Unification in 1862 the two nations have had diplomatic relations. San Marino has a open border policy with only occasional checks made by police. However directly importing into San Marino is illegal and must go through Italy first before heading into San Marino and they must use and mint the Italian Euro. San Marino also allows Italy to have a monopoly on the tobacco industry and ship 250 tons of sea salt, 40 tons of tobacco, 20 tons of cigarettes and unlimited matches.

The 32,00 Citizens of San Marino have a high standard of living, similar to the their neighbors in Italy. The country has GDP of about 1.44 billion US dollars and per capita of $44,208 and is ranked 24th overall in the world. San Marino makes about 2.2% of their GDP from Tourism and in 2009 2 million tourists visited the country. San Marino is a huge advocate of tourists because no passport is required to enter San Marino if you are entering for tourists purposes. San Marino is also involved in banking, manufacturing of ceramics, clothing, fabrics, furniture, paints, tiles, and wine.

The Republic of San Marino the enclave in Italy is quite an interesting place. Even though it is small the country is recognized by most of the major world organizations. The small nation gets to enjoy independence and recognition all while living fairly wealthy.

More on the Republic of San Marino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino
http://www.sanmarinosite.com/eng/index.php
http://data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crName=San%20Marino
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sm.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Marino%E2%80%93European_Union_relations
http://library.thinkquest.org/06aug/02278/versiunea_text/san_marino.html


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Sunday, October 6, 2013

Dual Citizenship

Acquiring the citizenship of a country can happen through many process. By being born in that country, through your parents blood, by marriage, naturalization, or being adopted from another country as a minor. Because of these different process it is possible to have multiple citizenship. For example I could be acquire dual citizenship because I was born in the US and because my mom is Filipino, I could apply for Filipino citizenship and have dual citizenship. Also someone with French citizenship is also a citizen of the European Union, the same is also true with any other nations that are part of the European Union. 

Some nations do not allow multiple citizenship at all. Azerbaijan China, Czech Republic, Denmark, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Kazakhstan do not allow dual citizenship and if some one voluntary acquires another citizenship they automatically lose their citizenship. These nations require the person to choose citizenship and may only have one. For example in Japan a person may be born with dual citizenship, like Canadian and Japanese, but by the age of 22 they must choose one.

Dual Citizenship is handled differently in the US. If the person is born in the US and has parents of some other nationality they will gain both citizenship. The same also goes to US citizen marring someone of another nationality. Naturalized citizens in the US also can keep the citizenship they were born with. However if a US citizen could lose their citizenship by voluntarily applying for another one. 

Many nations around the world do offer dual citizenship, each with their own policies and requirements. UK citizens can apply for another citizenship and they will not loose their British citizenship. Germany and Austria only allow dual citizenship at birth or if someone does apply for another citizenship they must ask permission from Germany or Austria to keep their citizenship . And Pakistan will only allow dual citizenship with 16 other countries.

Dual citizenship would be cool to get. For me, I could be both American and Filipino. But I have only visited the Philippines once, and even though I have family there, I would identify myself American before Filipino. Maybe if I lived there I would reconsider, but at the moment it would not make much sense. 

More on Multiple Citizenship




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Who Owns Space

Who owns Space or the moon for the matter. Well if we used the rules of claiming land, the Moon would be the America's giant orbiting colony, be cause Armstrong and Aldrin planted the American flag on the Moon, like how Christopher Columbus planted the Spanish flag in the Americas. But the Moon does not belong to any country regardless if they planted their flag on it. Because of bills passed by Congress in 1969, the US flag will be used as a symbol of national pride and not for claiming territory.

