Lost Childhood

  When a conflict occurs we usually think about general harm it brings to the population of a given state. However, there are lots of features to be considered in order to comprehend a full picture. Therefore, a war is a challenge for everyone in a different way. The public community consists of various social groups, males, females and children. They pass through suffering and hopelessness differently due to age, experience and phycological peculiarities. 

  Nevertheless, teenagers and kids have the most tough times during any conflict. For instanse, the Syrian children are suffering at the moment we are studing, having daily life and fun. Generally, to be an underaged is dangerous when even adults don't know how to overcome existing sufferings. In fact, children are the most vulnerable part of population, because they are not able to protect themselves. Obviously, they are unjustifiable victims for any side.

  Let's talk about Syrian conflict. In most cases, kids are killed accidentally during military operations when mass shooting is having place. However, there are a lot of cases when children are tortured or murdered intentionally by official militaries to punish parents being loyal to the opposition. According to the UN secretary-general's report on the children affected by the armed conflict in Syria, major abuses are outlined: being killed or crippled due to the unlawful use by government forces of chemical weapons, cluster bombs, ballistic missiles, air strikes and incendiary weapons; being recruited by armed groups; sexual violence; absence of humanitarian aid; starvation.

  Unfortunately, there a lot of shocking stories told by kids which I've read on Human Rights Watch. They experience really frightful things such as lost or murdered families, no place to live in, devastation, no education and even sexual violence. This generation of Syrian children have no time to play because either they are refugees or join armed groups in order to fight their human rights, however, it is not an appropriate pastime for underaged.

  In a nutshell, I' d like to emphasize the importance of international community actions. Actually, today I don't know how to resolve the Syrian conflict. It is impossible for kids to rid out of terrible memories. But what I exactly know is that we should give time and conditions for Syrian children to try to forget the most awful events in their lives, moreover, to start enjoy living again.

Dalai Lama: International Peace Missioner

    In this post I'd like to talk about a very prominent and spiritual person. As you see from the headline, he is Dalai Lama. Nowadays, it is hard to maintain peace in hearts of people. We live in a rush, so even not noticing significant things, though most of us waste energy, time and talent for nonsense. For such poor conditions of human spirit we need a wise adviser in order not to lose our true entity inside. There are not many human beings similar to the very person I'm going to talk about.

  In fact, we, people from the post-Soviet space, know relatively little about Him, Buddhism and Tibet. The man on the image above is His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. He is the spiritual leader of Tibet, however, he describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk. Dalai Lama is a person who is supposed to point out the ways to bring peace and harmony into people's lives. Nevertheless, every human being is responsible for his own state of mind. That is our actions, wrong or right from our point of view, affect our further life. 

  According to Tibetan customs Dalai Lama also headed the administration of Tibet. Unfortunately, he did so not long, because of Chinese invasion. Due to this fact Dalai Lama became a forced migrant to India in 1959 after the brutal supression of Tibetan national uprising in Lhasa. Despite the spiritual leader is still in exile, he never gives up. Particularly, he presented a draft democratic constitution for Tibet in 1963 and continues to elaborate on reforms to democratize the administrative set up. The position of Dalai Lama is a bright example of tolerance and peacefulness. Precisely, the person driven out from his motherland isn't obsessed to revenge, on the contrary he travels all over the world lecturing and promoting universal human values. For this reason His Holliness Dalai Lama was awarded by Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent struggle for the liberation of Tibet.

  In my opinion, the 14th Dalai Lama is an amazing person deserving respect and veneration. In conclusion, I'd like to insert one of his quotes. 

"This is my simple religion No need for temples No need for complicated philosophies Our own brain Our own heart is our temple... The philosophy is kindness"

Red Crescent Training: First Aid

  I'd like to tell abou Red Crescent First Aid Training in Suleyman Demirel University. Initially, The Red Cross idea belongs to Henry Dunant who was witnessing aftermath of a battle, that is thousands of dead and wounded men lying on the grond and not provided by any help. Hence, he gathered local people to bind soldiers' wounds and to feed and comfort them. In 1863 five Geneva men, including Dunant, set up the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, later the International Committee of the Red Cross.

