Facebook in Tunisia

My article talked about the story with Facebook that actually unfolded in Tunisia. Facebook.com, the world's fastest growing social networking site, no longer holds records for their rapid expansion, but now holds the title of saving a country. Tunisia, a country in Africa known for political upheval, constantly faces internet censoring and this censoring forced the people of Tunisia to turn to one of the only social networking sites that was not blocked: Facebook. Facebook, with it's compatibility to uploading photos and videos and its accessibility to up to date information posting, made it the easy place for political activits to converge and share ideas and news. Activists started to notice though that their posts were being deleted and they immediately contacted Facebook about this right on the cusp of the new year. Facebook looked into it and found that the government that was in power was hacking into the internet through the country's service providers and was stealing the login email and password and was using it to get into the accounts and delete the peoples' posts.

Facebook, being an international company and having the rights to intervene when their site is being hacked, decided to go in and set up roadblocks to the hackers. Eventually, safety returned to Facebook, and the Tunisian government faced a wake up call that forced the governemnt to reevaluate thier control over the people.

I thought this article was fascinating because I love Facebook because of its ability to connect so many people around the world. I think that this occurance was a great step for both Facebook and the people of Tunisia.

Where Mao Meets the Middle Class

I found the first chapter interesting. When looking at the phrase, "crossing the river by feeling the stones" I felt that although it was a creative phrase, it was not the smartest idea. China needed to modernize and step up and join the world as a power, however, the risk never outweighed the reward. The people of China suffered to the point of death from famine even though the country has stroage place upon storage place full of food. The gap between government and the people is to the degree to where the people are dismissed like ants on the ground. They are good enough to work for hours upon hours and lose limbs to keep the economy going and expanding, but they are not good enough to feed and instead were forced to trade their own children for a neighbor's child in order to eat. It was hypocritical of the government to condone the sectioning of farm land amoungst the people at the time of thier underground meetings and then eventually praise them for subsidizing farming agriculture.

This chapter was an eye opener to the fact that China's economy was fueled not by the blood and sweat of the Chinese people trying to help their country, but rather by authoritarian leaders who pushed and pushed and saw the people as numbers of laborers instead of the people they were.

Putin in Kremlin Rising

Since the beginning of time, Russia’s government has always been dominated by one centralized source of power. Pre 1917, this power was in the hands of the Tsars and Post 1917; this power fell into the hands of the President. Regardless of the title of the head of government, the same style government remains the same: authoritarian.

The question posed, is Russia heading towards democracy or towards complete authoritarian government is not an easy question to answer. If a person looks at the Russian government without bias from any perspective, then yes, the government would appear to be more democratic than in the past. Elections are held, media reports on the news, there is a separation of powers within government, and there is a written constitution. If you let your own Western, biased perspective in, things start to look a little different. Elections are held, but it is limited who can run and if the votes are even tallied correctly. The media reports on the news, but only the news that sheds a positive light on the government in power. There is a separation of powers within government, but the leaders of these separate braches are either selected by the president himself or by committees which were hand selected by the president, so either way, the president has control over who leads government. The constitution that is written has more of a symbolic meaning to the Russian people than it does legislative force. When looking at these different characteristics that make up a democracy and then looking at them in the way Russia has fit them into their own system of government, it becomes apparent that Russia was never headed for a democracy at all. Instead Putin has taken the authoritarian ways that Russia has always known and put a new face called ‘democracy’ on them. Although these ‘new’ ways and new policies are disguised as democratic, there is nothing democratic about them at all. Putin is brilliant in the sense that he has figured out a way to manipulate the people into believing Russia is becoming democratic, but in reality, Russia never left an authoritarian system of government. Government, especially Putin, found a way to disguise their authoritarian power into this new way which includes freedom and choice, but in reality just means Putin’s choice and whatever freedom Putin decides the people should have, which in his case- is none.

British Police Department Uses Facebook to Fight Crime

World News Leader BBC posted an article about a police force using an international social networking site to ask the public to help them find a murderer. Facebook.com, the world’s fastest expanding social networking site is not only used to help locate old friends, but a police force in Bristol, Britain has found a new use for it: catching murderers. In Great Britain, a young woman by the name of Jo Yeates disappeared on December 17 when returning home from going to a pub with friends. On her way home, she stopped at three shops and a pizza place. Evidence of receipts from stops on her way home was found in her flat, but there is no evidence of the pizza that she purchased on the way home. Police and officials responded to her disappearance by posting information about the case to their website which is linked into Facebook through their own Facebook group and various ads which are posted on the sides of pages. This effective way of spreading information is deemed efficient by the task force because they recognize that most people use and check Facebook every day. Though Jo Yeates body was found on Christmas Day, the murder is still on the loose. Police are now once again turning to their Facebook page to ask for aid in catching the killer. By allowing pictures, up to date case information, and discussion boards to be easily viewed and on-the-go cell phone accessible, the Avon and Somerset Police Department has demonstrated their tech savvy use of social media tools to help find the murderer and put him/her to justice.

I found it interesting that the police are utilizing Facebook to update the public and ask for their help on solving this murder case. Over this course, we’ve seen debate throughout countries like Russia and China on media and internet censorship but Great Britain has taken the opposite approach and encouraged the use of social networking to bring about legal justice within their country. I think this method is going to prove very efficient because of the sheer amount of people who are on Facebook and may pay more attention to it than any other website. I think that the police are very smart in using this technique in addition to their 24-hour hotline phone lines and the fact that so many people can view Facebook anywhere at any time, this just makes it easier for quick updates from the public’s side of the table.

