The Chechen independence

We may have heard recent news about terrorist attacks in Russia. All this attacks are due to the Chechen people trying to get independent from the current Russian power.

This Chechen people live in a region known as Chechnya. This territory first gained independence after the dissolvment of the Soviet Union in 1991. However, Russia tried to recover this territory and after a second war, they took it back.

Since that moment, Chechnya has still tried to become independent again because they don't share the same overall culture than the rest of Russia. The problem with the Russian government is that they are not willing to give in easily that territory and are looking to maintain it in their power despite the menaces the Chechen people have told the Russian federation.

I believe Russia should evaluate if this region is really important for them to keep it as theirs. It may be more problematic that a new independent country is born from this Chechen region, but for Russia, a lot of terrorists attacks would start decreasing. Russia should also see that possessing a lot of territories is not always the best thing; they should also be aware that giving the Chenchen people the same treat as the rest of the Russian people is what they should be trying to do.

Of course this problem is not an easy-to-solve problem as it brings out so many positive and negative consequences. I think Russia must be really careful about what it does regarding its decisions. If it looks to maintain a peace treaty, it should be discret about it, and if it decides to conceive independence or not, it still has to be sure that it is doing what's best for the people and what can have the best positive consequences.

Mexican immigrants in other countries

What is better? To live in your natal country with small probabilities of getting a job or to go to a completely different country with bigger probabilities of working?

Most mexicans chose the second alternative; they prefer to go to work to other places like the U.S, Canada or Europe even if they will be apart from their families, because they know they will probably get a better job than the one they could get in Mexico.

But, do they really know what they possibilities of working are? Even if they travel somewhere else, they still have the chance of not getting a job because they are not competely prepared to do so. They just emmigrate because they don't find chances here, but that doesn't mean they will find a better one abroad.

The Mexican government doesn't seem to be taking actions over this topic. It only seems to tell people that it can be dangerous to go somewhere else to work; however, it looks like it is not willing to educate people personally to tell them what the real situation is if they go to work to another place.

But then, what should the Mexican people do? They don't have work here, neither in another country. I believe its about education and culture; Mexicans should still try to live and work in Mexico even if its hard, I consider that better than going somewhere else because they don't take the risks that that would imply.

The Mexican government should also be warned about this problem. They must try to convince Mexicans than going somewhere is risky and try, at the highest possible point, to create more jobs especially for the poor people whose decision of living abroad is really tentative.

Re-elections for presidency

I've always wondered how life in Mexico would be if we allowed a re-election for the president office. I think some good aspects could come along, but also some negative aspects would start appearing among people.

These all are personal opinions, but I believe someone should not be in the presidency more than 8-10 years because politic life would not be diverse and if one single person stays in presidency for longer than this, he/she will not let the political ambit evolve and will, eventually, lead to a catastrophe because those ideas would eventually change. Just like in a dictatorship, when the dictator dies, his ideas die with him and practically all his policies tend to change to diversify the political life.

So, coming back to Mexico, should the re-elections for presidency be allowed? In a more general perspective, I would say it's not really a matter of how many times you are in the presidency, but how much time you spend being in it. I think 6 years of presidency are fair enough to establish how you want the country to move and react, so then, why is some people saying they'd prefer a re-election?

At the end of the day, people will only think about what you did through your time being a president; so if you are president for a longer time, then you will have the opportunity to do more things. But here, we face another variant that make us think if we should allow re-elections: What is more important, quality or quantity? Would you rather stay in the presidency for 2 years and do massive positive changes or would you prefer be president for 10 years and make some minor positive changes through all that time?

I personally believe that quality is what we must care about. Just think about it; if in 2 years we do massive positive changes, who wouldn't want us back for another 2 years? That's where the re-elections come: in the moment where someone needs more time to keep the policies that have made people happy. In the case of the presidency of the cities (that lasts 3 years) I completely agree that re-election should be allowed because this small amount of time is not enough to show how much you can do and what your really ideals are. This really exemplifies the quality factor, because we take into consideration what we can do for our people in a reduced amount of time.

To finish I'd like to say that the re-elections are just a way of knowing how well a government has done through its governing time. Mexico still has a lot of problems to face before people can start thinking what is important: a new president or the same? However, some of the problems are due to the fact that Mexicans partially or totally ignore what the intention of their governors are. The thing we all still have to know is that presidents are humans; they are not perfect and they can't always do everything, so why not giving them a little bit more chance to try to do what they want and after that, I believe the choice of allowing re-elections or not should be important for us.

A country with no army

The other day I read a news that caught my attention; Costa Rica's president, Oscar Arias, told the president of Uruguay, José Mujica, that the Southamerican country should eliminate its army because there is no reason for them to have it.

