Chapel Hill Political ReviewApril/May 2008 http://studentorgs.unc.edu/thehill Volume VII, Issue IV

How the world views the U.S. presidential election

The race to replace oil

Dole on the defensive

also in this issue:

From the outside, looking in

2 The Hill

From the Editor The Hill Staff

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As we enjoy this brief intermis-sion between primaries, The Hill is taking the opportunity to check in with the rest of the world. How do other nations view our presiden-tial process? Our team of writers

explores the spe-cial connection Kenya has to this election, as well as the British and French percep-tions of the con-test (see our cover

section, p. 12). We also want to hear how you

see political events like the 2008 election. Shoot us an e-mail, post a comment on our Web site or submit a guest column with your thoughts on today’s political trends or how we at The Hill could better cover them. My two years as editor of this magazine draw to a close when I toss my cap on May 11, but our new editor, Juliann Neher, is

anxious to hear from you. She and the rest of our returning staff plan to continue and expand The Hill’s mission to engage the campus and broader community in a thought-ful, nonpartisan discussion of modern politics and policy. If you’d like to be a part of this ongoing ef-fort, contact Juliann at thehillpr@unc.edu.

We are proud to offer a mix of content, from a lighthearted peek at Ralph Nader’s resume (Notes from the Hill, p. 6) to a scary look at Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal (The Last Word, p. 22). We hope you’ll find something to make you laugh, make you think and make you talk about the political landscape we live in. Thanks for reading.

Enjoy!

Leah Szarek is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.

EDITORLeah Szarek

MANAGING EDITORJuliann Neher

WRITERSMelissa BrzyckiAndre Durham

Hunter Gray EllisCaroline GuerraJuliann NeherMichael Parker

Ben PivenWill SchultzAlex Smith

Clayton Thomas

COLUMNISTSWilliam Griffin

J. Pattishall

ASSOCIATE EDITORSMelissa Brzycki

Alex Smith

COPY EDITORSBeatrice AllenNicole Watts

HEAD OF DESIGNJessica Lin

ART & DESIGNDiane EssonRachel Moltz

Lindsay Naylor

HEAD OF CIRCULATIONAndre Durham

TREASURERHunter Gray Ellis

FACULTY ADVISERFerrel Guillory

To our readers:

The HillChapel Hill Political Review

April/May 2008 3

International

Left/Right

Cover

Features

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Through global eyesHow the world views the U.S. presidential process

Get out yer gunsSupreme Court poised to decide age-old 2nd Amendment debate

April/May 2008 Volume VII, Issue IV

Hitting the right notesNY philharmonic tests the idea of musical diplomacy with trip to North Korea

The forgotten raceDemocratic challengers gun for Sen. Dole’s seat with little fanfare

In Every Issuev Notes from The Hillv The Last Word: Pakistan’s nuclear threat

Passing gasIs ethanol the fuel of the future?

10 New driving forceControversial biofuels have bumpy road to the pump

cover art by Diane Esson

Declaration of IndependenceKosovo’s new freedom has widespread consequences

Diane Esson

Contents

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Notes from the Hill

Notes fromThe Hill

Human Rights Torch Relay

• Sunday, May 11th, 1 - 7 p.m. The race starts at 4 p.m.• Durham’s Farmer’s Market Pavilion, 534 Foster Street

The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot coexit in China. Cosponsored by UNC’s Friends of Falun Gong Club.

Political Agenda

• Thurs., April 10th, 7 - 8 p.m. • Manning 209

Dr. Mike Adams, author of “Welcome to the Ivory Tower of Babel” and “Feminists Say the Darnedest Things”Co-sponsored by the UNC-CH College Republicans, the NCSU CollegeRepublicans, Duke College Republicans and the Pope Center for HigherEducation Policy

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Want your event included on The Hill’s political agenda? E-mail event details to: thehillpr@unc.edu.

Diane Esson

Feminism and Free Speech

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Notes from the Hill

Conspiracy theories. Every-body has heard of a couple— President Kennedy’s assassina-tion, the 1969 moon landing and, most recently, a nuclear-laden satellite falling from the sky.

Conspiracy theorists went wild with the February destruc-tion of an American spy satellite. Department of Defense officials maintained it was necessary to prevent harmful chemicals from entering the atmosphere, but some believe the satellite was car-rying a small nuclear generator, able to cause a nuclear explosion if it crashed on land.

Feeling suspicious? Read on for some lesser-known conspira-

cy theories.

FLyING HIGHBuilt on 34,000 square miles,

Denver International Airport is recognized as one of America’s nicest airports. However, many conspiracy theorists maintain that it is an underground mili-tary base. Many theorists cite its vast amounts of seemingly unused land, soundproof granite floors throughout the terminal and the more than 19 miles of tunnels underneath the airport. The building is also made from material that makes it undetect-able by radar or heat sensors. The strangest fact? Denver Interna-

tional has enough space to eas-ily accommodate more than 100 million passengers annually, but only around 40 million air travel-ers pass through every year.

NeW WOrLD OrDerConspiracy theorists believe

that soon, the United Nations, along with its military branch, NATO, will topple the world’s governments and establish one international government. The New World Order is supposedly responsible for every significant event of the past 100 years. This shadow syndicate is even credited with starting the French Revolu-tion. — Anonymous

For Your Eyes Only

Shh! Government secrets exposed

Oscar’s political sideMovie Review

Any documentary about the war in Iraq can be expected to have two components: an elabo-rate argument for Bush’s connec-tions to oil and carefully chosen, incriminating quotes from Don-ald Rumsfeld. When Oscar-nom-inated documentary “No End in Sight: Iraq’s Descent into Chaos” began with the latter, the reviewer nearly lost hope. It seemed inevi-table then that this film would be just another “Fahrenheit 911,” saying much more about left-wing politics in America than the situation in Baghdad. Given a few more minutes, however, “No End in Sight” quickly earned a second look.

A base of trustworthy analysts carry the narrative from pre-in-vasion to present-day occupation.

