Musings of a Silent Pirate

Reporting by The Krakow Post

TAIPA – For a pirate, Liang Bao is remarkably silent. His modest White Banner Fleet is impressively immaculate; the floors are unscratched and no ropes lie tangled on the deck, unlike the ships of his brothers. Of them all, he is the smallest. His robe hugs his thin frame loosely, and even when ordering his men, his voice is soft. They all look to him with authority though— he never needs volume to be listened to. They look to him as a son looks to a father.

He told me that Taipa, where the confederacy of pirates has convened, is an odd homecoming for him. When he was 2 months old, he washed up in a wooden crate onto the golden sands of the island. Ching Shih, mourning the death of her longtime husband and now commanding the entire Canto-Delta confederacy of pirates found the boy wailing, sand stuck to his skin. She bathed him and took him in as her son.

He was always quiet growing up. Cheung Po Tsai, his older brother, led the siblings boisterously and Bao always followed closely behind. With no father, Tsai was the only masculine presence in his life. Bao said the way he saw him was almost a kind of piety, and it is still difficult to see him as an equal now that they are all fleet leaders.

He struggled saying that they were equals. “Equal, but different,” he said thoughtfully. He told me it was difficult sometimes even saying he was a pirate— pirates were violent raiders, and he was a careful planner who sometimes preferred business to looting. 

A decade ago, Bao was preparing to leave Macau when he heard a distant noise. A child in a crate had floated to the front of the ship, and a horrible pang ran through his spine. He dove overboard and brought the child back onto the ship, both of them drenched. He named him Liang Yakang, and took him in as son.

Yakang is his right hand man today, taller and broader than his adoptive father, but just as silent. Bao can be found looking forward into the sea, always searching for something— another wooden crate, perhaps, or anything too young to be in the sea alone. He said that the sea has taught him nothing is fair— the universe consumes without regard for how we feel. For this reason, he does not blame his parents. He said that he understands they had to give him up, and does not blame them for anything. 

He sails on in an ocean vast enough to separate even a father, even a son. 

Poland Is Becoming an Ethnostate

Reporting by The Krakow Post

BOSTON-To love a nation, you must criticize it. The Krakow Post loves Poland for being a supportive home to our community of ex-pat journalists since its inception. However, we recognize our privilege as being a majority white institution— the xenophobia surrounding white immigrants to a homogenous white country pales in comparison to the racism surrounding immigrants of color. The Krakow Post condemns Poland’s rejection of all 160,000 asylum seekers from displaced Near East areas as exclusionary and inhumane and urges Poland to work against racist and xenophobic sentiments that plague our country and impact our policy. 

Other European nations have shown progressive and accepting attitudes: particularly, Germany, Greece, and Italy; yet, Poland continues to cling onto the conservative values of ethnic homogeneity. Because of the lack of diversity present within our country, our people have never learned the value of diversity, and continue to be intolerant to people they do not recognize or understand. In order to match the rapidly progressive globalized world, Poland must rid itself of racial dogmas and stereotypes. 

Poland has been the theater for bigotry before. Poles were separated into Jewish citizens and non-Jewish citizens, a divide that threatened our national identity and turned brother against brother. These anti-Semitic sentiments still plague our country today: in 2017, a far-right march garnered 60,000 participants with slogans like “We Want God” and “Poland for Poles” along with anti-Semitic slurs. The depiction of Central European countries as peaceful havens with charming culture and history omits the ignorance that comes with a country that approaches the composition of an ethnostate. 

The party leader of the largest political party in Poland, Jarosław Kaczyński of the Law and Justice Party has said that accepting asylum seekers would “completely change our [Polish] culture and radically lower the level of safety in our country” and would engender a “wave of aggression, especially toward women.” In other words, classical conservative rhetoric painting all immigrants of color as dangerous rapists. This language from such a politically dominant presence ingrains into our national psyche that all people of color pose a threat to the very existence of Poland; in reality, our national identity should be inclusive to all. Anyone can become a Pole; it is not an identity that is given at birth, but an identity learned from living in our beautiful state.

