So Proud of Vandy

Can you tell me what all these guys have in common, except maybe a guy on page four?

Super Extra Cool Long Distance Russian Jets That Take the Long Way to a Target

I feel kinda sick about this (Video here). Does she really think Russian jets are going to attack America? And for that matter, does she think they still use them when they have ballistic missiles on hand? Did she watch Dr. Strangelove recently?
By her criteria of trade missions being foreign policy experience, any border states near Mexico should give us our next President. I am pretty sure I see more foreign reps at the Mexican consulate on Ashland than Russians in Alaska.
"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska."

Migrants and Education

This article attempts to debunk a few myths about migrants and education. When adjusted for socio-economic status, migrants tend to do as well as and better than host country students in many cases. Where they do not do better or preform worse, tends to be in the school systems that 'track' them out of the higher achievement classes.
"That suggests that any country that figures out how to let incomers shine will reap big benefits. Immigrants, however poor, are a self-selected bunch of ambitious, hard-working people, and their children usually know that, lacking the informal networks that let locals get ahead, they must study hard to succeed. Their varying fates—helped to the top in some places, consigned to the scrapheap in others—show that although what happens outside the school gates is important, what happens in classrooms is too."

Extra Credit for Fall 08

Guidelines for Extra Credit

You may choose to either write a report on a movie or a book (treat an event or lecture as a book) for extra credit. This report is due when you turn in your final paper. The movie review will be worth up to 7 points; a book/event review will be worth up to 15 points.

Details:
Movie: The movie must deal with international issues (or international Latino issues if that is your class) including anything we have covered in class. No movies on interpersonal relationships or tenuous connections to international events will be accepted (Borat). The movie can come from any time period. It would be best to get the movie approved before you watch. You must write at least a 4 page paper that will include one half review of the movie and the issues it covers. The second half will consider how it is relevant to the class and what lessons we can take from it. This assignment will be graded like any other essay, 7 points are not guaranteed. I do NOT want a recap of the movie.

Book: The book must deal with contemporary international issues (see above). It should be published after 9/11. The same issues mentioned in the movie option are fair game. It would be best to get the book approved by me before attempting to write a review. Your review must be at least 7 pages. It should be completed as your normal required book report (1/3 review, 1/3 connection to international issues, and 1/3 criticisms or support). This assignment will be graded like any other essay, 15 points are not guaranteed. I do NOT want a recap of the book/event.

UIC Talk

Professor Brandon Valeriano & Vitaliy Voznyak Kickoff
2008 UIC Political Science Department Colloquium

Professor Brandon Valeriano and graduate student Vitaliy Voznyak will discuss their paper Russia -- United States, 1991--2006: The Transformation of an Interstate Rivalry and its Implications for the "Near Abroad" at the first Department Colloquium of the 2008-09 academic year. The talk will be held on Wednesday, September 24, 2008 at noon in room 1115 BSB. Everyone is invited.

I missed the memo, does that make me unethical

Email I got today. I partially agree, its wrong to display overt signs of allegiance to any candidate while teaching, but to attend a rally on campus??? If that is such an issue the event should be off campus. If the Cubs are a political party, I am in trouble.

To: UI faculty at Chicago, Springfield, and Urbana

This month the University of Illinois Ethics Office informed faculty and staff that it is unethical to attend campus rallies for candidates running for public office, to wear buttons endorsing political candidates or political parties on campus, or to place comparable bumper stickers on cars to be parked in university-owned lots. Faculty are understandably concerned about the administration's critique of such forms of free speech and political expression as they have been exercised without controversy for years. Although these rules are not at present being enforced, the AAUP deplores their chilling effect on speech, their interference with the educational process, and their implicit castigation of normal practice during political campaigns. A prohibition on political bumper stickers can well cross a line and infringe on extramural political speech.