But can anyone ever own land on the Moon. According to the Moon Treaty, molded after the Antarctic Treaty, was set up in 1979 and states that any celestial body in space is under international jurisdiction and can not be under the sovereignty of any nation. The problem with the Moon Treaty is that it is not ratified by any nation that launches its own objects into space and is only ratified by 15 states (probably nations that are jealous of not having a space program). However the Outer Space Treaty has gotten a lot more support and recognition. The Outer Space Treaty was set up in 1967 and has been ratified by 102 states, which include all the major space faring countries, so naturally this treaty has more authority then the Moon treaty.

The Outer Space Treaty states that no nation can claim sovereignty on any celestial body, but any thing launched into space is under that nations jurisdiction and space is the "Common Heritage of Mankind". So if the US lunches a giant base that lands on the Moon, the US has full control of that base, but not the moon rock below it. 

The Outer Space Treaty is a great principals but has some flaws. First the treaty was made during a time of high tensions and fears of nuclear war. Some have pointed out that the treaty does not give enough incentive to nations and private parties to explore space. If no one can claim territory in space, then why even lunch things up there, there is no gain for the party. So dreams of having a colonies  in space may be harder to achieve. Another flaw it is kind of ridiculous to think that all of space is to be governed under this treaty. We have no idea what is out there. There could be some other intelligent life form that has space capabilities and would they follow are authority over space? No. 

It could be possible that as Space programs get more ambitious, such as bases on the moon or even on Mars, that a nations would start denouncing the treaty and a new one would have to be formed. The treaty is not bad, because it promotes unity between the space faring nations.

More on the Moon Treaty and the Outer Space Treaty

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Saturday, October 5, 2013

Chivarly is Not Dead- Sovereign Military Order of Malta

Many people believe Chivalry is dead, but obviously they are not looking hard enough. The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem and of Malta, all so known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or simply as the Order of Malta is the oldest surviving order of Chivalry and just calibrated its 900 year anniversary this year. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta has its headquarters located in Rome and is subject to international laws, treated as a sovereign entity and hold permanent observer status in the UN.

The SMOM has had many homes throughout history. SMOM is the continuation of the Knights Hospitallers that was established around 1048 in Jerusalem and later on became a military order. During the First Crusade the knights build hospitals to treat pilgrims coming to the holy land. Hover the order relocated to Rhodes in 1310, then to Malta in 1530. The Order stayed on Malta until 1798 when Napoleon kicked them out and found their current home in Rome in 1834.

The SMOM still follows Chivalry and the practice of Knights and Dames. There are 13,500 Knights and Dames in the Order now, around 80,000 volunteers, and 20,000 medical personal. Keeping to their Hospitaller roots the Order of Malta is heavily involved in humanitarian aid, by setting up hospitals, medical centers, nursing homes and take care of the elderly, disabled and terminally ill. So where does the military order come in, well they needed to become a military order in the crusades in order to protect themselves, but these days the name is kept and they follow military tradition. 

The Order of Malta is present in over 120 nations and has diplomatic relations with 104 nations in the world. Their members are issued with passports which allows to travel to countries to help provide humanitarian aid where it is need. The Order of Malta are a permanent observer in the UN, but they are not an independent country, but they do govern themselves and hold more resemblance to the Red Cross and Crescent Societies also since both groups are heavily involved in providing humanitarian aid and are permanent observers in the UN. The Order also has institutions and associations in various nations, with 23 cities in the United States harboring Knights and Dames. 

Not going to lie when I first came across the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, I thought it sounded like secrete society out of a conspiracy theory who were intent on ruling over the world, mostly because it has the words military order in it. . But as with any thing when you actually look into it, it is something almost different. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, like many other international organizations are using their time and resources to help people the need it the most and will still continue to do for the next 900 years or so.

Read more about the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Birth Tourism

Want your child to have the citizenship of a different country other than your own or your spouse's? Its pretty simple, first you will need to find a country that follows jus soil, also known as right to soil. After you find your desired country you will travel to this country on vacation. Now you will have to time it just right. You or your spouse will need to be pregnant and you will need to time the vacation around the time the baby will pop out. Now if your lucky your child will be born in the country that follows jus soil and presto! Your baby is now a citizen of that nation and will receive full benefits of that country.

