Moscow's Victory Day Celebration

I was reading an article on ForeignPolicy.com called "Will U.S. troops march past posters of Stalin?" http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/03/24/will_us_troops_march_past_posters_of_stalin. Every year the city of Moscow has a celebration commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany. This year American and British troops have been invited to march in the ceremonies. This would be no problem if the Mayor of Moscow was not trying to have posters of Stalin placed throughout the city. This presents the dilemma of whether or not the British and American troops should march in the parade due to the acts of Stalin.

The United States and British troops should not march in the parade because of the inhumane acts that Stalin committed during his time of reign. The celebration commemorates the fall of Nazi Germany and the horrendous acts of Hitler and the Nazi Party. It is counterintuitive to criticize and celebrate the downfall of one inhumane group and at the same time praise a man who committed crimes that were just as bad and sometimes worse. The troops should not march if Stalin is celebrated because they would be condoning the acts of lunatic. In a time when the UN is trying to limit inhumane acts in the world two of its most important members should not celebrate a leader that is known for his acts against other men.

The only downfall of not marching in the celebration is that it will hurt U.S. relations with Russia. The relations of the two countries are declining quickly. This due to the U.S. blowing up Russian gas lines during the Clinton administration and Russia supporting Iran's bids for nuclear technology. This may lead to a potential war between the country. It could be a physical war or it could be an arms race such as the Cold War.

In conclusion the United States and Britain should not march because it is better to hurt relations with Russia than to condone inhumane acts against man in the rest of the world.

Automotive Recalls

For the past few weeks the biggest news story has been the Toyota recall. Toyota recalled more than 7 million automobiles due to problems with rapid acceleration. This was due to either a malfunctioning pedal or due to the pedal becoming trapped by the carpet or floor mat. Allegedly 37 people have died from these accidents. Every day for the past few months Toyota has been attacked by the United States media as ignoring the issue at hand and by doing so they put the lives of Americans. These claims were made because the problem stems back to some 2000 models. Toyota's name was dragged through the mud and a result of this their sales dropped significantly.

While Toyota's sales were falling Ford's and GM's rose greatly. I believe that the media and the United States government attacked Toyota with the intent of hurting Toyota's sales and by doing this they would increase the sale of American made vehicles. This would help to stimulate the struggling American auto industry and economy. Apparently some Toyota dealers feel the same way that I do because they had ads pulled from local news stations.

Another reason why I believe that is was an attack on Toyota is the fact that General Motors recalled roughly 1.3 million vehicles that had power steering problems. These problems would cause power steering to cut off unexpectedly. There have been 14 accidents reported with the Chevy Cobalt (900,000 recall) and there were 1,100 complaints. The news briefly mentioned this recall earlier this week but they did not return to the subject later on in the program or return to it one of the following days. Although the numbers for GM are lower than that off Toyota they have still put lives at risk. The American government and media decided to not attack GM as they did Toyota because they were trying to ensure the regrowth of the American auto industry.

I'm not saying that what America did was wrong but I do feel that America's actions may be threatening our relations with Japan as a whole because of how important Toyota is to their economy. These actions further endanger the American economy because Japan may resist to buy American products and reduce trade. Also the jobs of Americans are being threatened by the attacks against Toyota. This due to the fact that Toyota has five plants in the United States. The United States should change their current actions so that they are not attacking Toyota and in the process both sides would benefit.