Monthly Archives: April 2013

As the hunger strike continues in Guantanamo Bay, different sources take different ways of portraying how president Obama is reacting to the issue of whether the prison should be shut down or not. Recent hunger strikes from the inmates have raised issues whether the US can force these prisoners to eat against their will.  while the New York times looks at the president’s decision to back off his initial want of wanting to close down the prison, and relates it to how the issues within the country side tracked him, BBC news focuses more on the international feel and looks at the issues the president faces without going into detail as to what those in the US are saying themselves, sort of giving the BBC a feel that they are simply delivering the news without trying to give insights as to what they think should be done. The independent however, goes about by giving details as to how the prison became so infamous and the issues with closing it, neither criticizing the president nor presuming how the country should go about the issue, it’ll be interesting to see how these different media sources go about publishing the developments after the president comes to a decision

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/president-obama-to-make-new-effort-to-close-guantanamo-bay-after-mass-hunger-strike-8596709.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22358351

Cyprus, a small Island off the Mediterranean, has been going through some financial troubles. Victim to money laundering two of the largest banks in Cyprus have been close to shutting down. Because Cyprus had such low taxation rates and a welcoming relationship with Russian citizens, many Russians immigrated to the Island, held large amounts of money in the banks, and invested in real estate, only to have a “haircut.”

The “haircut” refers to the Cypriot governments attempt to raise 7 billion Euros to receive a bailout from Troika. So what they decided to do was tax anyone that had over 100,000 euros in the bank, in an effort to raise this money.

Cypriots are outraged, discouraged, and scared as unemployment rates increase, fearing that what happened to their neighbors in Greece will happen to them. The people that are not scared are the Russians that are in Cyprus. Many of them are “depressed” that the expensive boutiques that cater to the Russian and Cypriot elites have been a little slow, but all in all they are not as fearsome as the Cypriots that have everything on the line.

The Wall Street Journal Europe had a gripping story on how Russians have already moved their money to Switzerland, “a better place” according to one Russian Lawyer that is residing in Cyprus.

It is very interesting to me that Russians in Cyprus are still living a lavish life and aren’t as affected as Cypriots are although they are permanent residents in the country. Some have been affected but in very minimal ways.
Publications used:

www.dw.de

www.ekathimirini.com

The Wall Street Journal Europe

The Australian News

Cyprus-Mail.com

Last week, the most interesting stories I read were published in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Both Published a story about 13 teams working on offensive attacks in the event the United States needs to retaliate to a foreign cyber attack.  Currently, young students are actually being trained in cyber attack defense. Interestingly, I did not see this story mentioned anywhere else.

U.S. China Dailey, as always, gave the Chinese point of view of things. It mentioned John Kerry’s trip to China, and how the Chinese are calling for joint efforts to to create a safe and open cyber space. This source is more defensive of China than the others.

Finally, the Guardian News Blog wrote of China and the U.S. agreeing that North Korea should open peace talks.

Immigration’s  process has been so well. According to the Washington Post, President Barack Obama’s political support group, Organizing for Action is stepping up its immigration efforts as the Senate holds hearings on overhauling the nation’s broken immigration system.  OFA will hold an Immigration, Day of Action on May 2 that will include rallies around the country and visits to members of Congress. The group is organizing nearly 250 phone banks, on Tuesday, to appeal for supporters to get involved. The goal is to mobilize OFA’s massive voter database, the same one that helped elect Obama twice, to support one of the President’s top legislative priorities. Obama is backing a draft bill written by bipartisan Senators that would secure the border and provide a path to citizenship for some of the 11 million immigrants in the country who are undocumented.

As reported in USA TODAY, the President will be hosting a dinner for the 20 women in the Senate. This group meets periodically but when the President heard that they were getting together at Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s house he invited them to the White House instead. The President has met with other groups from Congress but this will be the first time for this group. They are expected to discuss a budget deal and a comprehensive immigration bill. Sen. Klobuchar hoped that the recent attack in Boston wouldn’t be used as an excuse to delay work on an immigration bill.

Fox News reported that Sen Marco Rubio believes that immigration is important to our nation and that Americans have been generous in welcoming them. But he believes that the current immigration system is broken resulting in 11 million undocumented immigrants He believes that Republicans should take the lead in fixing the system. His plan would allow them to become permanent resident after a period of 10 years. They would have to submit biometric data to pass multiple national security and background checks ,  pay $2,000 in fines, pay taxes, and learn civics and English. Under his plan they would not be eligible for any federal benefits. We would also have to improve border security to prevent this situation from reoccurring.  We would also have to put in place systems to identify people who overstay their visas and prevent them from being hired.

The World Journal advises those immigrants who have become citizens to be sure to have their close relatives apply for green cards as soon as possible. The Boston bombing may influence Congress it make it more difficult for new immigrants to enter the country. If the law changes to a lottery, it may be more difficult for them to apply and only those who are highly educated may be able to obtain H1-B visas.

North Korea’s threats are still up in the air. No one still really doesn’t know, when or who exactly will be affected if N. Korea’s threats do pull through. Some of the things I noticed while looking through international sources especially the ones from Asia are that the articles are relatively short.

