Volume XIII Issue I September 2019

InsideFocus on

RhetoricPages 6&7

Int’l News OPINION Diplo News Diplo News

On page 3. On page 11. On page 12.

nicaraguan police violate international law in crackdown on

human rights advo-cates

One Month Since Kash-mir’s Lockdown, Modi’s hindutva agenda seems

to be working

On page 10.

interview with a critical language

scholar

Dr. Martin edwards: a chat with the depart-

ment chair

Child SoldierS FaCe Chal-lengeS with reCruitment

and reintegration in South Sudan

PolitiCal overhaul in Peur-to riCo ContinueS

the tuniSian PreSidential PrediCament

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Mark J. Wood Staff Writer

This year marked two important anniversaries in the fight to protect chil-dren impacted by war and violence – the 30th anni-versary of the Conven-tion on the Rights of the Child, and 20 years since the United Nations Secu-rity Council first passed Resolution 1261 on chil-dren and armed conflict. However, today in South Sudan, innocent children are still recruited into the country’s ongoing con-flict, remaining victims to a war not of their own making.

The Guardian reports that across South Sudan, children are still recruit-ed by armed groups as cooks, fighters, spies, and

messengers. Girls contin-ue to suffer from especial-ly cruel and ill-treatment, as many are forced into marriage and prostitution with soldiers three or four times their age.

United Nations Special Representative for Chil-dren in Armed Conflict Virginia Gamba’s brief to the Security Council on August 2nd, the Spe-cial Representative stated, “Rape and other forms of sexual violence is sig-nificantly under-reported, including when perpetrat-ed against boys. The fear of stigma and retaliation, the involvement of pow-erful perpetrators, lack of services and concerns for survivors and witness-es’ protection discourage children and witnesses from coming forward.”

Tensions within the governing Sudan People’s Liberated Army (SPLA) party sparked the violent inter-ethnic conflict after South Sudanese Presi-dent Salva Kiir fired his deputy, Riek Machar. Kiir belongs to the Dinka, the ethnic majority in the country, while Machar is a member of the Nuer, the second-largest group, re-ports the BBC. Since the conflict broke out in De-cember 2013, more than 19,000 child soldiers have been recruited into vari-ous armed groups.

Although recruiting children under 15 years of age is a war crime under international law, many of these crimes are never investigated.

The Guardian fur-ther reports that since

Alyssa Veltre Staff Writer

Puerto Ricans are on the path of political re-covery following former Governor Ricardo Ros-selló’s resignation, effec-tive August 2. Following the island’s largest protest in recent history over his scandal involving leaked private chats, corruption investigations, and arrests, Rosselló announced his intention to leave office on a recorded video he published on Facebook, according to NBC News. There, he touted self-pro-claimed accomplishments from his tenure, includ-ing stories of his efforts to fight corruption and bridge gaps between communities.

“My only North Star has been the well-being of my island,” Rosselló said. “What I wish most is peace and progress for my people.”

Rosselló was the first U.S. commonwealth gov-

ernor to resign in histo-ry. The news came after three attorneys to Puerto Rico’s House of Repre-sentatives unanimously found five offenses that acted as grounds for im-peachment. Following his announcement to resign, crowds of demonstrators chanted “¡Ricky, te bota-mos!” (“Ricky, we threw you out!”) according to NBC News.

Pedro Pierluisi, a lob-

Jarrett DangStaff Writer

On December 17, 2010, a fruit vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi lit himself on fire in front of a government office after he refused to pay a bribe to an inspector and

lost his fruit cart. Days later, Tunisians across the country gathered in the streets to protest wide-spread corruption, poor living conditions, and the ineffective government of Tunisian President Ben Ali. The protests cul-minated in the ousting of Ali and the formation of

a new democratic gov-ernment, according to BBC News. The success of democracy in Tuni-sia inspired others across the Arab world to rise up against their longtime rulers and sparked what is now called the Arab Spring.

Today, Tunisia is at a

crossroads. The country’s first democratically elect-ed leader, Beji Caid Es-sebsi, who has ruled since 2014, died in office in July at age 92. The coun-try is slated to hold early presidential elections on September 15 to fill the void Essebsi’s passing leaves. The Washington Post reports Tunisia’s electoral commission will officially allow 26 candi-dates to run, including former prime ministers, the country’s defense

minister, and a jailed me-dia tycoon named Nabil Karoui, who many widely consider to be the elec-tion frontrunner. The atmosphere surrounding the election is conten-tious, as Karoui’s arrest for money laundering and tax evasion charges casts doubt on the integrity of the government. Many claim the arrest to be politically motivated, as his television station was frequently critical of the government. Leader of

the governing Ennahda party Rached Ghannou-chi commented on the arrest, saying “We are not happy about this arrest or the disruption of the activities of any party or political leader,” reports the Associated Press.

The September presi-dential elections are a key step in maintaining Tuni-sia’s fledgling democracy. While Essebsi allowed the revolution’s democrat-ic dreams to thrive, the

Men and women line up to cast their official votes. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

byist and attorney, was sworn in as governor “in accordance with Section 7 and Article 4 of Puer-to Rico’s Constitution” on August 2 in San Juan, the same day as Rosselló’s effective resignation. Pier-luisi was not well-received by the public, with some calling his interpretation of Puerto Rican law “an atrocious abduction of Puerto Rico’s current

Protestors in Peurto Rico. Courtesy of WikimediaCommons.

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September 2019Page 2 International News

Child SoldierS FaCe ChallengeS with reCruit-

ment and reintegration in South Sudan

weStern euroPe StruggleS with iSlamiC State rePatriation eFFortS

Kaitlin PrincipatoStaff Writer

Over 13,000 Euro-pean nationals flocked to join the Islamic State (IS) since its rise in 2011. However, as the Islamic State’s caliphate gradually disappears, thousands of these fighters now seek to return to their coun-tries of origin. This com-plicated situation has left nations with unique legal and security challenges. How will countries decide how to proceed with the family members forced to leave their homes against their will and venture into IS territory?

Repatriations of for-mer fighters in Western Europe have been rare because of skepticism around reuniting former fighters with society, ac-cording to Arab Weekly. States are concerned that as previous members of a terrorist organization, these individuals pose a potential threat to society.

The Kurdish-led gov-ernment and Syrian Dem-ocratic Forces continue

to urge western countries to accept fighters back, claiming that there is lit-tle occupancy left for the thousands of foreigners seeking to go back to their countries. On the issue, President Donald Trump tweeted “If Eu-rope doesn’t take them, then I have no choice but to release them into the countries from which they came, which [are] Germany and France and other places.”

Trump’s public state-ment places increasing pressure on European countries to alter their course of action, to which some countries have re-sponded positively. For example, a German court ruled that female IS mem-bers must be allowed to reunite with their chil-dren.

On the other hand, other Western European countries exhibit a much different approach to fighter repatriation: The United Kingdom abso-lutely revoked the citi-zenships of any and all high-profile ISIS mem-

bers origi-nating from the country. France also refused to r e p a t r i a t e IS fighters with French citizenship, c l a i m i n g them to be “ enemie s” of the state and that they should be put on trial in either Syr-ia or Iraq, as noted by Re-uters.

Arab Weekly notes that on average, Central Asian nations have been the most proactive in bringing families togeth-er and returning fighters home. Russia has under-taken several initiatives to reincorporate these fighters into society. Tan-ya Lokshina, Human Rights Watch associate director for Europe and Central Asia, points out “Russia’s human rights record is deeply prob-lematic but it has done a

lot — more than Western democracies — on the issue of returns. Glob-ally, Russia had the most active program to return detainees from Iraq and Syria, notably children.” Other countries with similar programs include Kosovo, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, though many of these programs are oriented towards the repatriation of women and children as opposed to fighters themselves.

Although France and Denmark repatriated a total of fourteen orphans in 2019, outside sourc-es confirmed to Reuters that approximately 250 orphans are still stranded in Syria. In addition, CPH Post Denmark reports that any children born outside Denmark to Dan-ish ISIS fighters will lose their citizenship.

Danish immigration minister Inger Støjberg told CPH Post Denmark, “we are tightening the

the tuniSian PreSidential PrediCament

February last year, “360 girls and 610 boys have been released [in Yam-bio County] through the National Demobilisation, Disarmament and Rein-tegration Commission (DDR), in partnership with UNICEF, and the UN mission in South Sudan. More than 3,000 children have been re-leased in other states.”

UNICEF works close-ly together with the UN mission in South Su-dan (UN-MISS), the national dis-armament, demobiliza-tion and re-integration commission ( D D R C ) ,

public still worries that that other interests will upend Tunisia’s political transition. The presiden-tial election, which was supposed to take place after parliamentary elec-tions, will now take place beforehand due to a con-stitutional clause that calls for elections within 90 days of the president’s death. This move stokes fears that whoever wins the presidency will restrict the power of parliament or bar certain parties from running.

The early election date also makes it hard to pre-dict what will take power in parliament. Accord-ing to the Washington Post, the Ennahda party, which controls the larg-

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and other partners to sup-port these children.

Jean Lieby, chief of child protection for UNICEF in South Sudan, says that fear and stig-ma sometimes mean that women and girls miss out on getting the full support they need.

