Do we need a world leader Obama?

On the one hand, a man like Barack Obama promising and spreading enthusiasm in a world being full of pessimism, missing confidence and suspicion is a good choice for the world population.
Obama being in the position of the new American President, thus being the most powerful man of the world, is able to lead the world in a new, more optimistic direction now. He already broke the first ground by determining the end of the war in the Iraq.
Moreover, a leader of a world would stand for ONE connected world, a world kept together by one man. Consequently, it would arise a feeling of unity and fraternity in the world.
Is it hence safe to say that we need a world leader Obama?

Demonstrating a big danger like the world history shows, a human being possessing to much power can also lead the world in a wrong direction. Men like Hitler, Franco and Stalin who were in the position of a leader and of an idol, too, brought misery upon their peoples.
Of course, I don’t want to compare Obama to these dictators, but simultaneously he is fallible like every other human being. So if he commits a mistake, isn’t it possible that this mistake has a bearing upon the whole world? Certainly, as the most powerful man of the  world, Obama will affect the whole world one way or another. But as soon as he is in the role of a world leader, there will be less human beings doubting him and calling him into question. As this is really important for a democratic world, Obama would depict somehow a secret dictator without bad intentions.

To sum it up, a  world leader would be more a danger than a convenience for me though the world needs some more optimism.

Climatic Change

The problem about the CO2 emission certificates:

The EU-wide emissions trading system resolves upon the total amount of CO2 that can be emitted by industries and power companies.
That sounds good as it restricts the amount of the harmful greenhouse gas. But coming along with the boom of renewable energies like wind power there is a serious problem.

Actually, renewables are desired because they are expected to substitute the combustion of fossil fuels which release CO2.
But at the worst, sustainable energy plants might even have a negative effect on the climate. As more wind turbines are arranged, less CO2 emission certificates are sold. This in itself is preferable – but the problem is that the total number of available CO2 emission certificates remains the same. To cut right to the chase of the matter, there will suddenly be more certificates per kilowatt of coal energy. That means the price per ton of CO2 emitted falls.
As a result, a certificate to release a ton of CO2 is very cheap. So there is very little incentive for big energy companies to invest in renewable energies.

Another point is that Germany is able to sell unused certificates across Europe, for example to coal companies in Poland or Slovakia. Thanks to Germany’s wind turbines, these companies are able now to emit more CO2 than originally planned. In consideration of the often lower efficiency of Eastern European power plants, this is anything but environmentally beneficial.

To put it in a nutshell, the new solar cells and wind turbines don‘t prevent the emission of even a single gram of CO2 because of the European Union’s own climate change policies!

Personal data, the state and Orwell’s 1984 – are we already there?

The dystopian fictional novel “1984” was published in 1949. It deals with the totalitarian state Oceania in which the population is manipulated and controlled by the government. Everybody has to believe in the state which is provoked by propaganda and even torture. The citizens, especially suspicious citizens who think the wrong things, are observed by telescreens making sure that everybody submits to the state. Rebellious people are going to be liquidated and treated as if they never existed.

The situation in Orwell’s novel is comparable to our today’s surveillance state. At least in the high engineered countries, nearly every aspect of life is controlled by cameras or data acquisition.

For example in July 2006, five young British Muslim men were jailed under section 57 of the Terrorism Act 2007, which makes it an offence to have books or items useful for a terrorist. They had downloaded Islamist material from the internet. The prosecution claimed they planned to fight in Afghanistan. Their defence was that they were engaged in ideological research.

The court of appeal overturned the decision on 13 February 2008 , Lord Chief Justice Phillips saying that “section 57 must be interpreted in a way that requires a direct connection between the object possessed and the act of terrorism”. It is an important judgment, but it’s not covering the fact that these men spent over 18 months in prison, branded as terrorists.

There appears to have been no physical evidence for the prosecution’s claims. The appeal judge even said the case should never have been brought in the first place. It bears all the hallmarks of the thought-crime in George Orwell’s 1984.

