Masum's Global Blog

Mikhail Gorbachev and the end of Communism

2007-05-09T10:21:00.000-05:00

Mikhail Gorbachev changed the rules and ways of the old communist leaders, such as Stalin's, and brought in new ideas for the Soviet Union. He introduced and gave more freedom to the people, and let the people run the market more in their way. He also encouraged them to bring in new ideas and help with any new ways or things that they think that could improve their country. He also changed foreign policies and made better relationship with other countries to improve the economy. He changed the communist ways of the Soviet Union and made it more democratic.
Glasnost is a policy in Russia introduced by Gorbachev that encourages citizens to come up with new ideas and speak up for them selves and improve their own economy and country.
Perestroika is the economic structuring also introduced by Gorbachev in Soviet Union.

Collapse of Communism

2007-05-08T10:20:00.000-05:00

Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the USSR because of the fall of communism and when the people of these areas revolted. People no longer wanted or accepted communism. People teared down the Berlin wall because it divide the border of the communist east Germany and democratic west Germany, and people did not want that anymore. The Soviet Union collapsed and people went against them. With their collapse every country around them also began to delcare their independence. That is how communism stopped and changed the world.

Creation of Israel

2007-05-07T10:44:00.000-05:00

Zionism is a worldwide Jewish movement that resulted in the establishment and development of the state of Israel. The conflict that occured when Israel was created was that the Arabs in the middle east did not like them and did not want Jews amongst themselves, so they attacked the country, and kept attacking it. And they divided up Palestine and Israek, and in 1947, 700,000 Arab Palestinians movd to a refugee camp, and this caused more problems and conflicts. Also, Israel was a holy site for 3 different religions, and was where these religions has rose from. It is a holy shrine for Muslims, Christians, and the Jews.

Nelson Mandela & Apartheid

2007-05-07T10:36:00.000-05:00

The Apartheid is from 1948 to 1994. This is the time period of racial segregation in Africa. Where Africans were not able to be a citizen of their own countries, and where they had barely any freedom or civil rights. Nelson Mandela is a hero because he faught and spoke out for African segragation going on in Africa. He also was their political leader, and he did not give up. He stayed in jail instead of being set free when offered because he said he will still be locked up without freedom. He is admired because of his book, and his work that he did, and for being a freedom fighter.

African Independence

2007-04-27T10:28:00.000-05:00

Africa changed so much from 1955 to 1975 because they did not want to return to colonial domination like any other countries. In between the wars an educated middle class began to come up. They came up with the Negritude movement. Kwame Nkrumah was a leader who studied in US, helped get the Gold Coast from the British. After getting its independence they named it Ghana after a famous African kingdom. Nkrumah became the first prime minister. There was also a Kenya Nationalist Jomo Kenyatta. Another was the rise of the Mau Mau, a secret society made of Kikuyu farmers. They tried to frighten the white farmers into leaving the land. The Congo's soon got their independence in 1960 from Belgium. Patrice Lumumba became the first prime minster of Congo. Later for 32 years Motubu ruled the country after renaming it to Zaire. In 1962 Algeria then got its independence and Ahmed Ben Bella became the first prime minister and then first president.

9th Grade Review-Neolethic Revolution

2007-04-25T07:27:00.001-05:00

The Neolethic Revolution is when after the Hunter Gatherers realised that they can make a farm and grow their own food in one place than having to travel from one place to another place. It is also the time they realised that they can raise animals for milk and use for the future and to grow them and then later on eat them. The Neolethic Revolution was a fundemental change in the human life, because this is when humans began to actually settle down in one place. This changed the way we live.

The European Union

2007-04-25T07:24:00.000-05:00

The European Union can prevent from the world going to another world war. It can also prevent from these European countries from having contsant rivarlys and problems. Now people can work freely in EU countries that live in any EU country. So now these countries which fought each other are now sharing an economy, government, even military.

Film Lesson-"The Right Stuff"

2007-04-16T10:19:00.000-05:00

The US and the USSR was competing in the film "The Right Stuff" by racing to see who can send a man out to space first. The Russians were winning the competition at first because they sent out a man first to orbit around the Earth once. Then US sent a man and he was able to orbit around the Earth for multiple times, and was able to orbit more then the USSR's astronaut were able to.
The scenes of the man running to the president's office and telling the news of the USSR beating the US in making a space ship and then to sending a man upto space. Another scene is of the news postings and news articles of the USSR man who went to space first, and the pictures of the monkey and how he went to space first, but then the USSR sent a man, and making the US look dumb.

Cuban Missle Crisis

2007-04-12T20:03:00.000-05:00

The Cuban Missile Crisis is the closest that the world came to a nuclear war. This started when America found out that Soviet missiles were being prepared in Cuba, and USA looked at it as a threat. So President John F. Kennedy organized Ex-Comm, a group of his twelve most important advisers to handle the problem. President Kennedy demanded that the missiles be removed and if any missiles were launch then America would take it as a threat from the Soviet Union. Khrushchev of Turkey demanded in a letter for the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey in exchange for Soviet missiles in Cuba. The United States ignored the letter. Then things began to cool down on October 28 when Khrushchev said that he would take apart the installations of the missiles and return them to the Soviet Union. And he said the he is trusting the United States to not invade Cuba and more negotiations were added during the October 28 agreement. Which included that Soviet light bombers also be removed from Cuba and the USA assuring not to invade Cuba.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

2007-04-12T19:36:00.000-05:00

NATO is a an agreement involving 12 nations. These twelve nations included United States and United Kingdom. It was established to stop the threat of the communist party. It was established on April 4, 1949 with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. After the fall of the communist party, the NATO was changed from a military force to being a political force. The NATO was established for security, if an external party was to attack any of the countries of the NATO then those countries would help defend it. It started during the Cold War, and still lasts today.

