Europe+and+Central+Asia

=General Information about Europe and Central Asia=

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Freedom of Press
This map graphic in the Newseum in DC shows how free each country is in what they are allowed to put in the news. Green countries have full freedom in what to include in the news, Yellow has a slight restriction, while red has very little freedom and the government pretty much has total control.

News resources
BBC News Homepage [|The Copenhagen Post] The Norway Post The Local (Sweden) [| EurasiaNet] =Colonization and Migration= Many of the European countries have been the colonizing forces through out history, mainly Britain and France. Many people have also migrated to parts of Europe hoping for a better life.

__Newstrust Articles on this topic:__ EU agrees wide-ranging immigration plans

=**Politics, International Law and Organizations**= __Newstrust Articles on this topic:__ UN calls on Europe to take in larger share of refugees for resettlement - in this article from the UN it talks about how Europe is not pulling its own weight in taking in refugees. This is a good example of how the UN really cannot make any country or continent do something if they really do not want to. It is however the UN's responsibility to house the refugees.

Racism in France: Minotrities push for equality in France. "French minorities are pressing politicians to promote more diversity" although France is not racist as America was in the 1950's, but it's still pretty strong. Obamas presidency in the United States has jolted minorities in France to want more of a voice in society. fight for their rights.

=Environment and Energy= In December 2009 Copenhagen held the COP 15 climate conference. Countries from all over the world came together to agree on another set of protocols and goals about CO2 emitions. The [|Copenhagen Accord] was drafted by the US, China, India, Brazil and South Africa at then end of the conference as an updated Kyoto Protocol. There have been mixed opinions as to if the outcome was what it should have been. There were many conferences preceding COP 15 for example in March 2009 the Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions conferance was held in Copenhagen. The goal was to compile all the existing scientific knowledge/ evidence of climate change. Then in August 2009 the Bright Green Youth conference was held in Sonderborg, Denmark. The conferance brought 250 youth from all over the world together to discuss and produce solutions for the major climate issues. The top five ideas were then presented at the major conference in December.

__Newstrust Articles on this topic:__ [|"Power from Palm Trees: green dream, or eco-nightmare?"] The United Kingdom is running out of energy. A group of entrepreneurs want to build a power station at Avonmouth. They make it sound simple, "Our vegetable oil comes from plants, and the beauty of plants is that they extract CO2 from the air, and pump oxygen back in. It's a totally green process." says Mark Incledon. The plant would be biofuel and in order for that to conduct properly it needs vegetable oil it will need around 70,000 tonnes. They will need the murky water of palm oil. Currently, all the palm oil that is being grown is also being used. There is a high demand of palm oiled and to reach that demand there would be a lot of rain-forest to chop down.

'Eat less meat' says carbon footprint burger chain A BBC article investigating a Stockholm Fast-food Burger chain. They have started putting CO2 labels on their menus as a way to try to get people to be more conscious of how much CO2 they produce with their every day choices. They acknowledge that people are not going to turn vegetarian over night to stop producing so much CO2, but they do give vegetarian options in their menu. They are hoping that this will push people to really have a look at their everyday lives and its effect on the environment.

[|Sun, wind and wave-powered: Europe unites to build renewable energy 'supergrid'] This article discusses Europe and it's energy plans and advances. In the article, there are alternatives given rather than using regular energy that gives of C02 emissions. These include sun, wind, and wave powered types of energy. Europeans across the continent are working together to create a renewable energy 'supergrid' which will help with the environment. This topic will gain political prospective because other countries (along the North Sea) are trying to become a part of this energy project. They discuss how there is one thing wrong with this type of energy, which is unpredictable weather which becomes a large factor but at least it's one large thing that could go wrong rather than a bunch of smaller things. Their goal is the following: " It will be an important step in achieving the [|European Union]'s pledge that, by 2020, 20% of its energy will come from renewable sources."

Why the COP Was No Flop An interesting opinion piece on whether the Copenhagen Climate conference held December 2009 was a success or not. According to this author it was very successful for both China and India. The world noticed that China is the power house and has done a lot to help the west get to where it is today. Poor developing countries also benefited from this conference claims the author. I guess we will just have to wait and see how things play out in the next few years to see if anything really came from getting major world leaders together to talk about climate change.

