Trust US

Revelations this week that the US may have monitored the phone calls of up to 35 world leaders have been making significant diplomatic waves in American relations with several powerful countries, and prove that the Edward Snowden saga is far from over. This week the German newspaper Der Spiegel published a damning article outlining the evidence for, extent of, and political effects of the NSA’s alleged surveillance program run out of the US embassy in Berlin, with targets including the cell phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel herself since 2002. Outrage is mounting in allies as far afield as Mexico, France, and Germany as citizens question an already unpopular superpower’s intentions.

While surveillance centers operating from within embassies technically enjoy diplomatic immunity for their actions, when they get caught as they have now the backlash is swift and harsh. The United States is already viewed throughout the world as a self-centered bully, willing to push its policies on supposed friends and pressure countries into taking actions they would not normally. The current scandal only serves to augment the image of the US as an irresponsible, overbearing hegemon. That an intelligence agency would secretly listen in on the phone calls of not only the citizens of our allies but their leaders themselves is politically unethical and extremely damaging. Today reports are surfacing that President Obama himself was told of the surveillance of Chancellor Merkel in 2010 and has repeatedly re-approved the program, further damaging US-German relations although he denies the allegations.

Brunei's Step Backward - The Case for Secularization

Earlier this week, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei announced a policy shift towards strict Sharia law to be enforced in six months. For those who don’t know, Sharia is the set of moral laws traditionally adhered to by those of the Muslim religion. Considered draconian, at least by today’s standards, Brunei’s new laws will include punishments such as flogging, amputation of limbs, and stoning for crimes ranging from drinking alcohol and having an abortion to thievery and adultery. While Sultan Bolkiah has enforced these laws previously, to a lesser degree, this shift is a substantial step backwards for the country. Sharia law, while being perfectly reasonable as a moral guide, has no place as a legitimate penal code in 2013, especially for an entire state. The laws are more disadvantageous to women than they are to men, strip individuals of many personal freedoms, and change the nature of a great religion from being a spiritual means to happiness and peace, to one of persecution and innumerable boundaries.

A public caning

Sharia law used to be sovereign penal code in the majority of predominantly Muslim countries. Much of Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Asia were once ruled under these laws. Secularization – at least to a certain degree – swept through these regions throughout last century, and many countries began to limit their use of Sharia as a legal guideline and encourage it more as a spiritual one. Many countries that have kept Sharia as an influence to their legal system now use it only in personal status cases such as divorce. In several countries, certain regions remained under strict Sharia, while others began to secularize and move away from it.

Today, only a few countries remain under strict Sharia enforcement – Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Mauritania, and Qatar, to name a few. While Saudi Arabia and Qatar are wealthy countries that have prospered despite the overwhelming influence of religion in modern day life, this is not a universal trend. Many of the other countries with stricter Sharia enforcement, such as Yemen, much of Indonesia, and, to some degree, Afghanistan, do not enjoy this level of wealth – or, for that matter, the same level of peace and security. That’s not to argue that all countries that have adopted more secularized approaches to their legal systems are prospering wonderfully – in fact, the vast majority are still struggling to reach the next rung on the ladder of development – but it does point out a possible hindrance to development in predominantly Muslim nations.

Sultan Bolkiah

Which is why the case in Brunei is so discouraging. According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2012, Brunei was ranked 11^th in GDP per capita. They have enjoyed incredible success in exporting natural resources, and by most standards, citizens there live relatively prosperous lifestyles. Introducing stricter Sharia law is not going to improve Brunei’s economic situation; in fact, it will likely harm it. The quirk of Brunei’s new laws is they will only apply to Muslims, who make up roughly 67% of the overall population. Dividing the population by laws in this way will only exacerbate tensions between religions that have plagued much of the region in recent months. Not to mention, many of these Sharia laws may restrict women’s ability to work, harming GDP and productivity levels for the country.

Sultan Bolkiah is worth approximately $20 billion himself, making him arguably the wealthiest head of state in the world today. Perhaps he is having trouble looking past his own pile of money at the potential damage introducing these laws may have on his country. Christianity underwent the Protestant Reformation centuries ago, paving the way for secularization on a mass scale. I think the world has been better because of it. Isn’t it time countries like Brunei began to secularize themselves?

Malala Yousafzai and the Fight for Female Education

The girl enters the studio stage left, and the crowd goes wild. She is dressed in traditional Pakistani garb, poised, smiling, and impossibly mature. The next 16 minutes make you alternately want to cry, scream, cheer, and laugh. In an interview destined to go viral, Malala Yousafzai left host Jon Stewart speechless with her beyond-her-years wisdom and eloquence. In the past few weeks, Malala’s name – and her cause – have been inescapable, especially after she became the youngest person ever on the short list for a Nobel Peace Prize. She has met the Queen of England, taken tea with Angelina Jolie, had a biography published about her life (at 16, no less), and put a face on the struggle to educate girls, especially in the developing world.

