The 2009 Iranian Election Protests and the Global Fight for True Democratic Government

On June 13, 2009 the presidential election results for Iran were revealed. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had "won" and Mir-Hassein Mousavi had "lost." This sparked a huge controversy from the people of Iran and those of Iranian decent around the world. Many people in Iran were worried that the election results were completely false so that the government could secure a spot for the radical man Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian civilians that were worried soon began protests that attracted thousands and thousands of people in Iran and around the world. They used Twitter and other social networking sites in order to communicate when and where protests would take place. The bulk of the people who made up the protesters were educated young Iranian men and women who knew that what their government was doing was completely wrong.

At first, people around the world were not sure what to think about the protesters, but then a closer look into the data from election day astounded officials around the world. They found that the election results had been manipulated! In some provinces in Iran, there was a turnout of over 100% of registered voters! Also, the results were declared invalid because where Ahmadinejad's party had done very poorly before they crushed the opposition. Early opinion polls had found that Ahmadinejad should not have won the election if the results were not manipulated. Unfortunately, the results were tampered with. After this information was discovered, the popular protests became even more popular. Then, millions of people everywhere began to show their support for the protesters. In order to try to calm things down and keep supreme control over their people, the Iranian government closed universities, blocked web sites, blocked cell phone transmissions and texts, and banned rallies. The government even confirmed that it had to kill 36 of its own people while outside news sources reported deaths in the thousands!

These election protests have continued to this day although they are much more feeble because of a fear of the government. If the Iranian government was sure that the election results were truthful then there would have been no reason to severely restrict all media in the country. Many young men and women in Iran lost their lives trying to create a better and more truthful country for there peers. It is very unfortunate and it also shows how desperate they were to show that their government was wrong and that you could stand up to it. For a while, it gave hope to many people in Iran that they could actually live in a place where they could be safe. The corrupt and totalitarian government quickly put a stop to that. One of the most significant things about the election proteststers were that there were many women fighting right alongside the men. This is rarely seen in Iran where women are very confined and do not enjoy many rights.

The most significant effect that these election protests have had on the world are that they have opened the eyes of the world to the fight that people are making for a true democracy. As the population growth of the world slows down, people in every country are being able to find more ways to become educated. As this education occurs and people become more cultured and learned they begin to see the advantages of a true democracy with a rule of law. The election protests in Iran have sparked the trigger for many people in other nations around the world to question their authority and fight for their freedom. People are not dumb, as their governments like to pretend, but instead, they are very smart and can see through many of the atrocities of modern totalitarianism. As the future progresses, there will be more of these rallies around the world calling for freedom and individual liberty and, maybe someday, the world will become a complete democracy where liberty and the role of the citizen prosper.

615 Words

The Space Race, The Most Important Events, and the Soviet Perspective

After WWII many of the big countries of the world were looking for a way to ensure their protection for the future. This time period was known as the Cold War and the space race was included in that time period.

The space race was a heated competition between the US and the Soviet Union. They were allies in WWII, but during the Cold War everything changed. The space race began even before WWII. In 1880, a Russian man named Konstantin Tsiolkovsky theorized that rockets could reach space. He created the "rocket equation" which is used to calculate velocity. This formula is used to this day! In 1929, the American, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid fueled rocket. People did not take him seriously and he was forgotten. In 1942, the Germans created the first missile to reach space. In 1945, after the war, German knowledge of rockets was distributed to the Allies (Mainly the US and the Soviet Union). In 1953, Sergey Korolyov developed the first ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). Six years later the Americans had their own version. These activities set the stage for a space race.

The space race officially "began" when the Soviet Union launched the first-ever satellite into space in 1957. It was the size of a beach ball and stayed in space for two months. In early-1958 the US launched their first satellite into space. In mid-1958 the soviets put the first dog into space and it died 5-7 hours after takeoff due to stress. In late-1958 the US formed NASA and the Soviet Union landed the first probe on the moon. In 1960 two more Soviet dogs are sent to space, but are returned unharmed. In 1961, the US sends to chimps to space and returns them. Also in 1961, the Soviet Union put the first man into space. His name was Yuri Gagarin. Twenty-three days later, they US put Alan Shepard into space. In 1962 an American was the first person to orbit the Earth. In 1968, the Soviet Union flew the first animals around the moon. Also in 1968, the US flew the first Americans around the moon. In 1969, the US lands the first people on the moon and "win" the space race. While the US won the space race because of the huge accomplishment of putting someone on the moon, the Soviet Union had more space "firsts." To this day the US and Russia still lead in space exploration.

