Obama's First 69 Days as the President of the U.S

Barack Obama (Ilta-Sanomat)

Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th President of The United States on 20th of February 2009, so he has been the President for 69 days. This is a scan about Obama's journey as the President so far.

When Obama became the President of the U.S he was in the middle of huge mess in many sectors and he got terrible legacy from the Bush's administration, for example wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, sinking economy and increasing trade deficit of the U.S.
During the presidental campaign Barack Obama promised to make the U.S better place and improve diplomatic relations with European countries, especially with Russia. Now after 69 days of presidency some things have been improved, but most of the things he promised during the campaign have remained undone. Is Obama really the savior of the world or is he just another U.S president who fails?

Right now the economical situation in the world is so difficult that the result of the crisis will answer to the previous question. So far Barack Obama has executed a multi-billion dollar bail out plan, ordered to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison,announced the plan to withdraw most of the U.S troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010 and to send over 20,000 troops to Afghanistan. Critics have claimed that the bail out plan is going to fail and the wars in Afhganistan and Iraq are not even close to an end.


U.S soldier in Iraq (Time)

However those are not Obama's only problems, he also has a big domestic problems like energy, health care, education and security. Like the special military correspondent of the Washington Post Thomas E. Ricks lately stated in the panel of military power : "President Barack Obama has inherited the worst foreign policy line up, I think any president have ever taken on and the scary part is that it is not even his worst problem."

Time will show where the Obama's administration will go, but probably most of the people hopes that it will make an effort they promised rather than fail miserably. I personally hope to see how the first black president of the U.S will make the world a better place to live.

Why vote at the European Parliament elections?

This is something people ask themselves quite often. Not only in The European Parliament election context but also before any election which needs the decision “to vote or not to vote?”

In Estonia the voting activity has dropped from year to year. People tend to think that their vote doesn´t count for anything and nothing will change anyway. But is that really true ? There have been occasions in the history of different sorts of elections that one vote makes the difference. This is not an excuse that nothing will change. Nothing will never change if you don´t start trying to change it yourself. If all the people would vote for what they believe is the best for the government/ their country/ Europe, we would be in a totally different world now.

It´s becoming a trend that people who by all means should vote, tend not to do so. So I´m asking/ proposing- Let´s make a change. Let´s start to make things better by electing the right people to represent us. Let´s make ourselves heard. Let Europe hear us!

When voting at the European Parliament elections, you are the one, who decides up on the everyday life and future of 500 million Europeans. If you don´t vote someone else will elect the members of the EU parliament. This is a decision which may affect your life for the next five years. You have the choice to elect the people you want into the parliament. If you don´t vote your voice will not be heard.

The importance of diplomats in the European Parliament is increasing everyday. They are the people who control the everyday life of Europe and are trying to make it better and more comfortable for everyone. The person who you voted for is your voice in the European Parliament- why wouldn´t you choose to use that possibility? Make your voice heard and do something to make things better, instead of just complaining.

It doesn´t matter who you are- young or old, student or retired, The European Union affects your everyday life. The European Parliament deals with everyday problems. Even if you don´t see or feel the changes, it doesn´t mean that they are not there. The basic convenience such as free boarders- it´s easy to travel, work, study and live in other European countries, the choice is rather large- 27 of them. The parliament stands for cleaner air, less pollution, better jobs and services.
So make your choice and vote- Don´t let others make the decision for you!

The Matter of Will

On 15th of March there was a big conference in Helsinki about aid for the undeveloped countries. President Tarja Halonen and a former president Martti Ahtisaari both stated that the Finnish output financially should be bigger.

The President of Finland Tarja Halonen and Former President Martti Ahtisaari (Suomen Kuvalehti)

Already in 1970’s Finland has promised to give 0.7 percentages of GDP for underdeveloped countries, but we haven’t accomplish it yet.
Now the goal is by the year of 2015 to fulfill those goals. The Secretary-General of Unicef Finland Kotoaro emphasized that the 0.7 percentages is not much for the Finnish government, it’s only worth of building 80 kilometers of new highway. On 26th of March the government will publish next years aid budget.

Both presidents want to improve women’s education and position in the third world countries. President Halonen has always been activist of the women’s rights and in the conference she said how in some countries girls are discriminated from the day they have born because of their sex. 

This conference has been the whole week in Finnish media coverage and it has raised a lot of conversation whether this is a good time to discuss about helping other countries when Finnish people are worried about their own problems due to the financial crisis.

As our former president and Nobel peace- price winner Ahtisaari said: “Politics is a matter of will. I hope that we will find it in this case.”

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

Although for us the Vietnam War seems like ancient history, as our generation was not even born when the commotion in the former French colony escalated to a full scale war where two very different world views clashed with horrendous results for both sides, it still remains a relevant lesson from the history. The effect that this war and its aftermath has had on the worldwide community is hard not to notice. The US student organizations and their antiwar protest have become the symbol of the sixties and seventies. The political players that were involved in solving the war campaign, like Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and Ho Chi Minh have also become widely known icons connected to the Vietnam War.

