POLS 170 BLOG GROUP 0403

https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-crisis-how-will-the-uk-help-ukraine-battle-russia-if-vladimir-putin-launches-a-full-scale-invasion-12548932 https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/595416-five-takeaways-while-the-ukraine-crisis-intensifies    ↳  https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/595323-us-public-not-blameless-in-russia-ukraine-conflict https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/21/un-security-council-russia-ukraine-escalation-00010485

 https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-business-europe-russia-vladimir-putin-46cef648807d0e3c2bac9793ad9022a6 nytimes.com/2022/02/22/us/politics/congress-ukraine-russia.html

  The Russia-Ukraine conflict - The Well : The Well Biden levels sanctions on Russia for beginning an invasion of Ukraine: live updates

 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ukraine-conflict-west-sanctions-russia-putin-orders-troops-rcna17131 https://nationalinterest.org/feature/ukraine-putin-has-already-lost-200701 https://news.yahoo.com/what-the-west-doesnt-understand-about-russia-or-ukraine-215609030.html

 https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-russia-and-ukraine-are-likely-headed-escalation-their-war-189947 https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/02/03/russia-couldnt-occupy-ukraine-if-it-wanted-to/ https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/world/europe/ukraine-maps.html

Human Security      Security is often thought of as the power of a state to protect its borders, maintain independent control of its territory within those borders, have economic wealth, and military prowess. Something that is often forgotten in this definition is the importance of the preservation of vital interests of those the state is supposed to serve and be protecting. Over the past thirty or so years, a subsection of security has been coined, known as human security. This version of security is founded on the idea that it is most important to firstly, protect humanity from constant and persistent threats such as hunger, disease, and repression; and secondly, provide safety from dangers to the patterns of everyday life in homes and communities. This kind of thinking focuses on the well-being of the individual and not the state. Human security is vital to the preservation of life and should be the highest priority of every state, as without, who is left to govern?...

\ 02/03/2022 “ We are not to speak before the people, no doubt in case the mass of the people should hear once and for all and without interruption…Now suppose that you who sit here should make assurance doubly sure” (Thucydides). Both the Athenians and Melianns officials made it very clear that they were different when they collectively agreed to leave  “ the people” out. But who were the Athenians referring to as  “the people”? And why were they the ones deciding the fate of the people that are not like them?  If you look at the structure of leadership at that time you can tell that the hierarchy was mainly of noblemen. These men were in charge of deciding the fate of a whole nation (the people),  based on their reasoning. If the people were only men, there would have been no argument, but “ the people” consisted of men, women, and children. Deciding the fate of your nation based on just half if not less of that nation is what I believe  Enloe described a...

     A topic that I have found particularly interesting over the context of the course this far is the idea of the many different types of power. I never really stopped to think about the power that we face in our everyday lives that comes from the government, social system, and just peers in general. I was immediately able to connect these very real situations of power to The Hunger Games in order to identify what I deem to be the strongest, or most dangerous, types of power.     The governments of North America have collapsed and a war emerges between the Capitol and the rest of the country. North America is no longer what it once was; now called Panem, the Capitol uses structural power to cast their citizen's identities: Panem is split into twelve districts, and each year, it is expected that one girl and one boy - called tributes - from each district compete in the Hunger Games, a "game" which ends in only one survivor. The Capitol implemented this routine t...

  In our most recent class, we discussed different types of power that are used in international relations, but these types of power are not just used by governments to coerce other nations into doing what they want. For example many multinational corporations exert institutional power upon governments to ensure that whatever laws or bills are passed will benefit them the most. These giant multinational corporations wield a tremendous amount of power and influence, yet they continue to get away with it. A potential reason that these corporations are able to do this is because they generate huge amounts of revenue that, in turn, help the economies of nations that they are based in.  When looking at the statistics, many corporations generate more money than many other countries. For example, Walmart produces around $482 billion in revenues which is higher than prominent countries such as Australia, Russia, and Saudi Arabia which all nations that demonstrate a considerable am...

  Blog Post #1 Our class discussed the prevalence and types of power throughout international politics and its role in shaping the identities, agendas, and worldviews of state actors. Structural power, established through hierarchies, can engender mutually beneficial alliances or dependencies between states to counter an increase in power from another. It is clear that hierarchical systems found within structural forms of power are still major components of international politics, aiming to forge new relationships and balance possible power shifts. An example of this can be found within President Biden’s most recent action taken as president. As reported by the New York Times this Tuesday, Biden formally notified the House of Representatives of his intention to designate the country of Qatar as a major non-NATO ally to the United States. Biden explained that Qatar played a central role surrounding negotiations regarding Afghanistan and other countries within the Gulf Region, cont...