1. Should the international community recognize North Korea as a 
permanent member of the world’s nuclear club?
2. Would sizeable BNP gains in the European parliamentary elections reflect poorly on Britain?
3. Should the GOP filibuster Sotomayor?
4. Is the recent court ruling on Proposition 8 a significant setback for gay rights?
5. Would a new state constitution pull California back from the financial brink?
6. Will Ethiopia’s renewed intervention in Somalia reflect poorly on Sheikh Sharif Ahmed’s faltering government?
7. Does the Senate’s decision to strip funding for closing Gitmo help or hurt the Democrat’s security agenda?
8. How can France reform its political system to increase minority representation?
9. Is the foiling of the New York terror plot a major victory for anti-terror task forces?
10. Should Canada mediate a permanent peace settlement between the Sri Lankan government and its Tamil minority?
Category: International Extemp Page 49 of 56
1. Should Gordon Brown follow Michael Martin’s lead?
2. Is Netanyahu’s idea of an Israeli-Sunni Arab coalition to check Iran’s nuclear ambitions realistic?
3. Should Obama nominate a woman to fill the Souter vacancy on the Supreme Court?
4. Was the Indian election a rejection of communal politics?
5. Will Prabhakaran’s death eliminate the ability of the Tamil Tigers to wage a low level insurgency?
6. Should the international community recognize Somaliland?
7. Is the Obama administration hostile to gun rights?
8. Will the U.S. withdrawal from Iraqi cities at the end of June lead to an increase in violence throughout the country?
9. Did the Supreme Court rule correctly in AT&T v. Hulteen?
10. Will Obama’s new fuel efficiency standards help or hinder the American auto industry?
1. Can Russia play a constructive role in the Middle East peace process?
2. Has the pope’s visit to the Middle East achieved its goals?
3. Is the French economic model better than the Anglo-Saxon economic model?
4. Should the U.S. decriminalize marijuana?
5. Will Iran’s release of Roxana Saberi help Ahmadinejad’s chances of re-election?
6. How can the EU best solve its North Africa illegal immigration problem?
7. Are Chrysler’s lenders getting a raw deal?
8. How can the expansion of women’s rights in the Middle East be achieved?
9. Is it time for the U.S. to get serious about entitlement reform?
10. Will her comments about her knowledge of waterboarding eventually lead to Nancy Pelosi’s ouster as Speaker of the House?
One international event that has brought about unified international outrage is the military offensive of the Sri Lankan government against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Over the last two years, the Sri Lankan government has managed to corner the Tigers, a group that claims to be fighting for the islands Tamil minority and is labeled as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, into a narrow strip of land in the northern part of the country. The concluding offensive, which has the potential to end a military conflict that began in 1983, has put civilians in danger from both sides and there have been numerous calls around the world for the Sri Lankan government to enact a ceasefire with the Tigers so as to allow humanitarian assistance to best be brought to the civilians trapped in the conflict zone.
As the military offensive continues and as the Sri Lankan government appears closer to victory over the LTTE, extempers will be faced with questions concerning the ethics of the military offensive and how the Sri Lankan government can best integrate the Tamil minority into a unitary government structure so as to avoid future hostilities and a re-emergence of the LTTE.
Therefore, this brief will educate extempers about the history of the conflict, the international response to recent events in the conflict zone, and the implications the end of the conflict will have for the Sri Lankan government of Mahinda Rajapaksa.
1. Is the lack of pay among Congolese soldiers weakening its offensive against the FDLR?
2. Are Maoist hardliners jeopardizing the Nepalese peace process?
3. How can the international community tackle Iraq’s problem of unemployment?
4. What should the U.S. do with the Uighurs at Gitmo?
5. Are life sentences for juveniles convicted of nonlethal crimes a violation of the Eighth Amendment?
6. How can the Boston Globe survive?
7. Should the U.S. stop drone attacks in Pakistan?
8. Can structural reforms cure Spain’s economic woes?
9. Should Obama appoint a strong liberal to replace Souter?
10. Will Arlen Specter’s switch of parties cause him to alter his position on the Employee Free Choice Act?
The last several years have been fortunate for the world’s medical watchers. Fearing an avian flu pandemic across the globe several years ago, these experts have only had to watch the progression of the virus in isolated parts of the Eastern Hemisphere. Also, avian flu never became a human-to-human transmission problem, reducing the urgency required or the threat of avian flu becoming a global problem. However, the recent outbreak of swine flu, if it can be aptly called that since this strain of flu borrows from swine influenza, avian influenza (albeit not its most dangerous components), and human influenza components, which has infected nearly 1500 people globally at the time of this writing, can aroused fears that this is the next global flu pandemic. This is compounded by the fact that swine flu appears to be spreading from person to person, regardless of their contact with infected animals.
This brief will attempt to sort through the mess generated by the latest swine flu outbreak. This brief will provide some details concerning swine flu and its significance, measures currently being taken to stop the spread of the virus, and the implications it has for the globalization movement and President Obama.
1. Will the tea party movement have an immediate impact on the American questions political system?
2. Does the PPIP need more safeguards?
3. Would South Africa be better off if the ANC were weaker?
4. Will the recent decision to classify greenhouse gases as a danger to public health have negative impacts on the U.S. economy?
5. How should the U.S. adjust its Somalia policy?
6. Will India’s parliamentary elections result in the eviction of yet
another incumbent government?