Costa Rica has no army since 1948 and it seems to have been trying to convince other countries to do as them; they want to show the world they have no problems with anyone and all they want is peace.

This made me think about how the world would be without army. Would we feel happier? Or would we feel unprotected and with fear? I don't know a lot about army policies, but I believe that the army originated because people felt they needed some protection and because it was necessary to have something to demonstrate power. Nowadays, I don't really think about army as something really important because countries don't seek anymore to fight or to gain territory, but they seek to advance in technology and give people rights and opportunities. So maybe in Costa Rica this was the reason why the army disappeared, because they had no enemies that could cause them problems.

But for example, what about Mexico? If the army disappeared in Mexico I believe we all would feel fear because we know that the army tries, at least, to eliminate all those narcotrafficants or illegal trading or criminals. I believe we are not still advanced enought to say that we can handle ourselves completely without an army because we still believe that the army is going to protect us in some way.

I personally think that in a future, countries will start reducing its army in order for them to be able to spend more money in education, technology, etc.; things that they are now interesed in. It may be possible that we will no longer have wars or international conflicts like those that happened in past centuries, but we still should be aware about the problems we face, and because of this, we still need a type of army, or a group of people, that is able to protect us whenever we need help.

Register your cellphone!

That's what the government's been telling the Mexican people from a couple of months; we all should register them before April the 10th or else our line will be suspended.

The Mexican government, nowadays, has been facing a lot of problems like corruption, narcotraffic, illegal transactions, etc. and because of this, it has told us we should all register our cellphones. This way, the Mexican government would have a better control of the things going around the country and would be able to know whenever someone does something he/she shouldn't be doing.

We may think that this is a good initiative because we would feel more secure in case someone tries to take advantage of us through the use of the cellphone; however, among the Mexican people, it has been seen that this law is not taken as a positive initative, but as a negative one. People say that the Mexican government, instead of investigating whenever there's someone using the cellphone for illegal purposes, they will listen and know what people think about the current government and not protect them, but take advantage using this technology.

Benjamin Franklin once said: "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." This phrase makes me think about what the real intentions of the Mexican government are and if they are really willing to take something good from all of this or it's just another way of entering and knowing about Mexican's life. If they are really doing this because of security purposes, then, the Mexican people wouldn't complain and wouldn't feel they are giving up liberty (Just like Benjamin Franklin said) because they know that the government would be doing its job.

I don't wanna believe or make people believe that the government does this because of negative and convenient purposes, but I can't deny the fact that the Mexican government has always tried to be really oppresive about people's thoughts. I hope their purposes have changed and I hope they know what they are doing, because if not, Mexican people would, again, lose confidence in the government. In case that happened, it may be possible, like Franklin said, that they would complain about this law and demand they want their freedom back because they would feel they are not winning, but losing both liberty and security.

Working at Google

During the last "Plan de Vida y Carrera" class we watched a couple of videos about the working enviromment in the Google campus in California.

I have to admit, it surprised me the working enviromment they have. It looks like a really nice place to work. I mean, who wouldn't like to work in a place where you can eat for free? or, where you can take free bicycles and go around the campus? or, when you can enter to work at whatever time you want? It sure is attractive for everyone.

Google has now become a world-wide company. It has predominance in almost every country in the world and it looks like its image it's what matters the most to the company. And why wouldn't it be that way when you are one of the leaders of communication in the world? I'm pretty sure that Google has all these working methods because it wants to make everyone feel good about it. How would Google react if there was suddenly a bunch of people angry at it? It wouldn't be pleasent news I'd say, so it's good to make most people happy while it's possible.

I'm in no way critizing Google because of this working enviromment. In fact, I want to make emphasis on how important it is to have a good image to show and to make the rest of people happy and comfortable, a work that Google has proven to realize.

I'm pretty sure Google will still be a world leader for a long time because it cares about its weakest foundation. It's not a common company with the common employes or directors. It is more like a big community of people who come together to share ideas and to participate in the global issues. This is why I think Google can take the stand and allow its workers this type of enviromment; because it's sure that's the way of building itself from the very bottom.

Distance Relationship

Maybe, a long time ago, the term "distance relationship" was rarely heard; however, nowadays, we hear this term a little bit more often. Basically, a distance relationship is that, where the people in it don't see each other physically and can only be communicated via telephone or internet.

I'm going to make a special emphasis on the internet. This tool has been in constant use for over 25 years by now and each day it gets more popular. So, what is the Internet really about? I like to consider it as a different "universe" of its own.

On the internet we find news, games, documents and also people. If we are in constant use of this, then, it's not weird we can get to meet, from time to time, someone else that's into it as well. Now, the thing comes when you sustain a relationship trough this tool.

