Tournament: 0 | Round: 1 | Opponent: 0 | Judge: 0
Email: 16ecordoves@gmail.com

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 6 | Opponent: Broad Run PW | Judge: Jorda Sternberg

Aff transforms apocalypse into a manageable crisis which de-politicizes resistance and posits the state as the locus point of salvation

Swyngedouw, Professor Geography at University of Manchester, ’13 (Erik, "Apocalypse Now21 Fear and Doomsday Pleasures" Capitalism Nature Socialism, Vol 24 No 1, p 9-18, T26F Online)
Despite significant differences, both catastrophic narratives share an uncanny similarity, particularly if viewed
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a better socio-climatic world, is expressed (see Swyngedouw 2010b).

This permanent state of emergency transforms the state into an apparatus of death—creates a state of exception.

Davis ’12 – contributed essays to race and class, contributor to Confronting Capitalism: Dispatches from a Global Movement (James, At War with the Future: Catastrophism and the Right, "Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth", PM Press, p. 100)
The catastrophist right frequently opens political terrain on the far right that the state can
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divided political landscape. Which, of course, is the point.77

Vote neg to reject the aff’s prism of apocalypse—only refusal of hyperbole opens up a space for pragmatic modes of thinking to emerge

Reject the aff because of it’s apocalytptic framing—
Gilles 26 Gross ’12 (Mel, highly successful web author, and Mathew, director of internet communications for Howard Dean’s presidential campaign, highly regarded media strategist, "The Last Myth: What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us About America", Prometheus, p. 202)
Addressing the challenges of a growing global population in a period of declining resource availability
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future is still ours—but the future is not what it was.

Tournament: Crestian | Round: 5 | Opponent: Fort Lauderdale MH | Judge: Gregg, Mary
The plan boosts nuclear construction in the short term, but long term efforts cause cost escalation as reactors get bigger and more complex—that’s Cooper. 

That turns the case—cost increases destroy the industry’s competitiveness and stifle long-term growth
Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis – Institute for Energy and the Environment @ Vermont Law School, PhD – Yale University, ’10
(Mark, "POLICY CHALLENGES OF NUCLEAR REACTOR CONSTRUCTION: COST ESCALATION AND CROWDING OUT ALTERNATIVES," September)

Looking back on the history of the construction costs of nuclear reactors that were actually
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, Public Utility Fortnightly article that gushed about the benefits of nuclear reactors.
The enormous benefits of nuclear power were reflected in an early 1975 Public Utilities Fortnightly
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saved ?the equivalent of more than 247 million barrels of oil.?73
The skepticism expressed early on by Bupp and Derian was ratified by in a dramatic 1985 cover story in Forbes magazine.
The failure of the U.S. nuclear power program ranks as the largest
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the program and for the private enterprise system that made it possible.74
What happened in that decade to so dramatically change the perception of nuclear reactors?
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full implications of the evolving cost trend and declare it a ?fiasco.?
Indeed, one thing that had happened by 1985 was that the tendency of nuclear
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’s 1981 projections of costs as an early analyst’s projections.
Exhibit V-2 makes two things clear. First, cost escalation in the
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extremely expensive today and is likely to become even more expensive over time.

Here’s SMR specific evidence
Spencer, research fellow in nuclear energy – Heritage Foundation, and Loris, research associate for energy – Heritage, 2/2/’11
(Jack and Nicolas, http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/a-big-future-for-small-nuclear-reactors-http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/02/a-big-future-for-small-nuclear-reactors)

Small modular reactors (SMRs) have garnered significant attention in recent years, with
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the current regulatory bias in favor of large light water reactors (LWRs).
The result is a young, robust, innovative, and growing SMR industry.
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to new reactor certification and to develop a sustainable nuclear waste management strategy.
Why SMRs?
Small modular reactors share many of the attractive qualities of large reactors, such as providing abundant emissions-free power, while adding new features that could make them more appropriate for certain applications, such as providing power to rural communities or for dedicated industrial use. SMRs are not yet positioned to take the place of traditional large LWRs, but they represent an important growth area for the commercial nuclear industry.
Indeed, should the promise of small modular reactors be realized, the technology could transform the nuclear industry. That is because these attributes would potentially mitigate some of the financial and regulatory problems that nuclear energy has recently faced. SMRs potentially cost less (at least in up-front capital), are more mobile and multifunctional, provide competition, and can largely be produced by existing domestic infrastructure.
Lower Costs Up Front. Large reactors are very expensive to license and construct and
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sheets, an option that spreads capital outlays over time should be attractive.
Safe Installation in Diverse Locations. Some designs are small enough to produce power for
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interest in small nuclear reactor designs from islands around the world.~5~
Using a small nuclear reactor could cut electricity costs in isolated areas since there would
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reactors will likely be easier to control during times of malfunction.~7~
Multi-functionality. SMRs can be used in a variety of applications that have
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wood, agricultural residue, and dung for cooking and heating.~9~
Competition. While competition among large nuclear-reactor technologies currently exists, small reactors
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will drive innovation and ultimately lower prices for both new and existing technologies.
Domestic Production. Although the nuclear industry necessarily shrank to coincide with decreased demand,
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, engineering, and uranium enrichment capabilities—all in the United States.
If SMRs Are So Great, Where Is the Construction?
While some designs are closer to market introduction than others, the fact is that America’s regulatory and policy environment is not sufficient to support a robust expansion of existing nuclear technologies, much less new ones. New reactor designs are difficult to license efficiently, and the lack of a sustainable nuclear waste management policy causes significant risk to private investment.
Many politicians are attempting to mitigate these market challenges by offering subsidies, such as
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years and defer significant research and development costs from industry to the taxpayer.
The problem with this approach is that it ignores the larger systemic problems that create the unstable marketplace to begin with. These systemic problems generally fall into three categories:
Licensing. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is ill prepared to build the
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, which then undermines long-term progress, competition, and innovation.
Nuclear Waste Management. The lack of a sustainable nuclear waste management solution is perhaps
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could contribute greatly to an economically efficient and sustainable nuclear waste management strategy.
Government Intervention. Too many policymakers believe that Washington is equipped to guide the nuclear
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cost and risk of a more mature technology that already dominates the marketplace.
How to Fix a Broken System
At the Global Nuclear Renaissance Summit on July 24, 2008, then-NRC
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-century model for small and alternative reactor technologies by doing the following:
Reject additional Loan Guarantees. Loan Guarantee proponents argue that high up-front costs
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a single basic technology, such as large light water reactors.~13~
Avoid subsidies. Subsidies do not work if the objective is a diverse and economically
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as illustrated by the government’s inability to meet its nuclear waste disposal obligations.

Prefer our studies—newest evidence on the US and France change the game
Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis – Institute for Energy and the Environment @ Vermont Law School, PhD – Yale University, ’10
(Mark, "POLICY CHALLENGES OF NUCLEAR REACTOR CONSTRUCTION: COST ESCALATION AND CROWDING OUT ALTERNATIVES," September)

The history of the dramatic escalation of the construction cost of nuclear reactors in the
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a great deal of attention in the U.S. media.5
Given the current economics of nuclear reactor construction in both the U.S.
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reactor construction see the commitment to nuclear construction as competing with alternatives.7
Missing from the current scene is information about the history and recent experience of French nuclear costs, detailed analyses of past U.S. costs or current cost projections and a careful examination of the impact of the decision to promote nuclear reactor construction on the development of alternatives.
A clear understanding of what works and does not work in the U.S. and France and how major commitments to one technology affect others can shed important light on the prospects for construction of new nuclear reactors and alternatives.
ANALYTIC APPROACH
This paper combines a new analysis of a detailed data set on the U.
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the crowding out alternatives – by examining new data in multiple analytic approaches.

Market distortion hollows out the industry—prevents innovation and waste management
Spencer, research fellow in nuclear energy policy – Heritage, 4/20/’10
(Jack, "FEDERAL LOAN GUARANTEES FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; COMMITTEE: HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM; SUBCOMMITTEE: DOMESTIC POLICY," CQ Congressional Testimony)

Expansive loan guarantee programs, however, are fraught with problems. At a minimum, they create taxpayer liabilities, give recipients preferential treatment, and distort capital markets. Further, depending on how they are structured, they can remove incentives to decrease costs, stifle innovation, suppress private sector financing solutions, perpetuate regulatory inefficiency, and encourage government dependence.
President Obama’s expansion would transform the limited program into a much broader one that threatens
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that gave rise to the need for the subsidy in the first place.
Market Distortion
The program, under which the government guarantees bank loans for power projects, was
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generation construction." The same was argued for other energy sources as well.
But as America edges toward a massive expansion of the loan guarantee program, not all of which will go to nuclean this starts looking very much like an ongoing subsidy.
And it is a subsidy that does not need to be extended. Consider an exchange between Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu during the Secretary’s confirmation hearing. Senator Burr suggested that the existing loan guarantee program was so poorly run that utilities were being forced to build reactors without the loan guarantees.
Emblematic of the subsidy-first mentality of modern U.S.energy policy, the cDDdUSiOAVV88DOtth8tthis demonstrates the market viability of nuclear power but that the subsidy program should be more workable. They were inviting government dependence.
And that is the problem with loan guarantees: They distort normal market forces and encourage government dependence.
How Loan Guarantees Distort the Market
One problem with the larger national economic debate is that we too often act as if money-or, more accurately in this example, savings or capital-grows on trees. It comes from real people who have saved and invested and exists in finite amounts. By subsidizing a portion of the actual cost of a project through a loan guarantee, the government is actually distorting the allocation of resources by directing capital away from a more competitive project.
This signals to industry (be it nuclear, wind, clean coal, natural gas, or anything else) that it does not have to be competitive. It reduces incentives to manage risk and be independent, innovative, and efficient. Loan guarantees also distort the risk of failure businesses traditionally take into account when financing a project. The end result will be a new nuclear, wind, or solar industry that is built for the short run and not sustainable.
While a loan guarantee may be good for the near-term interests of the individual guarantee recipient, it is not good for consumers, taxpayers, or long-term competitiveness.
Loan Guarantees specifically distort the market because:
They remove incentives to decrease costs. The loan guarantee discounts the cost to build
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. Eventually, these inefficiencies will result in higher electricity prices for consumers.
They stifle competition and innovation both between sectors and within sectors. The loan guarantee artificially reduces the cost of capital, which allows a recipient to offer its product at below actual cost. This removes the incentive to look for less expensive or more competitive options. If a product is not competitive in a free market, then it should be allowed to adjust or fail.
Part of the success of nuclear energy will depend on competition within the industry.
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entire industry to become more efficient, innovative, and cost-effective.
They perpetuate the regulatory status quo. Nuclear energy could transform how the nation produces energy. But one of the big problems with the success of nuclear power in the United States is not that it lacks subsidies but that the regulatory environment for nuclear power does not promote growth, innovation, or competition.
Assuming the permitting process works perfectly, it takes the Nuclear Regulatory Commission four years to permit a new reactor. That is too long. Furthermore, the commission is prepared to permit only one type of reactor, essentially limiting competition to a handful of companies and one technology.
Another regulatory obstacle is the nation’s dysfunctional nuclear waste management strategy. The federal government
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to consider waste management, reactors with attractive waste characteristics can be ignored.
Furthermore, developing a sound approach to waste management would substantially reduce investor risk, which would be reflected in lower financing costs. Guaranteeing the loans reduces near-term pressure to fix this ongoing problem.
They suppress private-sector financing solutions. Companies invest in major projects with substantial
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and remove the incentive to come up with better long-term solutions.
If Loan Guarantees Are Expanded, They Must Be Coupled with Reform and Conditions
The United States energy consumer and taxpayer would be best served by the federal government simply resolving outstanding regulatory issues. This would increase investor confidence and reduce the need for expanded loan guarantees. However, if Congress moves forward with a loan guarantee expansion, accompanying the guarantees with the following conditions would help reduce their market distorting effects, protect the taxpayer, and ensure a strong, market viable nuclear industry.
End Further Loan Guarantees. Transforming a limited program into a permanent subsidy virtually guarantees that the negative potential impacts of loan guarantees will come to pass.
Expanding the program by 2436 billion already diminishes near-term support for reform efforts. Stopping the program at 2454.5 in total loan guarantees would at least limit the damage and provide a deadline whereby industry and government must have resolved their outlying issues.

Future price declines of alternatives will price nuclear out of the market
Sokolski, executive director – Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, ’10
(Henry, "Nuclear Power, Energy Markets, and Proliferation," December)

In the mid-term, — i.e., the next two decades
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use of electricity and smart metering that could change and reduce demand patterns.
Although none of these developments are guaranteed, any one of them could have a
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neutral markets in which multiple solutions are forced to compete against each other.

Subsidies cause nuclear speculation—undermines nuclear safety and makes a future crash inevitable
Koplow, United Nations Environment Programme’s Working Group on Economic Instruments, MBA – Harvard, and Vancko, project manager – nuclear/climate @ UCS, ’11
(Doug and Ellen, "Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable without Subsidies," Union of Concerned Scientists, February)

Such blind acceptance is an unwarranted, expensive leap of faith that could set back
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picture of nuclear power’s value com¬pared with other low-carbon power sources.
SUBSIDIES OFTEN EXCEED THE VALUE OF THE ENERGY PRODUCED
This report catalogues in one place and for the first time the full range of
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nuclear power plants. Subsidies to new reactors are on a similar path.
Throughout its history, the industry has argued that subsidies were only temporary, a short-term stimulus so the industry could work through early technical hurdles that prevented economical reac¬tor operation. A 1954 advertisement from General Electric stated that, "In five years—certainly within ten," civilian reactors would be "privately financed, built without government subsidy." That day never arrived and, despite industry claims to the con¬trary, remains as elusive as ever.
The most important subsidies to the industry do not involve cash payments. Rather,
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a pro¬found effect on the bottom line for the industry and taxpayers alike.
Reactor owners, therefore, have never been economically responsible for the full costs and risks of their operations. Instead, the public faces the prospect of severe losses in the event of any number of potential adverse scenarios, while pri¬vate investors reap the rewards if nuclear plants are economically successful. For all practical purposes, nuclear power’s economic gains are privatized, while its risks are socialized.
Recent experiences in the housing and finan¬cial markets amply demonstrate the folly of arrangements that separate investor risk from reward. Indeed, massive new subsidies to nuclear power could encourage utilities to make similarly speculative, expensive investments in nuclear plants—investments that would never be tolerated if the actual risks were properly accounted for and allocated.
While the purpose of this report is to quantify the extent of past and existing subsidies, we are not blind to the context: the industry is calling for even more support from Congress. Though the value of these new subsidies is not quantified in this report, it is clear that they would only further increase the taxpayers’ tab for nuclear power while shifting even more of the risks onto the public.

That turns every advantage
Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis – Institute for Energy and the Environment @ Vermont Law School, PhD – Yale, 3/24/’11
(Mark, "Nuclear Economics after Fukushima," testimony before the Standing Committee on Natural Resources, House of Commons, Ottawa, Canada)

While nuclear enthusiasts succeeded in gaining some initial commitments to federal loan guarantees in the
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concrete was poured in the U.S., going through the following stages
• a promotional frenzy (2001-2005 per the streamlining of the licensing process and establishment of the loan guarantee program), and
• a surge in speculative interest (2006-2008, as measured by applications for licenses and loan guarantees), but
• that the industry could not deliver on its promotional cost estimates (as demonstrated by skyrocketing cost projections), and
• finally, the inevitable bursting of the bubble under the weight of economic reality (2009-2010 with plummeting natural gas prices, declining demand growth, and stable costs for other low carbon alternatives, resulting in reactor cancelations and postponements).
Empirical Evidence
Exhibit 1 shows that nuclear power has never been able to live up to the
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most recently have used estimates of around 247,000 per kW.
Exhibit 2 shows that claims that costs will come down over time have proven to be incorrect, as demonstrated by a comparison of the nuclear industries in France and the U.S., the two capitalist nations that build more reactors than any others. Diseconomies of scale and negative learning processes afflict the industry, leading to costs that increase across time, rather than decline.
With nuclear construction costs rising dramatically, a range of alternatives have lower levelized costs, as shown in Exhibit 3. The top graph shows the overnight costs and the construction period. The bottom figure shows the levelized busbar cost and the construction period. Nuclear reactors cost a fortune and they take forever.
The long lead times and high costs of nuclear tie up the utility’s resources,
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cost and severe uncertainty, are the worst type of asset to acquire.