It is striking that at only 16, Malala has achieved global celebrity not even Hollywood starlets could dream of, and all without a stint in rehab. In a documentary about the Taliban in Swat Valley, the viewer is offered a glimpse of Malala just a few years ago: markedly shier, she hides her face behind her hands as she cries on camera. The reason for her tears: the next day, a Taliban ban on girls in school will take effect, and her schooldays would come to a (brief) end. Her father smiles and pats her back, telling the cameraman that he simply could not risk his daughter’s life because he “fell in love with her” the moment she was born. Four years later, Malala says of the moment, “We don’t learn the importance of anything until it’s snatched from our hands… Education is power for women, and that is why the terrorists are scared of education.”

Iran Nuclear Talks: Global fusion or global fission?

In the early years of Pres. George W. Bush’s presidency, things had never looked better for US-Iranian relations. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami was elected for a second term in 2001, and he was known as a reformer looking to reconcile Iran with the US for the first time since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Although the terms “liberal” and “reformist” are relative – especially in Iranian politics, which are always guided by the Grand Ayatollah – he offered a glimpse of a “dialogue among civilizations” rather than Samuel Huntington’s famous Clash of Civilizations.

Pres. Khatami’s words were more than rhetoric. Following the 9/11 attacks on the United States at the hands of Islamist extremists, he was one of the first world leaders to offer his condolences to the American people and subsequently offered important policies of military support for the US invasion of Afghanistan. He promised that Iran would return any American military personnel that landed in Iranian territory, close its borders to Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaida, ask the Northern Alliance to facilitate US efforts in Afghanistan, and cooperate with Pakistan to assist in the creation of a new government. Since the invasion in 2001, Iran’s interests in Afghanistan have largely lined up with those of the US, and the country has provided important infusions of aid and investment throughout eastern and central Afghanistan.

Destroying Our Foreign Policy from the Inside

As I write this, it appears that a deal is in the works to avoid the U.S. default everyone has been so worried about for the past several weeks. Thank goodness. The economic repercussions of the United States government failing to approve a debt ceiling increase that would allow us to pay for things we have already agreed to pay for would have not only impacted our domestic economy, but would have sent shudders through the entire global economy. Should the deal be reached today that would avert this, we can go back to discussing all the other unfortunate consequences that our government's actions the past several weeks have had, and will continue to have, on our role in the global political arena. And let us be clear about this: these consequences are just as significant as the default itself, and may plague us for just as long.

In light of the impending doom that failure to reach an agreement would bring at midnight tonight, people from around the world have voiced their disappointment in the U.S., and for good reason. China has been particularly outspoken, taking turns lampooning and lambasting us for our apparent nonchalance at the effect our default would have on China's economy. Being our largest creditor (China owns roughly $1.3 trillion of U.S. debt), our decisions over the next several days could easily dismantle the Chinese economy along with our own.

But there are other important points to be made. A New York Times article points to Greece, where the U.S. and the EU have taken the stance that Greece's irresponsibility at managing their finances resulted in their current financial malaise, and they should be responsible for finding ways to ameliorate it themselves. Austerity and other financial hardships that will likely impact much of the Greek population should not be off the table. However, the United States has demonstrated that they too - or, should I say, the representatives who the U.S. population has elected - are incapable of responsibly managing debt and finances.

Finally, after two lengthy wars in the Middle East and an aggressive pro-democracy approach, the United States is now left to look itself in the mirror and see its own democratic government in complete, embarrassing disarray. The image we are projecting for the rest of the world to see is one of a government that is elected by its people only to spurn them during policymaking and legislation farther down the road. I have seen little indication over the past few weeks that these representatives of the people care about anybody but themselves - political gridlock is the new norm, with complete disregard to those it may be hurting. How is it that the United States can continue to advocate for democracy around the globe when ours is so detrimental to our society?

The greatest threat to American influence is America itself. Our biggest threat to our foreign policy is our own government. Perhaps the debt ceiling issue will be resolved, but what has been demonstrated over the past several weeks is at best an appalling lack of foresight and at worst a complete lack of urgency when looking at what may lie ahead for us. And while avoiding a default is of the utmost importance, it's hard to call it a victory - the consequences of coming this close have already affected us, and will remain visible for weeks to come regardless of whether the default comes or not.