“Girls are given spe-cial attention and offered counselling following the screening. It is, however, recognized as a problem, in certain areas, to identi-fy girls leaving the armed

est share of seats in Par-liament, would likely face fierce opposition from other parties if it won the presidency and could cause other parties to rail against it. Alternatively, the Carnegie Foundation says that the party that wins the election could receive a boost in the polls and make it harder for other parties to com-pete.

Whoever wins the presidency in Tunisia will have to contend with a number of high-tension issues inherited from Es-sebsi and even the Ali regime. The economy under Essebsi remained stagnant, and many of the issues that Tunisia faced before Ali’s ousting like corruption and sagging economic growth remain. According to the Econo-

forces and groups, be-cause they do not want the stigma of being iden-tified,” said Lieby.

The legacy of war re-mains with many of the children who have been robbed of their right to be free children. Stronger international support is needed on the ground to work to reintegrate child soldiers with an open so-ciety. Their lives will nev-er be the same, but the international community has a legal and moral re-

sponsibility to ensure that such wicked ac-tions against children are put to an end and those responsible do not escape with impu-nity.

Contact Mark at mark.wood@student.shu.edu

rules so children born in areas where it is illegal to be or travel to are not automatically given Dan-ish citizenship at birth. Their parents have turned their backs on Denmark, so there is no reason for their kids to become Dan-ish citizens.”

Contact Kaitlin at kaitlin.principato@student.shu.edu

Islamic soldiers on the street of Raqqa. Courtesy of Mashable.

Children soldiers in South Sudan. Courtesy of Mark Ellis.

mist, Tunisians are weary of party politics in a frac-tured political landscape split between secular and Islamist interests. Most, especially the youth, want change. It will not be an easy job, but whoever wins the election in Sep-tember faces the immense challenge of keeping the flame of democracy alive while giving the average Tunisian a reason to trust in the system.

Contact Jarrett at jarrett.dang@student.shu.edu

niCaraguan PoliCe violate international law in CraCkdown on human rightS advoCateS

PolitiCal overhaul in Peurto riCo ContinueS

September 2019Page 3International News

constitution.” San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz, who intends to run for governor in the 2020 elections, filed an appeal to challenge the legitima-cy of Pierluisi’s succes-sion to the governor.

Less than a week after the high court ruled Pe-dro Pierluisi’s rise to pow-er as unconstitutional, Wanda Vázquez Garced became the third gover-nor of Puerto Rico. She was sworn in shortly af-ter Pierluisi relinquished governorship, according to the Wall Street Journal. Garced has been acting Governor of Puerto Rico since August 7.

Unfortunately, all is apparently not well with Garced’s administration either, because, by August 22, Puerto Ricans were holding town assemblies to figure out the steps to elect yet another gover-nor. Adrian Florido, an NPR correspondent to Puerto Rico, said, “These assemblies… what do the citizens want? How can we improve the con-ditions in which Puerto

Ricans are living?” Ac-cording to Florido, the responses ranged from minimalistic to a complete government turnover. Calls for major political overhaul and focus on local unrepaired damage from 2017’s Hurricane Maria were amongst the most common demands.

With continued discon-tent among the Puerto Ri-can people, one can only be hopeful that Garced can succeed where Ros-selló did not and remain where Pierluisi could not. What is evident is the fact that Puerto Rico’s present situation is extremely del-icate. Whoever ultimately ends up at the head of the Puerto Rican government has extremely important and timely decisions to make. These decisions may mean the difference between conflict and re-covery in the months ahead

Contact Alyssa at alyssa.veltre@student.shu.edu

tenSionS riSe aS Colombian rebel grouPS amaSS Strength in venezuela

Joshua NewmanStaff Writer

As the security situa-tion in Venezuela contin-ues to deteriorate, border-ing nations in the region fear violence will spill across their borders. The nation most at risk is Co-lombia, reports the Wash-ington Post.

Colombia already deals with preexisting securi-ty threats such as drug trafficking and an over-whelming refugee crisis, and these threats can grow to unmanageable size with a failing state across the border. One such threat, the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN), is already taking advantage of the devolv-ing state of affairs. The ELN is a Marxist terror-ist group often consid-ered as a smaller faction of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Co-lombia (FARC) by Amer-ican media, according to the Washing Post. FARC fought a five-decade-long war with the Colombi-an government from 1964 to 2016, killing over 260,000, according to a Reuters report. Despite the two sides reaching a peace agreement in 2016, for many fighters, the war is not yet over. Armed groups like the ELN are now swelling in size, and as Venezuela’s security falters, both countries

face an increased risk of militant violence.

Wall Street Journal reports that Venezuelan President Nicolas Mad-uro permits the ELN to control a portion of ru-ral Venezuela along the Colombian border. This allows the ELN to run illegal mines and traf-fic drugs. Of the 2,400 ELN rebels, nearly half currently reside in Vene-zuela, including a number of top commanders. In exchange for noninterfer-ence, Venezuelan officials often use ELN troops to put down business rivals, a key asset in the nev-er-ending struggle over the illicit substances trade. As a result of increasing influence over the region, the ELM quickly becom-ing a powerful criminal organization in Venezue-la.

In addition to gaining territory, the ELN re-ceives other major bene-fits from its relationship with the Maduro regime. Bloomberg Politics re-ports that the Venezuelan government trains rebels in the use of advanced weapons systems, includ-ing rockets. These rock-ets, the Russian manufac-tured IGLA surface-to-air missile, have the capabili-ty to bring down aircraft, increasing the lethality of the formerly small rebel group. Though Colombia is certain the rebel forces

received formal training, they do not know wheth-er the ELN acquired their own missile launchers. The final advantage of the failing Venezuelan state offers to the rebel group is a chance to in-crease their recruitment numbers. In a nation where food is scarce and steady income even more so, groups like the ELN offer a relatively secure life. The ELN recruited an estimated 250 Vene-zuelan citizens this year, and that number is likely to grow, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Though the ELN is growing in size, they are only one threat to Colom-bian security and as the situation worsens, so do tensions between Colom-bia and Venezuela. Ac-cording to Reuters, Ven-ezuela continues to carry out military exercises on the Colombian border, a move that Colombia’s foreign minister called “a direct threat to regional stability.”

Caracas or-dered the exercises after it told forces to be on alert for a possible Colom-bian attack. This new escalation comes as FARC announced plans for rearmament in a video, ignor-ing the 2016 peace

deal. Colombian officials believe that FARC record-ed the video in Venezuela, possibly making them the second Colombian rebel group to take advantage of the Venezuelan crisis. Colombia responded in typical fashion, escalat-ing its war of words with the Maduro regime. Ac-cording to US News and World Report, Colombi-an President Ivan Duque responded to the Venezu-elan threat in a local radio broadcast in Barranquil-la, stating “Instead of spending that money on missiles, protect the Ven-ezuelan people, give them food.”

Given that armed vio-lence in fragile states has led to spill-over conflicts in the past, Columbia has a right to be nervous about these latest devel-opments.

Contact Joshua at joshua.new-man@student.shu.edu

Stephanie Miller News Editor

Over the course of a swift single-session trial lasting over 10 hours, a court in Managua, Nica-ragua tried and convicted attorney Maria Oviedo for police obstruction on Thursday, August 29, 2019. The plaintiff, police lieutenant Óscar López, accused Oviedo of in-terfering with official po-lice business in Masaya. Oviedo alleged that the lieutenant harassed and groped her as she visited a political prisoner she represented at a police precinct.

The court later sus-pended Oviedo’s sentenc-ing on September 2, citing her allegations of harass-ment, but upheld its ini-

tial conviction, according to La Prensa. Óscar López currently faces no criminal charges.

Oviedo’s story is not the first of its kind in Nica-ragua. All across the country, hu-man rights advo-cates live and work in constant fear of abuse at the hands of Nicara-guan security forces, who serve as tools in President Daniel Ortega’s brutal crackdown on political opposition and its per-ceived proponents.

Attorney Aura Estela Alarcon was assaulted and robbed in front of thirty police officers on August 19. The officers blatantly refused to come to her

aid, allegedly due to her work as a lawyer with the Legal Defense Unit, Nic-aragua’s public defender's office. Their police chief was later observed pro-tecting her assailants in his private office, reports the Havana Times.

Prior to the August 19 assault, Alarcon had been attacked by gov-ernment-aligned groups twice within the past year, including an incident

where she was rammed by a vehicle. On all three occasions, police refused to accept her report.

“These events are af-fecting me – and not only me, but also a group of colleagues who, like my-self, are dedicated to de-fending other people’s rights,” Alarcon later de-nounced in a public state-ment.

The Legal Defense Unit has reportedly reg-

istered an uptick in violence against their attorneys, who often defend members of the political opposi-tion. However, lawyers are not the only public ser-vants who come under attack. The Committee to

Protect Journal-ists (CPJ) states that as of June 2019, at least 50 Nicaraguan journalists are currently in exile, having fled violence and intimi-dation by security forces in the wake of the 2018 mass protests. Since then, journalists in the coun-try also report increased government surveillance of their homes and work-places, with foreign jour-nalists facing arrest and

deportation if they open-ly criticize the Ortega ad-ministration.

