Japan Withdrawl

The situation in Japan has changed drastically because of the recent 8.9-magnitude earthquake. According to The Wall Street Journal, "U.S. military forces stepped up relief activities in support of Japanese efforts to cope with a humanitarian crisis.

Days after an earthquake and tsunami rocked northeastern Japan, the region remains flooded and pieces of demolished buildings extend miles out to sea. WSJ's Yoree Koh captures the city of Sendai from a helicopter. The 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that struck eastern Japan on Friday left thousands unaccounted for and sent more than 200,000 evacuees to relief centers in search of food, water and shelter. Marines stationed on Okinawa dispatched a high-speed military ferry to Japan Monday morning to assist in the operations, according to the U.S. military. The fast logistics craft, based on a commercial passenger ferry, is to deliver food, water, medical supplies, communications equipment, personnel. and equipment for a refueling base."

 

This year's resolution is “Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially reduce its military and/or police presence in one or more of the following: South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Iraq, Turkey." The events unfolding in Japan are probably going to drastically change the way people debate Japan teams. Our troops in the area are currently providing aid to Japan. Some negative teams might try to say that we have to the moral obligation to stay there. Other's might claim that Japan will perceive our withdrawal as abandonment. There is no doubt that that would devastate US Japan relations. Still others might claim that withrawl would send a bad signal to other countries and hurt our overall credibility. With Varsity State and the Tournament of Champions coming up within the next few weeks, I am very interested in how recent developments in Japan will affect the topic.

Egypt Protest Could Become Deadly

The streets of Cairo are currently filled thousands of protesters. The cries for Mubarak to leave are strong, and freedom may finally come to Egypt, which has been ruled by a dictator for over 30 years. Although most are hopeful for the future, some fear that the civil unrest has a darker motive. On January 28th, according to CNN, "The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt this week urged its followers to protest after Friday prayers ". The Muslim Brotherhood is a long established international terrorist group. In 2008, Shai D. Bronshtein said, "If Egypt were to be led by radicals, like the Muslim Brotherhood, who espouse violence and want to implement their radical version of Islamic law—even against civilians—this balance would be disrupted and the United States and the rest of the world would face a very different, far more hostile Middle East. Such a transformation would likely destabilize and endanger Israel and other American allies.  The possibility of such a radical transformation is very real. “Recent polls have found that many in Egypt support the Brotherhood, and the possibility of them taking over is high. Still, I continue to hope that Egypt will become free and will not be controlled by terrorists or dictators.