The Krakow Post has an all-immigrant staff and must stand in solidarity with fellow immigrants to fulfill its vision of an accepting and progressive Poland. The Post urges the Polish delegation of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees committee to choose tolerance and acceptance, and vote for the resolution most supportive of refugees and their rights to enter European states.

Importance of Education in Climate Change Crisis.

Reporting by The Trinidad Express

The delegate of India discussing his ideas regarding nuclear power and what it can do for developing nations.

BOSTON– The new topic of focus at the EcoFin committee seems to have drifted away from its original targets; for example, discussion of creating a climate tax has been brought up but avoided. The committee seems to prefer focusing not on pertinent topics but on ones that don’t solve the main problem at hand, and this has led to their focus today on the importance of education in regards to climate change. Such a directive is without a doubt important to the success of many plans, as it promotes the internal development and self-sustainability of undeveloped countries, but the amount of time spent discussing the matter seems to have had a counterintuitive effect on the committee.

“Education is the key to change,” says the delegate of Suriname; in order for internal developments to take hold, the people of the developing countries have to educate themselves in order to become self-sufficient and independent nations. Education leads to awareness, which leads to activism, which is exactly what the developing nations of the world need right now.

Many countries in the EcoFin debate seemed to favor the promotion of education: the delegate of Ukraine proposed giving scholarships to citizens of developing countries, and the delegate of India presented the idea that nuclear power could be an extremely beneficial source of sustainable power that could positively impact developing nations if they were given the tools and knowledge to utilize it.

The CEASE bloc, including the delegate of Mozambique, seemed willing to cooperate and merge with other blocs such as the DRIP bloc, led by the delegate of South Africa, and the STOP bloc, which included the delegate of the United Kingdom. The ideologies of each bloc are very similar, but there were some differences in their set goals.

The DRIP bloc, which appears to be made up of delegates from South Africa, Guinea, Germany, the UK, New Zealand, Benin, and Niger, believes that the best way to combat climate change is by the institution of a climate tax. This would make it harder for countries who have a particularly large carbon footprint, for instance, China and the USA, as they would be taxed based on the amount of carbon they produce. Hopefully, this would encourage these more impactful countries to reduce their carbon and GHG emissions significantly.

The STOP bloc proposes instead a carbon cap which would instead regulate the amount of carbon legally allowed to be produced by a country. This method provides a more concrete, solid boundary and more definite results, but maybe hard to enforce as countries all over the world would surely push the cap as far as it can go. Compared to the plan provided by the DRIP bloc, this is more reliable as it sets an explicit boundary to be adhered to, while the carbon tax would simply test how much money the country is willing to lose in order to retain carbon emissions. 

According to the delegation of Mozambique, the CEASE bloc is working on a 60/40 plan; this plan gives partial profits to developing countries so they can promote internal growth and self-sustainability.

Mozambique has limited natural resources, severe droughts, and is dealing with reparations of a past civil war and threats of one in the near future, so this plan would benefit them and aid them in improving internally as opposed to just superficially with temporary improvements. The plan would provide them (and other developing nations) with 40% of the profits made while 60% would go back to the developed countries and their corporations.

Many countries expressed interest in funding interest programs in which developed nations would provide financial aid to developing countries, but they could cause developing countries to become indebted to larger countries who could take advantage of them and their unstable economic institutions.

Economic support from developed countries could become harmful and corrupt, should it develop into something incredibly unmanageable and over-powerful, but the CEASE bloc’s 60/40 plan seems to provide a balance that would keep powers in check while providing aid to developing countries in need of equitable and sustainable economic, agricultural, educational, and technological support.

 

Murder, Kidnapping, Espionage Rampant in Versailles

Reporting by The Khaleej Times

VERSAILLES – “ The agents went rogue and then kidnapped Einstein” echoes the Australian delegate, for probably the hundredth time. Convicted of espionage, the kidnapping of Einstein, an assassination attempt and the violation of Germany’s national sovereignty the Delegate of Australia makes futile attempts at trying to convince the committee of her innocence. However, the committee is convinced of Australia’s guiltiness and ignoring her moves straight into discussing the punishments to be meted out to Australia.

