Greenhead College A2 Politics

Iran

amberlavinia — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:42:29 +0000

Iran’s government structure changed dramatically in 1979 due to the Iranian Revolution (also commonly known as the Islamic Revolution). This resulted with the overthrowing of the monarchy (Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) and replacing him with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Iran has continuelly been in the focus of the media for its nuclear program; which, initally set up in the 1950′s with the aid of America, crumbled after the Iranian Revolution.

More recently, Iran has been in the news for an alleged rigged election or coup attempt which elected Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Guardian reported that over 200 hundred states which had 95% turnout did not have that number of eligible voters. Mir Hossein Mousavi, the runner up, called for peaceful protests after numbers of people were killed or injured in the riots and protests, against the election result.

Al-Qaeda

louisac17 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:41:59 +0000

Al-Qaeda (from the Arabic. Translation – The Base) is a terrorist Islamist group with its roots in the Soviet war in Afghanistan in the late 1980′s.

Claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks like September 11th (which kickstarted the ‘War Against Terror’) and various bombings in Turkey, Yemen, Tanzania and Kenya, Al-Qaeda often uses suicide attacks and bombings to pursue its objectives, claiming that such methods are religiously justified by the principles of ‘jihad’ or holy war. The organisation pushes for an end to Western influence in Islamic countries and for the creation of a Muslim state.

Al-Qaeda is famously lead by the fugitive Osama bin Laden, currently in hiding and on the list of American’s Most Wanted, and the surgeon and scholar Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Global Warming?

aimeeezzzzz — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:27:01 +0000

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/aginatur/moregw.htm
Everyone wants you to believe that Global Warming is happening! But do have a look at the alternative view, such as this site above ^^

Sri Lanka #2

Alicia Faye — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:25:41 +0000

Sri Lanka, then known as Ceylon, was given independence from Britain in 1948 after a long Sinhalese nationalist movement begining in the early 20th century.Disagreements between the Sinhalese and Tamil ethnic communities flared up when drawing up the country’s first post-independence constitution. In the years that followed there was much conflict between these two Ethnic groups and the Sinhalese actively discriminated against the Tamils. The Tamils retaliated forming many Tamil separatist organizations, the most well known of these being the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE] better known as the ‘Tamil Tigers’. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983 and was brought to an end in May 2009 by the death of LTTE leader velupillai prabhakaran.

Iraq: George Bush – misunderstood genius?

thomstancliffe — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:25:08 +0000

The legacy of the Iraq conflict of much debate. Iraq now is a democracy with booming economic growth (7% in a recession) and is largely in charge of it’s own security. Now for some realism; this is no “Mission Accom0mplished”, no matter what the village idiot from Crawford in Texas would have us believe.

In Iraq itself George Bush’s description by the SWP as “The World’s Number 1 Terrorist ” rings true, roughly a million Iraqis were killed, with 4.7 million displaced. 4634 coalition forces were also killed. But hey, George did manage to push over that statue of Saddam.

Iraq is currently fifth on the Failed States Index and has vast internal security problems. There are huge sectarian divides, a huge growth in Islamic fundamentalism, huge problems of corruption and global corporations, not Iraqis are profiting from Iraq’s oil reserves. But the Iraq War legacy is not just about Iraq, the conflict destabilised the Middle East and radicalised young Muslims the world over.

Personally, I just wish George Bush was still reading My Pet Goat.

Iraq – Was it worth it?

greggers — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:45:28 +0000

After the U.S and U.K’s “educated” accusations of Iraq being in possesion of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), the allied multi-national force invaded. They found nothing but a few reminents of shrapnel. Then they captured Saddam Hussian over human rights abuses, which added some accountablity to the mission, but with over 1,000,000 citezens dead, and allied casualties,really, was it worth it?

Kyoto Protocol

rachael26 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:42:50 +0000

The Kyoto Protocol is an addition to the Climate Change Convention negotiated in 1992. Many countries agreed to individual targets to reduce the carbon emissions of their country in an effort to tackle climate change. The United States has neither ratified nor withdrawn from the Protocol although an original signatory and the contributor of 36.1% of Greenhouse gas emissions.

Sri Lanka

jonahskinner — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:41:55 +0000

War broke out between the Sinhalese and Tamil people in 1983 after years of growing hostility. The Tamil Tigers were a militant group fighting for a separate state of Tamil Eelam. The Sinhalese government fought aginst the establishment of such a state. The war ended in May 2009 with the death of the Tamil Tigers leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Afghanistan

hoppaz — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:41:09 +0000

Afghanistan has a variety of different ethnic groups which are mainly located in different areas of the country itself. Main efforts began in Afghanistan when the USA invaded to remove Al-Queda and oust the Taliban regime.

There has always been a history of power struggles in Afghanistan including unstable power transfers, the country has been goverened by every system of government in the past century including a monarchy, republic and theocracy.

Georgia

jacobshort — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:38:19 +0000

Just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia declared independence in late 1990. After the collapse of Soviet rule, separatist feelings within Georgia were allowed to resurface, as they did before Georgia’s initial integration into the Russian Empire, in the 1770’s. These separatist regions of south Ossetia and Abkhazia, therefore took the opportunity to forcibly gain independence from both the U.S.S.R and Georgia. This led to a war of independence throughout the early 1990’s, involving Russia, Georgia and the separatist regions. Eventually a peace deal was brokered, primarily by the Russians, allowing for a mild form of independence for the separatist regions. This peace situation remained until 2008 when recent rocket attacks by Ossetian separatists on Georgian Villages, forced the Georgian Government to intervene in order to protect Georgian Civilians. This escalated into a full conflict, when Russia decided to intervene to restore order, and began invading parts of Georgia. As a reaction to this the E.U restored peace via negotiation, led by Nicholas Sarkozy. This restored the relationships between the powers to the pre 2008 war situation.