In my personal view, there's no incovenient in doing this. The reason why people usually say that distance relationships through the internet don't work it's because they are completely new! Let's remember that when something new comes to our lives, we don't feel sure or comfortable about it. The same thing happens with these types of relationships.

Now, it will depend on each people how they manage their personal relations. It can be for them just a time of distraction or they can get to meet their ideal person. I won't deny that the distance relationship can be a little bit tricky, but I don't wanna say either, that they are a complete loss of time. They are still a relation between people, just that in this case, they are not physically together.

What I'm sure about, it's that this term will surely gain way more popularity than now and I'm sure it will be more common to hear or to know someone that does so.

Mexico recovers from the crisis

The crisis has hitten Mexico. That's a fact that no one can deny.
Mexico has tried to do things to support the crisis. That's something we may believe in or not. But what we can be sure of, is the fact that Mexico has shown strength when it came to facing the crisis.

According to the president, Felipe Calderón, Mexico will have a growth of 4% in its economy after having went down more than 5%. He also mentioned that there is less risk of entering and settling in the country than before. He said Mexico has made a good job in general when it came to the current crisis and that it's hoping the forecasts for the country to be positive.

I personally think that Mexico has, in fact, done a good job facing the current global crisis. Although it has suffered a lot, we can't deny that for a lot of people it was a surprise the performance the country had.
One of the things I like to admire is the positivity that some people put in it. I think that if we are positive and look to think good things will come and we should not be afraid of doing things, that way, the economy could grow in an easier way. I believe we shouldn't assume everything will be perfect, but we must try to see that there are good things now shaping our country.

China looking to take Japan's place

China has, in the past years, become a global level market. They have the possibility of making big commercial exchanges with other countries and selling their products with an almost sure purchaser.
As China progresses, its economic possibilities also increase. It has shown growth of 10% during a three-month period.
It is believed, specially by the Chinese government, that if China continues developing with that speed, it can get to take the place that Japan currently holds as the second economic world power.

I really consider this as an interesting and important topic. I'm really impressed about the power China has gained during the last years. I think that the most important thing we can get from this, is having another market functioning and competing with the rest.
Some of us may feel fear about China gaining so much power. I don't think we should be afraid of this; as economy varies so much, it may be possible that our whole economic perspective changes during a couple of years.
As I already mentioned it, I think that the most important thing we can get from the current Chinese power it's that we have another great supplier of goods we can have exchange with.

Poverty in Acapulco

We all know Acapulco as a top destination in Mexico. Receiving a lot of turists per year, Acapulco is a prove of the development that Mexico has shown during the last years. However, we usually see Acapulco as a recreational paradise, but is the rest of Acapulco the way we imagine it?

Acapulco is one of the cities with more rural poverty. About 24% of its population has barely nothing to eat. Their diet consists on the most simple and basic food, while some other people spend 1 or 2 days without doing so.
Another problems also come with the potable water and the cost of land. About 10% of Acapulco has no drinkable water, and many houses do not have a proper housing.

I think that this is a precise example of the inequal distribution of the income within Mexico. We have a lot of people getting richer everyday while the rest continues to live in the same social status level. I think the government of Mexico should focus, besides other issues, about really caring about its people. We have a mixture of culture along with corruption and personal interests that don't allow us to give people what they need and only look for a personal benefit.
Mexico has still a lot to progress, I believe there should be more campaigns about combatting poverty in Mexico. I think by doing this, Mexico will become a more stable country starting from its foundations.

How much are we into technology?

We are aware that for many of us, technology is already an important, almost essential, component of our lives. We base our day on techonology: when we turn on the tv, transportation in our cars, communication through cellphones, using the computer, listening to music, and many other examples.

Technology really brings benefits to our lives; however, I think it may get to a point where we are really into technology that we could tend to forget how reality works and its difference from the techonological world.

We may have heard our moms when she tells us to stop chatting or that it would be better to read a book than being in the computer. They are right in a way, techonology is absorbing us, it's getting to be an essential part of our existence and that obviously leads to a lot of both positive and negative consequences.

However, the thing here is that I believe we should be aware of how much time we use for technology. If we consider, for example, dedicating 4 hours using the computer each day, we will not see that seems unfair. But if we consider using it for 8 hours, we may really get lost into it and may forget to do our activities like eating, doing homework, doing exercise, etc.

The interesting part of this, is that we are a new generation. No one before us had experienced so much bounds with technology. I am not sure of what could happen in a future, as I don't see anything in the past that could be the same than the present connection between people and scientific innovations. We should care. We should dedicate a little bit of time for each of our activities; not making one more important than another one, but having in mind that we have to balance what we do in order to have a "healthy lifestyle" and avoid many possible problems in a future.