Many of the people interviewed are high-standing, reputable of-ficials; everyone from ex-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Ar-mitage to the chairman of the National Intelligence Council is given the chance to explain bits of the story. Other personalities offer insight as well, including Pulitzer Prize-winning author Samantha Power, renowned for her influen-tial coverage of the Yugoslavian and Rwandan genocides.

“No End in Sight” is also compelling in a general sense. Though it might be tempting to believe that nothing more can be learned from another hour and a half of photos and footage from Iraq, the film manages to bring more to the table. The screams, cries and expletives normally cut

out or softened during the night-ly news are strikingly present in this documentary, and the effect is eye-opening. It is easy to stay detached from quiet footage of roadside bombs, but impossible to do when exposed to the frantic cursing of young soldiers dodging shards of glass and metal.

To be sure, “No End in Sight” leaves no room for any conclu-sion other than disgust with the way the war has been handled. However, one must not immedi-ately discredit the film simply be-cause it has an argument. On the contrary, its credible sources and gripping footage offer plenty of reason to check it out and suffi-cient justification for its Academy Award nomination. — Caroline Guerra

6 The Hill

Notes from the Hill

Job Hunters By the Numbers

Meat RecallRalph NadeRCONTACT INFO I don’t own a house. Or a car.

OBJECTIVE To win the presidential election this time, or to keep others from winning—it’s debatable.

EXPERIENCE Consumer Advocate •HatesMicrosoft,Inc.

Author •“UnsafeatAnySpeed” •“CorporatePowerinAmerica •“Who’sPoisoningAmerica?” •andmanymore

Perpetual Presidential Candidate, U.S.A. (1992 - 2008) •Thirdparty •Isthefifthtimethecharm?

EDUCATION Undergraduate degree in Arabic Studies at Princeton University

Graduate degree, Harvard Law School

HOBBIES “Strawberries,” according to an interview with Jay Leno.

FAN CLUB Nader’s Raiders: a large group of young activists who focus on consumer advocacy and government corruption.

LANGUAGES Arabic, English

NUMBER OF More than 200, possibly in the thousands—GOOGLE HITS who has time to count so many pages?FOR “RALPHNADER ANDEGO TRIP”

References availabe upon request.

—Caroline Guerra

143 millionnumber of pounds recalled, the largest in history

35 millionprevious record for largest beef recall

37 millionnumber of pounds recalled from public schools

20number of Beef recalls in 2007

150number of School Districts who pledged to no longer use beef from Hallmark Meat Packing, Westland partner.

7800number of Department of Agri-culture Inspectors

6200number of Plants inspected

In February, the U.S. Depart-ment of Agriculture ordered the largest meat recall in history. Vi-olations of federal regulations on the treatment of food cattle pro-duced the following set of shock-ing numbers:

—Michael Parker

April/May 2008 7

Notes from the Hill

Hill-O-Meter

The new space ageUp to Date

Over the past decade, NASA faced stiff competi-tion from both China and Europe in space explo-ration. China became the first country to launch a missile into space to destroy a satellite in 2007. Ad-ditionally, the European Space Agency emerged as a leader in commercial satellite launches.

Since the turn of the century, China has propelled itself to the vanguard of space exploration. In addi-tion to being the first country to send a missile into space, in 2003, China became only the third nation to launch a human into space, joining the ranks of the US and Russia. Furthermore, China recently started its Lunar Exploration Program, with the ex-pectation of moving on to deep space.

The ESA, a collection of 17 European nations working together in space exploration, has made great strides to catch up to the US. While the ESA has worked with NASA in the past, its Ariane 4 and Ariane 5 rockets propelled the agency to the fore-front of rocket launching. Today, the ESA is work-ing on the Aurora Exploration Programmes with Canada. The program’s main goal is to be the first to bring back soil from Mars.

With China’s quickly expanding space program, and the ESA’s newfound independence, NASA will have to work harder than ever to remain the pre-eminent organization for space exploration.

—Andre Durham

By Will Schultz

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Dmitry MedvedevThe 64,000 ruble question: Is Russia’s new president-elect a potent political power or a Putin-propelled puppet?

Raul CastroHe’s been waiting in the wings since the Eisenhower administration. Now

little brother gets a chance to see if he can fill Fidel’s fatigues.

Ralph NaderRalph would do well to

remember that even “The Godfather” was terrible the third time around. He may

have swung the race in 2000, but his chances of playing

kingmaker this time around currently stand at 0% and

dropping.

Who’s on top of the heap right now? Who has fallen far? We track the up-and-comers and the down-and-outs. Diane Esson

John McCainWho would’ve thought the second coming of the Comeback Kid would be a 72-year-old Vietnam vet? Once written off as a dead candidate walking, McCain is now the presumptive GOP nominee.

—Michael Parker

8 The Hill

State

There’s a Senate race going on?

For all the attention the presidential election has gained since the Iowa Caucus, you would be hard pressed to find someone truly interested in the fu-

ture governor of North Carolina, much less the United States Senate race brewing in the state.

On Feb. 29, the period for North Carolina candidates to file with the State Board of Elections ended. One thing is clear; the Democrats have a lot of work ahead of them to rally behind a clear frontrunner.

The Democratic candidates include Kay R. Hagan of Greensboro, Duskin Lassiter of Lexington, Howard Staley of Moncure, Jim Neal of Chapel Hill and Marcus Williams of Lumberton. Only one candidate will secure the May 6 North Carolina Democratic Primary, and there is much speculation about North Carolina’s cur-rent governor, Mike Easley.

Easley’s departure after two terms and his recent denial of participation in the Senate race despite commanding high poll numbers remain the most newsworthy aspects of this important race. Easley held more than an 8 per-

cent lead (50-42) over incumbent Elizabeth Dole as of a late October 2007 Rasmussen Report poll.

An Elon University poll released Feb. 25 found that only 37 percent say they will vote for Dole’s re-election, but nearly 14 percent said it was too early to decide a potential candidate yet. Around half of those polled ei-ther approve or strongly approve of Dole’s performance in Congress. The poll numbers are essentially identical to those from Elon’s September poll.

