Costa Rican President, Oscar Arias, re-established relations with Cuba in the spirit of progress. He felt that the official coldness that had characterized diplomatic relations between the two countries since 1961 had gone on long enough. With his new administration, Obama has worked hard to change the face of the United States. Already his administration has started anew with Russia and offered talks with Iran showing the world that this is a new America. The US will likely recognize and establish diplomacy with Cuba in the near future.

Diplomatic relations with Cuba were cut off in 1961 when Fidel Castro overthrew the island in the name of Communism. With this was a US sanctioned trade embargo that has left the Cuban people one of the poorest of the hemisphere. Despite their educations, many Cubans are well educated doctors, lawyers, accountants or scientists, they receive only a base pay and trade and immigration bans block them from fair prices and opportunity in better paying markets.

With Castro’s recent hand over of power to his brother Raul, Cuba too has taken on somewhat of a new face. Castro has been a symbol of Cuba, being in power as long as ten presidents, and also of communism. With him no longer the figure head of the government, the American people as well as the office of the president owe it to the Cuban people to take another look at the relation between the two nations.

Obama has already shown and I believe will continue to show and prove that he is not the run of the mill president. He has ideals in accordance with the principles on which the nation was founded and now he is in the position to put some of them back into effect. If he is able to get away from the financial crisis that seems to be a bottomless pit, he will be able to do a lot of good for America on the international level. The US did not become a world leader because it was a financial center, it became a financial leader because it first lead the world with its ideals and a will to see them come to life.

This is a phenomenon that pops up from time to time. It brings up many questions and sparks debates. It seems to be a type of mass suicide but unlike the mass suicides that sometimes plague humanity, there is no suicide note explaining their reasons. It leaves us guessing, speculating and wondering as to what is the cause or the motive.

Their adeptness in the water, their grace, leads me to believe that it is impossible that a storm could have left them there against their will. They are simply too good in water for this to happen. The water is their home and they are extremely smart creatures. This leaves then that they do it on their own accord but that then raises many questions. Can animals become depressed? Ok, say they can, can they organize? What else would explain two hundred decided they should end their lives simultaneously in the same place?

I could go on with more and more questions, it is an interesting topic to ponder. However, I would like to get to the debate. For me that is defined by asking, “Should we, as humans, intervene?” Animal lovers would commonly answer yes but I think this is wrong. To me that would be tampering with nature. Though we don’t understand it, there is something that drove these animals to this beach. Assuming that they are capable of avoiding being washed up against their will, then it must also be assumed that they decided to put themselves there. Whatever their reason, I think that they deserve the right to make the decision for themselves.

It could be argued that to let them die is cruel but nature is cruel. If you see a lion killing a zebra and intervene, you scared the lion away by shooting a gun, are you not then denying lion a meal? The animal kingdom is cruel but it is for the most part in balance. Human meddling then will throw off that balance. So, do we try to control and make nature perfect or do we put some faith in it and let it work itself out?

Carnival is a time when Brazil nearly stops. Many Brazilians work the year round to prepare for carnival. Gyms are more packed in the weeks before than any other time of year and it is seen as nearly a sin if you have to work during these days of celebration. Though not all Brazilians share this passion for the carnival events and activities, it is widespread.

This year I had the pleasure of spending carnival in Rio De Janeiro, the biggest celebration in the world. Famous for its scope, its energy and its imagery, Rio is broadcast the world over during these five crazy days of celebration.

While most of the populace takes time off from work to enjoy the beaches, the parades and the celebration, some people still have to work and some choose to work. Rio attracts millions of tourist each year but the peak of the never ending tourism season is carnival. This is common knowledge and some of the citizens take advantage of that.

Brazil is a country of staggering inequality and no place gives more evidence than Rio. Just above the thousand dollar a night hotels of Copacabana, Leblon and Ipenema, the favelas crawl up the mountains waiting to be washed away in the heavy rains typical to the area. While many people live lavish, luxurious lifestyles in Rio amidst the beautiful backdrop of the breathtaking geology, millions live in shanties constructed without regard to building code and below human habitation standards.

