[fblike]
Arguably no other country in Latin America has defined the region’s shift to the political left like Venezuela. Embarking upon a socialist revolution under former President Hugo Chavez in 1999, the country spread its left-wing policies to other nations such as Nicaragua, Peru, and Bolivia. Under Chavez, Venezuela nationalized foreign businesses, bought international allies with subsidized oil, and became a vocal critic of American foreign policy. Unfortunately, poor economic decisions laid the foundation for the country’s current economic mess. President Nicholas Maduro has thus far shown himself ill-equipped to make the hard choices necessary to rescue the economy from inflation and a heavy reliance on imports. Since the failure of the Venezuelan economy would indict the cause of Bolivarian socialism throughout Latin America, it is imperative that extempers continue to follow Venezuela’s economic difficulties.
This topic brief will provide an overview of Venezuela’s economic problems, discuss how Maduro’s government is trying to deal with them, and analyze whether these problems are bound to get worse or better in the remaining months of 2014.
Readers are also encouraged to use the links below and in the related R&D to bolster their files about this topic.
The fast food chain Burger King made waves in the corporate world two weeks ago when it announced an agreement to merge with Tim Hortons, a Canadian doughnut and coffee chain, and relocate to Toronto. Financial analysts argued that the move – called a tax inversion – may help Burger King reduce its corporate tax burden since Canada has a lower corporate tax rate than the United States. President Obama and Democratic lawmakers criticized Burger King for joining the list of “corporate deserters,” a term applied to companies that have relocated their corporate headquarters outside of America’s borders to reduce their tax burden. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown and leftist groups have called for a national boycott of Burger King as well. If the merger is approved by American and Canadian regulators, the new company will become the third-largest fast food chain in the world.
In less than two weeks, Scottish voters will head to the polls to decide whether to sever their 307-year relationship with the United Kingdom. The referendum is the culmination of decades of agitation by the Scottish National Party (SNP) and mirrors events taking place across the European continent by people who no longer associate with large, multicultural states. If Scotland decides to become independent on September 18 it could significantly weaken the defense posture of Great Britain, while simultaneously motivating other independence movements in continental Europe. An independent Scotland would face sizable economic problems, though, and concerns about those issues could help the “no” forces with the upcoming referendum.
When Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister of Pakistan last year international observers thought the country was heading down the right path. For the first time in Pakistani history power was peacefully passed from one democratically elected government to another. Sharif’s government made tackling corruption and high unemployment a priority. It also sought to rein in the power of the Pakistani Army, which still seeks to execute a veto of internal security measures and foreign policies. Unfortunately, Sharif’s government now finds itself under siege from political protesters that are demanding its removal. Led by two minor politicians, these forces allege that Sharif’s government illegitimately came to power in a fraudulent election and that it is too corrupt to lead. Protesters are blocking government buildings in the capital city of Islamabad and the unrest might give the Pakistani military an excuse to topple the civilian government, something that the military has done three times previously in the country’s history.
Since 2008, Iraq gradually ceased to be a topic in extemporaneous speaking. This accelerated after the U.S. withdrew its remaining forces from the country in 2011. Optimists thought that Iraq questions would fade much like Vietnam questions did in the 1960s and 1970s. However, the rise of the Islamic State (IS) in 2014 will cause extempers to talk a great deal about Iraq policy in 2014-2015. The IS was proclaimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), a Sunni militant group, on June 29 and includes territory in Syria and Iraq. This summer, ISIS continued its advances into Iraqi territory, seizing Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, and taking over several Christian towns. The group murdered non-Sunni Muslims, Christians, and those of other religious denominations. These religious minorities sought refuge elsewhere in Iraq, especially Kurdish areas of Northern Iraq. Advances by ISIS into Kurdish territory and their siege of the Yazidis – a Kurdish-speaking Zoroastrian/Sufi religious community – near Mount Sinjar prompted the Obama administration to launch airstrikes to halt the group’s advance. Although President Obama stated that U.S. ground forces will not be returning to Iraq, these airstrikes constitute a return of American military forces to Iraq. The airstrikes have also created a debate over the effectiveness of President Obama’s foreign policy, which his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, criticized in 
California is currently suffering from a prolonged drought that is damaging the state’s agricultural industry. The drought, which began three years ago, covers the entire state and 60 percent of the state is experiencing an “exceptional drought,” the worst level in its recorded history. Since California is America’s largest state and is the producer of a large percentage of its fruits and vegetables, its drought could have a significant impact beyond its borders. Due to the fact that scientists expect the drought to continue into 2015, extempers should be prepared to analyze California’s drought at tournaments during the 2014-2015 season. The topic is screaming for placement in a “domestic social” or “state and local issues” round.
