My name is Eamon Penland and I am a senior Foreign Affairs Major at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia. After taking classes regarding US foreign policy and learning about the Middle East, I realized the importance of staying up to date with what is going on in that region in order to make accurate and well thought out responses regarding issues taking place there. As we try to pull troops out of the region, we must remember and learn from past mistakes so that we don’t create problems for ourselves in the future.
Eamon Penland
Read more from this author ...
Story of the Refugee Crisis: How the Conflicts Started
April 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment
What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy? -Mahatma Gandhi War has been a common theme throughout human history, and its reach extends further than just the men and women fighting. War affects civilians in ways many of us cannot even imagine. Picture your country being involved in a war. You return home and it does not exist anymore. Where do you go? What do you do? We will look at three conflicts and examine … [Read more...]
Why Commit to Development?
September 30, 2010 By 1 Comment
By Eamon Penland As a follow-up to my first post, and in a response to a recent AIDemocracy tweet, I decided to address the issue of development with regards to our security. Just the other night I had a conversation with a friend who tried to argue against our foreign aid budget. He argued that development should neither be an objective of U.S. foreign policy, nor an issue we should be concerned with. I think the role that the United States plays in the development of other countries is still seen by many in the light of “liberal tree huggers … [Read more...]
The role of youth around US engagement in Iraq, Afghanistan
September 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment
By Eamon Penland Eamon is one of AIDemocracy's new 2010-2011 Issue Analysts. Find his bio, and a description of the Issue Analyst program, below. As we continue to withdraw troops from the region and shift our focus to other problems such as Iran, we, as young people, must continue to stay informed. That is our only real duty as citizens of the most powerful democratic country in the world. We don’t need to protest or go and fight necessarily. We are unfortunately fighting more difficult battles at home. Sure, the stock market and … [Read more...]
