1616168217351_POS 2041 Assessment Four

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1 Jeniffer Palomino POS 2041 POS 2041 Assessment Four Question 1 President Joe Biden assumed office on January 20th, and after a month and few days into his regime. The President authorized his first military attack on Iranian militia groups based in Syria. Sources from the White House attributed the attack to self-defense and as a warning against Iran’s persistence support of militia. The authorized attack was directed as a facility/infrastructure situated in Eastern Syria used by non-state militia groups, Iran-supported (Goodman, 2021). While the United States has justified its actions for launching the attack, there are critics from Iran, Syria, and other foreign nations that have raised questions regarding the legal basis of Biden’s authorization to carry out the strike. The justification of the United States launching attack ties on the charges that the Biden administration is holding against the Syrian-based Iranian militia for their threat. In February, the US government claimed that the group launched a rocket attack in northern Iraq that wounded American troops and killed a civilian contractor (Goodman, 2021). Therefore, the US government maintains that the strike should be considered a retaliatory attack that is perfectly legal despite facing numerous oppositions. The US further justifies its attack by citing that its U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield drafted a letter to the United Nation Security Council stating that the US acted in self-defense with what the U.N. Charter stipulates. The United States received a negative response from Iran. The attack involved Iranian militias considering the attack comes slightly over a year after the killing of Qassem Soleimani,

2 an Iranian General, in January 2020. The Iranian government claimed that the militia group's attack was proportionate to the initial attack on the General, which appeared to have violated the requirements under the international law that a military force that is taken in self-defense should be proportional (BBC News, 2021). The US, through its Pentagon Press Secretary, responded to the claims by stating that the strike only meant to punish the militias and was not meant to escalate any tensions with Iran since the US is already seeking to renew the talks about the nuclear deal that was abandoned by the former President Donald Trump. Equally, a Syrian Observatory for the Human Rights, a United Kingdom monitoring group, condemned the attack. The Syrian group claims that the United States killed at least 22 fighters from a known mobilization force, an Iraqi umbrella group composed of Shia paramilitaries that comprises Kataib Hezbollah (BBC News, 2021). While these allegations could not be verified, Syrian President Bashar Assad did not give any response. However, the United States strike appeared to have killed some men who helped the Syrian government fight against an Islamic State group. Question 3 The World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are two organizations with around 150 members. While the WTO primary focuses on international trading systems and the IMF centers on the international monetary and financial systems, the two work closely to guarantee a sound system for global trade and payments. One thing in common between the WTO and IMF is that the United States helped create and lead these organizations since an economic engagement with the rest of the world remains a significant role in the United States economic restoration (Johnson, 2020). Therefore, the United States government must

3 participate effectively in promoting the two organizations and other multi-lateral trade rapport to improve its relationship with the entire world. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) was established in the aftermath of the Great Depression to ensure that it encourages stability in global financial markets. The United States should be at the forefront of promoting the entity since nearly all nations are members of the organization. Still, the United States accounts as the most significant cumulative contributor to the organization at $155 billion. Besides, the United States tops as the largest voting bloc in matters to do with the organization, holding adequate veto power for numerous decisions (Johnson, 2020). Ever since the IMF's support following the 2008 financial crisis, the United States remains at the forefront of surveillance. Lending and technical assistance of the organization contributing to good multi-lateral trade relationship all over the world. Conversely, United States membership and support for the World Trade Organization (WTO) has experienced pressures and frustration in the recent past. China “economic imperialism,” hyper globalization, and ostensibly broken world trading systems have provoked tough calls for the US to withdraw from the World Trade Organization (Johnson, 2020). However, such a move would have disastrous implications if the nation decides to exit from the organization. In case the United States decides to pull out of the organization that it played a role in building, the consequences would be so terrible as it will be a disadvantage on the United States multi-lateral trade relationships with other countries in the organization. Failing to promote and participate in both the World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund will result in the United States being discriminated against for the United States goods and services with no restrictions. Aspects such as tariffs would almost definitely rise, and the export market would end up shrinking (Johnson, 2020). In the meantime, other countries

