Volume VIV Issue VI April 2016

State Department, Pentagon Evacuate Employees in Turkey

Leah CerilliStaff Writer

Tension Between Ukrainian President, PMEscalates After Release of Panama Papers

INSIDE

FOCUS ON POLITICAL SYSTEMS page 6&7

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

ISIS in Southeast Asia; Haitian PoliticsPage 2

Netanyahu Visits AIPAC;Ukrainian Pilot SentencedPage 3

diplomacy news

SDG Challenge;SHUNA at Penn State

Page 12

Opinion

Page 8

Media Universal Cover-age on Terror;Problem with NGOs

Page 9

ISIS Losses Outweigh Successes; South Sudan Peace AccordsPage 4

Continued on Page 4...

Photos courtesy of the Christian Science MonitorTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (left) speaking with American President Barack Obama at a press conference.

Page 5

ISIS Attacks Across the Globe

Continued on Page 2...

Page 10

spotlights

Chris Mazzacane;Emily Balan

Photos courtesy of Euro News Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denies allegations of tax evasion.

Matthew SchallerStaff Writer

Page 11

Conflict Conference; Bartoli Lectures in SO

Nuclear Conference

Both the Pentagon and the U.S. Department of State have ordered family members of employees stationed in several Turkish regions, primarily in Incirlik Air Base, to leave due to security concerns, as report-ed by NBC.

Facilities in southern Tur-key, as well as the provinces of Izmir and Mugla, have been evacuated. In a statement, Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breed-love said the decision was made “in consultation with the Government of Turkey, our State Department, and our Secretary of Defense.”

According to the Washing-ton Post, Breedlove added that the goal of the decision is to keep military families safe and to ensure that U.S. forces can

be fully effective. A separate advisory issued

by the State Department said it ordered the evacuation of family members of their em-ployees working at the U.S. consulate in Adana in south central Turkey, and in Izmir

Ukraine’s attempts at escap-ing Russia’s shadow have been undermined in recent months by government infighting and scandal that threaten any possi-bility of a peaceful resolution. It all began in mid-February, when Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk barely survived a parliamentary vote that would have forced him to resign. Ac-cording to Newsweek, out of 226 members of parliament required for a majority, 194 voted against him.

Yatsenyuk, who became prime minister in 2014, has be-come the center of attention as the conflict in the east has now stagnated. “All that I have done, I believe, has been to do the right thing,” Yatsenyuk said as MPs were in the process of

voting, Newsweek reports. President Petro Poroshen-

ko issued a statement preced-ing the vote claiming that 70 percent of the Ukrainian peo-ple had lost faith in the gov-ernment under Yatsenyuk and that in this time of political and economic upheaval, “the mistakes outweigh the achieve-ments,” as stated in Newsweek.

Before the vote was tak-en, MPs took to the floor and criticized Yatsenyuk’s entire record as prime minister, from his economic policies to his proposed plan to construct a $225-million wall on the Rus-sian border.

According to Otilia Dhand, Central and Eastern Europe analyst at Teneo Intelligence, “His dismal popularity ratings in recent months were proba-bly a result of the public per-ception that Yatsenyuk failed

to deliver a shift to more trans-parent political culture and deal with legacy of high-level corruption.”

However, with the recent revelations of the Panama Papers, Yatsenyuk may have found some political momen-tum. As stated by the papers, President Poroshenko at-tempted to use an offshore company in order to com-

pletely restructure his business. More specifically, the company in question acquired his choc-olate company Roshen.

With this information now made public, Poroshenko is in a delicate situation. In addition to Yatsenyuk, the President has been also been criticized for his record on fighting cor-ruption.

and Mugla provinces on the western coast. Official travel has been restricted to “mission critical” only and a travel advi-sory was issued, according to Russia Today.

The State Department warned that foreign and U.S.

tourists have been explicitly targeted by terrorist organiza-tions and that they should be especially careful to avoid any travel close to the Syrian bor-der.

international newsApril 2016Page 2

Haitian Political Process Moves Forward,Parliament Approves Interim PM

Theodore EzikeStaff Writer

Jack LaForgeStaff Writer

ISIS Affiliate Increases Kidnappings in SE Asia

Turkey Evacuation

Continued from Page 1...

On March 10, a video sur-faced of two Canadian citi-zens, John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, and Kjartan Sekkings-tad, a Norwegian citizen, who were taken hostage in the Philippines by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), an extremist Is-lamic militant group with his-toric ties to Al Qaeda and ISIS.

The video showed the two men kneeling with knives to their throats reading a pre-pared speech, pleading with the Canadian government to pay their ransom. According to CNN, the Canadian De-partment of Global Affairs is

aware of the situation and is working closely with the Phil-ippine government to gather more information.

Abu Sayyaf is demanding 1 billion Philippine pesos ($22 million) by April 8 for their re-lease, reports the Straits Times. The group claims that if their demands are not satisfied, they will execute the captives.

It is unclear whether the Canadian government will pay for the release of John Ridsdel and Robert Hall. Last year, the German government paid 250 million pesos for two German nationals captured by Abu Sayyaf.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was on a

tour of the United States while the deadline for the demand elapsed, did not comment on the kidnapping. Canada, like the United States, has a pol-icy of not negotiating with terrorists, which has received criticism from the Canadian media.

On March 29, Abu Sayyaf hijacked a shipping vessel and kidnapped its crew of ten In-donesian nationals, according to Time Magazine. The group is demanding $1 million for the crew’s release. The situ-ation is tense as Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu claims that the Indo-nesian government is willing to consider deploying troops

and five warships to the area, as reported by the Anadolu Agency. The owner of the ship is willing to pay the ransom.

Late on April 8, the dead-line for the western captives, Abu Sayyaf released an Italian missionary, Rolando del Tor-chio, who was captured in ear-ly October. According to Reu-ters, the reason for his release is unknown.

Abu Sayyaf, which means “bearer of the sword” in Ar-abic, was originally a part of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), a separatists Muslim group in the south-ern Philippines. After MNLF began formal peace talks with the government in 1991, Ab-

durajak Abubakar Janjalani, a high-ranking member of the organization who fought against the Red Army in Af-ghanistan, splintered off from the party and created Abu Sayyaf.

Abu Sayyaf received secret funding from Osama Bin Lad-en’s brother-in-law and began conducting terror attacks and bombings throughout the southern Philippines and Ma-laysia. In September 2014, the group pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the Islamic State. Since then, Abu Sayyaf has kidnapped over 15 foreigners and many Filipinos.

Contact Theodore at theodore.ezike@student.shu.edu.

In the wake of the resig-nation of Haitian president Michel Martelly, Haiti remains a country devoid of a stable democratic government. In February, Martelly stepped down from his position as head of state with many peo-ple dissatisfied due to the be-lief that Martelly was making “non-democratic” decisions as president.

Al Jazeera reports that Hai-tian leaders signed an agree-ment to install a caretaker gov-ernment as President Michel Martelly stepped down.

With protesters still reel-ing from the failed presiden-tial elections of 2015, many remain just as vigilant of an abuse of power by the interim president. The first order of business for Interim President Jocelerme Privert is to estab-lish an interim prime minister from now until the twice-post-poned presidential runoff vote scheduled for April 24.

However, according to the Jamaica Observer, the Haitian parliament rejected economist Fritz Jean, who was named by Privert to serve as interim prime minister.

On March 26, the Haitian parliament approved the inter-im president’s second nomi-nee, as reported by the Associ-ated Press. Enex Jean-Charles has since absorbed the duties

of appointing a cabinet to run everyday state affairs.

With many Haitians ner-vous of the current govern-ment choosing to abstain from a democratic election process, Jean-Charles said to Reuters, “We can give the guarantee that we won’t do anything to try to remain in power for any longer than necessary.”

According to the New York Times, there are still doubts that the scheduled presidential runoff vote on April 24 can be met. Jean-Charles also stat-ed, “It will be up to the new electoral council, following a technical assessment of what remains to be done, to deter-

mine whether the April 24 deadline can be made or not.”

Since the devastating earth-quake of 2010, the Haitian people continue to suffer de-spite $13 billion in humanitar-ian aid from countries around the world. Cholera outbreaks, a scarcity of clean drinking water, and extreme poverty are several things that a large por-tion of Haitian citizens have to deal with on a daily basis. The challenges that Haiti faces to-day are insurmountable with-out a strong form of govern-ment that is elected by and for the people.

Contact Jack at jack.larforge@student.shu.edu.

The Washington Post cites an estimate that about 670 people will be affected by the move, while 100 more living in Ankara and Istanbul will be al-lowed to stay.

