Category: International Extemp Page 25 of 58

The Belgian Terror Attacks

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On March 22 the Belgian capital of Brussels was rocked by two suicide attacks.  One took place at the American Airlines counter at Zaventern airport and the other took place at a nearby subway station.  As of the time of this brief, at least thirty-one people were reported killed and another 270 were reported wounded.  The Islamic State quickly claimed responsibility for the attacks and investigators wonder if there was a link between the attack and the arrest of Salah Abdeslam, considered the lone survivor of the Paris terror attacks last year.  Belgium has acquired a reputation as a terror hotbed of Europe, with militants using Brussels and other Belgian cities as planning centers for other attacks throughout Europe and the world.  The attacks will likely cause the Belgian government to bolster its security infrastructure and rethink some of its policies regarding the integration of immigrants from Islamic nations.  And the attacks will likely bolster a right-wing critique of existing security policies within the European Union (EU) that they say make the continent more vulnerable to attack.

This topic brief will highlight some of the major terminology and people that extempers should know related to these attacks, explain why Belgium is struggling to deal with terrorism, and note some ways that Belgian authorities are likely to respond to the recent attacks.

Readers are also encouraged to use the links below and in the related R&D to bolster their files about this topic.

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of March 28-April 3, 2016

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HOTtopics1. Will Canada rue the day that it turned its back on austerity?
2. What concessions should the Colombian government make in peace negotiations with the FARC?
3. Will Buhari’s budget stimulate the Nigerian economy?
4. Is Europe ill-prepared to deal with ISIS?
5. What provisions should a new Syrian constitution include?
6. Would an end to the international war on drugs bring significant stability to Latin America?
7. What steps does Myanmar’s new government need to take to revitalize the nation’s economy?
8. Does the West currently suffer from a lack of good leadership?
9. Could immigration tensions eventually lead to the exit of Central European countries from the EU?
10. Does Europe need to increase its levels of defense spending?

The EU-Turkey Migrant Deal

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The European migrant crisis was arguably the biggest international news story of 2015.  More than a million migrants poured into Europe last year, fleeing violence in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya.  At first, European leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel were welcoming of refugees, but the sheer number of new arrivals overwhelmed countries such as Greece and triggered a backlash, especially among conservatives that feared that the flood would radically alter Europe’s demographics and culture.  The Parisian terror attacks in November, as well as accusations that refugees attacked women in Cologne, Germany, bolstered the case for limiting new arrivals and it appears that the European Union (EU) has reached a deal with Turkey to do just that.  The deal calls for Turkey to take in refugees that fail to acquire asylum in Europe, while Europe will provide billions in aid for Turkey to deal with refugees.  Also, Turkey’s aspirations of joining the EU have been revived, with the EU pledging to open new chapters in those delayed negotiations and promising that Turkish nationals will have access to the organization’s visa-free travel zone by June.  However, skeptics say that this deal is unworkable from a logistics and legal point-of-view.  They argue that Turkey is not safe for migrants and that the EU is absconding of its responsibility to help the world’s less fortunate.

This topic brief will review major actors in the accord, the significant parts of the EU’s deal with Turkey, and assess the complications that could arise in making the deal work.  Departing from its conventional topic brief format, this will try to get “more to the point” about some of the growing issues in the deal.  Source links will be included at the end of the brief.

Readers are also encouraged to use the links below and in the related R&D to bolster their files about this topic.

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of March 21-27, 2016

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HOTtopics1. What should Mexico do about its pollution problem?
2. Who was the biggest winner of Germany’s recent regional elections?
3. What structural reforms does the Chinese economy need?
4. Does Great Britain need a bold overhaul of its pension system?
5. Should the West reduce sanctions on Russia if it agrees to complete withdraw from Syria?
6. Has the EU lost its moral compass?
7. Will South Africa’s debt reach junk status by the end of 2017?
8. Could any Ukrainian politician become a more effective prime minister than Arseniy Yatsenyuk?
9. Will mounting scandals do lasting damage to Brazil’s Worker’s Party?
10. Would a significant rise in oil prices send the global economy into recession?

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of March 14-20, 2016

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HOTtopics1. How can India increase investment in its oil and natural gas sector?
2. Does Japan need nuclear power?
3. Will Venezuela default on its debts by the end of 2016?
4. Does the EU-Turkey agreement on migrants violate international law?
5. Is the Islamic State becoming a significant threat to Tunisia?
6. Who will win the Filipino presidential election?
7. Would a stronger relationship between Nigeria and South Africa be a boon for the African continent?
8. Should foreign troops leave Afghanistan so that direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban can proceed?
9. Is the EU ignoring anti-democratic policies in Eastern Europe at its peril?
10. Do new UN sanctions against North Korea go far enough?