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4 such as China and the European Union will progressively be able to dictate the rules of the future economy from privacy, data protection to intellectual property and state subsidies. Putting all these into considerations, the United States should retain its stance on supporting and promoting these multi-lateral trade organizations. Question 5 The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected not only the United States but the economy of the world. The Trump administration was brought to scrutiny on how it handled the pandemic, especially in the healthcare sector, considering that the United States reported the highest number of mortality rates and daily infection rates. Following the deterioration of the economy, the Senate prepared a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus and COVID-19 relief, signed by President Joe Biden with policymakers hoping that it will be set the stage for the economic recovery from the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic in the United States (Benner, 2021). Besides addressing the pandemic relief, the legislation intends to reduce poverty among children, address limited healthcare coverage and other infrastructural deficiencies experienced by Americans. In addressing the pandemic relief, the legislation will comprise $14 billion used to distribute and supply the ongoing vaccines. The current US government has planned to push every United States adult citizen to be vaccinated by the end of May 2021. The legislation also includes an $8.5 billion allocation for rural healthcare providers on the frontline fighting the pandemic (Benner, 2021). Further, the legislation provides continued funding for the Paycheck Protection Program for the federal government. This pandemic would allow subsidies to the small businesses that pledge to sustain the employees on their payroll. The Covid-19 $1.9 trillion legislation also identifies limited access to health as a significant issue, especially during the looming COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the barriers of

5 health services experienced include high medical cost, inadequate of altogether no insurance, and lack of services. The bill has introduced health insurance subsidies for health insurance for people that have lost their jobs (Benner, 2021). The United States law stipulates that people who have lost their jobs would retain their company health plan for a period of up to 18 months. The COVID-19 relief bill will go ahead and provide these people with a 100% monthly subsidy until the end of September. The bill will also reduce poverty among children and improve infrastructure deficiencies suffered by many Americas. Under child poverty reduction, the bill intends to reduce the worsening child poverty by expanding federal child tax credit. This credit would be eligible and available for citizen taxpayers earning up to $200,000 in a year that have a child living in a household for a period of at least half the year (Benner, 2021). The child tax credit would be increased from $2,000 to $3,000. Lastly, it will improve the infrastructure through school funding, aiding the state and local government, and also increase the federal unemployment aid to a weekly high of $400 from the current, which is $300 in a week. Question 8 The President of the United States, Joe Biden, on 10th Match delivered his first-ever address to the nation after assuming office. His speech was addressed only a few hours after he had signed into law the current $1.9 trillion stimulus package tabled in the senate, passed, and presented to him to sign. One notable feature of the address is that it came on the first anniversary of the lockdown. Considering the ongoing pandemic, his speech was majorly centred on outlining the plans that the government had up its sleeves to defeat the COVID-19 that had already killed over half a million people in the nation.

6 The president renewed a sense of optimism as he began by recognizing the first anniversary since the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic that plunged the country into a health and economic crisis. One significant message during the address was to direct that all the United States citizens made eligible to receive the available coronavirus vaccine before 1st May using the words that the vaccination would “mark our independence from this virus” (Aljazeera, 2021). By these words, he creatively meant that by the Fourth of July, families and friends would be free of the virus and would be able to gather together and celebrate the country’s independence. Another notable thing during the address was a plan to boost the United States economy by highlighting efforts to reopen the schools safely. A figure of $130 billion was quoted, an amount that he pinpointed will be directed at accelerating the massive attempt to reopen the schools, reiterating that the only way that US citizens could get their lives back and recover from the economy was to ensure that the country defeats the fight against the virus (Aljazeera, 2021). Despite not receiving a single vote from the republican in support of the $1.9 trillion pandemic relief, he believes in hope and unity. Besides addressing the plan to complete vaccination and improving the economy, he condemned the ongoing ‘vicious’ hate crime committed against the Asian-Americans. He was strict on pinpointing that the hate crimes against the Asian-Americans, who he pointed out were being blamed, harassed, and scapegoated during the pandemic time, was uncalled for and, in his appropriate exact words as un-American, emphasizing that it was supposed to stop (Aljazeera, 2021). This was a special message considering that since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, China, most American citizens of Asian roots have been discriminated against, living in fear even to walk down the streets.

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7 References Aljazeera News (2021). Transcript of Biden’s first prime-time national address. Aljazeera. Retrieved from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/12/biden-marks-first-covid-19- lockdown-in-national-address BBC News (2021). Biden takes first military action with Syria strike on Iran-backed militias. BBC News. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-56205056 Benner K. (2021). Presidential Speech Highlights: Biden Calls for U.S to ‘Mark Our Independence from this virus’ by 4 th of July. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/11/us/joe-biden-news#biden-asian-americans- hate-crimes Braley, S. J. (2021). Biden's Executive Orders Elicit Praise, Concern from US Travel. https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/102088 Goodman R. (2021). Legal Questions (and some answers) Concerning the U.S Military Strike in Syria. Retrieved from https://www.justsecurity.org/75056/legal-questions-and-some- answers-concerning-the-u-s-military-strike-in-syria/ Johnson K. (2020). U.S Effort to Depart the World Health Organization Gathers Momentum. Retrieved from https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/27/world-trade-organization-united- states-departure-china/

1616168217351_POS 2041 Assessment Four

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