There are multiple theories surrounding the primary con-cern behind the order. Many news outlets such as CNN believe it is linked to ISIS ac-tivity, citing a government offi-cial who provided that reason. Russia Today argues it could be due to Turkey’s crackdown against the Kurds in the southeast, near the borders with Syria and Iraq.

A few weeks prior to the order, Incirlik Air Base had been placed under Force Protection Condition Delta, the highest level of force pro-tection that is used by military bases. Specifically, the Delta level means that either a ter-rorist attack has taken place in the immediate area or “intel-ligence has been received that terrorist action against a spe-cific location or person is im-minent,” according to military guidelines.

Schools have been closed with children receiving and

completing assignments at home, and travel outside the base was banned. State De-partment spokesman John Kirby said that the decision to evacuate family members liv-ing in the Adana consulate was based on “running analysis of threats” rather than a single specific threat.

Incirlik is particularly valu-able in the fight against ISIS because it is located about 100

miles from Syria’s border. As stated by Russia Today, the number of air-men at the base has skyrocketed from 1300 to 2500 since the Turkish government began allowing airstrikes

against ISIS from Incirlik Air Base. The base was previously on lockdown in July 2015 due to terrorism concerns, prohib-iting troops and civilians from leaving the gates.

The sentiment of an ele-vated risk is not just felt by the United States. Shortly follow-ing the announcement, Isra-el warned its citizens to leave Turkey as soon as possible and avoid any future travel.

Contact Leah atleah.cerilli@student.shu.edu.

Photos courtesy of BBC News Haitians protesting at an anti-Martelly rally in January, before he resigned.

The State Department warned

that U.S. tourists have been targeted

by terrorists and they should be especially

careful.

international news April 2016Page 3

Russia Sentences Ukrainian Pilot to 22 YearsVincent Maresca

Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of European Union Nadiya Savchenko was sentenced 22 years to a Russian prison.

US, Israeli Sources Contradict on Canceled White House Visit

Adam HowardStaff Writer

In February, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanya-hu’s office announced his in-tention to attend the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) confer-ence in Washington, D.C. on March 20-22. A few days later, the White House announced that U.S. President Barack Obama would be visiting Cuba on the same days.

Amid speculation that the inelegant timing on the part of the U.S. would ultimately lead to Prime Minister Netanyahu skipping the trip, the Prime Minister decided to reach out to the White House to sched-ule an earlier date for a meet-ing, to which President Obama agreed, reports Reuters.

Then in March, the Prime Minister’s Office released a statement that Israeli Ambas-sador to the U.S. Ron Der-mer had informed the White

House that, while Prime Min-ister Netanyahu “appreciates” President Obama’s offer to meet with him, he is unlikely to attend the AIPAC conference, The Guardian reports.

According to the Obama administration, Netanyahu wanted a meeting with Obama on either March 17 or 18, a request the White House was happy to accommodate, re-ports Foreign Policy. Howev-er, after receiving an invitation for a March 18 meeting, word of Netanyahu’s cancellation spread.

The White House claims that it was waiting for Prime Minister Netanyahu to con-firm when reports of Net-anyahu’s decision to cancel the trip surfaced in the Israeli me-dia. Several outlets, including Haaretz, identified President Obama’s schedule as the main reason for the cancellation.

Ned Price, a spokesman for the National Security Council, stated that the White House

was “looking forward to host-ing the bilateral meeting and [they] were surprised to first learn via media reports that the Prime Minister opted to cancel his visit,” reports MSNBC. Price denied that the White House was unable to accom-modate Netanyahu, and the Prime Minister’s Office has de-nounced allegations that Presi-dent Obama was snubbed.

It remains a mystery why exactly Netanyahu chose to skip his annual trip to the U.S. The Prime Minister’s aides have suggested that Netanya-hu canceled his trip in order to avoid 2016 U.S. presidential election sensitivities, according to MSNBC.

Another reason could be that negotiations on the Amer-ican security aid package for the next decade have stalled with dissention continuous-ly cropping up on both sides and no resolution in sight. The simplest and perhaps most be-lievable explanation posed by

CNN is that President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu have simply seen enough of each other after seven years of less than amiable relations.

This is not the first time that communication between the two leaders has broken down. Only a year ago, Net-anyahu shocked the Obama administration by making a surprise visit to the U.S. to lobby before a joint session of Congress against the Iran nu-

clear deal.The New York Times sug-

gests that as the Obama ad-ministration seeks to put a bow on its foreign policy leg-acy, continued disharmony be-tween the U.S. and its strongest ally in the Middle East is cer-tainly not how it wants to be remembered, particularly as it strives toward reviving its Is-raeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Contact Adam at adam.brinkley@student.shu.edu.

On March 22, a Russian court sentenced Ukrainian pi-lot Nadiya Savchenko to 22 years in prison for murdering two Russian journalists in east-ern Ukraine. According to the New York Times, prosecutors provided reports from the Do-netsk city court during the trial.

In June 2014, Lieutenant Savchenko gave the coor-dinates of the location of a rebel-held checkpoint to Ukrainian troops. Russian journalists Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, who worked for a state-owned news chan-nel, were present at the target-ed checkpoint when the mortar shell from the Ukrainian side hit the area and killed them. An hour after the bombard-ment, Savchenko disappeared from her team.

Several disputes remain re-garding Savchenko’s sudden detention in Russia. Accord-ing to her alibi, rebel forces of the Luhansk Republic kid-

napped and transported her across the border into Russia. This was denied by the Rus-sian government, who claimed that Savchenko illegally en-tered Russia of her own will as an asylum-seeker, according to Russia Today. An interview confirmed that a rebel soldier, by the nickname Ilim, captured the Ukrainian pilot just before the journalists’ deaths.

Some of the victims’ fam-ilies and relatives welcomed the verdict, but chose not to give further comment. Russia Today reportedly interviewed Igor Kornelyuk’s brother Oleg, who called the ruling “just” and hoped that during Savchenko’s time in jail, she “may mend her own ways.”

Ukraine has acknowledged Savchenko as a Ukrainian hero for her role behind the front-lines directing artillery, but Kornelyuk finds it strange that Ukraine would give her such a title.

Savchenko’s sentencing caused public outcry inside Russia and abroad. U.S. State

Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement that the case is a blatant vio-lation of international law and norms, citing the Minsk II agreements and calling for Savchenko’s immediate release and return to Ukraine. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statement was in line with the United States’, and declared her immunity under the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

Five days after Savchen-ko’s sentence, demonstrators peacefully gathered in Moscow to support the Ukrainian pilot.

According to Ukraine Today, the people were activists from Solidarnost, a group formed by the late Boris Nemtsov, who was Putin’s main rival during the last presidential election. Despite following the correct procedures and having permis-sion from the city administra-tion, the crowd was dispersed by police and nine people were arrested.

Russia strongly reacted against foreign criticism. As RT News reports, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lav-rov’s spokesperson Maria Zakharova commented on the State Department’s wording, pointing out that the Minsk Agreements do not apply to Savchenko’s case. She also de-nounced other words in the statement such as “endured interrogation, solitary confine-ment, and forced ‘psychiatric evaluation,” indicating that the United States abused inmates at the Guantanamo Bay pris-on, and captured numerous foreign citizens within the United States.

The judge who convicted Savchenko did not take into account her PACE immunity because she acquired it after the murder of the two journal-ists.

As of now, Savchenko’s health is declining. According to Ukraine Today, Ukrainian consuls visited her in pris-on and reported her refusing nourishment, and having nau-sea and a low blood pressure. Savchenko insists on being examined only by non-Russian doctors.

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister and 2014 presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko announced on television that Russia would release the pi-lot through either extradition or a prisoner swap. However, Savchenko’s defense lawyer Ilya Novikov pointed out that the pilot will not return to Ukraine two weeks after the verdict, but that the Putin gov-ernment will make a decision during this period.

Contact Vincent at vincent.maresca@student.shu.edu.

Photo courtesy of YourNewsWire.com Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech at an AIPAC rally.

international newsApril 2016Page 4

Alexander StringerStaff Writer

South Sudan Peace Accord Finally Results in Concessions

Photo courtesy of Reuters South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit (left) and rebel leader Riek Machar negotiate the Arusha Agreement, signed in January 2015.

Ukraine Tension, Panama PapersContinued from Page 1...

Since its recognition as a state by the United Nations in 2011, there has been nearly continuous conflict in South Sudan, and the world’s newest country is currently fighting two different wars.

The first conflict has been raging since independence, and is mostly a spillover of ethnic strife in Sudan proper fought mainly between two tribal groups in the eastern half of the state. Lou Nuer and Murle tribesmen have been engaged in a series of cattle raids and gunfights since 2011, accord-ing to ECC Platform.