No link turns—initial capital costs and high output causes boom/bust cycles and outweigh the variable cost reductions that their evidence talks about
Koplow, United Nations Environment Programme’s Working Group on Economic Instruments, MBA – Harvard, and Vancko, project manager – nuclear/climate @ UCS, ’11
(Doug and Ellen, "Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable without Subsidies," Union of Concerned Scientists, February)

The importance of capital costs is clearly illus¬trated in Table 2, with the capital
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of the uncertainty that cause inves¬tors to be wary of the nuclear sector.
The competitiveness of a nuclear power plant is sensitive to cost escalation (both before
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may be hurt disproportionately, even if their total levelized costs are lower.

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 1 | Opponent: SouthEast PR | Judge: 

CIR will pass soon – Obama is working with moderate GOP

Fox 10/27
"Immigration reform battle brews on Capitol Hill" Oct 27, 2013
http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/23798896/2013/10/26/immigration-reform-battles-brewing-on-capitol-hill
Immigration reform could be the next big battle on Capitol Hill. ¶ President Obama
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the year and the House Republican leadership doesn’t have any votes scheduled yet.

Cuba lobby backlashes to the plan – their main agenda is regaining expropriated property

Harrison, JD Candidate University of Houston, ’3 (D’Anna, Fall, "Deportable Cubans in Limbo: An Issue of Immigration, Foreign Policy, or Both?" Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, 18 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 179, lexis)
VII. WHAT’S REALLY BEHIND THE CUBAN EMBARGO? There is no way to avoid
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do this is to take a tough stand against Cuba through sanctions.  n160

CIR will pass —- Obama needs to prevent extremist from tubing chances

McMorris-Santoro 10/16
Evan McMorris-Santoro, BuzzFeed White House Reporter, "DREAMers Put Obama On Notice: New Immigration Push Better Not Be A Play For 2014 Votes"
http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/dreamers-put-obama-on-notice-new-immigration-push-better-not
Vargas actually shares the view of many immigration advocates and Democrats that the shutdown and
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to do whatever it takes to get immigration reform accomplished, Vargas said.

Most recent nonpartisan report proves CIR generates substantial GDP growth and reduces deficit

US News 10/29
"Immigration Reform Boosts Economic Recovery: Immigration reform could reduce the federal deficit by 241.2 trillion" October 29, 2013
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/29/immigration-reform-boosts-economic-recovery
As a comprehensive immigration reform bill hangs in the balance on Capitol Hill, a
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found that residential housing construction would increase by 2469 billion a year.

Economic decline collapses democracy

Friedman 5
Ben, professor of economics at Harvard, Meltdown: A Case Study, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200507/friedman

Not just in America but in the other Western democracies, too, history is
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the risks to our values and liberties if that nourishing source runs dry.

Tournament: UGA | Round: 4 | Opponent: Pace LD | Judge: Quinn, Robbie

1NC

PTX

Immigration Reform will pass – Obama push and advocates lobbying

The Guardian 2/14
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/14/obama-immigration-reform-gop
Obama told me immigration reform is still on the table. The GOP must bite
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people behind the statistics, that there are lives that are being impacted."

Economic engagement with Mexico is politically divisive despite supporters

Wilson 13 – Associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International. Center for Scholars (Christopher E., January, "A U.S.-Mexico Economic Alliance: Policy Options for a Competitive Region," http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/new_ideas_us_mexico_relations.pdf)
At a time when Mexico is poised to experience robust economic growth, a manufacturing
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action to support regional exporters more politically divisive than it ought to be. 

CIR key to the economy – most recent non partisan report
US News 10/29
"Immigration Reform Boosts Economic Recovery: Immigration reform could reduce the federal deficit by 241.2 trillion" October 29, 2013
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/29/immigration-reform-boosts-economic-recovery
As a comprehensive immigration reform bill hangs in the balance on Capitol Hill, a
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found that residential housing construction would increase by 2469 billion a year.
Nuclear war
Friedberg and Schoenfeld 8  
Aaron, Prof. Politics. And IR @ Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and Visiting Scholar @ Witherspoon Institute, and Gabriel, Senior Editor of Commentary and Wall Street Journal, "The Dangers of a Diminished America" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html
Then there are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse of the world’s financial architecture
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of these countries seek to divert attention from internal travails with external adventures.

Experts agree immigration reform is a pre-requisite to effectively combatting trafficking

Cites consensus of advocates of sex trafficking – strict immigration poliices ?black market to transport pple (same black market for trafficking ppl) – also bc traffic victims don’t seek law enforcement
Witman 2011
Luke Witman Tucson Immigration Examiner "Fight against sex trafficking linked to immigration reform" September 26, 2011
http://www.examiner.com/article/fight-against-sex-trafficking-linked-to-immigration-reform
Mexico took yet another step this month in its fight against human trafficking, as
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, and so that these individuals can seek out law enforcement protection themselves.

Tournament: Crestian | Round: 2 | Opponent: Cypress Bay CG | Judge: Durkee, James

All signs point to 2014 immigration overhaul but PC is key

Kuhnhenn 1/8
Jim Kuhnhenn (@jkuhnhenn). White House and politics reporter in the Washington Bureau of the Associated Press.
http://www.southernminn.com/ap/washington/article_22ce4db1-d563-5b53-91f6-3987b572b816.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — His agenda tattered by last year’s confrontations and missteps,
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up to the House to decide when. But it’s going to happen."
CIR key to the economy – most recent non partisan report
US News 10/29
"Immigration Reform Boosts Economic Recovery: Immigration reform could reduce the federal deficit by 241.2 trillion" October 29, 2013
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/10/29/immigration-reform-boosts-economic-recovery
As a comprehensive immigration reform bill hangs in the balance on Capitol Hill, a
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found that residential housing construction would increase by 2469 billion a year.

Nuclear war
Friedberg and Schoenfeld 8  
Aaron, Prof. Politics. And IR @ Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and Visiting Scholar @ Witherspoon Institute, and Gabriel, Senior Editor of Commentary and Wall Street Journal, "The Dangers of a Diminished America" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html
Then there are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse of the world’s financial architecture
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of these countries seek to divert attention from internal travails with external adventures.

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: Semis | Opponent: Lexington DQ | Judge: Blye, Brittney Choudhury, Maneo Evans, Brandon

1NC Relations

The plan incites tensions with China and collapses relations. Competition in the region has the unique potential to escalate—

-China’s relations with Venezuela have increased- its planning to protect its interests from the US- US intervention in Venezuela is the final factor in ensuring there’s no escalation
Tania ’12 ~Maxime, Master of Science (M.Sc.), International Relations and Affairs from the University of Amsterdam, master’s thesis on China’s energy security in Venezuelan politics, "China’s energy security¶ strategy towards Venezuela," July 1, http://epa.iias.asia/files/Maxime20Tania20-20Chinas20energy20security20strategy20towards20Venezuela20-20Transnationalization20and20the20geopolitical20impact20of20the20Sino-Venezuelan20relationship.pdf~~
In furtherance to what is discussed above, it is interesting to illustrate whether the
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U.S. and China whether this is justified or ¶ not.

US-China cooperation solves extinction

-US-China cooperation means a stable global economy, climate change mitigation, energy security, lack of resource scarcity
-combats terrorism, prolif, piracy, crime, failing states
Garrett 10 Dr. Banning Garrett is the Director of the Asia Program at the Atlantic Council. This essay was previously published at The Globalist, "U.S.-China Relations: Gone Fishin’" December 02, 2010, http://www.acus.org/new_atlanticist/us-china-relations-gone-fishinE28099
Voicing our concerns about our policy differences is essential as we continue to struggle with China on a wide range of bilateral and international issues. But we also must try to keep the larger strategic picture in the forefront and try to land the elusive "big one" — a more cooperative U.S.-China relationship to deal with the great strategic challenges of the 21st century.
While China and the United States will always be reluctant partners at best, leaders of both countries have acknowledged that we are in the same boat when it comes to critical 21st century challenges.
We are compelled to pull together to maintain a growing and stable global economy, mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects, ensure energy security and transition to a global, low-carbon economy, move to more sustainable economic models as resource scarcities loom as billions of people seek to join the global middle class — and combat terrorism, proliferation, piracy, international crime, pandemics, failing states and a host of other non-traditional threats.
This summer’s unprecedented heat and forest fires in Russia and the massive, destructive floods in Pakistan may be the most recent warning signs that global warming is already altering our planet’s climate, causing extreme weather and other first-order effects that will have cascading impacts on virtually all countries.
The implications for the global economy, societies and governments and the security of nations and peoples are potentially destabilizing and even catastrophic.
The United States and China — the two largest economic powers — will not be immune from the impact of climate change. Nor, as the biggest energy consumers and producers of greenhouse gases, will they escape blame from the rest of the world if they fail to act and to cooperate.
In the United States, there is growing anxiety about the pace of shifting power and a range of Chinese behaviors that are perceived as Beijing seeking to challenge a wide range of U.S. interests.
The Chinese leadership, for its part, and especially elements of the People’s Liberation Army, is flush with a sense of their country’s rapidly rising power, which has been turbo-boosted in the last two years by its superior performance in the global financial crisis.
Beijing seems to be emphasizing narrow national interests and making a new push to gain recognition for an expanding list of "core interests" which now apparently includes China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Chinese seem reluctant to place a priority on their "core interests" in ensuring their prosperity and security by cooperating with other nations, especially the United States, on long-term global challenges and threats.
We should ask what the prospects are for human civilization in this century as well as for American and Chinese interests if the United States and China do not cooperate on global challenges — and even more ominously, if they have a highly competitive and antagonistic relationship, much less engage in actual military conflict.
We may not have much time to fish in the depleting stream of potential cooperation. The United States and China need to change course soon. The two giants now seem caught in an eddy of deepening suspicion of each other’s intentions — despite the stated conviction of the leaders of both countries that they need to work together.

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 1 | Opponent: River Hill SS | Judge: Micha Antonucci
1NC Long

The affirmative takes the position of the Maoist—their veneration of the oppressed constructs an ideal subaltern with whom they can engage in parasitic solidarity—this is virulent form of colonialism which turns the academy into a site for the consumption of Otherness for personal gain

Chow, Professor Comparative Lit at Brown, ’93 (Rey, "Writing Diaspora" p 10-13)
The Orientalist has a special sibling whom I will, in order to highlight her
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longer distinguishable from those of us who have had our consciousnesses "raised."

Despite their attempt to deconstruct current imperialist practices, the aff simply replaces the military with the academy – their knowledge production about the Latin American subaltern gives privilege to Western forms of thinking

Grosfoguel, Professor Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, ’7 (Ramon, "The Epistemic Decolonial Turn" Cultural Studies, Vol 21 Issue 2-3, p 211-223, T26F Online)
In October 1998, there was a conference/dialogue at Duke University between the
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within its domains of thought and practice a coloniality of power/knowledge.

This utilization of the "other" as a site for knowledge-gathering is inseparable from the militaristic logic which views everything in terms of its usefulness to the US – the affirmative’s assistance can only show us a target to be destroyed by US bombs—nuclear genocide is inevitable in the world of the affirmative.

Chow, Professor Comparative Lit at Brown, ’6 (Rey, "The Age of the World Target" p 40-42)
Often under the modest and apparently innocuous agendas of fact gathering and documentation, the
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literature into a full-scale preoccupation with identity and its construction."57

You should reject the affirmative because of their failure to question the indebtedness of their intellectual project to institutions mired in the very privilege they sanctimoniously criticize—your obligation as an intellectual is to struggle against becoming the object and instrument of power

Chow, Professor Comparative Lit at Brown, ’93 (Rey, "Writing Diaspora" p 16-17)
While the struggle for hegemony remains necessary for many reasons – especially in cases where
AND
off field, in the military no less than in the academic sense?

Their criticism can never do anything to challenge the violence of imperialism as it exists only to supplement and strengthen the very modes of understanding it seeks to criticize—their theoretical interventions are grounded in the very logic of referentiality which must purge all otherness which does not present itself as knowable—the 1AC is merely the completion of the colonial gaze

Chow, Professor Comparative Lit at Brown, ’6 (Rey, "The Age of the World Target" p 11-15)
The developments of poststructuralist theory in the Anglo-American academy in the past few
AND
bombing‚—and eradicating‚—those others who are not like "us."

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: 2 | Opponent: Bronx Science TD | Judge: Muno, Ali

1NC

Focus on fixing energy infrastructure facilitates mass consumption at direct expense of environmental sustainability

Fridley 12 – Scientist @ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California
David, "Urban RAM: Assessing the Energy Impact of Having People in Cities," ACEEE, http://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2012/data/papers/0193-000350.pdf
Everyone knows that it takes energy to produce anything. The energy used in mining
AND
the landfill methane is recovered based on ¶ California’s experience (CEC 2002).

The impact is extinction

Ehrenfeld 5 – Professor of Ecology @ Rutgers
David, Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources @ Rutgers University, "The Environmental Limits to Globalization", Conservation Biology Vol. 19 No. 2, EBSCO
The known effects of globalization on the environment are numerous and highly significant. Many
AND
have become so thoroughly entwined with ours within the global environment we share.

The alternative is to: reject the affirmative and approach the 1ac harms from the angle of consumption

Princen 2 – Professor of Natural Resources @ U of Michigan
Thomas, Associate Professor of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy in the School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan, where he also co-directs the Workshop on Consumption and Environment, Michael Maniates, Professor of Political Science and Environmental Science at Allegheny College, and Ken Conca, professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland,  "Confronting Consumption," Confronting Consumption, Chapter 1
Given our dissatisfaction with prevailing, fragmentary approaches to consumption and its externalities, we
AND
, to stimulate thought, and to point to new forms of intervention.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 7 | Opponent: Vashon SZ | Judge: Lucas-Bolin, Aly
A. Federal Transportation Policies Cause Cost-Overruns
Edwards ’9 (Chris Edwards  - Joint Economic Committee, United States Congress "Government Cost Overruns | Downsizing the Federal Government." Government Cost Overruns | Downsizing the Federal Government. N.p., march 2009. Web. 21 June 2012. http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/government-cost-overruns.)
Introduction People tend not to spend other people’s money as carefully as they spend their
AND
in 1995 the cost had mushroomed to 244.8 billion.7

B. Means the project will fail or be delayed – turns the aff
Poole and Samuel 2k11
(Robert, and Peter, "Transportation Mega-Projects and Risk," pg online @ http://reason.org/files/transportation_mega_projects_risk_big_dig.pdf-http://reason.org/files/transportation_mega_projects_risk_big_dig.pdf um-ef)
One obvious question provoked by this discussion is: what happens, in a concession
AND
using the concession approach for transportation mega-projects is a strong one.
In the case of typical mega-project risks of cost overruns and insufficient traffic and revenue,
experience has shown that the private sector can and will take on those risks under well-drafted
concession agreements.

Ext Overruns

And, the plan would be subject to cost overruns
Poole and Samuel 2k11
(Robert, and Peter, "Transportation Mega-Projects and Risk," pg online @ http://reason.org/files/transportation_mega_projects_risk_big_dig.pdf-http://reason.org/files/transportation_mega_projects_risk_big_dig.pdf um-ef)
Boston’s Big Dig project is not an isolated case. The track record of transportation
AND
results seen with the Big Dig and documented in the Aalborg University study.

The federal government routinely overspends on transportation infrastructure – empirics prove
Edwards ’12 (Chris Edwards, Director of Fiscal Policy, Cato Institute. "More Government Cost Overruns | Downsizing the Federal Government." More Government Cost Overruns | Downsizing the Federal Government. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 June 2012. http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/more-government-cost-overruns.)
One reason to shift infrastructure financing to the private sector is that governments and their
AND
ball the estimates to get their project approved," he told the WaPo.

