Middle Eastern Uprisings: Per Capita Income and Unemployment Comparison

Find CNN's comparison tool for the uprisings in the Middle East here.

Find the online tool for creating your own graph here.

Choose to create an XY graph. Make a bubble graph. Create a graph with the per capita GDP represented in the X axis and the unemployment rate represented in the Y axis. In "size," enter the country's population. In "Line Width," choose "No line." Email me your graph, then respond to these questions in a blog comment:

1. Is there a positive or negative correlation between per capita income and unemployment?
2. Is country population relevant or important in this graph? If so, how? If not, why do you think they included this information?
3. Think about your answer to question one. What conclusions can you draw about this?
4. Seeing as all of these nations are currently experiencing protests and uprisings, and knowing what you know about their per capita wealth and unemployment rates, what solutions can you recommend for quelling the protests?
5. Using unemployment and per capita GDP data, predict another country in the world you believe might experience similar protests in the future.

Synthesis: "A Death in Tehran" and Current Events--MUN 3/4

Today we watched an update on the situation in Bahrain, as well as the Frontline documentary "A Death in Tehran." Combine what you learned from these videos, as well as what you have seen lately in the Middle East, to draw a conclusion.

Police Use Tear Gas on Iranian Protesters

BBC News

Read this article on the BBC website about protests today in Tehran, Iran. Answer these questions:

1. Do you predict the protests in Iran will have results similar to those in Egypt? Why or why not?

2. Check Twitter. Summarize one tweet, posted video, or link to another article--it must be something that wasn't covered in the BBC article.

3. According to our article, "The [Iranian] government says the mass protests were inspired by Iran's 1979 revolution, while the opposition says its 2009 protests encouraged the unrest." Do you think either of them are right? Explain.

4. Do you think preventing Iranians from protesting will make them reduce unrest in Iran, or make it worse? Explain.

Profiles: Multinational Terrorism

Your blog posting will be a summary profile of one of the terrorist groups identified by the National Counterterrorism Center. You can find links to introductory information about these groups here.
Make sure to include:

• The name of the group
• The date established
• The countries or regions where the group primarily operates
• The mission of the group
• Important attacks, conflicts, or events in the group's history
• A brief summary of what your Global Classrooms country's position would be toward the group

Everyone must profile a different group. Let me know when you have selected yours.

News Briefs

Find a world news article on one of the following websites, and summarize in 3-5 sentences on this blog.

nytimes.com
washingtonpost.com
guardian.co.uk
english.aljazeera.net