Elon University Poll Director Hunter Bacot said that these numbers reveal ambivalence towards Dole which could benefit her competitors.

Dole, representing the GOP, has decided to seek re-election and remains the frontrunner of her party and the race. Dole faces the little-known Pete Di Lauro from Weldon in her party and the surplus of Democrats, in-cluding Chapel Hill candidate Jim Neal.

Neal, an investment banker who is still new to politics, promised to help North Carolinians “take their democ-racy back from special interests and career politicians,”

By Hunter ellis

Presidential primaries distract from wide-open contest

NC

Rachel Moltz

April/May 2008 9

National

Gun ControlBy Juliann Neher

This spring, the United States Supreme Court will give significant consideration to

Second Amendment rights for the first time in history. The grant of cer-tiorari for a gun ban case from the District of Columbia will require the court to answer the question of whether individual citizens have a constitutional right to keep hand-guns and other firearms for private use in their homes.

For 31 years, a D.C. statute pro-hibited private citizens from keeping handguns. In March 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. ruled that law unconstitutional as it dealt with individual rights. The ruling came after the Cato Institute, a promi-nent libertarian research institute, gave its blessing for one of its senior fellows to finance a Second Amend-ment case. Robert A. Levy recruited six plaintiffs, one of whom was able to take his case through the appeals system.

The plaintiff, Dick Anthony Hel-ler, worked as a security guard at the federal judicial system’s administra-tive offices, where he carried a hand-gun while on duty. His application to keep the gun at home was denied, giving him legal standing for an ap-peal. After the appellate court made its ruling in Heller’s favor, D.C. ap-

pealed for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court.

According to legal experts, much is at stake for gun-rights supporters in the Heller case. A decision reject-ing the appellate court’s ruling would virtually repeal the Second Amend-ment, even though a decision to uphold may have no immediate ef-fect. It might even take years for the court to clarify a position in favor of an individual’s right to bear arms or for that decision to trickle down through the court system. Most im-portantly, perhaps, is the fact that for millions of Americans, the court’s decision will affect its interpretive supremacy.

Currently, the court is hearing the attorneys’ arguments regarding the case. According to tradition, the de-cision will most likely be announced in the summer, when the current Su-preme Court session is brought to a close. However, several members of the court, particularly those more conservative in their interpretations of the Constitution, are expected to rule in favor of individuals’ right to keep firearms for private in-home use.

Juliann Neher is a sophomore majoring in journalism and political science.

in a late February comment in The News & Observer. In an effort to set himself apart from his competition, Neal promises to return to the state frequently if elected.

Neal made a visit to UNC in late January to answer questions posed by students about his campaign. Neal’s “real world” status sets him apart from Dole and places him more in line with presidential hopeful Ba-rack Obama.

“If hope has always been a meta-phor in elections, the metaphor for the 2008 election is change,” Neal said to the Daily Tar Heel.

North Carolina’s other U.S. Senator, Republican Richard Burr of Winston-Salem, has served five terms, yet he will not be up for elec-tion after beating out Democratic nominee Erskine Bowles in an open contest in 2004. Burr announced his support of Republican candidate John McCain last May. After essen-tially securing his party nomination, McCain has thrown Burr’s name out as a candidate for vice president, fur-ther stirring up the race.

As the May 6 North Carolina primary draws near, each candidate has turned to the Web as to generate grassroots momentum. Kay Hagan’s Web site links to whereisliddy.com, a Web site created by NCDP to emu-late the feel of a blog for voters. Neal’s Web site even features a blog section for those viewers to read what goes into a senatorial race. Dole’s Web site features a slick layout template typical of an incumbent senator.

On March 28, Hagan and Neal will participate in a debate in New Bern at Craven Community Col-lege. Neal hopes to conduct six de-bates with Hagan before the May 6 primary. Right now it’s anyone’s guess what the outcome will be.

Hunter Ellis is a junior journalism major.

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Technology

Biofuels—fuels made from plant or animal matter—are often pointed out as

the inevitable replacement for pollutive fossil fuels like oil and coal. A number of countries have taken steps to wean their citizens off fossil fuels in favor of biofuels. American politicians like Al Gore and Arnold Schwarzenegger have repeatedly sung its praises. Yet new studies have cast doubt on whether biofuels are really the environmental panacea that some claim. They may be doing more harm than good.

The Facts of BiofuelAccording to Douglas

Crawford-Brown, director of the Institute of Environmental Studies at UNC, biofuel is “any fuel that makes use of the energy stored in molecules of organic material.” Any natural product

that can be burned for heat is a biofuel. The two most common varieties are ethanol, a fermented sugar often made from corn, and biodiesel, derived from vegetable oils and animal fats. Recent years have seen tremendous advances in biofuel production. New techniques can break down cellulose, a material found in plant cells, turning useless waste like wood chips into fuel. In 2007, MIT scientists discovered a way to produce propane from corn and sugarcane.

Advocates of biofuel are quick to list its benefits. It helps to offset the production of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Crawford-Brown describes how biofuel “closes the cycle” of carbon dioxide production, “recapturing much of the emissions in new plant growth that will provide the next round of fuel.” This contrasts

with fossil fuels, the burning of which frees carbon dioxide stored millions of years ago. Biofuels, unlike fossil fuels, are renewable. It takes millennia for coal to form, but only a few months for biofuel-producing crops to grow.

Subsidies and SupportThese advantages have led a

number of countries to embrace biofuel as the wave of the future. The American government, for example has been generous in subsidizing biofuel. A 2002 energy bill granted a $1-per-gallon subsidy for biofuel produced from cotton, soybeans, and other crops. The 2004 American Jobs Act also provided $1 per gallon for producers of biodiesel blend, a mix of biofuel and diesel. It is estimated that American subsidies for biofuel will be worth $8.7 billion by 2010. As a result,

By Will Schultz

In the race to replace oil, plant-based options are picking up speed

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Technology

Turn to page 21 for two opposing views on the merits and flaws of one of the most popular biofuels, ethanol.