On June 11, 2019, au-thorities released jour-nalists Miguel Mora and Lucía Pineda Ubau after nearly six months in pris-on. The two men faced charges of "inciting vi-olence and hate" and "promoting terrorism,” two increasingly common charges levied against journalists perceived to support political oppo-sition in Nicaragua. Al-though the charges were dropped after the Orte-ga administration began freeing political prison-ers, those who assaulted Mora and Ubau will nev-er be brought to justice. According to Reuters, the so-called ‘amnesty Continue on page 4...

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Human Rights advocates raise other’s awareness. Courtesy of Flickr.

The fight for a better Venezuela. Courtesy of Miguel Gutierrez.

September 2019Page 4 International News

Nicaraguan Police Violate

International Law in Crack-

down on Human Rights

Advocate

South China Sea: a region oF PeaCeFul hoStility

Tien PhanLayout Editor

With its wealth of nat-ural resources and po-tential power influence, the South China Sea has always been a high alert region. Tensions have risen to new heights in the years since Xi Jinping took power as both Gen-eral Secretary of China Communist Party and President of the Peo-ple’s Republic of China in 2012, as seen in the maritime disputes over the development of the ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The maritime climate in the South China Sea continues to grow hot-ter as China increases its activities in the region. South China Morning Post says that in August of this year, Chinese Navy conducted a week-long exercise in the Gulf of Tonkin despite warn-ings from the Chinese Maritime Safety Admin-istration not to enter the

zones. Their goal is to display the military pow-er of China to the world and simultaneously pro-tect their sovereignty and economic interests in the Southern region.

Neighboring Vietnam previously remained qui-et on the issue of Chi-nese maritime expansion, largely due to China’s recognition of Vietnam-ese coastline boundaries in the 2000 agreement on Maritime Delimita-tion. However, noting the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) documentation of China’s increasingly un-lawful activities like the construction of military bases and infrastructure in the Sea, the smaller Southeast Asian nation may be preparing to take a stronger stance on the issue in the near future.

The Maritime Exec-utive reports that south of the nine-dash line, a boundary covering the maritime region for Tai-wan, Malaysia, the Phil-

ippines, Brunei, Vietnam, and China, a survey ship named Haiyang Dizhi 8 entered the region con-taining a large oil shelf close to the Vietnamese coastline and a Malay-sian oil rig off the conti-nental shelf. Taking issue with potential sovereignty infringement, Vietnam responded alongside Ma-laysia and Australia and condemned China’s ac-tions, reports Radio Free Asia. In a joint statement between Vietnam and Malaysia, Prime Ministers Mahathir Mohamad and Nguyen Xuan Phuc em-phasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability through diplo-matic process instead of retaliation.

The Philippines re-mains completely silent on the issue of Chinese encroachment, reports Inquirer. Although the island country set an enormous precedent in winning their 2016 Hague arbitration against Chi-na over possession over

the West Philippines Sea, experts on the issue note that President Rodrigo Duterte has been keener on cooperation for eco-nomic development with China rather than joining other states in challenging China’s influence.

On August 22, Presi-dent Duterte visits Presi-dent Xi of China in hope of encouraging more inter-state investment, according to The Hindu. While recognizing the result of the arbitration, both leaders swiftly put aside the topic in order to further their conversation on cooperation, which fo-cused on ways in which they could jointly extract the oil supply within the disputed West Philippines Sea. By agreeing to fur-ther cooperation, negotia-

tion on a consensual code of conduct for the South China Sea could be accel-erated by 2021.

The nation of Bru-nei also favors economic cooperation with China rather than the need to voice a strong objection to the issue. Due to their need to enhance their Vision 2035 goal, Bru-nei is more interested in investing their time and resources to bolster their country economically rather than strengthen their power militarily. The Diplomat reports that Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei insists their re-lationship can be a strate-gic one, which would fur-ther strengthen China’s influence in the area.

Though essential to continued peace in the

region, the goal of other Southeast Asian states to maintain the balance of power with China is not realistic without the as-sistance of a major world power such as the United States. Despite a strong assertion of influence in the region, the Washing-ton Examiner reports that the USS Ronald Reagan sails through the South China Sea promoting the message of “Peace through Strength.”

Following this action, the naval forces of the Philippines, Brunei, and Vietnam set sail togeth-er in anticipation of a scheduled joint maritime drill, carried out within the week of September 9 through 13, according to The Phnom Penh Post. With the United States leading the way, the drill and other joint actions in the near future will hopefully enhance mili-tary cooperation between ASEAN (Association of South East Asia Nations) countries in the case of Chinese provocation or retaliation.

Contact Tien at tien.phan@student.shu.edu

law’ under which political opposition figures were released in the summer continues to protect those who commit violent acts against political prisoners.

Justice for political prisoners is not the only waning force in Nicara-gua. So too, it seems, is the power of doctors and nurses to provide life-sav-ing care for their patients. In 2018, Human Rights Watch (HRW) document-ed incidences of police forces threatening medi-cal providers attempting to treat student protest-ers, many of who had sustained injuries from torture, including electric shocks, beatings, sexual abuse, and waterboarding.

Although doctors con-tinue to maintain an in-formal treatment network in the form of makeshift clinics, they often risk their careers and their freedom in treating po-litical activists. According

to Nicaragua’s Medical Association, nearly 300 doctors, nurses, and other health workers have been fired for treating protest-ers. Even more current-ly live in exile, unable to return home for fear of police retaliation. Dr. Josmar Briones of Ma-nagua reported to HRW that paramilitary forces often stormed his clin-ics, threatened to kill him and his patients, and kept his family under constant surveillance until they fled the country.

The denial of victims’ rights of justice “erodes public trust in state in-stitutions,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet stated in a report urging immediate investi-gation into Ortega regime abuses. “This situation [in Nicaragua] reflects a lack of will to ensure account-ability and entrenches im-punity for human rights violations.”

Contact Stephanie at stepha-nie.miller@student.shu.edu

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illegal aid diverSion StarveS CivilianS in yemen

Kevin IngenitoStaff Writer

Exacerbating what the United Nations calls “the world’s worst humanitar-ian crisis,” both Houthi rebel forces and the Sau-di-led coalition in Yemen continue to use and abuse access to aid and food as a political tool in con-flict. Reuters reports that the World Food Program (WFP) was forced to tem-porarily suspend opera-tions in the famine-strick-en country after reports surfaced of military lead-ers on both sides of the conflict diverting critical aid away from civilians.

Although aid opera-tions resumed last month, the thousands of Yemeni citizens who depend on the WFP as their only ac-cess to basic needs are still starving and desperate.

Qaid is just one of the millions of Yeme-ni civilians struggling to feed their families. He is also one of thousands starving from within the Houthi stronghold in Sa-na’a. In an interview with Voice of America (VOA), he stated “We’re sort of

dependent on…leftover rice. We pay dishwashers $.80 for collecting [it.]”

The country-wide fam-ine first began after Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked the allegedly cor-rupt Yemeni government.

VOA reports that both sides are to blame for the lack of food in Yemen. Saudi Arabia continues its mass airstrike campaign in the region, severely limit-ing the starving country’s food production capabili-ties. Meanwhile, the rebels steal the small amount of food that remains and sell it off to fund their war ef-forts.

The suspension of WFP aid, however tem-porary it was, compounds the famine’s catastroph-ic impact on the civilian

populace. While WFP was able to resume its operations this year, lack of funding forced many other organizations to terminate their programs entirely. According to ReliefWeb, “a staggering

22 life-saving programs will close in the next two months unless funding is received.”

In addition to food programs, civilians also lack access to many other basic services. ReliefWeb also states that in addi-tion to shutting down its clean water initiatives, the ongoing conflict forced the United Nations to suspend most of Yemen’s vaccination campaigns in May, leaving men, wom-en, and children alike without access to sanitary

water and medical aid. Faced with extremely

high malnutrition rates, aid diversion issues, and mass program shutdowns, the Yemeni government is developing ‘biometric registration’ systems to guarantee civilians un-impeded access to food. With the measures such as Iris scanning, fingerprints, and facial recognition al-ready in place in several towns and settlements throughout Yemen, the system will enhance secu-rity and ensure that food is going to civilians, not armed groups.

Even with growing support for humanitarian aid and security program enhancement, Yemen remains extremely un-der-funded and deprived of basic needs. As the on-going civil war places populations at increased risk of violence, more ef-forts must be made in the future to help improve the quality of life for all civilians in conflict.

Contact Kevin at kevin.ingenito@student.shu.edu

The nine-dash line. Courtesy of the Economist.

The unkown fate of the Yemini. Courtesy of Al Jazeera.

Get in the Loop September 2019 Page 5

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate: Nadia Murad Justice for Survivors: Rebuilding Lives of Sexual Slaves

Featured Remarks and Honorary Degree Ceremony at the 2019 Forum on Modern Slavery:

21st Century Solutions

Friday, September 27, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Seton Hall University, Bethany Hall

udsa.shu@gmail.com

stephen.hoffman@student.shu.edu globalcurrent@shu.edu

womendiplomacy@shu.edu

unashu@shu.edu

September 2019Page 6 Focus on

gurbanguly berdymukhumedov

Jair bolSonaro

Natalie ShermanStaff Writer

On July 24, 2019, Al-san Rubaev, the direc-tor of the Russia-based Center for Monitoring Eurasian Problems, came on the air to announce the death of Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the president of Turkmeni-stan.