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 1 | Opponent: SouthEast PR | Judge: 

The United States federal government should amend Title 22 of US Code (22 U.S.C. 6065) so that a transition government in Cuba is defined as a government that is taking appropriate steps to restitute and/or compensate United States citizens for property taken by the Cuban government, as outlined in the following addendum. The United States federal government should offer to negotiate a Bilateral Investment Treaty with Cuba that includes a Step-Down Restitution Policy.

Current language

Title 22-FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE CHAPTER 69A-CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY (LIBERTAD) SUBCHAPTER II-ASSISTANCE TO FREE AND INDEPENDENT CUBA
§6065. Requirements and factors for determining transition government
(a) Requirements
For the purposes of this chapter, a transition government in Cuba is a government that-
(1) has legalized all political activity;
(2) has released all political prisoners and allowed for investigations of Cuban prisons by appropriate international human rights organizations;
(3) has dissolved the present Department of State Security in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, including the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Rapid Response Brigades; and
(4) has made public commitments to organizing free and fair elections for a new government-
(A) to be held in a timely manner within a period not to exceed 18 months after the transition government assumes power;
(B) with the participation of multiple independent political parties that have full access to the media on an equal basis, including (in the case of radio, television, or other telecommunications media) in terms of allotments of time for such access and the times of day such allotments are given; and
(C) to be conducted under the supervision of internationally recognized observers, such as the Organization of American States, the United Nations, and other election monitors;

(5) has ceased any interference with Radio Marti or Television Marti broadcasts;
(6) makes public commitments to and is making demonstrable progress in-
(A) establishing an independent judiciary;
(B) respecting internationally recognized human rights and basic freedoms as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cuba is a signatory nation;
(C) allowing the establishment of independent trade unions as set forth in conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization, and allowing the establishment of independent social, economic, and political associations;

(7) does not include Fidel Castro or Raul Castro; and
(8) has given adequate assurances that it will allow the speedy and efficient distribution of assistance to the Cuban people.

(b) Additional factors
In addition to the requirements in subsection (a) of this section, in determining whether a transition government in Cuba is in power, the President shall take into account the extent to which that government-
(1) is demonstrably in transition from a communist totalitarian dictatorship to representative democracy;
(2) has made public commitments to, and is making demonstrable progress in-
(A) effectively guaranteeing the rights of free speech and freedom of the press, including granting permits to privately owned media and telecommunications companies to operate in Cuba;
(B) permitting the reinstatement of citizenship to Cuban-born persons returning to Cuba;
(C) assuring the right to private property; and
(D) taking appropriate steps to return to United States citizens (and entities which are 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United States citizens) property taken by the Cuban Government from such citizens and entities on or after January 1, 1959, or to provide equitable compensation to such citizens and entities for such property;
(3) has extradited or otherwise rendered to the United States all persons sought by the United States Department of Justice for crimes committed in the United States; and
(4) has permitted the deployment throughout Cuba of independent and unfettered international human rights monitors.
(Pub. L. 104–114, title II, §205, Mar. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 811.)

Language post-counterplan

Title 22-FOREIGN RELATIONS AND INTERCOURSE CHAPTER 69A-CUBAN LIBERTY AND DEMOCRATIC SOLIDARITY (LIBERTAD) SUBCHAPTER II-ASSISTANCE TO FREE AND INDEPENDENT CUBA
§6065. Requirements and factors for determining transition government
(a) Requirements
For the purposes of this chapter, a transition government in Cuba is a government that is-
(1) has legalized all political activity;
(2) has released all political prisoners and allowed for investigations of Cuban prisons by appropriate international human rights organizations;
(3) has dissolved the present Department of State Security in the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, including the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution and the Rapid Response Brigades; and
(4) has made public commitments to organizing free and fair elections for a new government-
(A) to be held in a timely manner within a period not to exceed 18 months after the transition government assumes power;
(B) with the participation of multiple independent political parties that have full access to the media on an equal basis, including (in the case of radio, television, or other telecommunications media) in terms of allotments of time for such access and the times of day such allotments are given; and
(C) to be conducted under the supervision of internationally recognized observers, such as the Organization of American States, the United Nations, and other election monitors;

(5) has ceased any interference with Radio Marti or Television Marti broadcasts;
(6) makes public commitments to and is making demonstrable progress in-
(A) establishing an independent judiciary;
(B) respecting internationally recognized human rights and basic freedoms as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Cuba is a signatory nation;
(C) allowing the establishment of independent trade unions as set forth in conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labor Organization, and allowing the establishment of independent social, economic, and political associations;

(7) does not include Fidel Castro or Raul Castro; and
(8) has given adequate assurances that it will allow the speedy and efficient distribution of assistance to the Cuban people.

(b) Additional factors
In addition to the requirements in subsection (a) of this section, in determining whether a transition government in Cuba is in power, the President shall take into account the extent to which that government-
(1) is demonstrably in transition from a communist totalitarian dictatorship to representative democracy;
(2) has made public commitments to, and is making demonstrable progress in-
(A) effectively guaranteeing the rights of free speech and freedom of the press, including granting permits to privately owned media and telecommunications companies to operate in Cuba;
(B) permitting the reinstatement of citizenship to Cuban-born persons returning to Cuba;
(C) assuring the right to private property; and
(D) taking appropriate steps to return to United States citizens (and entities which are 50 percent or more beneficially owned by United States citizens) property taken by the Cuban Government from such citizens and entities on or after January 1, 1959, or to provide equitable compensation to such citizens and entities for such property;
(3) has extradited or otherwise rendered to the United States all persons sought by the United States Department of Justice for crimes committed in the United States; and
(4) has permitted the deployment throughout Cuba of independent and unfettered international human rights monitors.
(Pub. L. 104–114, title II, §205, Mar. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 811.)

Setting up a Bilateral Investment Treaty as a mechanism for compensation helps Cuba meet the only condition that is keeping the embargo in place

Mowry, Senior Counsel Xerox Corporation, ’99 (David, "Lifting the Embargo against Cuba Using Vietnam as a Model: A Policy Paper for Modernity" Brooklyn Journal of International Law, 25 Brooklyn J. Int’l L. 229, lexis)
The obstacles that prevent a President from lifting the embargo against Cuba arbitrarily would appear
AND
S. Government would not be liable for any losses.   ~*262~ 

Step-Down Restitution Policy is the best mechanism – flexibility in payment ensures appropriate and quick redress and means Cuba says yes

Espino, JD Candidate Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center, ’8 (Daniel- President and Chairman of the Board of Puente de Jovenes Profesionales Cubanos  and President of the Hispanic Law Students Association, Spring, "Step-Down Restitution: A Proposal For An Equitable Resolution To Confiscated Cuban Property" Nova Law Review, 32 Nova L. Rev. 423, lexis)
 ~*451~  V. IMPLEMENTATION The Step-Down Restitution Policy should be
AND
justice for Cuba’s transgressions by allowing them to receive individualistic and equitable remediation.

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 1 | Opponent: SouthEast PR | Judge: 

A transition toward an economic democracy is underway—economic pressure and democratic opposition are compelling the regime to implement cooperative system

Miami Herald 8/1
"Cuba’s economic reforms debated at Miami conference" 08.01.13http:www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/01/3537519/cubas-economic-reforms-debated.html~23storylink=cpy
That was the quandary under discussion Thursday as economists, political scientists, business executives
AND
it could lead to a significant degree of "economy democracy for Cuba."

INSERT PLAN BOOST REGIME

Cuban reforms are uniquely suited to provide a global model for economic democracy

Harrington 2013
Keith Harrington is a board director with the New Economics Institute, an economics graduate student at the New School for Social Research and the former Maryland/DC Field Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He is also the founder of the social business Shoestring "New Cuba: Beachhead for Economic Democracy Beyond Capitalism" 17 January 2013
Videos for Nonprofits and a contributor to Grist, Truthout and Alternet. Truthout,
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13918-the-new-cuba-a-beachhead-for-economic-democracy-we-should-support
The year 2012 may have been the United Nation’s International Year of Cooperatives, but
AND
World, all of which specialize in helping worker cooperatives grow and thrive.

Economic democracy key to survival

Turnbull 2013
Dr Shann Turnbull has over 100 of his academic papers posted with over 250,000 scholars in the Social Science Research Network web pages at http://ssrn.com/author=26239. He is the highest ranked Australian scholar measured by the number of papers downloaded and is ranked in the top one percent internationally. He was guest faculty for a Special Interest Group in Urban Settlements at MIT in 1987. His Australian Parliamentary Papers 138/1977 and 435/1978 on Economic Development of Aboriginal Communities in the Northern Territory introduced a new system of economic analysis and a new framework for social analysis that was later developed into his PhD Thesis. He created and taught a Corporate Governance elective for the Macquarie University MBA program in 2003/4.  In 2007 he taught graduate students at the University of NSW in the School of Organisation and Management and at the University of Sydney in 2008 in the School of Government and International Relations. He is Fellow of the International Institute for Corporate Governance and Accountability, George Washington University, Law School and is on the editorial advisory boards of academic journals and acts a referee.
 "Sustaining Society with Economic Democracy" International Institute for Self-Governance; Sustainable Money Working Group  January 20, 2013
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2220072
Economic democracy provides an efficient way for sustaining both humanity and the environment. Besides
AND
control is also democratized with network governance to avoid disconnections and social alienation.¶

Tournament: Barkley Forum | Round: 6 | Opponent: Atholton AZ | Judge: Engler, Tyler

1NC

DA

Reforms are begetting political freedoms plan reverses this liberalization

Alemany 12/17
Jacqueline Alemany, CBS News, "Post-handshake, Cuba embargo debate heats up again" December 17, 2013 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/post-handshake-cuba-embargo-debate-heats-up-again/
"It is well proven that economic liberalization creates space for political liberalization," Arturo
AND
-Carone told CBS News. "We need to maintain the pressure."

A transition toward an economic democracy is underway—economic pressure and democratic opposition are compelling the regime to implement cooperative system

Miami Herald 8/1
"Cuba’s economic reforms debated at Miami conference" 08.01.13http:www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/01/3537519/cubas-economic-reforms-debated.html~23storylink=cpy
That was the quandary under discussion Thursday as economists, political scientists, business executives
AND
it could lead to a significant degree of "economy democracy for Cuba."

Cuban reforms are uniquely suited to provide a global model for economic democracy

Harrington 2013
Keith Harrington is a board director with the New Economics Institute, an economics graduate student at the New School for Social Research and the former Maryland/DC Field Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He is also the founder of the social business Shoestring "New Cuba: Beachhead for Economic Democracy Beyond Capitalism" 17 January 2013
Videos for Nonprofits and a contributor to Grist, Truthout and Alternet. Truthout,
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13918-the-new-cuba-a-beachhead-for-economic-democracy-we-should-support
The year 2012 may have been the United Nation’s International Year of Cooperatives, but
AND
World, all of which specialize in helping worker cooperatives grow and thrive.

Economic democracy key to survival

Turnbull 2013
Dr Shann Turnbull has over 100 of his academic papers posted with over 250,000 scholars in the Social Science Research Network web pages at http://ssrn.com/author=26239. He is the highest ranked Australian scholar measured by the number of papers downloaded and is ranked in the top one percent internationally. He was guest faculty for a Special Interest Group in Urban Settlements at MIT in 1987. His Australian Parliamentary Papers 138/1977 and 435/1978 on Economic Development of Aboriginal Communities in the Northern Territory introduced a new system of economic analysis and a new framework for social analysis that was later developed into his PhD Thesis. He created and taught a Corporate Governance elective for the Macquarie University MBA program in 2003/4.  In 2007 he taught graduate students at the University of NSW in the School of Organisation and Management and at the University of Sydney in 2008 in the School of Government and International Relations. He is Fellow of the International Institute for Corporate Governance and Accountability, George Washington University, Law School and is on the editorial advisory boards of academic journals and acts a referee.
 "Sustaining Society with Economic Democracy" International Institute for Self-Governance; Sustainable Money Working Group  January 20, 2013
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2220072
Economic democracy provides an efficient way for sustaining both humanity and the environment. Besides
AND
control is also democratized with network governance to avoid disconnections and social alienation.¶

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: Octas | Opponent: Lexington LM | Judge: Blye, Brittney Call, Hannah Choudhury, Maneo

1NC

Economic reforms are underway – they’ll solve the Island’s economy

Corrales, prof of poli sci @ Amherst, 1/6
Javier "The Cuban Paradox Why is Havana so cautious about reform? Perhaps because its reformer-in-chief is also a stalwart of the revolution." Foreign Policy, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/01/06/the_cuban_paradox JANUARY 6, 2014
Many blame the U.S. embargo for Cuba’s economic underperformance. But the
AND
fiscal revenues from the private sector are up by 18 percent since 2011.

Access to offshore oil provides lifeline to regime

Nerurkar and Sullivan 2011 ~Neelesh Nerurkar-Specialist in Energy Policy for Congressional Research Service and  Mark P. Sullivan -Specialist in Latin American Affairs for CRS "Cuba’s Offshore Oil Development: Background and U.S. Policy Considerations" http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41522.pdf~~
On the opposite side of the policy debate, a number of policy groups and
AND
to break down the U.S. economic embargo on Cuba.78

Cuban reforms are uniquely suited to provide a global model for economic democracy

Harrington 2013
Keith Harrington is a board director with the New Economics Institute, an economics graduate student at the New School for Social Research and the former Maryland/DC Field Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He is also the founder of the social business Shoestring "New Cuba: Beachhead for Economic Democracy Beyond Capitalism" 17 January 2013
Videos for Nonprofits and a contributor to Grist, Truthout and Alternet. Truthout,
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13918-the-new-cuba-a-beachhead-for-economic-democracy-we-should-support
The year 2012 may have been the United Nation’s International Year of Cooperatives, but
AND
World, all of which specialize in helping worker cooperatives grow and thrive.

Economic democracy key to survival

Turnbull 2013
Dr Shann Turnbull has over 100 of his academic papers posted with over 250,000 scholars in the Social Science Research Network web pages at http://ssrn.com/author=26239. He is the highest ranked Australian scholar measured by the number of papers downloaded and is ranked in the top one percent internationally. He was guest faculty for a Special Interest Group in Urban Settlements at MIT in 1987. His Australian Parliamentary Papers 138/1977 and 435/1978 on Economic Development of Aboriginal Communities in the Northern Territory introduced a new system of economic analysis and a new framework for social analysis that was later developed into his PhD Thesis. He created and taught a Corporate Governance elective for the Macquarie University MBA program in 2003/4.  In 2007 he taught graduate students at the University of NSW in the School of Organisation and Management and at the University of Sydney in 2008 in the School of Government and International Relations. He is Fellow of the International Institute for Corporate Governance and Accountability, George Washington University, Law School and is on the editorial advisory boards of academic journals and acts a referee.
 "Sustaining Society with Economic Democracy" International Institute for Self-Governance; Sustainable Money Working Group  January 20, 2013
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2220072
Economic democracy provides an efficient way for sustaining both humanity and the environment. Besides
AND
control is also democratized with network governance to avoid disconnections and social alienation.¶

Tournament: UGA | Round: 1 | Opponent: Pace FQ | Judge: Bontha, Nikhil

1NC

The DA

Liberalization will take hold if the US maintains hardline embargo stance

Allowing emigration now reverses reforms – brain drain
Jain 2014
Avik, Candidate for MA in History @ McGill University "Cuba Must Sink Before It Can Float" 1/26/2014 http://bluffbloggames.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/avik-jain-cuba-must-sink-before-it-can-float/
In recent days, the American government has hinted at loosening the restrictions levied on
AND
while crushing free speech and free markets, is a different story altogether.

A transition toward an economic democracy is underway—economic pressure and democratic opposition are compelling the regime to implement cooperative system

Miami Herald 8/1
"Cuba’s economic reforms debated at Miami conference" 08.01.13http:www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/01/3537519/cubas-economic-reforms-debated.html~23storylink=cpy
That was the quandary under discussion Thursday as economists, political scientists, business executives
AND
it could lead to a significant degree of "economy democracy for Cuba."

