Hey Khabarovsk! We’re back, and we’re looking forward to meeting with you guys again. Did you happen to read our last post? If you haven’t, it’s okay; we’d like to talk about the capture and death of Osama bin Laden.
For us, it’s a moment of reflection: while many of us publicly celebrated his death, some of us had a much more sober approach. It can be looked at two ways: 1) a great step in the “War on Terror” or 2) an aggravation and a cause for more unrest. For example, Nayeli personally thinks that it does not do much to address the issue of global terrorism, because it’s much more nuanced and complicated. Dieter believes, however, that there was a symbolic significance to his death; it represents closure for the families and victims in New York, Madrid, London, and all over the world. Needless to say, we are conflicted, but we all agree on one thing: this is by no means over. This is just the beginning.
This event also raises an important foreign policy questions: what about Pakistan? Gaurav, in particular, noted that bin Laden’s death casts the U.S.-Pakistan relationship into a whole new light. We look forward to discussing that issue, as well as bin Laden’s death more broadly, in the near future.
Best,
Stanford Group 3
