The 'New Poor'

Dear Readers,

I thought this NYT article was particularly prescient. It applies to my life and the lives of people I know.

It's important to me that people get a sense of what unemployed/marginally employed people are going through and how much need there is right now. Many people, including myself, have been employed at a rate that is lower than full time (and our bills!) for more than six months (I've been actively looking since Dec 2008, and have been out of grad school since June 2009), don't have health insurance (I do! Go here!), and are straining their respective social and financial credit to survive. I've been lucky enough to have a great family that could afford to support me for some of this period, great friends, a part-time job and the education/wherewithal to keep focused on the job hunt.

The article calls them the 'new poor': people long accustomed to the comforts of middle-class life who are now relying on public assistance for the first time in their lives — potentially for years to come.

We don't have the infrastructure to take care of these people. What's worse, welfare and health insurance are such politically loaded topics. Far from being seen as things that any civilized nation should do for its people (my own view), these topics are being used against people--to the point where our veteran's don't get the care they need, our families don't get the care they need, people are being turned down for insurance based on their preexisting conditions...

So, to keep this post a little bit positive--tell me your job hunt stories! What is the wackiest thing you've done to get a job? What have you learned in this process? What questions would you like to answer?

My other posts about the job market:
Hurry Up and Wait
Searching For Disaster

Thanks for your time! Good luck in your searches!
Best,
Alena

Department of Homeland...Insecurity?

Dear readers,

Sorry to take a more sarcastic tone in this one--I am sure the Department of Homeland Security is doing great work, but this story was sent to me last week and I couldn't resist putting it out there.

DHS officers 'lost' 243 guns between 2006 and 2008. The majority of them were lost because the officers didn't secure them (what does that mean exactly? can my gun-toting friends help explain?). This doesn't really represent a lot of guns, but it's still kind of frustrating that our own officers are inadvertently arming criminals.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Customs, ICE officers "did not always sufficiently safeguard their firearms," report says
* Of 243 guns, 179 were lost "because officers did not properly secure them"
* Guns were left in unlocked cars, fast food restaurants, bowling alleys
* Homeland Security responds by overhauling property management policy

Apparently, when people find guns, they keep them. I find that interesting. I wonder what the stats are on that?

Anyway, this reminds me of the story this past year when the US sent weapons and money to our allies in the interim government of Somalia, and the was shocked that the arms ended up in the hands of the militants that were/are our enemies. This occurred because the money ended up in the hands of the officers of the interim government, not the soldiers...and the soldiers, who still needed money, sold their weapons to the enemy/militants...arming the enemy. Anyone who knows anything about black markets could have told you this would happen.

It's amazing how much insecurity is caused just by us not paying attention.

Hope to hear your comments!
Best,
Alena

Two Important Events: Niger and Myanmar (Burma)

These stories were just posted by a friend of mine, but I want to make sure they get more exposure.

A coup/coup attempt is underway in Niger. "The country has gone through five constitutions and periods of military rule since it gained independence from France in 1960."

What will ECOWAS say/do? They've been pretty vocal that no coup-leadership/forced change of power will be recognized...
"The opposition also boycotted October 20 legislative elections, after which the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) suspended Niger as a member and the European Union put a freeze on its development aid."

Also,Burmese/Myanmar refugees are the victims of violence in Bangladesh.

"Described by the UN as one of the most persecuted minorities on earth, thousands of Rohingyas from Myanmar's northern Rakhaine state stream across the border into Bangladesh every year."

"Bangladesh recognises 28,000 Rohingya as official refugees, who live in official camps under the supervision of the UN.

This figure is a fraction of the estimated 220,000 unofficial refugees, MSF says.

There are an estimated 700,000 Rohingya in Myanmar, where they are not recognised as citizens and have no right to own land."

Thanks for reading. Please let me know if you have updates.

Best,
Alena

UN CERF Funding

Dear Readers,

I am still just learning about different types of UN and government funding and so, if I make a mistake in this post, please point it out! I want to know more.

