The New Iran

 

            Over the last four days the people of Iran has protested against the election fraud in which the Reform candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi claimed that fraud was involved. In which the Iranian government says that the imbuement Mahmond Ahamdinejad won the election.           

Now over seventy percent of Iran is under 30 years old. The young person of Iran represents the need for change, rights for people, to be a part of the world and to have a true democracy. In short they are pro-western. However you still have an Iran in which run by the religious establishment by the clerics since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. In which the people kicked out the Shah of Iran, took the over the American Embassy in Tehran and put in place the Ayatollah Khomeini as its new leader. This is a clash of two cultures.

In these elections you have the reform candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi, who wants to put Iran with a new relationship with the America and the Western world. Which is a new Iran that can help with the new global issues such as the stop of nuclear weapons, poverty, the environment, the end of genocides and world peace. Giving Iran a chance on having a democracy.  However with the government of Mahmond Ahamdinejad it would be much of the same. An Iran in which can’t help the world combating these issues.

The students of Iran are using new social websites such as Twitter and Facebook to tell what’s going on in Iran. Plus the blogs are now playing a role in this new media. In which computers are now the new source of news. Due to the crackdown in media in Iran no Western journalist can’t report from Iran about the election as of Sunday; that includes Richard Engel the NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

         What does that means for us in America? Well we all are witnesses in the rise of the young people in Iran. This is a nation that’s wants to turn the page on its relationship with the West and to bring democracy back to Iran. President Obama is handling the election crisis in Iran very well. The last that that America wants to do is side with one candidate. In which you will give the hard-liners in Iran a legal reason to crackdown on these protest. Also is would just fan the flames of Anti-American point of view. So I say let the Iranian people pick their own fate or self-determination if you well. The last time we interfere the CIA overthrow Mohammad Mosaddeq who was democratically elected in Iran and we place the Shah of Iran in 1953. In which in 1979 would cause the Iranian Revolution. We should remain in the sidelines until we hear the results of the election. That is the best thing and correct thing for America, the West and the world at large.

Latin America and the US

On Thursday May 28th the United Nations Envoy to Chile Heraldo Munoz visited LaGuardia. He talked about Chile under Pinochet from 1973-1990. Under Pinochet Chile was a brutal regime that crushes every mean to not let the seeds of democracy to spout. This was the trend of Latin of America after World War II. Nations like Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay where junta governments.
Now you may wonder what America have to with all of this. It was the Kennedy administration that tired to overthrew Fidel Castro in the Bay of Pigs in Cuba in 1962. The CIA under Nixon in 1973 put Augusto Pinochet into power via the coup that overthrew the first democracy elected Marist Salvador Allende. At that time America was afraid that Latin America will adopt Communistic ideals and crush the Western ideals of democracy. After all we were in the Cold War with Russia. Having a red Latin America would not work for America at that time.
Over the last twenty years there have been great breakthroughs in Latin America. During the Regan administration he supported Aylwin idea to bring democracy back to Chile. In 1990 Chile elected Patricio Aylwin the first democratic elected in Chile since Pinochet. In 2006 Bolivia elected Evo Morales the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Also in that same year Argentina elected Christina Kirchner. She is only the second lady president of Argentina. This is same nation that brought us Evita Peron. The nation that tortured her father, put her family in exile under Pinochet and would become Chile’s first lady president in 2006. Her name is Michelle Bachelet.
The United States of America under Barack Obama can strengthen our relationships with Latin America. Yes I know American intervention led into many coups. The people of Latin America love the American people and what our nation stands for. Under Obama he will strengthen ties with our friends and have better relationships with Raul Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua. America. We can learn a lot from each other. That’s change we can all believe in.
For more information on these leaders log on to these websites:
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the President of Brazil on Charlie Rose in 2007: http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/8711
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with Fareed Zakaria in 2009: http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/03/29/gps.president.lula.interview.cnn?iref=videosearch
Michelle Bachelet of Chile at USC Berkeley in 2008: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48aWu8GBKyQ
Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua with David Frost in 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrGJDwtXBlc
Felipe Calderón of Mexico with Andrea Mitchell in 2009: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#30234342 Evo Morales of Bolivia with Amy Goodman in 2008: http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/18/an_hour_with_bolivian_president_evo