Under this aspect it is save to say that Orwell’s dystopian imagination is realised in today’s life. People who do not fit in the favoured system are investigated though they did not commit any crime. In this case, the five young men were even imprisoned for 18 months!

Another example is the secret policy of the German Democratic Republic which sounded out the citizens. These were arrested arbitrarily after being suspected to be opposed to the state in some way. The citizens had not the choice to free their minds.

Also the Turkey state resident Murat Kurnaz who grew up in Germany was innocently arrested in the military base of Guantánamo bay and tortured from 2002 until 2006. He was classified as a terrorism suspect because of being in contact with other terrorism suspects.

Consequently, you are not able to live in this world without being careful about what you think, say and do and who is your friend.

Podcast about Euthanasia

Podcast:

Just imagine you were incurable diseased and you had inconceivable pain. But without help, without an elevated dose of pain killers or even nerve poison you would have to suffer day after day.

Just imagine you just wished to die, to abandon your useless body to enter something like a new life. And even if there was no new life, just imagine the pains would be so horrible that you just want to end your life. A life which just causes pain and sorrows, also for your loved ones.

It’s your life, but other human beings are allowed to rule it. The government, medical scientists.. Although they know you have to die in a few weeks, maybe a few months, they want to keep you here. But you, you just WANT to go. It’s your decision to go. To leave because you know there is no hope and because you know you lived a full life and because you know it’s the right moment NOW.

You talk to your doctor. You talk to your family. Of course, for your family it’s hard to let you go. But the doctor. Why? Why can’t he just give you an overdose pain killers?

It’s because the majority thinks it would be a sin to “kill” you although you WANT to go and although you HAVE to go anyway.

Of course, there are many exceptions regarding this topic. But in a case, so clearly because of the evidence that you WANT to die and you HAVE to, nobody has the right to decide on it.

There was a case in France regarding a 52-year-old woman – Chantal Sebiré. She was incurable diseased with cancer. This cancer caused unthinkable pains, this cancer deformed her face in a way you can’t imagine. She was desperate to die. Even her family fought for her wish to die dignifiedly. But her application of euthanasia was dismissed. Two days later she was found dead at home. Her corpse contained many chemical substances.

She died alone. Alone because euthanasia is proscribed.

Why did I choose this topic?

I settled on this topic because of the actual case of Eluana Englaro, a 37 year-old woman from Italy who was kept in comatose by artificial nourishment for 17 years. Last week she died because her father succeeded in his long battle to stop the life prolonging procedure of his own daughter. He wanted to let her go because it was evidenced that she was braindead.

But Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy, wanted to stop him by passing a bill which should ban the plan of Mr. Englaro. Because of his conservative attitude Berlusconi is opposed to euthanasia. He said: “Eluana did not die a natural death, she was killed.” (http://www.zeit.de/online/2009/07/eluana-englaro-sterbehilfe-berlusconi).

Due to this conflict between a dolorous family and a part of the government who is not as involved in the grief about Eluana as her own family I wanted to comment on it. I do not agree to the opinion of Berlusconi that only god is allowed to “stop” somone’s life. Though I really agree to the idia that you should try hardly to save the life of a human being, I think that it is wrong to be stubborn in a case without hope! Of course, it is a hardly discussed question if it is justifiable to stop life prolonging procedures. But saying it is murder is just barefaced because the family and the medical scientists cared for Eluana 17 years. A murder is something cold-hearted; in this case it is just a process of letting someone go.

To be honest, Euthanasia is also a difficult subject for me. But to hold it like a public debate and to indict her own family for killing her is out of place.

Also interesting for me is the fact that Eluana had to starve to death. You have to consider that this was the only possibility to let her die because this case of passive Euthanasia is more tolerated than active euthanasia. The only alternative would have been killing her by nerve poison or an overdose pain killers. That would have worked faster, of course, but it would have been very criminal, too.

An interesting articel regarding this topic:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article5697099.ece

Teenager Murder in London

Whereas an average of 16 teenagers were murdered in the five years previously in London, since 2007 even 50 youngsters were killed in a brutal manner.