Here's an introduction that I received from a DEVEX Development Update email/newsletter.
"The Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) was approved by the General Assembly in December 2005, and was created to speed up relief operations for emergencies, make funds available quickly after a disaster and finance under-funded emergencies. Its funds are also made available to address the existing imbalance in global aid distribution which results in millions of people in so-called neglected or forgotten crises remaining in need. Since its inception, the CERF has allocated nearly USD 1.3 billion for humanitarian aid in almost 70 countries. "

Similar funding in the US defense world has received criticism for the very reason it was created--it moves a lot faster than regular funds. It (at least from my understanding of the US version) requires fewer checks and balances...and therefore sometimes gets misused, or in the case of Afghanistan, might cause corruption/conflict.

Here is the UN CERF homepage.

This fast(er)-moving money has been critically important in helping the earthquake victims in Haiti, as pointed out in this Relief Web article.

There are even YouTube videos about it! The second speaker brought up some good points about inefficiencies that need to be resolved.

This second article by IRIN News (I am unfamiliar with this news source) points out where some improvements need to be made.

So, it is great that money can move faster than a snail, but what are the checks and balances needed to keep things clear? If you know something about this, please let me know your thoughts!

Best,
Alena

An important reality check from Gaza.

“When you compare the US economy with ours and see how dependent we have become on the tunnels, I assure you that our scandal is much worse than Madoff.”

-- Omar Shaban, director of Pal-Think, an economic research institute in Gaza City, comparing the collapse of investments related to Gaza’s tunnel system to New York financier Bernard Madoff’s USD 65-billion Ponzi scheme. Some 4,000 Gazans who gave cash to middlemen and tunnel operators in 2008 as Israel blocked the overland passage of goods lost as much as USD 500 million after Israeli warplanes bombed the tunnels before and during the Dec. 27 to Jan. 18 Gaza offensive and the investments collapsed, Bloomberg reports. Now investors want their money back from Hamas, which runs Gaza. Hamas Economics Minister Ziad Zaza says about 200 people were taken into custody in connection with the tunnel investments; most have been released. Hamas is offering a partial repayment of 16.5 cents on the dollar using money recovered from Ihab al-Kurd, the biggest tunnel operator. The imbroglio over the 800 to 1,000 tunnels has deepened Hamas’s decline in public opinion in Gaza and highlights the Wild West nature of the underground economy that supports this jammed enclave of 1.4 million people. Top Hamas leader Ismail Haniya has not commented publicly on the losses to tunnel investors. “There is no transparency, no public records, no regulators, none of the mechanisms that would let you trace what happened to all the money that people invested in the tunnels,” Samir Abdullah, the Palestinian Authority’s former planning minister, told the news agency. “The smugglers provide essential revenue for Hamas.”


Global Development Briefing -- Tunnel Vision This is from Devex's regular emails about events in the development field...they always have a thought-provoking quote.

The Tamils and the Sinhala...no one won.

Dear Readers,

Well, most of you are probably familiar with Sri Lanka's 30 year civil war, full of hyper-nationalism, guerilla warfare, rape and violence. If you're not, this article gives an oversimplified summary of the past and important current events. Hindu against Buddhist, with Muslims caught in the middle. All on a tiny island with some of the highest education, literacy rates and equality for women in South Asia.

Well, hopefully this is the beginning of the end. All the best to the people of this beautiful place.

NMRK.
Alena

History of Technology gurus--can you help me figure out this puzzle?

Well, this blog post is more of a series of questions than opinions.

I read: Avoiding a Homeland Security Error That Could Leave the U.S. Flying Blind. This article talks about the pre-GPS system that is called Loran that is still used for geographical information by several US and foreign defense institutions and should be maintained/updated to serve as a back up when/if terrorists or other events interfere with our global positioning systems. Does anyone know anything about this?

What other behind-the-scenes systems should be kept? What systems need backups but don't have them? What is just obsolete? I guess this goes out to all my history of technology gurus out there! Can you help me? :)

Best,
Alena

End of the Week Blog list

Top Blog Posts according to Foreign Policy Blogs!