Radio Free Europe re-ports that the announce-ment came after a week in which there had been no announcements from or news about him, which is highly unusual. This announcement began an avalanche of false reports about the president’s death.

To dispel the rumors of his death, Berdy-mukhamedov appeared on state television in a se-ries of videos of himself driving a rally car, riding a bike, shooting a gun, and driving in circles near the edge of the famous Hell’s Gate Crater, a natural gas deposit that has been on fire since 1971.

In 2017, a video of Berdymukhamedov was shown firing at a target and throwing knives with extreme accuracy while military men watched

in astonishment and clapped. The video drew criticism both within and outside the country be-cause of its objective ab-surdity.

The video is reportedly an attempt to demonstrate his military genius to make the people of Turk-menistan feel safer amid reports of Islamic State activity on the Turkmen side of the Turkmen-Af-ghan border. A Turkmen opposition website, The Chronicles of Turkmeni-stan, edited the video and set it to the music of the Arnold Schwarzeneggar movie Commando, earn-ing Berdymukhamedov the title of “Turkmena-tor.”

This exhibitionism and strong-man persona are hardly out of character for Berdymukhamedov, nor for the Eurasian region. As ridiculous as the ac-tions of Berdymukhame-dov may seem, he is not harmless. Turkmenistan is formally referred to as a super-presidential repub-lic, with all its key powers given to the president.

Berdymukhamedov rules what is considered one of the world’s most repressive countries and enacts extraordinarily

strict emigration laws. In order to leave, citizens must obtain a special exit visa, and citizens under forty years of age are not permitted to leave at all.

Given the economic situation in Turkmeni-stan, these strict rules are presumed to be the only thing standing in the way of a mass exodus from the country. 112.interna-tional reported that Turk-menistan frequently suf-fers from food shortages, and it is experiencing hy-perinflation of about 290 percent of their GDP.

Despite the diffi-

cult economic situation, Berdymukhamedov is supposed to have won Turkmenistan’s presiden-tial elections with 98 per-cent of the vote in 2017. Such numbers are to be expected in Turkmeni-stan. Niyazov once won an election with 99.9 per-cent of the vote. Regard-less of the outcome, the Commonwealth of Inde-pendent States reviewed the results and claimed to find no irregularities.

The next leader of Turkmenistan is believed to be Berdymukhame-dov’s son Serdar, who re-

cently became a regional governor. Turkmenistan is frequently compared to North Korea and es-tablishing a line of suc-cession will increase the similarities. It also seems that if Serdar does inherit the role of president from his father that such living conditions will continue in Turkmenistan.

Turkmenistan was ranked by Freedom House as the world’s fifth-most authoritarian state, directly below North Ko-rea. Though he has been ruling for over a decade, Berdymukhamedov came

Julia NicollsStaff Writer

With fires in the Am-azon Rainforest and pressures for a solution to climate change rising, society’s environmental outlook on the future for

the next 12 years is rapidly deteriorating. In October of 2018, the Intergovern-mental Panel on Climate Change released a report that if tangible and large-scale decisions are not made in an estimated 12 years, the effects of cli-

mate change will be irre-versible.

Despite this alarming information, government officials are reluctant to make decisions reflect-ing this new information. Considering this added pressure to act, the rhet-

oric of world leaders and large corporations weigh now like they never have before.

The Amazon Rain-forest is a global entity. With value extending be-yond South America, it produces 20 percent of the world’s oxygen. Addi-tionally, this area absorbs a significant amount of carbon dioxide, slowing the negative effects of climate change. With ev-erything it does for the world, it is clear why this rainforest has gained the nickname “lungs of the planet,” as CBS reports.

For the past several years, Brazil was one of the frontrunners leading the world into a more sustainable future. De-spite corrupt actions, pri-or presidents like, Dilma Rousseff and Luis Inacio Lula De Silva prioritized environmental actions.

Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s

current President, takes an unorthodox stance on climate policy. He stated in an interview with the BBC, "It's enough to eat a little less. You talk about environmental pollution. It's enough to poop ev-ery other day. That will be better for the whole world."

As members of the G7 attempted to pro-vide millions of dollars in assistance, Bolsanaro not only rejected their aid, but claimed that the French government “must apologize first” for “questioning Bolsan-aro’s commitment to the environment,” before Brazil will accept their aid. Shortly after his com-ments towards the French government, Bolsonaro called out French presi-dent Emmanuel Macron’s wife multiple times with sexist remarks. Accord-ing to MSN, the Brazilian

to power after the death of Turkmenistan’s pre-vious authoritarian ruler, Saparamurat Niyazov, who was referred to as the “father of the nation.”

Niyazov ruled with a “cult of personality” and thought of himself as a god. Berdymukhamedov had large shoes to fill, but in his thirteen-year-long rule, he has proven that he intends to be venerat-ed like his predecessor.

Contact Natalie at natalie.sherman@student.shu.edu

populace responded apol-ogetically. Some even went so far as to compare Bolsanaro to Spongebob, saying, “Sorry about our president, he’s an idiot. #DesculpaBrigitte.”

The rhetoric Bolsana-ro posed toward Macron is only a portion of the statements he has made. In response to these no-tions, Bolsonaro’s ap-proval rating dropped from 39 percent to 29.4 percent over the last sev-eral months.

Macron responded to a multitude of negative re-sponses by stating, “What can I tell you? It's sad, but it's sad most of all for him and for the Brazilians,” as reported by French news site France 24.

Contact Julia at julia.nicolls@student.shu.edu

President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov with a guest. Courtesy of Presidential Press and Information Office.

President Jair Bolsonaro. Courtesy of Palacio de Planalto.

September 2019Page 7Rhetoric

boriS JohnSon

donald trumPCasey Hatchimonji

Web EditorPrompted by Danish

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s response to the President’s interest in purchasing the Dan-ish autonomous territory of Greenland, President Donald Trump recently postponed his state visit to Denmark.

According to CNN, Trump had previously ex-pressed interest in buying Greenland, causing many within the White House to label the idea as a way to build the President’s legacy. In an interview

quoted by The Wash-ington Post, Frederiksen responded by calling the idea “absurd,” but then quickly emphasized that Denmark considers the United States as one of their closest allies.

As a response, Trump took to Twitter to an-nounce that he was post-poning his trip to Den-mark, later telling the press that Frederiksen’s response was “nasty” and “inappropriate,” reports CNBC.

This type of response from the president comes as no surprise to many

Americans. Trump has repeatedly characterized world leaders who he dis-agrees with as “nasty,” of-ten when they are female. Trump’s choice words, which are often labeled as polarizing and inflamma-tory, have been an ongo-ing trend since the 2016 presidential campaign and he has been repeatedly criticized for it.

Trump’s statements regarding the Danish Prime Minister came a few weeks after he came under scrutiny for his response to the mass shooting in El Paso, Tex-

as. Prior to the attack, the suspected shooter posted a document online detail-ing his hatred towards im-migrants and the Latinx community.

According to The New York Times, the shooter stated that the attack, “is a response to the Hispanic invasion of Texas.” At a rally a few months prior to the midterm elections, Trump stated that the U.S. was under attack saying that there was an “inva-sion.”

More recently, during a rally in Florida, Trump laughed when an audience

member shouted “shoot them” as a response to the president’s ideas on how to stop people from crossing the border, re-ports USA Today.

In a televised remark reported on by The New York Times, Trump re-sponded to the shooting by stating, “hate has no place in our country, and we’re going to take care of it.” This response sparked public outrage, with many criticizing Trump for not mentioning the racism and white supremacism in the shooter’s manifesto.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the U.S. media and many of the demo-cratic presidential candi-dates were quick to draw parallels between Trump’s speeches and the suspect’s manifesto. Many of the candidates took to Twit-ter to criticize Trump’s response by calling it in-adequate.

Candidates also placed blame on the President, arguing that his use of hate speech propagat-ed the attack. In a tweet, Democratic presidential candidate and former El Paso Representative Beto O’Rourke accused Trump of stoking racism and in-citing violence, reports

Brian HilyardStaff Writer

According to The New York Times, Boris John-son is famous for being a living caricature. He con-sistently wears rumpled clothes, styles his hair so absurd that it has its own conspiracy theories, and jogs in public while wearing obnoxious atten-tion-grabbing clothing.

He is also known for being humorously upbeat during strange situations. While he was the Mayor of London, he was stuck on a zipline while pro-moting the 2012 Olym-pics. He also claimed a fa-vorite pastime of his was making tiny wooden Lon-don busses during an in-terview with talkRADIO.

While his strange an-tics are admired by many in the UK, his critics say he is inappropriately di-sheveled and unprepared,

or more crudely, an op-portunistic clown. How-ever, instead of merely stumbling around, it may be an intentional tactic on his part.

In a 2013 BBC News interview, he stated that “it is often useful to give the slight impression that you are deliberating pre-tending to not know what is going on,” in order to gain public attention through the media.

