Blog #2: A Culture Different From Your Own

"Shortly before parliamentary elections in December, foremen fanned out across the sprawling GAZ vehicle factory here, pulling aside assembly-line workers and giving them an order: vote for President Vladimir V. Putin’s party or else," Clifford J . Levy wrote. I can not believe people still do that. Ordering people to vote for a certain party just shows how insecure the people of the party really are. But, I supposed, where ever you go bribery and threats will follow. This article goes on about how Vladimir Putin is turning into a dictator, ruling with an autocracy. That is how Hitler got elected to office; by democratic vote. So, what if Vladimir is the next Hitler? Hopefully he won't put people in concentration camps or anything extreme like that, but people did not really expect that from Hitler, either. What if Obama turns into a Hitler character? Gaining millions of supporters and love; he could turn on us at any second... But he won't. I think Vladimir Putin is just a stickler and will only have things his way and people like that scare the rest of us. But, maybe we, the people, the supporters and voters, maybe we need to just have a little faith in our leaders. Putin may look rough and stern on the outside, but he did get elected by the people so the people should trust in the decisions they have made; not go back on their word.

Levy, Clifford J. "Putin’s Iron Grip on Russia Suffocates Opponents." New York Times. Feb 24, 2008. March 4, 2008.

Blog #1: Natural Disaster

An earthquake in China a little over a year ago left 80,000 people dead or missing. A
four-year-old reservoir, the Zipingpu Reservoir, built close to the fault line at the center of the earthquake is speculated to have been the trigger. With that piece of information alone, one can only suspect how the Chinese government is faring. We all understand that dams and reservoirs are funded and owned by the government, so saying government property has caused one of the most terrible natural disasters in Chinese history can be a huge blow and set back. But aren't natural disasters, well, natural? Natural meaning not being caused or triggered by human behaviour? A natural disaster is related to land and wind and air. But then again, that is the question; did the government cause this earthquake? Or was it destined to happen? Based on the information given in the article, I find it hard to believe a reservoir could cause seismic waves in the earth's crust. Honestly, if the Earth wants to have an earthquake, the earth wants to have an earthquake. It's not one of those things that can be created by water pressure in a corrupt country. And, really, the government wanted to help it's country by creating a dam, not to trigger a terrible "natural disaster".


Lafraniere, Sharon. "In China Quake, a Man-Made or Natural Disaster?" International Herald Tribune. Feb 6 2009. Feb 16 2009. < http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/06/asia/06quake.php>