China might get health care reform before the United States! The plan is not full grown, but it's interesting to see the progress!

IS the IT world trying to scare us, too?

Another China story. Although, the 'selling arms to Taiwan to annoy the Chinese and remind them that we have military bases nearby' has been going back and forth for decades. However, this is unfortunate for the Taiwanese, who have been pretty successful at developing relations with China over the past few years.

In a refreshing turn of events--a story that is not about the US or China. Kenya! Back on the map! +checks and balances. -PM. What effect will this have on the standing 300,000 refugees from the political violence of two years ago, and what does this mean for the future of Kenyan politics?

Send me links to blog posts or news articles that you thought were interesting this past week!

Best,
Alena

The Problem in Pakistan

Pakistan is in the news a lot today. The voices and advice are wide-ranging. From VP Biden saying early on that Afghanistan depends on what happens in India and Pakistan, to cries that 'Pakistan is not doing enough for us.'

I agree that, as one article from the Brookings Institute states Lashkar-e-Taiba is an important threat, and that the prevented attack in Dhaka, Bangladesh would have unleashed many negative repercussions on the already strained South Asian security situation. It would make U.S. calls on Pakistan to 'crack down' even more strident--which I think would be the wrong reaction.

I agree much more with another Brookings Institute article, which I referenced in my last post about how China and the US can work together with Pakistan.

The part I really want people to think on, is not so much how much pressure the US or China should put on Pakistan (I think Pakistan gets plenty of pressure, in the midst of troubled government, corruption, regular suicide bomb attacks of the Pakistani military itself, and its ongoing conflict with both India AND Afghanistan), but what can be done to help Pakistan move forward. In fact, I'd say taking a step back and letting Pakistan run its country might be a start. They're probably freaking out more than we (the US), and have plenty of problems to deal with. Considering that the US can't stop a terrorist attack when the father of the terrorist tries to turn him in and tells us directly about him, I don't think we should be casting the Pakistanis in such an ill light.

The first paragraph of the second Brookings article summarizes the problem.

Sorry I didn't copy/paste--the blog tool gave an error, I'm going to try and copy/paste the quote in a reply comment. It is important to realize that things aren't as simple as 'pressuring' or 'not pressuring.' Especially with our complicated history of funding islamic extremism (to counter Arab nationalism and Communism, respectively), we have to find ways to help without making things worse.

I look forward to your thoughts. Unfortunately, I only outlined a problem and didn't give you solutions.

Best,
Alena

The Chinese Finger trap

Hi all,

Sorry, went with a sort of cheesy title. I have a few different stories about China that I'd like to share and thought I'd put them together. I often lament my sense that Americans are a little complacent about their place in the world. China is rapidly modernizing, so are several other countries. I don't want this to be taken as a reason to 'attack China' (which, would be almost impossible, since who would pay for it--the Chinese have already lent us trillions of dollars for our two wars, they're not going to lend us any to attack them. By the same token, China is not interested in attacking us, since they really just want us to stay an open market and to pay them back their money some day.)

1. China has declared the economic crisis over as far as they are concerned. What this meant for them was single-digit (8.7%) growth instead of double digit (originally projected at 10+%). It's tough to get jobs in some sectors there, but as we see in following stories, they're creating jobs at an amazing rate.

2. Despite difficulties at Copenhagen, China is moving forward with clean energy technology--soon to eclipse Western countries as the single largest producer. They are also moving aggressively to find ways to finance the expensive conversion, provide incentives, and as a result, solar panels are popping up all over the place. Obviously, they could improve their environmental standards, but I'm glad they're making progress--when will we???

3. This was just an interesting piece by Brookings about where US and Chinese interests meet in Pakistan. A really useful insight into the dynamics of the AF-PAK challenge.

Enjoy your reading!
Best,
Alena

Jesus and the Burka

Well, I am not an expert on French politics or the fine print of weapons purchases. Every now and then I feel obligated to point out something good that happened in the country of my passport (the US) and examine something unfair or bigoted in another country (in this case, France, altho I would really like the French approach to food--fresh!--to take root in the States).