 
  This international non-profit organization and SDU cooperate from the beginning of the year 2014. Owing to this fact, first aid training is held in the faculty of Economics, "Horizon" research center. I became a volunteer and attend classes of first aid which I liked very much. For example,on monday I've learned how to help a person without consciousness. First of all, you should check if there is any danger thretening your health and safety. Then, it is necessary to test injured for reaction and breath. There is a probability to suffocate, in order to avoid it you should roll a person to a side position. Actually, the representatives of Red Crescent demonstrated us these actions for a better understanding. After this, we repeated what we've seen and correct our mistakes during the process which was very useful. The second step is the cardiopulmonary resuscitation for which we used mannequins. It was much harder than I thought, because my arms were ill, moreover, we need to do 30 pressings and 2 insufflations, 4 times in a minute. Briefly, this is exhausting.

  In conclusion, it is important to mention how necessary the things we're learning. Since, nobody is insured from accidents or any unexpected health problems, so competent people are always in need. Especially, there was a lethal case in our university, unfortunately, noone knew how to help the student before ambulance came, therefore, that guy merely suffocated. Obviously, any person nearby who knew first aid principles could prevent him from dying.

Individuals' Responsiveness

  Recently, I've noticed one thing. At first it seems weird, however, you accept it. The thing is how we, individuals, respond to news, especially negative ones. We are studing International Relations, consequently, we have to keep up lots of different news, mostly not pleasant ones.

  During last month I've read news regularly in order to write my posts in the blog. So, trere is plenty of information in my head which means joyful moments as well as tragic events. Regarding good news our emotions are understandable, that is they are almost the same, they are positive. Therefore, fractions of happiness of human-beings are able to join peole around the world in spite of their social status, race, religion or political preferences.

  Now, let's focus on negatively shocking news. Unfortunately, we hear and see them much more often. Precisely, this kind of news are known quite swift via TV, Internet, newspapers and word of a mouth. For example, when I've heard about the situation in Syria for the first time I was really frustrated by acts of violence existing there both from the government of Bashar al-Assad and its opposition. In addition, hostile actions of illegal grouppings within Syrian territory with a participation of Kazakhstan citizens and others puzzled, moreover, frightened me because these insurgencies commit murderous crimes justifying it by the war for the God(Jihad). However, after a while my resposiveness is becoming less and less. I continue to live as usual, to study, to eat and sleep calmly. Seldom, I find out information about current events horrifying. Probably, the distance is playing a big role in my perception of this conflict. Briefly, Syria is situated in the Middle East, so I feel safe which allows to enjoy life.

  I assume, other individuals behave like me. We waste time surfing the Internet while an enormous number of people are suffering, starving and dying. The most helpful thing we can give is our "like" in social networks. Nevertheless, I'm not sure this happens due to the time we are living in. The nature of people are always the same. Our responsiveness decreases over time and a distance is important as well.

Facebook: its utility and harm

  Almost all of us have access to the Internett, so we barely imagine everyday life without using social network. Now I'm going to talk about the most popular one. It is Facebook. February 4, 2014 Facebook is celebrating its 10th birthday. Just think of it, how were we living without this communication tool. Apparently, it has both supporters and antagonists who emphasize quite opposite features of the social network.

    As you know Facebook has lots of advantages. First of all, it is a universal means of communication throughout the world. You can use it for chatting with your best friend living next door, a boyfriend/girlfriend needing 24/7 being in touch or a pal from another part of the world. Moreover, it is not necessary to spend money, the only thing you need is the Internet access. Also, new relations are developed with the help of Facebook. Secondly, this communication tool provides opportunity for disabled people to contact with outside world, furthermore, it gives them confidence to be equal members of society. Then, in  the cyber space it is not crucial what is your social status, therefore, common people as we are can easily have a chat with a famous person. Lastly, Facebook is playing an important role in changing and improving social as well as political transformation around the world. Particularly, the Arab Spring overflowed the Middle East and North Africa by the use of Facebook. That is nationals of the states involved within borders and abroad shared their opinions and discontent about the current government. This lead to the social unrest in the streets, consequently, the regime was overthrown. However, this advantage of Facebook is quite controversial. Actually, you can dispute my point of view.