The way the Soviet people and leaders viewed the space race during the Cold War was very different than the way that the US viewed it. When Germany and Hitler were overthrown, Russia kidnapped many German rocket engineers and a lot of German knowledge. These kidnapped engineers were forced to help the Soviet Union develop their rockets. The US only used the knowledge that was given to it by the Germans and created their own rockets. That could possibly explain why the US was behind for much of the space race. The Soviet Union viewed space as a wonderful military tool because the US had a much bigger air force. The Soviet Union wanted to be able to contend with the US. While the US was interested in space for military reasons, there were also scientific reasons. The Soviet Union was much more desperate win the space race because they wanted to prove how powerful they were after their performance in WWII. When the Soviet Union sent the first dog into space, they knew that it was going to die. This shows how desperately they wanted to win the space race. In the Soviet Union the citizens were extremely proud and involved with the space program. While the citizens of the US were proud they just didn't have the fire that the Soviet people did. Overall the Soviet Union wanted to use the space race as a way to show that they were ready for anything that was going to happen next.

There has never been such a battle for technological supremacy since the space race during the heart of the Cold War. This illustrates how the times were changing. Any nation that could not keep up with the change would be left behind. In today's world that is extremely apparent. Also, it is important to remember that the space race was as equally important, if not even more important, to the Soviet people as it was, and is, to the American public.

682 Words

WWII, The Olympics, and a Modern Interpretation

The Olympics have always been events that bring the world together. Or so we thought! It turns out that the Olympics were not always something that brought people together; it brought them apart. This was the case in 1940 when the unthinkable happened. The Olympics were cancelled! This event changed the Olympic Movement so drastically that no Olympic games have been cancelled ever since that 7-year period during WWII. There are huge differences between the olympics before WWII and those that have come after. WWII was a crossroads for the culture and society that is common today. WWII had a tremendous impact on everything and everyone in the world.

Beginning in 1938, a scandal began to unfold in the Olympic Movement. Japan had originally been selected to host the 1940 Olypics. Since Japan was emerging as an Axis Power, many nations began to threaten to boycott the Olympics if they were going to be held in Japan. Even the League of nations began to get involved. In late 1938, Japan finally decided to abandon it's attempt to host the Olympic games. Instead, the Oylmpics were awarded to Helsinki, Finland. Shortly after planning the complete olympics that would take place in Finland, WWII broke out in its full. The games were then completely cancelled and did not resume until 1948 when London hosted the next Olympic Games. At this point in time the winter and summer olympics were heald every year. That is a lot of sporting events that had to be cancelled just because of a war.

The modern Olympics that the world knows and loves have not been cancelled despite the ongoing outbreaks of wars around the world. Today, the Olympics are seen as a way to forget the troubles of the world and come together as common spectators to appreciate the art of sport. Olympics are now such a conerstone of world cuture that despite a recession, terrorism, many wars, and other global problems we still manage to put them on. This represents the difference between the Olympic Movement in the time of WWII and the Olympic Movement that we see today. This difference also helps to outline the greatness of modern times. The world could be at war and the countries that send the troops would still grind on without much of a glance. It is just the way that the modern society grows and functions. Wars that happen today are still important, but they do not pose the immidiate threat like they used to.

During WWII new tensions that had never been a problem on the world front before had broken out. This was the leading cause that the 1940 Olympics were cancelled. WWII was so encompassing and so deadly that event the simple act of participating in sports for one's country turned into an insult to the rest of the world. The pre-WWII Olympics can be described as more simple and less complex than they are now. The Olympics were put on and just included the traditional events. Today, the olympics carry substantially more events than they used to. It is unfortunate that the world was so entrenched in the acts of total war that the art of sport was forgotten for seven long years. The world was not developed enough to fight a war and still prosper domestically like we are used to today.