=Economy= With the rise in technology and world trading, when one country is effected by an economic drop so is the rest of the world. In 2008 when Wall Street [|crashed], the entire world was rocked. Europe, being a significant trader with the rest of the world was one of the most hurt when this occurred. During this collapse, The European Central Bank (ECB) would try and help their stock market out by [|liquefying] all their assets to try and save th european economy but the tumble of many other banks was inevitable. Soon after that the Swiss National Bank fell as well as pretty much the entire European stock market. Since then they have been trying to recover but apparently has been [|lagging] in attempt against places like the US.

//__News trust that deals with economy:__// [|German Exports drive a debate] We know the infamous BMW, Volkswagen, and Porsche that are all insanely influential to the German economy for their vast demand all over the world and their wild expense. this article talks about how Greece is basically in complete disarray at this point. Germany is trying to help them bring their economy up because they are one of the lead countries buying from them. They, along with the other countries int he "southern tier" make up about 12% of the exports to countries around Europe. They are afraid that the bad economy will spread to the rest of the southern countries which will severely effect their economy so they are going to try and help Greece out.

The Italian economy has changed dramatically since the end of World War 2 as have many countries. Formally known as a agriculturally based economy it has now developed into an industrial state that is ranked fifth in the world. Italy has just been joined to a group of eight (G-8) industrialized nations. It is a member of the European Union and the Organization for economic Cooperation and Development. Italy also continues to have a hard time with budget deficits and extreme public debt 2.6%. To try and combat the problem italy joined that national monetary union signing the stability and growth percent. Italy must now keep a budget deficit below a 3% ceiling. So Italy is a nation that is gaining economic stability constantly and also closely relates to the United States on major economic relations. Italy was actually the twelfth largest trading partners of the US in 2008.

=Security and Terrorism= April of 2010 has been an interesting month for places like Europe in terms of security and terrorism. First, there is the situation that is going on with[| Kyzgystan] right now that is outrageous. A group [|overthrew] the president and made him flea to another city in the country. This is an issue with security because if the country can't hold down their own people from hurting the government then what are we to say about the way any other country is here. Another big event that has happened recently with security in Central Asia was the visit and treaty that was[| signed] between Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitriy Anatolyevich about Nuclear warfare. Then the weekend of April 10th and 11th there was a [|summit] of countries to go over a way to be at peace with nuclear warfare. Finally, something that has to do with terrorism in Europe is the recent situations with [|Jihad Jane] and the [|Black Widow]. = = = = =Education= Education in Europe is moderate to excellent in status, however, education in Europe is undergoing nationwide reform. "Private sector involvement, decentralisation and curriculum reform are everywhere part of a reshaping of the school in the name of the competitiveness of a European knowledge economy." ([|June, 2009]) Globalization seems to be taking its toll not only on third world countries, but modernized countries as well. Globalization has fueled the spread of capitalism, which, reaching out its lengthy arm to the reach of education, transforming it into an industry, worth approximately [|2 billion euros], stimulates the privatization and business management of schools, which are proving to be prevalent, and detrimental, to the European education system. For the most part, globalization seems to be turning the view of education from, something "...'as a public service, as a basic right of every citizen, with the objective of providing for every child and young person a comprehensive education'..." into something that is "...at the service of the economy, understood now not as a universal right but as a personal investment." ([|Globalization Effect on Education]).

[|Percent Literacy Amongst Adult Female vs. Income Per Person Over Time] [|Percent Literacy Amongst Adult Males vs. Income Per Person Over Time] Each of these graphs details a rise of the percent literacy amongst adult males and females per income per person over time. It's obvious, that as the GDP per Capita increases, the number of people acquiring knowledge increases. One can only expect the overall percentage of literacy amongst adult males and females to increase, due to the benefits of a higher GDP per Capita.

Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan primary and secondary school is compulsory, which is approximately all of elementary school through high-school or 13 years. All education up to college is paid for by the state. Furthermore all curriculum is tightly controlled by the state. College's curriculums are also controlled by the state. Critics of the Kazakh education system question how they will continue to fund schools.

Portugal

Portugal, a nation that sits on the southwestern coast of Europe, is very complex in many aspects. Although the country is quickly developing as a whole and growing as a a nation, in regards to education it is still facing various obstacles. The linked map shows the difference in illiteracy rates between Portugal and other countries around the world. Although Portugal's illiteracy rate is comparatively low when stacked up against countries such as Nigeria and Iraq, with a basic literacy level at almost 95%, its own personal rates happens to be one of the lowest in all of Europe. As mentioned, Portugals basic literacy level is high, however, a grand portion of the population faces functional illiteracy. This could be deemed to the fact that, according to statistics, 81% of the countries working population received the lowest possible amount of schooling, while only 12% went on to attain intermediate schooling.
 * To learn more about the structure of the the Portuguese educational system, see here.

