North+Africa+and+the+Middle+East

=North Africa and the Middle East= **North Africa and the Middle East** is a geopolitical region. toc

Countries
//Main Page: Subregions// There are many different lists of the countries that compose this region. The map of colored regions above, which are listed below, includes most countries sometimes placed in North Africa and the Middle East, even if no definition considers them all to be in the region.

Colonization
The Middle East and North Africa were colonized by Europe. //**Olaitan- Middle East (Colonization):**// People in the Middle East are starting to feel as though the US empire is using some of their countries as "Puppets." The US is influenced by the "Zionist Power Structure" to invade places like Iran and Iraq. To keep peace in the Middle East, the Middle East end up being caught in a struggle against this Zionist power that has resided in the US. __Olaitan__ Morocco: Algeria: Egypt
 * Constitutional monarchy.
 * **Prime Minister:** Abbas El Fassi
 * They have some sort of "judicial" branch but all the really important actions/decisions are made by the kind.
 * http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_975.html
 * http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107800.html?pageno=5
 * Parliamentary republic.
 * **President:** Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika
 * Since Algeria was taken over by the French in 1830, their legal system is highly identical the french and also has a few Islamic laws as well.
 * They became a sovereign state in 1962
 * http://www.law.emory.edu/ifl/legal/Algeria.htm
 * http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107272.html
 * http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/amed/egypt/resources/egypt-government.html
 * http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107484.html
 * Republic government
 * **President:** Hosni Mubarak
 * Egypt's laws and regulations are based on a goddess by the name of Ma'at.
 * http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/law.htm

This is a link to my article from this past week. In this article the author talks about how he himself is an Arab American. He tells us how hard it is to be an Arab American in the United States and the sorts of things that happen to them. It didn't have to much to do with politics in the Middle East but more about how they are treated here.

=Energy= //OLAITAN// Sudan is mostly run by renewable energy found in it's climate and resources. It's resources includes forest, livestock, fertile land and water. According to many different sources, Sudan actually has a very high amount of energy sources. These sources include sunshine, solar radiation, bio mass and moderate wind speeds. With all these resources, Sudan is is always ready with energy when it's needed.

http://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/ijgeni/v19y2003i4p289-309.html

I read an article for my newstrust assignment about how North Africa and the Middle East want to turn the desert sun into energy. I thought it was really interesting and could be put into this section because what they are doing with their sun and trying to turn it into energy for Europe is pretty cool. http://newstrust.net/stories/19587/toolbar

Iraq is one of the world's richest sources of oil. Because of strong international desire for Iraq's oil and the large sums of money involved in such transactions, local politics is rife with all sorts of corruption. There is little regulation of the energy sector in Iraq, and little to prevent foreign lobbying. In December, Iraq auctioned off 10 contracts for developing oil fields. American oil companies only secured a major stake in one contract, and had a small (25%) stake in another. China (whose diplomats were far more fluent in Arabic and local politics than the Americans, and more effective) and Russia were the most successful. This was the first major foray by foreign companies into Iraqi oil in over forty years, and is expected to be the last for quite some time. []

[|For Pennies, a Disposable Toilet That Could Help Grow Crops]
The article above introduces a way to dispose of bodily waste and help the soil. This bag, called the Peepoo one can go to the bathroom, tie the bag up and bury it. Proteins in the bag break down the waste turning it into fertilizer for the soil. At the same time it also breaks down the diseases and bacterial in human waste so it is making it easy to have a more sanitized living conditions. Since the proteins turn teh waste into fertilizer the soil around the bag, which has degraded, is now more rich which makes it more suitable for growing crops. This seems like a small thing but it is a big step towards cleaning up the poorest nations and helping them get out of their unfortunate situation.

__**[|Re-emergence of Science and Technology in the Middle East]**__
The article above talks about the different misconceptions that people have on the Middle East, "Today, the romantic and "almost backward wasteland" image from TV and Hollywood that most people have of a typical "middle east" country is one of sand, and caravans of camel transportation and not advanced science and technology. " ([|Walter Derzko]). The Middle

[|Morocco hopes to shine in mega solar project]
The biggest solar-thermal energy project is being launched in Morocco. They are trying to produce bearly 40 per cent of its electricity needs by 2020. The plant would be 10,000 hectares, and will be at five different locations in he country. This is the biggest solar thermal energy project in a country alone. What this will do, is use lenses to produce electricity by having a large amount of sunlight hit a small area producing electricity. They hope that this supplies 38% of the countries electricity. Money is coming from private places and public places, $9 billion has already been raised. Since Morocos is one of the countries that gets its oiled imported this will help them save 12 per cent, which is roughly S$500–700 million annually.