His political career includes two stints as a Member of Parliament from 2001-2008 and 2015-2019, two terms as Mayor of London from 2008-2016, and the Sec-retary of State for For-eign and Commonwealth Affairs under Theresa May from 2016-2018. Throughout his tenure, he has threatened to ruin his reputation and career by braking conventional political rules.

Again, after assuming the office of Prime Min-ister on July 24, 2019, he is in the center of contro-versy. As recorded by CBS News, Mr. Johnson, in a historical move, arranged to have the Parliament of the United Kingdom sus-pended from September 10 to October 14. As ex-plained by The Guardian, this would dramatically reduce the timeframe that parliament could stop a no-deal Brexit before they are scheduled to leave the European Union on Oc-tober 31. This suspension would leave less than a week to prepare for a meeting with the Euro-pean Council on October 17, where negotiations could potentially take place.

This move has caused outrage among both the public and Members of Parliament, even from Mr. Johnson’s own party. In

addition, he has attempt-ed to claim that this move is normal procedure and will deliver what the Brit-ish people want.

These remarks have led to multiple protests as panic sets in regarding the potential economic impacts a no-deal Brexit could have. This unrest has fueled tensions in what was already a chaot-ic ordeal. The Daily Mail displayed images of pro-

testors from all over En-gland taking to the streets and holding up signs ac-cusing Mr. Johnson of circumventing democra-cy and possibly staging a coup against Parliament.

The new British Prime Minister has always been unconventional, which has not only drawn crit-icism but contributed to his political success. How-ever, this time around, his combination of uncon-

CNN. Fellow Texan and democratic candidate Julián Castro described Trump as a “national spokesperson” for white nationalists and racists, according to The Hill.

Contrasting that of the Trump supporters yelling “shoot them” at rallies, the overriding consen-sus from the democrat-ic party is that Trump is impart responsible for in-citing hatred that can lead to tragic events, like the shooting in El Paso.

Whether or not Trump and his rhetoric can be labeled as a cause for the rise in open hatred is a debatable topic and is an-other issue the country will be divided on. Trump has set a trend of polar-izing people through di-visive speech, which has sparked controversy in the same way his presi-dency has.

Contact Casey at casey.hatchi-monji@student.shu.edu

ventional political ma-neuvers and lackluster justifications have led to increased domestic unrest both in the streets and in the government during the ever more volatile Brexit ordeal.

Contact Brian at brian.hilyard@student.shu.edu

President Donald Trump speaks at Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in D.C. Courtesy of Gage Skidmore.

Boris Johnson at a rally. Courtesy of Flickr.

September 2019Page 8 Opinion

no-deal brexit bloCk waS the right deCiSion For the united kingdom

From arbitrary detention to hezbollah: venezuela iS a terroriSt State

Mark GormanStaff Writer

Boris Johnson’s plan when he became Prime Minister was to push for a no-deal Brexit at any cost. Fortunately, this was blocked on September 6. Leaving the European Union (EU) this way is bad for a variety of rea-sons. The most immedi-ate issue would likely be a recession according to The United Kingdom Of-fice of Budget Respon-sibility. As reported by CNN, “the ‘heightened uncertainty and declining confidence’ would deter investment while higher trade barriers would slam exports.” This would weaken the Pound con-siderably and likely cause unemployment to rise.

Another major issue is Northern Ireland. Ac-cording to the BBC, while Britain remains in the EU, Northern Ireland’s econ-omy will remain stable, however, any deal to leave needs to handle trade

between Britain and the EU. Preventing a back-stop in Northern Ireland would solve the issue but in order to do so, Britain’s trade regulations and stan-dards would have to be nearly identical to those of the EU. This has been a non-starter for many Pro-Brexit politicians in Westminster as they want to leave the EU to break away from the EU’s trade regulations. Leaving without a deal is bad for both Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom as it would likely fan the flames of separatism in Northern Ireland, which has not been an issue since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

Scotland is also an is-sue not covered nearly as much as Ireland. Despite Scotland voting to remain in the United Kingdom back in 2014, a large ma-jority voted against leav-ing the EU as reported by the Associated Press. Now that Scotland is un-willingly dragged to leave

the EU, the separatist movement in Scotland received a boost of sup-port. While it is unlike-ly there will be a second referendum on the matter anytime soon, especial-ly with Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, Brexit could lead to a renewed movement for Scotland to leave the UK.

In line with Johnson’s hardline tactics on Brex-it, he recently asked the Queen to prorogue Parlia-ment, which she agreed to do, reports CNBC. This is a move that upset many Members of Parliament in Britain, as it would es-sentially shut down Parlia-

ment until October 14. It would also prevent legis-lation from being created or voted on for at least an-other five days after, leav-ing only about two weeks for any Brexit deal to be passed before the Octo-ber 31 deadline. While many MPs were not fond of Boris Johnson and his desire to get Britain out of the EU by any means on October 31, this move to nearly ensure a no-deal Brexit was a step too far.

In response to the pro-rogation, which took ef-fect as early as September 9, two votes were held, the first to allow opposition parties to introduce legis-

lation, which passed de-spite the opposit ion of the the-oretical ma-jority party, the Conser-vatives, and then a bill that would force Boris Johnson to

ask the EU for an exten-sion if a deal is not agreed upon before October 19, which passed both in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. This has broken the Conserva-tive’s majority as 21 MPs voted for these bills and have subsequently been kicked out of the party, leaving the Conservatives a minority government and no control over Par-liament.

The only questions left are whether the EU states would agree to extending the deadline and whether Boris Johnson will follow through with the law. The answer to the first ques-

tion is probably yes. Ac-cording to Reuters, EU states are doing what they can to soften their stance on Brexit, largely in an at-tempt to avoid blame if Britain crashes out of the EU. The last thing they want is to be blamed for any recession or econom-ic hardship that happens as a result of Britain leav-ing the EU without a deal put together.

The second question is more complex. Johnson opposes any extension to the Brexit deadline and hints at not follow-ing through with the law. However, if Johnson does not follow the new law, he will be found in contempt of court and be put in jail. The only other option for Johnson would be to resign, which his staff has not ruled out. Either way, Brexit probably will not happen anytime soon which will be beneficial for the British public.

Contact Mark at mark.gorman@student.shu.edu

Stephanie MillerNews Editor

On July 10, 2019, na-val captain Rafael Acos-ta died in the custody of Venezuelan intelligence authorities. He was bur-ied on government land, against his wife’s wishes, surrounded by securi-ty guards. At his funeral, his body was wrapped in brown plastic, ensuring that his family could not see the signs of electrocu-tion, blunt force trauma, and other tortures inflict-ed during his three-week-long imprisonment. The details of those atrocities were discovered only after his autopsy report was se-cretly leaked to the public.

Rafael Acosta is only the latest casualty of the Venezuelan intelligence community’s war on po-litical opposition. Citizens across the country contin-ue to be targeted by a re-gime seeking to tighten its grip over the general pop-ulace. Besides severe food shortages, hyperinflation, mass school closings, and nationwide power black-outs, civilians and mili-tary officers alike live in constant fear of arbitrary

arrest, detention, and tor-ture at the hands of Vene-zuelan security forces.

The New York Times reports that there are now 217 active and retired mil-itary personnel being held by security forces in Ven-ezuelan jails, with over 205 documented inci-dences of torture against officers, their relatives, and opposition activists reported since 2017.

Defected Bolivari-an National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) general Manuel Figuera told the Washington Post that many of the accused nev-er committed the crimes the government charges them with - conspiracy, espionage, and unlawful protesting to name a few. President Nicolas Mad-uro and his intelligence agency “butchers” do not exhibit concern for their detainees’ proclamations of innocence. They con-tinue to harass and abuse members of their own military as a means of suppressing dissent.

“This dictatorship is a danger to absolutely all of us,” Figuera wrote in an open letter. “No one is safe.”

Venezuelan intelli-gence agencies specifical-ly target military person-nel because they perceive them to be potential threats to the consolida-tion of Maduro’s regime.

In addition to harass-ing and detaining sus-pected dissidents, the government continues to perpetuate fear-inducing narratives amongst the general populace in the hopes of stifling resis-tance. According to Voice of America, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Montserrat likened Unit-ed States sanctions upon Venezuela to “economic terrorism” and suggested that the Trump admin-istration was attempting to starve out Venezuelan civilians.

“The goal is crystal clear,” Montserrat stated in a speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council, “to bring the Venezuelan economy to its knees and to prevent the Government from meeting the basic needs of its people.”

Ironically, the Vene-zuelan government it-self has yet to answer for its own dealings in

state-sponsored terror-ism. Foreign Policy re-ports that Iran-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah continues to maintain “active cells” in the country, working alongside the Maduro re-gime to establish a vast criminal infrastructure including drug trafficking, money laundering, and il-licit smuggling.

“Hezbollah performs intelligence work in Ven-ezuela,” hemispheric se-curity expert Joseph Hu-mire said in an interview with the Panam Post. He further explained that Hezbollah has a huge in-ternational money laun-dering network and offers its services to drug cartels.