Also, I did not grow up in an Abrahamic faith (Christianity, Islam, Judaism), so forgive me if I make mistakes in some terminology in this post.

After the embarrassing news coverage that US soldiers carry guns with Christian scripture on them (the now-infamous Jesus Rifles), will now have the scripture removed. I think this is a very good step forward. I think its pretty inappropriate--in terms of our constitution, the structure of our military AND especially in terms of our current two wars. If we're 'winning hearts and minds' and 'engaging with the Islamic world' and trying to 'support moderate Islam,' then then we need to also not be (or perceived as) radical Christians. So bravo to the US government for making some progress on separating Church and State.

Now, on the other side of the Pond and this conversation. A French parliamentary panel recommends that France ban burka/burqa (the veil that a Muslim woman can choose to wear across her face to be modest before God) in public places (hospitals and schools), but not in private buildings or on the street (which would be even a more gross violation of a person's religious rights. What's next? Removing a nun's robes? The Pope's garb? Tell Orthodox Jewish women to wear miniskirts? I feel like this is a double standard poorly masking a bigoted bias against Muslims. Are the veils harming anyone? I know plenty of strong-willed, independent Muslim women who choose to wear the veil, or the hijjab...sometimes from families who were very moderate and were surprised their daughters chose that path. I think these women should be allowed to wear what they want--plenty of people wear offensive clothing all the time without fear that the government will not allow them to wear it into hospitals...

Radicalizing religion does not help. Neither does abusing human rights and choices.

Best,
Alena

Cold Warriors say NO to Nukes

Dear readers,

I will be more prolific this week, but just wanted to let you know about a film on nuclear non-proliferation. The key to how important this, is the people involved:

"Nuclear Tipping Point is a conversation with four men intimately involved in American diplomacy and national security over the last four decades. Former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of Defense Bill Perry and former Senator Sam Nunn share the personal experiences that led them to write two Wall Street Journal op-eds, in support of a world free of nuclear weapons and the steps needed to get there. Their efforts have reframed the global debate on nuclear issues and, according to the New York Times, "sent waves through the global policy establishment.""

Nuclear Tipping Point. Go here for information about the film.

The original op-eds in the Wall Street Journal are available on a pdf on the main site (WSJ charges for readership). Scroll to the middle and it'll open up.

Food for thought, hmm?

Best,
Alena

A Case of Mistaken Identity

Dear Friends,

Sorry for my absence--I was abroad in a country where my blog is blocked (not because of my infamy, but because all blogs with words like 'war' and 'terrorist' in them are blocked in that country).

A friend send this story to me. Apparently a poster showing ways Osama bin Laden 'might look' has the picture of an existing MP from Spain as one of the possibilities. The FBI forensic artist admitted he had used a 'picture he found on the internet', which turned out to be the MP's old campaign picture and just cut-and-pasted it to his poster.

The MP in question is justifiably concerned that he's now on no-fly lists (not that that prevents people from getting on planes). I'm sort of amused that the forensic artist just picked some random picture of a real person for his work. That seems a bit lazy and sounds like something that an unprofessional artist would do (you'd think he'd at least notify the FBI that he's using a real elected official's picture from an allied country that has its own counter terrorism team, who hopefully isn't drawing mock-ups of our politicians...).

Either way, it's another sign of our counter-terrorist strategy needs thorough and serious improvement.

Best of luck to us all,
Alena

2010

I'm writing this from a plane headed to China. I spent the second decade of my life there--1992 to 1999. It will be an interesting homecoming.

I have yet to really think about 2010. 2009 was a tough and great year. I finished my Masters program, where I learned many many things and, for perhaps the first time in my life, felt surrounded with a similar 'type' of people. SIPA is a place full of nomads, people who can enter any room and make friends, learn new languages, and are happy with a certain footloose life. They work hard and party hard because so much of life has been temporary. I never had to explain my background, why I want to learn to make chebujen (sp?) and chupe and why I'll never buy a house or live in one place.

