Tournament: Blake | Round: 1 | Opponent: Mukwanago PD | Judge: Tom Pacheco
Same as University of Michigan.

Tournament: Blake | Round: 7 | Opponent: GBN CH | Judge: Ross Garrett

Plan Text

The United States federal government should allow normal trade between the United States and Cuba.

Tournament: GMNDC JV Nationals | Round: 3 | Opponent: GBN CT | Judge: Ben Hamburger

Agriculture

CONTENTION ONE IS AGRICULTURE

NAFTA has destroyed Mexican agriculture. Cheap, subsidized exports have flooded their market and displaced local producers.

Gonzalez 07 – Carmen G. Gonzalez is a Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. Professor Gonzalez has advised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by serving as member and vice-chair of the International Subcommittee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Professor Gonzalez has published widely on the environmental and social justice implications of trade liberalization. ("Markets, Monocultures, and Malnutrition: Agricultural Trade Policy through an Environmental Justice Lens", April 2007, Center for Progressive Reform, http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf-http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf)
On January 1, 1994, hundreds of indigenous Mexican peasants took part in the
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that they do not degrade the natural resource base necessary for food production.

The plan is key. Allowing Mexico to protect its agriculture sector revitalizes smallholder agriculture and maintains food security.

Wise 09 – Timothy Wise is Director of the Research and Policy Program at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University in Medford Massachusetts, where he leads the Institute’s Globalization and Sustainable Development Program. Prof. Wise’s research focus has been on trade policies and treaties, global food security and rural development. He has written extensively on the impacts of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) on Mexico and what lessons the NAFTA experience offers regarding future U.S. trade agreements as well free trade impacts upon the global food crisis and commodity price speculation. Prior to joining the Institute in 1999, he was the Executive Director of the international aid agency Grassroots International. ("Reforming NAFTA’s Agricultural Provisions", November 2009, http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/PardeeNAFTACh3WiseAgricNov09.pdf-http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/PardeeNAFTACh3WiseAgricNov09.pdf)
NAFTA’s agricultural provisions have always been controversial, particularly for people in Mexico. Mexico’s
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a slow shrinking of the gaps between Mexico and its agricultural trading partners.

Allowing protectionism is critical to incentivize investment in sustainable agriculture.

Gonzalez 07 – Carmen G. Gonzalez is a Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. Professor Gonzalez has advised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by serving as member and vice-chair of the International Subcommittee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Professor Gonzalez has published widely on the environmental and social justice implications of trade liberalization. ("Markets, Monocultures, and Malnutrition: Agricultural Trade Policy through an Environmental Justice Lens", April 2007, Center for Progressive Reform, http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf-http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf)
Reform of international trade policy must begin by re-conceptualizing trade as a means
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to target the concentrations of corporate power that can lead to monopolistic abuse.

Small-scale corn production solves drug profits and cartel violence. Nieto’s recent farm reforms aren’t sufficient.

Godoy 14 – Emilio Godoy is a Mexico-based correspondent who covers the environment, human rights and sustainable development. He has been a journalist since 1996 and has written for various media outlets in Mexico, Central America and Spain. ("Drugs Displace Maize on Mexico’s Small Farms", January 22, 2014, http://www.ipsnews.net/2014/01/drugs-displace-maize-mexicos-small-farms/)
As the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passes its 20-year
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percentage points in the probability of a drug cartel appearing in a municipality.

Drug violence destabilizes PEMEX and causes catastrophic oil shocks.

Martin and Longmire 11 – Jeremy Martin is Director of the Energy Program at the Institute of the Americas. Sylvia Longmire is a Mexico Security Expert 26 President, Longmire Consulting. ("The Perilous Intersection of Mexico’s Drug War 26 Pemex", March 22, 2011, http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/03/perilous-intersection-of-mexicos-drug.html)
As discussed previously, oil theft from Pemex pipelines, money laundering by way of
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make the United States’ need to count on Mexico greater than ever before.

Energy shocks cause nuclear war.

