ACROSS THE AISLE: RAPPROCHEMENT BETWEEN CUBA AND THE UNITED STATES?
According to Across the Aisle, Richard Lugar (R-IN) has announced that he supports a change in the relationship between the United States and Cuba. A majority of people in the United States think that continuing the embargo on Cuba is counterproductive. But this does not mean that we should abandon hopes for human rights and democratization.
Question to the Blogosphere: What are the benefits of getting rid of the embargo on Cuba? Would there be any downsides to doing this? Why has the embargo remained for so long? Could exposing Cuba to American goods increase the likelihood that the Cubans will demand a change in government? Will lifting the embargo increase interactions between regular Cubans and Americans?
CSIS PCR PROJECT: PUL CONNECTS AMERICANS AND AFGHANS THROUGH TELEVISION
The Post-Conflict Reconstruction Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies commended the America Abroad Media (AAM) and Tolo TV in Afghanistan for creating PUL, a weekly public interest program, recorded in the United States for broadcast throughout Afghanistan on February 5th, 2009. The intention of the show is to address a critical range of issues for Afghanistan in a way that emphasizes common interests and concerns between an online American and Afghan audience.
Question to the Blogosphere: Is it possible to generate common ground in virtual communities, such as between online American and Afghan audiences? How much of an impact will this program have–in other words, do enough people have access to television and the internet in Afghanistan to make the program effective to a large expanse of people? Why is it important to develop common ground between Afghans and Americans (security, political, economic reasons)? How do you think this program will help improve the state of the conflict in Afghanistan?
GLOBAL VOICES: GEORGIA RAINING ON THE PARADE AT EUROVISION?
The war between Georgia and Russia left relations as bad or worse than they have been in a long time. Recently, as Onnik Krikorian explained, many saw the participation of both Georgia and Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest as an attempt to repair relations. However, the decision of the Georgian contingent to use a song offensive to the Russians as one of the lines of the song could be construed to mean “We don’t want Putin”.
Question to the Blogosphere: Do you think that many of the participants in reconciliation efforts are sincere in their motivations for coming together? Do you think the Georgians meant to offend the Russians at Eurovision? Is bringing people together through recognition of their common interests (in this case music) always a good idea or do the actors have to be ready to meet maturely?
GLOBAL VOICES: TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION IN SUDAN?
This week, Global Voices blogger Juliana Rincon Parra reported on a video that is being circulated by Aegis Trust depicting four Sudanese men who say that they participated in the violence and massacres in Darfur and are not afraid to call it genocide. Their descriptions of their involvement in the Janjaweed and how the government aided the efforts of the genocidaires are useful at a time when the International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir.
Question to the Blogosphere: To what extent is this occurence similar to the efforts of the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in Northern Ireland and South Africa? Do you think that the confessions of these men will help the families victimized by the genocide move on? How would it be possible to give more people in Sudan access to this video? Do you think part of the reason the men agreed to do the video was that they assumed few of their victims would see it?
