Obama FoPo

Since the disaster that was the Obamacare rollout, President Obama has been looking for a spark to boost his popularity and protect his party in the midterm elections. This spark may come with Obama's commencement speech at West Point. Obama recently returned from Afghanistan where he gave a speech providing optimism for a dwindling down of troops in the Middle East. This speech and new plan of action all comes during a change in foreign policy dictated by President Obama called the Asia Pivot. The Asia Pivot essentially entails a pivoting of troops to counter the rising global stability threats from Southeast Asia and beyond. However, this Asia Pivot does not propose a shift of drones. In fact, with less troops on the ground, drone strikes may even increase in the Middle East. The jury is still out on drones and their effectiveness in killing and eliminating terrorist groups, but the Obama administration has showed no signs of slowing them down. Though not realistic, the current season of 24 shows a harm of drones and the possibility an enemy can take control of them. Drones also clearly create lasting enemies in the families of victims and drones inevitably take a toll on civilians. However, drones are effective in pin-pointing an enemy, conserve troop lives, and wipe out leaders of terrorist organizations(hydra effect).
Reports indicate Obama's speech at West Point will harp on diplomacy rather than intervention. This speech comes on the heels of a major conflict in Ukraine that resulted in a strengthened Russia. Obama needs to facilitate more international cooperation, as unilateral measures have not proven desirable in the past. Multilateral operations provide more legitimacy and effectiveness. Multilateral diplomatic arrangements have brought success. Iran's nuclear program is ever more stable than it was before the P5+1 talks. These successes need to be magnified upon with more international cooperation. We need to facilitate more trade with our allies and link many more countries together economically. This ensures that countries will have a stake in each others well being, meaning that countries will be less likely to be in conflict. In the world today, as my teacher always says, economics drives politics. As the top economy in the world, the United States needs to assume the role as world leader and work together with other countries to make a better place for all peoples of all nationalities. The time for a foreign policy shift is now.

Boko Haram

The recent Boko Haram attacks are devastating for Nigerian stability but present a tough paradox for the United States, too. The attacks symbolize that even though Nigeria is moving in the right direction, there remains still a major problem with internal security and ethnic conflicts. Goodluck Jonathan, President of Nigeria, has stalled on the issue but has made grounds in recent days. There is reportedly a deal that Boko Haram will release half the schoolgirls after a month of kidnapping.

Now brings the question of the ever important US involvement. Personally, I agree with President Obama and his decision to stay out of Nigeria. Though it is of the utmost importance to get these girls free, we also have to take into account the long term implications. Currently, Boko Haram is purely a regional group, staying primarily in the Western African/Sahel region. Boko Haram is a classic example of a group that was created to rid Western influence, with its name translating to "Death to Western Education." The implications of US involvement could bring more recruits to Boko Haram. As we saw with Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, and more, United States involvement has ballooned recruits and morale of terrorist organizations.
While it is tough to ignore the crys and demands of Nigerian groups along with group along the worlds, US restraint is vital to containing Boko Haram involvement. Plus, ransom payments fund the wishes of these groups and negotiating with terrorists is unacceptable.

Introduction

Hi everyone,
For anyone who reads this, my name is Max and I will be covering current events and politics on this blog. I am a high school debater and Model UN delegate with a strong interest in politics and law. I am a junior in high school currently. Check back to this blog for anything from US midterm elections to Nigerian terrorists to global economics. Looking forward to keeping this up!