It is estimated that American subsidies for biofuel will be worth $8.7 billion by 2010.

America has become one of the world’s leading biofuel producers. Last year was a record year for

the American biofuel industry, as it turned out 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol.

European nations have also been open-handed to biofuel manufacturers. According to the Land Use and Food Policy Intergroup, in EU countries, “farmers are awarded a 45-euro premium for each hectare of land used for bio-fuels production.” The EU’s plan pays for up to 2 million hectares of farmland devoted to biofuel, a limit reached for the first time in 2007. These subsidies have driven an extraordinary increase in Europe’s production of biofuels. In 1997, Germany and France put out 350,000 metric tons of biodiesel. Only five years later, that number nearly tripled to 916,000 metric tons. Europe currently produces nearly 90 percent of the world’s biodiesel supply.

The Perils of BiofuelA few skeptics have warned that

biofuels may be an environmental fad as opposed to a real solution. Two recent studies, published in the journal Science, seem to support these claims. They argue

that the environmental benefits of biofuel are outweighed by its costs. Clearing and plowing land

to grow biofuels releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide; Joseph Fargione, the author of one of the papers, said, “The clearance of grassland releases 93 times the amount of greenhouse gas that would be saved by the fuel made annually on that land.” Vast quantities of greenhouse gases are also emitted in the process of converting crops into fuel.

The impact of growing biofuel goes beyond an excess of carbon dioxide. Third-world nations, eager to take part in the biofuel craze, are converting large swathes of cropland from producing food to biofuel. Many economists have warned this may lead to a spike in food prices, as less and less land is available for growing edible crops. Regarding the cultivation of biofuel, Crawford-Brown said, “There is competition for the materials as a source of food, so food prices can go up due to biofuels.”

These new studies have led some nations to rethink their support for biofuel. Australia,

the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Canada have all rolled back biofuel incentives, while the European Union now requires biofuel manufacturers to submit a statement on the environmental impact of their product before they can receive subsidies. The EU has also banned any biofuels grown on land that was formerly rainforest.

The FutureThe shift from biofuel to

fossil fuels seems to have stalled, in part because of these new findings. However, Crawford-Brown expressed optimism about the future of biofuels “because fossil fuels will simply run out, or become too expensive due to scarcity, at some point.” If the change really is inevitable, it will be crucial to further explore the environmental ramifications of biofuel.

Will Schultz is a sophomore majoring in political science.

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To say that the U.S. image around the world has suffered over the past several years is a huge under-statement. Innumerable polls conducted in foreign countries, to say nothing of diplomatic relations and anecdotal evidence, show that people of most nations view the U.S. with a mixture of distrust, anger and aver-sion. This fact is made more tragic in light of the mas-sive goodwill accorded to the U.S. in the wake of 9/11. Much of the animus from abroad stems from the U.S. occupation of Iraq, one of the defining issues of the up-coming presidential race. It is no surprise, then, that many countries are paying particularly close attention to the course and potential outcome of this long and complicated election cycle.

The case studies here, from the U.K., France and Kenya, show the variety of international interest in the election. Although impressions are very much shaped by the unique connections each country has to the race, the general sense from abroad is relief and excitement. The end of eight long years of the tremendously un-popular Bush administration is awaited with great an-ticipation abroad, regardless of the outcome.

—Clayton Thomas

From the outside, looking in

14 The Hill

Cover

It is understandable that most foreign countries haven’t closely followed the already

extraordinarily long American presidential race; indeed, many Americans are either “election-fatigued” or have not yet tuned in on a race in which one major par-ty’s candidate, after over a year of campaigning, is still not decided.

But one country on the oppo-site side of the globe has followed the race with considerable inter-est from its beginning: Kenya. In an election cycle characterized by historical firsts, Kenyans claim the first black candidate, Barack Obama, as one of their own. As Kenyans celebrate the remarkable electoral achievements of a man whose father was Kenyan, they must also confront the aftermath of their own flawed presidential election.

With a February power-shar-ing deal, hopes are high that the violence that left more than 1,000 dead has finally ended. Having successfully restored the rule of law in their country, many Ke-nyans have turned their eyes back to the U.S. What an Obama

presidency means for America’s race relations--and, more spe-cifically, Kenyan-American rela-tions--is an issue debated in both countries and one that increases in relevance as Obama’s candi-dacy grows in viability.

Barack Obama’s father, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., was born and raised in a small town in southwest Kenya. He moved to Hawaii, where he met his second wife and Barack’s mother, Ann Dunham. The two divorced in 1965, when Barack Obama, Sr., went to pursue graduate study at Harvard. He died at age 46 in a car crash in Kenya in 1982. Sen. Barack Obama has visited his family in their hometown of Kogelo three times. The first two, in 1987 and 1992, were private family visits by the young law

student and community organiz-er. But the third, in August 2006, resembled the arrival of a rock stars. The senator was greeted by throngs throughout the country and received global media atten-tion, not least of all because of his decision to publicly take an AIDS test to raise awareness of the disease in a nation where in-fection rates are around 7 percent. In short, the visit was a sensation around the world, but particularly in Kenya.

Kenyan journalist Juma Kway-era, in an email to The Hill, gave an example of Obama’s populari-ty. In the wake of his 2006 visit, a popular beer called “Senator” was renamed “Obama,” and Obama’s “admirers talked of how potent in speech he is, just [like] their fa-vourite drink.”

A story of two elections

by Clayton Thomas

Kenyans cheer for Obama while contending with their own problematic election process

A popular beer in Kenya called “Senator” was renamed “Obama,” and his admirers say his speech is potent, just like their favorite drink.