7. How will granting developing countries more power change the IMF?
8. Should Iran ease the sentence of Roxana Saberi?
9. Can China’s health insurance reform overcome skepticism from local
governments?
10. Is Obama right not to prosecute those involved in interrogating
terror suspects?
1. Why did the Thai protests stop?
2. Will America’s recent response to Somali piracy make the problem of piracy worse?
3. How should Australia handle Fiji’s suspension of its constitution?
4. Should Notre Dame rescind its invitation to President Obama?
5. Will state sovereignty resolution significantly alter the current balance of federal and state relations?
6. Should foreign law have an impact on U.S. court rulings?
7. can digitized medical records really reduce healthcare costs?
8. Will opposition protesters succeed in ousting Saakashvili?
9. What should be the world’s next move now that North Korea has vowed to quit nuclear talks?
10. Will the successful Phillips rescue enhance Obama’s security credentials?
1. How seriously should the U.S. take cyber attacks?
2. Can digitized medical records significantly reduce healthcare costs?
3. Considering the failure of its recent rocket launch, should the North Korea still be taken before the UN Security Council?
4. Is it a mistake for Silvio Berlusconi not to accept international aid for earthquake victims in central Italy?
5. Can Obama’s recent overtures to Islamic nations bear fruit?
6. Is Netanyahu’s idea of building up the Palestinians economically before a peace deal is reached DOA?
7. After their recent defeat in Iowa, should gay marraige opponents nationwide reconsider their legal strategy?
8. Should Norm Coleman concede?
9. Will recent shootings across the U.S. lead to stricter federal gun control laws?
10. Should the G20 have done more to reverse rising protectionism?
The global financial crisis is truly a global phenomenon. A crisis that centered around a lack of credit brought about by poor judgment by financial institutions has created an international recession and the World Bank estimates that global economic growth will decline by 1.7 percent this year, the first time such a decline has existed since World War II. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has also weighed in on the financial crisis and backed up the World Bank’s claims in reporting that its 30 members will experience a 4.3 percent decline in growth this year.
With such gloomy outlooks on the horizon, and with some financial analysts believing that governments are doing too little to stop the recession from becoming a full blown recession, the gathering of the G20 in London, an organization whose twenty members make up 85 percent of global economic output, was watched closely by international markets last week. The results of the summit ended up mixed, with the winners being the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China, and Angela Merkel of Germany and the potential losers being tighter restrictions on tax havens and most important of all, global trade.
This brief will provide some background on the G20 summit for extempers by analyzing the conflicting views that presented themselves at the summit, what the summit accomplished, and the spin and criticisms that have been leveled against the summit over the last week.
1. Should the U.S. cut funding for a missile defense system?
2. Why does Germany oppose a fiscal stimulus for the global economy?
3. How much progress on a peace deal with the Palestinians will be made by Netanyahu’s government?
4. Will U.S. efforts to engage Iran on Afghanistan lead to improvements in the country?
5. Is it a good idea for the U.S. to join the Human Rights Council?
6. Will recent financial scandals squash the DPJ’s hopes for leading the next Japanese government?
7. How can the international community better crackdown on tax havens?
8. Are attempts to regulate the pay of employees that receive federal bailout money constitutional?
9. How serious should threats made by the Pakistani Taliban against Washington D.C. be taken?
10. Is the Kirchner’s political hold over Argentina coming to a close?
By Sarah Anand[1]
The term leftism itself has been used quite frequently (especially in relation to Latin American politics) to characterize the state of a country’s affairs. However, there is a tendency to ascribe the particular adjective without fully understanding it’s entire meaning. For the past couple of years, specific countries in Latin America have started making shifts to becoming more “leftist.” The world has taken notice of these changes, whether through the antics of Hugo Chavez, the comeback of Daniel Ortega, or the improbability of Evo Morales as president. But, what exactly is leftism, and how does it relate to what is happening in Latin America?
If any extempers thought that the removal of the Bush administration would see a reduction in international tensions they have been proved wrong by the recent tensions on the Korean peninsula that continue to rise daily. The North Korean regime of Kim Jong-Il, known for its inability to refrain from shining the international media spotlight on it for too long, is threatening to launch a long range missile, called Taepodong 2 or Paektusan 2, which it claims is actually a rocket meant to send a satellite into space.
International pundits are worried about the fallout of this missile launch. Whether or not the missile launch succeeds is not as much of an issue as whether or not North Korea launches the missile at all. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned that if North Korea proceeds with this launch, which North Korea says will come between April 4th and 8th, it could lead to the destruction of the six party talks concerning North Korea’s nuclear program and leave it more isolated than it was before. North Korea, for its part, says that it would consider any attempt to interfere with this launch as an act of war, which could have very negative ramifications for the entire East Asia region.
This brief will provide extempers with the details of why North Korea may be launching this missile, international reaction to North Korea’s plans to launch this missile, and how a successful missile launch could impact U.S. and international policy towards North Korea.
As the old adage goes, one can never truly be too prepared. With this in mind, Extemp Central is proud to make available the question sets from the Kentucky Education Speech and Debate Association and Kentucky High School Speech League, Inc. state tournaments. In addition, we also have questions from the Kentucky NCFL qualifier. As with all of Logan’s questions, you can expect a variety of topics that will challenge your students and team as we move toward important state tournaments and national qualifiers.
2009 KYCFL Questions
2009 KESDA Questions
2009 KHSSL Questions
And a big congratulations to KESDA state champions Rowan County High School and KHSSL state champions Danville High School.