Cuban reforms are uniquely suited to provide a global model for economic democracy

Harrington 2013
Keith Harrington is a board director with the New Economics Institute, an economics graduate student at the New School for Social Research and the former Maryland/DC Field Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He is also the founder of the social business Shoestring "New Cuba: Beachhead for Economic Democracy Beyond Capitalism" 17 January 2013
Videos for Nonprofits and a contributor to Grist, Truthout and Alternet. Truthout,
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13918-the-new-cuba-a-beachhead-for-economic-democracy-we-should-support
The year 2012 may have been the United Nation’s International Year of Cooperatives, but
AND
World, all of which specialize in helping worker cooperatives grow and thrive.

Economic democracy key to survival

Turnbull 2013
Dr Shann Turnbull has over 100 of his academic papers posted with over 250,000 scholars in the Social Science Research Network web pages at http://ssrn.com/author=26239. He is the highest ranked Australian scholar measured by the number of papers downloaded and is ranked in the top one percent internationally. He was guest faculty for a Special Interest Group in Urban Settlements at MIT in 1987. His Australian Parliamentary Papers 138/1977 and 435/1978 on Economic Development of Aboriginal Communities in the Northern Territory introduced a new system of economic analysis and a new framework for social analysis that was later developed into his PhD Thesis. He created and taught a Corporate Governance elective for the Macquarie University MBA program in 2003/4.  In 2007 he taught graduate students at the University of NSW in the School of Organisation and Management and at the University of Sydney in 2008 in the School of Government and International Relations. He is Fellow of the International Institute for Corporate Governance and Accountability, George Washington University, Law School and is on the editorial advisory boards of academic journals and acts a referee.
 "Sustaining Society with Economic Democracy" International Institute for Self-Governance; Sustainable Money Working Group  January 20, 2013
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2220072
Economic democracy provides an efficient way for sustaining both humanity and the environment. Besides
AND
control is also democratized with network governance to avoid disconnections and social alienation.¶

Tournament: NDCA | Round: 3 | Opponent: Copell BG | Judge: Campbell, Melanie

Liberalization will take hold if the US maintains hardline embargo stance

Allowing emigration now reverses reforms – brain drain
Jain 2014
Avik, Candidate for MA in History @ McGill University "Cuba Must Sink Before It Can Float" 1/26/2014 http://bluffbloggames.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/avik-jain-cuba-must-sink-before-it-can-float/
In recent days, the American government has hinted at loosening the restrictions levied on
AND
while crushing free speech and free markets, is a different story altogether.

A transition toward an economic democracy is underway—economic pressure and democratic opposition are compelling the regime to implement cooperative system

Miami Herald 8/1
"Cuba’s economic reforms debated at Miami conference" 08.01.13http:www.miamiherald.com/2013/08/01/3537519/cubas-economic-reforms-debated.html~23storylink=cpy
That was the quandary under discussion Thursday as economists, political scientists, business executives
AND
it could lead to a significant degree of "economy democracy for Cuba."

Cuban reforms are uniquely suited to provide a global model for economic democracy

Harrington 2013
Keith Harrington is a board director with the New Economics Institute, an economics graduate student at the New School for Social Research and the former Maryland/DC Field Director for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. He is also the founder of the social business Shoestring "New Cuba: Beachhead for Economic Democracy Beyond Capitalism" 17 January 2013
Videos for Nonprofits and a contributor to Grist, Truthout and Alternet. Truthout,
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13918-the-new-cuba-a-beachhead-for-economic-democracy-we-should-support
The year 2012 may have been the United Nation’s International Year of Cooperatives, but
AND
World, all of which specialize in helping worker cooperatives grow and thrive.

Economic democracy key to survival

Turnbull 2013
Dr Shann Turnbull has over 100 of his academic papers posted with over 250,000 scholars in the Social Science Research Network web pages at http://ssrn.com/author=26239. He is the highest ranked Australian scholar measured by the number of papers downloaded and is ranked in the top one percent internationally. He was guest faculty for a Special Interest Group in Urban Settlements at MIT in 1987. His Australian Parliamentary Papers 138/1977 and 435/1978 on Economic Development of Aboriginal Communities in the Northern Territory introduced a new system of economic analysis and a new framework for social analysis that was later developed into his PhD Thesis. He created and taught a Corporate Governance elective for the Macquarie University MBA program in 2003/4.  In 2007 he taught graduate students at the University of NSW in the School of Organisation and Management and at the University of Sydney in 2008 in the School of Government and International Relations. He is Fellow of the International Institute for Corporate Governance and Accountability, George Washington University, Law School and is on the editorial advisory boards of academic journals and acts a referee.
 "Sustaining Society with Economic Democracy" International Institute for Self-Governance; Sustainable Money Working Group  January 20, 2013
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2220072
Economic democracy provides an efficient way for sustaining both humanity and the environment. Besides
AND
control is also democratized with network governance to avoid disconnections and social alienation.¶

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 6 | Opponent: College Prep OT | Judge: 

The United States federal government should add every country to the list of countries governed by Section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act. The United States federal government should cease and ban future projects of regime change, economic sanctions, military base expansion, military occupation, military assistance for strategic partners, isolation of disapproved political movements, and counterterrorism operations to countries governed by Section 6(j) of the Export Administration Act.

Counterplan solves – the aff takes Cuba off the list of state sponsors of terrorism, the counterplan adds every country to the list of state sponsors of terrorism but says being on the list of state sponsors of terrorism prevents the US from being able to militarily or coercively intervene in that country’s affairs. Your author concludes the only reason the list is problematic is it allows neoconservative approaches towards those countries, but we solve that better

Jackson, Professor in International Politics at Aberystwyth University, 2007 ~Richard, "Critical reflection on counter-sanctuary discourse",  In: M. Innes, ed. Denial of sanctuary: understanding terrorist safe havens, p. 30-33~
A related problem for the "terrorist sanctuaries" discourse is that it has always
AND
approaches to terrorism and the ongoing problem of civilian-directed state terror.

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 3 | Opponent: St Ignatius Cleveland LP | Judge: Kyle Demming

Obama’s refocused his efforts on securing an increase to the debt limit – his standing on the Hill ~read PC~ will determine his success

Pace 9/12
Julie, AP White House correspondent, Syria debate on hold, Obama refocuses on agenda, The Fresno Bee, 9/12/13, http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/09/12/3493538/obama-seeks-to-focus-on-domestic.html
With a military strike against Syria on hold, President Barack Obama tried Thursday to
AND
Speaker John Boehner on Thursday said the GOP will insist on curbing spending.

Economic engagement with Mexico is politically divisive despite supporters

Wilson 13 – Associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International. Center for Scholars (Christopher E., January, "A U.S.-Mexico Economic Alliance: Policy Options for a Competitive Region," http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/new_ideas_us_mexico_relations.pdf)
At a time when Mexico is poised to experience robust economic growth, a manufacturing
AND
action to support regional exporters more politically divisive than it ought to be. 

Default will trigger the largest financial disaster in history

Davidson 9/10
Adam, co-founder of NPR’s "Planet Money," Our Debt to Society, New York Times, 9/10/13, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/magazine/our-debt-to-society.html?pagewanted=all
If the debt ceiling isn’t lifted again this fall, some serious financial decisions will
AND
free asset more risky, the entire global economy becomes riskier and costlier.

Nuclear war

Friedberg and Schoenfeld 8  
Aaron, Prof. Politics. And IR @ Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School and Visiting Scholar @ Witherspoon Institute, and Gabriel, Senior Editor of Commentary and Wall Street Journal, "The Dangers of a Diminished America" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122455074012352571.html
Then there are the dolorous consequences of a potential collapse of the world’s financial architecture
AND
of these countries seek to divert attention from internal travails with external adventures.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 2 | Opponent: Highland BR | Judge: Eyzaguirre, Gus
1NC

The 1ACs knowledge production about Latin America continues to prop up the US-centric approach to fact-gathering they criticize

Alverez, Arias, and Hal ’11 – respectively - Director, Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies; Professor of Latin American Literature University of Texas at Austin; Professor of Anthropology and of African and African Diaspora Studies University of Texas at Austin (Sonia E., Arturo, and Charles R., Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, "Re-visioning Latin American Studies in the United States," Vol. 17, No. 2, December 2011, 131-145
We maintain that Latin American Studies must be de-centered if it is to
AND
geopolitical dominance. in other respects retained dominant disciplinary and¶ epistemological assumptions.

Despite their attempt to deconstruct current imperialist practices, the aff simply replaces the military with the academy – their knowledge production about the Latin American subaltern gives privilege to Western forms of thinking

Grosfoguel, Professor Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, ’7 (Ramon, "The Epistemic Decolonial Turn" Cultural Studies, Vol 21 Issue 2-3, p 211-223, T26F Online)
In October 1998, there was a conference/dialogue at Duke University between the
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within its domains of thought and practice a coloniality of power/knowledge.

Vote neg to negate economic engagement with Latin America through the lens of epistemic disobedience

You can’t read 8 minutes of colonial thought bad and then a plan text that affirms economic engagement – the alternative uses epistemic disobedience not a means to affirm the practice they criticize but instead to negate it – embracing a decolonial epistemology is the best way to rupture current conceptions of Area Studies that guarantee intellectual exploitation

Grosfoguel, Professor Ethnic Studies at UC Berkeley, ’7 (Ramon, "The Epistemic Decolonial Turn" Cultural Studies, Vol 21 Issue 2-3, p 211-223, T26F Online)
Globalization studies, political-economy paradigms and world-system analysis, with only
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think about social change and social transformation in a non-reductionist way.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 2 | Opponent: Highland BR | Judge: Eyzaguirre, Gus

A – Interpretation:

Topical affirmatives must affirm the resolution through instrumental defense of action by the United States Federal Government. This can come as a result of _, but it must be a definitive example of the resolution.

B – Definitions

Should denotes an expectation of enacting a plan

American Heritage Dictionary 2000 (Dictionary.com)
should. The will to do something or have something take place: I shall go out if I feel like it.  

Federal government is the central government in Washington DC

Encarta Online 2005, 
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500781_6/United_States_(Government).html~~23howtocite**
United States (Government), the combination of federal, state, and local laws, bodies, and agencies that is responsible for carrying out the operations of the United States. The federal government of the United States is centered in Washington, D.C.-http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576320/Washington_D_C.html

Resolved implies a policy

Louisiana House 3-8-2005, http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm-http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm**
Resolution  A legislative instrument that generally is used for making declarations,  stating policies, and making decisions where some other form is not  required. A bill includes the constitutionally required enacting clause; a  resolution uses the term "resolved". Not subject to a time limit for  introduction nor to governor’s veto. ( Const. Art. III, §17(B) and House  Rules 8.11 , 13.1 , 6.8 , and 7.4)

Its means belonging to

Cambridge Dictionary, no date ( "Its", http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/its)
 Definition belonging to or relating to something that has already been mentioned The dog hurt its paw. Their house has its own swimming pool. The company increased its profits. I prefer the second option - its advantages are simplicity and cheapness. 

Specifically, through discussing paths of government action, debate teaches us to be better organizational decision makers. Learning about the uniquely different considerations of organizations is necessary to affecting change in a world overwhelmingly dominated by institutions.

Algoso 2011 – Masters in Public Administration (May 31, Dave, "Why I got an MPA: Because organizations matter" http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/why-i-got-an-mpa-because-organizations-matter/-http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/why-i-got-an-mpa-because-organizations-matter/)
 Because organizations matter. Forget the stories of heroic individuals written in your middle
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right program for you and use your time well, can do both.

Education - Scholarly research must be tied to pragmatic public policy – their academic theory framework makes policymaking moot

Walt, Professor IR Harvard, ’12 (Stephen, September 18 "Theory and Policy in International Relations: Some Personal Reflections" Yale Journal of International Affairs, Vol 7 Issue 2, http://yalejournal.org/2012/09/theory-and-policy-in-international-relations-some-personal-reflections-by-stephen-m-walt/)
I. INTRODUCTION  Most social scientists would like to think that their work helps solve
AND
why should universities continue to allocate scarce resources to our departments? ? Y

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 1 | Opponent: River Hill SS | Judge: Micha Antonucci
1NC Framework (Complete)

A – Interpretation:

Topical affirmatives must affirm the resolution through instrumental defense of action by the United States Federal Government. This can come as a result of _, but it must be a definitive example of the resolution.

B – Definitions

Should denotes an expectation of enacting a plan

American Heritage Dictionary 2000 (Dictionary.com)
should. The will to do something or have something take place: I shall go out if I feel like it.  

Federal government is the central government in Washington DC

Encarta Online 2005, 
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500781_6/United_States_(Government).html~~23howtocite**
United States (Government), the combination of federal, state, and local laws, bodies, and agencies that is responsible for carrying out the operations of the United States. The federal government of the United States is centered in Washington, D.C.-http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576320/Washington_D_C.html

Resolved implies a policy

Louisiana House 3-8-2005, http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm-http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm**
Resolution  A legislative instrument that generally is used for making declarations,  stating policies, and making decisions where some other form is not  required. A bill includes the constitutionally required enacting clause; a  resolution uses the term "resolved". Not subject to a time limit for  introduction nor to governor’s veto. ( Const. Art. III, §17(B) and House  Rules 8.11 , 13.1 , 6.8 , and 7.4)

Its means belonging to

Cambridge Dictionary, no date ( "Its", http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/its)
 Definition belonging to or relating to something that has already been mentioned The dog hurt its paw. Their house has its own swimming pool. The company increased its profits. I prefer the second option - its advantages are simplicity and cheapness. 

5 net-bennies to our interpretation –

First is Decision-making –

The primacy purpose of debate is to increase our skills as decision-makers – we make decisions every day that affect the quality our own lives and the lives of those around us

Steinberg, Lecturer Communication Studies U Miami, and Freeley, Attorney, ’8 (David and Austin, "Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making" p 45)
After several days of intense debate, first the United States House of Representatives and
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customer for our product, or a vote for our favored political candidate.

The route to improving our decision-making skills is through a discussion of public policy

Mutually accessible information – there is a broad base of research about government policy – this ensures informed, predictable, and in depth debates over the aff’s decisions – individual policymaking is highly variable depending on the individual and inaccessible to outsiders

Harder decisions make better decision-makers – public policy decisions are magnitudes harder than private decisions – we know that these plans never happen but imagining the consequences of the government enacting high-stakes public policies makes personal policies easier by comparison

Specifically, through discussing paths of government action, debate teaches us to be better organizational decision makers. Learning about the uniquely different considerations of organizations is necessary to affecting change in a world overwhelmingly dominated by institutions.

Algoso 2011 – Masters in Public Administration (May 31, Dave, "Why I got an MPA: Because organizations matter" http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/why-i-got-an-mpa-because-organizations-matter/-http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/why-i-got-an-mpa-because-organizations-matter/)
 Because organizations matter. Forget the stories of heroic individuals written in your middle
AND
right program for you and use your time well, can do both.

Second is Predictability –

The resolution proposes the question the negative is prepared to answer – even if it’s good to talk about the 1AC they have to prove that we could have logically anticipated it – this question comes prior to the merits of the aff because it implicates our ability to debate

Predictability is the internal link to solving the aff – debate has the ability to change people’s attitudes BECAUSE it forces pre-round internal deliberation on a focused topic of debate

Goodin and Niemeyer, Australian National University, ’3 (Robert and Simon, "When Does Deliberation Begin? Internal Reflection versus Public Discussion in Deliberative Democracy" Political Studies, Vol 50, p 627-649, WileyInterscience)
What happened in this particular case, as in any particular case, was in
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least one possible way of doing that for each of those key features.

Third is limits –

They explode the number of potential affs to anything that has a loose relationship to economic engagement – making it impossible for the neg to engage in crucial pre-round research

Limits are an inevitable part of society – learning to exercise creativity within those limits celebrates life – trying to unlimit ourselves creates an unbearable burden

Ramaekers 2001 Stefan, Teaching to lie and obey: Nietzsche and Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education 35.2
The nature of morality inspires us to stay far from an excessive freedom and cultivates
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this embeddedness can be shown in at least four aspects of Nietzsche’s writings.