April/May 2008 15

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While in Kenya, Obama praised the country’s economy and government, among Africa’s most successful. But a little over a year after his visit, east Africa’s model of stability had collapsed into the cycle of disputed elec-tions and ethnic violence so fa-miliar throughout the continent. The presidential election of Dec. 27, in which President Mwai Kibaki achieved a narrow vic-tory over opposition party leader Raila Odinga, was widely seen as rife with electoral manipulation. What began as nonviolent pro-tests by Odinga supporters quick-ly escalated into strikes against Kikuyus, the tribe of Kibaki and many of his supporters, along with some Kikuyu retaliations against Odinga supporters, most-ly the Luo and Kalenjin peoples.

The rapid escalation in the brutality and scope of the fight-ing, especially in what had been

one of Africa’s few bastions of peace and stability, quickly drew international concern. Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was one of a number of prominent African states-men who attempted to mediate the conflict, beginning in mid-January. But another politician, who had perhaps a larger stake in the conflict’s peaceful resolu-tion, stepped in to act as peace-maker. Barack Obama, in be-tween the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, phoned Odinga personally, urging him to meet with Kibaki. There was some speculation among political circles that this was a calculated move on the part of the campaign to solidify Obama’s foreign policy credentials, but for the most part, any role he played in the conflict has been overlooked in the U.S. as well as Kenya.

Overall, his profile remains

high in Kenya, growing with each primary victory. Another Ke-nyan journalist, Jeeh Wanjurah, described how Obama is viewed in Kenya, “a country where every issue is viewed [through] an eth-nic prism.” Obama’s father was a tribesman to Raila Odinga, and thus “whatever negative feelings other communities have against Odinga are being directed at Obama.” Nonetheless, the vast majority of Kenyans are solidly behind him. One interesting explanation Wanjurah gave for Obama’s wild popularity is the “the misplaced expectation that a President Barack Obama would consider and act like Kenya were a satellite state of the U.S. and shower the country with develop-ment largesse.”

Whatever the reason, it is clear that Obama’s presence in the race has aroused Kenyans’ interest in the U.S. presidential race, and many Kenyans show a surpris-ingly sophisticated knowledge of the candidates and the primary system; Mr. Wanjurah said that Obama’s Kenyan supporters an-ticipated March, the month of the Ohio and Texas primaries, “with bated breath.”

In a 2006 speech at Nairobi University, Barack Obama told Kenyans that “as your ally, your friend and your brother, I will be there to help in any way I can.” It is doubtful, however, that Kenya would become a foreign policy priority in an Obama adminis-tration simply on account of his ties there. Nonetheless, for the Obamas of Kogelo and their countrymen, Barack’s election as president would be an incredibly symbolic, if not strategically sig-nificant, moment. Clayton Thomas is a first-year stu-dent majoring in history.

Diane Esson

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When it comes to the U.S. presidential race, Europeans aren’t ex-

actly glued to political news cov-erage, but they nonetheless keep an interested eye on the race. So what is the buzz from across the pond?

Many Europeans seem to be glad to see the end of the Bush era. “The time of liberty fries is over, but people do not yet know what will take their place,” said Richard Beardsworth of the American University of Paris. “There is hope for a new kind of leader, but also a pragmatic desire for a problem-solving presidency given the incompetence of the present regime.”

Hall Gardner, a political scien-tist at the American University of Paris told The Hill that the French predict dim prospects for the Re-publican Party. “The French can’t believe another Republican can win after Bush, so they do not ex-pect McCain to win,” he said.

Others agreed, noting that many Europeans know next to nothing about McCain. “He is a complete unknown,” says Oleg Kobtzeff of the American Uni-versity of Paris. “They have no clue as to who he is…or as to what he stands for at present.”

Kobtzeff also responded to the feelings of excitement about the election emanating from the U.S. public. “The excitement [among Americans] that is obvious to

French newspaper readers is a reflection of a very intense and civic political process that many thought was long dead in Ameri-can political culture.”

Many of those interviewed ex-pressed genuine interest in the democratic prospects. “People are enthusiastic about Barack Obama and his articulation of change,” says Beardsworth, “but [they] are also aware that Clinton is tough and has a precedent.” He also noted that the ongoing internal debate among Democrats, while necessary, might be repelling vot-ers and directing their attention to McCain and an increasingly unified Republican party.

One professor at the American University of Paris spoke with some ambivalence about Obama’s foreign affairs experience. “I get a general sense from the media and colleagues that people are waiting to see, but that a black man or female Democrat in the White House would be a good thing for the world at the mo-ment,” says Douglas Yates. “But people are still undecided as to whether Obama is ready to be a world leader.”

Chris Brown, a political sci-ence professor at the London School of Economics also men-tioned British interest in Barack Obama. “International politics is, of course, about much more than personalities, but it would be dif-ficult to underestimate the im-

pact on the image of America in the world of an African-Ameri-can U.S. president with Senator Obama’s grace and presence.”

Perhaps most striking was the sense of genuine optimism echoed by many of foreign resi-dents. Professor Brown expressed this feeling by writing, “It seems quite possible that in November you will indeed have a choice between two thoroughly decent candidates each of whom, in their different ways, will be able to transcend the extreme partisan-ship of the last 15 years, neither of whom seems to have been in-fected by the bitter aftertaste of the 1960s and Vietnam.”

Brown continued in this opti-mistic vein, saying that “the hold on America of the baby-boomer culture-wars seems to be slipping, and for those of us who wish America well this is a very attrac-tive prospect, whoever wins.”

In terms of the actual process, some French lamented that the public found the entire U.S. elec-tion system “extremely confusing” and said that most people still “have no idea what superdelegates are.” Others criticized the “em-phasis on form over substance, and of course, the role that money plays [in campaigns].” European voters can only watch and wait while American voters choose their next president.Ben Piven is a senior majoring in international studies.

Hungry for changeby Ben Piven

Europeans are optimistic about a new U.S. president

April/May 2008 17

International

A controversial independence

Riots are still flaring in Kosovo one month after it declared independence, particularly in the areas where the Serbian minority is

concentrated. Kosovo’s independence sparked much international controversy, in contrast to other Bal-kan states like Montenegro, which seem to have had a much easier process. The reason for this dispar-ity lies in the fact that prior to Feb. 17, Kosovo was never an independent state: it has always been a province of Serbia.