While South Sudan was try-ing to contain tribal warfare, Vice President Riek Machar split from President Salva Kiir in December 2013, in what some call a freedom fight, others a coup, as cited in BBC News.

In August 2015, there seemed to be hope for the war-shattered state as both

sides signed a peace accord. Although the leader of the

rebel forces, Vice President Machar, signed the agreement, there has been virtually no progress in bringing peace and stability to the country, likely due to a near-perfect storm of conditions that immediately followed this deal.

Neither side has been pru-dent in enforcing the peace, with the Council on Foreign Relations claiming that con-tinued small conflicts around the state have forced some 1.6 million people out of their homes. Leaders of both sides have blamed the other for fail-ing to uphold the ceasefire, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Almost a year after the ceasefire was signed, the fight-ing has only gotten worse.

One of the major issues with implementation is that, while the peace deal addresses the two major fighting groups and creates a power sharing system between them, the ac-cords say nothing about the

number of other rebel groups that have sprung up since the ceasefire, Al Jazeera reports.

These forces have come to represent the other minori-ty ethnic groups that did not take part in the original fight-ing of the civil war, though it is alleged that several of these groups have joined with Mach-ar’s remaining forces in the na-tion.

There is, however, a shred of hope in this situation. While the violence has maintained its intensity, and the ceasefire is far from being in full force, President Kiir has finally ful-filled one of the first measures of the agreement.

Kiir issued a formal proc-lamation naming Machar Vice President again, according to Al Jazeera.

In a recent press release, Machar accepted the appoint-ment and will be returning to Juba on April 18 to begin forming the transitional gov-ernment.

Contact Alexander at alexander.stringer@student.shu.edu.

Between 2014 and 2015, the Islamic State held territory roughly the size of the United Kingdom. According to Reu-ters in January, ISIS territory shrunk by 40 percent in Iraq and about 20 percent in Syr-ia, with the Syrian army final-ly beating ISIS in what was a tremendous victory for Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Palmyra.

Although Palmyra is a vital control point for any group, it revealed just how reliant the Syrians are on the Russians. That same day, Russian war-planes carried out bombing runs that killed 100 targets within a day.

The Islamic State’s terri-tory, factored in with Palmyra and Iraqi advances beyond Ra-madi, has shrunken by a com-bined 22 percent of its total unofficial territory.

Following the losses suf-fered on the territorial front, the Islamic State carried out attacks in Iraq, Syria, Turkey, France, Belgium, Thailand, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Niger, Tunisia, Egypt, U.S., Libya, Cameroon, Somalia, and Yemen, among others.

Considering that dozens to hundreds of innocent people were killed and hundreds were more injured, the victories against the territorial caliphate is less of a success compared

to expanded terrorist strikes. The casualties suffered by the warring parties in Syria and Iraq among the Kurdish pesh-merga, the most effective force taking the fight to the Islamic State, should be factored in. Of the peshmerga, 1,345 sol-diers lost their lives leading the attacks against the Islamic State, according to the Atlan-tic. Further plans are develop-ing between the Iraqi security forces and the peshmerga to lead another series of coordi-nated offensive tactics to sever supply lines to Fallujah while liberating Mosul.

While the Kurdish pesh-merga along with the Iraqi se-curity forces fight the Islamic State on the ground, the Unit-ed States continues to support them with airstrikes and con-firming the killing of ISIS tar-gets almost every day.

The Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said last De-cember that 2016 will be the year of “final victory” against the extremist group.

The victory at Palmyra was a great success as Syrian gov-ernment forces supported by Russian warplanes reclaimed the historic city. However, ca-sualties were not the only cost of the battle, as the 2000-year-old Temple of Bel and the Arch of Triumph, both UN-ESCO World Heritage Sites, were destroyed.

Contact Mark at mark.turon@student.shu.edu.

Mark TuronStaff Writer

Losses to ISIS Continue to

Outweigh Success

According to the Ukrainian Constitution, the president may not take part in any entrepre-neurial activity. In addition, Poroshenko did not reveal the ownership of the shares in his financial declaration. Nonethe-less, this could be defended on a technicality that there was no actual payment for the shares undertaken. The papers also revealed a surprising aspect of Poroshenko’s business dealings.

Rather than taking the standard route of utilizing foundations, or more specifically nominee shareholders, the president chose to implicate himself as a stakeholder in the offshore company.

As of now, the documents have revealed no wrongdoing on the part of the President. However, with unpredictability now the norm in Ukrainian pol-itics, it remains to be seen what

effect, if any, this will have on the Ukrainian people and their perceptions toward their elect-ed officials. According to the Kyiv Post, Prime Minister Ar-seniy Yatsenyuk will likely stay in his position until September as the Panama Papers scandal has forced President Petro Po-roshenko to focus his attention elsewhere.

Contact Matthew at matthew.schaller@student.shu.edu.Photo courtesy of Reuters

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he did nothing wrong, after leaked documents suggested he had set up an offshore company as a tax haven, according to BBC.

international news April 2016Page 5

2016 Bombings Across the Globe

Photo courtesy of the Jerusalem PostThe Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a jihadist militant group that follows a fundamentalist Sunni sect of Islam.

Alexander StringerStaff Writer

Since claiming responsibili-ty for the Paris attacks in No-vember, ISIS has increased its violent acts in Europe and the Middle East. In fact, since No-vember, there has been at least one bombing from affiliates of the terror cell each month, not to mention regular military ex-ercises, according to the New York Times. Considering the sheer volume of these bomb-ings, the details can get lost in the news cycle, here is the En-voy’s briefing on 2016 bomb-ings with casualties above 20.

January 11 – Muqdadiyah and Baghdad,

IraqOn January 11, Daesh con-

ducted bombings in two Iraqi cities. In Baghdad, ISIS mem-bers with suicide vests stormed a shopping mall, detonating among crowds of shoppers. Further militants moved in to take hostages, killing several. There was also a car bomb in a suburb on the other side of the city. The day brought about 18 deaths and 19 injuries, Reuters reports.

Muqdadiyah, a city on the fringes of ISIS territory, wit-nessed its own string of vio-lence. Two car bombs in the city claimed 20 more lives, with no official injury count being released. These two events combined created the highest death toll in three months.

January 12 – Istanbul, Turkey

This was the first of several bombings in Istanbul this year. The bombing took place in the heart of a major tourist attrac-tion in Istanbul, Sultanahmet Square, claiming the lives of some ten tourists, all of them German, according to CNN.

Following the incident, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to stop at-tacks from the terror group in Turkey, only for the city to be rocked by more explosions a month later.

January 14 – Jakarta, Indonesia

In their first attack in Southeast Asia, ISIS executed two bombings and a number of firefights in the streets of

Jakarta, in predominantly Mus-lim Indonesia. The Guardian reports that seven militants barricaded themselves inside a Starbucks, exchanging fire with police for three hours before detonating themselves.

An additional attack took place at a police station where ISIS members fired upon sev-eral police officers, killing two before being shot themselves. The whole ordeal left eight dead and some 24 injured, mostly from the Starbucks bombs.

January 26 – Homs, Syria

The city of Homs has wit-nessed incredible amounts of violence from the Islamic State, with the first of numer-ous bombings this year taking place on January 26. This day of violence, according to Re-uters saw two separate bomb-ings, the first a car bomb at an Assad-regime security check-point.

While crowds gathered around the site of the first bomb, a second attacker, sup-posedly in a military uniform, detonated a suicide belt among the onlookers. Estimates put the death toll at 29, with un-known numbers of injuries, though they are assumed to have surpassed a hundred.

January 27 – Ramadi, Iraq

The attacks of January 27 in Ramadi were specifically targeted at Iraqi military per-sonnel in the city. Al Jazeera reports that there were a doz-en car bombs detonated across the city over the duration of the day, claiming 55 soldiers and injuring an unknown amount of people, both mili-tary and civilian.

January 31 – Damascus, Syria

As ISIS moved closer to negotiations with United Na-tions peace groups, they also attacked a Shia section of Damascus. According to the Guardian, the attack, which took place at one of the holi-est Shia shrines in the city, was targeted at religiously-aligned freedom fighters in the city. This attack claimed more than 60 lives and over a hundred were injured in the explosions.

Another attack on February 9 in Damascus, this time a car bomb, claimed an additional eight lives. The car was deto-nated in the parking lot of a police station, and injured 20 people.

February 21 – Homs and Damascus, Syria

These attacks came on the same day United States and Russian officials announced progress toward ending the Syrian civil war, part of a two-pronged offensive that day in Syria. Two explosions rocked Shia-majority sections of the city of Homs, one a car bomb, the other a suicide vest. Al Ja-zeera reports the number of deaths to be 42, with an addi-tional 100 injured.