The Delegate of USA states that it was the job of the committee to hold Australia accountable for their actions but remain cognizant of the fact that the people of Australia should not bear the burden of the actions of the people in power. The Delegate of Italy reiterated this point, “The sins of the leaders are not the sins of the citizens.” A strong message should be sent after Australia’s punishment to ensure that this sort of action is never repeated again and no country ever makes an attempt to harm another. The Delegate of Australia, in another futile attempt to convince the committee of the Government’s innocence in this situation, reiterated that the men caught were “Nonstate actors. She goes on to say that just because the men caught “ were of Australian origin it doesn’t prove that they were working on behalf of Australia.” Immediately dismissing her statements, the Delegate of China demands increased surveillance in Australia by the setting up of embassies to prevent them from being “hoodwinked by Australia again.” All delegates seemed to agree on one point and that was that that economic sanctions should be imposed on the Australian intelligence, the body they believed had committed these crimes.

Much to the Delegate of Australia’s relief the discussion of her punishments was interrupted by the bursting in of Dr. Robert H Goddard, who claimed to have almost been kidnaped by men carrying a placard with China written on it. Luckily, he was saved because of his “martial art skills which are out of this world.” Dr. Goddard claimed that China had kidnapped him to gain access to his technology for military reasons. Suddenly, the Delegate of Australia was not the only one under scrutiny as China joined her in being accused of kidnapping a scientist for military purposes. The Delegate of the USA was taken aback by this development as he delivered a passionate speech on the “amount of hypocrisy in the room.” China had earlier spearheaded the anti-imperialistic actions of the committee and yet has meddled in the internal affairs of another country by kidnapping a scientist for hid technology. The Delegate of Vietnam pointed that after acquiring Robert Goddard’s technology, China could do anything, “they could fire artillery shots from the moon and there would be nothing anyone could do to stop them.”

Hungry for Relief: UNEP Solutions for Potential Food Insecurity in African Nations Must Be Prompt

Reporting by Le Monde

The Delegation of Uruguay answers questions during a press conference. Uruguay is part of the R2F bloc, one of two UNEP blocs currently writing working papers meant to address global food insecurity.