Kosovo shares much more in common with its neighbor Albania than with Serbia. Most Koso-

vars are ethnic Albanian Muslims, unlike predomi-nantly Christian Serbia. Though Kosovo’s popula-tion is majority Albanian, there is a Serb minority, which for the most part does not support Kosovo’s separation from Serbia. The majority of the Serbian population in Kosovo lives in the Northern prov-inces, the area of contention for the new state. This region has seen the most violence, and Serbia in-structed ethnic Serbians living in Kosovo to ignore the declaration of independence.

Kosovo’s prospects as an independent nation are not particularly promising. Two veto-wielding

by Melissa Brzycki

Kosovo’s future as a nation looks bleak

Diane Esson

18 The Hill

International

members of the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China, con-test the legality of Kosovo’s in-dependence and may block the necessary approval of the Coun-cil to allow the small nation into the U.N. A Feb. 21 article in The Economist adds that unem-ployment is high, affecting two-thirds of Kosovo’s youth, while the population relies heavily on remittances. The atmosphere for business and industry is also dis-couraging, mostly because of high tax rates.

While the U.S. and many Eu-ropean countries support Kosovo’s independence, Russia is strongly opposed. President Vladimir Pu-tin was always against to the pros-pect of an independent Kosovo, and the new Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, has reiterated that position. Compounding the problem, the U.S. decided to sell weapons to Kosovo for defense purposes, likely to make its sup-

port of the new country all the more divisive.

Additional controversy has arisen about the precedent Ko-sovo’s independence might set for other aspiring nations. In a recent Foreign Affairs article, Jerry Muller, a professor at the Catholic University of America, argues that ethnicism will remain an important factor in global politics for decades to come. He posits that ethnicism will cause increased attempts at indepen-dence by minority ethnic groups.

According to Muller, modern life led to the rise in ethnic nation-alism. Many countries tried to provide opportunities for citizens by emphasizing national cohe-sion and efficiency over cultural or lingual differences. This often promoted one group’s language or culture, which offended many secondary ethnic groups. For ex-ample, these groups resent hav-ing their children educated in the dominant language. This discomfort can lead to a greater desire for autonomy, Muller says. Events immediately following Kosovo’s announcement rein-force Jerry Muller’s position, and also lend credibility to Russia’s fears that Kosovo’s independence will encourage other separatist movements. Since Feb. 17, both Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia announced their own in-tentions to achieve independence. Ironically though, Russia supports the independence of these two

regions, as relations with Georgia are tense and Russia is currently trying to block Georgia’s pending NATO membership.

Worldwide, ethnic national-ism is a growing force behind the attempts to create new nation-states. In China, Tibet’s unrest broke out in protests and violence after simmering for decades. Near Kosovo, violence erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh, a predomi-nantly Armenian region in Azer-baijan, which also wants increased autonomy.

Sub-Saharan Africa is also a potential powder-keg. For years, African countries have strug-gled with artificial, post-colonial boundaries that ignore cultural, linguistic and ethnic boundar-ies. Yet for the most part, the map of Africa has not been re-drawn. Many ethnic groups who desire autonomy, such as the Ka-tanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, have been thwarted. Most African leaders agree that aspiring groups with-in national boundaries should not be allowed to secede. They think the great number of ethnic groups and arbitrary boundaries of nearly every modern African nation would lead to endless war-ring and redrawing of the Afri-can map. The successful inde-pendence of Kosovo may give the secessionist groups in Africa new hope and revive their struggles.

While Kosovo’s path to inde-pendence looks rocky, the con-tinued support of such wealthy, influential nations as the U.S., Britain and France gives Kosovo a decent chance of becoming a functioning, recognized nation-state. Many other independence movements do not have the same chances, yet this type of move-ment seems only to be prolif-erating. Just as there has been a transition in the world from wars among states to wars within states, the newest trend in the in-ternational arena may be the de-sire for ethnically homogenous, independent states.

Melissa Brzycki is a junior political science major.

Worldwide, ethnic nationalism is a growing force behind the attempts to create new nation-states.

April/May 2008 19

International

tion of his new surroundings. The piece could have been symbolic of the visit, a gesture of humility and a recognition by the Ameri-cans that North Korea has culture and civilization that can be ap-preciated. Another work played was Dvorak’s “From the New World.” UNC Music Professor Evan Bonds believes this piece was carefully chosen because it “reflects the convergence of a wide range of cultural traditions in the United States: a Czech composer…using melodies in-spired by his encounters with Af-rican Americans and with Native Americans.”

Supposedly, the performance was broadcast live all over iso-lated nation. But in light of the abject poverty experienced by the vast majority of the population—GDP per capita is $1900—it is unlikely that many people saw the performance for lack of tele-visions. Nevertheless, the music seemed to have a sizable impact on the audience at the perfor-mance. Despite the reservation from the White House that the performance would have no ef-fect on relations, the audience gave the orchestra a long stand-ing ovation. North Korea’s coun-selor Pak Chol of the Korea-Asia Pacific Peace Committee ex-pressed his gratitude by saying, “We Koreans fully appreciate the performance this evening by the New York Philharmonic, not just

Diane Esson

It was a surreal image: North Korean men and women, per-

haps from the upper echelons of Kim Jong-Il’s regime, standing at attention to the performance of the Star-Spangled Banner. Has the Bamboo Curtain been lifted? Not yet. There have been many claims that the performance by the New York Philharmonic Or-chestra in North Korea had noth-ing to do with politics, and that it was purely a cultural interaction. Yet one main underlying reason for the visit apparently was to soothe the tension between the adversaries through a shared ex-perience. Music, however, is not the best experience to share when it comes to being politically neu-tral. According to the New York Times, the Orchestra played both the North Korean and Ameri-can national anthems, Dvorak’s “A New World,” Gershwin’s “An American in Paris,” and a Korean folk song called “Arirang.” It’s difficult to establish any meaning behind the selection of the mu-sic, and it’s almost impossible to understand how the North Ko-reans really interpreted the per-formance. But the selection of the repertoire was not arbitrary. Gershwin’s piece features sounds replicating the noise and bustle of Paris, which represents the confusion of an American visitor. At the end of the piece, the mu-sic expresses the visitor’s recovery from homesickness and apprecia-

Diplomatic chordsBy Alex Smith

A musical attempt to connect east and west

as an art performance, but as the good feelings of the ordinary citi-zens of the United States toward the Korean people.” The state-ment could be full of diplomatic maneuvering, since North Korea has long claimed that the U.S. is threatening its sovereignty with invasion. Mr. Chol may have been trying to capture the moral high ground by isolating the U.S. State Department look cold. In-deed, North Korea proposed the event, as reported NPR. Howev-er, the State Department did help arrange the Orchestra’s visit.