The second phase on this day took place in Damascus. This attack at the Sayyida Ze-inab shrine, the burial place of Mohammed’s granddaughter, was executed as local schools were dismissing students, so as to inflict maximum damage on Shia youth. The bombs were detonated from a car in the parking lot around the shrine before militants with suicide vests rushed fleeing crowds. The total mortality number stands at 134, with an addi-tional 180 injured.

February 28 – Muqdadiyah, Iraq

In the second attack on the Iraqi city this year, two bombs were detonated across the city. The first was a suicide vest detonated in a small crowd–details about this bombing are patchy at best.

The second bomb, howev-er, was far more high-profile, taking place in the middle of a funeral for a prominent lo-cal Shia leader. In total, these

attacks claimed the lives of 40 peoples, including two high-ranking military officers attending the funeral. An addi-tional 58 were injured.

March 6 – Hillah, Iraq

An ISIS militant drove an explosive-laden truck into a military checkpoint in Hillah, Iraq. This marked the third bombing around Baghdad that week, with this attack being by far the largest, killing 61 and wounding 95 more. The bomb was so powerful it leveled all buildings at the checkpoint, and destroyed dozens of cars lined up to enter the city.

March 19 – Istanbul, Turkey

In the early morning there was a second bomb detonated by ISIS this year in Istanbul, Turkey. The attacker, wearing a suicide vest, supposedly deto-nated early on accident, result-ing in fewer fatalities.

The attack was intended to occur closer to government buildings, but ended up ex-ploding several blocks away in the middle of a street, claiming four lives and injuring 36.

March 22 – Brussels, Belgium

Just days after the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, a man wanted for planning the Paris attacks, ISIS retaliated in Belgium against the European com-munity, detonating three co-ordinated nail bombs. Two of these bombs exploded within the Brussels Airport and one in a metro station.

There has been much me-dia and public attention on this bombing, the second attack in a major European city and na-tion within six months without much provocation. At the time

of writing, eight people have been arrested in connection to the plot that killed 32 and in-jured an additional 340.

March 25 – Aden, Yemen

In a triple car bombing at security checkpoints in the largest city in southern Ye-men, ISIS struck yet more ter-ror into the Middle East. Two bombs were in cars, hitting a Saudi Arabian base in Aden. The third was in an ambulance that used its sirens to get close to a security checkpoint before detonating. The attacks killed 26 and injured an unknown number.

March 26 – Baghdad, Iraq

In yet another bombing near Baghdad, ISIS made a public performance akin to the Paris attacks. A bomber wear-ing a suicide vest walked into a crowded stadium towards the end of a soccer match and det-onated in the crowd of leaving fans.

CNN reports that the crowd had been celebrating a local team’s championship, and in an unverified video, the bomb can be seen detonating while the athletes received their trophies. The attack claimed the lives of 40 and in-jured another 65.

There were more bomb-ings and terror attacks in any of the first three months of 2016 than in all of the 1980s and ‘90s combined. The media brings attention to the most gruesome and alarming of these acts, ignoring countless others due to the frequency of incidents.

Contact Alexander at alexander.stringer@student.shu.edu.

How ISIS Has Grown in Scope

focus on April 2016Page 6

PolandMark TuronStaff Writer

Photo courtesy of Sputnik News Thousands of people took to the streets of Spanish cities preceding the December elections to protest against global military conflicts and violence.

The Republic of Poland has many similarities to other democracies such as the Unit-ed States. Poland contains a national assembly and two leg-islative houses that are known as the Senate, or upper house, and the Sejm, or the lower house.

The Sejm is an ancient Slav-ic term meaning “gathering” so not only is the Sejm some-thing of tradition, but it also represents history. However, Sejm was also used to collec-tively name all three chambers of parliamentary authority comprising the lower house, upper house, and the monar-chy during the years when Po-land was a kingdom.

Poland’s government has endured through the years from kingdom to common-wealth to second republic to the current republic. After the collapse of the communist re-gime of Poland in 1989, the historical bicameral assembly, the Senate and the Sejm, was reinstated.

Today the Sejm is com-posed of 460 deputies elected based on the proportion of the votes they garner in the na-tional election. In other words, if a party received fifty percent of the vote, then that party would earn about fifty percent of the seats to fill with their candidates.

Public participation is sim-ilar to in the United States as both nations are representative democracy, meaning that the people elect a small group of representatives to represent them in government to han-dle the political problems that take place within government. Polish citizens elect 460 repre-sentatives to the Sejm and 100 representatives to the Senate.

Although any candidate from any political party is al-lowed to campaign for posi-tions within the national as-sembly, if the candidate’s party cannot obtain at least five per-cent of the vote from the na-tional electorate, then they will not be eligible to take elected positions that term.

The judicial system is where Poland greatly differ-

entiates itself from the United States. In Poland, the judicial branch plays a far greater role in decision-making. Within the judicial branch there are four major institutions, which in-clude the Supreme Court of the Republic of Poland, Su-preme Administrative Court of the Republic, Constitution-al Tribunal of the Republic of Poland, and the State Tribunal of the Republic of Poland. Each of the judicial institu-tions has an active role in par-liament. Based on the approv-al from the Senate, the Sejm also appoints a Commissioner for Civil Rights Protection. This commissioner position is tasked with guarding the im-plementation of the rights and liberties of citizens to the laws passed for the country.

Three months ago in Janu-ary, Polish President Andrzej Duda signed a bill that brought the media under direct control of the state. The Law and Jus-tice Party radically changed the way the constitutional court handles its rulings by requiring a two-thirds majority instead of a simple majority and the number of judges increased from nine to thirteen. The judges were elected from the Law and Justice Party specifi-cally. In response to these rul-ings, hundreds have gathered in cities around Poland to pro-test calling the rulings as bring-ing about the degradation of democracy, according to Deut-sche Welle.

Regarding the Syrian refu-gee crisis, Polish Foreign Min-ister Witold Waszczykowski told the Middle East Eye that Christian refugees would be more welcome in Poland, ex-plaining, “I am saying this with full awareness avoiding any political correctness … Securi-ty is more significant than any beautiful ideals.”

For these reasons, among others, protesters have taken to the streets, according to the New York Times. The current political problems in Poland have prompted the European Commission to open a three-step inquiry whether Poland is violating the union’s democrat-ic norms.

Contact Mark at mark.turon@student.shu.edu.

Spain

Daniel D’AmicoStaff Writer

Spain is currently a parlia-mentary monarchy comprised of 17 autonomous regions. The President is Mariano Ra-joy from the Popular Party. The country has recently fallen into an economic crisis from which it is still recovering. As a result, the past elections in December yielded shocking results. In addition, there are sources of tension that contin-ue to build.

The twentieth century has seen many changes between various political systems in Spain. The first quarter of the twentieth century consisted of several attempts on the king’s life, assassinations of three prime ministers, labor strikes, uprisings, and even bombings.

Following these events was a hybrid of a monarchy and dictatorship and then a Second Republic. The rule was solidi-fied by Francisco Franco after a bloody civil war in which he established a repressive dicta-torship in 1939.

The post-Franco rule saw the rise of two new political parties that are still promi-nent parties today. These are the Popular Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party (PSOE). However, the election this past December saw the rise of two new par-ties, Podemos and Ciudadanos.

The PP acquired a mere 28.7 percent of the votes, PSOE 22 percent, Podemos 20 percent and Ciudadanos 13 percent, as reported by the Guardian. These results were shocking as no party received

the majority necessary to form a new government.

The Popular Party con-trolled the government from 2011-2015. They are conser-vative whereas the Spanish So-cialist Worker’s Party is com-posed of social democrats. Of the newer parties, Podemos is leftist while Ciudadanos is cen-ter-right.

These parties do not differ on many key issues. Podemos is driven by the fight against cor-ruption and define themselves as not being with the left or the right but with the people, according to the party website. Many of their supporters have never been part of a political party or have been disconnect-ed from politics.

Ciudadanos draws support from those who are fed up with the PP but skeptical of Podemos. They focus primari-ly on individual liberties, trans-parency in government, and a mix of social-democratic and liberal economic policies.

Another big issue is the lack of public interaction in the political system. Recently, the percentage of people who were interested in politics and read newspapers decreased. Additionally, the percentage of electoral participants in gener-al elections decreased. This has resulted from a variety of factors including government corruption and scandal among other key issues. It also shows the growing discontent with the major political parties.

