According to the New York Times, NYU received a $50 million Emirati donation and then planned its establishment of a branch in the UAE. I have no doubt that the rest of the schools on the list above also received generous donations from the UAE orQatarin return for setting up branches abroad. Additionally, I don’t think it makes monetary sense not to set up branches abroad because the revenue from donations and full-tuition-paying students are probably sufficient to maintain the facilities, faculty, and staff at these branches. Therefore, the universities can take full advantage of the other benefits of having branches abroad. Money can’t be the only reason though, right? Penn and the other schools already have millions or billions of dollars in endowment, so there has to be something more to this.

I think that the prestige of being pioneers of American universities abroad is the main reason that schools like Wharton are setting up these branches. These schools want to boast to prospective students and donating alumni that they are unique and have branches abroad. I predict that we will see more and more branches of American universities outside of theU.S.in the near future because they are pure prestige boosters and money makers. A potential problem that may arise with these branches in the future, though, is that as more and more schools venture abroad, the prestige and novelty will decrease. If this happens, I predict three potential outcomes: top tier American universities will no longer expand abroad, lower tier American universities will try to flood the foreign education market, and foreign countries will take advantage of their newly, American educated population and start new universities. A combination of all these outcomes, I believe, is highly probable.

Something worth mentioning is that not all of the American university branches abroad offer the same opportunities as the mother universities. For example, dorm living, courses offered, and student organizations may not be offered at these branches or at least not to the extent that they are in theU.S.These universities are generally tailored to fit the native population, but can still Americanize the students. For example, some foreign branches in the UAE don’t have coed classes or classes on Friday or Saturday, while other branches offer “pajama day, foosball, dorm life, and bake sales.” (Hadl,New YorkTimes)

Finally, the foreign interest among students to attend American universities is extremely high and competitive. In fact, many students, if they have the resources to do so, travel far from their homes in order to be prepared to attend an American or British university and obtain Advanced Placement or an International Baccalaureate. Bringing the university opportunities to these students makes their interests more possible to fulfill. Sara Hamdan, of the New York Times, gives an example of a young woman in the UAE who wanted to attend a university either in theU.S.or UAE and said, “Why would I go abroad, if I can get the same degree, with the same access to quality, here?” I would guess that most of the students in these foreign branches feel the same way.

The future of American universities abroad is somewhat a mystery. I suspect that there will be an increase in foreign branch development, but, at the same time, there may be an eventual oversaturation of the market and development of new universities. Either way, these branches are a great way for foreign students to be able to stay close to home, while obtaining a quality education.

1. http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/02/01/education/20080204GLOB_8.html

2. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/world/middleeast/iht-elite-schools-find-new-base-in-emirates.html?scp=2&sq=wharton&st=cse

3. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/28/world/europe/iht-setting-out-in-search-of-education.html?scp=1&sq=international%20baccalaureate%20india&st=cse

UN Envoy Kofi Annan with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

United Nations envoy Kofi Annan has been active in talking with Syrian President Bashar Al Assad about bringing an end to the hostilities between Syrian forces and the protesters; the result was a proposed peace agreement in which the Syrian government would prevent its troops from going into any cities and withdraw heavy weapons from urban areas.  The date for the peace agreement set by United Nations is supposed to be April 10, although UN peacekeeping forces are expected to arrive in Syria before that date.

However, Kofi Annan reported to the UN Security Council that the Syrian government had yet to make any progress towards a ceasefire. The Syrian government has made partial concessions in regards to UN peacekeeping involvement, but “commitment is also expected from the opposition”, according to the Syrian representative to the UN.

Western powers, particularly the United States, have continually expressed their doubts about the efficacy and/or the legitimacy of Syrian government and leadership, as well as their outrage to the reported deaths of the Syrians. The UN has recorded the deaths of 9,000 people in Syria over the past year while Syrian rights activists estimate the death toll at more than 10,000.

In stark contrast to Turkey’s former relationship with the Syrian government, Turkey has condemned the crackdown efforts taken by President Al Assad and requested his resignation as soon as possible. On the other hand, Russia has criticized the peace plan proposed by the United Nations, claiming that the entire matter was something only of Syria’s concern. Naturally, any attempts to call for an enforcement of the peace agreement’s deadline through the Security Council have been shot down, courtesy of the veto power. Kofi Annan has also met with the Russian Foreign Minister to discuss the situation in Syria.

Whether and when Syria will ultimately make good on its promises regarding the peace agreement is anybody’s guess.