Qasem 07 – Islam Yasin Qasem is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Politics and Social Sciences at the University of Pompeu Fabra (UPF) in Barcelona, MA in International Affairs from Columbia. ("The Coming Warfare of Oil Shortage," July 9, 2007, online: 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
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the chances of using nuclear weapons in pursues of national interests are high. 

Independently, revitalizing the corn sector is key to prevent ecological collapse. Mexico is a critical hotspot.

Vaughan 04 – Scott Vaughan is a visiting scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on the WTO and NAFTA. He previously held positions with the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation, the World Trade Organization, the United Nations Environment Program, and the Royal Bank Financial Group (Canada). ("The Greenest Trade Agreement Ever? Measuring the Environmental Impacts of Agriculture Liberalization", Chapter in NAFTA’s Promise and Reality: Lessons from Mexico for the Hemisphere, 2004, http://carnegieendowment.org/files/nafta1.pdf)
My second conclusion is that NAFTA has accelerated the structural shift toward large-scale
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never been a lasting solution to broader, in situ biological diversity protection.

Biodiversity collapse causes extinction.

UNESCO 11 – UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. ("Conserving biodiversity for life and sustainable development", 7/11/2011, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/conserving_biodiversity_for_life_and_sustainable_development/~~23.UrnAh_RDvL8)
Biological diversity or ’biodiversity’ – is defined as the diversity of all living forms
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all depend. Loss of biodiversity also leads to loss of cultural diversity.

This is uniquely true now. Ecological tipping points destroy resiliency.

Folke et al 09 – This was a report by Stockholm Resilience Centre produced for the Swedish Government’s Commission on Sustainable Development; it was written by Carl Folke, Thomas Hahn, Johan Rockström and Henrik Österblom, at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and Brian Walker at CSIRO (the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia), with the editorial support by Fredrik Moberg, Albaeco. ("Resilience and Sustainable Development 2.0", March 31, 2009, http://www.stockholmresilience.org/download/18.53ee94ff132ea99552880003257/Resilience_report_for_SCSD_31march2009.pdf)
Today we recognize that driving a fossil fueled car in Stockholm impacts on the long
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to avoid shifts into unpleasant situations (like a new global climate regime).

Plan Text

Plan: the United States federal government should offer to Mexico an agriculture trade agreement that allows Mexico to protect Mexican agriculture.

Trade

CONTENTION TWO IS TRADE

The Bali deal was insufficient to ensure the future of global trade. Resolving agriculture disputes is key.

Gantz 14 – David is Samuel M. Fegtly Professor of Law and Director of the International Trade and Business Law Program at the University of Arizona, Rogers College of Law. ("Liberalizing International Trade After Doha: January 2014 Update", January 2014, http://www.law.arizona.edu/tradelaw/documents/LITDJanuary2014update.pdf)

1. New WTO Agreements. The December 2013 Bali Ministerial meeting showcased the dogged
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   agricultural subsidies can be addressed at the same time remains to be seen.

Conflicts over agriculture trade will cause tit-for-tat retaliation and collapse the multilateral trading system.

Bureau 13 – Jean-Christophe Bureau is Professor of economics at AgroParisTech, Paris Institute of Technology. He is also Director of a research unit in public economics (UMR INRA 210), Research Associate at the Institute for International Integration Studies at Trinity College Dublin. His fields of research include: agricultural policy, international trade and trade negotiations in agriculture. He holds a PHD from University Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne. ("International Agricultural Trade and Negotiations: Coping with a New Landscape", FOODSECURE working paper ~238, March 2013, http://www3.lei.wur.nl/FoodSecurePublications/08_Bureau20Jean_Ag20Trade20and20Negotiations.pdf)
Multilateral negotiations have stalled. Part of the explanation lies in the gap between the
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the multiplication of second best solutions is leading to a fragmented world trade.

NAFTA’s failure has given powerful ammunition to protectionist constituencies. The plan is a critical signal.