While we are unhappy with how the university has interpreted the state's ethics rules, we also have other fundamental concerns. The Ethics Office has failed to recognize and accurately define both the special context of a university and the role of its faculty members. Campus education requires that faculty and students have comparable freedom of expression on political subjects. This applies not only to obvious contexts like courses on politics and public policy in a variety of departments but also to the less formal settings in which faculty and students interact. Political speech embraces not only buttons and bumper stickers but also the whole range of advocacy and debate that intensifies during political campaigns. As the rules stand, students can exercise their constitutional rights and attend rallies and wear buttons advocating candidates, but faculty cannot. National elections provide w! onderful educational opportunities across a wide range of disciplines. Thus students might attend campus rallies and later analyze them in a classroom. Are faculty members to have no experience of the rallies themselves? Finally, it is inappropriate to suggest that faculty members function as employees whenever they are on campus. Faculty often move back and forth between employee responsibilities and personal acts within the same time frame.

Cary Nelson, AAUP President

US-Russia Arms Race II: This Time Its Personal

I was trying out movie titles above. I think Hulk Hogan is free for the lead role. This article details the rising Russia defense expenditures.

The Big NeoCon

Near perfect example of applying an IR concept to a contemporary movie. Here the Big Lebowski and Neocons are covered.

Spain = Latin American Leftists?

McCain gaffe that is going to cause a few problems:
"A reporter asked McCain whether, if elected, he would receive Zapatero in the White House. McCain answered, "Honestly, I have to analyze our relationships, situations, and priorities, but I can assure you that I will establish closer relationships with our friends, and I will stand up to those who want to harm the United States." As a result, much of the Spanish press has decided that the Republican candidate, who hails himself as the experienced foreign policy choice in this election, confused Spain - a NATO member and key ally in the fight against terrorism - with one of those troublesome Latin American states. That was certainly the interviewer's impression, for she followed up with a gentle reminder that Spain was a country in Europe."

Alliance between Russia and breakaway enclaves

Now Russia has signed security alliances with South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
"The treaties also allow Russia to build military bases and station additional troops in the territories. Those steps, if put into effect, would violate the European-brokered cease-fire that ended Russia’s war with Georgia last month."
and for new relating to our Latin American class:
"So far only Nicaragua has joined Russia in recognizing the two as sovereign nations, as has Hamas, the Palestinian faction that controls Gaza. Ms. Rice mocks Russia’s diplomatic efforts in her remarks. “A pat on the back from Daniel Ortega and Hamas is hardly a diplomatic triumph,” she says, referring to Nicaragua’s president."

Link Fixed

I fixed the link to this Tuesday reading on Latinos and Soccer. Sorry for the error. In future coudl someone please tell me early!

America and its fracturing relationship with the Latin 'Left'

Recent AP article on Latin America-US Relations

Why Republicans Should Attack Latinos by Frum

Here is the recent David Frum article that outlines how to save the Republican party by attacking immigrants. He is basically saying that the middle class is being harmed by Latinos and the Republicans need to protect the middle class against the immigrant wave.

"The poverty rate for post-1970 immigrants and their native-born children is almost 50 percent higher than for the native born. No mystery why this should be so: one-third of adult new immigrants have not finished high school. And there is reason to fear that this poverty will become entrenched: barely half of Latino students complete high school on time; 48 percent of births to Latino women occur outside marriage. IN SHORT, the trend to inequality is real, it is large and it is transforming American society and the American electoral map. Yet the conservative response to this trend verges somewhere between the obsolete and the irrelevant. Conservatives need to stop denying reality. The stagnation of the incomes of middle-class Americans is a fact."

Territorial Claim

Here is an interesting article about a territorial claim disputed between Japan and South Korea.

"For outsiders, the dispute over islets that seem to rise vertically from the sea and have little economic value, might seem esoteric. But for those Koreans who have never forgiven Japan for its brutal occupation of their country and who continue to measure success against Japanese competitors, the dispute over what the South Koreans call Dokdo and Japan calls Takeshima is very real, and very emotional."