BOSTON- The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) convened in Boston this weekend to address concerns regarding international food security. However, in its third committee session, the situtation took a drastic turn, as multiple African nations fell prey to an outbreak of desert locust. In its fourth session, the committee began to debate and plan measures that should be taken to ensure food security in the region. Most prposed enterprises, however, have a strong likelihood of proving insufficient to deal with the incredibly fragile situation. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced that Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia are suffering from their worst plague of desert locust in seven decades. The swarms of locusts were brought on about by above-average rains in the region’s deyr season. The migratory grasshoppers can cover up to 150 kilometers and consume an amount of food equivalent their body weight daily. A staggering 200 million citizens in the region face potential food insecurity, defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “The state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.” Farmers and herders currently run the risk of suffering the most, as their livestock depend on the natural vegetation that are the insect’s choice meal. Smallholder farmers bear the same burden, as they are low in resources to fall back on. Somalia faces an enhanced risk of food insecurity due to its unusually dry gu season. Somali citizens were hopeful that the rainy deyr season would alleviate the drought, but the locust invasion has only worsened the state of food security in Somalia: 2.1 million Somalis have been added to the category of “severely hungry.” The FAO issued a warning that the locust swarm could multiply more than 500 times its current size if no immediate action is taken. However, UNEP seems to have difficulty processing the direness of the situation. Mostly divided into the TIDE (primarily headed by The Delegations of the UK, Russian Federation, and Canada, respectfully) and R2F blocs (primarily headed by the Delegations of Uruguay, The Netherlands, and Germany, respectfully), UNEP is currently debating two extensive working papers that detail solutions to both the crisis in Africa, and the issue of global food security at large. Both papers, however, lack any plans for immediate relief. A majority of the plans require careful planning and implementation that occupy precious time the current situation simply can’t afford to lose. The R2F working paper is divided into “Short-Term,” “Medium-Term,” and “Long-Term” solutions, and recognizes “the need for ugent famine relief.” Among its proposed solutions are “Road to Food Security Goals” to be reached in decade-long intervals. The “short-term” component of the Goals is “Zero Famines,” which provides for anticipating food security-related crises and promoting coordination among national, regional, and international bodies when such crises arise. It additionally recommends the implementation of “immediate food security strategies that will directly benefit the most vulnerable populations in times of crises” and requests “the prioritization of adaptaion funds over mitigation funds in order to adapt to the immediate realities of climate change.” The TIDE working paper affirms that “over 200 million people are food insecure… and that the spread of the locust plague can make the most vulnerable populations similarly affected.” It deems technology and education neccesary “to create more people capabable of working in small-scale farms… and contributing to the agriculture and ecomomy of countries.” In terms of solutions, the plan organizes them along the lines of technology, investment, development, and education. For example, the paper “Encourages market research” for farmers to make their business ventures more economically lucrative. It furthermore “Recommends the development of satellite technology” designed to detect premature warning signs of famine, calls for the merging of various multilateral funds, and encourages the sale of food aid “at a floor price” in countries to avoid “market failure,” among many other actions. Indeed, both working papers play host to a wide variety of innovative approaches to the issue of food security. What they lack is any sort of explicit plan to deal with the current crisis in Africa, a crisis that can easily grow and result in the death of millions. Given the papers’ lengthy nature, there should be little doubt that the delegations devoted much thought to the well-being of the nations currently at the mercy of the locusts . The solutions proposed in each of them have great potential to solve the issue- but only in the long term, and only in broad terms. UNEP must concoct specific, immediate plans to address the delicate state of food insecurity in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. The people of the countries need aid. Although famine has yet to occur, its potential to manifest is strong, and these countries must be prepared. The people of these nations cannot be ready for a food secure future without food security now, and the best way to avoid enhanced food insecurity is through promptly allocated and distributed aid. Indeed, there is some debate in the international community regarding whether providing “aid” in the form of food to famine-ravaged developing countries actually weakens their agriculture industries and increases dependency on the developed world. However, nations that face food insecurity must swallow their economic pride. The farmers they claim to save by spurning international donations of food are likely currently more concerned about living to see another day than the future profits of their farms. The R2F working paper even went so far as to condemn “the withholding of as a… means to make a political point.” Furthermore, given the impressively detailed, intricate solutions contained in both working papers, developing nations should rest easier knowing that any future repercussions, be they economic or social, that arise from persistent food insecurity may be accounted for by UNEP. It is not a matter of whether the working papers deserve a chance to be debated and voted on, as they serve as beacons of hope for the future of food security. Rather, it is a matter of the need for steps to be taken quickly before the current situation worsens beyond help. A brighter, better future for Somalia, Kenya, Ehtiopia, and the world at large is possible, but only if measures are taken in the present. People facing starvation do not want decade-long goals, satellites, or educaton programs. They’re hungry for immediate relief, and UNEP must cook something up fast to satisfy them.

Importance of Education in Climate Change Crisis

Reporting by The Trinidad Express

BOSTON– The new topic of focus at the EcoFin committee seems to have drifted away
from its original targets; for example, discussion of creating a climate tax has been
brought up but avoided. The committee seems to prefer focusing not on pertinent topics
but on ones that don’t solve the main problem at hand, and this has led to their focus
today on the importance of education in regards to climate change. Such a directive is
without a doubt important to the success of many plans, as it promotes the internal
development and self-sustainability of undeveloped countries, but the amount of time
spent discussing the matter seems to have had a counterintuitive effect on the
committee.
“Education is the key to change,” says the delegate of Suriname; in order for internal
developments to take hold, the people of the developing countries have to educate
themselves in order to become self-sufficient and independent nations. Education leads
to awareness, which leads to activism, which is exactly what the developing nations of
the world needs right now.
Many countries in the EcoFin debate seemed to favor the promotion of education: the
delegate of Ukraine proposed giving scholarships to citizens of developing countries,
and the delegate of India presented the idea that nuclear power could be an extremely
beneficial source of sustainable power that could positively impact developing nations if
they were given the tools and knowledge to utilize it.
The CEASE bloc, including the delegate of Mozambique, seemed willing to cooperate
and merge with other blocs such as the DRIP bloc, led by the delegate of South Africa,
and the STOP bloc, which included the delegate of the United Kingdom. The ideologies
of each bloc are very similar, but there were some differences in their set goals.
The DRIP bloc, which appears to be made up of delegates from South Africa, Guinea,
Germany, the UK, New Zealand, Benin, and Niger, believes that the best way to combat
climate change is by the institution of a climate tax. This would make it harder for
countries who have a particularly large carbon footprint, for instance, China and the
USA, as they would be taxed based on the amount of carbon they produce. Hopefully,
this would encourage these more impactful countries to reduce their carbon and GHG
emissions significantly.
The STOP bloc proposes instead a carbon cap which would instead regulate the
amount of carbon legally allowed to be produced by a country. This method provides a