For many of the residents of such areas, crime is an enticing option offering much more than would a regular job if they were able to get one. Drug trafficking occupies most who make this choice. Those who don’t find a place among the hierarchy of the narcotics game look to the city.

Though it is by no means a new phenomenon, this year seemed to be marked by increased criminal activity. In the 48 hours before carnival officially opened on Friday, 57 tourists had already been robbed, most of them in their hotels. I was personally robbed at knife point on the street in the neighborhood of Lapa. Every foreigner that I talked to had been robbed there in Rio during carnival. The final statistics are impossible to ascertain in such a fast paced, livid and vast realm but I am positive the numbers are staggering.

It is a beautiful place and an incredible time to experience it but I find myself asking “is it worth it?” It is unfortunate that such a question must come up in considering a visit anywhere but it is reality and that is what we have to work with.

Thomas Friedman recently told us that the world is flat. He of course was referencing the technological advances that have brought the entire world to our fingertips and knocked down the barriers that separated us in the past. If you didn’t subscribe to his observation of the world growing smaller with everything closer, you no longer have any choice. The collapse of the financial market in the US spread to the other major financial markets instantly. It spread around the world nearly as fast when the banks raised interest rates and the dollar rose on the international market.

The evidence of globalization couldn’t be stronger than in the spread of the US financial crisis. Trans nationalism has integrated the US to the entire world to the extent that it is impossible to avoid such contagion. Multinational corporations operate both in the US and out, often with the large share of their profits derived in the US. With their strongest operations, their operations in the US dropping due to the crisis, the effects spread to other nations around the world. The part in the US, usually the carrier of the company, now being carried by the rest of the company, it drags the company down, most likely more than the company can handle.

Simply put, the crisis is global and the answers are uncertain. Many have called for a world financial collaborative meeting. The issue of how to combat the crisis has many factors but most problematic is the fact that the crisis is not confined to the borders of any one nation. There is no acting entity to deal with the crisis on the global level where it is taking place. As for now, there are many singular efforts being made within many nations but they are all attempt to confront the problem within their own borders. The problem is that this is all they can do and there is nothing in place to deal with a crisis of this nature.

What needs to happen is an entity representing the international community needs to step in and take action. The problem has transcended borders and outgrew the jurisdiction of any single government and now demands collaborative efforts. The current international financial institutions, namely the World Bank and the IMF don’t have the potential for the action necessary at this time. We could expand the role of the IMF to grant them the power, both financial and legal, to take necessary action or we need to form an entity designed specifically to combat this type of problem or.

It will take a strong move from a large financial player, one that is larger than any one nation or at least stronger than the US at present. The world wide depression of the thirties provided a similar situation. At the time, Great Britain was the world’s leading economy and as such, it seemed obvious that they would bear the responsibility. As it turned out, the US, having prospered greatly in production during WWI, was the largest holder of assets. The present situation is similar though played out by different characters. Today, the US seems the obvious bearer of responsibility but with the financial sector hastily propped up on emergency loans made within a failed economic system, they don’t have the assets. The model demands that the world looks then to the current largest holder of assets; China.

Less than ten years after hearing lectures from top US officials about having to open their economy and detach their currency from the dollar, China now holds most of the US’s national debt and has the best trade deficit in world thanks to their mercantile economic model. As such, they would be the best candidate to champion a new international monetary entity designed to correct the current economic crisis and combat future recurrences.

For them to agree to do such a thing, they will need reassurance that their interests will be considered in future policy. They will have to be granted a strong voice and be reassured that their input will be taken seriously and carry appropriate clout. That being said, the IMF would have to be restructured giving a proportionate amount of influence in accordance to input, hence allowing new nations more voice. The other option would be creation of an entirely new entity in which China would be a center player and would hold the largest share of influence.

It is an unprecedented time in the lives of the living American people. The younger generations have never know anything other than the best and will now have to get used to competition and especially sharing the wealth. Many things are uncertain but change is sure to come. Whether it be for the better of for the worse will depend on what happens now and how willing American powers are to collaborate with others. This is not necessarily the end of the American Century but it carries the potential. We can only hope that the goodwill we have tried to spread throughout the world will not be overshadowed by the ill-intentions of some of our past leaders.

