School closes because of H1N1 in Hong Kong

News in Hong Kong yesterday announced that a 16-year-old student had contracted the human swine flu affecting also 10 more classmates at St Paul’s Convent School. It was announced that all primary schools and kindergartens will close for the next two weeks. Other officials indicate that secondary schools should be temporarily closed as well.

Updates and precautions about the swine flu has topped the news in China. Not only is the Department of Health asking people to take precautionary actions such as washing their hands and consulting doctors if symptons of the swine flu appear, the media also does a good job warning locals by using various sources (advertisements, brochures). The government suggests that people postpone their plans to visit Hong Kong if they are coming from the United States and other places affected by the swine flu.

The swine flu has become a global outbreak. There are currently 1,200 confirmed cased in Australia. In this article, WHO is calling an emergency meeting to discuss whether the swine flu will be raising the pandemic alert level to 6.  

Although I am not sure if it is necessary to close primary schools and kindergartens for two weeks, China is definitely taking the swine flu issue seriously. I was travelling between Hong Kong to Shanghai and was informed to fill out a brief health form asking where I had travelled in the past 7 days, where I will travel in the next 7 days, and whether I had any of the swine flu symptons. Moreover, there are gadgets above people’s heads detecting people’s temperature.  This allows authorities to filter people and quarantine them before they enter the borders and before they possibly infect other people.

 

What’s Next Move to Free U.S. Journalists in NK?

Take a look at this recent news story in The New York Times on the situation now that North Korean courts have sentenced U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee to 12 years in labor camps.

One theory is the conviction was the first step in diplomatic negotiations to work toward a face-saving means to release the pair. Another is that the two Americans wandered into North Korea at the worst moment, when antagonism was heating up with the United States — and even among factions within North Korea.

Clearly, the timing was awful, and so apparently was the journalists’ sense of geography. They are now chips in a diplomatic game that will revolve around nuclear testing, humanitarian relief, international censure and a few other negotiating points. The two worked for Al Gore’s Current TV, a web-TV outfit. Gore has suggested that he might be willing to serve as an emissary to seek the women’s release on humanitarian grounds.

In this case, understand that a humanitarian release probably also will be accompanied by about $20 million in U.S. aid that just may not be mentioned in the same breath. Any trade-offs will be de-linked for the efficacy of both sides. But in the gamesmanship with North Korea, there is always going to be a trade-off.

These journalists apparently were aiming to do noble work chronicling the plight of North Koreans who are often victimized as they try to slide quietly into China. But their presence on the wrong side of the border — if they really were wrong — has proven costly not only for them but probably for our diplomatic positioning.

But these things happen in a free society. Or a freeer-than-North-Korean society, by a good amount.

This story is transpiring as news reports in Asia are exploring indirect information that 67-year-old President Kim Jong-il has designated a son, 25-year-old Kim Jong-un, to replace him eventually at the top of the government. Kim is trying to keep the power in the family. It was handed down to him from his father, the national patron and penalizer Kim Il-sung.  The continuation of  this family legacy, of course, defeats any sense that there is any sort of merit-based political hierarchy in North Korea. It would place the system squarely in the box of dictatorship.

Keeping all of the higher-level politicos and army generals happy will not be easy as the Kim kid takes over power. Father Kim is going to have to buy off a whole generation (or two) of top dogs, promising favors, new sinecures and probably free travel to countries where they can act particularly un-North Korean for a while.  In other words, they can have some leisure-time fun, an experience not available to most other citizens.

Kim has one other option. He can lock up and forget to feed anyone who disagrees, as long as the locker-uppers abide by the plan. These sorts of family-first-by-force patronage systems have been going on for thousands of years, especially in Asia but also in well-known historical places like Rome during the empire.  We just don’t see many attempts in the 21st century.

The Kims are not your typical modern family.

Watch for more on this. (With the other eye on similar power-shifts in Cuba.)  Media reports have been wrong before, especially on issues as dicey and guarded as North Korean politics. It’s not like President Kim holds press conferences. Dictators don’t need the trouble of accountability. The two U.S. journalists now in NK prisons remind us of that.

 

The International Space Observatory

The Hubble space telescope is something that is used internationally by many countries. Repairs were done on it recently in order to keep it in operation until 2014. A camera on the telescope was fixed in order to continue observations from space. This telescope acts as  a small part of United States public diplomacy program in order to give access to other countries. It is a project of international cooperation between NASA and the European Space Agency and something that is important to keep up for positive relations in the advancement of science

 

African Resource Management

I found another story today by the BBC that discusses the importance of maintaining resources in Africa.  It mentions that Africa does indeed make money from its resouces like gold and diamonds.  This profit could potentially get many people out of poverty and into more stable environments.  However, the article questions how Africa is using its resources and if they are being used effectively.  It reminded me about our research papers involving sustainability!

