Nelson Mandela: Master of Forgiveness

Nelson Mandela's life was symbolized as him being very forgiving of  his country that put him in jail for acting against segregated laws in South Africa. He negotiated peacefully with his government and abolished the laws that he fought against as a young man. In the political cartoon Mandela's footsteps form the word FORGIVENESS because he could have been very angry because of his country's actions, but he chose to be accepting and forgiving of his country's decisions. Mandela negotiated with his captors instead of retaliating at them and putting them in jail. I think he chose to do this because he wanted to be forgiving and show his country that he was "The better man" and that he wouldn't give in to his anger. President Obama said, “We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again.” I agree with this statement because Nelson Mandela was a very remarkable man, he protested what he believed in and faced the consequences of his actions. Once he was released he showed forgiveness, he did not retaliate. Many people might choose to retaliate and not be forgiving and as peaceful as a man Nelson Mandela was. I would be willing to spend so many years in prison for a cause. For example, I believe that farmers in the Ivory Coast shouldn't be using slave labor to produce cheap chocolate. Source:http://upfront.scholastic.com/News/Nelson-Mandela
Questions from:http://upfront.scholastic.com/top_news
This Is the Online version of upfront, this article isn't In the print version of upfront magazine.

The U.S and Russia's short term relationship is very tense. The Syrian civil war is going on right now and Russia (Putin) is selling al-Assad billions of dollars worth of weapons to fight the rebels. But, Obama wants to take military action against Syria because of a recent chemical weapons attack by al-Assad on innocent men,children, and women in a Damascus suburb, killing 1,400 people. Obama hasn't and did not make an air strike on Syria and al-Assad, but instead offered that Syria gives up the rest of its chemical weapons. Putin has agreed to this and al-Assad also has agreed to this deal. Obama is very mad at Putin for continuing to sell these weapons because Obama, obviously wants Syria to become a democracy.

Also, In August Russia offered Edward Snowden  political asylum, meaning Russia well protect Snowden from being sent to the U.S. Edward Snowden is a former N.S.A (National Security Agency) contractor who "blew the whistle" and leaked confidential information about American survelliance programs, America spying on U.S citizens phone calls and texts and emails and using cameras all around the country to spy on everyday citizens.












Source: Upfront Magazine, Oct. 28 issue.

A New Cold War? by Patrica Smith.

With reporting by Peter Baker, Thomas Friedman, and Steven Lee Myers

Upfront Magazine Issue 10/17/13 Going to war who Decides?

       The framers of the constitution split the nation's war powers between the executive and legislative branches. One reason, to prevent Congress from intervening in the tactical decisions of war. The president might not make the right direction and this way congress will be able to make better decisions, instead of the president having all the say in this matter.
          By asking Congress to authorize an attack on Syria, President Obama strengthened and unified the nation. Instead of taking action right away and not considering the Republicans and the Democrats opinion in Congress, President Obama took it into Congress so the final decision would be mutual between everyone in Congress.