Just in this year 25 adolescent people were killed so that you can assume that the average will rise.  A 14-year-old boy has become the 25′th teenager to be murdered in London this year. A 16-year-old girl was brought to hospital because of cuts. Both of them were involved in a conflict with a teenager gang before the snickersnee.

According to Scotland Yard, the criminal cases depend on gang and drug-related crime. But not yet the police is able to get that problem under control.

In the most cases, the youngsters are haunted on the street by a gang which aims to stab the victim to death. Often, the teenagers becoming victims of these bloody crimes are dark-skinned. Thereby, Scotland Yard presumes that instead of one group several gangs are behind these murder. If the committers are catched, which is sometimes the case, there is a cry of astonishment that these are often very young – for example 13 years.

London

prices:

London Dungeon         ~25€

My Train of Thoughts about the “Facharbeit”

At first I had to decide whether I want to write about “Globalization” or “Africa”. That was a very awkward decision because I’m more interested in globalization but in some way the topic africa is (in my opinion!) in most cases easier to handle. So i wanted to write about child soldiers in Africa. Somehow very interesting. But after rough two weeks I felt unhappy about that topic because I’m in fact more interested in globalization. So I thought about the theme “What chances do the African developing countries have to develope economically?”. It considers both topics: Africa and globalization. Now I just have to think about concretising the question. So in a few days I’m able to start creating the structure.

Liemba on way to Africa

The former german colonial steamboat “Graf Goetzen” goes across the Lake Tanganyika like in the period of our former imperator Wilhelm the 2nd. Today it’s called “Liemba” and transports bargainers, refugees and rough diamonds.

The fact that the “Goetzen” made it to the Lake Tanganyika is like a miracle. It was build for the habitants of the colony Germany- Eastafrica in the year 1913 in Papenburg/Lower Saxony. But how could the ship arrive in the deepest region of Africa without a long-distance waterway? That challenge was done by three men from Papenburg: Hermann Wendt, Rudolf Tellmann and Master Anton Rüter. Just in a few months they build the giant ship. Then they disassembled it and brought it packed in 5000 wooden boxes to Africa.

Up to now it sank twice, but you know: All good things come in threes .

Racism in Zimbabwe

In the year 2000 when the dictator Mugabe came under fire he began to incite his men. These were allowed to chase away the white farmers living in Africa for hundred of years and to occupy their land. Mugabe said: “The white man does not belong to Africa, Zimbabwe belongs to the Zimbabweans.

But the expected relief did not come to Zimbabwe. Since Mugabe began with his ethnic cleansing, another loss came about Africa. More than 200 000 agricultural labours lost their job because of the high loss of the white employers.

All began with changing the laws to avoid that the white farmers could appeal the seizure of their land. The corrupt government assigned that the these farmers are allowed to stay long enough to reap their crops. After this last harvest at first all the black as well white employees lost their job. Now, seven years ago, the former “breadbasket” of southern Africa became an accepter of food imports from other countries both industrial and developing. Mugabe triggered off that dispossessiones with the pretence to solve his land from hangovers of the imbalances of British colonial rules. So he pretended to fight for the rights of Africans against imperialists.

But in the end, Mugabe just earned popularity by the blacks feeling deep scornfulness for the whites. These depict for them the exploiters of their own land. But on the other side, Mugabe enrages the men who lost their job on the farms.

Not only the employees in Zimbabwe got problems because of these banishments. Also the white farmers had to start a new life in another country. Others returned to their native country.

1978, the Southafrican author Alan Paton wrote: “I am terrified that one day the white man, after he began loving us, realizes that we began to hate him.”

My First Impressions of a Topic

At first I thought of the topic “Child Soldiers” in Africa. I am interested in that topic because the movie “Blood Diamond” which includes this topic pleased me very much. It is so terrifying and sad which happens to these children that you want to acquaint your concerns someone else.

But  then I started with the theme “Politics in Developing Countries” which made me think about the globalization in developing countries. Because that would be to comprehensive I think I would limit myself to “World Trade in the Developing Countries” or something like that.

But I really do not know exactly which topic I will choose. I am interested as well in Africa as in globalization. But I tend towards globalization because I know more about that!