Smith and Lindblad 03 – Geri L. Smith is BusinessWeek’s Mexico City bureau manager, a position she assumed in September, 1992. She is responsible for covering Latin America. Before joining BusinessWeek in 1992, Smith reported from Brazil, Argentina, and Chile for United Press International and covered the region as a freelance journalist for a variety of U.S. publications. She was a contributing editor to the Americas magazine, published by the Organization of American States. Smith holds a bachelor’s in journalism from Northwestern University and a master’s in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She received the Columbia University Maria Moors Cabot Prize for her coverage of Latin America. ("Mexico: Was NAFTA Worth It?" December 21, 2003, Bloomberg Businessweek, http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2003-12-21/mexico-was-nafta-worth-it)
Impressive milestones — and seemingly ample proof that free trade delivers the goods. But
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 at best this year, a poor showing for a developing country.

The aff spills over and creates a new model for trade that takes into account the wishes of developing countries.

King 06 – Amanda King is a writer for The Congressional Hunger Center, a non-profit anti-hunger leadership training organization located in Washington, DC. ("Ten Years with NAFTA: A Review of the Literature and an Analysis of Farmer Responses in Sonora and Veracruz, Mexico", http://ibsa.mx:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10883/1051/89073.PDF?sequence=4)
6. Increase government flexibility within trade agreements. Some view the failings of international
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and to support countries that seek to develop socially-conscious national policy.

Concessions from developed countries on agriculture creates momentum and overcomes obstacles to multilateral trade.

Karmakar 13 – Suparna Karmakar is an independent research professional on trade policy and economic regulations, and is currently working at Bruegel as a Marie Curie Visiting Fellow. ("Life After Bali: Renewing the World Trade Negotiating Agenda", Bruegel Policy Contribution Issue 2013/17, December 2013, http://www.irpa.eu/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Life-after-Bali_-renewing-the-world-trade-negotiating-agenda-English.pdf)
If the several identified causes for the intractability of the Doha Round, the western
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in exchange for tough concessions from developing countries and the countries in accession.

Multilateral trade creates a check on war and collapse causes escalatory protectionism and ineffective trade blocs.

Panitchpakdi 04 – Supachai Panitchpakdi is the secretary-general of the UN Conference on Trade and Development. ("American Leadership and the World Trade Organization", February 26, 2004, http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/spsp_e/spsp22_e.htm)
The second point is that strengthening the world trading system is essential to America’s wider
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ideas — was essential to peace and prosperity, a more just world. 

Runaway protectionism causes nuclear war.

Panzner 08 – Michael Panzner is faculty at the New York Institute of Finance and a 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets who has worked in New York and London for HSBC, Soros Funds, ABN Amro, Dresdner Bank, and JPMorgan Chase. ("Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future from Economic Collapse", pg. 136-138)
Continuing calls for curbs on the flow of finance and trade will inspire the United
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between Muslims and Western societies as the beginnings of a new world war.

The best studies prove that protectionism increases the risk of war.

McDonald 04 – Patrick McDonald is a professor at UT Austin in IR, international political economy, and international security. He has a Ph.D. from Ohio State. ("Peace through Trade or Free Trade?", Journal of Conflict Resolution, August 2004)
These relative effects become even more pronounced when using the Hiscox and Kastner indicator for
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theory and may help to clarify the precise mechanisms linking commerce and conflict.

Independently, WTO cohesion and the success of Doha are vital to effective global governance.

Baracuhy 12 – Braz Baracuhy is a diplomat and specialist in geopolitics. He joined
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Global Policy Volume 3, Issue 1, pg. 108–110)
Writing from Geneva in October 2010, the deadlock in the Doha Round of multilateral
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Changes necessarily operate in these two dimensions, though not always in synchrony.

Latin America is specifically key to this new form of governance.

Sabatini and Berger 12 – Christopher Sabatini is the editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly and senior director of policy at Americas Society/Council of the Americas. Ryan Berger is a policy associate at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. ("Why the U.S. can’t afford to ignore Latin America", June 13, 2012, http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/13/why-the-u-s-cant-afford-to-ignore-latin-america/)
Speaking in Santiago, Chile, in March of last year, President Obama called
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.S. influence in the region and even on the world forum.