I've moved 7 times this year. I've been job hunting for over a year. I'm teaching part-time. I'm in a wonderful relationship and have wonderful and close family and friends. I've started this blog and am trying to stay up-to-speed in both my field and to think out-of-the-box.

I'm a Buddhist and we don't (at least my sect) believe in heaven or hell after death. We believe that we are in interlinked levels of heaven and hell at all times. Two of the 'lower' levels of 'heaven' are learning and realization. 2000-2010 was probably my decade of learning--two degrees, a lot of self-exploration and lots of life skills. With this thought, I hope that the next decade will be about realization. I hope to develop wisdom, to understand how the things I learn play out in the real world and how to adapt myself without losing myself.

Exploring is part of my nature and I look forward to what I learn in the coming years! I also look forward to hearing your insights as this blog evolves into whatever it will become.

I wonder what I will realize.

Leave your trauma at home!

The other thing I've been wanting to discuss is PTSD and war trauma. I was reading a series of articles in the Foreign Service Journal from 2008. Civilians, soldiers, and most directly, regular citizens in situations of war experience shock, trauma and loss.

In conversations with military friends, they admitted to something of a double-standard. Yes, the military encourages those with problems, but as commanders, they'd be nervous about soldiers who have problems and might not be in top shape. The Foreign Service Journal described similar double standards and experiences where they were encouraged to keep a 'stiff upper lip' about their issues.

I'm not a therapist, psychologist or even well read on this subject, but I am very frustrated with US institutional and social treatment of war trauma. Also, this trauma extends to the host population. One of the reasons the Afghan and Iraqi people speak a different language than their American counterparts is that they've lived in three decades of war, sanctions and extremely difficult life-conditions. Counter that with refugees, IDPS, and multiple-tour soldiers and you have many groups of people, whom, if not engaged properly, their issues will spill over into greater problems. A great example of this is the relationship between soldiers, chemical dependency and homelessness.

The only real advice I can give is to ask people about their experiences, help them talk about things--because as we've seen in numerous situations, such as the shooting at Fort Hood, and the recent young Nigerian man in Detroit, mental fears, trauma and instability can be dangerous.

If you have thoughts, I'd love to hear them!

Send in the drones! Happy 2010!

Well, I was advised to write a new years blog, and here it is:

First, some issues I've been wanting to tackle, at least initially. I'm assuming most of you read the articles showing that AQ and insurgents in both Iraq and Afghanistan have tapped our unmanned spy drones that we use to spy on them. DoD has known about this weakness for a decade, but did nothing about it because they 'assumed adversaries would not be able to exploit it.' Wrong, obviously. But what is worse, is the assumption.

The 'enemy' is smart. Terrorists are smart. Criminals are smart. Sure, one side of terrorist groups and criminal organizations is just the 'grunts' and may not have a lot of sophisticated training, but assuming your enemy is not as smart as yourself is...less than smart. Terrorists have proven over and over that they are adaptive and proactive. In fact, we're almost always at a disadvantage, because the government is big, slow, bad at sharing information and so we are always reactive.

I'm going to continue in another blog post, just to keep things simple.

Best,
Alena

Don't go to war unless you can commit.

This is going to be a bit of an opinion piece. I'm sure I can find articles to support my thoughts, but this is one of the things I really learned in my ISP (International Security Policy) concentration at SIPA.

As Dr. Betts would say every year as he met the ISP incoming class: War is a serious business. It's about life and death. If you're not a serious person, get out and don't join ISP. At the time I thought he was just trying to scare off people who might waste his time. Now, I tend to agree with him.

I'm a pacifist, first and foremost. I generally think that violence is the tool of the desperate and unimaginative. Violence is easy to commit, easy to do, easy to justify. Nonviolent solutions to conflicts are difficult, hard to manage, confusing and require a pretty strong belief in the capacity of mankind.