Fourth is Education –

Scholarly research must be tied to pragmatic public policy – their academic theory framework makes policymaking moot

Walt, Professor IR Harvard, ’12 (Stephen, September 18 "Theory and Policy in International Relations: Some Personal Reflections" Yale Journal of International Affairs, Vol 7 Issue 2, http://yalejournal.org/2012/09/theory-and-policy-in-international-relations-some-personal-reflections-by-stephen-m-walt/)
I. INTRODUCTION  Most social scientists would like to think that their work helps solve
AND
why should universities continue to allocate scarce resources to our departments? ? Y   

Policy as a starting point is especially important in the context of racial politics

Themba-Nixon 2K – Makani Themba-Nixon, "Changing the Rules: What Public Policy Means for Organizing," Colorlines. Oakland: Jul 31, 2000. Vol. 3, Iss. 2; pg. 12
The flourish and passion with which she made the distinction said everything. Policy is
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arsenal, but it is a tool we simply can’t afford to ignore.

Fifth is groupthink –

They have decided to write their own resolution instead of affirming the one we already have – even if the resolution is incorrect having a devil’s advocate for deliberation is crucial to critical thinking skills and avoiding groupthink

Mercier, Professor Politics UPenn, and Landemore, Professor PolSci Yale, ’11 (Hugo and Helene, "Reasoning is for arguing: Understanding the successes and failures of deliberation" Political Psychology, http://sites.google.com/site/hugomercier/publications)
Reasoning can function outside of its normal conditions when it is used purely internally.
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(e.g. Schweiger, Sandberg, 26 Ragan, 1986).

Tournament: NDCA | Round: 1 | Opponent: Niles North CK | Judge: Allen, Sam

A – Interpretation:

Topical affirmatives must affirm the resolution through instrumental defense of action by the United States Federal Government. This can come as a result of, but it must be a definitive example of the resolution.

B – Definitions

Should denotes an expectation of enacting a plan

American Heritage Dictionary 2000 (Dictionary.com)
should. The will to do something or have something take place: I shall go out if I feel like it.  

Federal government is the central government in Washington DC

Encarta Online 2005, 
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_1741500781_6/United_States_(Government).html~~23howtocite**
United States (Government), the combination of federal, state, and local laws, bodies, and agencies that is responsible for carrying out the operations of the United States. The federal government of the United States is centered in Washington, D.C.-http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761576320/Washington_D_C.html

Resolved implies a policy

Louisiana House 3-8-2005, http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm-http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm**
Resolution  A legislative instrument that generally is used for making declarations,  stating policies, and making decisions where some other form is not  required. A bill includes the constitutionally required enacting clause; a  resolution uses the term "resolved". Not subject to a time limit for  introduction nor to governor’s veto. ( Const. Art. III, §17(B) and House  Rules 8.11 , 13.1 , 6.8 , and 7.4)

Its means belonging to

Cambridge Dictionary, no date ( "Its", http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/its)
 Definition belonging to or relating to something that has already been mentioned The dog hurt its paw. Their house has its own swimming pool. The company increased its profits. I prefer the second option - its advantages are simplicity and cheapness. 

Five net-benefits to our interpretation-

First is Decision-making –

Specifically, through discussing paths of government action, debate teaches us to be better organizational decision makers. Learning about the uniquely different considerations of organizations is necessary to affecting change in a world overwhelmingly dominated by institutions.

Algoso 2011 – Masters in Public Administration (May 31, Dave, "Why I got an MPA: Because organizations matter" http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/why-i-got-an-mpa-because-organizations-matter/-http://findwhatworks.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/why-i-got-an-mpa-because-organizations-matter/)
 Because organizations matter. Forget the stories of heroic individuals written in your middle
AND
right program for you and use your time well, can do both.

Second is Predictability –

Predictability is the internal link to solving the aff – debate has the ability to change people’s attitudes BECAUSE it forces pre-round internal deliberation on a focused topic of debate

Goodin and Niemeyer, Australian National University, ’3 (Robert and Simon, "When Does Deliberation Begin? Internal Reflection versus Public Discussion in Deliberative Democracy" Political Studies, Vol 50, p 627-649, WileyInterscience)
What happened in this particular case, as in any particular case, was in
AND
least one possible way of doing that for each of those key features.

Third is limits –

Fourth is Education –

Scholarly research must be tied to pragmatic public policy – their academic theory framework makes policymaking moot

Walt, Professor IR Harvard, ’12 (Stephen, September 18 "Theory and Policy in International Relations: Some Personal Reflections" Yale Journal of International Affairs, Vol 7 Issue 2, http://yalejournal.org/2012/09/theory-and-policy-in-international-relations-some-personal-reflections-by-stephen-m-walt/)
I. INTRODUCTION  Most social scientists would like to think that their work helps solve
AND
why should universities continue to allocate scarce resources to our departments? ? Y   

Fifth is groupthink –

They have decided to write their own resolution instead of affirming the one we already have – even if the resolution is incorrect having a devil’s advocate for deliberation is crucial to critical thinking skills and avoiding groupthink

Mercier, Professor Politics UPenn, and Landemore, Professor PolSci Yale, ’11 (Hugo and Helene, "Reasoning is for arguing: Understanding the successes and failures of deliberation" Political Psychology, http://sites.google.com/site/hugomercier/publications)
Reasoning can function outside of its normal conditions when it is used purely internally.
AND
(e.g. Schweiger, Sandberg, 26 Ragan, 1986).

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: Doubles | Opponent: Bronx Science YK | Judge: Aguirre, Matthew Horowitz, Matt Owens, Miles

Framing

Nuclear war causes extinction—

1) Nuclear winter—new science proves

Toon and Robock 10, Toon: chair of the Dept of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and a member of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado @ Boulder. Robock is a Proff of atmospheric science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey Local Nuclear War, Global Suffering; January 2010; Scientific American Magazine; 8 Page(s), http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreview26ISSUEID_CHAR=944156A6-237D-9F22-E8E572150DCA8E6526ARTICLEID_CHAR=97CA0A88-237D-9F22-E861FD76EBEE2611)
Twenty-five years ago international teams of scientists showed that a nuclear war between
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5 degree C for a year; 1816 became known as "The Year

2) Famine and climate change—our studies are peer reviewed

Star 9, University of Sydney, 8/2/09, (Stephen Starr and Peter King, , "Nuclear suicide", Sunday, 02 August 2009, http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20090208-19496.html)
But there is little evidence yet that either the government or the Commission is fully
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the populations of any nation dependent upon grain imports would be at risk.

3) Even limited conflicts have multiplier effects

Reville 2-4-2010
William, associate professor of biochemistry and public awareness of science officer at UCC, "Nuclear winter weather forecast"
The Irish Times, http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2010/0204/1224263727687.html
You might think that the probability of nuclear winter has all but disappeared now that
AND
the earth to below temperatures experienced for the past 1,000 years.

Tournament: Crestian | Round: 5 | Opponent: Fort Lauderdale MH | Judge: Gregg, Mary

1NC

The United States should remove regulatory barriers to nuclear investment in the US and Mexico, streamline licensing procedures for new reactors, and allow reciprocal exports.

The CP levels the energy playing field
Koplow, United Nations Environment Programme’s Working Group on Economic Instruments, MBA – Harvard, and Vancko, project manager – nuclear/climate @ UCS, ’11
(Doug and Ellen, "Nuclear Power: Still Not Viable without Subsidies," Union of Concerned Scientists, February)

Reduce, not expand, subsidies to the nuclear power industry. Public subsidies to
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expand government involvement in an arena where it is poorly equipped to engage.
Federal involvement in markets should instead focus on encouraging firms involved in nuclear power—some of the largest corpora¬tions in the world—to create new models for internal risk pooling and to develop advanced power contracts that enable high-risk projects to move forward without additional taxpayer risk. The following recommendations discuss where existing subsidies to the industry should be reduced or eliminated.
• Award subsidies to low-carbon energy sources on the basis of a competitive bidding process across all competing technologies. Subsidies should be awarded to those approaches able to achieve emissions reductions at the lowest pos¬sible cost per unit of abatement—not on the basis of congressional earmarks for specific types of energy.
Most federal programs that benefit nuclear power are technology-specific subsidies to miti¬gate such
AND
of their bids to accept the lowest subsidy per kilowatt-hour delivered.

Bubble DA—high costs mean no large-scale commercialization, which takes out every aff advantage—and more subsidies boost cost overruns by increasing reactor complexity and scale—that makes the industry unsustainable
Cooper, senior research fellow for economic analysis – Institute for Energy and the Environment @ Vermont Law School, PhD – Yale University, ’10
(Mark, "POLICY CHALLENGES OF NUCLEAR REACTOR CONSTRUCTION: COST ESCALATION AND CROWDING OUT ALTERNATIVES," September)

A decade and half after the start of the commercial deployment of nuclear reactors in
AND
the industry hoped would flow from learning processes had not come to pass.
By the end of the 1960s, there was considerable evidence that the 1964-
AND
a powerful tool for lowering the cost of electricity from nuclear power plants…
Costs normally stabilize and often begin to decline fairly soon after a product’s
AND
more important, cost estimates did not become more accurate with time.23
Writing over three decades later, Grubler concludes that this analysis applies equally to the
AND
-a kind costs.24 The cycle of cost escalation is repeated.
The French nuclear case has also demonstrated the limits of the learning paradigm: the
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is also quite variable, defying approximations by simple learning-curve models…
In symmetry to the often evoked "learning-by-doing" phenomenon, there appears not only to be ?forgetting by not doing? (Rosegger, 1991) but also "forgetting by doing," suggesting that technology learning possibilities are not only structured by the actors and institutional settings involved, but are also fundamental characteristics of technologies themselves.
In the case of nuclear, a theoretical framework explaining this negative learning was discussed
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negative learning" in the terminology of learning/experience curve models.25
An analysis of the historical experience identifies specific characteristics of nuclear reactor construction that cause
AND
. The U.S. experience was described as follows in 1978:
After more than a decade of experience with large light water nuclear power plants, important engineering and design changes were still being made. This is contrary to experience with other complex industrial products…
For 15 years many of those most closely identified with reactor commercialization have stubbornly refused
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disappointingly slight resemblance to those associated with 100 to 200 MW plants.27
The French had the same experience, as suggested by Grubler:
First, while the nuclear industry is often quick to point at public opposition and
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option has failed invariably due to the corresponding increases in technological complexity.28
Another aspect of the negative learning process entails excess capacity. The hope that learning and scale economies will bring costs down requires the industry to commit to large runs of large reactor construction, but the size of the projects and their cost leads to problems and threats of excess capacity. The solution to the rising cost of units creates a new systemic problem of excess capacity.

Tournament: Crestian | Round: 3 | Opponent: Johns Creek DX | Judge: Bibas, Mark

CP Text: The United States federal government should repeal the Harbor Maintenance Tax.

Repealing HMT is key to sustainable SSS

Frittelli, 11—Specialist in Transportation policy (John, "Can Marine Highways Deliver",  Congressional Research Service, 1/14/11, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41590.pdf)//JLip
Policymakers have been discussing the potential for shifting some freight traffic from roads to river and coastal waterways as a means of mitigating highway congestion. While waterways carry substantial amounts of bulk commodities (e.g., grain and coal), seldom are they used to transport containerized cargo (typically finished goods and manufactured parts) between points within the
contiguous United States. Trucks, which carry most of this cargo, and railroads
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requiring the Department of Transportation (DOT) to identify waterways that could potentially
serve as "marine highways" and providing grant funding for their development. DOT has selected several marine highways for grant funding totaling about 2480 million. To be eligible, a marine highway must be an alternative to a congested highway or railroad and be financially viable in a reasonable time frame.
The prevailing perception is that coastal and river navigation is too slow to attract shippers that utilize trucks and that the additional cargo handling costs at ports negate any potential savings from using waterborne transport. While there are other significant obstacles as well, under highly specific circumstances, marine highways might attract truck freight. Freight corridors characterized by an imbalance in the directional flow of container equipment; shippers with low
value, heavy cargoes, and waterside production facilities; and connections with coastal hub
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is limited. In many instances, marine highways have succeeded in capturing only
a negligible share of container shipments along a given route. One can question, therefore, whether marine highways will divert enough trucks to provide public benefits commensurate with their costs. Congress may also consider repealing a port use charge, the harbor maintenance tax, for containerized domestic shipments as a means of spurring marine highway development.  Repealing the tax raises equity issues because waterway users already benefit from reduced
federal user charges compared to trucks, and their other competitor, the railroads, are largely selffinanced.  The Jones Act is arguably another potential statutory hindrance to marine highway development, particularly coastal highways. This act requires that all domestic shipping be carried in U.S. built ships. Critics claim the act raises the cost of domestic shipping to such a degree that it cannot compete with truck and rail.

Tournament: NDCA | Round: 6 | Opponent: Niles North CH | Judge: Rodriguez, Chris

Their consumerization of Assata Shakur is a commodified and perverse form of hero-worship – Assata Shakur is valorized only as a mother who watches over her revolutionary children that weren’t alive during the height of her activism – this reinforces racial stereotypes and ensures the revolution rests upon a spectacle

Johnson, PhD Candidate Ohio State University, ’8 (Lakesia, "The Iconography of The Black Female Revolutionary And New Narratives Of Justice" PhD Dissertation)
Both of these quotes not only point to the importance of Davis as a radical
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the inherent inferiority of Black men and the emasculating nature of Black women.

The idolization of Assata Shakur as a black female revolutionary is counterproductive for the fight against anti-blackness – it causes us to ignore the stories of rank-and-file organizers that are the true success story of the revolution and reinscribes the idea of a culture founded on elitism and idolatry

James, Professor Ethnic Studies at University of Colorado Boulder, ’99 (Joy, "Black Revolutionary Icons and ’Neoslave’ Narratives" Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, Vol 5 No 2, p 135-159, T26FOnline)
Icons, Gender Politics and `Panther Women’ Influential male narratives have helped to masculinise
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spotlight. (Davis also had the international platform of the Communist Party.)

The 1AC speaks a lot about Assata but not a lot about what Assata wanted to do – rather than affirm the spirit of Assata Shakur, we affirm a leaderless spirit that focuses our energy not on Assata, but on her goal, fighting the prison-industrial complex – this is not mutually exclusive with the aff’s affirmation of Assata’s spirit, but it does beg the question of why their affirmation of Assata Shakur is the best political and scholastic engagement for revolutionary action – Assata would not affirm the 1AC’s hero-worship obsessed with her life, she wanted to start with the prison complex instead

James, Professor Ethnic Studies at University of Colorado Boulder, ’99 (Joy, "Black Revolutionary Icons and ’Neoslave’ Narratives" Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, Vol 5 No 2, p 135-159, T26FOnline)
During the NBC special, one interviewee suggested that the New Jersey police would do everything to extradite Shakur from Cuba, including `kidnapping’ and bounty hunters. Shakur responds in her `Open Letter’ that:
I guess the theory is that if they could kidnap millions of Africans from Africa
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a maroon woman. I will never voluntarily accept the condition of slavery ...
Perhaps the most unsettling passage of the letter is where Shakur echoes Martin Luther King, Jr’ s eschatological vision on 3 April 1968 just prior to his assassination. King states that he does `not mind’ dying because he has been to the mountain top. Shakur observes:
Everybody has to die sometime, and all I want is to go with dignity
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ancestors to be part of the struggle to ensure that they have one.
Arguing for young people’ s right to `live free from political repression’ , Shakur urges the reader s of her letter to work to free all political prisoners and abolish the death penalty with `a special, urgent appeal’ for struggles for the life of Mumia Abu-Jamal, the only political prisoner on death row.26

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 3 | Opponent: St Ignatius Cleveland LP | Judge: Kyle Demming

Development and economic engagement policies are economic imperialism hidden by benevolence —-this encourages countervailing forces which turn the case.

Veltmeyer, ’11 - Professor of Development Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas in Mexico and Professor of Sociology and International Development Studies at St. Mary’s University, (Henry, "us imperialism in latin america: then and now, here and there," estudios críticos del desarrollo, vol. I, núm. 1, segundo semestre de 2011, pp. 89–123, http://estudiosdeldesarrollo.net/critical/rev1/3.pdf)//A-Berg

Finding itself in the wake of a second world war as the dominant economic power
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the case of the economic imperialism that came into play in the 1990s.