_________________________________________________________________________________

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/20124313937942708.html

http://www.todayszaman.com/news-276318-turkey-waiting-to-see-if-syria-honors-promises.html

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/04/03/roundup-syria-agrees-to-peace-plan-deadline/

http://gulfnews.com/news/region/syria/kofi-annan-tells-un-security-council-syria-president-agrees-to-april-10-peace-deadline-1.1003122

North Korean officials have announced that the country will conduct military exercises in celebration of the 100th birthday of Kim Il-Sung and that one of the operations will be the launch of a satellite. But this has obviously done little to assuage the fears of the international community, especially countries that identify North Korea as a national security threat. For instance, Japanese government officials have approved an order enabling the country to destroy a North Korean rocket that is deemed to be a threat to Japan.

Even though North Korea has historically been deemed a technologically inferior in many respects in comparison to countries like the United States, the country remains an ever real threat because of rapid technological developments in the past decade has made it ever easier for sensitive information to be obtained via unauthorized access.
North Korea remains high on the list of security concerns also because of much that is unknown about the country.

While North Korean government officials have articulated their hardline stance against foreign opposition to their regime, there is much that remains undisclosed to the international community. The uncertainty surrounding North Korean national and foreign policy sparks speculation about the intentions of North Korea. As a result, the reports about the missile launches are significant even though they probably will not provoke declaration of war as a missile strike would. The anxiety that such unconfirmed reports create has alarmed many nations and it can be enough to strengthen sanctions against North Korea.

It has always been difficult to assess the military capabilities of North Korea because of the state’s tight control over the flow of information within and out of the country. It is apparent, though, that North Korea does not aim to simply stockpile weapons. The latest news suggests that the country wants to use military might to gain political leverage and augment its political legitimacy. Even if the state has but a few functioning missiles, the ownership of those missiles is militarily symbolic.

In the coming days, the international community and North Korea will most likely continue their political stalemate as the former threatens to increase their sanctions while the latter remains mysterious and unwilling to yield its hardline stance. Developments in the near future will be a test of the leadership capabilities of North Korea’s new leader, but it should not surprising if much remains as it was under the leadership of his father.

The film adaptation stars twenty-year old Jennifer Lawrence, an Oscar nominee.

The three part book series, written by Suzanne Collins, is a story of a girl, Katniss Everdeen, as she volunteers to take her sister’s place in a life and death reality show in a futuristic world. Although it has been compared to Twilight, the Hunger Games tells more than just the story of a love struck girl dealing with a plethora of teenage emotions. In fact, multiple ways of analyzing the film have come to fruition.

First, Katniss’s story is a parallel of the Book of Esther from the Christian Old Testament. The Bible story tells of a young girl from an oppressed minority as she is summoned to the capital. Does it sound familiar yet? In continues to show the girl competing against her peers, winning, and then simply refusing to just return to her old life and living happily ever after. Instead, she stands up for her people as revolutions begin.

Another comparison has been made to the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. Here, seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls were sent as sacrifices to a bull-headed monster. Other parallels come from the gladiatorial games of Roman times, television coverage of the Iraq War, and mainstream TV shows like ‘Survivor’.

A more modern comparison comes between The Hunger Games and the Occupy Movement. The plot, at its very center meaning, is a denouncement of capitalism. It is the idea that the Capitol and America’s top 1% is not doing a proper job at ruling and that this soon may lead to disastrous results.

As far as the arguments that the Hunger Games is just another Twilight, I am going to have to respectfully disagree. Katniss could kick Bella Swan’s behind over and over again. Katniss fought for others and won while Bella fought for her herself and ended up pregnant, married, and a vampire. Cole Abaius correctly noted that Bella’s “victory is only worth celebrating if you’re convinced that the culmination of an abusive and immature relationship is worth celebrating.”

The fact that so many different theories have come from these books shows the success of attracting many different kinds of audiences. However, regardless of the meaning, one thing is clear. As industry analyst Paul Degerabedian states: the film’s success marks “the birth of a franchise”.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17507922

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/hunger-games-finds-conservative-liberal-fans-flocking-movie-message-article-1.1051097?localLinksEnabled=false

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17285325

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/from-queen-esther-to-occupy-5-ways-to-interpret-the-hunger-games.php

Several months afterward, however, the beast that is Twitter seems to have turned on its masters. The NYPD is using protestors’ tweets in order to prove that they had an intention to break the law.[4] Whereas a case might previously have been thrown out due to an inability to prove intent, tweets like “I will tweet until I’m cuffed ” show clear intent, or at least making it much harder to accuse the police of entrapment. As one might imagine, there is a great deal of backlash against this practice. Many have accused it of violating their First Amendment rights.