Of all of the known deadly pathogens in the world, few are as scary as the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). With a 90% fatality rate, the hemorrhagic fever has spread to three West Africa countries since it was discovered in Guinea in February. To date, the virus has infected more than 1,400 people and killed more than 700. The United States, the European Union, and Asian nations are watching the Ebola outbreak closely and have ramped up security at their international airports to deal with the contagion. Due to the fact that medical experts believe it will take several months to bring this recent Ebola outbreak under control, extempers should be prepared to talk about it in the first few months of the 2014-2015 season.
Iraq has largely stayed under the radar during the 2013-2014 extemporaneous speaking season, which is a far cry from when the country was the focal point of many rounds between 2002 and 2008. However, on the eve of this year’s National Speech and Debate Association (NSDA) National Tournament, Iraq has come back into the public eye in light of the collapse of the Iraqi Army in Mosul and Tikrit. The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIL), forced the Iraqi Army to flee last week and are now threatening to capture Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. The ISIS, who have been active in the Syrian civil war and aim to create a Sunni caliphate that encompasses territory from both countries, could threaten Middle East instability, lead to the partition of Iraq, and have a negative impact on global oil markets.
On June 2, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled new regulations to limit America’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Using provisions of the Clean Air Act of 1970, which require the EPA to regulate pollutants, the EPA has laid out a series of regulations designed to reduce U.S. carbon emissions by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. Successfully doing so will help America maintain its international commitments to reduce its carbon emissions and the Obama administration and environmental forces believe that it will encourage other nations to take action on climate change. Opponents of the EPA regulations argue that they unconstitutionally strip regulatory control of carbon emissions from Congress and warn that they will harm the nation’s economy. Since the EPA regulations will go into effect over the next four years, extempers should be prepared for questions about their implementation and effectiveness.
Elections for the European parliament, which took place from May 22 to May 25, were deemed as a political earthquake. Parties that were anti-European Union (EU), anti-immigration, and pro-Russian won sizable vote shares across the continent, especially in Western Europe, and significantly increased their representation in the new European Parliament. In France and Great Britain, far-right political parties defeated more moderate liberal and conservative parties and illustrated that predicting future electoral outcomes in these countries will not be easy. Since the parties of the far-right have largely been ostracized in the past due to Europe’s experiences with far-right forces in the lead up to the Second World War, their recent rise has focused attention on the continent’s economic and social problems and put the future of European integration in doubt.
Since the war on terrorism began in 2001, questions about veterans’ issues have played a role in military and national defense rounds. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan added thousands of injured veterans to the list of those receiving care at Veterans Affairs (VA) hospitals throughout the country. The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) current provides cares to nearly 10,000,000 American veterans across 1,700 sites. The VHA has been heralded as a healthcare success among other elements of bureaucratic dysfunction that are sometimes associated with the federal government, but a recent scandal has called into question the care that veterans are receiving. Allegations from a Phoenix VA facility that medical professionals there “cooked the books” to hide long waiting times for veterans in need of care have placed Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki under fire and Republicans and Democrats are calling for answers from the Obama administration.
For the last six months Thailand has been in the midst of a political crisis. Two weeks ago on May 7, Thailand’s Constitutional Court ordered the removal of Yingluck Shinawatra as the nation’s prime minister. Shinawatra’s supporters, who also followed her brother Thaksin, a telecommunications billionaire that served as the nation’s leader from 2001-2006, are rural and poor. Middle-class and professional Thais look down on Shinawatra’s supporters and believe that Thailand’s political system is rigged against them. As a result, they have taken to the streets against the Shinawatras and the remaining members of the existing government, choosing to go outside of normal political channels and undermine existing political institutions. The current environment is causing analysts to worry that political tensions could produce a civil war or, at the very least, drag the Thai economy into recession.
Traditionally, the use of capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, has been one of many polarizing social issues in the United States. Proponents of the death penalty argue that it deters crime and provides victims’ families closure, while opponents say it constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” and thereby violates the Eighth Amendment. Currently, thirty-two American states still have the death penalty, but public support for the death penalty is falling and the rate of executions is slowing. Oklahoma’s recently “botched” execution of Clayton D. Lockett by lethal injection has the potential to reignite the American death penalty debate and extempers should be prepared to discuss the constitutionality and future of the American death penalty at upcoming tournaments.