One of the other problems plaguing the Spanish nation is the issue of Catalonian inde-pendence. No parties believe in the complete separation of

Catalonia from Spain, but Po-demos does believe in a greater sense of autonomy.

There is also the is-sue of immigration which has increased significantly over the past decade. The Moroc-cans and the Romanians have shown the largest increase. Many of the parties are calling for stricter legislation regard-ing immigrants. Regardless, they also see the extent to which immigrants benefit the country, especially as far as the economy is concerned.

The election results go a long way to show the current feelings of the Spanish peo-ple. While many still support the PP and PSOE, others are fed up and want a change. As a result, the Ciudadanos and Podemos received many votes, further splitting the ballot.

This result was not as shocking as it could have been if Podemos won as previous-ly predicted by some. The PP under Mariano Rajoy has been rife with scandals and corrup-tion. Many people also desire an increase in government transparency.

It is unclear who will com-prise the new government. Many think that a coalition is likely, but between whom is another question entirely. Whoever ends up in govern-ment, they have many obsta-cles ahead. Economic troubles include rising inflation and growing unemployment. This election marked the end of the two party system in Spain with the emergence of the two new major parties.

Contact Daniel atdaniel.damico@student.shu.edu.

political systems April 2016Page 7

TurkeyEmily BalanLayout Editor

Colin KimberlinAssociate Editor

South Korea

Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera Pro-Kurdish groups rally amid the June 2015 elections in Turkey.

The Republic of Turkey has dominated the news recently amid pervasive terrorism and the refugee crisis in the Mid-dle East. The European Union and the Turkish government recently agreed to take back refugees for resettlement in an effort to establish safe, legal channels of migration from the Middle East to Europe.

This negotiation to stem the mass migration could not have been accomplished without an effective political system. Turkey’s government resembles the parliamentary European-style much more than some of its theocratic Middle Eastern neighbors.

Turkey, with a population dominated by Sunni Muslims, provides freedom of religion to its citizens and has built a reputation for secularism in the public sector, unlike many other neighboring Muslim na-tions, as stated in the U.S. State Department’s website.

For example, the indepen-dent judiciary branch called the Constitutional Court can strip public financing of or outright ban political parties

that it deems anti-secular or separatist.

It does, however, have a reputation for the suppres-sion of free speech much like its southern neighbors. This is a concern for those who view the most recent election in November with pessimism. President Recep Tayyip Er-doğan has been accused of capitalizing on the confusion from terror and migration to advance his own political party, the right-wing Justice and De-velopment Party (AKP), New Eastern Outlook reports.

The Turkish president declared early elections in November after the regular-ly scheduled election in June 2015 resulted in a deadlock, which is legal grounds for an early election.

The June election also saw, however, a fall in the AKP’s comfortable majority lead that it has held since coming to power in 2003, the Guardian reports. The AKP gained an almost 10 percent increase in supporters. In a record-high 85 percent voter turnout in the general election in November, the AKP won the majority of delegates in the National As-sembly.

While this has the sem-blance of democracy, critics point to this climate of fear that inhibited participation in the June election. On the other hand, this high voter turnout could be explained by confi-dence in a much-needed strong majority party in order to ef-fectively address the country’s economic, ethnic, social, and foreign policy challenges.

The AKP is headed Ahmet Davutoğlu, the country’s prime minister since August 2014 and former minister of foreign af-fairs from 2009 to 2014. Pres-ident Erdoğan, former prime minister from 2003 to 2014, assumed the 12th presidency in August 2014. The presi-dent is elected for a five-year term by direct elections and is largely a ceremonial role while prime minister administers ex-ecutive decisions.

Turkey’s Grand National Assembly is the primary leg-islative body of the country and comprises 550 members, who are elected for a four-year term. Voting is by pro-portional representation and a party or candidate’s selection is conditional on a 10 percent nation-wide participation min-imum.

The unicameral Assembly gained a number of delegates from multiple political parties following the November elec-tion, according to the Brook-ings Institute.

The AKP, the right-wing winning party with 49 per-cent of total voters, received 317 deputies. The center-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) got 25 percent, or 134 deputies. The pro-Kurdish, left-wing Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) received about 11 percent, or 59 deputies. Finally, the far-right Nationalist Move-

ment Party (MHP) got about 12 percent, or 40 deputies. It is unclear why the voter percent-ages do not match the number of delegates.

The challenge for this gov-ernment moving forward will be focused on the massive mi-grant movement in and across its country, as well as fighting the terrorism at its front door, meeting the needs of every ethnic group within its sover-eign borders, and bolstering its lagging economy.

Contact Emily at emily.balan@student.shu.edu.

With a tumultuous past since its initial partition in 1948, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has emerged as one of Asia’s prominent economic powers. International Parties, including the United States and United Nations, have had constant contact with South Korea as it entered the 21st century due to the presence of a violently Totalitarian neigh-bor, North Korea.

War between both the Koreas initially broke out in 1950, following South Korea’s proclamation of partition, and ended in 1953 without a peace agreement. This has left South Korea technically at war for more than fifty years.

Considering this “active” warzone between two nations, South Korea has developed both economically and socially

with the onset of rampant glo-balization and a rapidly evolv-ing political system. Following the end of war between the two countries, South Korea’s politics became dominated by the question of unification with North Korea.

But other factors have be-gun to develop in South Ko-rea, as the political process became ever more faceted, as rapid economic development, democratization, and eventual alliance with the United States occurred.

At the beginning of South Korea’s politics following war, unification was the primary concern of political leaders – or at least for their careers – as the authoritarian rule utilized “the rivalry with communist North Korea as a means to weaken the (political) opposi-tion,” according to Victor Cha of Oxford College.

Entering into the post-Cold

War era marked the rise of Ko-rean nationalism that sought to embrace North Koreans as “brothers.” This spike in uni-fication-based nationalism fell under the presidencies of Kim Dae-Jung and Roh Moo-Hyun.

President Park Chung-Hee left a legacy of controversial developmental experiences in 1962 and 1979. South Korea joined the economic power-houses, nicknamed “Asian Ti-gers,” as rapid market develop-ment occurred following Park’s choice, in conjunction with his Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, to become a member state of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Despite all economic de-velopment, South Korea faced the nineteen-year dictatorship under Park that was catego-rized as “political backward-ness,” according to Cha. This almost two decade regime,

one that maintained the rela-tionship between government, banks, and big businesses in South Korea, was met with a currency crisis in 1997.

But prior to the currency crisis, the military authoritar-ianism of Chun Doo-Hwan was broken down and tran-sitioned into a democracy in 1987. During this initial spark of democratization, direct presidential elections by the South Korean public, civilian control of the military, and the growth of civil society were driven by mass movements of university students, intellectu-als, and the rising consumer middle class of this democra-tized South Korea.

Currently, Park Guen-Hye is South Korea’s eleventh pres-ident, and happens to be the only female to attain the pres-idency thus far. Despite her rather profoundly attained po-sition, she is slated to become a lame duck president with two years still left in her presidency, according to The Diplomat.

Moon Jae-in, Park’s previous opponent who she beat out in the 2012 election, has been voted into the head position of the current opposing par-ty – New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD).

Despite his imminent rise to presidency, as South Ko-rea’s single-term system rules out Park for the 2017 election, Moon still faces the task of uniting a fragmented political party and having to makeover their public image, as accord-ing to the Diplomat approval rates for NPAD reached a low of 21 percent.

The current contention between South Korea’s politi-cal factions will only continue to escalate as the presidential election of 2017 draws near-er. In the next two years, the ever present eye of the South Korean public will continue to watch scornfully as the fight for the next president has al-ready begun.

Contact Colin at colin.kimberlin@student.shu.edu.

opinionApril 2016Page 8

Aidan DionStaff Writer

The Problem with Non-Governmental Organizations

Photo courtesy of Al Jazeera The media sets up a shot to cover the aftermath of the Brussels bombing.

Media Should Adopt Universal Coverage on Terror

On March 22, the Western world suffered another blow from the hands of the Islamic State. Before the dust settled from the bombs that killed 32 civilians at Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek Metro, rhetoric was already in works to strike back against the terrorist or-ganization. This process is nothing new, however, for the Islamic State.

Having lost nearly a quarter of territory in Iraq and Syria over the last month, the Islam-ic State’s claim of an indestruc-tible caliphate has been called into question, discouraging possible recruits. As they lose more ground in the territory, a global Caliphate is becoming nearly impossible.

Instead, they have attempt-ed to prove their capabilities via attacks in France, Turkey, Indonesia, America, and Ger-many. For Western countries, the Islamic State is no longer a faraway threat. They have passed Europe’s doorstep and entered into the homeland.