Spain sends back foreigners from the country

We may have heard that Spain is now in trouble due to the current global crisis, which has hit Europe and particularly this spanish-speaking country.

We see that Spain's economy has grown negatively and as consequence, people are seeing themselves in the situation of changing of work or quitting it.

As Spain has to focus itself on its economy, it leaves others factors behind, one is that one of the foreigners coming to this country.

As in Spain live many people from Latin America, Spain has stated that no more are able to enter the country unless they prove they are going back to their countries of origin. This is to prevent than more foreigners stay in Spain and more unemployment occurs.

Most of the countries from Latin America have not said anything about the people being returned, however, Brazil has started to do the same thing with Spaniards going to that country; they have to show they are going back, and if they don't, they are sent back.

I don't consider this as a bad decision for Spain because it wants to recover its economy; however, I believe the decision has been taken too suddenly, and many people were not planning for this to happen. I think the countries should first announce their ideas about something and then, start doing it, or else, many other countries could get mad and do the same thing in return. We don't any futur problems regarding these aspects just because decisions were not made correctly.

Obesity

Many people are now worried about the appearance of being a "healthy" person, we hear the terms of anorexia and bulimia, we fear about being too skinny and not having a good diet, but we sometimes don't think about the opposite; have we ever thought about obesity? What this problem is and how it affects us?

If you didn't know it, Mexico ranks among the "fattest countries", the ones with more people with overweight or obesity. Haven't you noticed it yet?

If one day you go out, try to count how many "fat" people you see on the street, I think most of them will have at least a big belly. But, should we alarm ourselves about that?

I believe we should. Obesity, nowadays, is an alarming problem. Why? Because it directly affects our lives; we have a higher risk of physic and mental diseases and even we get to modifiy our genetic code.

So, what should we do to eradicate this problem? I don't think the problem itself comes from the fast-food restaurants or the fact that we have a life where devices do assignments for us, but it comes from the fact that we have a sedentary life and we don't do anything to change that.

Not because we go to a "Mcdonald's" we will gain ourselves a belly, but we have to reflect about our actions: we have to eat healthy, we have to do exercise, we have to occupy ourselves in something else than just being sitting down or lying on bed.

We also see another problem like the one of culture. As there's a culture for food, there's obviously a pattern of what people from a specific place look like. We have to prioritize our needs: what we need to eat, and how much activity we have to do. That's it. No more problems, we have to start a culture of a healthy lifestyle or our children will be like us. If we don't start to change our lifestyle, no one's going to do it for us.

Should governments take part of the banks' policies?

Nowadays, neoliberalism is what shapes our lives. We live under this economic ideology which benefits the capitalist thoughts and also says that governments should not have a big influence in the economy, but must let it develop itself, build itself and recover itself.

This term has been put in doubt since we have seen since the last year, the impact of the current global crisis. Many people have started to wonder if governments should, again, intervine in the economies' problems and try to "give it a hand" in order for it to recover quicklier.

The main problem is when it comes to banks: banks don't accept the help from the governments, and thus, they don't recover as quickly as they would if they had that assistance.

Now, the thing is that if banks start allowing governments to help them, we should reconsider the current economic ideology we live under. We had already experienced past crisis due to this same ideas; so, besides leaving the crisis behind, we also have to think what the best idea for economics is.

I am not really good at economy, and I don't really know how it works; however, I believe there should be another option besides government intervention or not. Is there something we can call a "mid-term"? Or must we look for another possibility of reshaping our economy? This is a big problem for both governments and banks right now.

What I am sure of, is that we have to look to the past to see how the past ideologies have work and how efficient is one of them. Although this may take time, it will be better if after 5 or 10 years we come up with a new economic ideology that will benefit us all for a long long time without any big problems.

Current crisis in Europe

We all know that the current crisis has affected our lives; we need to pay more for goods and services, we have to prioritize our expenses, and many other consequences.
Although the crisis' problems have been regulated and the economy is becoming more stable, there are still some aspects that suffer from the crisis. One of those aspects is the one that includes Europe.

There are some countries like Spain or Greece whose economy is still the worst in the eurozone due to the current global crisis, this countries have the largest desompleyment percentage (20% and 10% respectively) and have bigger expenses that income.

What the EU is trying to do is to help these countries by telling them how they should manage their economies; however, the governments are not always willing to follow these instructions.

I believe that if the economy of these, and some other European countries, continues to grow negatively, we could fear that the cost of the Euro will fall and a lot of social issues (migration, immigration, discontent among people) will become present. Also, I think we would fear the relations between Spain, Greece, etc. and the rest of the world (Including México) regarding its comercial exchange. I believe that the politic parties should set aside the opinion of the people about the parties' popularity and should focus on raising their countries' economies; in order, for there to be a faster exit of the current crisis.