John F. Kennedy speech In the year 1959
In the year 1959, John F. Kennedy in his speech said, the word crisis in Chinese has two characters which one implies danger whereas the other one means opportunity. In that, in the event of a crisis, there is the threat of danger posed and at the same time, an opportunity or a turning point can arise. Over the years, various crises have occurred some of which include 9/11, the environmental crisis, the trump paradigm on immigration and the 2007-2008 financial crisis, with which the occurrence of these events resulted in negative predicaments and at the same time proved to be turning points to the country.
On September 11, the year 2001 at 8:46 am, an unfortunate terrorist attack occurred in the United States soil, which resulted in a great number of fatalities while at the same time resulting in the transformation of a nation. The four well-coordinated attacks that utilized the element of surprise using the airplanes as the weapons of mass destruction resulted in the death of 2,600 people. Though the extremist Islamic group had warned of an impending attack, the Americans were not aware of the cards in play. On an eventful day, 19 hijackers managed to go through the security system they had understood well and took over the crew of 4 planes, orchestrating their plan successfully.
As a result of the attack, various loopholes such as unsuccessful democracy, challenges in the intelligence community, porous borders, and permeable aviation security were noted. Having noted the various weaknesses present in the system, improvements in the intelligence unit, inhibiting the growth of the Islamic radicalisms’ and attacking their organizations, the nation has managed to prevent such a deadly attack from occurring again. As a result of the crisis, generation X and the millennial have also been cautious reporting suspected terrorists and activities related to it to avert such deadly attacks from occurring again.
Global warming is yet another environmental crisis that has greatly impacted the nation as well as the world at large. As a result of the various human activities which include waste disposal, deforestation, and pollution, global warming has occurred which is significantly affecting the environment. As a result, unpredictable weather patterns, heat waves, and a rise in respiratory diseases have proved a major challenge to the human population. As a result of such occurrences, measures such as the application of the electric vehicles and implementation of strict rules governing waste disposal have been put in place to ensure the issue is controlled. For generation X and the millennials who have somehow contributed to the issue and at the same time faced the implications of global warming, they are now playing a role in preventing environmental pollution. For instance, most of my friends who work in the CBD at Newyork town now opt to use bicycles to avoid polluting the environment
The global financial crisis of the year 2007-08, is yet another difficult moment which resulted in the depression of the worldwide economy and the fall of various banks worldwide. However, after the crisis, policies were put in place in response to the financial meltdown which in turn boosted the GDP and at the same time reducing unemployment. This has helped improve the living conditions of generation X and the Millenials
In conclusion, just as the current “Crisis Turning” definition indicates, it is evident that in most instances, a turning point is achieved as a result of crises. Upon experiencing a crisis, people get to understand important lessons, which in turn help avoid and prevent such predicaments from recurring in future
QUESTION 2
The rise of the American empire mainly occurred during the period between 1865-1920, during which a series of developments both politically and economically took place, which in turn propelled the rise of the American empire. Through the American imperialism policies driven at expanding the country’s cultural, economic, and political ties across the boundaries, the nation managed to thrive. This move was made possible through measures such as economical penetration through the use of private companies, gunboat diplomacy, military conquest among others.
Imperial presidency, a modern form of leadership that is in play in the united states and became popular during the 1960s was aimed at rationalizing the power of the president. During the rise of the American empire, a series of imperial territory acquisitions took place which includes the Spanish-American war and the Panama Canal. Between 1898 and 1899, the States intended to help Cuba get its independence. As such, the United States through its military forged ahead and attacked the Spanish fleets as well as the military on land, to give Cuba its independence. However, with the help they gave Cuba, they were able to attain control over Cuban politics as well as the economy. Additionally, they were also able to create a coaling plant as well as a United States naval base at Guantanamo
The other imperial territorial acquisition in the rise of the American empire is the Panama canal. This was one of the most important acquisitions by the united states since by capturing the Panama canal, faster traveling between the Atlantic and the pacific ocean would be facilitated. With this move, a journey that would have otherwise taken 67 days on a ship by traveling to the Southern tip of South America was reduced to 22 days. With such a move, the United States international trade was enhanced and at the same time, the military became more mobile hence making the country much powerful. Though the treaty negotiated by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1917 was rejected by Columbia who then controlled Panama, the United States moved ahead to help Panama get its independence, which then facilitated their access to the canal.