When I read this article, I automatically thought about Kaplan and his theory surrounding resource depletion and environmental problems.  How can you have a stable society, one with less poverty, with issues involving use of resources?

 

Arrest of Saberi a Public and Foreign Warning?

The BBC released a story today following the arest of Iranian journalist, Roxana Saberi. We have covered this story throughout the semester but I found something interesting in this article.  Basically, it talks about the arrest of the fellow journalist being a warning to all journalists in Iran, both domestic and foreign.  It suggests that the intention of arresting Saberi was to make a point to other journalists.    With the massive amounts of coverage this particular story has received within Iran and across the world, journalists in Iran are left in fear that they too will be arrested, just like Saberi.  (will we see alot more self cenorship?)  According to the article, Saberi’s father even called her “a symbol for press freedom.”  It’s also interesting that this entire case and attention was over a piece of paper that Saberi copied two years ago. 

This story goes to show us just how much the government can control parts of the media and the journalism profession.  I am interested to see Iranian trends change, especially in the journalism field.  Overall, this event and arrest summarizes alot of what our class has covered through the semester.  Reading this story without taking the class, I don’t think I would have as much understanding and appreciation!

 

Not Pirates This Time

Today will mark the 7th day of violence and murder in Somalia. This violence is caused by “Islamist rebels and Somalia’s western-backed government and allies exchanged mortar and small arms fire” reports Reuters. So far there has ben 139 civilian deaths. Somalia has dealt with years of conflict and has “defied 15 attempts to establish central rule and created one of the world’s worst aid crises.” Thousands have evacuated and it seems like this will be hard to control this fighting because the army are getting killed also.

As a class we have been following the Somalia pirate raids and I had no idea that they were suffering from this internal warfare for years. This fighting erupted again once the Ethiopian tanks and troops bombarded Somalia and crushed the sharia courts movement in 2006.

 

Zimbabwe Court Frees Journalists

Two Zimbabwe journalists held on charges of publishing false informations have been released, according to an article from Al Jazeera English. The statements in question were said to have been made with the intention of lowering confidence in public law enforcement agencies.

After months of political upheaval, Zimbabwe formed a unity government in February, under President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai. Donors to the government demand that the unity governement carry out political and media reforms before they release funds for the country’s economic recovery program. According to the article, any political upheaval could delay efforts to rebuild the ruined economy.

Journalist are calling for the unity governement to get rid of media laws that Mugabe has used to silence his opponents; laws that include barring foreign journalists from working in the country and the routine arrests of journalists reporting falsehoods.

Zimbabwe has one of the lowest of press freedom in all of Africa. According to the Global Journalism, “The Press is a victim of President Robert Mugabe’e dogged resolve to remain in office despite the county’s economic collaps because of his policies.” Now, if the country wants its economy to recover, the country is going to have to rely on the same man who destroyed it and muffled the press in the first place. It is the measure of a true authoritarian system when a leader can destroy the economy and still retain power. One can only hope that outside investors and the new unity government will have enough of an impact to counter Mugabe and start to make a difference.

 

Abuse Photos Leaked- President Addresses

Déjà vu anyone? Again pictures have resurfaced of America soilders abusing prisoners. This time it is in Iraq. These pictures were taken in 2004. A BBC

2004 Photo of US soldiers abusing prisoner

 

report says that the President claims that releasing more pictures would be “no benefit” to anyone and would”inflame anti-American opinion and put our troops in greater danger”. 

This reminds me of the article that Dr. Scott linked to us about Public Diplomacy and Americas image to the rest of the world. The article said that  the American image is at low because foreign people are opposed to our policies. The article also goes on to say that the policy starts in the White House and it would make sense for the White House to start a diplomacy position. 

Obviously we did not learn much from what happened in Guanatanamo Bay and since our global image is about to go down even more I think it might be wise for the President to consider making a senior public diplomacy position.

The President has said that he does not tolerate this abuse at all and of course he is right. But until this abuse stops happening and evidence stops being leaked then a position in the public diplomacy department might be a smart idea.

 

Battles Rage in Somolia, World Calls For Calm

Posted in this article on Reuters, despite the global call to halt the violence, fighting in Somolia carried on. It has been named the worst fighting in months and the first week of May had the most injuries and deaths than the four previous months. Since the weekend, conflict has increased as Islamist’s rebels try to take over the President Ahmed’s government. This violence has killed at least 113 civilians and has forced thousands to leave the city.