The impact is extinction. Cooperative global governance is vital to prevent nuclear war and environmental collapse.

Dyer 05 – Gwynne Dyer is a Staffer for the Toronto Star. ("End of War: Our Task over the Next Few Years is to Transform the World of Independent States into a Genuine Global Village", 12/30/04, The Toronto Star)
War is deeply embedded in our history and our culture, probably since before we
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solve the problem of war within the context of the existing state system.

Tournament: Dowling | Round: 5 | Opponent: ICW ST | Judge: Miranda Ehrlich

Legitimacy

Contention One is Legitimacy:

Cuba is making concessions but the US isn’t responding—that ensures backlash and illegitimacy

French 10 (Anya, Director for the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation, "Stiffing Havana," http://cuba.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2010/stiffing_havana_38758)
In the high-stakes world of international diplomacy, bluffing is a seldom-
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influence at this pivotal moment, the time to engage Cuba is now.

Full removal is key

Vivanco 6 – LLM from Harvard Law School, Americas director of Humans Rights Watch. (Jose Miguel, "Restraint, not force, will bring change to Cuba", humans rights watch, 12/22/06, http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba-http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba, google scholar)
This reluctance would be understandable but misguided. Most Cubans do want change. If
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when the US stops acting like Goliath will Cuba stop looking like David.

Cuba is uniquely symbolic of imperial American policy

Naim 09 (Moises, Senior Associate in the International Economics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "The Havana Obsession, Why all eyes are on a bankrupt island", http://www.newsweek.com/2009/06/12/the-havana-obsession.html)
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recently had a face-to-face
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of a superpower that punishes a small island while cozying to dictators elsewhere.

Lifting the embargo signals a commitment to engage with non-democracies

Hinderdael 11 (Klaas, M.A. candidate at SAIS Bologna Center, concentrating in American Foreign Policy and Energy, Resources, and Environment, "Breaking the Logjam: Obama’s Cuba Policy and a Guideline for Improved Leadership", 6/11/2011, http://bcjournal.org/volume-14/breaking-the-logjam.html?printerFriendly=true)
The two countries’ histories have long been intertwined, particularly after the Monroe Doctrine of
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truly willing to extend his hand once America’s traditional adversaries unclench their fists.

That’s key to global legitimacy

Kupchan and Mount 09 (Charles, professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Adam, doctoral candidate in the Department of Government at Georgetown University, "The Autonomy Rule," Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Spring 2009, http://www.democracyjournal.org/pdf/12/Kupchan.pdf)
Many American strategists recognize the inevitability of a more level global playing field, but
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the principles around which the next order is most likely to take shape.

Legitimacy is key to primacy

Finnemore 09 – (Martha Finnemore, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, January 2009, "Legitimacy, Hypocrisy, and the Social Structure of Unipolarity: Why Being a Unipole Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be," World Politics, Volume 61, Number 1)
Legitimacy is, by its nature, a social and relational phenomenon. One’s position
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must give up some of that power to secure legitimacy for their policies.

The US needs an aura of reciprocal concessions to make hegemony effective—the alternative is backlash and global balancing

Monteiro 10 *Nuno P. Monteiro is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University. His research and teach¬ing focuses on international relations theory and security studies. He is currently writing a book on the causes of conflict in a unipolar world. Professor Monteiro received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2009 ~http://yalejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/105216monteiro.pdf, Spring Summer 2010, "Why U.S. Does Not Deter Challenges"~
Well into the Obama presidency, the broadest foreign policy challenge facing the United States
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no surprise. It follows from the unparalleled power of the United States.

That uncertain fear of US hard power is the root cause of proliferation

Mearsheimer 10 – John, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago ~"Imperial by Design," National Interest Magazine~
IF ALL of this were not enough, global dominance, especially the Bush administration’s
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its nuclear capability in the absence of some sort of rapprochement with Washington.