Britain Wrap Up

The United States and Britain are very different. For one, they are different continents, but their systems of government are different as well.
The United States’ government is unique in its own right. Consisting of three branches: legislative, judicial, and executive, there are various checks and balances on powers which allow all branches to have equal amounts of power. The legislative body, is the focus of this article because the legislative body is divided into bicameral or two house system. These two houses are called the House of Representatives and the Senate. Within congress, laws are made and passed. Although Congress does not have the authority to execute laws because that is the job of the judicial branch, Congress passes laws with the hope that they will be passed and put into effect. The head of the whole United States Government is Barack Obama
The Government of Great Britain is modeled after the Westminster model which is different from the United States. Parliament, which is the equivalent to both the House and Senate, is made up of two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Instead of having a president, Government is run by the Prime Minister and the State is run by the Queen. Parliament has cabinet members and unlike the President of the United Sates, the Prime Minister, currently David Cameron, is called into government and questioned for at least 30 minutes during Prime Ministers Questions. Government in Britain is brutal and every single move by the Prime Minister is closely monitored.
The difference between US government and Britain’s government is that Britain’s government has developed a system which holds its leaders accountable and laws are easily passed. Though this seems like a good thing, the US constituents, although are not happy currently, feel that they have a greater voice within government than citizens in Great Britain do.
In terms of deficit spending and ridding the country of debt, the US and Britain have taken various approached. The US approach was through a huge Stimulus Package which pumped a lot of money into the economy and tax benefits to all citizens.
Unlike the US, Britain has taken steps in reducing their deficit debt. They have recently passed an austerity plan, and although citizens are not happy with it, it will rid the country of their debt in four years.
The major difference between governments is the time is takes to pass a law. The US is facing government being deadlocked for two years due to the House majority with the Republicans and the Senate majority with the Democrats. Meanwhile, Britain is instituting community based programs that will help to eliminate the deficit. Due to the government makeup and party system, one could argue that Britain is doing better than the United States. Even though the two governments face different challenges, they are still both leaders in the world.
I have taken away so much from British politics this year. For one, the United States doesn’t exactly seem to be the world leader in everything that we claim to be. We have flaws that desperately need to be fixed, but we have such a voice in government and easy access to our representatives that everything starts to balance out.
For all governments, times are hard. Times are hard for everyone. These next few years will be a challenge for everyone throughout the world and it will be interesting to follow the race to see who will come out on top politically, economically, etc.

Osborne's Announced Austerity Plan

The spending cuts this week that Obsorne announced were worth £81 million. The British are justifying these cuts because they say that the welfare state is no longer affordable at the current state of Britain right now. This is affecting the middle working class because their jobs are most at risk. This is also going to largely impact the poor because their services that they are accustomed and dependant on receiving no longer have the funding, so can no longer be given out. All of the groups of government are going to cut back as well. 490,000 public jobs are expected to be cut over the next few years. Even the Queen has announced that she will not have Christmas party in order to cut back spending. Students, who have been accustomed to free education, are now concerned about how much they are going to have to pay. Business leaders are welcoming the budget cuts but a lot of people studying how these cuts will affect people say that the poor will be hit the hardest.
The British make a lot of budget cuts and tax increases. The Obama Administration, while although still faced with this problem, acted by giving the US a stimulus package. Instead of just taking more money from the people in order to save the economy, the Obama Administration pumped money into the economy to give it a jumpstart. It is like if your car battery dies and you need someone with jumper cables to jump start your car. In the Obama Administration, government is the car that has a good battery, and the economy is the car. The car with the good battery pumps an electrical current from its batter to the other car, or the economies, battery. The Obama Administration crossed their fingers that the economy, or the car with the dead battery would start. This analogy also applies to Britain but instead of trying to jumpstart the car, they completely get rid of the old car with the dead battery and trade it in for a unicycle. Now, the people who were once accustomed to being able to drive at fast speeds without fear of their battery dying, just as government agencies spent money without questioning the total balance left, are now left to their own devices trying to ride a unicycle and keep up with the rest of the world economy. Just as you might speculate, this is going to cause problems for not only the people of England and Britain, but also for the globe as a whole.
I think that neither the approach that the Obama Administration took nor the cuts that Osborne announced are good. I think that taking the approach to pump a lot of money into the economy without specifying exactly where it should be spent didn’t help. Instead of spending the money that the government intended to go straight into consumer goods, the people decided to save it for when the rainy day came along that shed light on the fact that we didn’t have any money left. This left the US weak and the deficit increasingly higher than before. On the other hand, I think that Obsorne’s cuts are harsh as well. Not only does he cripple the middle working class, but at the same time, he wants to get rid of the welfare state completely. If you look at the idea of Progressive Era President Roosevelt, you that that he reinvented the idea of his safety net to catch people when they fall through the cracks. Well, if there is no form of a welfare system, meaning that there is no safety net, and you are forcing the working class people into poverty, what is going to happen to them? I personally think that the people of Britain need to realize how fortunate they’ve been up to this point in terms of not paying for university. I have quite a few university aged friends in England, so I can understand their point of view, but as an American and a 17 year old girl that is waiting to figure out how much she has to pay for college, I tend to have a little bit of a pessimistic view on people who are complaining about paying less than a third of what I will probably have to pay.
Osborne’s move shows us that politics in Britain right now are, as mentioned earlier, up in debate. The problem is that the whole world is engulfed in this financial crisis and each individual country is struggling to make change that will benefit their country the most. Whether pumping money into the economy or cutting public benefits and dumping havoc on the middle class, each country is trying it’s best to survive. It will be interesting to see how the rest of the time up until Christmas plays out.

Political Attitude and Political Ideology

My political attitude is moderately conservative which makes my political ideology liberalism.