The Middle East economy is very diverse. With each countries individual economies, they vary.There are government led socialist economies, free market economies and hydrocarbon exporting runtier economies. This region is best known for producing oil, oil is a big part of their economy as a whole.
 * Middle East**

=ECONOMY=

[|Africa ETFs: 5 Plays for a Growing Economy]
For many years Africa has been posed as a continent with an abundance of poverty, famish, and illness. In many parts there has been a lack of economic stability up until this day. However, there are various programs working to stabilize the continents economic state, using various methods which are described in the above article.

=TRADE=

Middle East Free Trade Area Initiative (MEFTA)
It was on May 3rd 2003 where the United States, proposed the Middle East Free Trade Area Initiative (MEFTA) to increase trade with them and other countries around the world. This would help economic growth not only for the United States but for the Middle East and other countries. One of the major trades coming from the Middle East is oil.

Trade is being questioned as to whether or not it is helping the developmental growth in North Africa. It is being said that since the trade is so open and liberal are two main components of the policy mix that is needed for the well being of economic growth. It's safe to ask whether or not trade in the different countries in North Africa pace of trade liberalization needs to be sped up or not. It needs to be known whether or not that will improve the economic growth and wealth of the countries in North Africa.Click [|here] for more on this topic.

=Security and Terrorism=

There are many issues in the Middle East most of them come back to the issue with religion. There are a few different religions in the Middle East, including different groups of Muslims and a large population of followers of the Jewish religion. This causes issues since Israel is the location of many different religions "Holy Lands". This causes problems for the Jewish in the Middle East since there are always groups of people trying to fight them to get what they see as their land back.
 * Religion**

Over the past ten years, the middle east has been the breeding ground for war and terrorism. With the Iranians pursuing the acquisition of nuclear power/weapons, to the supposed attacks made by Iraq upon America, the middle east continues to be the center of terrorist activity. In a recent statement made by the Interior Minister, Mostafa Mohammed Najjar, [|the United States and Israel are to blame for these terrorist activities]. Whether the veracity of this statement could ever really hold, there is some responsibility for terrorist activities that can be placed upon the head of at least the United States.

The North African group, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in recent news have issued a statement warning, that during the England vs. USA football World Cup, suicide bombers were going to attack with "undetectable" explosives.

**Education **
Education in Saudi Arabia is working on becoming more rounded as for content. They are working on including religion, economics, and social needs for their citizens. The grades in education in Saudi Arabia are that they start in Kindergarden, and unlike the US where we have 4 years for primary, 4 for intermediate, and 4 for high school, they have 3 years for each level. More recently, they are attempting to improve schools more like the US and include more programs such as scientific and technological activities. They are also getting teachers to learn about such activities so that they can teach better. Another thing they are trying to include and parents are very fond of and supportive of, is sex education. The parents don't feel comfortable teaching them their selves, so the children learning about it in school would be beneficial.

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In Mali [|women's education] is still not a very important thing to the government or the families of these girls. In the article linked in earlier it talks about a woman who was pulled out of her school by her family when she was only in the 7th grade to be married to an uneducated man who she didn't love who to top it all off was her cousin. She couldn't chose to stay in school so she ran away to study so she could learn how to read. There is now The Benkadi Women's Association raises money by buying rice, onions and tomatoes when they are in season and the price is low. The members dry and preserve the food until the crops go out of season and the price rises. They sell the food at a profit at the local market so they can help girls get an education.

Education in Egypt over the past few years has become one of the larger education systems in North Africa since the 1990s. The schooling that occurs is consisted as the following:
 * Kindergarten for the first two years of school (Normally 4-6 years old)
 * Primary school for six years (6-12)
 * Preparatory school for three years (12-15)
 * Secondary school for three more years after that depending on when you star raging from 15-17 years old.

The above graphs display a vary of information created by the The World Bank in their report about MENA's (Middle East and North Africa) education and how it has changed. As you can see in the first graph, the difference between gender going to school has significantly decreased since the 1970s to the 2000's. In the second graph you can see that a majority of people always were in primary in school but the numbers have still continued to grow in terms of people going to school in all areas throughout the years.

**Development **
 There are a lot of different ways that a country can develop and in [|Mali] they are developing through the help of other countries the way a lot of giving organizations do. The Dieppe campus of New Brunswick Community College is working to extend its programs to give textbooks to children. It is an 8-million dollar partnership to give textbooks to children in one of the worlds poorest countries and make it a more efficient country.

In Saudi Arabia, there is a lot going on. So far, it seems as if they are providing a lot of Indians with jobs, which is helping out India much, but not so much with the people of Saudi Arabia. Also, there has been much development in Saudi Arabia with roads being built, the start of modern education, and better health care and agriculture expansion. []

In recent years, the development of Egypt has started in increase in various parts of the country. For one, as the country's economy grew so did the peoples' call for a better [|government.] Over the years our government, has given them [|credit] on how they have improved their country's government for the long haul and create longevity for their own society. For instance: - They have held many different party/parliament elections at one time. - They appointed 31 female judges - Open the government to more positive free speech - Make it a place where people can freely express themselves.