What many people seem to forget is that Twitter, like all technology, does not have a life of its own. It is a tool, and it can be used by many people for a variety of purposes, be they protestors, police, or prosecutors. Its best non-electronic analog is a megaphone. Anyone can use one, and everyone can hear it. However, unlike a normal megaphone, Twitter is a megaphone that can be heard almost anywhere and prints a publicly-accessible record of everything that is said through it, tagged with the speaker’s publicly available alias. Protestors know how powerful their messages are when aimed at a vast sea of onlookers; however, many overlook the fact that prosecutors are also in that crowd. They should expect those prosecutors to use every tool at their disposal to accomplish their goal, much like protestors do.

APOEL Nicosia v. Real Madrid

Marseille v. Bayern Munich

Benfica v. Chelsea

AC Milan v. Barcelona

APOEL v. Real Madrid

APOEL Nicosia have been the underdog story of the season, being the first Cypriot side to qualify for the knockout stages after surprisingly winning a group including European regulars Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, and Zenit St. Petersburg.  In the round of 16, APOEL knocked out Lyon on penalties after two rather pragmatic performances.

However, you’ve got to think their luck has just about run out – as they’ve run into one of the joint favorites for the tournament along with Barcelona.  APOEL have been underestimated this season, but Real’s Jose Mourinho will doubtless set his team up to progress safely, especially considering that he himself rose to glory by managing the unfancied Porto to the Champions League title in 2004.

Both teams perform best on the counterattack, but as the better team, Real will be looking to control the game and batter their way through with the sheer superiority of their players.  Real will probably go for the kill in the first leg to allow themselves to rest a few players next week, considering that they face a tough domestic fixture against Valencia on April 7th which they will want to be fresh for.  APOEL have been relatively solid defensively, having conceded just 7 goals in 8 games, but they haven’t yet faced a true European heavyweight yet.  Madrid’s attack should have little trouble, and they shouldn’t miss the suspended Xabi Alonso and Ricardo Carvalho too much.  Judging from Mourinho’s history, he might even intentionally get a few players suspended for the second leg so they’ll be in the clear come potential subsequent matches with Bayern and Barcelona.

Players to watch: APOEL – The Brazilian forward Aílton has been the key to much of their success this year, working hard to receive passes played up to him by the wingers.  Unfortunately for APOEL, one of their first choice wingers, Gustavo Manduca, is injured

Real – Kaká has shown signs this year of returning to the form that won him the Ballon d’Or in 2007 before being sidelined almost completely for two years through injury.  He will likely be rotated with Mesut Özil over the two legs.  As always, Cristiano Ronaldo should pop up with a few goals, although he has little chance of catching Lionel Messi’s tally after the latter’s five goals against Bayer Leverkusen in Barcelona’s previous match.

Marseille v. Bayern Munich

Lille were the French team that everyone was counting on to make it far this year, but they were surprisingly the only French team to not make it out of their group after a rather stunning set of results on the last matchday of the group stage.  Marseille have been in freefall in Ligue 1, having lost five and drawn three matches since their last domestic win at the end of January.  Bayern have had an inconsistent season – they were running away with the Bundesliga at the beginning of the season but were reeled in by Borussia Dortmund.  They were nearly kicked out of the Champions League themselves in another upset 1-0 loss away to lowly Basel, but recovered to crush them 7-0 at home.  Having scored 22 goals in their last four games, Bayern are in rampant form and should cruise past Marseille in their effort to reach the final, which is being played at their home stadium.

Players to watch: Marseille – Goalkeeper Steve Mandanda is suspended, so his deputy Elinton Andrade gets the unenviable task of trying to keep out Bayern’s formidable attack.  Marseille do have some creativity up front in Mathieu Valbuena and the Ayew brothers, who may like their chances going up against a Bayern without midfield general Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Bayern – Franck Ribéry is returning to France to play against his former club.  Along with Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez, this season’s second highest scorer in the Champions League with 10 goals, he will offer a stern test for Marseille’s defense.

Benfica v. Chelsea

Chelsea are surprisingly the only English team left in the competition, and even then had to rely on an unlikely comeback against Napoli in the previous round to make it this far.  They’re currently on a bit of a high after sacking manager André Villas-Boas and promoting assistant manager Roberto Di Matteo, but if the atrocious 0-0 draw with Tottenham (with so many long balls you’d think Big Sam Allardyce had turned up to manage the Blues) this Sunday is anything to go by, the honeymoon period is about to come to a screeching halt.  The core of the team that Mourinho built, that won several leagues and came within a penalty kick of winning the Champions League in 2008, has been allowed to grow old without anyone having the will to replace them.  Complaints about senior players having too much power were among the chief theories about Villas-Boas’ sacking, and appear to have been confirmed by captain John Terry’s antics on the sidelines, screaming instructions at his team during the Napoli game as if he was the manager.  You can’t really blame Di Matteo for sticking to the tried and trusted old guard, as he knows he’s only filling in until Chelsea can find a permanent manager in the summer.  But with Torres laboring for goals, Drogba not looking anywhere near his old self, and little help from midfield, the goals have dried up, in stark contrast to the 142 goals they scored when they won the Double two years ago.

