aljazeera film points two.

What sources of tension, new and old, in the Middle East are revealed by this film?

    Traders started betting, and that basically factors in with the future prices of oil. In the country of Bahrain, protesters took to the street, calling for economic reform and political equality on February 14. They want a rebirth, “The Arab Spring”. Labeled Agents of Iran. U.N. called in shocking, and more than 30 people have been killed since the protest began. Everyone really just wants to know, why hasn’t the U.S. done more? If the U.S. likes the dictator of a country, we don’t want to get involved in protesting against the government. But if we don’t like a country or the dictator, we will jump right on it and get involved, preaching for justice and peace and equality. This frustrates people; it’s not fair. In the U.S. defense, apparently we can’t be expected to jump in like a hero for every single problem that happens in countries around the world.
    People who have spoken to Aljazeera have been beaten, gone missing or injured. But some are still willing to speak. People are losing their jobs for participating in the protests. So many resources come out of the Middle East, and Bahrain, that’s why it’s so important to protect. Also, because we don’t want countries like Iran, which we “despise” so profit from these resources. Wealthy businessmen are completely biased, and believe that protesting because you’re unhappy with your standard of living is “a joke”. Not all maybe, but probably most. But he thinks life should stay the same, he wants the rich to stay rich and the poor to stay poor.
    The U.S. is standing right by, there are so many of them on that island, and they aren’t doing anything. They can’t really do anything. This man’s brothers are missing, and nobody, not even his own people with help him because he could go missing also.    
    U.S. fighter jets are standing by, letting everyone know that they’re always near by. It costs a million dollars a day to have one of those up and running there. The U.S.S. Ronald Reagan sits in the between of Saudi Arabia and Iran, one being a friend of the U.S. and another a sworn enemy of Washington, D.C. with many trades going through.
    The U.S. is only doing things to our benefit. We don’t want to upset those countries that give us imperative resources, but are totally willing to get involved with those countries we don’t like and that "don’t matter".
 

aljazeera film points.

What sources of tension, new and old, in the Middle East are revealed by the film?

 Aljazeera and the U.S. have some tension with the two different ideas of “free press”. Obama made the decision to invade Libya, for the purpose of trying to stop a set of horrific crimes from happening. They say they stopped massacre. The U.S. are trying to help the rebels in their attempts, but it’s very hard. They don’t have and physical protection, and it’s very dangerous to guard the checkpoints like that. Obama’s plan is to train his own rebel army, but they’re inexperienced and they don’t know much about the enemy. Oil is a very strong factor in why the U.S. is involved with Libya. The rebels have taken over an oil company, and they say they haven’t been producing any oil and there has also been talk about them making some. People have been trying to help the U.S. in thinking twice about starting anything. We don’t know where it’s gonna end, and we don’t really have a full understanding. We could just be causing ourselves more trouble.

countries in the middle east ("essay"...?).

Based on the information that I received looking up all these countries economics, I would say that the Middle East is... alright. No matter what you do, or where you go, things are always gonna be based on your social class. I think that might be why the Middle East is so low on that scale, their countries don't have as much money. This makes them angry. Which leads into how this might cause conflict. Larger countries (the ones with more money), may try to attack and take over the smaller ones. And vice versa, only to try and weaken that larger ones. Also, the ones with less money may feel inferior, like they aren't good enough and the larger more wealthy countries are better. That obviously is very known, look at where the U.S. is right now with the Middle East. Everything always comes back to money, whether there's a lot of it, or barely any. It always causes problems, and always will.

religions.

I think that the Jews should have possession of Jerusalem, because it's their territory. The Palestinians are trying to take over a whole bunch of territories, and get frustrated when the Jewish put up a fight. I don't believe there's any real significance for the Palestinians except for their religion, and it rightly belongs to the Jewish.

student reading three: a few more explanations.