What was described above is the practice of Birth Tourism. Birth Tourism is having your baby born in a place that follows jus soil or some equivalent so that the baby will receive the citizenship in that nation and the benefits of having that citizenship.

Some Korean women have used this practice in order to get their children US citizenship. (Article about a woman who did this) These women uselessly come from the upper class in South Korea and can afford to buy a plane ticket and a tourist visa to get to the United States. These women do it because of many reasons. Some do it to enroll their child into American schools, escape South Korean mandatory military service for males or a combination of both and some other reasons. This practice has also been popular among some women from Taiwan for similar reasons too, like Taiwan's mandatory military service for men.

Birth Tourism is also popular for women from mainland China to have their child born in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Baby Boom). After 1997 Hong Kong was handed back over the People's Republic of China from the United Kingdom, but has had the right to keep their laws and ways of life. Many mainland Chinese women do this for a number of reasons. One reason is the fact Hong Kong does not have follow the One Child Policy. Another reason is Hong Kong's right of abode and anyone born in Hong Kong who's parent is a Chinese citizen or a Hong Kong resident is given the right of abode. The right of abode is the right to legally reside in Hong Kong without any limits. Because of the right of abode many to be mothers from mainland China want their child born in Hong Kong. Not only that but Hong Kong is in many ways cultural different from mainland China, because of Hong Kong's past of being a colony of Great Britain. Hong Kong also does not have to follow all Chinese laws because of Hong Kong's and China's odd relationship.
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Citizen by Birthplace or Blood

Becoming a citizen of a nation someone can take multiple paths. In many nations if you are a foreigner you have to live there for so many and some other requirements then you can apply to be come a citizen. But most people are born and get some citizenship automatically and there are two ways this can happen. There are the practices of jus sanguinis, meaning right of blood in Latin, and jus soli, meaning right of soil.

Jus sanguinis is the practice that almost every country uses when it comes to citizenship. When a child is born their are giving the same citizenship as their parents or by their ethnic ancestry. For example in the United Kingdom someone born their of foreign parents does not gain automatic citizenship, but the parents must apply for their child if they have permanent residence in the country, but if both parents are British citizens the child will receive citizenship. By this way citizenship is passed down the blood line. However jus soli is a bit different.

Jus soli is the practice of giving citizenship to someone when they are born on that countries land. Countries that practice jus soli also practice jus sanguinis. For example someone can become a citizen of the United States by either being born on US territory or being born of paretns who are US citizens. Out of the 194 nations in the world, only 30 of them practice jus soli. Many countries used to practice jus soli, but have modified it to discourage illegal immigration. In some cases at least one parent must have be a citizen of said nation or at least a permanent residence. In a way these modifications have turned into jus sanguinis. Other countries have completely abolished jus soli. In the case of India jus soli was abolished to help stop illegal immigration from its neighbor Bangladeshi.

Almost no country in Europe, Asia, Africa, or Australia fully practices jus soli. The only countries that still practice Jus soli are all in North and South America, or if you want to put it a different way just the western hemisphere. Canada and the United States are the only devolved countries in the world that still practice jus soli. In way you can see the difference between the New World and the Old World still with jus soli. The nations of today in what we considered the Old World do not practice jus soli. While the Americas or the New World continues to practice it It seems that the idea of being a nation instead of a colony might be the reason the countries of the Americas still follow this. Settlers and colonists coming to the Americas voluntary or by force either wanted to be separate entities than their mother country or have forgotten their heritage and created a new one. By implementing jus soli the people can enforce their new national identity.

Other articles regarding nationality - Nationality Laws Must Knows
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Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Treaty of Antarctica

Antarctica the frozen wasteland that resides at the bottom of our maps, globes, and are minds as probably the last place you ever want to go because it is too damn cold. The continent of Antarctica was official first sighted by a Russian expedition led by Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen in 1820 and since then explores and scientists alike have traveled to the winter wonderland to conduct their research and experiments.