The most concrete proof that the Maduro re-gime is collaborating with Hezbollah may be the rise and continued pow-er of politician Tareck El Aissami, an Arab-Vene-zuelan politician currently under sanctions from the U.S. Treasury Department for international narcotics trafficking. In addition to his current role as Madu-ro’s minister of industries and national production, El Aissami was vice-pres-

ident of Venezuela from 2017 to 2018. During that time, he issued 173 pass-ports to individuals from the Middle East, many of whom had previous ties to Hezbollah and affiliat-ed militant organizations.

El Aissami was also the head of SEBIN, the same intelligence agency that has been arbitrarily arrest-ing, detaining, and tor-turing opposition figures. Given that the timeline of his vice-presidency coincides with the ille-gal arrest and torture of over 200 military person-nel and civilians, it is not only extremely likely that El Assaimi sanctioned the Venezuelan intelligence community’s crackdown on political opposition, but also possible that Hezbollah cells in Vene-zuela reported directly to Aissami in collaboration with SEBIN at this time.

Noting the actions of his intelligence service, Tareck El Aissami is per-sonally accountable for crimes against humanity, as defined by Article 7 of the Rome Statute. This is not the thing that makes his tenure as Maduro’s right-hand man discon-

certing. If El Aissami is responsible for aiding Hezbollah’s entry into Venezuela, then the Mad-uro regime has been ef-fectively co-opted by a terrorist entity.

If the arbitrary arrest, torture, and murder of civilians by state security forces proves anything, it is that Venezuela has de-volved into a police state. Even more disturbing, however, is the blatant im-punity the Maduro regime enjoys as it continues to perpetuate state-spon-sored terrorism while disregarding the sanctity of human life. Given its co-option by Hezbollah, it is now clear that the U.S. cannot in good faith continue diplomatic ne-gotiations with the Madu-ro regime without also en-during the consequences of its by-proxy allegiance to Iran.

An active police state operating in the West-ern Hemisphere is bad enough. A terrorist state is even worse.

Contact Stephanie at stepha-nie.miller@student.shu.edu

No-Deal Brexit seems probable. Courtesy of WikimediaCommons.

September 2019Page 9Opinion

This publication is made possible through the generosity of the Constance J. Milstein, Esq., Endowed Fund.

The views expressed in The Diplomatic Envoy are those of the writers and are not intended to represent the views of the School of Diplomacy, Seton Hall

University, or the CJM Fund.

For more information on sources, go to TheDiplomaticEnvoy.com.

MARIAH MCCLOSKEYEditor-in-Chief

STEPHANIE MILLERNews Editor

SAVERIA ANTONACCIOpinion Editor

TIEN PHANLayout Editor

CONTRIBUTORSAlyssa Veltre

Axel SontgerathBrian Hilyard

Casey HatchimonjiHarshana Ghoorhoo

Isha AyeshaJackson LiedJarrett Dang

Joshua NewmanJulia Nicolls

Kaitlin PrincipatoKevin Ingenito

Luisa ChainferberMark Gorman

Mark StachowskiMark J. Wood

Natalie ShermanStephanie Miller

Tien Phan

ANDREW WILSONManaging Editor

JARRETT DANGAssociate Editor

CASEY HATCHIMONJIWeb Editor

DR. COURTNEY SMITHFaculty Adviser

trumP adminiStration makeS it more diFFiCult For Children

abroad to be CitizenSJackson Lied

Staff Writer

On August 28, NBC News reported that the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services issued an update to citi-zenship requirements for some children of U.S. mil-itary members and those working abroad for the U.S. government.

The update, which was issued quietly and initial-ly with little explanation, makes it so that children born or adopted into U.S. families overseas are no longer considered to be residents of the United States. Previously, these families were considered both in and out of the residence of the United States.

The new rule, howev-er, does not affect birth-right citizenship and only affects families in which the parents had not yet received naturalization upon having the child or the parents were U.S. cit-izens and adopted a child from non-U.S. citizens while abroad. If one or both parents are U.S. cit-

izens and had been res-idents of the U.S. for at least five years at the time of the birth of the child, they are not affected.

The nature of the up-date to the policy was a large part of the issue. The brief statement made on the USCIS website, with no warning, sparked panic among service members and U.S. gov-ernment employees living abroad. As quoted by the New York Times, Will Goodwin, an Army vet-eran said, “The children of Americans who risk their lives in uniform are not automatically citizens of the United States: That is an abominable and an-tipatriotic position for the Trump administration to take.”

Many others were in-stantly afraid their chil-dren would no longer be U.S. citizens. Upon asking why the new policy was put into place, the only concrete answer families received was that it is a codification of the prin-ciples already set down within the departments and law surrounding U.S.

citizenship. As reported by The Hill, acting di-rector of USCIS Ken Cuccinel-li stated: “This policy aligns USCIS’ process with the Depart-ment of State’s procedure, that’s it.”

After some clarification, it was made clear that about 100 families would be affected by the new pol-icy. Despite the actual effect being tamer than initial fears, there is still a fundamental problem here, which was pointed out more than once–the Trump administration basically made the ease of life much worse for families that protect this country with their very lives. 100 families may not make up the entirety of U.S. citizens trying to raise a family abroad while do-ing critical work, but it is still 100 families, and no number of human liveli-hoods is irrelevant.

The backlash is not only coming from fami-lies, but also from profes-sionals in the field of im-migration. CNN covered a statement by Martin Lester, chair of the Amer-ican Immigration Lawyers Association's Military As-sistance Program, "The fact that those of us who deal with immigration law all the time can read this memo and immediately point out plausible sce-narios leads me to believe it's going to impact some number of people. Im-pacting one person is too

many."This extra-bureaucra-

cy surrounding U.S. citi-zenship is also a sign that Trump may be nearing what he has threatened to do in the past – end birth-right citizenship. This move, however, would be considered unconsti-tutional. This may have been the closest thing his lawyers could theoretical-ly allow him to do.

Coming only a year be-fore the 2020 Presidential Election, this act that an-gered many service mem-bers, a source of support

for the Trump adminis-tration, may have been a questionable idea at best.

Only time will tell whether this is a stepping-stone to more extreme policy, or if it is the end, and whether this will be a benefit, or detriment, to Trump’s 2020 campaign. The impact, at least in rhetoric, will be more ex-pansive than solely affect-ing the families.

Contact Jackson at jackson.lied@student.shu.edu

Families are fighting to keep the same policies. Courtesy of HotAir.com.

September 2019Page 10 Opinion

bolSonaro Slowly giveS into international aid For amazon

one month SinCe kaShmir’S loCkdown, modi’S hindutva agenda SeemS to be working

Mark StachowskiStaff Writer

On Augut 26, the Bra-zilian government denied upwards of $20 million in aid from the G7 Sum-mit in France, according to CNN, making matters even worse for the on-going forest fire debate in Brazil. Now, however, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro may be re-considering the money pledged by the world’s top countries to help the Amazon. Bolsona-ro and French President Emmanuel Macron ex-

changed words, leading to a stall in the acceptance of the G7 financial aid package. Recent updates suggest that Brazil may be closer to cooperating, and steps might finally be go-ing in the right direction for the sake of the Ama-zon rainforest, The Wash-ington Post reports.

Bolsonaro argues “Be-fore speaking or accept-ing anything from France, even if it comes from the best possible intentions, [Macron] must retract his words… Then we can talk,” according to The Washington Post. The

Brazilian ambassador to France said Brazil rejected the G7 offer because the country was not involved in the primary talks about the issue. Bolsonaro de-tracted by commenting on the “colonial mentali-ty” of the G7, stating “He disguises his intentions behind an ‘alliance’ of the G7 countries to ‘save’ the Amazon as if it were a colony or no man’s land.”

Presidential spokes-person Otavio Rego Barros stated that accep-tance of the G7 funds depends on if the Bra-zilian government is able to administrate the aid themselves, as reported by CNN. Bolsonaro is taking on the view that he must remain sovereign, even in this time of cri-sis. He elaborated on his reaction to France, saying “[Macron] should think two, three times before he attempts to get out of the complicated situation

he is in, with huge dis-approval within his own country, by messing with us.” Brazil’s attitude to-ward the global outreach efforts for the Amazon fires has not been friend-ly, to say the least. They are seemingly too prideful to take aid from the G7 countries, with Bolsonaro making it clear that they want to handle the situa-tion on their own.

Science backs up the growing, global concern for the Amazon region. According to BBC News, The National Institute for Space Research of Brazil (INPE), calculated an 85 percent rise in forest fires this year thus far, which makes 2019 the most ac-tive year in the Amazon since 2010. The problem lies within Bolsonaro’s ad-ministration’s lax view of deforestation.

Doug Boucher, the Tropical Forests & Cli-mate Initiative scientific

advisor with the Union of Concerned Scientists, describes what’s hap-pening in Brazil and why this problem is so much worse than one may think. When trees are cut down in the Amazon, the carbon dioxide stored in them is released into the air. Fires are then pur-posefully started to create space and clear the area that was just cut down. Boucher offers insight on the consequences of the Bolsonaro Administra-tion’s views, arguing “The concern is also because Brazil’s basic policy of forestry has been turned on its head by the new ad-ministration and it might undo the significant prog-ress the country saw in re-cent years.”

The situation in the Amazon has many people involved and many opin-ions flying around. Over-all, the recent fires in the Amazon rainforest are of

utmost importance and Bolsonaro must seriously consider taking real action to combat the fires and help the most important ecosystem in the world.