Despite the hostility, there is still a good chance the perfor-mance might at least add some pleasant background noise to the dead diplomatic silence between the two nuclear adversaries. Af-ter all, a similar visit by the Phila-delphia Orchestra to China in 1973 played a large role in bring-ing China and the United States together. The performance by the American orchestra provided the Chinese people fresh relief from Mao’s oppressive Cultural Revo-lution, and a realization that their view of the West as a barbaric bourgeoisie stronghold was too simplistic. Perhaps there is hope for Kim Jong-Il’s regime.

Alex Smith is a sophomore majoring in economics.

20 The Hill

Column

J. Pattishall

All Things Greenfrom theLeft

When questioned in a recent news confer-ence on how the average Joe will cope with widely-predicted $4 a gallon gas

prices, President Bush informed a CBS journalist that he simply hadn’t heard that prediction. Such a remark is more than just a discomfiting display of unawareness on the part of our president, it is in-dicative of a general American trend of looking the other way on energy issues. From here on out, expensive gas is likely to be the rule, and Americans need to start acting accordingly.

Consumer and investor interest in ethanol, a renewable hydrocarbon fuel made from plant material, spikes during times of high oil prices, and with good reason. Many owners of personal etha-nol stills have been able to produce the fuel at prices well below conventional gasoline. In Colorado, E 85 can be purchased at the pump for prices a full dollar per gallon below gas. Ethanol isn’t just cheaper for consumers, ei-ther. For nations like America, strapped with huge and growing foreign trade deficits, the potential development of a domestic energy supply to offset oil imports is increasingly attractive.

The first thing to remember about oil, however, is that its cost cannot be measured only in dollars and cents. Political tensions in oil producing re-gions, global warming, oil spills and other environ-mental issues all combine to make oil look more like the ugly option that it truly is. These issues, it just so happens, also contribute to economic desta-bilization.

Ethanol’s benefits run quite the gamut. It is renewable (unlike oil), it has the potential of be-ing carbon-neutral (unlike oil), it contains far fewer poisonous gasses than conventional oil, it is cheaper, it is largely domestic and, last but not least, ethanol stills can easily be converted to make moonshine, giving a new meaning to the term “gas

guzzler.” As with any energy source, ethanol has its draw-

backs. Some Americans wonder whether we can make enough ethanol with the amount of arable land we have. Given the current use of farmland in America, such as the wildly disproportionate use of land to grow feedstock for meat production,

markets would have to shift somewhere to allow for substantive ethanol produc-tion. Luckily, this kind of shift would be minuscule compared to the catastrophic one that would occur if an oil-dependant world economy were to suddenly find itself without affordable or abundant oil.

Others point to ethanol production as the culprit for rising food prices, which in some senses is true. This ignores the fact, however, that food prices will rise dramatically with oil prices anyway, as

most food on American tables is shipped many hundreds of miles to reach its destination. It also ignores the likely destabilization of world food production under global warming scenarios that predict the flooding of low-lying farmland and shifting rain patterns, leading to likely famine.

Ethanol cannot solve all of our climate change problems, nor can it reasonably replace all of our fossil fuel use. It will, however, have to play a significant role in the crucial period of energy transition that we are entering. We must begin the process of dropping our oil-addiction now, and ethanol is the best place to start. The technology is there, the investment money is flowing in, and the environmental benefits are clear. In the long run, it is an energy path that we can’t afford to leave undeveloped.

J. Pattishall is a first-year student majoring in English and philosophy.

April/May 2008 21

Column

William Griffin

from theright

Advocates of ethanol proclaim that we are going broke importing oil, that purchas-ing this oil supports vile dictators and that

its use has brought us to the brink of an environ-mental catastrophe. On each point they are cor-rect. America must end its dependence on oil, both foreign and domestic, if we wish to avert serious economic, political and environmental problems. However, support and subsidization of ethanol production is a grave error for one reason that trumps all the rest: it drastically raises food prices, leading to increased human misery.

For as long as most students of this university can remember, food has been a relatively cheap commodity. Advances in agriculture have seemed to prove Malthus and the pessimists wrong, yet in the past year, crop prices have skyrocketed. By diverting large tracts of arable land from the cultivation of food to the creation of gasoline, we are fueling this problem. The price of corn, commonly used to dis-till ethanol, rose by 50 percent between 2006 and 2007, while wheat prices shot up 83 percent this year, according the Economist.

Not only does this strain the purse strings of the American poor (who by definition must spend more than 1/3 of their income on food), but it means the difference between health and starva-tion for hundreds of millions of the world’s im-poverished, many of whom spend 80 to 90 percent of their income on food. Already the U.N. and the U.S. are decreasing food aid due to diminishing surpluses and rising costs. We see ethanol as a so-lution to a problem, yet in the eyes of the starving of the world we are like rich fools using hundred-dollar bills to light our cigarettes.

There are better solutions to our oil addic-

tion. Hybrid cars can drastically cut American oil consumption while simultaneously furthering the electrical engine (which can be powered by all kinds of clean sources of energy) as a viable alternative to combustion engines in the future.

Furthermore, America has not yet begun to conserve. In fact, American demand is increasing. In contrast in the 1970s, when the problem was merely economic and not environmental, conservation caused America’s oil consumption to drop by 14 percent.

