Iran Questions

1. Define "Muslim" and "secular"
2. Explain the difference between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims.
3. Describe Iran's history in your own words up to the 20th century.
4. Explain what Reza Shah and The Shah believed was best for Iran.
5. How did the Islamic Revolution occur?
6. What is the difference between the Shah and the Ayatollah?

Water Issues Video + Cool Site

Here's the water-issues video. Also, check out Ted.com for amazing videos by super-smart people on a wide variety of topics.

Article on Waterboarding

Article in Vanity Fair

World Bank Research

1. What is the world bank?
2. Who is part of it?
3. Where is it headquartered?
4. When was it founded?
5. What exactly do they do?
6. What is the connection between the world bank and the readings we just completed in the textbook?

How A Bill Becomes a Law

Foreign Policy

Diplomacy

• What does acting "unilaterally" mean? What are the dangers of acting unilaterally?
• If Hamas is a terrorist group but were also elected democratically, how should the incoming President deal with them? Do we fight them or talk to them? Neither? Both?

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Latin America

• What factors have prevented the U.S. and Latin American countries from forging a strong relationship? What challenges confront U.S. policy in Latin America?
• What challenges confront U.S. policy in Latin America?

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US-China Trade Policy

• Could the large and growing trade imbalance with China have an adverse effect on the U.S. economy?
• What role does the undervalued Chinese currency play?

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Defense and Security: Protecting Ourselves

• What should U.S. priorities be?
• How should its forces be structured and deployed to meet new security challenges?

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Russia

http://www.fpa.org/topics4707/topics_show.htm?doc_id=601603

In-Class Essay

Presidential Challenges Project

Later this week we will be writing an in-class essay that answers the following question: what is the greatest challenge facing President Obama upon taking office?

You'll be able to choose from: 

• The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
• Health Care
• Economic Crisis
• Foreign Policy

Preparing for an in-class essay is a unique challenge. You will need to do a few things: first, prepare all the notes, handouts, and other materials you will want to use. Just having them isn't enough! 

1. You'll need to review them. One of the best ways to do that is to write a brief summary of each issue and WHY it is a challenge for President-elect Obama. That will allow you to find any holes in your knowledge.
2. Next, look through your materials and review what pieces of evidence will be most helpful/interesting to you when you're writing. Remember, the idea is to explain which challenge is the biggest. 
   
3. You'll need to review ALL the challenges so you can address the others. Just because you think the war is the biggest challenge doesn't mean you don't address/refer to the others. You will need to explain WHY they are not the biggest. 
4. Sketch out your essay. This can be in the form of a web diagram, bullet points, an outline, or a quickwrite. Do not come to the essay-writing period without a map of your essay! That's like flying blind. 
5. Figure out where you're going to plug in the pieces of evidence you found most compelling. This will make writing the essay easier and allow you to focus on writing it well. 
6. Organize these notes in a way you can easily understand during the pressure of an essay-writing period.