Wonders of Africa: Timbuktu

Timbuktu
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-At one point, I thought Timbuktu was in Alaska. Then I thought it was a mythical city, like El Dorado or Atlantis. After visiting the Wonders of Africa site, however, I have learned otherwise. Ancient Malians have been speculated to be innovators in the iron, ceramic, and cow-herding industries.

-A 1000 year old university is in Timbuktu, called Timbuktu University. This is incredible because, while we might have a misconstrued stereotype that Africans are primitive, they have a University that is older than Harvard and Yale

-Despite being close to Europe, nobody knew of the city until the 19th century. This is amazing, considering that Europeans were trying to colonize everything in sight.

Africa: What comes to mind

The pressing term that comes to mind when I think of Africa is injustice. Many different things fall under this category. Whether it be the apartheid in South Africa, the Darfur genocide, the Slave Trade of the 18th and 19th century, or just the totally impoverished nations that Africa is full of. It is by far the most underprivileged continent in the world, and its lack of advancement often detracts attention from there, attention that is necessary in order to fix many of their problems.

Obsession

Section 1
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The scariest images were not those of the dead people, but of the burning of western flags. The hatred they display when they scream DEATH TO AMERICA is frightening.

Section 2
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They preach violence to children. They are taught to strive to die and be a martyr. In a Jordanian textbook, it states that "Islam will destroy all other religions". They hate America. To fear them is normal, but it is just giving in to them.

Section 3
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They slander Americans by accusing them of drinking blood, and accuse Israel and the US as being Satan. I just don't understand how they can hate a group so much, all over religion that claims to be the "Religion of Peace"? As westerners we try to look at these crazy actions and attempt to find a grain of well-found reason for why the terrorists do this. The propaganda the Arabs give out is very similar to that of the Nazi's spreading. IT is disgusting how they rap about terrorist attacks and celebrate them.

Section 4
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"We are strangling ourselves with our political correctness" It is scary to think about how the radicals live among us and we don't even notice it. They abuse the Islam values, and abuse people's initial trust.

Section 5
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People always think that they have more important things to worry about than these issues. People like Michael Moore are misinforming people that is not a threat. If we ignore it, results far worse than World War II's will occur. The problem with todays issues are that there are about 4 Hitlers, 6 Mussolinis, and 5 Hirohitos, along with an army that greatly outweighs in both strength and in number that of the Axis Powers. We must prevent these people from gaining power, because history is doomed to repeat itself if we just stand by idly.

Section 7
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As a Jew, I am extremely scared of this section. Constantly seeing the growth of anti-semitism, I can only pray that it does not infiltrate the USA. The scary thing is that the Islamic hate is fueled by religion, while Hitler fueled the German's slaughter of the Jews

Can the US ever win the war in Afghanistan

We can never win the war in Afghanistan, simply because our enemies do not fear anything. They are willing to die for their cause and will never surrender. Despite the fact that we easily removed the Taliban from power, we did not eliminate them. They will still fight us until we give in, and since that seems unlikely, this war will not end for a long time. Unfortunately, their motives are overall more important to them, and they will be more motivated to take out anyone who gets in the way of their Jihad.

Global Importance of the Middle East

Americas Dependency on Oil
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The idea is simple: America should slowly progress into using alternate energy sources for transportation. As mentioned in the article, we could use electricity to power our cars, or even alcohol fuels like ethanol. Perhaps we could even use a never-ending source: solar energy. No matter what alternate source we use, it will not only end our dependency on the Middle East, but will also totally cripple dangerous countries like Iran and Saudi Arabia's economies.


Oil and Water in the Middle East
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We should be concerned about the water resources in the Middle East (or the lack thereof) for many reasons. First, if we do not change our dependency on oil, oil can not be produced without water. And considering how much water Saudi Arabia uses per day for oil refinement (2 million barrels), the shortage of water in the Middle East is becoming worse and worse every day. Also, now that Turkey has built dams to prevent water from flowing out of their country into Iraq and Syria, violent conflict could arise over this water source. So while oil might be the main concern in the Middle East, we must not overlook oil.

Why Bush went to War

I strongly agree with Doherty. The most crucial point he made was the point that America is indebted to Israel because of Zionists, Jews, and Israelis supporting America's spread of democracy. The Bush Administration then determined that in order to help pave the road for smoother Israel peace talks, they must take care of Saddam Hussein. Hussein's elimination, according to Doherty, would hinder the Palestinian bombers' inventory, would cause Iraq to lower their oil prices, hurting Iran and Saudi Arabia, and allow the US to station soldiers in Iraq, thus enabling them to monitor Iran and Syria with great care. Also, this would protect one of our biggest military suppliers, Israel, from many Arab attacks. Therefore, Bush went into Iraq to gain oil, and to protect Israel by monitoring surrounding countries

Terror Zone True Life

In the True Life special about the Israeli-Arab conflict, one individual stood out to me the most. That person was Tal, the Israeli soldier. His life revolves around preventing Palestinians from continuing their Intifada, while preventing innocent Palestinians from living a normal life in the process. I find it admirable and inspiring that despite seeing his friends die at the hands of angry Palestinians, he still sees the whole picture, and wants a two-state solution. You know that someone is a true, fair soul when they are able to prevent one incident caused by a person of a specific ethnicity or gender to elicit feelings of hatred and vengeance towards that group. I also felt like he sounded like he regrets some of the things he must do as a soldier, and is proved evident when it is disclosed that he will leave Israel and travel the world after his military term is over.

Obviously, not even our soldiers can truly compare to the lives of the Israeli Defense Force. They sleep with their machine guns by their sides, knowing that any moment a bomb could detonate, a shot could be fired, or a throat could be slit. They all also don't necessarily support the cause, as they are forced into the military. In our society, joining the military is an act of bravery and patriotism. In Israel, nothing is thought of it, and it is as normal to them as going to high school is for us. The fact is, if Israel wants to maintain their country, they must have a semi-militaristic approach of governing the land in order to preserve it from imminent destruction.