Proliferation causes extinction—geopolitical incentives to coerce neighbors ensure escalation and destroy MAD

Kroenig 12 – Matthew Kroenig is the Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University and a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. ("The History of Proliferation Optimism: Does It Have A Future? Prepared for the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center," May 26, 2012, http://www.npolicy.org/article.php?aid=118226tid=30)
Nuclear War. The greatest threat posed by the spread of nuclear weapons is nuclear
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that a future Middle East crisis could result in a devastating nuclear exchange.

Effective primacy creates stability—the alternative is great power war

Zhang and Shi 11 – *Yuhan Zhang is a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C.; Lin Shi is from Columbia University. She also serves as an independent consultant for the Eurasia Group and a consultant for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. (America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/-http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/)
 Thus, the global distribution of power is shifting, and the inevitable result
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forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

The world is on balance better because of hegemony—statistics prove

Owen 11 – John M. Owen Professor of Politics at University of Virginia PhD from Harvard "DON’T DISCOUNT HEGEMONY" Feb 11 www.cato-unbound.org/2011/02/11/john-owen/dont-discount-hegemony/-http://www.cato-unbound.org/2011/02/11/john-owen/dont-discount-hegemony/
(Andrew Mack is the Director of the Human Security Report Project at Simon Fraser University and a faculty member of the university’s new School for International Studies. From 1998-2001 he served as Director of the Strategic Planning Office in the Executive Office of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He has held various teaching and research positions at Harvard, the London School of Economics, UC Berkeley, and Fudan University)
Andrew Mack and his colleagues at the Human Security Report Project are to be congratulated
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in part by the emergence of the United States as the global hegemon.

Plan Text

Text: the United States federal government should normalize its trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.

Sustainable Agriculture

Contention Two is Agriculture

The Cuban organic agricultural model is forcing a shift away from high yield agriculture in the status quo

Ergas 13 – graduate student in sociology at the University of Oregon (Christina, Monthly Review, March, "Cuban Urban Agriculture as a Strategy for Food Sovereignty" http://monthlyreview.org/2013/03/01/cuban-urban-agriculture-as-a-strategy-for-food-sovereignty-http://monthlyreview.org/2013/03/01/cuban-urban-agriculture-as-a-strategy-for-food-sovereignty)
The agricultural revolution in Cuba has ignited the imaginations of people all over the world
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that produces most of its food locally, employing agroecological techniques for production.

The plan would allow Cuban farmers to transition back to modernized agriculture—cheap imports undercut production

Gonzalez 03 – Carmen G. Gonzalez is the Assistant Professor, Seattle University School of Law. ("Seasons of Resistance: Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in Cuba")
Notwithstanding these problems, the greatest challenge to the agricultural development strategy adopted by the
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.S. rice imports in the first half of the twentieth century.

Cubans have a unique incentive to switch to modern agriculture since food costs are so high

Crawford 03 – Colin Crawford is an Associate Professor at the Georgia State University College of Law. ("Necessity Makes the Frog Jump: Land-Use Planning and Urban Agriculture in Cuba")
On September 26, 2002, the largest-ever U.S. trade
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prove to be the necessity that next prods the Cuban frog to jump.

Cubans want to maximize profit and wouldn’t be opposed to abandoning organic agriculture

Nelson et al 09 – PhD at the University of Guelph, College of Social and Applied Human Sciences. ("Institutionalizing agroecology: successes and challenges in Cuba", September 2009, , Volume 26, Issue 3, pg. 233-243, MCallahan)
Evidence gathered on 12 farms in San José de las Lajas as well as through
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signi?cant challenge to the present and future success of the Cuban agroecological movement.