In The Daily Yomiuri, which is a Japan newspaper, you can tell that they take the relationship they have with the U.S very seriously. In the article I read it talks about U.S Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to Asia and how well the visit went with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Both Abe and Kerry agreed that their countries would never allow Pyongyang to possess nuclear weapons. Both countries also agreed that they would continue to cooperate against North Korea. Again in this article you see the relationship Japan and the U.S have, but they do not however speak wrong of North Korea, instead they speak of how they can all agree to denuclearization and disarmament of N. Korea.

According to Aljazeera, North Korea has offered the U.S and South Korea a list of conditions on Thursday, which includes disarmament and lifting of UN sanctions. Compared to The Daily Yomiuri, there is no mention of such offer that N. Korea has put down.

Both in Aljazeera and BBC new articles, there is talk about two ballistic missiles that have been moved to N. Korea’s east coast. There is also a similarity in the ongoing threats that have been occurring towards South Korea, Japan and US bases in the region. Another thing in common is the fact that with April 25 could be a possible date for a missile launch due to the fact that it’s the founding anniversary of the North’s military.

BBC news was the one outlet that I found an article about the letter threat that was sent to S. Korea’s minister. In this letter it accused Mr. Kim Kwan-jin of  “war-mongering” and “infringing the highest dignity of North Korea.” The letter also mentioned that he would be punished for it. There are thoughts that some one from the North could have sent this, as there is one video in the North that showed army dogs attacking mannequins with Mr. Kim’s face.

Again, the articles written in Asia are short from what I have seen. Central news agency article focuses on an interview done on Taiwan’s security and intelligence chief. Tsai Teh-sheng explains as much as he knows about N. Korea and verifies the fact that N. Korea is very unpredictable.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/04/201342144159989996.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22260144

http://global.factiva.com/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&an=YOMSHI0020130415e94g00003&cat=a&ep=ASE

http://global.factiva.com/redir/default.aspx?P=sa&an=CNAENG0020130415e94f0005n&cat=a&ep=ASE

By Earl Mays

Nigeria is being plagued by civil unrest as Islamic extremist group Boko Haram continues to stage attacks against the Nigerian military. The latest attack in the city of Baga has caused there to be numerous reports differing on who is to blame for the deaths of about 180 civilians. In reviewing the coverage, a look needs be taken of The New York Times, The Associated Press, Voice of America, Nigerian Tribune, and PM News.

The Associated Press provided the best coverage of the story because it provided information from a number of sources. The reports were able to compile information from the Baga citizens along with statements from military personnel, human rights activist and the United Nations. The second best report was The New York Times article containing sources from a political official, military personnel and Baga citizens.  The third best report was the Voice of America article because it contained multiple sources as well from two University of Abuja professors in Nigeria and the Nigerian U. S. ambassador. The Nigerian news publications were the worst because they only referenced one source. The PM News ran the better story out of the two because it contained statements from the National Public Secretary in Nigeria which provided a fair look as to what took place by addressing the Nigerian military’s wrong doings.

The A. P. provided the best story showing that the military is likely responsible for the death of civilians reportedly using them as “human shields.” This was obtained by interviewing the people in Baga. The New York Times followed in the A.P.’s footsteps in getting lay testimony to match what the military was saying which was “the commander said that contrary to media speculation that hundreds of houses were burnt, it was the explosion from the Boko Haram terrorists bombs that triggered the fire that torched 30 thatched houses in the predominantly fishing community.” This statement was made by a Nigerian Military official General Edokpaye and was taken out of the Nigerian Tribune. The Tribune provided the worst coverage because they only used the quote from the general. This is proven by the other publications to be incorrect from severals sources such as Gov. Kashim Shettima of Borno State, the people, human rights activist, and the Nigerian U.S. Ambassador who claim the Nigerian military set fire to civilian homes and used them as shields which resulted in casualties. The sources also mutually blame both groups for the death toll.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/world/africa/in-nigeria-clash-with-militants-kills-scores.html?ref=africa&_r=0

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/04/24/accusations-against-nigeria-soldiers-in-village-attack-recalls-other-military/

http://www.voanews.com/content/nigerian-violence-escalates/1648704.html

http://www.tribune.com.ng/news2013/index.php/en/component/k2/item/10348-baga-massacre-why-we-struck-jtf

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/04/25/baga-massacre-acn-holds-jonathan-culpable-alerts-icc/

As we know, the use of drone strikes by the US government against overseas enemies has been an ongoing issue within our own borders. We’ve heard politicians and citizens argue over whether or not the process of using the machines is ethical, and if it’s legal or not. We saw debates, a filibuster, and constant articles on the issue. However, what we have seen little of is what is happening to those who are closest to the drone strikes. Domestic news sources for the United States rarely mentioned what drones are doing to civilians of the nations we are bombing. On the other hand, when I took a look at international sources, with a focus on Middle Eastern publications, I found them to be writing much more about the plight of those caught between the US and their enemies.