Benfica have proven their worth this year by doing the unthinkable and finishing ahead of Manchester United in their group.  In this year of the underdogs, they will have a decent shot at upsetting a sub-par Chelsea.  Benfica went 18 games undefeated in the Portuguese league but have since faltered slightly and slipped to third behind Braga and Porto.  They were found out against Porto recently, which would bode well for Chelsea if André Villas-Boas, who tried to import Porto’s pressing game, was still at the club.  But with Di Matteo likely to use more conservative tactics than his predecessor, and with a slightly creaky midfield, Benfica will have a bit less to worry about and should be able to control the game quite well against an opponent with a more direct style of play.

Players to watch: Benfica – Right winger Nicolas Gaitan has won praise for his skill this season and is probably leaving for a bigger club this summer.  If he’s on form, he should easily get the better of Ashley Cole, who has had an inconsistent season for Chelsea.

Chelsea – The defensive pairing of David Luiz and Gary Cahill worked decently against Spurs this weekend – and Luiz was bought from Benfica last January and should be comfortable playing against them (as long as he doesn’t lose his head like he is prone to do).  Juan Mata will be the key to unlocking Benfica’s defense which includes the experienced Luisão, but Mata has been played out of position in recent games and thus hasn’t shown his full potential.

Milan v. Barcelona

The marquis fixture of the round, and the only one to match two genuine heavyweights against each other.  These two teams faced each other twice in their group stage and produced two phenomenal games.  As a note of caution, as the two other teams in their group were minnows Viktoria Plzeň and BATE Borisov, they perhaps were freed to play slightly more liberated football than they would have had they actually been competing for qualification.

Unfortunately for Milan, their injury list has been mounting steadily since, with key players like Ignazio Abate, Mark Van Bommel, Robinho, Alexandre Pato, and particularly Thiago Silva all out for this crucial game.  It will be extremely difficult for them to overcome Barcelona while at the same time attempting to hold onto their lead in Serie A.

On the other end of things…Barcelona, who have won three Champions League titles in six seasons, as well as the Spanish title three years straight.  Lionel Messi, winner of the Ballon d’Or and top scorer in the Champions league for the past three seasons, just broke Barcelona’s all-time scoring record, previously set by César Rodríguez at 232 goals, and he’s still only 24.  With youth team member Cristian Tello coming on and scoring two goals in the 7-1 mauling of Bayer Leverkusen in the last round, the future looks as bright as ever.  The only major absentees for Barcelona are David Villa and Eric Abidal.

Players to watch: Milan – With Mark Van Bommel out, the tactic of trying to stop Barcelona by kicking them into submission is out, and manager Massimiliano Allegri said that the team wasn’t set up to be able to use such negative tactics anyway.  The second group game, which Barcelona won 3-2, was a spectacular display of attacking football from both sides, and as such, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be key.  Ibra is the only fit striker that Milan have, and will be in the spotlight playing against the club that he left controversially last year.  Boateng chipped in with a magnificent solo goal against Barcelona earlier this season, and might be Milan’s only hope of scoring.

Barcelona – Rather, who not to watch?  The world will be watching to see if Messi can further extend his scoring lead – and against a Thiago Silva-less defense, he might well do so.  Sanchez also looked dangerous on the wing earlier this season, but was recently injured and so might not show quite the same level of skill.  It will be most interesting to see how some of the younger players perform if Pep Guardiola chooses to introduce them later on in the tie.

The recent escalation in online censorship reveals the distrust between the Chinese government and Chinese citizens. The censors indicate that government officials do not trust the masses to disregard the rumors and remain unquestioningly loyal to the regime. The people, on the other hand, have become more speculative as censors foster the impression that the government has hidden certain details of the incident from being publicized.

The censors also reveal disconnection between the two parties. The censors abridged or distorted the information available to the public, thus the knowledge in public domain is incomplete. The government, however, has full access to the details. The lack of transparency caused by censorship only worsens the disconnection between the government and the people.