Critics might say that with the coming environmental catastrophe, the world’s poor are a necessary casualty in the fight against global warming. But as Professor Tad Patzek of the University of Califor-nia at Berkeley points out, ethanol pro-

duces even more carbon dioxide than petroleum when one takes into account the deforestation, soil carbon losses and cultivation that ethanol produc-tion requires.

A clean and domestic source of energy is an aim all Americans can share, but Americans must consider more than just themselves in the march toward this lofty goal. Our support for ethanol will injure the poor of this world in a far more profound way than it will benefit any U.S. citizen. America would be a nation of hypocrites if we vigorously protest the mass murder of Darfurians while not bothering to carpool in order to stop the mass starvation of Ethiopians.

William Griffin is a sophomore majoring in politi-cal science.

Ethanol: Great in Guinness,

Horrible in Gas

22 The Hill

The Last Word

Rarely do we look back on the polarized world of the Cold War and sympathize with the fears of the day. As children, we never practiced hiding under our desks at school; we were never fearful of the threat of an equally large super-power. The arms race is over, and the world has averted nuclear de-struction.

T o d a y , globaliza-tion has diluted big-power politics and allowed small, rogue non-state organizations to become a threat on an international scale. It is tempting to believe that the larg-est threat to America lies in Iraq, Afghanistan or even Iran. But to many foreign policy analysts, the country that sparks the most concern is not a member of the so-called “Axis of Evil,” but one of America’s indispensable allies in the War on Terror and one of the world’s most unstable nucle-ar-armed countries: Pakistan. The existence of nuclear weapons in Pakistan combined with its ten-tative political and security situ-ation presents a vital challenge to the United States.

When I first began meeting with the UNC chapter of the

Roosevelt Institute’s Center for Foreign Policy, the other mem-bers of this student think tank were already deep into discus-sions about Pakistan, including its relationship to nuclear non-proliferation. The fast-paced na-ture of our group, however, meant that we were soon moving on to the next issue on the agenda, and any further research on the topic would have to be independent. I sought to supplement my limited knowledge of Pakistan, starting with the complex history that led to the formation of its nuclear program.

Pakistan initially sought to develop nuclear weapons to balance the threat posed by its neighbor, India, with whom it shares a volatile relationship. Pakistan has also refused to sign non-proliferation agreements as a result of India’s refusing to do so. To all appearances, the U.S. and Pakistan are strange bedfellows; the first is a staunch supporter of nuclear non-proliferation, the second uncommitted to it. The delicate relationship is further compounded by the U.S.’s close ties to Pakistan’s rival, India.

Unlike India, however, Paki-stan is mired in political instabil-ity. Despite recent elections, the

current government’s tentative hold over the nation is cause for concern. In addition, Pakistan’s refusal to adhere to non-prolif-eration agreements means it is subject to very little international pressure. Security concerns are further compounded by a large, porous, and mountainous border with Afghanistan and the ease with which terrorists operate on both sides. A January article from the BBC reports U.S. intelligence analysts questioning the ease with which Pakistan’s nuclear knowl-edge could slip into the wrong hands.

The possibility that terrorists seek to acquire a nuclear weapon is all too plausible, and prominent British and American news agen-cies quote U.S. officials as saying some intelligence even raises sus-picions that Osama bin Laden and other members of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan may have ties to nuclear scientists in Pakistan. Combine this possibility with the presence of extremist strains in Pakistan’s own society, and one can picture a frightening scenario reminiscent of the Cold War fears held by our parents, scenarios we have only witnessed in dramatic Hollywood films. Except in this case, the fear stems not from the

By Justin Shrader

A new atomic ageThe nuclear politics of the U.S. and Pakistan

To all appearances, the U.S. and Pakistan are strange bedfellows

April/May 2008 23

The Last Word

thousands of weapons we know about, but the one that we do not.

Pakistan is the most likely point of origin for black-market nuclear technology. Therefore, actions must be taken to limit the nuclear threat posed by non-state terrorist groups. The dire consequences of such an attack are, nevertheless, subverted by the lack of an immediate threat, providing the United States with limited options. Immediate mili-tary action likely would not be tolerated domestically or abroad. A purely long-term approach is

also undesirable due to the uncer-tain political future and the scale of the security threat.

Instead, U.S. policy must include concrete measures to reduce the security threat as well as a broader strategy to continue to engage the Pakistani society. Support must be provided to President Musharraf ’s government for the sake of stabil-ity, and the U.S. must continue to pledge financial assistance to im-prove the socio-economic situa-tion in the long term.

According to a 2007 article in the New York Times, the Bush Administration has increased aid

Want to have the last word? Send your guest column (750-800 words, please) to thehillpr@unc.edu, or sound off on our discussion board at http://studentorgs.unc.edu/thehill.The Hill

The Last Word on

to Pakistan’s security by training personnel, providing a wide range of equipment, financing nuclear security facilities and providing economic aid. Pakistan, neverthe-less, remains reluctant to disclose all details of the nuclear arsenal to the U.S. Perhaps an increase in this indirect assistance could give the U.S. more influence in main-taining the security in Pakistan while still leaving it as a largely national endeavor.

Conversely, defensive measures must improved at home in places such as ports and other areas vul-nerable to a nuclear attack. The U.S. also needs to enlist the help of Pakistan in order to more ac-tively monitor the Afghan bor-der.

Realistically, Pakistan’s rivalry with India suggests that it is very unlikely to agree to anything in the short- or long-term that would weaken it in comparison. It should be a priority in the long term, therefore, to work multilat-erally toward getting both nations to agree to the Nuclear Non-Pro-liferation Treaty. This would allow Pakistan to become subject to in-ternational regulations regarding the nuclear issue and, ultimately, put greater pressure on it to pro-tect its nuclear knowledge.

Ultimately, we of the post-Cold War generation should want nothing less than to prevent a return to such an era.

Justin Shrader is a sophomore ma-joring in international politics and political science.

Lindsay Naylor

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