US-Mexico border

Here's a video showing how US Border Patrol agents patrol the Rio Grande, the river which makes up 1,255 miles of the 1,969-mile US - Mexico border, the most frequently-crossed border in the world. When I show it to my face-to-face classes and ask "who would want to do that job?" hands usually shoot up.

US-Mexico border security has vastly increased recently with doubled manpower manpower, ATV patrols, drones (probably the least effective new tool), and helicopters. Just a decade ago crossing illegally over the US-Mexico border via the Rio Grande was pretty easy; now it is much harder.

CBP Video: Patrols of the Rio Grande River
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylqyCmn_DR0

In the news recently has been a huge surge in the numbers young children from Central America reaching the US-Mexico border alone, sent by their parents who believe they will receive asylum. However, most are detained and often end up staying in temporary housing centers for months, waiting to be transported back to their home countries.

This page has two videos: one shows how easy it is to find a human smuggler known as a "coyote" while the other shows a Mexican town with an economy that revolves around illegal immgration.
http://www.kpho.com/story/25793017/children-face-particular-dangers-crossing-border

Border Trends
It is amazing to think that the US Border Patrol apprehended over 400,000 undocumented people in 2013, even though it is down from over 1.5 million in 2000. 

The percentage of non-Mexicans apprehended shot up 50% from 2012-13, mostly Central Americans specifically from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras the "Northern Triangle" of Central America which is being torn up by drug trafficking originating in South America. Also, the number of Border Patrol agents has leveled off after a big buildup which doubled the number of agents between 2005-2011.

What new border patrol statistics reveal about changing migration to the United States
by Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
http://www.wola.org/commentary/what_new_border_patrol_statistics_tell_us_about_changing_migration_from_latin_america

Videos on Islam

Ramadan in the UK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8qlCEASwL4

Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUkyOjl4YJ4

Jersualem's Muslim Quarter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Kj5xl8A_8

The fate of the US Midwest?

The fate of the US Midwest?

The fate of the US Midwest is a major topic of debate today. In the last 50 years, millions of people have moved out of the Midwest as farming became more mechanized and fewer people were needed. This "brain drain" of emigrants has often left behind elderly people. Today there are many Midwestern towns where populations are so low the town has nearly disappeared.

There is actually a school of thought that believes the US should create a "Buffalo Commons" (Frank Popper 1987) by allowing the Continental Interior to return to its natural state, like a giant park or reserve. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Commons

But the Buffalo Commons idea is highly unlikely. In fact, one famous Geographer Joel Kotkin believes the Midwest will make a strong comeback because it offers a lot of space and lower housing prices that are attracting immigrants, and has the core of former farm towns that can be re-purposed into towns of businesses including high tech companies because Internet companies can really be anywhere. He says these revitalized towns will form a network across the midwest. He is talking about towns like Sioux Falls, Idaho, Fargo, North Dakota, and Oklahoma City. He sees these revitalizing cities as like an archipelago, a constellation of "islands" in the vast sea of the Great Plains which in the future will be connected by highways and telecommunications.

Kotkin also looks at the Midwest as a "zone of sanity" -- in a world of unaffordable housing and urban poverty, he sees immigrants and lower-income folks moving to the Midwest where they can find affordable housing, good schools, good business climate.

Midwest: Coming back?
http://www.joelkotkin.com/content/00365-midwest-coming-back

Midwest: A zone of sanity
http://www.csgmidwest.org/policyresearch/Kotkin-AM-Meeting.aspx

I live in Northern Virginia and am looking for any opportunity to get out... and actually was looking at Boise, Idaho which seems to be a good midsize city with lots of outdoor activities nearby.

Notes on the Americas

Notes on the Americas

President Ronald Reagan said after a trip to Latin America "Well, I learned a lot....I went down to find out and learn their views. You'd be surprised. They're all individual countries."

While probably not the ideal choice of words, his basic point was true - Latin America is much more diverse than many people realize. Some countries are mostly Amerindians, others mostly Black African, others more European and white than many European countries, some with thousands of Hindus and above all millions of mestizos i.e. mixed race people of all types. You may be surprised at the ethnic and cultural diversity of Latin America.

The 21st century is already seeing a dynamic rise of Latin America. The World Cup was played in Brazil this summer. As a whole, Latin American is emerging from long eras of historical chaos, civil wars and strife to become new countries and economies.

Socialism in Latin America
In Latin America the "Socialism" movement has a special meaning: it is a movement in based in the goal of reversing Latin America's historical inequality and elitism and empowering the common people, including millions of Amerindians who have been disenfranchised for centuries.

This elitism is now starting to crumble (slowly) in favor of more democratic and socialist governments who claim they want to give power to the people. There are at least six openly Socialist leaders today in Latin America; many regard Che Guevara, Cuban Revolutionary, and Simon Bolivar, hero of the independence movement, as their heroes and model. These leaders are by no means all the same: Evo Morales is Boliva's first Amerindian president and has an 8th grade education. Meanwhile, Rafael Correa of Ecuador is also Socialist but has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Ilinois. Hugo Chavez, now deceased, turned Venezuela into a Socialist country and left it in turmoil.

Dynamic US and Canada
The US and Canada are trying to find their way and their role as global leaders in a fast-changing world. In just a few decades, the US has become the world's only superpower and the world's top economies transitioned from industrial base (making cars, steel) to a high-tech base (making software and computer chips). Many North American cities were devastated by the loss of industrial jobs, like Detroit and Cleveland. Other regions, like Silicon Valley (near Stanford U and San Francisco), Austin, TX, Northern Virginia and other "Technopoles" or "Nerdistans" have hit the jackpot.