Unlimited imperialist conquest inevitably results in extinction, every modern war has been a byproduct of the spread of colonialism

Harvey ’06
~David Harvey, "Spaces of Global Capitalism: A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development", May 17 2006, Chapter 13~
At times of savage devaluation, interregional rivalries typically degenerate into struggles over who is
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of the world, but by the destruction and death of global war.

The alt is to decolonize the 1AC —- reject US intervention in Latin America to interrupt the imperial underpinnings of the 1AC

Taylor 12 - Lecturer in Latin American Studies BA University of London, Queen Mary MPhil University of Glasgow PhD University of Manchester, (Lucy, "Decolonizing International Relations: Perspectives from Latin America," International Studies Review, Volume 14, Issue 3,  11 SEP 2012, 14, 386–400, Wiley Online Library)A-Berg

The aim of this paper is to think differently about International Relations (IR)
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, locating its critique at the heartland of international relationships and International Relations.

Economic development perpetuates the commodification of the environment and North-South divide making violence inevitable

Howard, Hume, and Oslender 07 (*David Howard – PhD in Latin America Studies from the University of Oxford; he is a lecturer in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford, Mo Hume – PhD in Latin American studies from the University of Liverpool; she is a professor of Development and Latin American Politics (Department of Politics) at the University of Glasgow, and *Ulrich Oslender – PhD in Hispanic Studies from the University of Glasgow; former research fellow at the University of Glasgow in the Department of Geography, November 2007, "Violence, fear, and development in Latin America: a critical overview", http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/25548278.pdf) MD

Others, however, have criticised ’Mrs Brundtland’s disenchanted cosmos’ and the fact that sustainable
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and for the affirmation of truly emancipatory political projects of self-affirmation.

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 1 | Opponent: Whitney Young RK | Judge: Butler, Aniela

1NC

PTX
Obama’s intensive lobbying is staving off new sanctions against Iran
Warrick and O’Keefe 11/19
Joby Warrick and Ed O’Keefe Washington Post "New Iran sanctions not likely while nuclear talks still in progress, key senators say" November 19
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/new-iran-sanctions-not-likely-while-nuclear-talks-still-in-progress-key-senators-say/2013/11/19/251460a4-5163-11e3-9fe0-fd2ca728e67c_story.html
Lawmakers acknowledged Tuesday that they were unlikely to impose new economic sanctions on Iran while
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agreement on the first significant restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program in a decade.
Deal key to regional stability —- multiple scenarios
Saless 9-10 (Shahir Shahid,- political analyst and journalist, writing primarily about Iran’s domestic and foreign affairs  for the Asia Times and IranAmerica "A Chance at Last")
Iran’s economy is in crisis. Inflation is skyrocketing, unemployment—especially among the
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else to lose, it could take an irrational and potentially dangerous path.  

Economic engagement with Mexico is politically divisive despite supporters
Wilson 13 – Associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International. Center for Scholars (Christopher E., January, "A U.S.-Mexico Economic Alliance: Policy Options for a Competitive Region," http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/new_ideas_us_mexico_relations.pdf)
At a time when Mexico is poised to experience robust economic growth, a manufacturing
AND
action to support regional exporters more politically divisive than it ought to be.
Global nuclear war
Primakov ’09 - Doctor of Economics, Professor, executive member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Head of the Center for Situational Analysis at the Russian Academy of Sciences
Yevgeny Primakov is President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation; Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; member of the Editorial Board of Russia in Global Affairs. The Fundamental Conflict: The Middle East Problem in the Context of International Relations. Russia in Global Affairs Vol 7 No 3. 2009. http://kms1.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/105702/ichaptersection_singledocument/71a40dca-23cb-411d-9c5d-a7ce495e2522/en/12.pdf
The Middle East conflict is unparalleled in terms of its potential for spreading globally.
AND
seems that President Obama’s position does not completely rule out such a possibility.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 4 | Opponent: GBN AR | Judge: Saiedian, Ideen

Obama is mounting full court press to prevent new sanctions that would wreck the interim nuclear deal with Iran

The Nation 12/3
"Obama seeks pause in  new Iran sanctions"
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/international/03-Dec-2013/obama-seeks-pause-in-new-iran-sanctions
The Obama administration is pushing Congress to hold off on new sanctions against Iran that
AND
anonymity as the administration embarks on the delicate effort to shift congressional views.

Convincing Congress to fund port-of-entry funding costs political capital

Halverstadt 13
(Lisa, April, "Waiting on Congress to Ease Border Waits," http://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/04/25/waiting-on-congress-to-ease-border-waits/)
Funding to improve the world’s busiest land border crossing made it into President Barack Obama’s
AND
not going to pretend that we’re going to do this," Issa said.

Deal key to regional stability —- multiple scenarios

Saless 9-10 (Shahir Shahid,- political analyst and journalist, writing primarily about Iran’s domestic and foreign affairs  for the Asia Times and IranAmerica "A Chance at Last")
Iran’s economy is in crisis. Inflation is skyrocketing, unemployment—especially among the
AND
else to lose, it could take an irrational and potentially dangerous path.  

Global nuclear war

Primakov ’09 - Doctor of Economics, Professor, executive member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Head of the Center for Situational Analysis at the Russian Academy of Sciences
Yevgeny Primakov is President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation; Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; member of the Editorial Board of Russia in Global Affairs. The Fundamental Conflict: The Middle East Problem in the Context of International Relations. Russia in Global Affairs Vol 7 No 3. 2009. http://kms1.isn.ethz.ch/serviceengine/Files/ISN/105702/ichaptersection_singledocument/71a40dca-23cb-411d-9c5d-a7ce495e2522/en/12.pdf
The Middle East conflict is unparalleled in terms of its potential for spreading globally.
AND
seems that President Obama’s position does not completely rule out such a possibility.

Tournament: Crestian | Round: 5 | Opponent: Fort Lauderdale MH | Judge: Gregg, Mary

Japan DA

New reactor types trade off with Japanese exports

Parthemore, fellow and director – National Security Program @ Center for a New American Security, ’11
(Christine, "Disaster in Japan: Nuclear Energy, the Economy and the U.S.-Japan Alliance," CNAS Policy Brief, March)
Public opinion on nuclear energy will change in the United States and globally in response
AND
– will face new energy investment choices in the wake of this tragedy.
Shifts in countries that have newly embraced nuclear energy – such as those in Southeast
AND
to hasten development of next generation nuclear reactors or rely on existing technologies?
Many companies and governments are pushing a range of blueprints for "generation IV"
AND
a world leader in mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel systems.14
~footnote 14: Newly-importing countries’ choices will also have implications for South Korea, Canada, China, Brazil, France, Russia and all nuclear technology exporting nations. This niche area of exports can be extremely lucrative. For example, a South Korea-led consortium won a 2009 deal with the United Arab Emirates for four reactors, totaling 20 billion dollars. See "South Korea awarded UAE nuclear power contract," BBC News (27 December 2009), http://news.bbc. co.uk/2/hi/8431904.stm.~

Key to Japan’s economy

NYT, 10/10/’11
("Japan Courts the Money in Reactors")
TOKYO — Even as Japan plans to phase out nuclear power as too risky for
AND
Japan’s nuclear policy, had been a vocal supporter of continued nuclear exports.

Causes Asian wars and global economic collapse

Auslin, resident scholar – AEI, 2/17/’9
(Michael, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123483257056995903.html-http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123483257056995903.html)
Recently, many economists and scholars in the U.S. have been looking
AND
stimulus package, creating a trapdoor under the U.S. economy.

Miscalc and nuclear war

Landy, National Security Expert @ Knight Ridder, 3/10/’2K
(Jonathan, Knight Ridder, lexis)
Few if any experts think China and Taiwan, North Korea and South Korea,
AND
that totaled 24600 billion last year, according to the Commerce Department.

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 3 | Opponent: St Ignatius Cleveland LP | Judge: Kyle Demming

Energy reform will pass now

Rozental 8-19 – Senior Fellow @ Brookings
(Andres, "Is Peña Nieto’s Energy Reform Plan Bold Enough for Investors?," http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/08/19-pena-nieto-energy-reform-rozental)
That said, the proposal still marks a sea change from the existing exclusionary regime
AND
that would be a major victory indeed for Peña Nieto and his government.

The plan incites nationalist backlash

Starr 12 - Director, U.S.-Mexico Network Associate Professor (NTT) University Fellow, Center on Public Diplomacy University of Southern California
(Pamela, "U.S.-Mexico Relations and Mexican Domestic Politics," Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics, p. 654)
The final implication of Mexican nationalism for U.S.-Mexico relations is the
AND
being too willing to accept support and guidance from north of the border.

Nationalist backlash tanks energy reforms

—-this card also supports the link: nationalists backlash if they perceive new policies as being in US interests
Wilkinson 8-13 – LA Times Analyst
(Tracy, "Mexico’s officials wage PR battle to sell energy reform plan," http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/13/world/la-fg-mexico-pemex-pr-20130814)
On Tuesday, the day after President Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled a broad package of
AND
Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party is selling the country out to foreign interests.

Mexican reforms solve energy price shocks

Kennedy 8-14
(Charles, "OPEC Set to Suffer at the Hands of Mexico’s Energy Market Reform," http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/OPEC-Set-to-Suffer-at-the-Hands-of-Mexicos-Energy-Market-Reform.html)
The recent reforms that President Enrique Peña Nieto plans to introduce to Mexico’s energy sector
AND
increased production from Mexico would only further reduce OPEC’s power in the market.

Great power war

Qasem 7 - Pompeu University politics doctoral candidate
 "The Coming Warfare of Oil Shortage" http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_islam_ya_070709_the_coming_warfare_o.htm
Recognizing the strategic value of oil for their national interests, superpowers will not hesitate
AND
before reaching the zenith of a disaster which is already in the making.

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 6 | Opponent: College Prep OT | Judge: 

First neoliberalism – removing Cuba from the terror list simply allows the US to get a foot in the door – we’ll increase ties with Cuba

The Boston Globe, 2013 (2/19/2013, "Cuba’s reforms pave way for new US policy, too", The Boston Globe, http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2013/02/09/cuba-reform-create-opportunity-drag-policy-into-century/xER2NTTXGsxdLej0miHwFM/story.html)
The Cuban-American population, which has historically opposed any loosening of US policy
AND
both. This would include boosts to US farm companies while helping Cubans.

That improves relations with Latin America as a whole – the aff makes the US appear benign

Thale and Boggs, 2013, Washington’s Office on Latin America’s Program director and Officer for Cuba
(Geoff and Clay, 3/5/2013, "Cuba and the Terrorist List", Washington Office on Latin America)
http://www.wola.org/commentary/cuba_and_the_terrorist_list
On February 21, the Boston Globe reported that senior State Department officials were considering
AND
retire in 2018, effectively putting an end date on the Castro era.

American engagement in Latin America threatens progressive political action and re-entrenches neoliberalism

Renique Associate Professor in the Department of History at the City College of the City University of New York 10— ( Gerardo, "Latin America today: The revolt against neoliberalism", Socialism and Democracy, 19:3, 9/20/10, http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08854300500284561~~23.UcnZQvnVCSo-http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08854300500284561)//AS
In opposition to this agenda, the new subaltern movements offer a politics of hope
AND
to defeat other leftwing and popular movements and to largely isolate the Cuban regime

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: 2 | Opponent: Bronx Science TD | Judge: Muno, Ali

You don’t escape neolib, you’re just another outgrowth of it

-the aff is an example of neolib- the new Latin American left has empirically shown to dilute its own goals in adapting capitalist means- it has yet to dismantle the exploitative machine
Ruttenberg, PhD Candidate Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development at the University for Peace of Costa Rica, ’13 (Tara, "Wellbeing Economics and Buen Vivir: Development Alternatives for Inclusive Human Security" PRAXIS The Fletcher Journal of Human Security, http://fletcher.tufts.edu/Praxis/~~/media/Fletcher/Microsites/praxis/xxviii/article4_Ruttenberg_BuenVivir.pdf)
In both Ecuador and Bolivia, the buen vivir experience offers a hopeful example of
AND
a true transition toward post-extractivist, post-neoliberal development alternatives.

Tournament: Crestian | Round: 2 | Opponent: Cypress Bay CG | Judge: Durkee, James

Implementing legislation will pass now – key to Mexican energy sector

Paredes 12-16
(Fernanda, "Mexico’s Energy Sector Reform," http://www.edelman.com/post/mexicos-energy-sector-reform/)
The recently approved Mexican energy reform ends an era that began 75 years ago,
AND
been opened for us to move towards a more efficient and productive sector.

Nieto’s political capital and negotiating leverage is key to successful implementing legislation

Graham 12-17
(Dave, "Analysis – Mexican president races through reforms but risks loom," http://www.euronews.com/newswires/2262818-analysis-mexican-president-races-through-reforms-but-risks-loom/)
A year ago, President Enrique Pena Nieto took office vowing a root-and
AND
, he may persuade ordinary Mexicans that his changes were worth the effort.

The plan incites nationalist backlash

Starr 12 - Director, U.S.-Mexico Network Associate Professor (NTT) University Fellow, Center on Public Diplomacy University of Southern California
(Pamela, "U.S.-Mexico Relations and Mexican Domestic Politics," Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics, p. 654)
The final implication of Mexican nationalism for U.S.-Mexico relations is the
AND
being too willing to accept support and guidance from north of the border.

Nationalist backlash tanks energy reforms

—-this card also supports the link: nationalists backlash if they perceive new policies as being in US interests
Wilkinson 8-13 – LA Times Analyst
(Tracy, "Mexico’s officials wage PR battle to sell energy reform plan," http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/13/world/la-fg-mexico-pemex-pr-20130814)
On Tuesday, the day after President Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled a broad package of
AND
Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party is selling the country out to foreign interests.

Mexican reforms solve energy price shocks

Kennedy 8-14
(Charles, "OPEC Set to Suffer at the Hands of Mexico’s Energy Market Reform," http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/OPEC-Set-to-Suffer-at-the-Hands-of-Mexicos-Energy-Market-Reform.html)
The recent reforms that President Enrique Peña Nieto plans to introduce to Mexico’s energy sector
AND
increased production from Mexico would only further reduce OPEC’s power in the market.

Great power war

Qasem 7 - Pompeu University politics doctoral candidate
 "The Coming Warfare of Oil Shortage" http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_islam_ya_070709_the_coming_warfare_o.htm
Recognizing the strategic value of oil for their national interests, superpowers will not hesitate
AND
before reaching the zenith of a disaster which is already in the making.

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: 3 | Opponent: Weston LT | Judge: Phillips, William

1NC

Nieto DA

Top of agenda and debate starts Saturday

US 1-31
(UpStream, "Pena Nieto to present energy bills shortly," http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article1351032.ece)
Mexico present Enrique Pena Nieto is preparing to present his draft of secondary legislation to
AND
period, which starts on Saturday and runs through the end of April.

The plan incites nationalist backlash

Starr 12 - Director, U.S.-Mexico Network Associate Professor (NTT) University Fellow, Center on Public Diplomacy University of Southern California
(Pamela, "U.S.-Mexico Relations and Mexican Domestic Politics," Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics, p. 654)
The final implication of Mexican nationalism for U.S.-Mexico relations is the
AND
being too willing to accept support and guidance from north of the border.

Nationalist backlash tanks energy reforms

—-this card also supports the link: nationalists backlash if they perceive new policies as being in US interests
Wilkinson 8-13 – LA Times Analyst
(Tracy, "Mexico’s officials wage PR battle to sell energy reform plan," http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/13/world/la-fg-mexico-pemex-pr-20130814)
On Tuesday, the day after President Enrique Peña Nieto unveiled a broad package of
AND
Peña Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party is selling the country out to foreign interests.

Mexican reforms solve energy price shocks

Kennedy 8-14
(Charles, "OPEC Set to Suffer at the Hands of Mexico’s Energy Market Reform," http://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/OPEC-Set-to-Suffer-at-the-Hands-of-Mexicos-Energy-Market-Reform.html)
The recent reforms that President Enrique Peña Nieto plans to introduce to Mexico’s energy sector
AND
increased production from Mexico would only further reduce OPEC’s power in the market.

