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The General Assembly of the United Nations was held in New York with world leaders participating in a Summit for Refugees and Migrants.  Leaders traveled to the United States to represent their countries at the Summit. While addressing the assembly, leaders had a number of key messages to the international community, particularly related to the rights of refugees, the war in the Middle East, climate change, Syria, and the war on terrorism with the North Korean nuclear testing being at the top of the agenda.The problem is that there is no single global institution in place to help solve these problems. The United Nations is absolutely a useless organization. It formed to prevent wars and to protect human rights, global peace, and security. The fight against terrorism, however, must be based on principles, not on double standards. There should not be good terrorists and bad terrorists. Also, terror should not be a means of countries intervening in the domestic affairs of other countries. Because terrorism is a fire that burns everyone who plays with it, terrorism must be contained sincerely. The system of the U.N is corrupt, making the functioning of the U.N biased. Consequently, the entire U.N system should be changed for the common good of all human beings. The Untied Nations was founded during one of the most heinous conflicts in human history, so it was forged as an idealistic dream to maintain global peace and security. Continue reading →

In the past few years, the Philippines have emerged as one of the greatest critics of China. Under the Aquino administration, the Southeast Asian countries tried security alliances with America and Japan, sought to mobilize ASEAN against China, and made the unprecedented decision to take Beijing to international court in order to settle the maritime disputes. However, with the Duterte administration rapidly consolidating its position at the center of the Philippine political system, President Duterte is also introducing a significant foreign policy shift, especially with the United States and China. Unlike the previous administration of Aquino, he has deployed former president Fidel Ramos to conduct negotitiations with China. There is reason to expect a big reset in the Philippines’ foreign policy under this President’s administration because he had a history of good relations with the Chinese community when he was in mayor of Davao. In fact, one of Duterte‘s right-hand men is a Chinese himself.With respect to relations with the United States President Duterte did not have a very good history especially when it comes to fighting insurgents in the Mindanao region or to the war on terrorists. The President welcomed massive Chinese investments in the realm of public infrastructure and downplayed territorial disputes in the South China Sea, emphasizing the necessity of separating areas of conflict from zones of convergence in mutual interest. Continue reading →

For decades Turkey was a dutiful ally that mostly followed America’s lead, but the nations today does not much like its 20^th. That is because Turkish President Erdogan and his government, led by the governing Islamic AKP, has asserted a more independent foreign policy in the Middle East, which often puts it at odds with the EU and in Washington. The crisis in the Turkish and U.S relationship goes much deeper than the issue of the cult leader Gulen’s alleged role in the recent coup and the demand for his extradition. Turkey and America sharply disagree over the strategy for how to bring peace in Syria and to stop ISIS. President Erdogan argues that the United States has allied with a Syrian Kurdish group known as the YPG or People’s Protection Units, which Turkey wrongly accuses of being a terrorist group. For its part Turkey has been shelling both Kurdish fighters of the popular protection units (YPG) and ISIS. The YPG is one of the most effective forces in the fight against ISIS. Turkey is wrongfully accusing the YPG of being an extension of the Kurdish Worker Party (PKK), a Kurdish rebel group that has been fighting for basic rights for more than four decades. The ceasefire between Turkey and the PKK ended last year and clashes have since claimed hundreds of lives on both sides. Turkey is fighting against the Kurds inside Turkey, as Syrian Kurds continue to try to have a self-declared autonomous region known as Rojava. There have been disagreements over the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, Turkey’s relations with Iran and, among other things. Critics of Turkey have questioned Turkey’s sincerity as a NATO ally including its refusal to fight against ISIS in the past. Continue reading →

President Rodrigo Duterte harshly criticized the United Nations after it demanded an end to the wave of killings unleashed by his war on drugs, saying he might leave the organization. The UN human rights experts last week urged Duterte to stop the extra-judicial executions and slayings that have escalated since Duterte won the presidency by promising a drug free Philippines. Speaking of the UN, Duterte retorted, “I will prove to the world that you are a very stupid expert,” urging it to count not just the number of drug-related deaths but also the innocent lives lost to drugs.Dealing with the drug users and protecting human rights are two aspects of one problem. His dealing with drug dealers safeguards human rights. The UN human rights expert failed to understand that the Philippine Constitution and laws clearly stipulate that citizens enjoy freedom of speech, assembly, and belief, and they are protected while exercising these rights, but Philippine law also stipulates that when citizens are enjoying their rights of freedom, they must not harm society or the rights of other citizens. Freedom cannot undermine Philippine public security, safety, order, health, or morality. Continue reading →

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Multiculturalism has become a challenge for most countries with fragmented societies. In a global village with international order, many countries are now confronted with the task of bringing together and holding together multicultural societies. One of the classic challenges of political organizations is the decision regarding territorial or divisional power. There are three ways to organize power among national, state, and local governments: unitary, confederal, and federal. Unitary government concentrates almost all government power into a single national government; a confederal system disperses government power to regional or local governments. The federal system, also known as federalism, divides power between national and state governments. Under federalism, each level of government is independent and has its own powers and responsibilities. Often it is not clear whether a state or national government has jurisdiction on a particular matter because at times the national and state governments alternate between cooperating and competing with each other.Under the unitary systems are those in which sovereignty, decision-making authority, and revenue raising powers are solely vested in a single central government. Sub-national units may exist in unitary systems of government, but they can be revoked by the central government. A majority of countries around the world have unitary systems of government. For example, France, Japan, and China have unitary governments, but Great Britain is an example of a unitary state that has devolved its limited powers to a series of regional assemblies, such as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, three countries that exist without being coalesced into a federation. Continue reading →

According to estimates, more than 4 million people gathered in the Yeni Kapi area of Istanbul, making August 7, 2016, a historic date for the Turkish people. The President, leaders of the opposition political parties, the Speaker of the Parliament, top generals, senior judges, non-governmental organizations, and celebrities were all at Yeni Kapi Square to stand united for democracy, freedom, and rule of law and against theocracy. Ultimately, they were protesting the July 15th coup attempt by the religion cult leader Fetullah Gulen. This rally put an end to three weeks of demonstrations following the failed takeover. In this rare event the highest number of participants and the leaders of three political parties responded to a call made by President Erdogan by leaving their political differences and taking the stage. Thus, July 15th was a milestone for Turkey because of the Turkish people’s strong stance against the coup in which soldiers paid with the cost of their lives.No party flags or banners were present except the Turkish flag. It was not a picture that perpetrators of the failed coup attempt–members of religious cult of Fethullah Gulen–wanted to see. It was not a good picture for Gulenists’ Terror Organization (FETO) because the failed coup attempt unified a polarized Turkey. Before the coup Turkish society was completely polarized, but Gulen’s terror organization unified the nation. The Turkish government was surrounded by the two failed states of Iraq and Syria, and was fighting a war with the Kurdish guerillas, ISIS, and the cult religion of the Fethullah Gulen movement. Continue reading →