Society and Culture
Culture in the Middle East obviously has a very different from the culture in the west but it is slowly beginning to look like regular cities all over the world. Westernization is beginning to creep throughout the world because of the impact that the economy has. This is a picture of a city in Tehran, Iran where it is obvious that westernization has taken over. The tall buildings and park that lies underneath them resembles something that could be seen in the United States. Culture obviously prevails in the country of Iran but you can see first hand how westernization can affect a country.

Naadir Ginyard

North Africa compared to the United States culture and society is a lot more unique and and consists more of togetherness and is separated by the immense passion of the differing cultures. For instance the culture of Africa is basically split into two sections North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. In Sub- Saharan the main ethno linguistic division are The Bantu people and in North Africa the main division are Afro- Asiatic. The Bantu people have made huge expansions of the 1st millennium A.D. The use of Swahili just further establishes the Pan African cultural influence.

**Human Rights **
United Nations Charter Article 6. "Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law." Basically everyone has the right to be heard before the law. In an article written by Angela S. Young the issue of Iran violating such freedom laws and how it is proposed they get kicked out of the UN. Many organizations have claimed that their leader Ahmadine jad is violating human rights and must be punished. Ahmadine jad claims that they have other motives and are not telling the truth that the women in Iran have the greatest freedom. According to Amnesty International Women and minorities, both race and religion, are being discriminated against on a regular basis and have no freedom of speech. Obviously the laws set forth by the UN in the UN Charter not all countries are strictly following. There is no one to come slap a country on the back of the hand for breaking the laws.

Iran has been in the news a lot since the summer about not following Article 6. Three American hikers acidentally crossed the border into Iran while on their trip, where caught, and have been in prison since July 2009. The hikers have yet to be seen in court. This prolonged in imprisonment goes completely against the UN's Article 6 about everyone having the right to be heard before the law. Here are two links about the hikers story. BBC News and The New York Times

Article 11 also relates to the American hikers being held in Iran. Article 11 is stated below.

**Article 11.**

 * (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.
 * (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.

This link here is a video of the three mothers being interviewed before they leave for Iran.

media type="custom" key="6183769"

- [|Human Rights (Middle East)] Here is some interesting audio pertaining to Human Rights and a country of the Middle East called Yemen. Former Guantanamo detainees in the country of Yemen were interviewed by the Human Rights Watch. They basically say that they are trying to start their lives over and rebuild them for the better so that their situations can become better than before. It says that they would like help from the United States.

**Gender **
Article about the struggles that Afganistan woman face, and the inequality they have to deal with.

Here are charts to help one visualize the inequality females face. These graphs compare literacy and employment rates in order to help show how women are not being educated and there for are not getting the same job opportunities as men.

As you can see from the last two graphs that the dots for the females are much lower to the bottom in general which means a lower presentage of women are working compared to men.

There is so little data on female literacy rates because many countries do not even track it or it is so low they do not want to report it! In the article above the woman was lucky enough to be able to have a full education. Many females in Afghanistan are not able to have a full education and are then very limited in what they are able to do for work. It is one way the government is keeping them oppressed.

M.T [|Iraq: Living in Hiding] This video is interesting and I feel bad for the women in this society that have to go through the violence and hardships. This story is a sad and it's about gender and human rights. The story involves females and their fear of being raped, so therefore they hide out in certain places to avoid being harassed. According to the United Nations, there have been thousands (740,000) of women that were left widowed and also thousands that lost their brothers and fathers so they aren't being protected in their countries against other men and violence that takes place. Because rape is not acceptable, the women who are raped are often killed by their own family members when they should have been protecting them from getting raped in the first place. The women who want some kind of protection are a part of a womens' shelter which is located in the red zone of the country and isn't safe to travel to, except for during the night. They have to deal with unhealthy living conditions and filthy rodents like rats. The women receive harsh and inhuman treatment that the men in their society don't have to face.

**Iranian Activist Criticizes Tightening Of 'Veil And Chastity' Rule** The Iranian president's office for women and family affairs recently called for stricter implementation of the "Veil and Chastity" plan. The measure will first target places where women most commonly assemble, such as schools and universities.

About two weeks ago in Palestine near the west bank

In the middle east there are various places where women's rights are abused. This is often times caused by misinterpretations of Islamic law. Such laws include, forcing a women to wear a veil, forced marriages, and no suffrage. On the other hand there are also a group of elite who are trying to force western culture on women by forcing them to take off their veils in affluent restaurants and businesses.