The Warsaw pact was established six years after the NATO pact. It was formed to keep power at Eastern Europe. The Warsaw pact was signed by almost all communist parties in Central and Eastern Europe. This pact was established to counter the NATO alliance. The treaty was made on May 9, 1955. It eventually broke apart after the collapse of the Eastern bloc and nations began to withdraw themselves from the pact.

Film Lesson: "Night and Fog"

2007-03-21T22:02:00.001-05:00

When I saw "Night and Fog" I was very disgusted at what was happening, and also very sad because of what had happened to so many innocent lives. I was just awe struck and to think of something like that, then to imagine, and actually see it happen, it is just unbelievable if you think of it sometimes. Like, how did something like this every really happen? Who could be so inhumane to do this?
Yes, I did find this video very powerful, and very disturbing but also very realistic, and it shows you almost exactly what happened in those concentration camps, and how the people spent their lives.
The documentary of "Night and Fog" better and more illustration and shows how nasty and bad the Holocaust actually was, even though it was kind of boring to watch. But, "Schindler's List" was more interesting to watch and see.

Film Lesson: "Schindler's List"

2007-03-21T21:53:00.000-05:00

Schindler's list illustrated the Holocaust in a very disgusting and unbelievable thing to watch and see done in history. It portrayed how cruel the Jews were treated and what they had gone through. It showed the tough times and the harsh things they all faced and went through, through the years by Hitler and the Nazis.
The most harsh and powerful scenes was how the people were packed like material inside the train cart, and when Schindler has the guy hosing the carts down so they can cool down and have water, while the Nazi's laughed.
Another powerful scene was how the little boy even went inside the outhouse to save his life, and how later on the Nazis came by and just started shooting down and through walls to kill every single one, it was very tragic and sad.

US Atomic Bombing Of Japan in 1945

2007-03-18T00:06:00.000-05:00

I think that this article was correct, and I do agree with the fact that the atomic bombing of US on Japan is the number one news of the 20th century. I believe this because this was the most devastating thing that happened during the 20th century, I cannot think of anything else that has happened worse. This was something that should be honored and remembered through history and to not make that mistake again. And it changed the way we were starting to have wars and brought a big threat to all humans against themselves, and it was something that was unbelievable that happened, that its hard to believe one country killed 200,000 people because one man said so.
I think another big news story would be about Sierra Leon and the blood diamonds, that is something that can be compared to the bombing of the Japanese cities because that is also something unbelievable that happened.
On the list I would probably put Sierra Leon as the second and the African Slave trade as the 3rd, and the holocaust as the 4th.

Germany at War - WW II

2007-03-09T11:47:00.000-05:00

Propaganda-information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

In this poster, it is showing that taking over Europe is like their desire and that to take over Europe. It is encouraging people and getting them all excited and heated up to support them and help in taking over Europem, and making it look like it is a good thing to do.

Treaty of Versailles

2007-02-13T11:30:00.000-05:00

The "Treaty of Versailles" was written in 1919. It was a peace treaty which officially ended the World War I. The treaty was writte in Versailles. In this treaty Germany had to surrender and give up all of its colonies to as the League OfNation said. Alsace-Lorraine was also returned back to France. German also paid up of £6,600 million, and the ban of Austria German unity. Germany was also to limit its arm to under 100,000 tons with no submarines. Historians say that this treaty led to the rise of Adolf Hitler because the Germans needed a leader, and someone to take them out of the depressions, and Hitler saw this as an opportunity to take advantage.

Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

2007-02-12T11:37:00.000-05:00

Mustafa Kemal also known as Ataturk-the father, modernized Turkey in many ways. For one, he abolished the fez- a round hate without a brim. He also wanted all the peoplee to wear boots or shoes,, with trousers and a shirt and tie. Like a modern European. Also, he did not want the women covering their faces and heads and turn away and huddle themselves to the ground just because a man passes by. He changed their written language by changing many characters and their letters to more modern ones. This way the language would be easier to learn and more people would be literate.

secular-going from age to age, repeating over and over again

Ghandi Film Review

2007-02-09T11:32:00.000-05:00

Mohandas Gandhi was had a very big impact on India gaining its independence. He was their leader to gaining their freedom. His methods were of non-violence and for civil disobedience. Alot of people disagreed with some decisions Gandhi made, and he was very rebellious. The way he did this was by having many sit ins and protests against the British rule and its ways.
He lead the "Salt March", where he walked about 240 miles with hundreds of people to make their own salt, and to boycott the British salt. He also lead a protest of not wearing or buying any British made clothes. This way the British economy would go down.
His philosophy of non-violence was to make the British look as bad as possible, and prove to them that what they are doing is wrong. His protests were successful because they dealt with weakening the British economy and disobeying unfair laws, and the British would look stupid to do anything bad. This way Gandhi was able to help India and his people gain independence.
I think that the Indian Revolution was actually all Gandhi because without Gandhi the Indians were actually lost and the Muslims and Hindus were constantly having rivalry, and they still do today.