Like my previous post about the Pope, it is interesting to me how the global audience has been involved and played a role. They are a constant watchdog, asserting opinion when its needed. I don’t feel like in the United States we are informed enough about these types of situations or able to develop an opinion due to lack of informational flow.

The target audience for this article is obviously the citizens affected. I think it was intended to satisfy the international audience and assure them that they are heard and their opinion is represented.

 

Accused Nazi Guard Seen Fit To Stay In German Jail

This interesting article, posted on Reuters discusses a horrific past that is now being uprooted once again. John Demjanjuk is being accused of previously assisting and guarding in the Nazi Death camps, specifically Sobibor Extermination Camp. He has been on the list of 10 most wanted suspected war criminals and might be the last of Germany’s Nazi trials.

John is 89 years old and facing charges of killing 29,000 jews from 1943. He arrived in Germany from the United States on Tuesday where his family tried to stall the trials because of health reasons. It is interesting because the article states that many German citizens are uninterested in this situation. The public wants to draw a line on the past. From a media perspective, it is interesting to hear how the general public reacts and responds to this story depending on how it is being reported. Had it been headlined with a more dramatic context or had more juicy text, then I bet people would have been much more drawn in.

The target audience here is definitely for the citizens of Germany and the people involved in the Holocaust.

 

North Korea Duels with Iran For Attention

I read this article this afternoon about North Korea and ongoing confrontation with the US.  ”It almost seems at times as if there is public relations battle between the two nations to see who can get the most attention, as both countries seek to negotiate an end to the economic sanctions that hold them back.”  This article also mentions the two reporters we have been talking about in class and how they are still detained in North Korea and yet have gotten very little attention.  Recently a reporter has been detained in Iran as well.  The difference is that there is much more upheaval about the reporter detained in Iran than in North Korea.

 

Somalia Forgotten and Fighting

As I was scanning through headlines on varies sites, I came across this story about Somalia on Al Jazeera’s site. It dawned on me that since the end of the pirate attack on an American ship, Somalia hasn’t been in the headlines.

It really made me realize how quickly the public mind moves on to the next dramatic situation and forgets about those that are not DIRECTLY affecting them. For two weeks, one couldn’t turn on the TV or look in a newspaper without some update of the situation off the coast of Somalia. We even covered it extensively on this blog, but as soon as we got our captain back, Somalia soon became some distant land that no one thinks about.

As this article explains, there has been renewed fighting in the country between pro-government fighters and armed civilians in the nation’s capital and people are dying every day. I had to go halfway around the world to find this coverage though. Is America and its media THAT self-centered that unless the news is directly impacting us, it isn’t given any importance?  I understand it is impossible to report on all the conflicts and such, but given America’s recent interest, I thought this news might be given a few minutes in American reporting.

 

Pope Says Bethlehem Wall “Can Be Taken Down”

In this article posted on Reuters, the Pope Benedict discusses not only the actual wall built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but the figurative walls built around their hearts. The concrete wall did not exist when Pope John Paul came in 2000. It was built in 2002 to stop deadly Palestinian bombings.

“On both sides of the wall,” he said, “great courage is needed if fear and mistrust is to be overcome.” His inspirational speeches are made in hopes of decreasing the animosity between these two.

The target audience here is for the citizens involved and the general international public. It is important for the global audience to hear passive peace attempts about this violent controversy coming from the Pope.

 

Journalist’s Release Shows Divide Among Iran’s Leaders

An article published in the New York Times today said that the release of Iranian-American journalist Rachel Saberi “shows the volatility of the Iranian government.” The article talks about the strategic political considerations of the president when he wrote a letter to the judiciary asking them to reconsider their decision to jail Saberi, which ultimately led to her release.

With the politcal pressure from President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton, Iranian officials realized that the political costs of keeping Saberi in prison would be too high. In addition, the Iranian president is facing re-election in June, and taking steps to improve ties with the U.S. is in his personal political best interest.

The release of Saberi is a mixture of public diplomacy and political strategy. The Iranian president is at once trying to improve international relations and achieve political gain. According to the article, the U.S. did not offer Iran any quid pro quo for the release of Saberi.

In discussing Saberi’s case, the article said she was originally arrested for buying a bottle of wine, which is illegal in Iran. The charges were later elevated to working without a press pass and espionage. This is just an interesting sidenote that I had not heard before. It’s hard to imagine that all of this started over buying a bottle of wine, something that probably millions of people do every day all around the world.