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of March 7-13, 2016

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HOTtopics1. How should Justin Trudeau alter Canadian foreign policy?
2. Has Jokowi done enough to improve governance in Indonesia?
3. Is the world winning the battle against deforestation?
4. Will Zimbabwe’s nationalization of its diamond mines do further damage to the nation’s economy?
5. How can centrist European parties stop the rise of far-left and far-right alternatives?
6. Should the West allow Ukraine to fall back into the Russian orbit?
7. Would a “Brexit” hurt Great Britain or the European Union the most?
8. What role should NATO play in the European migrant crisis?
9. Is there a significant threat of ISIS acquiring a nuclear weapon?
10. Should the IOC discontinue the practice of choosing developing nations to host the Winter or Summer Olympics?

Iran’s Elections (2016)

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Last week’s Iranian elections were billed as the most significant in decades as reformist, moderate, and conservative candidates vied for seats in the nation’s parliament (called the Majlis) and its Assembly of Experts, the body that selects the nation’s Supreme Leader.  The elections appeared to be a triumph for moderate President Hassan Rouhani, with reformist and moderate candidates sweeping all of the seats in Tehran and returning to the Majlis for the first time since 2012.  Moderate candidates also did well in the Assembly of Experts elections, apparently winning fifty-one of the eighty-eight available seats.  In a campaign that was marred by accusations of Western interference by the nation’s conservatives, Rouhani successfully rallied Iranians around the benefits of the recent nuclear deal and appears poised to push for more economic and social reforms before Iran holds its presidential election next year.  This could make Iran a growing superpower in the Middle East, but extempers should be cautious of reading too much significance into the elections as hardliners continue to control the Islamic Republic’s primary institutions.

This topic brief will provide some background information on Iranian politics, discuss the brief election cycle that led up to the recent elections, and then analyze the significance of the elections.

Readers are also encouraged to use the links below and in the related R&D to bolster their files about this topic.

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of February 29-March 6, 2016

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HOTtopics1. How can African nations improve trade throughout the continent?
2. Are Bolivians tiring of “Bolivarian socialism”?
3. Has austerity failed the EU?
4. Can NATO afford for Great Britain to eliminate its Trident submarine fleet?
5. Will the deployment of an AU mission to Burundi exacerbate the nation’s political crisis?
6. How should ASEAN respond to China’s militarization of the South China Sea?
7. What effect will Iran’s parliamentary elections have on the nation’s foreign policy?
8. Does the Syrian ceasefire most benefit Assad or the forces aligned against him?
9. How would significant victories by the European far right in European elections in 2016 and 2017 affect Russian foreign policy?
10. Is the UN doing enough to ensure proper behavior by its peacekeeping forces?

The Ongoing War in Syria (2016)

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In less than a month, the war in Syria will be entering its fifth year.  The conflict has led to the deaths of more than 250,000 people, injured more than a million others, and displaced half of the country’s population.  Syrian President Bashar al-Assad appeared headed for defeat in the fall, but the intervention of Russia rescued his regime and has allowed him to reverse the momentum of the conflict.  President Barack Obama has refused to provide sufficient support for Syria’s rebel factions, hesitant to get America involved in another sectarian war in the region and despairing that there are no “good” forces to support in the conflict.  Experts note that the war has become a proxy battle of American and Russian influence in the Middle East and that a wider war cannot be discounted between Sunni and Shi’ite powers.  The United States and Russia have recently agreed to move toward a “cessation of hostilities” later this week, but the agreement excludes attacks on terrorist groups and the tortured nature of that term is likely to help Assad solidify his gains and potentially win the war with significant ramifications for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

This topic brief will provide an update on the status of the conflict, discuss the recent agreements trying to wind down the war, and analyze the conflagration’s potential outcomes.

Readers are also encouraged to use the links below and in the related R&D to bolster their files about this topic.

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of February 22-28, 2016

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HOTtopics1. Should Iran back regional limits on oil production?
2. Is the Britain-EU deal enough to keep Britain in the EU?
3. What role should the Catholic Church play in combating Zika in Latin America?
4. Should the West care about Ukraine’s political dysfunction?
5. Will a new cabinet strengthen Malcom Turnbull’s political position?
6. How can Angela Merkel secure the cooperation of Eastern European countries on the admission of more Middle Eastern refugees?
7. Can negative interest rates reinvigorate the Japanese economy?
8. Will the Saudi-Russian agreement on oil production lead to an eventual recovery of global oil prices?
9. What steps should Haiti take to ensure a fair presidential poll in April?
10. Will the Munich agreement stabilize Syria?

