An Egyptian coup d'état

The recent violence in Egypt surrounding the removal of their Islamist President ties in nicely to the discussion topics for this week. After several were killed and over 260 people injured, the new Egyptian government is appointing their leaders. Unfortunately, as with any coup, there are two (or more) different sides to the argument, each with different views and opinions.

Political Violence in Mexico

Mexico has been in the news a lot in the past decade, mostly for drug-related crimes and political violence. The killing of many politicians and their family members has long been a problem throughout Mexico, and while trying to resolve this violence, not much has been done to permanently stop these attacks. There can be a couple of motives behind Mexico's political violence. 1. Drug cartels want to expand their routes or territories and look to bribing local politicians to ensure protection of their area. "Cartels are known to interfere in local campaigns to elect officials who will be friendly to their interests." 2. Politician vs. politician--a quick and dirty way to get rid of the competition.

On July 7, 2013 Mexico's 14 states held elections. The violence against political figures leading up to these elections is said to have been the worst in many years, and many of the violet acts are keeping citizens away from polling areas. There were many politicians who dropped out of the race due to being scared for their lives and their families. According to USAtoday, many of these acts of violence are occurring in city and towns where organized crime usually rules. These attacks may suggest that the certain political figure running for office did not agree, or want to help out the drug cartel in anyway. A leader of a leftist party of the Democratic Revolution was shot dead in sugar field in Oaxaca, and only a few days earlier in Chihuahua, a mayoral candidate for the Institutional revolutionary Party was also found dead.

President Enrique Pena Nieto

Current President of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, had promised to control Mexico's violence, and has said he thinks Mexico's struggle with violence has become better over the past decade. However, these political attacks before July 7's elections have not proven well for the new president. Opposition leaders demanded that Pena Nieto put army's in the streets to protect Mexico's voters and many are upset Pena Nieto has not fixed Mexico's political violence. "A state that cannot protect its candidates, is a state that cannot protect democracy," quoted by Ernesto Lopez Portillo, director of the Institute for Security and Democracy in Mexico City.

Political Violence in Myanmar

Unfortunately, Myanmar citizens have experienced political violence for many, many years. They are said to have had one of the longest running civil wars because many conflicts have united into a conglomerate,  what is known as the Burmese Civil War. In the past two years The Kachin Conflict reconvened after a 17 year ceasefire. The Kachin Independence Army is fighting against the Myanmar Army for the purpose of creating a separate Kachin state. Matthew Smith, a consultant to Human Rights Watch told CNN reporters that the government appeared to have recently stepped up attacks on Kachin fighters, both sides fight to gain resources or control over certain areas. (http://www.cnn.com)

Myanmar also experiences political violence defined by non-action on the part of the government, due to either lack of will or lack of capacity. Non-action against the Buddhist mobs terrorizing the small Muslim population in the state. (90 percent of the country's 55 million people are Buddhist, and 4-8 percent Muslim.) (http://www.nytimes.com) I thought Buddhists were peaceful, but I guess I was wrong.