The health care situation, among other things, has come to a point of dire need for reform. For those whose jobs provide them with health care, there is no evident problem. For the growing ranks of the unemployed, not even Obama’s new deductions will be sufficient. When food and rent take more money than your entire income, a trip to the hospital would be financially disabling for years to come if it were ever able to be paid off.

The money that is proposed for medical research in the stimulus package being formulated this week, 6.5 billion, should be put toward a national public health care provider. Those that have better coverage and wish to maintain it would be able to do so and receive the tax credit for the health care that they pay for. Those who don’t have a health care plan and can’t afford one would then have at least a basic coverage. This would protect them from in instance debt that would be incurred if an accident such as slipping on the ice and breaking a leg were to happen.

Though they represent the majority of the population, those currently covered by health insurance don’t constitute the populace or even the entire working populace. It is obvious that everyone would prefer to have an insurance plan of some sort and most would prefer to have it provided by their employer. Unfortunately, with soaring unemployment rates and a slow economy forcing further job cuts, more people are losing their insurance coverage and more employers are cutting health insurance leaving more people to purchase their own coverage without the collective buying power of a large corporation or the disposable income to purchase it.

As the open market, capitalistic economic model flops and flails, it becomes obvious that a model with more control is necessary to provide proper services, protections and ultimately prevent such a collapse from occurring again in the future. This government intervention must happen in many sectors and health care is one of them. If the tax deductions are waved and the money people were going to spend on their health insurance is pooled, those contributing more being classified as such for better care when needed, the fund could be managed much more effectively and efficiently. Dealing with one uniform set of circumstances for all parties involved, we would be able to give standard health care to all and continue giving

For one hundred years the US military has had an operation on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Within days of taking office, President Barack Obama took steps to close the prison facility. In recent years, it has been used to hold international criminals suspected of terrorism against the US.

Obama’s swift action to close Guantanamo is an effort to distance himself, his administration and the international American image from the practices that took place there. The military used this location, conveniently close to home yet off of American soil and hence, outside of US judicial jurisdiction, to detain suspected criminals without trial, often without evidence and for undisclosed periods of time. In addition to this, there is substantial evidence of torture being used during and as a part of interrogation techniques.

Obama wanted to quickly change the way America is viewed by the world community and because many of the terrorists we face are of Islamic origin, he particularly wanted to show them that he was a different type of president. By closing the military prison, he is sending a message that he plans to deal with terrorists according to the same human rights standards that we propagate in our realm of influence. He is sending a clear message that though he will continue to fight the war on terror, he will handle it quite differently than the former administration.

It was a bold move, to start his administration with what could be viewed as a fairly insignificant change while faced with a domestic crisis at home. It was a strong move though, sending a message to the world that he is dedicated to reforming America beyond our borders before focusing his attention to the economy at home.

The matter of America’s domestic economy is a very complicated situation that will doubtlessly take a great deal of attention and a long time but before getting caught up in it, he closed Guantanamo as a symbol of good faith for more change to come.

The future of American-Latin American relations is extremely important. For the past sixty years, the US has taken a strong interest in Latin America initially as a security type buffer zone. The nature of the interest has evolved over time according to relevant threats and pertinent demands including human rights and expansion of markets. With our current crisis, we will have to continue to lead, setting strong examples and help other nations make advancements in positive directions.

The US should adopt some of the alternative fuel technology currently in place in Brazil. Ethanol burns cleaner and with proper agricultural production, is renewable and practical. Currently, the biggest problem for Brazil’s ethanol industry is the competition between ethanol capable crops used for food and those used for ethanol.

The US has technology to produce enough grain for large scale ethanol production. We should share our agricultural technology so that Brazil can produce more ethanol capable crops, as well as give aid in the form of subsidy to catalyze the implementation of such technology. This will provide a strong example of inter-hemispheric collaboration that other countries can look to.

Helping to strengthen agricultural industries in South America will not only facilitate production of more ethanol, it will help combat hunger. More efficient production will provide more ethanol capable crops of all types and as supply rises, prices will fall making food more available to the large poor classes. This may appear a poor situation for farmers but keeping in mind, the US’s domestic implementation of ethanol and our insatiable appetite for such sort of fuel sources, demand for ethanol capable crops would sustain a fair market price.