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of February 15-21, 2016

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HOTtopics1. Will the recent Syrian truce lay the foundation for a larger peace deal by the end of the year?
2. What is responsible for Haiti’s political dysfunction?
3. Will Francois Hollande be the Socialist Party’s candidate for the French presidency in 2017?
4. Can Iraq reunify after ISIS is defeated?
5. Should South Korea permanently end its participation in the Kaesong industrial project?
6. Is Narendra Modi failing to capitalize on low global commodity prices?
7. Does Yoweri Museveni deserve another term?
8. Is a poor EU deal enough to avoid a “Brexit”?
9. Will the Saudi-Iranian rivalry strengthen Israel’s position in the Middle East?
10. Is the South Sudanese civil war nearing a conclusion?

 

Saudi Anxieties

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For American policymakers, Saudi Arabia is deemed as one of the pillars of stability in the Middle East.  Despite its export of Wahhabist Islam and its suppression of democratic and gender rights, the kingdom has anchored the interests of Sunni Muslims in the region for the last six decades.  Saudi Arabia has also been a reliable American ally, assisting in the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991 and offering ideas for solving the Israeli-Palestinian dispute. The House of Saud’s leadership in global oil markets has been valuable as well, with the country serving as the de facto leader of the Oil and Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel.  However, the growing strength of Iran over the last decade has created significant anxieties in Saudi ranks.  With the decline of Western sanctions against the Islamic Republic it is possible that the Iranian economy could overtake Saudi Arabia’s in the long-term, and low oil prices are forcing the kingdom to make choices about how it can sustain its social model without provoking unrest in the coming years.  These Saudi anxieties could prove harmful for the Middle East, especially if they cause the regime to engage in risky interventions and some of this is already taking place in Syria and Yemen.

This topic brief will discuss Saudi Arabia’s rivalry with Iran, highlight its current economic struggles, and analyze how Saudi anxieties could affect the larger Middle East in the years ahead.

Readers are also encouraged to use the links below and in the related R&D to bolster their files about this topic.

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of February 8-14, 2016

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HOTtopics1. What is the state of the global steel industry?
2. Should the IOC move the Summer Olympics?
3. Who should be Myanmar’s next president?
4. What should Turkey do if Russia continues to violate its airspace?
5. Should the AU send a peacekeeping force to Burundi?
6. What steps does Nigeria need to take to eliminate corruption?
7. Would a higher oil price rescue the Maduro regime?
8. Should the international community impose sanctions on China for continuing to aid North Korea?
9. Would a large-scale Sunni intervention in Syria produce a large-scale regional war in the Middle East?
10. Should Saudi Arabia push for an OPEC production cut?

The Zika Virus

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More than a year after the Ebola virus terrified the world, a new virus is instilling fear into the hearts of millions of citizens throughout the Western Hemisphere.  The culprit this time is the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that was ignored by health experts for decades.  However, a spike in the number of births of children with microcephaly, a rare condition that leads to babies being born with abnormally small heads, to women that are thought to have been infected with the virus has created a renewed sense of urgency in the global health community.  Zika is not native to the Western Hemisphere and it was first found in Africa more than sixty years ago.  Its spread is a testament to how the world is increasingly one without borders when it comes to health issues and Zika creates yet another headache for Brazil, a nation facing significant economic problems and that is hosting the Summer Olympics this year.

This topic brief will provide some background information on the Zika virus, discuss the steps that governments plan to take to combat it, and then assess the implications of the virus.

Readers are also encouraged to use the links below and in the related R&D to bolster their files about this topic.

HotTopics: International Extemp Questions for the Week of February 1-7, 2016

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HOTtopics1. Does the Japanese economy need more quantitative easing?
2. Should more European nations copy Denmark’s push to confiscate the possessions of asylum-seekers?
3. What steps can the Afghan government take to prevent “insider” terrorist attacks?
4. Was Hassan Rouani’s tour of Europe a success?
5. Which regional actor is best positioned to solve Nepal’s ongoing political problems?
6. What is the significance of Portugal’s recent presidential election?
7. Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi: Hosni Mubarak 2.0?
8. What should be the “non-negotiables” in the Syrian peace talks?
9. Does Angela Merkel or David Cameron have the most riding on the EU’s summit later this month?
10. Is the WHO prepared to deal with the Zika outbreak?

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