Action is desperate-ly needed to prevent the fires that are going on. The root of the problem is in Bolsonaro’s admin-istration’s view on defor-estation. It allowed for deforestation to occur easily, more fires are being started, to the detriment of the rainforest and our precious Earth as a whole. More must be done about the recent fires in the Am-azon rainforest on the in-ternational level. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro must be held accountable for his actions and help the rest of the world co-operate and solving the ongoing problem.

Contact Mark at mark.stachowski@student.shu.edu

Isha AyeshaStaff Writer

On August 6, the Kashmir Valley woke up to complete pande-monium. Indian military troops circled the streets and there was no internet nor phone line connec-tion. People were arrested without much reasoning offered and there was a sense of complete chaos all around.

It has roughly been one month since the In-dian Government abro-gated Article 370 of its Constitution, revoking Kashmir’s special status as a semi-autonomous region. Since then, the Hindu Nationalist Gov-ernment of India put the region under lockdown, suspending all forms of communication, deploy-ing additional troops, ar-resting all political leaders, dissolving the state legis-lative assembly and en-forcing a strict curfew, the New York Times reports.

This move heightened tensions between India and its neighbor Paki-stan, another claimant to the region of Kashmir, which is a Muslim ma-jority area. As Al Jazeera reports, even though both

countries claim Kashmir as their own, their rule remains divided over the state, a factor that has fu-eled over 30 years of dis-pute.

The state in its entirety includes the Hindu-ma-jority region of Jammu and Muslim-majority re-gion of Kashmir, with a scant Buddhist population of Ladakh region. The re-cent bill passed by India grants the central govern-ment complete control of the region, which is being split into union territories of Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh, according to the New York Times.

Prime Minister of In-dia, Narendra Modi, justi-fies the move as a climax of a seven-decade long struggle for India to es-tablish what was rightfully hers, which has been one of the crux agendas of his political party: Bhara-tiya Janta Party, roughly translating into The Party of Indian People.

The Atlantic quotes Modi’s 40-minute tele-vised address in Hindi, he stated that it would boost economic develop-ment, fight corruption, and end gender, caste, and religious discrimina-tion in the erstwhile state. The voided constitution-

al provisions had “given nothing but secessionism, terrorism, nepotism and widespread corruption on a large scale” to Kashmir.

Modi’s agenda is to paint the Kashmiri region in such a light that evokes a picture of an unstable backwater drenched in political unrest and vio-lence, incapable to sustain on its own. He argues that corruption destroyed the roots of its economy and integration with India would only be beneficial for the state as it would create opportunities for trade and investment.

While some may argue that Modi’s reasoning is necessary and helps Kash-mir in the end, it must be noted the way the bill was executed violated many Kashmiri human rights. The unilateral nature of the decision proved to be very forceful and the heavy military presence suggests an enactment of a coup.

It is rather alarming to note though how enthu-siastically some Indians celebrated the annexation of Kashmir. The gleeful messages congratulating themselves for the victory overtook social media in a storm. Some even took to the streets and rejoiced

over the reclamation of what is truly theirs. What they forgot, and most analysts forget while dis-secting the situation for its political and economic benefits, is the Kashmi-ri population. The ones who have been plum-meted into a black hole of a political playground, helpless and forced to subject to a country that they believed would re-spect their agreement for special status.

This particular tactic, however, is Modi’s Trump card in every political de-cision he has made yet: to feed into India’s Hindu Nationalist sentiments. Ever since he was elected into office in 2014, India is shifting toward the po-litical right. Hindutva, an ideology that establishes Hinduism to be the most superior religion and the Hindu way of living to be the purest one, has become more rampant in the mainstream. Hence, it has become extremely easy to sway the Hindu majority into extreme po-litical statements.

It is easy for the Indi-ans who support Modi to languish in their living rooms as they hit retweet to “Mera Bharat Mahan” or “my India is the great-

est” while Kashmiris suf-fer in isolation. For them, Kashmir is a land, not an identity or a population. Their plight is a necessary evil for India’s growth and nothing more. Protests in Kashmiri Valley have been short-lived, quickly mashed under the fire of pellet guns and tear gas. Casualties have been sup-pressed by the authorities and quickly swept under the rug by strict media control.

Al Jazeera reports, that while the government claims that the situation is returning to normalcy in the disputed territory, official figures accessed by Al Jazeera show since August 5, there have been 588 incidents of stone-throwing, 458 of which were reported from the main city of Srinagar where many old parts of the city are still under restrictions. There is no saying in the extent

of this issue and the hu-man rights abuses taking place. “Official figures show that 3,500 people have been arrested and 350 of them have been booked under the Public Safety Act (PSA), a law that allows lengthy deten-tions without trial. The figures say that only 135 people have been wound-ed in the last month.”

The bottom line is, In-dia could have executed this process more consti-tutionally. Bilateral agree-ments with the state’s leg-islative assembly should be negotiated. The fact that the Indian Govern-ment chose to forcefully occupy the region and exert its power is nothing short of brutal.

Contact Isha at isha.ayesha@student.shu.edu

Tension rises in Kashmir. Courtesy of Institute of Air Navigation Services.

The Amazon is damaged. Courtesy of Bcasterline.

September 2019Page 11Diplomacy News

interview with a CritiCal language SCholar

SChool oF diPlomaCy hoStS itS annual dean’S welCome bbQ event

Harshana GhoorhooStaff Writer

The School of Diplo-macy hosted its annual Dean’s Welcome Bar-becue event on Friday, September 6. The social gathering took place on campus where students and faculty alike came to-gether to share in the spir-it of the Diplomacy com-munity. It was a warm and welcoming atmosphere on the green where the event kicked off with games and light-hearted conversations among stu-dents and faculty mem-bers.

In his first address, Dean Courtney Smith welcomed returning stu-dents and faculty mem-bers of the Diplomacy community and extended a greeting to the incom-ing students. Dr. Smith talked about the “Why Statement:” To encourage questioning, experimen-tation, and tenacity, so that each member of our community can be their best self for the good of all.

A collaborative effort among students, faculty, and administrators, this statement is represen-tative of the impact the Diplomacy community is having as a school. The purpose of this state-

ment, according to Dr. Smith, is to encourage the process of thinking and understanding on why we are part of this commu-nity.

“As an academic insti-tution, we have an envi-ronment with curriculum and classes where the faculty members are in-structing the courses and engaging in a dialogue with students. Professors are here to encourage students to ask questions about themselves and the society around them, and most importantly to gain knowledge about how international politics is structured and in fact how it could have been structured a lot better.”

He went on to talk about how experimenta-tion remains at the heart of the Diplomacy School. “There is a lot to do in Diplomacy. It is going to require experimentation to figure how we have to go about achieving our goals and what pieces of this big complexity of problems we have to ad-dress.”

Additionally, Dr. Smith talked about the impor-tance of tenacity among students. “You’re prepar-ing for a career that is probably going to have a series of jobs, so determi-nation and tenacity to get

through that is a crucial skill to work on nurturing within yourself as a qual-ity while you are students here.”

Ending his speech, Dean Smith encouraged students to involve them-selves in organizations that help them achieve their goals. “Everything you do here has to help you reach your own goals and has to be a part of the equation, otherwise you are not going to feel that sense of calling and purpose that you’re sup-posed to feel in the ‘Why Statement.’”

The event continued as various faculty members introduced themselves to the audience. They spoke on their academic special-izations and expressed excitement to be work-ing with new and re-turning stu-dents alike. The leaders of different student or-ganizations introduced themselves and en-c o u r a g e d students in-terested in joining their clubs to reach out.

Professor Frederick McCormack-Hale spoke of the event as a wonder-ful opportunity for facul-ty members to meet and engage with students out-side of the classroom in an informal environment. “I treasure these moments because it’s nice to get out here and meet students I’ve never seen and who might be interested in learning more about my specialization and classes I offer.” For this semes-ter, Dr. McCormack-Hale is heading an online spe-cialization course at the graduate level.

“My focus, really, is figuring out how to strengthen the quality of our online program in the sense of building more of a community. So, all

we have is our online en-vironment and I’m trying to make sure that they maximize that as best as possible and that they make connections with each other while at the same time enjoying their classes.”

Kaitlyn Akroush, a freshman diplomacy stu-dent, expressed her grat-itude for having gotten the opportunity to engage with upperclassmen stu-dents and members of the faculty at the event.

“I am excited to be a part of such a diverse and rich community where everybody is so accessi-ble to you, and you can make those connections to eventually foster a successful career in the future and progress your

academic experience here at Seton Hall.”

The Welcome BBQ event succeeded in gath-ering the students and the faculty as a community. It shows what the School of Diplomacy has to offer to all those wanting to bring about a change within the global community. The success of the event as-sures a promising year, where old boundaries will be crossed, and new goals will be set to further the initiatives of the School of Diplomacy.

Contact Harshana at harsha-na.ghoorhoo@student.shu.edu

Julia NicollsStaff Writer

Fresh off nine weeks in Morocco, senior di-plomacy major and gen-der studies minor Emma Tobin recently received the prestigious Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to continue her Arabic language learning. Sponsored by the United States State Department and funded by the Unit-ed States Government, the CLS prepares univer-sity students to master a foreign language and has, therefore, become a nationally competitive award.