Great power war

Qasem 7 - Pompeu University politics doctoral candidate
 "The Coming Warfare of Oil Shortage" http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_islam_ya_070709_the_coming_warfare_o.htm
Recognizing the strategic value of oil for their national interests, superpowers will not hesitate
AND
before reaching the zenith of a disaster which is already in the making.

Tournament: NDCA | Round: 3 | Opponent: Copell BG | Judge: Campbell, Melanie

1NC (Clean Tek)

Reform legislation will pass Obama’s focus is generating momentum – a sustained hard push will be necessary to secure compromise

Meyers 3/5
Jessica Meyers earned her master’s degree at the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. "Lawmakers: Patent reform will advance" 3/5/14
Two lawmakers immersed in patent reform efforts suggested Wednesday that the president could see a
AND
election year. That timing, Berman said, "concerns me greatly."

Legislation to repeal protection empirically sparks battle in Congress

Cuba News 2005
"Congress fires opening salvo in bid to reverse Bush crackdown on Cuba trade." May 1, 2005
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Congress+fires+opening+salvo+in+bid+to+reverse+Bush+crackdown+on+Cuba...-a0132709369
Prodded by agricultural interests, lawmakers have made their first attempt to roll back President
AND
threatening a veto. ¶ Embargo supporters have also introduced legislation this year. 

Key to innovation

Jeffries and Farenthold 4/8
U.S. Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Blake Farenthold (R-TX), Members of the House Judiciary Committee "POLITICS More: Editorial Patent Trolls Patent Law Patently Unfair: Why The Senate Must Act to Club the Trolls" APR. 8, 2014 http://www.businessinsider.com/patently-unfair-senate-must-act-to-club-the-trolls-2014-4~~23ixzz2yM3zdJMp
The American patent system was enshrined by our founding fathers in the Constitution to promote
AND
we strongly urge our Senate colleagues to move forward with a similar measure.

Loss of tech innovation collapses confidence in the dollar – crushes US hegemony and causes opportunistic wars of aggression

McCoy, History Prof at Wisconsin-Madison, ’10 (Alfred, December 6, "The Decline and Fall of the American Empire Four Scenarios for the End of the American Century by 2025" TomDispatch, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/06-1)
Today, three main threats exist to America’s dominant position in the global economy:
AND
world pays next to no attention as the American Century ends in silence.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 7 | Opponent: Vashon SZ | Judge: Lucas-Bolin, Aly
Federal models state transportation action- history proves
Wachs 2003 (Martin, Ph.D. and M.S. in urban and regional planning, Northwestern University; B.S. in civil engineering, City University of New York, Local Option Transportation Taxes: Devolution as Revolution, http://www.uctc.net/access/22/Access202220-200220-20Local20Option20Transportation20Taxes.pdf AS)
The first revolution in transportation finance came when states adopted user fees in the form
AND
"user pays" principle that had been so successful in the states.
Federal government models state infrastructure
Muro 2011 (Mark, a senior fellow and director of policy for the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, manages the program’s public policy analysis and leads key policy research projects. " Banking on Green Growth in Connecticut " June 28,  The New Republic, http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-avenue/90969/banking-green-growth-in-connecticut AS)
 Which is why it is so auspicious that one small state has taken the
AND
.S. unleashes a sizable clean energy economy, instead of drifting.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 4 | Opponent: GBN AR | Judge: Saiedian, Ideen

Text: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California should substantially increase border transportation infrastructure projects with Mexico after petitioning Congress for requisite authority.

States have demonstrated the capacity to alleviate border congestion

Aguilar, 8-15-’13 (Julian, "A Federal Program to Ease Congestion at Border Crossings" New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/a-federal-program-to-ease-congestion-at-border-crossings.html?_r=0)
Pedestrians waited in a long line on the bridge between Nuevo Laredo, Mexico,
AND
is of the essence, then I think they should be allowed to."

Congress is sympathetic to state requests for transportation authority

Zimmerman 2010
Joseph F., Professor of Political Science Rockefeller College Congress. Facilitator of State Action.
Criticism of congressional preemption statutes by many state and local government officers should not obscure
AND
provisions in congressional statutes devolving powers upon states is reviewed in chapter 2.

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 5 | Opponent: New Trier GT | Judge: Placitis, Jonass

1NC

FIRST OFF IS PLAN FLAW

Their plan text says:
The USFG should permit companies to provide services for the creation of Cuban offshore oil.

Create means to
Dictionary.com, no date
cre•ate  ~kree-eyt~  Show IPA verb, cre•at•ed, cre•at•ing, adjective
verb (used with object)
1.
to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes.

That means they provide services for creating synthetic oil, not drilling existing oil.

Precise plan writing is key to legal education

The aff gets to choose the plan so it’s their fault and you should err towards a plain reading if there’s any ambiguity because it’s all we have to guide our preparation – their clarification in the 2ac will be self-serving and arbitrary

Obviously synthetic oil solves neither advantage because it’s distinct from drilling – vote neg on presumption
Florida Synthetics, no date, http://www.synthetic-oil-technology.info/-http://www.synthetic-oil-technology.info/

What is synthetic oil?
The easiest way to define what synthetic oil is
AND
in WWII, when that country’s access to crude oil was very limited.

Also, they say create offshore oil, which means the companies have to go underwater and then build a synthetic oil plant – that’s never been done.

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: Octas | Opponent: Lexington LM | Judge: Blye, Brittney Call, Hannah Choudhury, Maneo

CP

Text: The United States federal government should strengthen economic pressure on Cuba, explicitly linking the continuance of current engagement to a Cuban political transition and denying domestic oil drilling permits to any company that assists Cuba in energy development.

No real risk of Cuban drilling – regime ploy to lessen restrictions – CP pressure best mechanism to prevent spills

Claver-Carone, 11 – Executive Director of the Cuba Democracy Advocates ("GULF COAST OIL SPILL INVESTIGATION REPORT; COMMITTEE: HOUSE NATURAL RESOURCES", November 2, 2011, lexis)eek
Similarly, after much initial fanfare, Canada’s Sherritt and Brazil’s Petrobras — perhaps the
AND
mind, but prevention would better serve our long-term national interests.

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 6 | Opponent: Broad Run PW | Judge: Jorda Sternberg

The United States federal government should establish tax incentives and credit for renewable energy development and deployment equivalent to the amount of federal subsidies for corn ethanol and engage in public-private renewable energy research and commercialization initiatives implemented through a newly created Energy Technology Corporation housed under the Department of Energy. The United States federal government should expand the definition of alternative fuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard to apply to all renewable energy technologies as defined by the 1992 Energy Policy Act.

It jumpstarts private innovation – driving down the price of renewables rapidly

Shellenberger, President of Breakthrough Institute, ’8 (Michael, "Fast, Clean, 26 Cheap: Cutting Global Warming’s Gordian Knot" http://thebreakthrough.org/blog/Fast20Clean20Cheap.pdf)
Ramp Up: Invest 24300 Billion in Research, Development, and Deployment of
AND
taking, and thus additional revenue for the U.S. Treasury. 

That’s key to a clean tech transition and energy diversification – causes shift away from current energy sources

Friedman, Columnist New York Times, ’7 (Thomas, "The Power of Green" http://students.washington.edu/timbillo/readings20for20peru/FriedmanPowerOfGreen.pdf)
All that sounds great — but remember those seven wedges? To reach the necessary
AND
interest, the subsidies expire and the investors in alternatives get wiped out.

Avoids politics – the ETC is insulated from political pressure

Shellenberger, President of Breakthrough Institute, ’8 (Michael, "Fast, Clean, 26 Cheap: Cutting Global Warming’s Gordian Knot" http://thebreakthrough.org/blog/Fast20Clean20Cheap.pdf)
Insulate Federal Clean Energy Investments From Pork-Barrel Politics There are many models for
AND
appropriation, would be somewhat insulated from congressional and special interest pressure.87

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: 2 | Opponent: Bronx Science TD | Judge: Muno, Ali

1NC

CP

Text: California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas should provide decentralized integrated photovoltaic electrification assistance to Mexico after petitioning Congress for the requisite authority.

That spurs renewable investment that solves

Brown et al 2002
Elizabeth Brown, Patrick Quinlan, Harvey M. Sachs and Daniel Williams American Council for an Energy-Efficient EconomyMarch 2002 ("Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency and Green Buildings: Opportunities for State Action" American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy http://www.eceee.org/conference_proceedings/ACEEE_buildings/2002/Panel_9/p9_2)
States play a fundamental role in addressing energy use and the adoption of energy efficiency
AND
residents, the United States and its citizens, and the global climate.

Tournament: UGA | Round: 4 | Opponent: Pace LD | Judge: Quinn, Robbie

1NC

CP

Text: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California should increase human trafficking economic assistance towards Mexico after petitioning Congress for the requisite authority.

A state approach is key to an effective anti-trafficking strategy

TAG 8 –The Action Group is comprised of: the Alliance to Stop Slavery and End Trafficking, Coalition
to Abolish Slavery 26 Trafficking, Free the Slaves, International Justice Mission, Not For
Sale Campaign, Polaris Project, Ricky Martin Foundation, Solidarity Center, and Vital
Voices Global Partnership. The Action Group is a U.S.-based, non-partisan group of complementary organizations dedicated to abolishing modern-day slavery and human trafficking ("Recommendations for Fighting Human Trafficking in the United States and Abroad", November 2008, http://www.freetheslaves.net/Document.Doc?id=96)
Prosecution: The next Administration needs to seek full resourcing for federal investigation and prosecution
AND
-trafficking effort to date has been largely concentrated in the federal government.

Congress is sympathetic to state requests at the border

Zimmerman 2010
Joseph F., Professor of Political Science Rockefeller College Congress. Facilitator of State Action.
Criticism of congressional preemption statutes by many state and local government officers should not obscure
AND
provisions in congressional statutes devolving powers upon states is reviewed in chapter 2.

Tournament: UGA | Round: 6 | Opponent: Calhoun KW | Judge: Grellinger, Adam

1NC

Text: The 50 states should legalize marijuana.

It solves – state legalization means there’s no need to import drugs from Mexico because it can be produced in the US – that shuts down Mexican drug cartels

The Economist, ’12 (November 2, "The view from Mexico" http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2012/11/legalising-marijuana)
What would happen if Colorado, Oregon or Washington were to vote for such a
AND
alike should bear that in mind when they cast their votes on Tuesday.

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 3 | Opponent: St Ignatius Cleveland LP | Judge: Kyle Demming
Economic engagement is a subset of conditional engagement and implies a tit-for-tat exchange
Shinn 96 ~James Shinn, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asia at the CFR in New York City and director of the council’s multi-year Asia Project, worked on economic affairs in the East Asia Bureau of the US Dept of State, "Weaving the Net: Conditional Engagement with China," pp. 9 and 11, google books~
In sum, conditional engagement consists of a set of objectives, a strategy for attaining those objectives, and tactics (specific policies) for implementing that strategy.
• The objectives of conditional engagement are the ten principles, which were selected to preserve American vital interests in Asia while accommodating China’s emergence as a major power.
• The overall strategy of conditional engagement follows two parallel lines: economic engagement, to promote the integration of China into the global trading and financial systems; and security engagement, to encourage compliance with the ten principles by diplomatic and military means when economic incentives do not suffice, in order to hedge against the risk of the emergence of a belligerent China.
• The tactics of economic engagement should promote China’s economic integration through negotiations on trade liberalization, institution building, and educational exchanges. While a carrots-and-sticks approach may be appropriate within the economic arena, the use of trade sanction to achieve short-term political goals is discouraged.
• The tactics of security engagement should reduce the risks posed by China’s rapid military expansion, its lack of transparency, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and transnational problems such as crime and illegal migration, by engaging in arms control negotiations, multilateral efforts, and a loosely-structured defensive military arrangement in Asia.8
~To footnotes~
8. Conditional engagement’s recommended tactics of tit-for-tat responses are equivalent
AND
105, no. 3 (1990), pp. 383-88).
Vote negative
a) Limits – there’s a tons of unilateral measures that the US could take – our interpretation limits the number of possible carrots

b) Ground – requiring the affirmative to use a predictable mechanism like a quid pro quo is essential for disad links, critiques of attaching strings, "say no" and backlash arguments which are a crucial part of the engagement debate

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 6 | Opponent: College Prep OT | Judge: 

1NC

Interpretation: economic engagement is investment treaties, FTA, energy cooperation, visas, tech, and aid

Economic engagement is: investment treat, FTA, energy cooperation and visas

Carafano et al 4-26 – Vice President, Foreign Defense Policy Studies, E.W. Richardson Fellow, and Director of the Heritage Foundation (James Jay PhD, "The Future of U.S.-India Relations: How to Advance Bilateral Cooperation", 4/26/13;  http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/beyond-the-plateau-in-us-india-relations)
At the core of the revitalized relationship must be a strengthened economic engagement. The
AND
in American power or the loss of U.S. political will. 

Economic engagement includes tech, loans and aid

Haass and O’Sullivan 2k - *Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution AND a Fellow with the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution  (Richard and Meghan, "Terms of Engagement: Alternatives to Punitive Policies" Survival _{vol. 42, no. 2, Summer, http://www.brookings.edu/~~/media/research/files/articles/2000/6/summer20haass/2000survival.pdf-http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/articles/2000/6/summer haass/2000survival.pdf)
Architects of engagement strategies can choose from a wide variety of incentives. Economic engagement
AND
are just some of the possible incentives used in the form of engagement.
B) Violation: they remove Cuba off the terror list – that’s not economic engagement
C) Voting issue}

1. Limits – near infinite amount of restrictions the aff can remove in each topic country – explodes neg research burden
   2. Ground – we lose all spending links and internal relations disads – there’s no immediate engagement to get ground off of
   That’s key to fairness and education – neg and aff should have equal grounds – we’re forced to research more or get punished by losing – we can only get good education if we can get in depth to topics – skirting every topic just to have answers to it leads to bad attitude toward learning and generic DAs and CPs

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: 2 | Opponent: Bronx Science TD | Judge: Muno, Ali

1NC

A. Interpretation – economic engagement requires expanding bilateral economic relations
Kahler, 6 - Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego (M., "Strategic Uses of Economic Interdependence: Engagement Policies on the Korean Peninsula and Across the Taiwan Strait" in Journal of Peace Research (2006), 43:5, p. 523-541, Sage Publications)

Economic engagement - a policy of deliberately expanding economic ties with an adversary in order
AND
great power politics and that it may be more widespread than previously recognized.
This means the plan has to be government-to-government – not private economic engagement
Daga, 13 - director of research at Politicas Publicas para la Libertad, in Bolivia, and a visiting senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation (Sergio, "Economics of the 2013-2014 Debate Topic:
U.S. Economic Engagement Toward Cuba, Mexico or Venezuela", National Center for Policy Analysis, 5/15, http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Message_to_Debaters_6-7-13.pdf-http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/Message_to_Debaters_6-7-13.pdf)

Economic engagement between or among countries can take many forms, but this document will
AND
some issues are more important with respect to some countries than to others.
’Its’ is a possessive pronoun showing ownership
Glossary of English Grammar Terms, 2005  
(http://www.usingenglish.com/glossary/possessive-pronoun.html)

Mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs are the possessive pronouns used to substitute a noun and to show possession or ownership.
EG. This is your disk and that’s mine. (Mine substitutes the word disk and shows that it belongs to me.)

B. Violation – the plan doesn’t provide assistance to the Mexican government- it’s private
C. Voting issue –

1.  limits –they justify any 3^rd party intermediary, lifting barriers to private engagement, or targeting civil society – makes neg research burden unmanageable

2. ground –governmental channels are key to core negative ground like relations disads, internal politics disads, and counterplans that test ’engagement’

Tournament: UGA | Round: 4 | Opponent: Pace LD | Judge: Quinn, Robbie

T

Economic engagement offers tangible incentives – credits, tech, loans and aid

Haass 2k – PhD in Philosophy @ Oxford, Director of Foreign Policy Studies, Brookings
Robert N., Survival, Vol 42, no. 2, Summer, p. 114-5
Architects of engagement strategies can choose from a wide variety of incentives.  Economic engagement
AND
just some of the possible incentives used in the form of¶ engagement.