  Obviously, there is probability of being harmed using the social network. Precisely, it is an issue about the private security. Because of the recent shocking denunciations of US intelligence related to interception, breaking mail and using private information. Hence, people should think twice before putting personal data on websites or social networks, since there is probability that it could be used improperly. One more negative feature spending time in cyber space is a chance to be fooled by professional frauds and lost a sum of money. In fact, the most wide-spread disadvantage of using Facebook is procrastination. Briefly, active users of the social network are carried away by their gadgets, moreover, they care about virtual attractiveness so much that they worry about the number of likes more than the weather outside. Today's people are not enjoying life despite we have opportunities to have fun with friends, to travel, to meet interesting persons, to read books, to be engaged in favorite work and to develop oneself. Precisely, we forget how wonderful is to communicate face to face, to see real emotions instead of meaningless smiles.

  Finally, it is important to mention that to use or not Facebook or any other social network is a personal affair. My post merely uncovered several crucial points both for and against.

Syrian Refugees: Where is a Safe Place to Go?

  It is important to mention that the topic is quite actual at the time. The conflict within Syrian borders is lasting for three years, moreover, it doesn't seem to have an end at the nearest time. For the sake of Syrian civilians international community including states' governments, decision-makers, UN, non-governmental organizations as well as civil society should mobilize all the efforts in order to reach the conflict settlement.

  In fact, a lot of people were forced to leave there homeland because of bombings, military actions in in populated areas, ceaseless bloodshed and suppression from the local government. Obviously, these sufferers who are challenged by their destiny are simply willing to find a safe place to live. Most of them lost their families, nearest and dearest ones, therefore, they need to feel themselves in security and to be accepted by civil society of other states. Generally, these steps could help embarrassed persons to find power to start again enjoying life, to be a part of society, to raise children and provide them with opportunity for the better future.

  However, not everybody support the concept of shared responsibility and help for the ones in need. As International Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty says European countries are able to take part in accommodation of Syrian refugees on their territory more actively. It means they have a potential to provide camps for much more people systematically during particular period of time. Though, most of the EU states rank their own security higher than human lives of refugees. They do not permit refugees stay at their territory fearing instability and insecurity. Grassroots of the attitude is found in extreme right parties' anti-immigrant policies which are increasingly supported in public community.

  Anyway, the enermous flow of illegal immigrants try to get to one of the EU countries through sea, forests or mountains. As a result, the accident near the island of Farmakonisi, Greece took place on 22nd of January 2014. Precisely, 1 kid and 1 women are dead, another 10 people are still missed in the sea when their boat was bein towed by Greek coastguard vessel. Some non-governmental organizations suppose Greek side did it intentionally in order to prevent immigrants from landing on the Greek soil. However, an unbiased investigation is necessary to suggest such conclusions.

  In a nutshell, I'd like to emphasize the fact that Syrian or any other refugees lives are equal to our lives. These braveheart people experienced a lot of unpleasant and even awful things for ordinary persons, their Human Rights were abused. Consequently, they deserve to find a safe place for recovering and good treatment as well.

The execution of Mexican national: Diplomatic tensions

  Nowadays, it is becoming more complicated to find consensus in issues such as security both domestic and international. International law is not able to resolve every current complex problem in the international community. It happens that there are discrepancies between a state legal system and international law. In spite of supremacy of international treaties over domestic law some states disregard this rule.

 The example is US(Texas authourities) actions against Mexican national Edgar Tamayo, who was executed after twenty years of commiting crime. However, the offense was rather serious, the murder of the police officer, Guy Gaddis. He was chasing the robber,afterwards he was shot by Tamayo according to witnesses. Unfortunately, this was not the only offense, commited by the Mexican national. His staying in US was illeal, in addition he was paroled in California.

  The point of this case is that during the trial process Edgar Tamayo didn't use his right to get help from Mexican consulate. Therefore, he appealed a request for clemency from Texas jurisdiction, though it was rejected. Mexican officials tried to assist its national through diplomatic tools. Particularly, John Kerry asked Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to delay Tamayo's punishment, saying it "could impact the way American citizens are treated in other countries." 

  Nonetheless,Texas authorities neglected to wait justifying by the fact that it is not important what nation you are, you would be treated as any other citizen of the US or nnot. If you commit a crime in the territory of Texas, you shold be tried and death penalty would be one of the possible consequenses. 
Still there is no legislation in the USA to resollve such cases in favour of accused. 

  By the way, Texas is the state leading at fulfilling capital punishments in the US.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnyxDR0Y2gY