Home Secretary Theresa May has shown her intentions of splitting the UK Border Agency into two separate agencies, forming a new "Border Force". This comes following revelations that hundreds of thousands of people were let into Great Britain without properly being checked.
This kind of extreme response by the Home Secretary, show that people in the UK rank immigration as a very important people. In fact, most people in Great Britain rank immigration as either the top or second most important issue that Great Britain faces. This may be because the vast majority of the UK remains white, and they haven't had to deal with immigration problems until now.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Elections in Russia - Comparative Post #2
Russia.
You are the first to arrive to the ballot box on voting day, bright and early, the air fresh and cold on your skin. Curiosity compels you to wonder, are you REALLY the first one there? Bending forward and peaking through the slit where votes are cast, you see massive mounds of slips already there. But how can this be? There is NO ONE else here except you! Upon closer inspection, they all say "Putin". What a bummmmmer. That rascal.
Recently, there was a parliamentary election in Russia. Exit polls suggested that Putin's party, the "Kremlin" was going to win about 40% of the seats. But the final results indicated that the Kremlin had won over 50% of the seats.
Because Russia is a parliamentary system, this guarantees that Putin will be elected as president. Putin has already been president before, and people are tired of him. His authoritarian regime had been ruthless in the past, squelching nearly all opposition. However, he knew what he was doing, and helped contribute to an economic boom in the country, fueled by the oil industry.
But recently, the economy has not been so great. People are angry that Putin has been the central power holder for so long. They are angry that the elections have been rigged. They want more freedom and less corruption, and they will do whatever it takes to get those.
Over the past few years, the world has been changing rapidly. An avalanche of democracy and capitalism has swept the world. Even China has nearly completely switched from a command economy to capitalism. Egypt's authoritarian regime fell rather peacefully (its leader smartly voluntarily decided to step down), and held fair parliamentary elections. That very contagious disease called democracy quickly infected Libya, although the infection quickly soared to a raging fever, as the ruler of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, refused to step down and waged war against his own citizens. And now, right now, democracy's victim is Syria.
And Syria is going to be one hell of a sick patient, at least judging by that video I saw on Youtube of Syrian tanks firing into residential neighborhoods, in, well, Syria.
Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to live in a first world country.
Just think, right now, there are over 200,000 people in North Korea, who will live out the rest of their short miserable lives working all day in concentration camps, where Men, women and children are forced to work seven days a week as slaves and eat 'rats, frogs, snakes, insects'.
BUMMER.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039542/North-Korea-Satellite-photos-death-camps-deny-exist.html#ixzz1mEXLXagW
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/russia/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16337298
You are the first to arrive to the ballot box on voting day, bright and early, the air fresh and cold on your skin. Curiosity compels you to wonder, are you REALLY the first one there? Bending forward and peaking through the slit where votes are cast, you see massive mounds of slips already there. But how can this be? There is NO ONE else here except you! Upon closer inspection, they all say "Putin". What a bummmmmer. That rascal.
Recently, there was a parliamentary election in Russia. Exit polls suggested that Putin's party, the "Kremlin" was going to win about 40% of the seats. But the final results indicated that the Kremlin had won over 50% of the seats.
Because Russia is a parliamentary system, this guarantees that Putin will be elected as president. Putin has already been president before, and people are tired of him. His authoritarian regime had been ruthless in the past, squelching nearly all opposition. However, he knew what he was doing, and helped contribute to an economic boom in the country, fueled by the oil industry.
But recently, the economy has not been so great. People are angry that Putin has been the central power holder for so long. They are angry that the elections have been rigged. They want more freedom and less corruption, and they will do whatever it takes to get those.
Over the past few years, the world has been changing rapidly. An avalanche of democracy and capitalism has swept the world. Even China has nearly completely switched from a command economy to capitalism. Egypt's authoritarian regime fell rather peacefully (its leader smartly voluntarily decided to step down), and held fair parliamentary elections. That very contagious disease called democracy quickly infected Libya, although the infection quickly soared to a raging fever, as the ruler of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, refused to step down and waged war against his own citizens. And now, right now, democracy's victim is Syria.
And Syria is going to be one hell of a sick patient, at least judging by that video I saw on Youtube of Syrian tanks firing into residential neighborhoods, in, well, Syria.
Sometimes I forget how lucky I am to live in a first world country.
Just think, right now, there are over 200,000 people in North Korea, who will live out the rest of their short miserable lives working all day in concentration camps, where Men, women and children are forced to work seven days a week as slaves and eat 'rats, frogs, snakes, insects'.
BUMMER.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039542/North-Korea-Satellite-photos-death-camps-deny-exist.html#ixzz1mEXLXagW
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/russia/index.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16337298
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
China and Russia double-veto Syrian Resolution
A Western-Arab U.N. Security Council resolution backing an Arab League plan for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step aside, was double vetoed by Russia and China. Sources indicate that China was simply tagging along with China.
Russia's veto cam after a series of its proposals for the draft resultion were rejected by U.S. and European officials. Many of the proposals were written in favor of the Syrian government, which U.S. and European countries find unacceptable.
Russia vetoed the proprosal because it didn't want to cause "rejime change" in Syria, a close ally and a key Russian weapons export destination.
This double veto has outraged the Western countries, who have condemned it as "A sad day for this council, a sad day for all Syrians, and a sad day for democracy." Moscow and Beijing are now "complicit in the policy of repression" of Damascus.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/04/syria-un-resolution_n_1254441.html
Russia's veto cam after a series of its proposals for the draft resultion were rejected by U.S. and European officials. Many of the proposals were written in favor of the Syrian government, which U.S. and European countries find unacceptable.
Russia vetoed the proprosal because it didn't want to cause "rejime change" in Syria, a close ally and a key Russian weapons export destination.
This double veto has outraged the Western countries, who have condemned it as "A sad day for this council, a sad day for all Syrians, and a sad day for democracy." Moscow and Beijing are now "complicit in the policy of repression" of Damascus.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/04/syria-un-resolution_n_1254441.html
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