3/6/2015

Blog Post 4: War

          This week, an Iraq force of over 30,000 troops has been attempting to advance on the ISIS occupied city of Tikrit. ISIS captured the town last summer in a lightning advance that totally took Iraq as well as the U.S. by surprise. Despite Iraq being backed by U.S. training and equipment, they still struggle to keep up moral and sustain a successful counter attack. Early this week, ISIS bulldozed Nimrud, a famous archeological sight founded in the 1980's. Iraq officials have taken these actions as war crimes, and demand ISIS face punishments. Their belief is that ISIS wishes to not only kill them, but erase them from history. Thus far the Iraq forces have made minimal advances on Tikrit, but the final battle has yet to occur.
          In a show of just how horrid ISIS movement has been, they have recently attached high definition video cameras to their rifles to film their executions of innocents. They posted these video's online for view, and are glamorizing the videos as if they were clips from a video game. ISIS was also witnessed throwing a gay man off the roof of a tall building into a mob of people below on the ground. They filmed this atrocity as well, and posted it online as propaganda. There seems to be little putting a stop to their endeavors, and even with the threat of U.S. airstrikes as well as an army of Iraq fighters , ISIS continues to terrorize and kill innocents on their campaign to establish their regime as a state. It is hard to see a quick solution, and without direct U.S. involvement, their isn't much that can be done from the sidelines. Hopefully the Iraq army can continue to train and arm themselves appropriately to combat this threat in a quick and efficient manner.
         Without a solution soon, it seems that ISIS ideology will continue to spread and effect more countries. The threat of their army isn't the only fear, terrorist attacks across the world in the name of ISIS seem to becoming more likely as we see their propaganda continue to spread. It is difficult to say exactly what will happen if they are not stopped soon, but it is logical to assume lives will be lost if a solution is not implemented.










http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/isis-terror/iraqi-forces-advance-isis-tikrit-saddam-husseins-hometown-n318561


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2980863/New-low-sick-ISIS-murderers-terrorists-cameras-end-GUNS-make-execution-video-look-like-shoot-em-computer-game.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2978890/ISIS-barbarians-throw-gay-man-building-bloodthirsty-crowds-Syria.html

Blog #4: Continued Drought in Brazil creates Health Issues

Summary:

Rogerio Jelmayer and Loretta Chao wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday about the issues that are continuing to take place in Brazil. An issue that was once one of a lack of water in one city is now beginning to be an issue of widespread disease. An outbreak of Dengue Fever, a disease caused by infected mosquitoes, has caused problems for the people in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This outbreak is a result of people having to store scarce amounts of water in open containers. Health officials in Sao Paulo say that at least twenty people have lost their lives due to dengue fever. In addition, 563 cases of Dengue Fever had been confirmed through mid-February. Health Officials have sent agents out knocking door-to-door so as to educate the residents on how to properly store their water supply. Although officials are doing the foot work people are still in panic about whether or not they will have enough supply. In addition many people in the poverty stricken areas may have no other choice but to store water in what they have available. Sixty miles away from Sao Paulo, in the city of Soracaba officials have labeled their Dengue Fever outbreak an “epidemic”, here more than 1,600 cases have been reported.

Analysis:

If taking simply the information from this article, which does not mention aid from global health organizations at this point in time, we can see that there is an even larger “umbrella” issue at hand. The death toll due to Dengue Fever is rising quite rapidly. In cities such as Soracaba officials are beginning to label the issue an epidemic. Sure health officials are going door-to-door in certain areas, but those attempts of educating may go over looked in desperate times. Should there, at this point, be aid from the Global Society? Is it now time for Health Organizations to step in and give aid?  Or is this not yet considered a Global Health Issue? Not yet an epidemic by standards? 

http://www.wsj.com/articles/drought-stricken-sao-paulo-battles-dengue-fever-outbreak-1425420508

Phylicia Smith 

3/6/15

1;34pm