Violation the affirmative is political engagement – cooperation summits are distinct from economic engagement

That’s a voter for fairness and education –

1. Limits – engagement has such a broad definition in the literature that you have to limit to things that are primarily economic – otherwise negs have to research whole other literature bases
   2. Ground – key generics rely on engagement actually being economic – diplomatic engagement changes links to politics and relations disads

Tournament: Barkley Forum | Round: 4 | Opponent: Pace HP | Judge: Mahoney, Tim

1NC

T
Economic sanctions are anti-topical: they’re disengagement
Forcese 2 (Craig, associate professor at the University of Ottawa, Globalizing Decency: Responsible Engagement in an Era of Economic Integration, 2002, http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/LawJournals/Craig_Forcese_YHRDLJ.pdf-http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/LawJournals/Craig_Forcese_YHRDLJ.pdf)

While the conclusions noted above are strongly critical of the constructive engagement position, they
AND
foreign assets and economic transactions" involving citizens in the sanctioning country.77

Violation – the aff is sanctions – it INSERT AFF AND EXPLANATION

That’s a voter for fairness and education –

1. Limits – the aff justifies a bidirectional topic with both engagement and disengagement – negs will have to research whole other literature bases and the lit base for engagement is already huge
   2. Ground – all core generics rely on increasing cooperation with another country – their interp kills disad links, jacks the sanctions counterplan, and Ks because they reverse the direction of the topic

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 6 | Opponent: Broad Run PW | Judge: Jorda Sternberg
A. Interpretation – Removing sanctions is a form of appeasement
Stern 6 (Martin, University of Maryland Graduate, Debunking detente, 11/27/06, http://www.diamondbackonline.com/article_56223e79-7009-56a3-8afe-5d08bfff6e08.html)

Appeasement is defined as "granting concessions to potential enemies to maintain peace." Giving Iran international legitimacy and removing sanctions would have maintained peace with a potential enemy without changing the undemocratic practices of the enemy. If this isn’t appeasement, I don’t know how better to define the word.
B. Violation – they remove restrictions – that’s appeasement which is distinct
Resnick 1 (Evan, Assistant Professor and coordinator of the United States Programme at RSIS, "Defining Engagement," Journal of International Affairs, 0022197X, Spring2001, Vol. 54, Issue 2, http://web.ebscohost.com.turing.library.northwestern.edu/ehost/detail?sid=1b56e6b4-ade2-4052-9114-7d107fdbd01940sessionmgr1226vid=226hid=2426bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ3d3d~~23db=mth26AN=4437301-http://web.ebscohost.com.turing.library.northwestern.edu/ehost/detail?sid=1b56e6b4-ade2-4052-9114-7d107fdbd01940sessionmgr1226vid=226hid=2426bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ3d3d)

Thus, a rigid conceptual distinction can be drawn between engagement and appeasement. Whereas
AND
or in exchange for certain concessions on the part of the target state.

C. Voting issue

1. Limits – near infinite amount of restrictions the aff can remove in each topic country – explodes neg research burden
   2. Ground – we lose all spending links and internal relations disads – there’s no immediate engagement to get ground off of

Tournament: Barkley Forum | Round: 4 | Opponent: Pace HP | Judge: Mahoney, Tim

1nc

PTX

Obama is making major push for TPA generating momentum for passage

Parnes 1/21
Amie Parnes The Hill "Obama: Give me fast track trade" 01/21 http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/195858-white-house-works-to-convince-dems-to-give-obama-fast-track-on-trade
The White House is making a major push to convince Congress to give the president
AND
House officials are "devoted" to working with members on the issue. 

Repealing Embargo drains massive amounts of PC

Miroff 2013
Nick, Cuba Correspondent for GlobalPost, MA from Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, "Can Kerry make friends with Cuba?" January 2, 2013 http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/cuba/121231/kerry-cuba-secretary-of-state-obama
 "Kerry’s instincts and experience in Latin America are to see past lingering and
AND
"require a big investment of political capital" by Kerry and Obama.

TPA is critical to US economic growth and restoring America’s free trade credibility

Riley and Kim 4/16
Bryan Riley is Jay Van Andel Senior Analyst in Trade Policy and Anthony B. Kim is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation.
www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/advancing-trade-freedom-key-objective-of-trade-promotion-authority-renewal
Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) has been a critical tool for advancing free trade
AND
fosters open markets, democracy, and peace throughout the world.~3~

Economic decline causes nuclear war

Harris and Burrows 9
Mathew, PhD European History @ Cambridge, counselor in the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and Jennifer is a member of the NIC’s Long Range Analysis Unit "Revisiting the Future: Geopolitical Effects of the Financial Crisis" http://www.ciaonet.org/journals/twq/v32i2/f_0016178_13952.pdf-http://www.ciaonet.org/journals/twq/v32i2/f_0016178_13952.pdf
Increased Potential for Global Conflict
Of course, the report encompasses more than economics and indeed believes the future is
AND
within and between states in a more dog-eat-dog world.

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: 2 | Opponent: Bronx Science TD | Judge: Muno, Ali

1NC

TPA will pass –Obama will put in the work to get Dems on board

Spulak 2/12
Thomas Spulak is a partner and Bonnie Byers is a consultant in King and Spalding’s Washington, D.C., office. "Expect Trade Promotion Authority Bill To Pass"Law360, New York February 12, 2014 http://www.law360.com/articles/509435/expect-trade-promotion-authority-bill-to-pass
It is hard to imagine that a TPA bill will not be enacted, but
AND
work this out with his fellow Democrats. We believe that he will.

Economic engagement with Mexico is politically divisive despite supporters

Wilson 13 – Associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International. Center for Scholars (Christopher E., January, "A U.S.-Mexico Economic Alliance: Policy Options for a Competitive Region," http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/new_ideas_us_mexico_relations.pdf)
At a time when Mexico is poised to experience robust economic growth, a manufacturing
AND
action to support regional exporters more politically divisive than it ought to be. 

TPA is critical to US economic growth and restoring America’s free trade credibility

Riley and Kim 4/16
Bryan Riley is Jay Van Andel Senior Analyst in Trade Policy and Anthony B. Kim is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation.
www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/advancing-trade-freedom-key-objective-of-trade-promotion-authority-renewal
Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) has been a critical tool for advancing free trade
AND
fosters open markets, democracy, and peace throughout the world.~3~

Protectionism sparks global nuclear war

Panzer 8 (Michael J., Faculty – New York Institute of Finance, Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future from Economic Collapse, p. 137-138)
The rise in isolationism and protectionism will bring about ever more heated arguments and dangerous
AND
between Muslims and Western societies as the beginnings of a new world war. 

Nuclear war dehumanizes. It renders individuals objects rather than beings

Peter Beckman, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, et al, The Nuclear Predicament: Nuclear Weapons in the Twenty-First Century, 3rd edition, 2000, p. 296-297
Individual death is not the only death that affects the way people live. Since
AND
matter, to be burned, radiated, turned into ashes or vapor.

Tournament: UGA | Round: 1 | Opponent: Pace FQ | Judge: Bontha, Nikhil

TPA will pass – Obama is engaging both sides of the aisle

Wiser 2/24
Daniel Wiser is a staff writer for the Washington Free Beacon. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in May 2013, where he studied Journalism and Political Science and was the State 26 National Editor for The Daily Tar Heel http://freebeacon.com/experts-obama-not-pushing-hard-enough-for-trade-deal/
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah), cosponsor of the TPA bill,
AND
on Wednesday that "we’ll get this passed if it’s a good agreement."

Only engagement through regaining expropriated property avoids backlash from the Cuba lobby

Harrison, JD Candidate University of Houston, ’3 (D’Anna, Fall, "Deportable Cubans in Limbo: An Issue of Immigration, Foreign Policy, or Both?" Georgetown Immigration Law Journal, 18 Geo. Immigr. L.J. 179, lexis)
VII. WHAT’S REALLY BEHIND THE CUBAN EMBARGO? There is no way to avoid
AND
do this is to take a tough stand against Cuba through sanctions.  n160

TPA is critical to US economic growth and restoring America’s free trade credibility

Riley and Kim 4/16
Bryan Riley is Jay Van Andel Senior Analyst in Trade Policy and Anthony B. Kim is a Senior Policy Analyst in the Center for International Trade and Economics at The Heritage Foundation.
www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/advancing-trade-freedom-key-objective-of-trade-promotion-authority-renewal
Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) has been a critical tool for advancing free trade
AND
fosters open markets, democracy, and peace throughout the world.~3~

Economic decline causes nuclear war

Harris and Burrows 9
Mathew, PhD European History @ Cambridge, counselor in the National Intelligence Council (NIC) and Jennifer is a member of the NIC’s Long Range Analysis Unit "Revisiting the Future: Geopolitical Effects of the Financial Crisis" http://www.ciaonet.org/journals/twq/v32i2/f_0016178_13952.pdf-http://www.ciaonet.org/journals/twq/v32i2/f_0016178_13952.pdf
Increased Potential for Global Conflict
Of course, the report encompasses more than economics and indeed believes the future is
AND
within and between states in a more dog-eat-dog world.

Tournament: Georgetown | Round: 3 | Opponent: St Ignatius Cleveland LP | Judge: Kyle Demming
Plan Text: The United States Federal Government should negotiate a new bilateral trade agreement with Mexico mirroring the terms of the TTIP. The United States Federal Government should negotiate the TTIP.

Tournament: UGA | Round: 4 | Opponent: Pace LD | Judge: Quinn, Robbie

1NC

CP

Text: The United States federal government should institute a withholding tax of forty percent on the portfolio interest income earned by Mexico and its investors, negotiate a sufficient reduction to this withholding rate to Mexico if it satisfies adequate benchmarks regarding human trafficking, and negotiate to coordinate this tax policy.

The counterplan ramps up financial pressure and provides a sufficient economic incentive to take action against human trafficking

Fahey ’9
~Diane. Assc Prof Law @ NYU School of Law.  "Can Tax Policy Stop Human Trafficking?" The Georgetown Journal of International Law, Vol 40 No 2. Winter 2009. Ln~
All of the various U.N. denunciations of human trafficking have failed to
AND
had taken certain actions that would benefit victims of trafficking (the poor.) 

Funds and economic assistance will be funneled to the wealthy at the expense of oppressed populations.  The counterplan prevents this because it forces social reform before assistance occurs. The permutation cannot solve because it would a loophole for the target nation.

Fahey ’9
~Diane.  Assc Prof Law @ NYU School of Law.  "Can Tax Policy Stop Human Trafficking?" The Georgetown Journal of International Law, Vol 40 No 2. Winter 2009. ln~
This continuing race to the bottom to exempt capital from taxation has undesirable domestic consequences
AND
to labor renders the less affluent less able to save money for emergencies.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 5 | Opponent: Lake City EM | Judge: Stone, Chris

Counterplan

The United States federal government should substantially increase its thorium nuclear reactors towards the United Mexican States.

====Thorium nuclear reactors solve warming====
Halper 6/24- written for TIME, Fortune, Financial Times, the UK’s Independent on Sunday, Forbes, New York Times, Wired, Variety and The Guardian. He is based in Bristol, U.K. (Mark, "Senatorial candidate turns up thorium nuclear heat for U.S. economy," smartplanet, 6/24/13, http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/bulletin/senatorial-candidate-turns-up-thorium-nuclear-heat-for-us-economy/22512)//IB

CHICAGO - Small nuclear reactors based on entirely different designs from today’s nuclear technology could
AND
industry, big in Sestak’s home state, could be among the users. 

Nuclear energy like thorium solves both warming and energy poverty.

Amano 12 (Yukiya, current Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Atomic_Energy_Agency, "CLIMATE CHANGE AND NUCLEAR POWER 2012", International Atomic Energy Agency, http://www.iaea.org/OurWork/ST/NE/Pess/assets/12-44581_ccnp2012_web.pdf)//MG
Nuclear power has the potential to ¶ continue to play a significant role in the
AND
especially important ¶ to deal effectively with any concerns about ¶ nuclear power.

Tournament: Harvard JV | Round: 5 | Opponent: Edgemont MJ | Judge: Aguirre, Matthew

1NC

THE CP

Text: The United States Treasury Department should normalize bilateral scientific dialogue and communication via videoconferencing toward Cuba.

It solves – videoconferencing is an effective form of international communication

EJTN, 2010 (European Judicial Training Network, Civil Forum Handbook, Barcelona, Nov 17-19)
Methods of communication between judges and other stakeholders, requirements, translations and similar,
AND
of good practice on networks and direct judicial communications should not be written.

The plan explicitly mandates normalizing bilateral travel toward Cuba through travel – that requires the issuing of visas – videoconferencing is a distinct alternative available when exchanges are restricted

Patrick Disney 9, Assistant Policy Director of the National Iranian American Council, January 28, 2009, "Iran legislative working group," online: http://www.iranian-americans.com/docs/cnapi/legislative.pdf
We also discussed at length the issue of parliamentary exchanges, which produced a number
AND
coordinate track 2 talks would be in a better position to handle this.

The American visa process is inherently hostile to the stranger-alien- it scrutinizes and humiliates applicants to ensure they are fit to live among us legitimizing broader biopolitical interventions

Rajan ’8 (Rajeswari Sunder ’Response’, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 5:2, 218 – 221)
Here the concept of the "threshold" or "limit" with which Agamben
AND
today, is not the least piquant of the developments of the present.

This construction of a homogeneous social space that must be defended legitimizes whole-scale elimination of populations and global warfare to maintain the sanctity of America

Hoffmann ’7 (Kasper, International Development Studies at Roskilde University, May, "Militarised Bodies and Spirits of Resistance", http://diggy.ruc.dk:8080/handle/1800/2766-http://diggy.ruc.dk:8080/handle/1800/2766)
In modern processes of government, the focus is on the fostering and promotion of
AND
Jews, but also Gypsies, homosexuals, Bolsheviks and other inassimilable elements.

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 6 | Opponent: College Prep OT | Judge: 

Aff frees up resources to be used for the War on Terror

Levy 11 – Lecturer and Doctoral Candidate at the Josef Korbel School of International Affairs at the University of Denver, received the Leonard Marks Essay Award of the American Academy of Diplomacy, masters degree from Columbia in International Affairs. (Arturo Lopez-Levy, "A Call for Cuba’s Removal from the List of State Sponsers of Terrorism", Center for International policy/Latin American Working Group, 12/1/11, http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/Cuba/lawg_cip_dec_2011.pdf)//-http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/Cuba/lawg_cip_dec_2011.pdf)/ EO
So, let me discuss the first issue, why including Cuba on the terrorist
AND
its demobilization, making this a non issue, the presence of members.

The turn is unique – War on Terror resources are being cutback now – only the aff reinscribes the spread of imperialism

Tourangbam 13 ~Monish Tourangbam, Eurasia Review, 6/29/13 http://www.eurasiareview.com/29062013-rethinking-us-counter-terrorism-policy-analysis-2/~~
Close to 12 years after the 9/11 attacks that led to the global
AND
risks involved and the negative repercussions it had for US-Pakistan relations.

Tournament: Notre-Dame | Round: 6 | Opponent: College Prep OT | Judge: 

Voting aff glorifies us as the heroes who confront the aesthetics of the war on terror – this fails to acknowledge our own complicity in the system which gave rise to exclusionary sovereignty in the first place

Jenny Edkins, International Politics—University of Wales, 2003. (Trauma and the Memory of Politics, p. 172-4)
It is not a remembering of history, the narrative that we tell ourselves about
AND
in a neutral position, we are within, not outside the trauma.

Even the symbolic gesture of making identifying every nation as a supporter of terrorism encircles the trauma of exclusion and imperialism without neutralizing it as a past, depoliticized event – the counterplan makes criticism of hegemonic conceptions of identity relevant to discursive practice and renders visible its fragility

Jenny Edkins, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Wales Aberystwyth, Postructuralism and International Relations: Bringing the Political Back In, 1999, p. 141-2
This recalls the discussion in Chapter 4 of Derrida’s notion of deconstruction as a double
AND
repeatedly mark the trauma and ensure that we are not lulled into forgetfulness.