US (and many other countries') leaders seem to approach war in a piecemeal fashion. Let's send 10,000 troops...which will take a year from order to boots-on-the-ground...and haggle over how many copters, what kinds of guns, etc. Bombing campaigns are popular and expensive. Like sanctions, they 'send a message' and don't cost a lot at home in terms of political support.

Fighting a proper war requires sacrifice, commitment, political will, lots of money, lots of imagination, lots of planning (and a clear set of goals!!), a well-trained military, civilian counterparts who understand something about war and clear communication. If you are haggling about troop numbers, I feel like you don't truly realize that you have to commit totally (i.e. fighting a total war to win even a limited war). If you aren't willing to commit, don't go in the first place, because the costs and realities of war will drag you to give more and more than you expected and then you'll be stuck fighting a total war anyway.

So, I'm in a funny place as a pacifist. Don't go to war, don't use violence. Ironically, my study of war reinforced my pacifism, since its clear that the costs of war escalate unless you have a lot of factors and will in your favor. So, don't go unless you're going 100% and are willing to pay the price in deaths, casualties, money, popularity and moral confusion.

(note, this is not an argument for increased violence in war, just better preparation. Fight smarter, not more brutally (brutally is counter-productive and just legitimizes and galvanizes your enemies)

I'll write more later that relates to others' analysis. I look forward to counter-arguments! :)

best,
alena

Thank goodness for MinneSNOWTA

I looked at the weather report this morning (5am) as I prepared to go to work, 20 degrees, clear, windy and cold.

Immediately my brain went through my wealth of winter options, picking out a long undershirt, a turtleneck, a larger turtleneck/sweater, tights, slacks, my warmer boots, hat made by grandma and my poofy coat.

Ready?
Check!
Go!

As I looked sympathetically at my boyfriend (he's from much warmer places), shivering next to me at the bus-stop, I thought:
Thank goodness for MinneSNOWta.

I spent 3 years in Minnesota, part of my attempt to 'discover America' and get to know the country of my birth after college. I learned many things there.

One thing I learned about was winter. It gets to -40 degrees. That's 40 degrees Farenheit AND Celsius (they're the same at that number) BELOW zero. My last job involved driving all around MN, in all weather, staying with my lovely volunteers, most of whom prefer winter over other seasons.

As a result, I own...approx 6 short coats of various windproofings and warmth, dozens of undershirts to provide consistent lack of skin, 2 long coats, 1 Chinese Communist coat that could easily be a sleeping bag or a small tent (its big, stuffed cotton, basically a large green comforter with arms), gloves, hats and mittens that can be worn at 15 below zero while snowmobiling at 60mph on a frozen lake in Ely or International Falls.

I learned many other things in MN, but I definitely learned about winter. Let me know if you need advice on winter clothes, pitfalls, or just stories about winters that are so cold that you can drive on the ice, have to plug in your car's engine so it doesn't freeze and have to be covered up so that you don't get frost bite or freeze to death.

:)
alena

Searching for ‘Disaster’

When I look for jobs on the internet, whether through Devex, USAJOBS.gov or FPA’s nice job list, I search for important words that describe what I want to do:

Conflict (prevention)
Disaster (management)
Genocide (prevention)
Conflict (early warning)
Conflict (management)
War
Peace (creating, keeping, etc)
(counter) terrorism
(anti) narco-trafficking, human trafficking, small arms trafficking
(anti) black markets
(helping) refugees, internally displaced persons
(trying to resolve) entrenched conflicts
(preventing, healing and resolving) gender based violence…etc

Strangely, the second part is always implied and I’m startled when people ask if I study genocide to commit genocide…I always forget to say ‘prevention.’ Funny how I forget also that it’s a bit weird to google ‘genocide’ and ‘conflict’ all the time.

What are your key words in your job search?

what happens when i search for conflict and then get it? :/

Women in the Military

Hey,

Just a quick link to a story that caught my eye:
Back from combat, women struggle for acceptance

Anyone have thoughts on this? I'm also a member of Women in International Security, which has a network, a Ning site and is a good place to discuss the challenges of women in conflict, security and this field in general.

Hope all is well,
Alena