A couple of years ago, an equally controversial censorship incident in China dissolved the business relationship between the state and Google. Chinese government officials reportedly requested that Google adhere to its censorship policies for certain search results. Google refused to abide by those measures on ethical grounds.

The extensive history of censorship in China is also a strong indication of the lack of trust in Chinese society in general. In an recent Economist article about this very issue, it is noted that the lack of transparency and unbiased media organizations, unconfident officials and the history of Chinese politics have resulted in a society in which the government cannot give its citizens the benefit of the doubt when it comes to loyalty to the regime.

The article also makes a good point about the failure of censorship in the modern world. To begin, censorship only worsens the lack of trust and prompts people to doubt because it gives them reason to think that there is something hidden. In addition, rapidly evolving technology has enabled the average online blogger, or in general the average internet user, to obtain unauthorized access to censored information as well as disseminate that information at a fast pace. In fact, a recent movement to protest censorship through Chinese word-play has gone viral.

The online world of information will only become more complicated. The Chinese government cannot expect to continue its censors. Censorship is not addressing the real problem, which is that the fundamental issue lies with the lack of trust in China. It would be wise to consider possible political reforms to make things more transparent.

What happened to cause such an interruption? In 2011, a monsoon hit Thailand, causing massive flooding. Thousands were displaced and hundreds died in the initial flood.[1] A major exterior impact of this flood was due to the fact that a great deal of hard drive manufacturing takes place in Thailand. The floods caused about $1bn in damage to the facilities directly, and infrastructure damage and the displacement of workers by the floods will delay output further. iSuppli estimated the jump in prices to be about 28%.[2] Given that most industry analysis says that inventories will still be strapped, we should not expect a return to falling prices any time soon, but we should be spared the shock of another price increase.[3]

The flooding in Thailand has, ironically, created a unique opportunity for another product in the computer storage industry. By essentially freezing the falling prices of hard drive, solid state drives (SSDs) have become more competitive. SSDs differ from hard drives in that they have no moving parts, and consequently have extremely fast read and write speeds as well as extreme resistance to physical damage by dropping and impact. So, what’s the catch? SSD’s are extremely expensive by comparison; the top rated 64GB SSD on Newegg.com sells for $95. Recall that for only $35 more, you can get a hard drive with sixteen times the capacity. Even so, if not for the Thailand flooding, that difference would have been even larger. Furthermore, less and less storage is actually needed for most computers and other electronic devices nowadays. Cloud storage is becoming extremely popular, so you only need as much storage as will last you until you can re-sync with the internet.[4]

The floods may have not sounded the death knell of hard drives, but they certainly helped speed it along. In the coming months, SSD’s will become cheaper and more competitive, which should lower hard drive prices by reducing demand. In time, the dynamic of more storage for less will return, but SSD’s will be fully along for the ride.

On the electoral side of things, the current primary cycle has showcased a system that seems to put a ridiculous amount of emphasis on superficial symbolisms and over the top scaremongering. In particular, the focus on personal morality in American politics is utterly baffling to my English side. Why should the marital state of a candidate matter if it can be shown that it has no effect on his/her ability to govern? Why should social scandals of yesteryear act as a permanent blotch on an otherwise pristine political record? It just seems bizarre to me that the focus is so purposefully shifted away from the actual legislative issues and that the nation as a whole so freely allows such to occur. Taking a historical leader of England, one Winston Churchill, as an example, it is clear even before he took office that the man was an alcoholic psychopath. Nonetheless, he presented a clear set of positions and ideas that the country responded to regardless of his personal flaws. I feel that one key reason this difference still occurs in modern times is the role an “election platform” plays in each nation. In the U.K. the election manifesto is an officially recorded document that holds significant weight in post-election debate. As a result, parties generally avoid making ridiculous pandering political statements they know will be turned against them. Another significant difference between the electoral processes is the amount of money involved in campaigns. The current U.S. presidential election cycle is slated to break the $1 billion mark. The 2010 U.K. general election total hovered at barely over $40 million. Even if the difference in population and campaign length is taken into account, the American electoral process is saturated with far more cash. A lot of if not most of this money will in turn be spent on negative campaign ads. This in essence means that a significant portion of what people hear about the candidates turns into personal, political attacks designed to arouse fear and doubt in the voter.

I am certainly not saying that the U.K. system is flawless. By any account, MPs are probably one of the most elitist self-serving political communities in existence today. Nonetheless, on the electoral level, U.S. politics are a frightening sight to behold. From the vitriol spewed on national television to the dumbfounding amount of money poured in, to an outsider, the system looks like a giant, lumbering, fiasco of a circus that meanders into town every few years.