The Outlook for Newspapers

In this new age of technology newspapers are now forced to compete with Television, Radio outlets, podcasts and the blogosphere. Competition is good for business but when comes to newspapers. Newspapers are slowly dying out and slowing down circulation. Such as The San Francisco Chronicle, The Detroit Free Press, The Rocky Mountain News and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (closed as of February 2009). The Seattle Post-Intelligencer will only be online. This makes The Seattle Times the only news print in Seattle. This forces newspapers to use the Internet as a new medium for their content and for advertisement.
Some newspapers and print mediums are joining forces with Television. For example Newsweek and The Washington Post are joining with MSNBC and http://www.msnbc.com in the hopes that their reporters will have more face time and will attract a new audience. That audience is the young Television and Web-savvy person. That profile fits the average the average college student.
There is a great article by Richard Perez-Pena of The New York Times: In Boston Peril Hits a Nerve. This article is about Bostonians are looking at the possibly of losing The Boston Globe. The Boston Globe is New England’s equal of The New York Times. Mayor Thomas M. Menino said “I have disagreements with The Globe, but what’s good for Boston? To have them not here would be a big hole in or life.” The Globe is Boston’s paper of record. Like the Dallas Morning News, Miami Herald, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Denver Post, and Los Angeles Times. These papers give people of the world a cities ID and gives their local news channels news of the day. On February 5th Mark Halperin of Time Magazine joined Morning Joe on MSNBC to discuss the future of newspapers http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/#29032038
Newspapers are the fabric of not only our news but for our democracy. Democracy is at its best when we have many outlets in which we get great news and wonderful journalist. We all know that the endpoint is how much money and how much is our readership? If The New York Times go under our news media well change in ways that we can’t even fathom. Newspaper should look for great stories that inform and inspire and now just think about their wallets.

MSNBC: The Place for Progressives

Now I'm sure if you watch MSNBC its been dubbed The Place for Politics. However it can be dubbed in my point of view as The Place for Progressives. Now a progressive is a term political and social term that refers to ideologies and movements favoring or advocating progress, changes, improvement, or reform, as opposed to wishing to maintain things as they are. In short it fall under Liberal. MSNBC is moving to a left wing point of view which is good because im a Democrat. MSNBC just added another progressive Ed Schultz from Air America. The same radio network network that brought us Rachel Maddow. MSNBC provides the left a network in which their ideals are put in the mainstream. Their viewpoints counter the right-wing clowns of Fox News (Billo the Clown). Now with The Ed Show with Ed Schulz, The Racheal Maddow Show, Hardball with Chris Mattews and Countdown With Keith Olbermann MSNBC has a fighting chance to kick Murdoch's bum. This could lead into a more blanced news media. However there is one question that we would have to ask ourselves. Which is would major news network hire hosts to attract they core audience in a poilical sence or have a more diverse viewpoints? And that's the way it is for Wend April 15th, 2009 (Tax Day)

Intro

This is Christopher's International post welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world. I'm Christopher De Lardge. This is the 1st of a series of blog post in where we will travel the world and bring to you all the newsmakers in the world including the leaders of the world. Last week Obama was the main star in the G-20 summit. Even through Obama did not get more troops in Afghanistan and conivce Germany and France for more sitimus cash. However I think in a postivite sence that Obama can repair relationships with the world at large. Here are clips: Obama G-20 press conference Prime Minister Gordon Brown of England Pres. Nicholas Sarkoky of France and Chancellor Angela Markel of Germany. Hope you enjoy and stay current with your world.