EU environment policy

The news of climate change has been around for quite some time what is being done about it continues to see more evolution. The EU has made some pledges concerning this issue and is serious about achieving its goals. This interesting part about this is how the focus of the EU has shifted slightly from economic growth to other areas of security.

The environment and farming have become larger issues for this organization because it is recognized that investing in them will help the EU in the long term. With that said it is interesting to note how the EU is using its resources to make an effect on this area and is on its way to achieving its goals. Some other countries around the world lack this enthusiasm but this may be because being a transnational organization the EU can afford to look more closely at these issues without looking immediately like ts is not doing anything for the people (ie. a state is often pressured by its citizens to focus on more immediate issues than the long-term one of climate change).

It is interesting how this European body is progressing in this way when its member states are progressively gaining track on the right.

More about the EU policy

Food and propaganda

Recently 3 more varieties of barley have been developed in Canada. These things are often met with a type of hesitancy, to food altering has gained a lot of attention in the past few years. Food, of course, is one of the most important things a state can provide for its people as it is what keeps them alive.

During times of war, the state needed to keep of moral of people which were sometimes a difficult take when food needed to also be rationed. One thing Britain did during the war years was never ration bread because that would have been a sign of defeat but that was not the case everyone at that time.

Food has been a symbol of the ability of a state to show its success, if it can afford it then its citizens are well off and if it can not it usually is met with instability and uprisings. Hungry people are not happy people and will look for someone to blame. It would then seem good to engineer food to keep the people in check but this is not always a good idea. It is this very idea that causes food issues but only that it something that an authoritarian regime would use to promote that all is well within its borders and therefore it would be propaganda for that state.

Women not under authoritarianism

The issues that have arisen in Hollywood in the last few weeks is a result of something I think is very important. The recent “Me Too” moment that has been started has been a real speak out against not only the abuses that have been occurring on a (not in all cases) women from men. This speaks to a shift in power that had traditionally come from men and women being subservient.

In the past, especially under authoritarian regimes, there has always been a certain regard for women to stay in the home and be wives having children and cooking while men go out and work. Only in times of war was this really not so important but largely gender roles have been important in keeping society the way it is “meant” to be and maintaining control.

Now, however, women are seen as people who can destroy a man’s success by speaking out about something that was formerly not illegal in many cases. I think women taking this right and having most of the world stand behind them is one revolution that helps prevent authoritarianism from coming to a place like America and if these examples may get to other places in the world it may help other women in learning about them being able to make choices for themselves independent of what others want for them.

Canada’s anthem

Canada has made its anthem gender neutral and some would ask if something like that was necessary. The lyrics in question come from a time where those lyrics would have been accurate and now they are not but does that mean that it as many things that have evolved from history does not take a new meaning.

Gender roles in the recent past have been very divided, in most authoritarian regimes these divisions were made vital. Does that mean Canada in this new venture moves evermore away from being in that type of regime or does it actually cause the types of backlashes that are being experienced in other parts of the world?

It was always taken by me that to use a gendered noun does not mean it means that gender specifically but anyone in that category it merl comes from a place were at one time it would have been true that only men were soldiers for example. However, making an anthem gender neutral shows there is not only a difference that must be made but a disregard of the past or the “good old days” to some. This is something that is felt negatively by many and what is causing many o this issue we see today with people being concerned with their cultural identity.

It is true that it is not bad to change because cultures came from somewhere, to begin with, but after people want to know who they are and where they are from and these changes can make them very uneasy.

Freedom of the press

Security on the internet is a difficult issue because it targets this free platform that has already effect so much change in society. With the district of this platform, more than there already is, this could mean a large decline in the ability of people to express issues and to find like-minded people to discuss issues with. Think about how hard it would have been for those that opposed the Nazis to find each other and how much easier a secure internet would have made that.

For these very reasons, it is important for the internet and Facebook to remain as free as possible so that people can control their interest in their state better.

The decline of print media is a widespread issue. With the rise of online resources and also suspension of the internet one must wonder is information going to be as safe. It is no secret that in the past those that did not want to print the propaganda of dictatorships were shut down but reliable until then. Now, however, the internet is open for anyone to edit including those one may be against.