There can be many reasons why the Olympic Movement of today does not compare to the Olympic Movement of WWII. The biggest reason is fear. Today the world is terrified of having another all-encompassing war. There are weapons that the world has now that people in WWII could never have dreamed of. A war such as this would be devastating on so many levels. The world uses the Olympics as we know them today as an outlet to say that, no matter what, there are always two and a half weeks of every two years that we can put aside to enjoy friendly competition. As long as the people of the world continue to love sport, the Olympics will always be there to remind us that we all share at least some common ground.

665 Words

The Fall/Fail of Democracy in Germany and Russia

In Germany and Russia democracy failed to work for long in the post WWI era. In Germany, democracy was struck down by the people and in Russia, democracy was destroyed by the government.

In February 1919, Germany set up the Weimar Republic in response to the Treaty of Versailles. The Weimar Republic was a good democracy modeled on the democracies of Western Europe. The democracy included a Bill of Rights and men and women who were over the age of 21 could vote in the elections. All persons in the Weimar Republic government were elected by popular vote. Many of the German people were not fond of the new democracy and did not like the new government. Left and right-wing citizens assassinated political leaders to show their unhappiness. To add to the already stressed republic, no majority was ever reached in government because it was made up of many smaller parties. Also, the Great Depression began to add economic stress to the country. Just when it seemed it couldn't get any worse, France invaded the lucrative coal mines of Germany. The economy then completely collapsed. The small terrorist group called the Nazis eventually became a political party and gradually took over the government election by election. When the Nazis finally had majority control, they put Hitler into power and named him Supreme Chancellor.

The consequences of the Treaty of Versailles put the people of Germany into a bad position and the revenge of other countries on Germany sealed its fate. The people of Germany were ultimately the ones who made Germany a totalitarian state. Over many years, the people of Germany elected the Nazi party to a greater and greater roll in government. They did not feel any regrets for putting Hitler into power. Some people might argue that the people did not make Germany totalitarian because they did not elect Hitler as their leader. However, they did elect the Nazi party as their leader and were obviously comfortable with their position. Many German people even liked Hitler and were proud to have him as leader. The government takeover by the Nazis under the eye of Hitler set the stage for the second world war and worries for Europe in the years to come.

In Russia the totalitarian revolution was somewhat different than it was in Germany. Before 1919, Nicholas II and and the Russian monarchy were destroyed. Lenin arrived from Germany with many ideas of communism to help improve his country. When Lenin had secured his place on top of the government, he allowed an election to determine the members of the Constituent Assembly. He felt that the election would only add security to his government. However, his party only recieved one quarter of the votes behind the less-progressive Menshevik party. In a sense, Lenin "looses his power." Naturally, being a totalitiarian, Lenin did not like this at all. After one and a half days in session, Lenin dissolved the Constituent Assembly with the use of his Red Army. This led to a hardening of opposition from his people. Between 1918 and 1920 a civil war breaks out in Russia between the communists and the others (There were many people who were against the communists). The communists end up winning the war.

In Russia it is very clear that the people did not have a choice in the progression of democracy. When the people were allowed to vote in an election they decided that it was best to have less radical people in government. Lenin completely discredited their decision and took over the power of government himself. Some people might say that the people did choose to have a communist society because one quarter of the people that voted, voted for someone who was a communist. While this is true, it is important to remember the three quarters of the people did not vote for the communists. That is a huge number of people that were not okay with the totalitarian takeover of Russia.

In conclusion, the people of Germany were comfortable with the totalitarian takeover of their country while the people of Russia were not okay with it. This sets the stage for events that will happen in the future. For example, the very nationalistic feelings in Germany lead to the start of WWII and the smaller support for government in Russia led to the murder of over 30 million people so that the government would be supported. In Germany smaller amounts of people were killed because there were more people on board with the government in the first place. Throughout history the rise and fall of communist regimes can be traced to the actions of people or the actions of government.

735 Words

For more information please visit these websites...

http://www.worldaffairsboard.com/attachments/world-wars/16595d1255447772-hilarious-post-wwi-map-after-math-first-world-war.jpg

http://www.zum.de/whkmla/histatlas/germany/weimar.gif

http://www.johndclare.net/Basics_Germany.htm

http://www.thecorner.org/hist/total/s-russia.htm