With the implementation of ethanol in the US and technology sharing in the agriculture industry, we would also be combating global warming by burning less fossil fuels and reducing our dependence on them. An even bigger impact on global warming would be in the form of the developing nations that would have otherwise been dependent on oil, now producing their own ethanol.

As a world leader, this example and this sort of progress is absolutely necessary. Developing nations will look to the cheapest and most successful models (which have succeeded using fossil fuels) for their growth models. By implementing ethanol ourselves and helping them in the direction of cleaner technology, we provide positive examples and functional alternatives with which to model their growth.

Another positive aspect of the promulgation of ethanol is the reduction of dependence on Venezuelan oil. Hugo Chavez is one of the most anti American leaders in the world. Nations dependent on Venezuelan oil could be blackmailed or bribed to side with him and turn against the US. By giving them the tools to produce ethanol capable crops and then process ethanol, their oil demand is reduced and their dependence on Venezuelan oil is diminished.

In a time of deep concern for the future of the US in the modern world, the decisions made must be wise. Moving toward a renewable energy sources and helping other nations do the same is wise for the future of the US, the future of other nations and for the future of our planet.

Living in Chile, I have seen the US economic crisis in a number of ways. The closest I have been to it is in the community I live in, Puerto Natales, Chile. Puerto Natales, in the heart of southern Patagonia, is heavily frequented by tourists in the summer season.

With the summer just around the corner, people are already talking about lower numbers because of the financial crises. Personally, I think that they are a little ahead of themselves but they are right to worry. It is mostly Americans and European tourists that come and they definitely represent the larger portion of big spenders in the tourist flow.

Another way I have seen the crisis is in the international money market. I am spending Chilean Pesos on the street but taking American Dollars out of the bank. Of course the little that I had in the stock market is not looking well but, in the economy that I am spending, the little I had in a savings account grew nearly twenty percent over the last few weeks.

A generality that I have seen is panic. People don’t know what to do or what to expect. I am included. I have been out of the states for nearly a year and plan to return in a couple of months. I did have a plan of what I would do. High paying job, go back to school, maybe take some loans if I can’t make enough money to pay for my school. Now I am not sure about the job, and with loans the way they are, not having a high paying job could mean not being able to pay for school.

Another place I have seen the economic crisis is in the debates. I have been struggling to relate this election with others. I have found myself following it closely whereas I have never even watched another presidential debate.

I want to say it is because it is a good excuse to gather with fellow compatriots but it is more. I really am interested. I also have thought, it is because I am out of the country or because I have gotten old enough to follow politics that it seems more important.

I think though that it is one of the most important elections in our times and I hope that American at home are seeing the same debates that I am seeing because it is obvious that change must take place.

It is true that the situation is a crisis but I believe with the proper leadership, with the American mentality properly harnessed and directed toward positive, progressive growth, this can be only a road block at which we must pay our toll. However, failing to yield to the signs presented will undoubtedly lead us to our demise and the signs signal for change.

Brazil is the fifth biggest country in the world, both by population and by land mass. If you take Alaska away from the US, Brazil becomes the fourth biggest by land mass. In it, it has diversity like no place on earth. It is a melting pot of peoples from the natives of the rain forest, the often forgotten natives of the mountainous and plains regions, the imported African roots remnant from the slave trade, the Portuguese conquistadors, the various Europeans of the south to the Japanese of Sao Paulo. Even more diverse is the flora and fauna. With the Amazon rainforest’s countless species of insects and plants, Brazil is rich in resources and prime for eco-tourism.

Unfortunately, Brazil sees very little tourism. With just over five million tourists in 1996, and half of those from neighboring Argentina, Brazil is very far behind other destinations. Spain for example, had 37.4 million tourists in 1996 and is only a fraction of Brazil’s population.

There are many factors that work to keep these numbers low, the biggest being fear. The Amazon, abundant with life, is world renown for snakes, spiders and fish, all of which eat man. In addition to this, Brazil has problems with crime. It is a dangerous place to be Brazilian and more dangerous to be a foreigner.

