U.S Involvement in Syria?

Bashar al-Assad, Syria's leader, slowly dwindles as the war against the Syrian government rages on. For about a year now, people all over Syria have been protesting against the Syrian government calling for change. Leader al-Assad has been beside himself about what to do; many calling him "as delusional now as when the protests began". With a scarce number of loyal people left, al-Assad has turned to increased violence and oppression toward the increasing number of protesters. The international human rights organization states that it's "to be one of the worst in the Middle East."

After 10 months al-Assad continues in attempt to save what is left of his regime, his recent speech called on loyalists to continue their support and not to lose faith.

"Assad will fight to the end simply because he cannot even conceive of his end."

As the oppression continues, U.S as well as the international community question what role they should take in this. So far, they have continued their economic sanction, not getting directly into the middle of things which is surprising as that seems to be a trend of the United States, getting in between the affairs of other countries. Although the sanctions have lowered the Syrian economy, it has not lowered the violence or oppression.

Do you guys think U.S. should get more involved?

World AIDS Day

Today marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS day. Every year a theme is chosen, and this year's theme is "Lead-Empower-Deliver." We need strong leadership to help stop this pandemic. We need political leaders who take a strong stance on HIV/AIDS prevention, but we also need strong leaders within our communities who are willing to act and educate others about AIDS. Of course, it means that we must go beyond talking and actually keeping our promises.
Without strong leadership and actions being taken, it is unlikely that universal access to AIDS prevention programs, treatment, and support will be met by 2010. It would be wonderful if that goal was met by 2010. The antiretroviral medication is extremely expensive, and in 2007, only 31% of underprivileged people had access to treatment. Education is also very important. People are still misinformed and still have many misconceptions. Many Africans continue to believe that having sex with a virgin will cure them of the disease (crazy....I know). Starting in 2015, UNAIDS also hopes the reverse the epidemic. This all seems wonderful, a little bit too optimistic at the same time. I don't think that out main focus is on HIV/AIDS right now; I think that, currently, our economy, terrorism, and war are given the most attention, because those are the issues that concern us the most. Sadly, we do tend to be selfish.

Here are a few statistics:

• 30-36 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 2007
• 14-17 million women living with HIV/AIDS
• 2 million children living with HIV/AIDS
• 20 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa living with HIV/AIDS
• Approx. 11 million AIDS orphans living in Africa
  
• Approx. 25 million AIDS deaths since 1981
• 50% of new infections are amongst people under 25

"Stop AIDS. Keep the promise"

Helping Iraq - We Could Be Doing Worse

For a while now, the United States has been admitting refugees from Iraq. However, until now the numbers of those admitted have been horrendously low. But this year the US stepped up and is now close to having admitted 12,000 refugees this year. The government plans to admit a minimum of 17,000 people in 2009, along with many others through the use of a special visa they can acquire if they have worked for the United States. While the US is beginning to improve it's admittance policies, it still lags far behind other countries like Sweden, which has brought in 40,000 Iraqis so far. Full article here.

I think that, while the US is improving, it still needs to grow a lot in the charity department. However, there are worse thing we could be doing. Britain, for example, is diverting over 100 million Euros worth of aid that it promised to more than 20 South American countries to Iraq instead, leaving South America far short of what it expected to receive. That's not a very cool move.

It's one thing to be a little short on helping out, its entirely different to promise money to someone, then yank it away and give it to someone else. While the US isn't giving as much as other countries, at least we are being reliable with our charity. So far, we have handed out exactly what we promised to hand out.