The environment is on balance better because of modern agriculture

Motes 10 – Dr. William C. Motes is is co-executive manager of the Informa Economics Washington, D.C. He was a principal member of Economic Perspectives, Inc. and served as director of policy analysis for the Secretary of Agriculture. He has a Ph.D. Swag. ("Modern Agriculture and Its Benefits – Trends, Implications and Outlook", March 2010, Global Harvest Initiative, http://www.globalharvestinitiative.org/Documents/Motes20-20Modern20Agriculture20and20Its20Benefits.pdf-http://www.globalharvestinitiative.org/Documents/Motes - Modern Agriculture and Its Benefits.pdf, MCallahan)
There is really little mystery about why agriculture is important—it is the physical
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several areas. This threat is discussed in detail in the following sections.

Overpopulation and overconsumption are forcing humanity into a resource crunch—modern agriculture is fragile and barely sufficient to be sustainable, but it’s necessary to meet increased agricultural demand

Motes 10 – Dr. William C. Motes is is co-executive manager of the Informa Economics Washington, D.C. He was a principal member of Economic Perspectives, Inc. and served as director of policy analysis for the Secretary of Agriculture. He has a Ph.D. Swag. ("Modern Agriculture and Its Benefits – Trends, Implications and Outlook", March 2010, Global Harvest Initiative, http://www.globalharvestinitiative.org/Documents/Motes20-20Modern20Agriculture20and20Its20Benefits.pdf-http://www.globalharvestinitiative.org/Documents/Motes - Modern Agriculture and Its Benefits.pdf, MCallahan)
This section examines the benefits of modern-day agriculture—a task made necessary
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promising….enhancement of productivity to sustainably managing natural resources in the future.

The agricultural resource crunch will spark protectionism, global economic collapse, and militarization—food wars independently escalate

Clay 10 – Dr. Jason Clay taught at Harvard and Yale, worked at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and spent more than 25 years working with human rights and environmental organizations before joining WWF in 1999. His favorite flavor of ice cream is Ben 26 Jerry’s Rainforest Crunch, which he helped create —with sustainably harvested ingredients—after meeting "Ben" at a fundraiser featuring the Grateful Dead. What a boss. ("Agriculture from 2000 to 2050- The Business as Usual Scenario", March 2010, Global Harvest Initiative, http://globalharvestinitiative.org/Documents/Clay20-20Agriculture20from20200020to202050.pdf-http://globalharvestinitiative.org/Documents/Clay - Agriculture from 2000 to 2050.pdf, MCallahan)
Some 70 percent of the estimated 9.1 billion people on the planet in
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production and distribution systems, exacerbating the very problems that resulted in conflict.

Food scarcity results in global chaos and destruction

Cribb 10 – (Julian, Julian Cribb is a science communicator, journalist and
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crisis and what we can do to avoid it," p. 26)
If large regions of the world run short of food, land, or water
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claimed injustice in land ownership and use as one of their motivating causes.

Organic agriculture causes terminal soil erosion

Jolankai 03 – (Szent István University, in Hungary. 2003 Marton, "Foresight in Crop Science", Technology Foresight Summit Budapest) http://www.unido.org/file-storage/download/?file_id=10501)
Organic farming cannot support either the people or the wildlife already on the planet.
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total is only 1,444 billion - a mere 6 percent increase.

Soil erosion causes extinction

Allemang 07 – ~John. Feature Writer for the Globe and Mail. "Planet Earth as a Dirty Little Secret" 5/12/7 The Globe and Mail, ln~
Dirt is disappearing, and when it goes, we go. It’s a simple
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places on the planet that can produce agricultural surpluses and feed the world."

Tournament: Evanston | Round: 1 | Opponent: Maine East LP | Judge: Shabaka Verna

I'm getting lazy so I'm just going to Open Source it. Check there.

Tournament: GMNDC JV Nationals | Round: 1 | Opponent: WDMV DR | Judge: Kim Hill

NAFTA

CONTENTION ONE IS NAFTA

Welcome to late capitalism. The North American Free Trade Agreement has failed. Economic deregulation and privatization in Mexico has been catastrophic, causing structural violence and environmental destruction for the sake of the labor, production, and global capital.