But who owns Antarctica? In 1961 The Antarctic Treaty was signed by 12 countries and is now by 50 countries agreeing that no new claim can be made in Antarctica and already exciting ones can't be extended. The treaty allowed countries with claims before to keep them, those countries being Australia, New Zealand, The United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, France, Norway, and the gives rights to Russia and the United States to make a claim, but neither has yet. The claims made by these 7 nations have some overlap. France's claim is inside of Australia's claim and the claims of the United Kingdom, Chile, and Argentina all overlap each other.

The treaty institutes that only peaceful activities will ever take place on  Antarctica, which means no military activities or weapons testing, prohibits the use of nuclear weapons testing, which would seem obvious and fall under no weapons testing. The treaty also promotes the freedom of scientific investigation, cooperation, and the free exchange of information with other researchers, the United Nations and any other international organizations. Later agreements made it illegal for nations to use Antarctica as dumping ground for any type of waste and gathering mineral resources except in only the case of scientific research and experimentation. The continent is now, in my opinion, a giant playground where scientist of multiple nations can come together, conduct experiments and share with each other their ideas and results in order to help advance their fields of science, all while enjoying a hot cup of coco

The treaty and later agreements of Antarctica has helped make the continent into one large scientific reserves. Scientist can go their and conduct experiments and share with each other their results to help better advance science and the great landmass of Antarctica is probably one of the largest places that will remain untouched by the many things that humans are famous for, like cities, roads, and landfills, and will remain that way for many years to come and serve has a symbol to of nations working together in name of science.
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Sunday, September 22, 2013

Want to Join the French Foreign Legion?

Ever wanted to join the military, start a new life, become a French Citizen, or all 3, well the French Foreign Legion is for you. (French Foreign Legion Website) 

The French Foreign Legion is a part of the French Army and was first established in 1831. The Legion was created for people of foreign nationalities could serve in the French military. In recent years many recruits have been coming from Latin America, but the Legion is open to French citizens as well and as of 2007 24% of the French Foreign Legion if made of up of French citizens.

Any male is allowed to join the French Foreign Legion regardless of their nationality, race, and religion to serve under the flag of France. When someone enlists into the Legion they can make up what nationality they are. For example an American can enlist and say he is Canadian, German, Chinese, or Brazilian, it does not matter to the Legion and they will accept whatever you tell them. Another example of this is as a result of World War 2 many former German Soldiers joined the Legion and listed under Swiss or Austrian nationality.

The French Foreign Legion until 2010 forced recruits to enlist under pseudonyms so that men could start new lives. Recruits can now enlist under real identities' and if a recruit uses a fake identity they can choose to switch back to their true identity after a year of service. This would be ideal for anyone who wants a reset or wants to get away from their past and on a side note this would make a great premise for a story. You can see it now, "The Legionnaires" follow the story of an American , a former Russian mobster, and a Chilean looking for a better life and trying to run from their past.

Joining the Legion is not only a good way to give yourself a new life, but also a good way to gain French citizenship. After serving 3 years in the Legion, servicemen can apply to become French citizens, but in order to apply they must be switched to their true identity and must have all issues cleared and taken care of with authorities. However you can become a French citizen another way under the rule "Français par le sang versé", which means French by spilled blood. This means if you are serving in the Legion and are wounded in a battle for France you can immediately apply to become a French citizen.

The idea of starting a new life can is very appealing for those who've had troubles, wanting to find their path without their past being a factor in it, finding a sense of honor, and the French Foreign Legion offers this chance for any man who wishes to be "reborn". The Legion is known for its ability to create strong team bonds, even though they face the challenge that the men come from different countries. From what I interpret from the French Foreign Legion is that it should not matter what nationality you are or what your pass was, but instead it should be what you can do now and how you can help a bigger community.
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