During the 1913-1917 first world war, the then president of the United States Woodrow Wilson. On April 2nd, 1917, the president decided to go before congress and declare a state of war against Germany to make the world a better place for democracy. According to President Wilson’s point of view, the world was being led by monarchs hungry for power, with communism and atheism being amongst his greatest fears. In his fight for peace, he highlighted a couple of things that could help bring peace which include the league of nations, the alien/sedition act at home and self-determination
Through the national self-determination, he intended for the citizens to have the right to chose the leaders they wanted through democracy, and not by being controlled by the empires. In line with this point, the European empires would then be dismantled and instead be replaced with new states based on national-cultural lines. The move to bring peace would also be bolstered through the creation of the League of Nations, which would be the first worldwide intergovernmental organization that would ensure peace exists. In 1918, the sedition act has enacted to improve on the espionage act of 1917. The objective of this enactment was to ensure the punishment of activities that interfered with foreign relations as well as espionage. The move was among many which were instilled by the president to ensure that democracy was achieved.
QUESTION 3
Over the years, the so-called “politics of fear” orchestrated by the imperial presidency through the Central intelligence agency has been in existence and has been growing especially unnoticed especially after the second world war. However, there have been instances where these operations have blown up and exposed to the world disgracing the agency. Under many instances, these operations have been undertaken with economic and political objectives by the deep state.
One of the major covert operations blowbacks in history is the 1953 Iranian coup d’état. On 19th August 1953, a coup was staged by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom to overthrow the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh to empower Mohammad Reza, the monarch. This move was orchestrated after Mosaddegh sought to undertake an audit on Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (AIOC) a British corporation that was in control of the oil reserves in Iran. Mosaddegh’s government also voted towards nationalizing the oil mining operations, which resulted in the United Kingdom’s cold wars through economic boycotts by instigating boycotting of the Iranian oil. Eventually, they opted to overthrow the government. Though the United States government had opted to remain unilateral at first, they eventually got involved overthrowing a democratically elected leader at a time of peace.
In 1980’s National Security Council (NCA) advisor Oliver North and the CIA director, William Casey secretly undertook a hostage for arms transaction with Iran, a big rival to the United States. Furthermore, the additional returns gain from the deal were used to finance the Contras, a Nicaraguan militant group that supported in opposition to the Sandinistas. On 3rd November 1986, the highly sensitive information unraveled through a Beirut paper Al Shiraac exposing the arms-hostages exchange deal between the United States and Iran. Eventually, Attorney General Edwin Meese on 25th November came out to admit the profits had been used in adding the contras. As a result of the blowback of this scheme, the then-president Reagan was forced to apologize to the nation after a public outrage
On June 27th, 1954, a CIA sponsored operation undertook a coup to overthrow the then president Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán. This move came in the protection of the United Fruit company which was coming under jeopardy. After the coup, an authoritarian leader Carlos Castilo Armas was installed to replace Arbenz. By installing the new authoritative leady, the fruit company was able to regain over 1.500 million acres and some given to big landowners and over 1500 trade unions being shutdown. This move resulted in many people being killed by the authoritative leadership to create terror upon the citizens.
There have been several instances to which the imperial presidency has used “politics of fear” in attaining some certain political and economic gains. With few cases being unearthed, it is clear that there may be many other instances to which the deep state may have been involved. Even though in some instances the acts may be of benefit to many people, it should not be forgotten that some people may be negatively impacted.