The pressing issue is, “What

do we do now?” Following the Paris at-

tacks, French president Fran-cois Hollande proclaimed that they are at war while also pledging not to put boots on the ground. French pride is at an all-time high. Despite this pride, however, only a handful of airstrikes have been carried out in areas that the United States has bombed for the past two years. In reality, there has been little response to Europe-an attacks.

But the European media response is greater than ever in comparison to coverage for violence carried out in the East. The selective reporting by Western media detracts from the true threat of the Islamic State which commits more atrocities with greater casualties in the eastern coun-tries than the individual attacks occurring in western countries.

The rising number of those killed while fighting has now surpassed 470,000 in Syria alone, the bulk of which are ci-vilian casualties. Yet only when the carnage of the Middle East reaches the West do we hear of the fighting. Within one week

of the attacks in Brussels, a suicide bombing in Iraq killed 32 people at a children’s soc-cer event. Additionally, Turkey has been dealing with several smaller bombings.

There are smaller media outlets that have actively re-ported on the raging war as well as larger outlets running shorter and simplified stories. However, few have success-fully transmitted the horror of the violence to the masses.

This begs the question, if more Americans were in-formed of the fighting and vi-olence, would more demand a response?

In a recent poll by Harvard University Institute of Politics, millennials were asked if they would enlist in the armed forc-es if President Obama called on them to fight the Islamic State. Only a shocking 16 per-cent said they would answer the call to war.

If the media reported on the harsh reality of the situa-tion like they did on celebrity gossip or “fluff stories,” it is probable that there would be a rise in those willing to make a difference, whether this in-

creased action would take the form of political movements, monetary aid, or new boots on the ground.

With the increased threat of terrorism around the world and the atrocities committed, it is the duty of the media to provide full and fair coverage so the public can make educat-ed decisions and keep educat-ed opinions.

There are hundreds of

players in the game when it comes to Syria that continues to make intervention difficult. However, it goes without say-ing that the main issue is that of the Islamic State. Even if an increase in media coverage does not bring aid to those af-fected, then at least it will bring some type of dignity to those mercilessly killed.

Contact Aidan at aidan.dion@student.shu.edu.

Francesca RegaladoManaging Editor

Whoever coined the phrase “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” foresaw the rise of startup NGOs in the age of millennials, individual-ly driven by a mission to save the world. Since my freshman year, I have heard Diplomacy majors, whether or not in jest, saying, “If all else fails, I’ll just start my own NGO.”

But there is no reason to reinvent the wheel. Name one cause that does not have at least one civil society group al-ready working on it. There are plenty of mainstream, estab-lished organizations that con-tinue to make invaluable con-tributions to the international community, as well as having the resources and knowhow for successful services pro-gramming.

Would-be social entrepre-neurs complain that main-

stream organizations have turned into unproductive bu-reaucracies. The appeal of NGOs originally lies in the lack of bureaucracy, relative to the hoops that have to be jumped through for any government response. Civil society groups have tremendous potential for on-the-ground, targeted responses. Nowadays, as Har-vard University researchers Werker and Ahmed point out, governments treat nonprofits as contractors, outsourcing some services (i.e., the dirty work) such as aid delivery for conflict zones.

Of course, there is a rigor-ous, competitive vetting pro-cess for anything that receives government funding, especial-ly when it concerns chronic international quandaries such as the Syrian civil war, or even the rehabilitation of Haiti. Ac-cording to Werker and Ahmed, the average annual growth rate of NGOs registered with US-

AID is 7 percent, increasing to 531 in 2004 from only 57 in 1961.

But as the Center for Eco-nomic and Policy Research (CEPR) notes, competition is good in markets, not in the not-for-profit sector. Social entrepreneurs must convince donors that their ideas are different and more valuable than other organizations, that their solutions will have bet-ter success. According to the Guardian, the crowded field increases pressure on estab-lished NGOs, who have to redirect their focus away from the causes in which they are experts onto buzzword caus-es and aid innovations that are more attractive to donors.

The crowded field also proves the adage that too many cooks spoil the soup. In 2011, there were 196 relief organizations in Haiti, accord-ing to a Disaster Accountabil-ity Project (DAP) report on

relief responses to the 2010 earthquake. A 2011 Oxfam re-port reveals that competition and finger-pointing among NGOs has hindered Haiti’s recovery, with indecision stem-ming from the inability of the NGOs to cooperate not only with each other, but also with the Haitian government.

Aside from aggravating competition and undermining coordination, nascent NGOs face the challenge of account-ability. DAP reports that out of the 196 NGOs in Haiti, only eight have full or partial situation and activity reports available.

The lack of accountabili-ty is not surprising when you consider that small NGOs barely raise enough funds to cover administrative costs such as salaries, especially with the professionalization of non-profits. Werker and Ahmed note that in 2004, 31 percent of graduates from the Harvard

Kennedy School’s Masters in Public Policy program entered the nonprofit sector. Such data currently does not exist, but it would be interesting to see how many startup NGOs have been launched by bright-eyed college graduates only to close up shop within a year.

The Guardian quotes a community leader in Nairobi, Kenya as saying that aid mon-ey should “not fund a western dream, but a local dream.” Real-world problems should not be reduced to a line on a résumé, or to the personal sat-isfaction of saying, “I started my own NGO.” Before you decide that you are unsatis-fied with the bureaucracy of mainstream organizations, first volunteer for them and expe-rience the good work they do instead of adding to the noise. After all, saving the world will take a collective effort.

Contact Francesca atfrancescarose.regalado@student.shu.edu.

opinion April 2016Page 9

Nuclear Conferences are a FormalityAlexander Stringer

Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Politico President Barack Obama holds a bilateral with President Xi Jinping of China (R) at the Nuclear Security Summit March 31, 2016 in Washington, D.C.

Washington D.C. hosted the Nuclear Industry Summit from March 30 to April 1 to bring together the world’s in-dustry leaders and politicians in discussing the future of nuclear industry and how to ensure nuclear materials are secure.

For all of the good inten-tions behind the conference, there is no way that any sub-stantive change will come from this meeting due to two facts: one of the largest nucle-ar states boycotted the Sum-mit, and the black market is alive and well.

Perhaps the most striking facet of the conference is that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who boycotted the con-ference more than a year ago, stayed home, according to The Guardian. While many have argued that Russia’s self-ex-clusion only ends up harming them, this is not truly the case. As the second largest nuclear power in the world, with some 7,300 warheads, their absence sends ripples through the se-curity world.

When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, their vast nuclear warhead reserves and fissionable material was left in former Union states, equating to some 3,200 additional war-heads and untold amounts of nuclear material left behind.

If the conference wants to talk about nuclear security, a state that abandoned such weapons of devastating power to be picked up by the high-est bidder must be included if any sense of security is to be achieved.

While Russia today is arguably more stable than in the immediate aftermath of Christmas 1991, their ability to continuously threaten the world with “loose nukes” has yet to decrease. There have been dozens of attempts by various groups to sell and pro-cure fissionable material since then, including a string of sales by a Russian gang to Islamic State members in late 2015.

While Russian security of nuclear material can be shod-

dy at best, as seen by the 2010 thwarted Moldovan smuggling deal reported by the Associat-ed Press they as a country are a far less threatening power. Russia has held nuclear weap-ons since 1949 and has yet to launch one; they are stable, they are rational to a degree, and so their only threat is of faulty auditing and poor secu-rity.

The market for nuclear weapons is alive and well, with warheads up for sale in the Black Sea region. Even visiting VICE News associates were offered a price for the nucle-ar material. With the world growing more hostile from a myriad of new and/or newly recharged Islamic extremist groups, the ability for this mar-ket to supply one individual with the materials to detonate a nuclear weapon in a major western metropolis (like New York, Paris, Brussels) grows by the day.

In March, I argued that North Korea was not a threat to the world despite their sup-posed nuclear bombs, and I maintain this point, since they still have yet to prove their ability to actually successfully launch anything into the air without it falling to pieces.

This is not the case with terror groups, however. They have been able to invade and attack western nations already. It would be extremely easy for one to detonate a nuclear de-vice in the middle of Europe once they were able to procure it.

The Nuclear Summit has noble and lofty goals and should be lauded for that. Yet they have neglected one of the most critical points in tru-ly getting to a nuclear-secure world: having Russia around to ensure containment.

Without this massive nu-clear state involved, the risk of terror-acquisition of material only increases. For there to be real security in the world, all nuclear states must take part in these summits, and all must pursue 100% security, oth-erwise they will remain but a farce.

Contact Alexander at alexander.stringer@student.shu.edu.

spotlightsApril 2016Page 10

Chris Mazzacane: Argentina

Emily GreenNews Editor

Photo courtesy of Chris MazzacaneA political rally the author attended in Buenos Aires.

