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INDP 301-303: Agenda | Discussion Notes | Maps | Outlines | Questions | Syllabus | Tracking Progress
INDP 301, 302, 303: Current Affairs, Discussion Notes for SPS.
By Jeremy Lewis, revised 22 Sep.'06 with discussion from week 4.
Week: One | Two | Three | Four | Five

New Orleans disaster recovery

• What put New Orleans at risk?
• Below sea level
• Spent federal funds on lower priority projects
• Act of God, natural disaster
• Levees were only built for category 3
• Why did evacation fail?
• Culture of fatalism, believing it would never happen
• Poor victims unable to leave
• Evacuation buses were on low ground
• Needed evacuation plans
• Some victims refused to leave
• Near misses previously
• Why did relief efforts work poorly?
• National Guard under Governor's control, under water
• Lack of communication
• between Governor and Mayor
• state and federal governments
• contrast with Mississippi -- Gov. Haley Barbour ex chair of RNC
• Varied state and federal agencies
• (1 credit discussion ended here)
• What is the prospect for the future?
• Insurance industry is highly regulated:
• policies for wind do not cover water damage
• Federal flood insurance -- is it part of the problem?
• Baby boomers -- retiring to the south coast
• Where are the Dutch?
• $10 Bn for a 10,000 year fix -- not a 100 year solution
• Why not pay people to move elsewhere instead of rebuilding in a dangerous area?
• establish wetlands as a buffer zone
• but rights of people to live where they choose
• 1719 established -- history brings title to land
• How effective were Evacuation plans?
• limited, not comprehensive and not well implemented.
• distrust of authority weakened the evacuation
• Many individuals declined to leave
• Mayor did not positively order mass evacuation early enough -- 3 days needed
• Rodger -- e.g., VA Beach residents declined to evacuate
• Tocqueville (1831): Americans are independent and give too little authority to government and to bureaucracies.
• Federal system: conflicts between Federal, state and local governments:
• never designed for efficiency
• responsiveness to groups is not efficient
• Madison, Federalist No. 10 (1787) and 51: dispersal of power, not efficiency
• Should we yield freedoms in order to grant authority for coerced evacuation?
• Media responsibility (Kim B)?
• Could media have used their comms to assist victims, not merely telling the world?
• cooperative arrangements with government before crises?
• Discussion Summary, Questions:
• What were the governmental causes of the Katrina disaster?
• What other causes contributed: cultural, structural & physical, organizational?
• Does Katrina indicate that Americans have too much freedom and too little responsibility?
• Does the federal, state and local system impede communications and decisionmaking?

Using Map of Iraq, illustrating the geo-strategic issues surrounding the country.

Bordered by Syria, Iran, Jordan and Saudi, as well as tiny Kuwait

Fertile crescent of Tigris and Euphrates rivers

Cradle of civilization: Bablyon, Nineveh, Samarrah, Ur -- and Enuma Elish stories.

Oil in southeast, shared with Kuwait

Country emerged from colonial British oil exploration

Size of population and size of Baghdad make occupation difficult

Geographic space of desert in west and (formerly) marshes in southeast, plus urban townscapes, make it costly to root out enemy

Changing administration rhetoric on war with Iraq.

softened tone -- or boldly "stay the course"

need to admit mistakes -- or speak defiantly to critics?

justification of war, since WMD and connections to terrorists were not found?

possibility of withdrawal of troops?

How to characterize the enemy: terrorists, Islamic extremists, Islamofascists?

Risks of using any one type of rhetoric?

Is the war actually running down or maintaining its rate of violence?

1 credit discussion ended; 3 credit discussion continued

Are educational pressures too much in US?

Does NCLBA promote too much stress in elementary grades?

US not a stressful system compared to other developed nations

US runs curriculum more slowly

US has fewer school days per year

US has democratic, not magisterial, classrooms

US has multi-choice exams, not essays and problems

How far does accountability simply divert effort into testing?

British example:

national curriculum

league tables by divisions of schools

shows schools respond to competition

problem of over-emphasizing core subjects

What to do about sports?

Koh article on US foreign policy

realism vs idealism

European balance of power politics

Americans idealism: human rights, democracy

e.g. Jimmy Carter criticised Bush for Iraq

reassertion of human rights

American exceptionalism

Is Bush an idealist?

Kantian idea: democracies do not wage war

But BUsh's war with Iraq is paradoxical: imposing democracy by force

REagan admin during Iran-contra realist: supporting both sides

Realists ssay US can be Hegemon or global leader

Is US an imperial power? Great white fleet, Cuba, Philippines, Hawaii, California, Texas

Public opinion in Iraq:

strongly unfavorable about US intervention

distrusting neighbors

how difficult is it to hold a colony against public opinion

widespread belief that US intervened for access to oil

Implementing the 9/11 Report and homeland security

offense and defense imbalanced

war against AQ

war in Iraq

homeland security measures

autistic organizations needed to communicate

Public Opinion in NYC and Country post 9/11

"cleavages" (schisms) NYC /country, women /men, Repub/dems

25% approval rating 2d lowest ever, after Carter and nixon

Special Forces in Counter Terrorism:

unconventional warfare

Hard power versus soft power

hearts and minds versus command and control

direct action versus medical and construction aid

new army field manual emphasizes less force is more in CT

End of 1 credit discussion.  3 credit discussion continues:

Public opinion in Iraq (from week 2):

strongly unfavorable about US intervention

distrusting neighbors

how difficult is it to hold a colony against public opinion

widespread belief in Iraq that US intervened for access to oil

Have their been surveys of Iraqis before the war?