more concrete, solid boundary and more definite results, but maybe hard to enforce as
countries all over the world would surely push the cap as far as it can go. Compared to
the plan provided by the DRIP bloc, this is more reliable as it sets an explicit boundary
to be adhered to, while the carbon tax would simply test how much money the country is
willing to lose in order to retain carbon emissions.
According to the delegation of Mozambique, the CEASE bloc is working on a 60/40
plan; this plan gives partial profits to developing countries so they can promote internal
growth and self-sustainability.
Mozambique has limited natural resources, severe droughts, and is dealing with
reparations of a past civil war and threats of one in the near future, so this plan would
benefit them and aid them in improving internally as opposed to just superficially with
temporary improvements. The plan would provide them (and other developing nations)
with 40% of the profits made while 60% would go back to the developed countries and
their corporations.
Many countries expressed interest in funding interest programs in which developed
nations would provide financial aid to developing countries, but they could cause
developing countries to become indebted to larger countries who could take advantage
of them and their unstable economic institutions.
Economic support from developed countries could become harmful and corrupt, should
it develops into something incredibly unmanageable and over-powerful, but the CEASE
bloc’s 60/40 plan seems to provide a balance that would keep powers in check while
providing aid to developing countries in need of equitable and sustainable economic,
agricultural, educational, and technological support.

UK Joins the TIDES Block in the UN Environmental Program

Reporting by The Sunday Times

BOSTON– The UNEP has much work to do during the conference, what with the pressing issues surging in the World right now regarding food, plagues, and agriculture.
The United Kingdom has been an active participant of the TIDES block, which stands for technology/teaching, investment, development, education and sovereignty/sustainability.
Education covers everything, from technological teaching to face to face seminars. The block is of the belief that technology without education is effectively useless, and highlights the success of recent agricultural achievements in the developing world due to technology, like the model of the World Food Program. The UK aims to educate locals as well as having them figure out the structure with which the program is to be implemented. Delegates are aware that many villages and countries don’t have the proper infrastructure to make video-transmissions on sustainable agriculture, so they are working on planning annual symposiums where UN experts hold a seminar to teach farmers. They’ll have a lecture-style presentation to empower farmers with knowledge of new tech and sustainable farming practices, information which otherwise they would not able to access. The idea is to bring UN members, farming experts and farmers themselves together, so all voices in the table are heard equally. Another goal of these symposiums is never to lose track of progress and the people at hand.  Implementing satellites is an innovative solution the block gives to many issues, as they would help to locate people in need quickly, and to track and compile data on geothermal activity and weather. This would optimize efforts and resources, make efforts more effective, assure different delegates.
As for the funding of these satellites, the block insists developed countries have the capacity to launch them and would, in truth, benefit significantly from it. There would be a global agricultural database anyone could access to gather and analyze information, which could greatly profit investors and regulators of trade. The UK also expressed their duty to provide for these tools as a means to pay back for the damage already done, as they are aware bigger economic powers are the most responsible for climate change. They acknowledge developing countries can make an equally positive impact as other nations, even though they’ve caused less damage. Involved countries are also willing to invest 0.01% of their GDP into the initiative to give the committee financial stability. There are also funds that the UN has already set up, and the UK believes the TIDES solutions are not as expensive as many people think.
It is sensible to keep in mind that UNEP recommendations are not legally binding; they are merely suggestions to create a more sustainable future, where food equality and sustainable agriculture finally become a reality.