For us the conflict which took place almost 30 years ago provides a good and much needed opportunity to learn more about human nature when in stress situations and the logic behind the actions that the leaders made during this crisis as some choices made at the time seem totally incomprehensible.

"The Fog of War"), a documentary made by acclaimed film director Errol Morris, tries to do just the thing. By personally interviewing the former Secretary of the Defense Robert S. McNamara, who was among the key players during the Vietnam War, Morris manages to open the eccentric and emphatic person of the main character and thanks to this we the viewers get a privilege rarely granted for outsider - the chance to take a peek behind the facade of the political machinery that was working at that time.

The film is structured into eleven life lessons that Robert McNamara has gathered during his life and this provides a strong backbone for the film. Directors approach to the matter at hand is very critical as during the interviews all the painful and somewhat personal questions are asked from the main character.

Robert McNamara is shown at a press conference pointing to the Gulf of Tonkin on a map of Vietnam in August of 1964. (Reuters)

After its release the documentary garnered a lot of positive attention and encouraging reviews as the issue covered was really unique and the technical realization of the films was almost perfect. Thanks to the access to a wide selection of archive materials and telephone conversation recordings of between the US leaders the film succeeds in its goal. The work of the music composer Phillip Glass, whose work has greatly contributed to the success for other ground breaking documentaries, also manages to create and widen the aspect of positive synergy between the picture and the image in this film.

In 2004 Oscars the competition in the documentary category was very heated. From the five films that competed that year I have seen three ("The Weather Underground", "Capturing the Friedmans" and "The Fog of War") and I can ensure that the quality of all of them is really top notch. In the end "Fog of War" won and the fact that the other entries in the competition were also strong serves as another proof that this film is quite remarkable.

Robert McNamara parries questions from journalism professor Mark Danner and filmmaker Errol Morris. (BAP photos)

So if you feel that this topic interest you from the historical perspective or you are an aspiring documentary maker and want to see a truly well executed film, then watching this film is a good way to start.

For further reading I suggest the films official website (amusing and well made flash animation of the site and the press kit offer a good overview of the film with its well written synopsis and a short interview with Errol Morris) and an overview of an forum with Robert McMnamara, Mark Danner and Errol Morris at the Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

Thanks to the era of online video this film is also available on Google video with a wide selection of subtitles (English, Finnish, French, Spanish, German, Turkish and Portuguese). This makes it possible to watch and enjoy it almost anywhere - as long as there is Internet access. Enjoy!

Alan Schein / zefa / Corbis

Five Reasons for Economic Optimism

Seriously, there are reasons for optimism — if you're willing to look really, really hard...

by Justin Fox, Time Magazine

1. The Stock Market Is No Longer Overpriced – “The Dow's descent below 7,000—for the first time since early 1997—was greeted with much wailing on Wall Street and in the media.” But this means that the stocks are just about as equally priced as they can be. The same principle did raise the real estate prices through the roof in Estonia as well. JUSTIN FOX says that buying and selling houses does not bring prosperity anymore; work does. But we only just figured that out now.

2. The Government Is On The Case – “Don't laugh. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve and the White House and Congress really are all working to fix this mess. They're making lots of mistakes. They're doing some things too quickly and many things too slowly.” Even though many of the Eastern European countries are really struggling for survival, the governments have had to work extra-extra hard in order to not let the economy collapse. The state budgets are cut, the opposition parties constantly criticize basically anything that the government proposes as a solution and meanwhile thousands of people are losing their jobs. When (not if) we get through this mess – we should be smarter and stronger altogether.

3. Consumers are Adjusting to the New Economic Reality — and Fast –

Buying, buying, and buying. That is what the Americans and the Europeans cannot afford anymore. The overconsumption led us to the crisis but will prove to be the best lesson in saving. It will teach consumers not to buy things they’ll never ever use anyhow. A good lesson, aye!

4. Reinvention and Change are What the U.S. is All About – “And as the economic crunch goes global, it is becoming increasingly clear that the U.S.—despite being the epicenter of the meltdown—will be far from the worst hit.” Things are not that sunny in Europe though. Many eastern European countries have received help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and some even from neighbor countries. For instance Sweden has come to the rescue of Latvia.

5. O.K. I Couldn't Think of a Fifth Reason – “I also have to admit that as I look back at the first four reasons, they're all exercises in either

a) finding silver linings in really bad news or

b) wishful thinking that has yet to be backed up with hard evidence.”

The only thing we can do during this continuous economical downfall is to have faith in politics. Yes, politics! You didn’t misread. Fortunately or not, it seems to be the only power strong enough to survive a catastrophe like this. Fingers crossed, everyone!