=Development= Poland

__[]__ This show the development in poland is increasing. Especially urban development.

=Society and Culture= The society and culture of Europe has ancestry grounded in Greece and Rome, especially the architecture. Heavily influenced by Christianity, specifically Catholicism, in the Middle Ages, which led to the almost routine burning and torture of innocent people, Europe has grown to be primarily a Catholic oriented continent, housing the Capital of Pedophil- I mean Catholicism, The Vatican, in Italy. During the late 18th/early 19th centuries, the Europeans had various revolutions and fought various wars that would ultimately shift the culture from a continent of peasant farmers and those who ruled over them, to a nation of industrial strength, and those who still ruled over them. This, both fortunately and unfortunately (depending on who you are), led to the birth of Communism, when, one day a man named Karl Marx had had enough and wrote his manifesto. This, too, gave birth to a whole new revolution of culture, a culture of dematerialized citizens who had had enough of being the Proletariat, and were about to squash the Bourgeoisie. The Bourgeoisie, not very strong, but very clever, reoriented culture yet again to form the middle class, a group of citizens that bridged the gap between Bourgeoisie and Proletariat, and who also loved Wal-Mart and Target a bit too much.

Alas, wars would strike Europe in two distinct wars (you guessed it) World War One and Two, where Germany, massively screwing up in both wars, was reduced to near rumble economically and, well we all know what happened to Japan... But that doesn't concern us. The following sixty years after the Second World War, the culture was plagued by classic rock, the Punk Rock Movement, baby boomers, and so on, breeding a lot of misfits (Hah, get it, 'cause they're a band...) schizophrenics (Syd Barret), over-consumers (America), and poor people (Luigi). Various other things, such as the cultural shock of the death of Princess Diana (So sad...) and the destruction of the Berlin Wall (To name just two key events) had their impact upon the culture in ways that were both for better and for worse. However, here is a montage of [|European Culture/Architecture].

=Human Rights= Across Central Asia, governments are still figuring out how to balance human rights with security. Often, results are not so good. Article 13 of the UN Human Rights Declaration states that freedom of movement within and in/out of a country cannot be impinged. Unfortunately, this right is not always honored in Central Asia. In Kyrgyzstan, an [|old registration system dating back from the Soviet period is still in place]. Due to this system, the registration process is highly complicated, and during periods of high internal migration, many people were not registered. Because of this, many Kyrgyzstanis are denied access to other basic services, such as water, electricity, and education. In many other Central Asian countries, especially Tajikistan, there are multiple military checkpoints around the country, making travel around the region difficult.

UK Right now, human rights in the Uk are unclear. No one really knows what is going to happen with them, especially since they are changing, and that there are so many of them. They want to change the human rights that the UK uses so that it is easier for them to call when things are wrong or right in their country. In this article they stated that in this new bill of rights, they wanted to make sure everyone has the same protections under the law. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2010/may/19/human-rights-act-human-rights

**Europe Human Rights** **Article 16- Right of marriage... GAY!** Europe declares May 17th to be an International day against Trans/HomoPhobia. The European Councilmen feels as though discriminating anyone isn't the way to go. A video Will be posted about the public speaking from president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek, on the beneficial reasons for not discriminating against homo/Transsexual The link below is to show how Poland particularly feels about this ordeal. @http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7al8iReID8 Information source provided by Ilga Europe

** Gender Roles **
In Europe, there is going to be a female preist. The Pope isn't feeling too good about this and is opposing it saying that there shouldn't be a female preist. I don't really have a past experience of other female preist, so I don't know if they do exist at the moment. There was also gender issues with female scientists in Europe. Apparently there were lower rates of success from women and even though there were more than 50% women at this one school, they still didn't trust them.

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, and a former member of the British Royal Family, was once married to Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and second son of Queen Elizabeth II. Recently, the duchess was caught selling accessibility to her ex husband, Prince Andrew for 500,000 pounds (723,662 US dollars). Ferguson was caught in the act due to the partner of trade was actually an undercover reporter. The deal was sure to happen when Sarah demanded for a down payment of 40,000 pounds for the chance with Andrew.
 * The Duchess of York sells herself embarrassment.**

This is a news segment showing off clips of the actual exchanging process.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZnOKfpzPVQ

Information provided by: [|CNN]