Creating a workplace for refugees and improving the living conditions in a refugee camp

Reporting by The People’s Daily

BOSTON-During the most recent United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees conference, delegations from different countries in the council discussed the topic of creating a workplace for refugees to improve the living conditions of refugee camps and benefitting both refugees and hosting country. With the deteriorating condition of refugee camps and aid organizations neglecting refugees, this will lead to the creation of new potential dangers such as plagues and disease spreading around refugee camps and later on, the hosting country. Acknowledging this, countries in the UNHCR have proposed resolutions regarding the current problem with refugee camps.

The delegation from Norway heavily emphasizes on the implementation of the workplace for refugees, stating that it is essential to solving the refugee crisis. It is explained that by utilizing refugees as workforce, it will extremely benefit the refugees as they have the ability to gain their own income and support themselves, not only relying on aid organizations that don’t have the ability to support the refugees 24/7. the implementation of this program will also benefit the hosting country as they gain a new workforce for their own country. According to delegations from Ireland, Malawi, Brazil, and South Korea, for this plan to succeed, first education must be given in refugee camps and refugees will receive basic training for professional fields such as agriculture, etc.

UNHCR’s second goal of the recent conference is raising the living conditions of refugee camps, in which it was explained that poor living conditions in refugee camps are also a problem for the entire country. Countries that host refugees are concerned with the possibility of a disease spreading into the country and seek to heighten the living conditions in refugee camps to prevent this. The delegation of Uzbekistan suggests on the creation of establishment of specialized sanitation and medical facilities for refugee camps because refugees always struggle with illness and diseases from the poor living conditions caused during their migration, which means that they arrive on their new countries possibly carrying a certain kind of illness, making the physical health of refugees one of the top priorities that UNHRC must be able to take care of. Regarding potential disease that refugees possibly carry, Brazil wishes to create a data center containing physical health information of individuals in order to help on the prevention of disease spread coming from refugees.

Delegates from countries such as the USA and Mongolia acknowledge the problem regarding the physical health of refugees but chose to focus on the mental health of refugees. It was stated that refugees fleeing from their countries tend to suffer mental problems such as PTSD, etc. during their struggle in their own countries and during migration. These psychological problems are also a threat to the lives of refugees and are an obstacle to the program on refugee utilization as a workforce. Meaning refugee camps must be facilitated with mental health hospitals to help the mental health of refugees. Meanwhile, countries such as Yemen seek help from other countries with these facilitations, as they lack funding for their own refugee camps.

Editorial: NATO’s Inefficiency Glares in Light of Eastern European Pipeline Crisis

Reporting by Fox News

BOSTON– Today, 1 February 2020, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) met to present and discuss draft resolutions. However, seconds before the first presentation was set to begin, the committee became aware of a developing crisis in Eastern Europe. Russian backed drug company, Kristoph Pharmaceuticals, is currently under fire for allegedly tampering with oil lines of Eastern Europe, with the intention to impact not only Eastern European oil lines but those connected to Central Asia and the continent at large. The drug injected into the pipelines has been found to render the oil useless in 5-10 days post-injection. 

Many countries involved in the maintenance of oil pipelines are now bracing themselves for an incredible economic blow, and oil-dependent countries are expecting internal crises caused by the expected dwindling of oil availability until this issue is resolved. 

Following the presentation of the crisis, the debate sparked immediately regarding the best way to address the issue. Many delegations appeared hesitant to jaw to the possible Russian influence in this crisis, further highlighting the committee’s unending devotion to remaining off of Russia’s toes. The Delegation of Turkey even went as far as to begin the conversation by reminding the committee that this is simply an alleged claim, and before Russia is indeed found responsible, there should be no rash decisions made. 

This hesitation was shared by the Delegation of Luxembourg, the Delegation of Spain,and the Delegation of Norway. Turkey claimed to be the first to wish for a “mutual dialogue with Russia” regarding environmental awareness and increasing sustainability. It was unclear by Turkey’s statement however, whether or not this “mutual dialogue” is now off the table. Perhaps, the time for “mutual dialogue” has come to an end.

Many delegates used this as an opportunity to pontificate about the importance of and inter-dependent pipeline between NATO members. There was also an increased amount of discussion regarding the decrease in reliance on Russian oil, and how the proposed draft resolutions would involve a transition to “clean energy sources” in order to eradicate the possibility of this crisis repeating itself in the future

What the committee failed to address, however, was the short term solutions to this crisis. There was brief planning, specifically proposed by the Delegation of Portugal into the need to conduct a large scale investigation into Russia’s involvement in this crisis, and then deal accordingly from there. However, what if Russia is to be found guilty? Who would conduct this investigation and subsequent trial? Would it be the International Court of Justice (ICJ)?

