The battle for Mosul, Iraq has started:
A coalition between the Iraqi army and some Kurdish groups — supported by U.S. special forces and American, British, and French air cover — is fighting to retake the capital Mosul, the last ISIS-held city in Iraq.
The battle has been planned for months and started in the first half of October. It’s a very important step along the way to the final victory because Mosul has been controlled by the Islamic State since June 2014, and it represents their stronghold in Iraq.
The 30 thousand Iraqi soldiers — which, together with the other allies — make up a 100 thousand-strong coalition is facing the resistance of about 5 or 6 thousands Islamic State warriors. In the last week of October, the jihadists have stepped up counter attacks and are ready to defend to the end every house if the Iraqi forces made it into the city.
However, the Iraqi-led coalition has already retaken several ISIS-held villages in the area out of Mosul and is now taking control of the city’s eastern neighborhoods. According to social studies teacher, Jason Butler, this coalition and the offensive are both very positive because they involve the occidental powers only as supportive forces.
“When I heard that it was mostly the Iraqi national guard that was going in and doing the actual fighting, I thought it was a good thing,” said Mr. Butler. “When we say ‘we’ are defeating ISIS it has to be local groups [in Iraq], it can’t be the United States going in there and fighting someone else’s fights.”
Protests against Dakota Access Pipeline go on:
On Oct. 27, 141 people in protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline were arrested after some clashes with the police. The protests intensified in July, after that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved the $3.7 billion project that allowed the construction of a 1,172 mile long pipeline across the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois.
The Dakota Access Pipeline has been planned by the Energy Transfer Partners corporation and will connect the Bakken oil deposits in North Dakota to Patoka, Illinois transporting 470 thousands of barrels per day.
The project has been strongly contested because it’s going to pass through the Standing Rock Sioux tribe’s reservation, damaging several burial and prayer sites. The Sioux are also concerned about the environmental dangers connected to the pipeline, in particular the possible contamination of the Missouri River, their primary drinking water source.
The project raises concerns and disapproval also among VHS staff and students.
“I think this is the continuation of a long line of events and abuses against the Native Americans,” said U.S. History teacher Heather Jurs.
“The fact that they are proposing to run it through a nation that has been there for so long and had such a history in that territory is awful and kind of cruel,” said junior Katy Sassara.
Another earthquake rocks Italy:
On Oct. 30, a magnitude 6.5 quake hit central Italy; the epicenter was near the city of Norcia, Umbria. It was the most powerful shake in Italy in 30 years, but it luckily didn’t cause any death, despite several collapses and damages to buildings. In the past two months, the central regions of the Italian peninsula have been shaken by nearly 250 tremors.
On Aug. 24, the first magnitude 6.0 earthquake hardly hit the regions of Lazio and Marche, almost completely destroying the towns of Amatrice and Accumoli and causing 298 deaths. The huge quantity of damages and victims of this catastrophic event has once again revived the polemic about the lack of control of the poor materials used to build houses and infrastructures arisen after the quake that devastated another city in central Italy, L’Aquila in 2009.
The threat of this kind of seismic events is an important subject in the Seattle area as well. According to Mr. Butler, the Vashon community and the Seattle region in general would not be totally prepared for massive quake.
“I don’t think the buildings are the issue,” said Mr. Butler. “Any new homes have to have seismic [safety precautions]…I think it’s really an infrastructure problem,” said Mr. Butler.
Mr. Butler also believes that there is still progress to be made terms of individual preparedness.
Censorship against Turkish journalists doesn’t stop:
On Oct. 31, the editor-in-chief Murat Sabuncu and twelve other journalists of the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet were detained.
They were accused of having supported the failed coup d’etat on July 15 against the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the last few months, in response to the attempted coup, the government has been conducting a firing and censoring campaign that has lead to 160 media outlets shuttered, 100 journalists arrested and about 10 thousand public servants fired.
Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) have been pursuing the elimination of the political forces that could be behind the coup, in particular the Hizmet party, lead by Fethullah Gulen. This political movement is a moderate and pro-Western party that represents the main opposition to the AKP.
“Turkey isn’t one of the most free states [in terms of] media…and of course censorship is not a good thing,” said Turkish exchange student, junior Aziz Uygur. “[Erdogan and his allies] are making journalists criminals…they’re trying to use censorship for themselves…as a tool to increase their power.”
Erdogan’s policy causes concerns among VHS students as well, in particular after Donald Trump’s election.
“I think it kind of parallels with what Donald Trump is talking about in our home country, with censoring our media [and]talking about reopening libel laws,” said junior Sam Chowning. “It’s a terrible thing for Turkey that those fears have been realized and I’m also scared for our country.”