United Press International (UPI) is an international news publication that is based in the US but serves countries all over the world. In an article about the drone strikes and how they’re affecting relations between the United States and civilians of the attack areas, the publication explains how a once pro-American neighborhood turned against the country because of the drone strikes that happened within their community. They felt as though they were being threatened, and they felt unsafe within their homes, causing opposition to the US for making them feel this way. This firsthand information of foreign civilians’ feelings against the US is something we do not normally receive from our domestic news sources.

This is most likely because they do not want to tarnish the US’s image, or harm national security by releasing the information. This is brought up in another one of my sources, Al Jazeera. One article goes in depth about how publications in the US, specifically the NY Times and Washington Post, waited to break the story about a secret base, which the US used to carry out its unmanned drone warfare, for a long time before publishing it because of national security risks. Al Jazeera criticizes the US newspapers for being irresponsible with information that could have helped those affected by the strikes sooner. They felt as though the publications have the duty to inform over what the government tells them to do.

The Pakistani publication Dawn has been highly critical of the Obama administration and their use of drone strikes. They have run numerous articles detailing their criticism. Of their issues with the strikes, the senseless murder of countless civilians caused by the drones is their number one priority in stopping. As I’ve previously mentioned, they ran an article criticizing President Obama for crying for the Sandy Hook children, but ignoring schoolchildren that were killed during a drone strike in Pakistan. This is the kind of reporting we will only see if we turn to international sources. It is good to see our issues from another perspective, and how our government and its policies directly affect civilians in other countries.

Looking at the international sources that I could find that spoke on immigration reforms were interesting, mainly because none of them went in as much details and analyses of creating a reform in the United States immigration system.

The international sources I researched that really took a stab at discussing immigration legislation were: Jamaican Observer, Business Standard (India),  and the Guardian (UK).

What I found interesting but not that surprising is that foreign sources discuss immigration reforms more from the perspective of the people of their nation more so than, a general reform conversation for all immigrants from different nations. For example, an article in the Jamaican Observer, “Those Proposed Changes to U.S. Immigration Law,” focuses on the part of immigration legislation that would eliminate family visas which would tremendously impact Jamaican families.  It does not make mention of the elimination of family visas for other countries, that would essentially have the same exact impact for those families. “Currently two-thirds of visas are issued for family reasons. Only 14 per cent are issued for employment reasons. By eliminating family visas, at one stroke the migration route for many Jamaicans will disappear. Senators are planning to eliminate the family categories, partly to help clear a backlog of 4.3 million family visa applications, but also making it easier for some foreign workers to enter the country. Those family members could still apply for visas. But they would need other qualifications such as work skills and English proficiency to increase their chances.”

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Those-proposed-changes-to-US-immigration-law_13917884#ixzz2RLHxn6zT

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/J-cans-eagerly-await-immigration-reform-in-US_13363373

Compared to the NYT, for example, Jamaican Observer lacks an in-depth look at the entire immigration overhaul proposed by the Senate “Gang of Eight” in terms of its effects on American communities and businesses.

The Business Standard offers business news from cities around India. Its immigration reform news, obviously, centers more on the impacts of an immigration bill on businesses in India.  The article, “US Immigration Reforms to Give Fillip to Indian Start-Ups” states,   “However, leaked information based on the outline the bipartisan lawmakers had released to the media reveal Indian IT companies have to pay a much higher price in order to avail visas, once the proposals becomes a law.” Meanwhile, another similar article titled, “Active Lobbying to Make Immigration Bill More Practical: Premji” says, “The bill also has also proposed certain changes in the H-1B visa norms which are widely believed to affect the Indian IT services companies. For example, it says that if an employer has more than 50 employees or more than 50% of their employees on H-1B or L-1 visas, it must pay a $10,000 fee per additional worker”  So here we have two articles that discusses immigration reform only from two important standpoints: its effects on 1)BUSINESS, mainly the IT industry in different regions of 2)INDIA.  Once again another source is writing only behalf of the people of its nation.

http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/active-lobbying-to-make-immigration-bill-more-practical-premji-113041901067_1.html

http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/us-immigration-reforms-to-give-fillip-to-indian-start-ups-113041600550_1.html

The Guardian is the only exception here. It does not discuss the lives and futures of immigrants from the U.K. or even that from neighboring European countries.  It does more  of what the NYT, Huffington Post, and Fox News does, which is laying out all the elements of the U.S. immigration reform bill whereby dissecting each part by further analyzing and making sense of it.  The article “Giving Immigrants A Path to Citizenship is Key to US Economic Growth, ” points out that, “The “gang of eight”, a bipartisan contingent of US senators, has just released an outline of their long awaited comprehensive immigration reform bill. The bill concentrates on three broad components: a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized migrants, border security, and America’s outdated visa allocation system. The most important component of the bill removes the threat of deportation for most of the 11 million unauthorized migrants presently in the country.”  Similarly to American news sources, the Guardian fashions its articles to reiterate  a lot of arguments around the parts of the bill and what it will do for Americans and the nation moving forward as well as immigrants and their relatives moving forward in the American system.  In addition what kind of support the bill would receive from Congress and the rest of the nation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/18/immigration-reform-plan-conservative-support?INTCMP=SRCH

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/17/immigration-reform-bipartisan-path-citizenship?INTCMP=SRCH