More importantly, however, who is going to be held fiscally responsible for the damage done to impacted countries? How are countries going to fund the research to combat the spread of this germ? Furthermore, how will the committees’ hesitance to address Russia head-on impact the sanctity of a possible investigation? These are all questions that remained unanswered. 

The crisis, while tragic, was timely in relation to NATO’s ample discussions on the prospect of a shared pipeline. Will this shard pipeline not just increase the risk of the tampering of one nation impacting the welfare of another? NATO, however, failed to see the irony in this and continued pushing ahead aimlessly towards the unnecessary bonding to mutual destruction under the guise of amiable joint-responsibility.

The United States, if smart, will see this ploy for what it is, and continue the discussion of withdrawing from NATO if significant changes are not addressed. 

Frankly, this crisis has highlighted the inefficiency and obsoletism of NATO which has been pointed out under President Trump. If NATO continues to ignore short term solutions, the idea of fiscal responsibility and continues to walk on eggshells in the assessment of Russia in the recent crisis, it can count on losing the support of nations that are actually focused on protecting their domestic welfare in the globalized world. 

Military Cadet Academies Divide Human Rights Council

Reporting by The Krakow Post

Italy convinces fellow countries that cadet academies will ultimately prevent child conscription.

BOSTON–The sentiment was unanimous within the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)— the existence of child soldiers was an aberration against the human rights the UNHRC sought to uphold. Yet, delegates fiercely disagreed in both approach and methodology when liberating children, especially in regards to respecting national sovereignty as an Economic, Social, and Cultural Council (ECOSOC). The delegation of Italy drew both widespread applause and criticism for their highly controversial “military cadet plan”— the creation of a military education academy for 14-year-old children. 12 similar academies already exist in Poland. 

The polarizing “PETS” group— a two-pronged planned that encompassed CATS (Children Altruistic Teaching) and DOGS (Demonstration of Global Sustainability) faced criticism for an excess of UN oversight. The Krakow Post asked a Q & A question concerning whether the deployment of UN peacekeepers, a group with a problematic past of sexual exploitation, would potentially create more problems. PETS responded that UN forces would be the best option with no further explanation.

Many delegations criticized the education of children on why they should not enlist as ineffective in preventing child soldier conscription as enlistment into child militaries are usually enforced by governments and terrorist organizations that children cannot refuse to. 

The popular “Saving Children and Mediating Armed Conflict” (SCAMAC) group faced scrutiny for a lack of substance. After a question from The Krakow Post on the redundancy of establishing a special rapporteur for the liberation of child soldiers, which was previously established in UNHRC resolution 1982/35, SCAMAC promised to create an initiative to incorporate the special rapporteur system more closely with the solutions proposed in their own working paper.

After the announcement that only two working papers would be debated, PETS and SCAMAC decided to merge; all clauses involving UN forces teaching sexual health curriculums were removed in the merging process.
Transparency, Obstruction, Definition, Data, Legislation, Education, Reintegration and Sovereignty (TODDLERS) bloc introduced the highly controversial “military cadet” program. The program called for the creation of a vocational and educational school that prepares children for either a career in the military or if they chose to leave, another specialized career. Poland has observed widespread success with similar academies that prepare adolescents for a fruitful military career while giving them the option to apply the skills they have learned to other professions.

The delegation of Italy, who conceived the idea, argued that it was an effective compromise that fulfilled the need of governments to recruit children. The delegation of Italy noted that there would be an incentive for children to apply the skills they learned in the academy to a military career; yet, it gave children full agency to leave the military at the time of graduation (18 years old). 

The committee is fiercely divided into two sides— the PETS and SCAMAC bloc that does not support military academies and the TODDLERS bloc which does. However, many criticisms are levied at the name itself, as opposed to the actual plan to establish vocational schools that include a military education. Delegates must compromise quickly on the issue of these military academies in order to pass a resolution.