This is a very dangerous ability because freedom of the press although at times restricted could not be shut down as today. Anyone who has the power to take things of websites (although never completely off the internet arguably) can simply be altered to someone posting those things. Even today the government has ways of detecting high-risk people through keywords of web searches. Those people most likely would have been safer using print (calling someone on the phone poses similar issues).

It is good that a government secures itself but there is also a question to the extent it must before it overreaches its bounds of being democratic. This is a discussion often had in Canada and elsewhere but it is important to know where a country stands on freedom. Freedoms can ultimately be limited everyone but less so one something is printed than on the internet (the former can be done in secret). Print has historically been the agent of revolution and without it not only is a little bit of history dying but also if that history must repeat itself, the ability to do that.

Facebook and freedoms

Facebook has recently been having issues with its security and this is an important issue. Ways in which people are able to express themselves are extremely impactful and this is something that has been away in which option to regimes have manifested. Some of the first things to be attacked in Nazi Germany, for example, was art which is the expression of the people. What the people think, post on their Facebook or whatever is very important. Without such things, it becomes much harder to voice opposition to not only politics but also to social issues.

For these very reasons, it is important for the internet and Facebook to remain as free as possible so that people can control their interest in their state better.

Thoughts on recent cyber attack on Germany

Recently there has been a cyber attack on Germany, and who is behind remains unknown. Cyber attacks pose something of an interesting phenomenon because they are only possible in modern day situations. However the reason behind them is not recent, it is very much connected to a desire to gain the power of a state in an attempt to make some kind of more towards empowering one’s own interests.

The ability to obtain knowledge from another state can certainly cause concern and thus distrust from the citizens which is certainly a way to weaken a government. The EU has already had some people who were dissatisfied with their security online and now the German government is not even itself secure.

Also, there is the point that the information itself contains value and no doubt that will anyone who obtains it- if it is another state such as China there can be an economic gain or if it is Russia there can be a military gain in places like Syria.

These gains from other states would certainly be a motive and that includes to show the world how powerful they are in the face of an advanced country.

Terrorism in Europe

Terrorism is something that has been gripping the world even long before Islamic terrorism exists. This is a means to promote politics and has been seen in many different ways coming from many different groups. However, there have been many attacks recently from Islamic extremists and this warrants a blog post. Just the other day Germany was attacked and people were killed by a van plowing into them.

The type of makeshift way in which terrorist have been operating of late say something else, is it still for political achievements? I cannot answer this but only speculate that since ISIS, a main contributor of attacks, as lost a lot of power and is pretty much eradicated. However, as often seen in history these types of regimes do not go down without a fight to the absolute end. This may be occurring now and we see the last attempts of these people to kill as many people as they can before it’s all over.

This however certainly does not help the views of those living in Europe who are already having a difficult time coming to terms with recent refugees and this certainly will have an effect on their case in the future as the Paris attacks have.

Jerusalem as capital?

The naming of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel by the US has garnered much attention recently. This action shows the US again asserting its power as a nation that sees itself as the world leader in everything. However, the flight between Israel and Palestine has long associations with the west.

Traditionally after WWII, there has been western intervention in the region and the Jews for many reasons were favored. They were paid more and given jobs in part where the Muslims were not. These tensions continue and now that there is a stand like this they can only be heightened. When taking the history of these things into account one can look at issues in a different light. It is more understandable knowing how the Jewish population has been favored to see how those that oppose this type of thing must see it.

In looking at an issue like this one can realize just how much influence the west not only has had but now must have. After the history of this region, it is very difficult for anything to be done without a war breaking out and so the west as an intervener can at least prevent these things in the least but even among themselves, they cannot agree.

Is the US a dictator?

Trump is to visit South America and this should be very interesting. The history of North America and its southern neighbors has been very long and unfortunate.Starting with the CIA missions to keep leaders in power who were favorable to them, to the use of the land by companies from the US (and treating workers very poorly) and then the School of the Americas which as a training ground from some of the most violent people in the regimes that took power.

The US exerts its power over regions (not just in this case) and only to ensure its own benefit. I wonder if the US itself can be considered a dictator (mostly in the past now) over states that it could benefit from. For those states that did not comply with its will, its simply overthrew the government and put which would support it in. Similar instances occurred in Africa and many of these places were used for proxy wars with the Soviet Union.

It seems to be that the US has taken any country it likes and used it for its goals and betterment as an authoritarian leader would his own country and lead it down the path he wanted or else the option faced death.