Afghanistan Humanitarian Crisis
This week I chose to analyze the editorial ,”As the West cuts aid lifelines, Afghanistan’s real crisis looms”.
The story dives into an aspect of the west pulling out of Afghanistan that is easily overlooked, the fate of the Afghan people not just under Taliban rule but more particularly being cut off from the west. Though Afghanistan is rich in natural resources their economy is largely dependent on foreign countries. In 2009 alone 100% of the country’s GDP came from foreign aid. Today 42.9% of the GDP is still made of aid meaning a measly 57.1% of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product comes from its business sector.
The country is far from self-sustaining and after growing accustomed to being dependent on foreign grants with the United States’ presence the country now faces being cut off with the Taliban regaining control and forcing American troops to withdraw. Though Afghans have the natural resources to be economically independent that outlook becomes almost unattainable given the ever shifting power dynamics of an ununified country.
America, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are no longer funding Afghanistan by building new infrastructure for public services and paying the wages of public service employees. In addition the European Union has withdrawn assistance of $1.4 billion dollars that was planned for development over the next ten years. The country has already seen inflation and can expect dire consequences if unable to fund the public services that run the country.
The question remains can a country that has been given $65 billion in aid since 2001 survive other countries stepping in and sending aid. Though Afghanistan hopes China will step up as heavy financial supporters the country has only donated $31 billion dollars in aid and vaccines thus far. This could be a result of a cautious China that made disappointing investments already in the country. While Russia supports the new Taliban rulers they as a country are not known to be conservative when it comes to giving foreign aid.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain have sent medical supplies and food during the crisis and support while Qatar continues to provide evacuation flights to help refugees escape. The countries have chosen not to send financial assistance but focused on humanitarian efforts for the Afghan people.
Many countries including America remain in a burdensome position of wanting to help the citizens of Afghanistan but not wanting financial aid to get into the hands of the Taliban. It is difficult to support the public services and citizens of a country when you don’t also support their government. The predicament of wanting to avoid any financing of the Taliban and also not wishing to financially carry the Taliban’s own country thereby easing their struggles leaves many countries believing evacuations of Afghans is the best solution at the time. While it is by no means a permanent solution it still remains a noble effort to help the citizens.
Week 2 of NFL
The second week of the NFL started with a bang between two subpar NFC East teams who defied expectations putting on a thrilling nailbiter on Thursday Night Football. The saints came out of their dominant performance against the packer in week one to be dominated by a Panthers team who seemed to do everything right while the Saints played miserably. Lamar Jackson led the Ravens to a win over the Kansas City Chiefs after trailing by 11 points to start the fourth quarter. In the process Lamar got his first victory over Mahomes who had beaten his ravens in three previous regular season games.
The Vikings and Cardinals had a shootout between quarterbacks Kyler Murray and Kirk Cousins who played at a ridiculous level. The Vikings ended up losing by one point after kicker Greg Joseph missed a relatively easy 37 year field goal. The Titans and Seahawks played a hard fought game that saw the Titans win 33-30 on the back of an absolute dominant performance of Derrick Henry who rushed for 182 yards and added another 55 yards receiving. The performance is even more impressive considering Henry caught all six of his passes despite being a classic run heavy back and the fact that he rushed for three touchdowns.
Running Back Aaron Jones also had a stellar day racking up four touchdowns three of which came receiving. Cooper Kupp led wide receivers with 163 receiving yards and two touchdowns to help the Rams edge out the Colts. Travis Kelce, T.J. Hockenson and Rob Gronkowski continued to stand out as the best tight ends in the league, being a staple for their teams offenses. Giants kicker Graham Gano was next level making five field goals two of which were over 50 yards while also making two extra points.