North America is also in the midst of the world's largest fracking boom--new techniques of extracting oil and natural gas. Believe it or not, the US is now the world's leader in producing oil and natural gas due to fracking, higher than Saudi Arabia and Russia. In the longer term, the US would like to move to cleaner forms of renewable energy, but this is taking time.

Many older North American industrial regions are re-inventing themselves in a post-industrial age. Abandoned Midwestern farms towns like Fargo and Sioux Falls are now attracting software companies and some of the young people who historically have moved away are coming back home for jobs. The southern Sun Belt like Phoenix and Houston is exploding with cheap suburban housing. Meanwhile downtown urban areas like New York City, Boston, and DC are gentrifying (turning slums into high-end neighborhoods) to attract younger adults. Some say the "millenials" today are looking for more urban places to live than the suburbs they grew up in.

The US has the most mobile population in the world, with many new "megaregions" growing around places like Las Vegas, Denver, the Gulf Coast, and Houston-Dallas-Austin. In the US, regions decline, change, and grow quickly as industries and jobs come and go.

The Americas as a whole will play a key role for the US due to its proximity and location in the Western Hemisphere. Strong trade agreements like the US treaties NAFTA and CAFTA and the South American economic alliance MERCOSUR are evidence of the massive trade that goes on within the Americas.

Socialism in Latin America
In Latin America the "Socialism" movement has a special meaning: it is a movement in based in the goal of reversing Latin America's historical inequality and elitism and empowering the common people, including millions of Amerindians who have been disenfranchised for centuries.

This elitism is now starting to crumble (slowly) in favor of more democratic and socialist governments who claim they want to give power to the people. There are at least six openly Socialist leaders today in Latin America; many regard Che Guevara, Cuban Revolutionary, and Simon Bolivar, hero of the independence movement, as their heroes and model. These leaders are by no means all the same: Evo Morales is Boliva's first Amerindian president and has an 8th grade education. Meanwhile, Rafael Correa of Ecuador is also Socialist but has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Ilinois. Hugo Chavez, now deceased, turned Venezuela into a Socialist country and left it in turmoil.

Dynamic US and Canada
The US and Canada are trying to find their way and their role as global leaders in a fast-changing world. In just a few decades, the US has become the world's only superpower and the world's top economies transitioned from industrial base (making cars, steel) to a high-tech base (making software and computer chips). Many North American cities were devastated by the loss of industrial jobs, like Detroit and Cleveland. Other regions, like Silicon Valley (near Stanford U and San Francisco), Austin, TX, Northern Virginia and other "Technopoles" or "Nerdistans" have hit the jackpot.

North America is also in the midst of the world's largest fracking boom--new techniques of extracting oil and natural gas. Believe it or not, the US is now the world's leader in producing oil and natural gas due to fracking, higher than Saudi Arabia and Russia. In the longer term, the US would like to move to cleaner forms of renewable energy, but this is taking time.

Many older North American industrial regions are re-inventing themselves in a post-industrial age. Abandoned Midwestern farms towns like Fargo and Sioux Falls are now attracting software companies and some of the young people who historically have moved away are coming back home for jobs. The southern Sun Belt like Phoenix and Houston is exploding with cheap suburban housing. Meanwhile downtown urban areas like New York City, Boston, and DC are gentrifying (turning slums into high-end neighborhoods) to attract younger adults. Some say the "millenials" today are looking for more urban places to live than the suburbs they grew up in.

The US has the most mobile population in the world, with many new "megaregions" growing around places like Las Vegas, Denver, the Gulf Coast, and Houston-Dallas-Austin. In the US, regions decline, change, and grow quickly as industries and jobs come and go.

The Americas as a whole will play a key role for the US due to its proximity and location in the Western Hemisphere. Strong trade agreements like the US treaties NAFTA and CAFTA and the South American economic alliance MERCOSUR are evidence of the massive trade that goes on within the Americas.

Good analysis of one-child policy issues and changes in China

China recently relaxed its One-Child Policy so that if a parent is an only child they can have two children.

The article explains how establishing that a parent is an only child has proved easier said than done.

Also the video in the same page gives a good analysis of why China, after decades of shrinking, needs more young people to support the older generation in the future.

China Struggles to Implement Relaxed Policy on Family Size
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304732804579422500427133302

Foreign fighters in Ukraine war

The war in Ukraine is attracting foreign fighters from a wide gamut of nationalities fighting for both sides.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28951324

Great map of US military in the Sahara region

Great map of US military in the Sahara region. The US made a deal with Niger to establish drone bases only recently, in 2013. The first base in Niger was finished in 2013 and the second is opening as we speak in Agadez.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world so a deal with the US brings great benefits both in terms of income and also security and stability. Like its Saharan neighbors, Niger has the difficult spatial problem of protecting immense stretches of land, largely desert and semi-desert, from Islamic militants including AQIM (Al-Quaeda in the Mahgreb) who are largely composed of native tribes of the Sahara like the Tuareg. Niger has very few people relative to its vast size and a minimal government. In short, it needs all the assistance it can get.

Military footprints in the Sahara - Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/military-footprints-in-the-sahara/2014/09/01/2ffa5d2c-321b-11e4-9e92-0899b306bbea_graphic.html?hpid=z2