Category: NORTH AMERICA

The Closure of the WTO Appellate Body: The End of World Trade As We Know It?

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by Pankhuri Prasad
Staff Writer

Is the world coming to an end? Hopefully not. But it could be the end of world trade as we have known it for the past two decades. During a course I took in the winter of 2018, my International Economics and Politics professor mentioned how the World Trade Organization (WTO) may face a severe crisis in the near future. At the time, the likelihood of such a crisis seemed low and distant. However, with the end of 2019 looming near, international trade is quickly heading into uncharted waters as the Appellate Body of the organization is facing extinction.

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The C’est La Vie Paradox: A Perspective on Student Loans

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by David Ramirez
Staff Writer

While student loans may be categorized as the gateway to a chance at a better future, the price we pay for our education has increasingly become a matter of reaching the bottom-line for many of our academic institutions. American political-analyst and historian Thomas Frank once said, “For profit, higher education is today a booming industry feeding on the student loans handed out to the desperate.” According to The Economics of Public Issues anthology collection, the colossal conundrum intertwined in student loans is massive and growing bigger by the day, at around $1.3 trillion, such that this surpasses the total auto loan debt for all Americans. But, what is the solution to the student loan crisis? Well, it depends on how you define it. 

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Christmas Came Early for Putin: US Withdraws from Syria, Compromising Allies

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by Aldo Raine
Staff Writer

It is a truth universally acknowledged in the realm of international relations that any gap left unchecked in a security vacuum will be filled by competing forces. This is exactly what is happening, and has already happened in northern Syria. With Donald Trump announcing the complete and total withdrawal of all United States forces from Syria, others, mainly Russian-backed Syrian forces will be poised to gain the most from the unfolding chaos. The United States backed Kurdish forces now left to fend off for themselves against the vastly superior Turkish military, have little choice but to align themselves with Syrian leader Bashar-Al-Assad’s forces in hopes of retaining any sovereignty. This abandonment of American leadership fits a growing trend long underway under President Trump’s leadership, that has seen America give up its position as the leader and a bulwark for stable international order.

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