Senior Spotlight: Emily Balan

As her last semester draws

to a close, Emily is excited to pursue

her passion for journalism abroad.

This semester, The Dip-lomatic Envoy sends off our invaluable layout editor, Emily Balan. Emily has dedicated the past year and a half to creating engaging spreads for the En-voy’s print publication, which has truly blossomed thanks to her hard work, careful eye, and creativity.

Emily, a senior diplomacy and philosophy double major and journalism and French minors, found her calling in journalism early in her college career. Emily splits her time between The Diplomatic En-voy and The Setonian, where she serves as news editor.

After a stint writing televi-sion show and movie reviews for The Setonian, Emily was offered an editorial position, a challenge she was “only too eager to meet.”

Emily was introduced to The Diplomatic Envoy during her junior year. While skimming a copy on cam-pus, she noticed the blank space in the publication’s layout and decid-ed to offer her eye for design.

Emily be-lieved it was her obligation to make the Envoy the best it could be by revamping the pa-per’s look. Thanks to Emily’s creativity and expertise with Adobe InDesign, the publica-tion has now exceeded her ex-pectations.

When Emily is not working on an Envoy layout or a Seto-nian story, she can be found working the Digital Breaking News Desk at CNBC.

Prior to her CNBC intern-ship, Emily was responsible for blogging, video produc-tion, and social media at Hu-man Rights First. Her expe-rience as a communications intern sparked her passion for video production and honed her Adobe Premier skills.

Over the course of her college career, journalism has

presented Emily with many in-teresting opportunities.

When Senator Robert Me-nendez (D-NJ) spoke against the Iran nuclear deal at Seton Hall last summer, Emily was present at an exclusive, off-the-record question and an-swer session.

When news broke of Fr. Warren Hall’s contract termi-nation, Emily received the first comments on the report, later lending her quotes to an article in the New York Times.

Additionally, Emily covered Pope Francis’s visit to Wash-ington, D.C., and has accrued several bylines for her work at CNBC.

Through journalism, Emily has learned the importance of open communication: it is im-portant to overcome any fears of talking to people when in-vestigating a story, as “99 per-cent of the time” they want to speak about their connection to the subject, she says.

When writing a news arti-cle, Emily recom-mends writing a piece you yourself would want to read. Presenting a story in an interesting package will ensure your readers stay engaged.

In the fast-paced world of news, Emily keeps up by starting each day with the New York Times, pairing her morning briefing with NPR podcasts and, occasionally, an issue of the Economist.

As her last semester draws to a close, Emily is excited to pursue her passion for journal-ism abroad. After graduation, she plans to strengthen her for-eign language skills in prepara-tion for her dream position as a foreign field producer.

Emily hopes to combine her interest in human rights and humanitarian affairs to produce an international pro-gram akin to 60 Minutes. As she takes her talent abroad, Emily leaves behind a lasting legacy at Seton Hall.

Contact Emily at emily.green@student.shu.edu.

The Argentine people are known worldwide for the cre-ation of the sensual and allur-ing tango, yet their true love is an even more passionate sub-ject: politics.

Coming from a country where religion, sex, and poli-tics are three topics banned in-definitely from polite conver-sation, I was caught off guard when two complete strangers at a language exchange event pressed me for information and opinions regarding the United States presidential race. With slight hesitation, I in-dulged and began discussing my political views openly and honestly.

To my surprise, they knew more about the candidates, their positions, their back-grounds, and their proposed plans than the majority of the students I have spoken to on Seton Hall’s campus. Brushing it off as an anomaly, you can imagine my shock when, three days later, a group of young Argentines I met brought up the same topic and discussed it with just as much knowledge and foresight as the others. I came to realize after countless similar experiences that poli-tics and activism are simply a way of life in Argentina.

With the memories of a repressive and deadly military regime fresh in everyone’s minds, and laws that stipu-late mandatory voting, it is no wonder that Argentines of every generation work hard to maintain their political voice and exercise their power as a citizen.

This is particularly evident in the manifestaciones (pro-tests) and marchas (march-es) that take place regularly throughout Buenos Aires. Out of a mixture of sheer curi-osity and a desire to practice my Spanish, I always seek out a friendly face in the crowd to ask for some information about the cause and goals of the protestors. Though the demographics and ideals vary, the energy and passion is al-ways palpable in their often lengthy answers.

Most recently, I spoke with people putting on a concert outside the Ministry of Educa-tion’s central office. Cuts were being made to school music programs, so teachers and par-ents brought hundreds of stu-dent musicians from the city and beyond to play music for hours and hours in front of the building. The government was not listening, so they made themselves heard!

Politics, though, goes far beyond the news cycle, pro-tests, and heated dinnertime conversations—it manifests itself in subtler ways. My fa-vorite example of this is street art. New York City is filled with graffiti of tags or artistic murals in the subway, on build-ings, and even on the rocks in Central Park. In contrast, Bue-nos Aires, a place that prides itself on its vibrant street art scene, has other styles to offer: political messaging and propa-ganda.

Mixed into beautiful works of street art are quotes by rev-olutionaries and references to

important events in Argen-tine history. Instead of artists’ names or symbols, there are countless walls filled with mes-sages about the most recent presidential election, and even proposed and enacted govern-ment policies. Even if I want-ed to, it would be absolutely impossible for me to avoid Ar-gentina’s politics.

Argentina has many things—world class food, in-credible culture, and breath-taking landscapes—but most importantly, it is filled with people who care about the fu-ture of their country. Though I have only been here a few short weeks, the people have reminded me that for a de-mocracy to truly function and thrive, it must be led by an en-gaged electorate.

Contact Chris at christopher.mazzacane

@student.shu.edu.

Photo courtesy of Chris MazzacaneThe author dancing the tango in Buenos Aires.

diplomacy news April 2016Page 11

Diplo School Launches SDG Scholarship Challenge

Photo courtesy of Tela Wittig SHUNA, Seton Hall’s Model U.N. team, at PUNC, hosted in College Park, PA.

Ajiya DokaStaff Writer

Photo courtesy of the World Resources Institute The Sustainable Development Goals are a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. They seek to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom, according to the United Nation’s website.

SHUNA Wins Big at Penn State for Second Year

As the School of Diploma-cy continues to teach and culti-vate student leaders and global citizens of the present and the future, the Sustainable Devel-opment Goals passed in Sep-tember of 2015 are the perfect framework in which youth can interact and create the world they want by 2030.

With this commitment, the Sustainable Development Challenge pushes high school sophomores, juniors, and se-niors to examine the world around them and address the needs of their community, country, and planet. With 17 goals, there are many aspects of development that stu-dents can express creatively to address the world’s greatest problems. Ideas range from awareness campaigns to infra-structure building featuring a variety of target groups.

Ten finalists will be able to present their proposals to a panel of judges on Friday, April 22. With a grand total of $50,000 in cash prizes and

scholarships to attend Seton Hall University, it is a great in-centive to push young people to learn about the sustainable development goals and how individuals can help in meeting the targets.

With recognition from the university, it is the School of

Diplomacy’s hope that these students will be able to take their knowledge and educate others who are less informed about the goals and get young people active in the implemen-tation process. With more than 1.8 billion young people in the world between the ages of 10

and 24, this is the generation that can change the world -- a 17-year-old high school senior now will be 32 years old in 2030. By then, these students will be able to see the fruits of their labor.

One of the judges is Pro-fessor Martin S. Edwards. As

the Director for the Center for United Nations and Global Governance Studies, his ex-pertise on the sustainable de-velopment goals makes him the ideal judge for kids who could possibly be his future students.

“I’m deeply honored by the passion of the applicants and their determination to identi-fy problems facing their com-munities. Most importantly, they are wrestling with how to address these challenges,” Ed-wards said.

This challenge, like the SDGs on a smaller scale, is the grandest coalition of students all over the country. Politicians, civil society leaders, business owners, and private citizens are all on a mission to become global citizens and create a bet-ter world.

In the School of Diplo-macy, it is students, faculty, alumni, and friends who are seeking ways to become better informed and active in imple-menting the most ambitious United Nations agenda yet.

Contact Ajiya at ajiya.doka@student.shu.edu.

Tela WittigStaff Writer

The School of Diplomacy celebrates as SHUNA, Seton Hall’s Model United Nations team, was awarded Outstand-ing Large Delegation at the Pennsylvania United Nations Conference (PUNC) for the second year in a row.