Last year there was a fairly large outbreak of dengue fever in the area of Rio de Janeiro. I was studying Portuguese but wanted to get some facts straight so I sought an English version of the news. I was quite surprised to find nothing on any of the major English sites that I usually refer to for news. Instead, I found an article about a sixteen year old boy who had just admitted to killing, and having no remorse, six or seven people.

As the English media eventually got around to covering the 50,000 people suffering from the “bone breaking” desease, I asked myself why the associated press had picked up a cold blooded killer instead. At first I thought, and I have not yet ruled this out, that it was an attempt to preserve tourism. Rio is one of the busiest tourist destinations in South America and surely relies on the influx to bolster their economy. But then I thought about Brazil’s violent image which surely keeps tourists away and I began to think that preservation of tourism is not a concern of the media.

As I see it, Brazil is ripe for a thriving tourism industry but chooses not to pick the fruit. With all that they have to offer, beaches, the Amazon, history, culture, gastronomy, they could surely attract more tourists than they do but, annually they little more than Peru. I am perplexed, when I walk the streets in Brazil, I encounter people on every corner, excited to talk to a foreigner. I find people who speak English for pleasure, out of interest and for their jobs. I see the most beautiful sights I’ve seen in all of my travels yet there is no concern to promote that and bring foreign money to the country. Maybe it is the general laid back attitude of Brazilian culture or I may just be missing something big.

Palin spoke of many things including her experience. As a high school representative, mayor of her own town, Wasilla Alaska, and also Governor of Alaska, her rise has been impressive. Unfortunately, I felt that hearing someone talk of their experience in high school was leading up to a bid for an election for prom queen. With only two years in office as governor, her experience seems to be less than Obama’s.

Palin rallied the crowd with talk about energy resources and insisted that it is a positive advancement to begin more extraction in Alaska. She mentioned a four billion dollar natural gas pipeline project that she initiated as governor. She did not mention the complications this involves such as the costly compression facility needed at the nearest ice free port five hundred miles south, the one thousand mile shipping costs and the decompression facility necessary to extract it again from the ocean liner. She did mention the jobs that this will bring to Alaska but forgot to mention what those migrant workers will do after the pipeline is completed and any form of usable methanol is thousands of miles south and available only with the shipping price tag of transporting it back north.

Palin mentioned alternative energy such as solar, wind and geothermal. She also mentioned nuclear as if it were somehow in the same category and forgot to mention that any implementations of these types of energy technology had any chance of entering the automotive industry to curb our consumption of outdated fossil fuels. In the greatest nation on earth, especially one where a potential vice presidential candidate has just endorsed large scale extraction of methanol, I am sad to hear nothing of attempts to adapt our automobiles to using the more efficient and abundant methanol source, especially when such technology is already widely used in so called “third world nations” such as Brasil. We need to move forward, develop and adopt alternative means of transportation, not hump the old American Dream dry.

They talked poorly of many things about Obama that seem to me to be strong points in Obama’s favor. These were issues that may seem like America bowing down to foreign interests if viewed egocentrically. Any sign of submission is weak and unacceptable for a power that relies on fear to maintain their status. However, as the most powerful nation in the world, we should seek to set an example for cooperative conduct in the world forum, not set a domineering mood for any country that may, god forbid, overtake us in our downfall.

While discussing the recent Russian infraction on the Georgia’s rights as a sovereign nation, Guilliani attempted to portray Obama as ill informed and weak for his suggestion that we ask for guidance or even relinquish the task to the UN security counsel. It is hardly likely that he or his advisors overlooked the fact that Russia has a veto on the UN security counsel. Rather, this is an important step towards cooperation in an emerging world community. It shows that we are ready to deal with this together, not to take on the world by ourselves. We need the support and compliance of the world community, we have our hands full in Iraq.

So I venture to say that most of these points made against Obama are strong points. We need to cooperate. Our world is no longer a world where a superpower can or should walk alone. I hope to see good leadership in this time when the world is counting us for cooperation and positive, truly democratic growth.