Torture of Al Qaeda 14

is torture effective? [realism]

is the information given actually correct and useful?

did lead from one captive to others

is it moral? [idealism]

is it counterproductive? [realism]

does it gain info at the expensive of loss of moral authority?

if info gained under torture cannot be used in court, do we want it?

Tony Blair revolt

led New Labour away from traditional socialist beliefs in equality

abolished clause IV of Lab's constitution: governmnent control of commanding heights of economy

earned historic Lab victories in 1997, 2001, 2005 -- and Parliament can run 5 years.

Promised friend Gordon Brown would turn over PM power to him in return for support.

Brown is Chancellor of Exchequer (powerful treasury head) and is frustrated by delayed transition

Blair has received protests by traditional socialist, 8 resignations from government

Blair will step down within his ten year, i.e. by mid 2007

may be forced out sooner

principal cause of dissatisfaction now is Iraqi war and W. Bush

Taxation?  Question from Rodger.

US has lowest in developed world except for South Korea, and lower than UK

AL about lowest in US

federal, state and local taxes of all kinds add up to 30% of national income, flat.

government in US not the most efficient because federal duplication -- but one of the more efficient across world.  Not much wasted.

Public Opinion on Iraq war

Republicans distancing themselves from Bush

CT Repubs

Cheating in education

is it wrong?

is it effective?

is it bad quality?

Kidnap victim in Austria

Parental Alienation Syndrome

need to wean victims off dependency on kidnappers

cf. Bryce Harlow experiements with baby Rhesus monkeys:

satisfaction of needs breeds dependency and affection

child angry at father

cf. Stockholm syndrome -- hostages bonded to captors

Rodger -- children of drug addicts have dependency

clients have to decide they are ready to break dependency

Emanuel's controlling the Dems campaigns

imbalance of funding

imbalance of party identifiers among voters

redistricting by state legislatures, controlled now by Republicans

mid term surge and decline

likelihood of Dems picking up seats in both HR and Senate

turnover of HR to dems is less likely, will be close

War in Iraq was costing Republicans votes

Presidential speeches

Pope's quotation taken as support for the mediaeval christian view

Pope was speaking to a university, formerly a religion professor

Pope John Paul's right hand man in Doctrinal (theological) department

Actual speech was for tolerance -- except for quotation from 1391

Quotation was unwise without an immediate rejection of that view in the speech

Iranian and Venezuelan leaders' critical speeches of US, used to hyperbolic rhetoric

inflamed reactions around muslim world

huge task to change culture  in middle east

tribalism and corruption endemic

police force corruption and abuses not unknown in developed countries, but expected in third world

baksheesh a common term for "tips"

danger in Iraq of militas acting as death squads, under police or military uniform, attacking other tribes or militias in vendetta system.

Could undermine Iraqi government's need to reassure all tribes and ethnic groups

examples -- do they have any common thread?

although some argue along the cliche' that you can be anything, note their qualifications

aerial bombing over several weeks might be as effective as intelligence permits

problem of aftermath

asymmetric war is likely with Iran supporting Hisballah against Israel

Gulf water is narrow and shallow, favors Iranian mining and coastal missiles

difficult for US warships to control Iranian coast

Navy seals used previously to limit smuggling, with limited success

oil as weapon

Iran, despite oil, lacks refineries, hence claim to peaceful nuclear power

Iran sees Israel as hurting Palestinians, and having nuclear weapons

Iran sees Israel as illegitimate, European holocaust not the fault of Palestinians

Sgt whose squad is accused of killing civilians

is unable to talk about the incident

emerges as decent human, not dedicated to warrior life

positive ads introducing candidate take months to raise name recognition

campaign ads, surprisingly, found more substantive than nightly news coverage

"news" is mostly horserace coverage, little on policy

more happy talk than policy news on local TV channels

bad year for coverage '88, good quality in '92 in reaction (helped Clinton)

'04 media (and Dems) let Republicans define debate on War with Iraq, now officially revealed as not linked to terrorism -- too late

negative ads attacking candidate's voting record or character can cost 23 points approval in 21 days

examples from House banking scandal, '92, in IA

examples from Dukakis campaign '88, hit by Willie Horton ad about (successful) prison furlough program

Video clips from NY Times folder of campaign ads '06

some on national security / war with Iraq, positive or negative

some attacking voting on taxes (like AL Gov spots '06)

one used images of WTC burning, 9/11, controversially

one used Ronald Reagan, controversial because opposed by widow

some "guilt by association" ads using unpopular W Bush

conclusions:

negative ads only work where candidate vulnerable

negative ads only work where target fails to respond immediately

negative ads mostly about voting, not character, mudslinging