Seton Hall also brought home nine individual awards. Abbi Cormier and Alex Rob-son were awarded Best Del-egates; Trevor West, Chris McNeil, and Michael Hunter were commended as Out-standing Delegates; and Geof-frey Thomulka, Daniel Garay, Brent Findon, and Noelle Sorich received honorable mentions. SHUNA took a large delegation to the confer-ence this semester, selecting 18 individuals to compete.

PUNC, on the weekend of March 17-20, is a tough com-petition, attended by schools such as Cornell University and the Ohio State University. Con-ference delegates were tasked

with representing important actors ranging from generals on both sides of the Syrian civil war, members of the U.S. Democratic Party, mobsters of Chicago, and even journal-ists who report on the ground. Delegates were challenged by the presentation of successive crises and scored on their abili-ty to work with other delegates in order to solve them.

In addition to a rigorous schedule, comprising over 18 hours of formal debate over the course of four days, dele-gates had several opportunities to meet and network with their fellow delegates. The confer-ence hosted two evening social events and a lunch in order to encourage delegates to mingle with representatives from oth-er schools. This is a big part of why Model U.N. is so special — not only does it allow stu-dents to experience real world crises from the perspectives of those who are tasked with solving them, but they have the chance to solve these is-sues with other like-minded

students whom they will likely meet again in their future ca-reers.

Freshman delegate Victoria Padilla echoed the sentiments of many of her teammates, saying, “PUNC was a won-derful learning experience and a great opportunity to work with new people sharing new ideas.”

SHUNA as a whole was very satisfied with the profes-sionalism and knowledge of the conference staff, as well as the interesting topics that they selected for debate. SHUNA President Geoffrey Thomulka commented on his positive ex-perience at PUNC, saying that he “[hopes] the leadership of the club, moving forward, will select PUNC as it is one of the most enjoyable conference we attend.”

Seton Hall’s performance at this conference was very reassuring as it enters into an important season. SHUNA members make up a large fraction of the staff for SHU-MUN, the high school Model

U.N. conference hosted by the School of Diplomacy on April 16-17, so the team’s outstand-ing performance at PUNC speaks positively for the 17th annual SHUMUN.

PUNC was SHUNA’s fi-nal conference this academic year, and the outlook for the team in the future is a bright one. Very few of the club’s in-creasingly active membership

are graduating this spring. The club has also seen a definite in-crease in the number of indi-vidual awards being won over the past few years. Seton Hall’s students are making a name for themselves in the Mod-el U.N. community, and their performance at PUNC further emphasizes that trend.

Contact Tela at tela.wittig@student.shu.edu.

diplomacy newsApril 2016Page 12

Dean Bartoli to Give Lecture on Peace at Local ChurchDaniel Garay

Web Editor

Photo courtesy of Seton Hall University Andrea Bartoli assumed Dean of the Diplomacy School in 2013.

Felipe BuenoStaff Writer

Inaugural “All Conflict is Local” Conference a Success

Photo courtesy of The School of DiplomacyGraduate presenters at the All Conflict is Local conference, held in the Chancellor’s Suite of the University Center.

The Center for Peace and Conflict Studies at Seton Hall University held a two-day con-ference on April 4-5 called “All Conflict is Local: Personal Ex-perience, Reflection, and Con-flict Resolution.” This confer-ence was a unique opportunity for students from zones of conflicts studying conflict and reconstruction to present their research to the School of Di-plomacy faculty.

The conference was orga-nized by Dr. Zheng Wang, di-rector of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies, a special-ist in global negotiation and conflict management, and an expert on the Asia-Pacific re-gion.

Dr. Wang was inspired by the Global Conflict Resolu-tion and Peacebuilding course he is teaching this semester, and stressed to the students, “This is your conference.” He emphasized that it should be unique to them and not simply something that could be found on Wikipedia.

The first day of presenta-tions began with opening re-marks by Dean Andrea Bartoli, who praised Dr. Wang for the creativity of the conference.

“Conversation is danger-ous,” stated Dean Bartoli, “but injustices must be discussed for the sake of the victims to conflict, and for the better-

ment of society.”Four panelists presented

their work on the localized conflicts occurring in all parts of Africa.

Dosso Kassimou, a Seton Hall alumnus, spoke on the ethnic and social tensions be-tween groups in Newark and the importance of culture and historical sensitivity. As a com-munity organizer in Newark, he shared his personal experi-ences of working with the eth-nic groups in the city. On the motivation for any peace pro-cess Kassimou said, “Every-one wants to have a good life and sense of belonging, and it is this common want that will bring people together.”

Graduate student Phumla Ngqawa-Adesanya presented on embracing diversity for Af-rican integration, and on South Africa’s conflict with the conti-nent of Africa. Sizakele Mdluli spoke on the domestic effects of the 2015 xenophobia at-tacks in Durban, South Africa.

Aboubacar Diaby, a crowd favorite for his vivid and en-ergetic delivery, spoke on the ethnic and religious conflict in the Central African Repub-lic, saying, “Conflict is part of the human being, but to move forward one must understand the causes of a conflict, and if we don’t fix those fundamental issues, the problem will simply resurface.”

Following the presenta-

tions, various professors gave their feedback, including Pro-fessors Assefaw Bariagaber, an expert on conflict in Africa and a founding faculty member of the School of Diplomacy, An-drea Bartoli, and Philipp Fluri, this semester’s Sergio Vieira de Mello Visiting Chair.

The second day was much less regionalized, with five groups presenting on conflicts from all over the world. Tabish Forugh, a Fulbright scholar, spoke on Afghanistan, from where he hails. Sister Bosco Ebere Amakwe discussed the religious crisis in Nigeria. Nad-jedah Jean Simon spoke about

her personal experiences with the conflict in Haiti. Profes-sors Borislava Manojlovic and Sara Moller were invited on stage afterwards to comment on the presentations.

The last two presentations were group panels on Cyprus and the Basque peace process. The Cyprus group included students who participated in the study abroad trip during spring break, and they dis-cussed missing persons and abandoned areas. The mem-bers of the Basque Research Team discussed the localized effects of the conflict, a com-parative analysis with the Co-

lombian terrorist group FARC, and how the Basque region will deal with the Syrian refu-gee crisis.

Following the presenta-tions, closing words were deliv-ered by Senior Associate Dean Courtney Smith and Dr. Wang, both of whom expressed in-terest to make the conference an annual event for the benefit of the students.

The conference was relo-cated from its original location to the Chancellor’s Suite in the University Center due to in-creased demand.

Contact Felipe at felipe.bueno@student.shu.edu.

Dr. Andrea Bartoli, the Dean of the School of Di-plomacy and International Relations, will speak at the First Presbyterian and Trini-ty Church in South Orange, NJ on April 24. His lecture, entitled “Efforts in Advanc-ing Peace in a Very Troubled World,” will be the second fea-tured in the Yamba/Manley Lecture Series.

The series was started last year in honor of local com-munity leaders, Dr. A. Zacha-ry Yamba and Robert Manley. Dr. Yamba is President-Emer-itus of Essex County College, while Robert Manley is the

founder and president of the Center for Globally Respon-sible Political Thought and a former professor of political science at Seton Hall Universi-ty, according to a press release by the Church.

Dean Bartoli, as many on campus are familiar with, is an expert in conflict resolution serving more than two decades in peacemaking missions in Africa, Asia, Central America, and the Balkans. In addition to serving as Dean of the School of Diplomacy, he has been the Permanent Representative of the Community of Sant’Egi-dio to the United Nations since 1992.

“When I look at the world, I look at a world that is not ex-

actly at peace,” Dr. Bartoli said according to the press release. “I’m used to seeing the world as bloody and difficult and vi-olent as it is. But I cannot stop reading that as a desire of us as human family to actually live in

peace, to actually find peace, to find a way in which peace can emerge.”

According to congregation members familiar with the event, Dr. Bartoli was invited to the event as well. “We felt that when it comes to issues of peace, it all starts at local level. We are always examining matters of peace as a whole since we are a world-minded congregation,” Maria Ricardo, a member of the church, ex-plained. “We are always trying to address matters across the world.”

The First Presbyterian and Trinity Church, led by Rev. Va-lencia Norman, has been sup-portive of programs that re-flect the diversity and mission

of the community. They have also been involved in refugee programs such as the Darfur Rehabilitation Project in New-ark and First Friends of New Jersey and New York. These actions in addition to the lec-ture series is part of making Church more than a Sunday duty, and make it a more open and fulfilling experience.

Dr. Bartoli’s lecture will take place on April 24, from 3:00PM to 5:00PM at the church. First Presbyterian and Trinity Church is located on 111 Irvington Ave. in South Orange. Refreshments will be served. All are welcomed to attend.

Contact Daniel at daniel.garay@student.shu.edu.