Initially, Tobin discov-ered the CLS while spend-ing 4 months in Morocco during her gap year before starting college. “When I saw the high school

version of the [CLS] in Morocco, I regretted not knowing about the pro-gram before. Since then, I have been applying for the scholarship since my Freshman year at Seton Hall,” Tobin stated.

Despite two previous-ly unsuccessful attempts, Tobin never discouraged herself and learned from each round of applica-tions. “Applying after spending 9 months in-terning with the State De-partment, something just clicked,” she says. With the mentors at her State Department internship and the help of Diplo-macy's School’s Dr. Kyle Younger, Tobin cracked the code.

“When I open the congratulatory email, my mom almost crashed the car,” Tobin describes, “I

broke out into tears and she thought something bad had happened.”

After receiving this initial email, Tobin ob-tained her placement in Meknes, Morocco. Daily life, as Tobin describes, consisted of “consistent

language learning for the entirety of the 9-week program.” Upon arriv-al, initial training is done in English, and then the students make a pledge, “to only speak Arabic for the remainder of the pro-gram.”

Tobin found her-self learning the dif-ferent Arabic dialects daily from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm. Although this language learning was extremely rigor-ous, Tobin began her trip “feeling rusty and unsure of [her] Arabic skills and ended the program having com-plex conversations about Middle Eastern politics.”

Tobin describes an instance during her time, where she was laying in the Sahara

Desert with some of her peers looking at the stars. “It reminded me about how surreal this experi-ence was… and how few people get to have that,” she stated.

In addition, Tobin made an extremely strong

connection with her host mother, and the choco-late cake she made every morning. Her kindness and hospitality made the CLS an unforgettable ex-perience.

Tobin encouraged all those interested in CLS to apply. “You never know what can happen,” she said. As a competi-tive program, Tobin left everyone with a piece of advice: “Tell your sto-ry, not the one you think they want to hear. Talking about moving from home to New Jersey for school can be applied to adjust-ing to a different culture. Whatever it is, just tell your story.”

Contact Julia at julia.nicolls@student.shu.edu

Students along with Dean Smith at the annual School of Diplomacy BBQ. Courtesy of School of Diplomacy Instagram.

Emma Tobin talks about her experience. Courtesy of Emma Tobin.

dr. martin edwardS: a Chat with the diPlomaCy dePartment Chair

September 2019Page 12Diplomacy News

dr. Courtney Smith: a Statement From the SChool oF diPlomaCy’S new dean

Axel SontgerathStaff Writer

As the sun rises on a new school year at the School of Diplomacy and International Rela-tions, many students are preparing to tackle the challenges that accompa-ny university life. As we acclimate to going back to our school routines, the Diplomacy School’s fac-ulty are also adjusting to a new Dean and are pre-paring to tackle their own tasks.

Dean Courtney Smith joined the School of Di-plomacy 20 years ago. Due to his strong re-search understanding and professional relationship with the United Nations, Dean Smith became a Pirate directly following the Diplomacy School’s founding. He was award-ed tenure in 2005 and has served as an Associate Dean for 14 years.

During his time at Seton Hall, he has pub-lished a book and sever-al journals and articles, interviewed hundreds of United Nations staff delegates, and written on the organization’s political process and relationship with the United States.

During the week of September 2, I had the opportunity to interview Dean Smith. We dis-cussed the transition into his new role, his goals, and aspirations entering the new school year, his advice for incoming stu-dents, and his thoughts on Seton Hall’s status as a center of learning in the field of diplomacy.

When asked about eas-ing the transition into his role as Dean, he replied, “The timing was great go-ing into this new school year. We worked on goals for the school over the course of last spring se-mester.” He remarked that these goals are not just for faculty, but also for the School as a whole. In a retreat last January, the faculty collaborated to form an initial 20 goals that were narrowed down to 3.

“We wanted to first focus on student recruit-ment, making sure that we are bringing in the strongest students to es-tablish a great learning environment with your peers. The second focus is on enhancing faculty and student research, so you can engage together through our centers and

other programs. Thirdly, we want to focus on fund-raising so we can generate more resources for our students, for example, in the very popular intern-ship scholarship.” He also mentioned growing student access to interna-tional experiences.”

Dean Smith’s message on his aspirations for the new role was clear: we are a strong school and we need to harness that strength and use it to benefit every student moving forward. He stat-ed that this is “not a pe-riod for complacency.” He gave an example of this by stating that, “two faculty members are ne-gotiating book contracts, we have students serv-ing as Fulbright scholars, and even a student who

received the ‘Trifecta’ of scholarships, earning the CLS, Boren, and Truman scholarships.”

As for Dean Smith’s message for the Diplo-macy School’s incom-ing class, he made clear the paramount impor-tance of getting involved early and finding areas where you can eventual-ly lead. He addressed the new students by stating, “Something brought you to this school. Whether it is the internships, clubs, or leadership opportuni-ties, there is a reason why you are here. Now that you are here, shift your thinking.” Dean Smith stressed the significance of leadership in on-cam-pus organizations. “the skills, initiatives, and ac-complishments you will

experience in a leadership role will help you move forward.”

Beyond campus or-ganizations, Dean Smith stressed the importance of engaging in Diploma-cy School events. “Come to the outside events… there are a lot of learn-ing opportunities outside the classroom where you can engage with people in the diplomacy world.” He continued with an upcoming example of such an event. “For ex-ample, we have Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Na-dia Murad who is com-ing to campus on Friday, September 27… this is an impressive individual that you can listen to and talk to by simply taking a trip over to Bethany Hall.”

Dean Smith wants stu-dents to know how these events can im-pact their career at Seton Hall. “What is the right path for you? Well, if you listen to the stories of people like Na-dia Murad and other speakers we bring, you can start figur-ing out what that is.” He continued by stressing that di-plomacy is “a very

hands-on oriented pro-gram that gives you the ability to prepare not for one job, but for a career where you might have to move across different disciplines and areas of study and responsibility.” For these reasons, it is “smart to get involved in diplomacy, because it is going to be needed.”

The School of Diplo-macy’s new Dean seemed excited, prepared, and ready to foster relation-ships between the School and the student body, as well as to tackle the chal-lenges and goals of this 2019-2020 school year.

He ended on a posi-tive note by highlighting the previous, present, future success students can find at the School of Diplomacy, “Being part of a school that has been here for 20 years, and has alumni that are already out there making those contributions can serve as an example to show your generation can move for-ward. This is a special part of our school and what we do here.”

Contact Axel at axel.sontger-ath@student.shu.edu

Luisa ChainferberSenior Correspondent

On August 30, I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Martin Edwards, associate Pro-fessor in the School of Diplomacy and Interna-tional Relations, and the School’s newly chosen Department Chair.

Dr. Edwards spoke passionately about his as-pirations as the new chair. He emphasized his hope to bring continuity and to build upon the legacy of previous chairs. When asked about how he plans to make decisions, he stat-ed that he strives to think about the folks who were department chairs before him would act and plans to follow their lead.

The new department chair believes his expe-

rience teaching soph-omores in the last ac-ademic year was very constructive. By teaching, Dr. Edwards noticed that some sophomores are not as connected to the School of Diplomacy as he would like them to be. In fact, some sophomores did not even physically go to McQuaid often.

In his conversations with new incoming fresh-men, Dr. Edwards at-tempted to connect them with the resources of-fered in McQuaid Hall, including his own office. By making students more connected to these re-sources, he believes they will have a higher chance of academic and profes-sional success.

When asked about new plans or projects for the School of Diplomacy, Dr.

Edwards emphasized that his focus is now on the short-term and upcoming weeks. His current prior-ity is to listen to as many students as possible.

While he has been the new department chair since July, there were fewer students on cam-pus than usual during the summer. Thus, he believes it is important that he can connect with students now and discov-er opportunities for im-provement. He does have ideas himself but would like to listen to other peo-ple’s ideas first and make decisions by consensus.

Dr. Edwards also dis-cussed how he plans to make incoming fresh-men more connected to the School of Diploma-cy. In all his meetings with freshmen students,

he made sure that these students were introduced to him, Dr. Younger, and Dr. Ruby.

Dr. Edwards noted that internships are one of the main reasons why students choose to come to the School of Diplo-macy. Thus, the School will think about ways to get students to notice and take advantage of the op-portunities that are avail-able to them before they graduate.

Additionally, Dr. Ed-wards recognized that the increase in the freshmen class for the second year on a row may become a source of concern. To counter any possible dif-ficulties, he stated that the School of Diplomacy will pay close attention to the number of classes offered and if a class is full ahead

of schedule, the School will possibly add new sections to fit students’ needs.

He also suggested that it is possible that in the future, the School of Diplomacy may have a bigger adjunct facul-ty. Nonetheless, Dr. Ed-wards expressed his de-sire to welcome all new

and returning Diplomacy students. He encouraged students to reach out to him and make sure their voices are heard.

Contact Luisa at luisa.chain-ferber@student.shu.edu

Dean Smith with incoming students. Courtesy of School of Diplomacy Facebook.

Dr. Edwards with his new position. Courtesy of Seton Hall University.