1. What questions do you have about the reading? How might they be answered?
My question about this reading would be for the government. Why would you disagree with Bush on something so controversial, so public? It's not really making things any better.
2. What U.S. policies do most Muslims hate and why? If you need more information, how might you find it?
There are four main policies and reasons most Muslims hate of the U.S. One of them would be the fear of Western leadership. They're afraid we might be in total control. We're intimidating and they won't back down. Two more would the the Iraqi jihad, and slow-paced social and political reforms in some Muslim countries. Lastly, the strong opinion of anti-U.S. in which Al Qaeda takes advantage of.
3. Why might acknowledging that U.S. policies have anything to do with jihadist attacks be seen as "politically incorrect" and "blaming the victim"?
It might be seen that way because to us, WE'RE the victim. They attacked us out of "jealousy" and it really truly isn't our fault (totally not my opinion, btw).
4. Despite a year of effort by Obama's special envoy George Mitchell to move the Israelis and Palestinians toward a negotiated two-state solution, there's been no visible progress. Why not? If you need more information, where might you find it?
They haven't made any progress because there are so many loose ends. Israel has to deal with a terrorist group, who refuses to associate, and it's pretty difficult to deal with something or someone that is ignoring you. Also, there are so many different opinions on who gets Jerusalem. They just can't come to a decision together, therefore they're pretty much stuck where they are.
5. How and why are the people of Gaza suffering? If you need more information, how might you find it?
The people of Gaza are suffering because of Hamas control. They've been able to send so many terrorist into Israel, that they've been completely cut off. Now the people of Gaza are short on supplies, and they have power shortages. They need much help, but it's far too dangerous to try.
For more information, check bookmarked sites. 

student reading two: a few explanations.

1. What questions do you have about the reading? How might they be answered?
I do not have any questions for this reading.
2.  Years have passed since President Bush's comments. What knowledge and evidence do you have to support, add to, amend, or oppose his explanation for terrorist acts? Why might jihadists want to overthrow certain Muslim governments? Drive Israel out of the Middle East? If you don't know how might you find out? 
President Bush states that they hate us because we stand in their way. I find this partly true. We have our beliefs, and we want others to follow. But if you think about it further, we really haven't done anything that effects them fully. Jihadists probably want to overthrow other Muslim governments because they stand in the way also. 
3. Even more years have passed since Bin Laden's harsh critique of the United States. What knowledge and evidence do you have to support, add to, amend, or oppose that critique.
Since even more years have passed since that statement and then more from the attack, and I oppose what he has said. It is in his own opinion that America has humiliated, and done all sorts of things. But that's from his end. We're trying to help them, I suppose. But with me saying this, I'm kind of contradicting myself with past answers. But their way of life isn't healthy to us, and we wanted to help. We wanted to bring justice. Justice that obviously wasn't wanted by them.
4. According to Wright, what has led to young men in Arab countries to find martyrdom attractive?
According to Wright, young Arab men found interest in martyrdom because they were deprived of all the "good" and "fun" things in life as children. They weren't given freedom, and were very poor. They needed something to make up for all of this, and that is what they found.
5. According to polling Muslim countries, how popular is Al Qaeda? Why?
According to the poll that was taken, Al Qaeda isn't that popular. They deny having any sort of link to it, probably because of the killings of civilians.

links.

https://www.google.com/bookmarks

student reading one: searching for reasons.

1. What questions do you have about the reading?

My question is basically the same as the heading. Why exactly do they hate us so much? What did we do to them personally that was so terrible they would feel the need to perform such terrorism on our country?

2. What is President Obama's answer? Brennan's?

President Obama's answer was basically that Al Qaeda is an organization that recruits individuals with no history of terrorism, making them do all the dirty work. And that was the reason why we must get through to them. Brennan's answer concluded that the reasoning behind all these events was because Al Qaeda uses religion in a really corrupt and perverse way.

3. Thomas was clearly dissatisfied with Brennan's answer. Why? Would she have been satisfied with the President's? Why or why not?

Obviously she was dissatisfied because no one was answering her question! Those sorts of people are very familiar with beating around the bush, trying to avoid answering the question and just totally BS-ing it. She wanted an answer and wasn't getting it. She wouldn't have been satisfied with Obama's either because he was doing the same thing! He was telling us things we already knew. Not answering, and just thinking he was giving people what they really wanted to hear.

4. Why does Glenn Greenwald think it's important to consider terrorist motivations? Do you agree? Why or why not?

I happen to totally agree with what Glenn is saying. We Americans are not brave totally when it comes to terrorism. We are not afraid to stand up for our country, and not let them defeat us. Which is absolutely fantastic. But no one is willing to dig deeper. Someone needs to answer this question, to be brave and give everyone answers. Not to be afraid of it being heard around the world.

5. How would you answer Thomas's question, "Why?" Why do Hasan, Abdulmutallab, and others commit such acts? 

I would answer Helen's question totally honest, just because everyone needs to hear it.

Just because we're America, does not mean that we have the right to shove our morals and ways of life down other country's throats. We are not the best, and if another country is happy doing its own thing, good for them. We don't need to interfere just because we assume our thinking is better than theirs. I'm guessing that would irritate a few people. We are also very close-minded. We think our way is the only way and everyone else is wrong. We believe strongly in justice, and are very sensitive about that. We just need to step back, and not help unless asked for it. Maybe things around the world we be a lot better.