UNK Students Survey
In our survey we first we made sure that all respondents were UNK students. They then answered what year of college they were in, the independent variable that we used to measure the other questions. Unsurprisingly, freshman were the most likely to get over 7 hours of sleep with no juniors reporting it and few…
NFL Week 4
Week four in the NFL came with a match that has been 20 years in the making. Possibly bigger than any one superbowl we saw Tom Brady face his old Coach Bill Belichick with whom he won seven super bowls on the Patriots. Both made up a quarterback coach duo who have more regular season,…
Arguments for and against masks
One of the most hot topic issues in America right now is masks being required during the covid pandemic. The line is drawn and there has been a growing resentment between both sides. The news is filled with stories of people being arrested for not wearing masks in stores as well as business owners refusing…
Covid Affect on Adolescents’ Mental Health
Not only has Covid affected people physically and financially but also mentally. For generations we haven’t experienced a global pandemic at this level. The effects of it on adolescents can not be understated. A big difference for youth is being interconnected online with social media and online content serving both as an escape and a…
Reopening Canada Border
For my second editorial I chose, “Fully reopen U.S.-Canada border”. The story examines the desire of both republicans and democrats to open the northern border between the United States and Canada to stimulate the economy. The border became closed to all non-essential travel in March of 2020 and has continued being extended by the Biden…
Covid 19 Has Been Detrimental to Small Businesses
As we continue to experience the effects of Corona and the new reality that it has brought about it it is easy to forget all of the repercussions that it has created. While we continue to miss what we could do in our leisure time with our disposable income it is easy to overlook the…
Policy Claim on Underage Drinking
Policy Claim: Federal drinking age should be lowered. In 1984 Congress instituted a federal drinking age of 21 with the passing of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. The act was meant to combat the discrepancy between states with many lowering the age in response to the lowering of the voting age. The Act aimed…
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Introduce Yourself (Example Post)
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right. You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the…
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Jeepers Creepers Review
As a film Jeepers Creepers comes out swinging but has a hard time holding attention. The movie shows potential in the beginning with tense moments that work to build up a sense of dread. However this dread is overshadowed by characters that will have you shouting at the screen questioning their irrational and simply dumb actions.
The film makes a habit of putting the characters in jeopardy with a sequence of stupid decisions that will make you wonder if the characters might actually not want to live. For instance there is an overplayed bit of a vehicle transmission putting them in danger that the characters are all too happy to overuse. Even from the start the characters show their suicidal tendencies when they decide going back to the killer’s domain to inspect and decide flagging down vehicles from the location makes total sense.
It is important for a horror movie to adhere to some logic or it becomes a drain for viewers to root for the protagonist who does things that only frustrate the audience. The movies shines with its gore and dread that it forebodes and almost redeems itself with an emotional climax but ultimately falls flat.
Recap of NFL Week One
After 31 long weeks the NFL has finally returned to the excitement of millions of fans. The first week came with many surprises to the delight or ire of fantasy football players.
Thursday night started with the Dallas Cowboys surprisingly playing up to and almost beating the returning Superbowl champs in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Gronk after returning from retirement last season and being largely unremarkable until the playoffs emerged as the top tight end in the league looking reminiscent of his prime on the Patriots.
Amari Cooper and Tyreek Hill lit up the league leading wide receivers with two individual dominant performances. Running backs were expectedly led by Christian McCaffery who bounced back from injury last year and Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray started off the season looking as strong as ever continuing to look elite leading the quarterbacks.
Aaron Rodgers looked nothing like himself after his league MVP season last year and attempting to gain a release from the Green Bay Packers over the summer. After throwing only five interceptions all season last year on top of a stellar performance that beat out an above average quarterback class for his second MVP and just missing the Super Bowl with a NFC Championship loss Rodgers was dominated by a Saints team without newly retired Drew Brees at quarterback. Rodgers completed just 15 of 28 passes for 133 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions earning a mediocre quarterback rating of 36.8 before being benched.
Mathew Stafford had a fantastic week one performance and looked happy in his new surroundings with the Las Angeles Rams after his 12 year tenure with the Detroit Lions who many felt were wasting his career. Quarterback Jared Goff, who left the Rams for the Lions put on a brilliant performance himself, nearly leading a fourth quarter comeback against the San Francisco 49er’s. Sam Darnold played solid as well on his new Carolina Panthers team after a poor career with the New York Jets who are known for not doing any favors for quarterbacks. Tyrod Taylor had the Houston Texans competing with a quality performance as well with many hoping the older quarterback will finally be given a chance as a starter and not serve as only a placeholder for Deshaun Watson as he faces assault lawsuits.
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