Faux 03 – Jeff Faux is a distinguished fellow at the Economic Policy Institute, which he founded. ("How NAFTA Failed Mexico", The American Prospect, 6/16/03, http://prospect.org/article/how-nafta-failed-mexico)
NAFTA proponents, on the other hand, claimed that merely opening Mexico to free
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a deregulated world, there is always someone who will work for less.

Specifically, agriculture trade liberalization has allowed the US to dump cheap food exports on Mexico, which displaces Mexican farmers, causes massive poverty, and undermines food security.

Gonzalez 07 – Carmen G. Gonzalez is a Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. Professor Gonzalez has advised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by serving as member and vice-chair of the International Subcommittee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Professor Gonzalez has published widely on the environmental and social justice implications of trade liberalization. ("Markets, Monocultures, and Malnutrition: Agricultural Trade Policy through an Environmental Justice Lens", April 2007, Center for Progressive Reform, http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf-http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf)
On January 1, 1994, hundreds of indigenous Mexican peasants took part in the
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that they do not degrade the natural resource base necessary for food production.

Modeling is happening now. The disastrous NAFTA template has been spread to other countries. A new form of agriculture trade in Latin America is key to prevent societal collapse.

Gonzalez 11 – Carmen G. Gonzalez is a Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. Professor Gonzalez has advised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by serving as member and vice-chair of the International Subcommittee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Professor Gonzalez has published widely on the environmental and social justice implications of trade liberalization. ("An Environmental Justice Critique of Comparative Advantage: Indigenous Peoples, Trade Policy, and the Mexican Neoliberal Economic Reforms", April 2011, University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, Volume 32, Issue 3, http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=100226context=carmen_gonzalez)
The Zapatista uprising on January 1, 1994 drew international attention to the plight of
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of direct foreign investment, and enhanced protection of private property rights.11 

This violence is symptomatic of an unsustainable system of neoliberal globalization that has masked and institutionalized structural violence. The aff’s understanding of disposibility is best.

Hayden 07 – Patrick Hayden is Professor of Political Theory and International Relations at St Andrews, which he joined in 2006. His research and teaching interests focus broadly on the intersection of international (or global) politics and social and political theory. ("Superfluous Humanity: An Arendtian Perspective on the Political Evil of Global Poverty", 2007, https://www.academia.edu/549855/Superfluous_Humanity_An_Arendtian_Perspective_on_the_Political_Evil_of_Global_Poverty)
The crucial feature of political evil in Arendt’s analysis is that it takes aim at
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person is able to see this world ’from the other person’s standpoint’.

Plan

Plan: the United States federal government should offer to Mexico an agriculture trade agreement that allows Mexico to protect Mexican agriculture.

Solvency

CONTENTION TWO IS SOLVENCY

The aff changes the agriculture chapter of NAFTA. This is critical to alleviate poverty and revitalize farming in Mexico.

Carlsen 03 – Laura Carlsen is the director of the Americas Program in Mexico City, a foreign policy think tank associated with the Center for International Policy. She is also an associate of the Interhemispheric Resource Center’s Americas Program and holds an MA in Latin American Studies from Stanford. ("The Mexican Farmers’ Movement: Exposing the Myths of Free Trade", March 8, 2003, Dissident Voice, http://dissidentvoice.org/Articles2/Carlsen_Mexico-MFM.htm)
Since the "lost decade" of the eighties and the polarization of wealth in
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thousand years of culture, domesticated agriculture, and biological and agricultural diversity.

Regulating and protecting agriculture trade is key. Solutions based on further liberalization fail to eliminate neoliberal violence.

Perez et al 08 – Mamerto Peréz is an independent researcher from Bolivia who has published extensively on rural development; Sergio Schlesinger is based in Brazil and consults with the Federation of Organizations for Social and Educational Assistance (FASE) and with Food and Water Watch; Timothy A. Wise is the Deputy Director of the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University, Medford, Mass. ("The Promise and the Perils of Agricultural Trade Liberalization", June 2008, http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/AgricWGReportJuly08.pdf)
The studies in our project demonstrate that sustained rural development and poverty reduction in Latin
AND
to protect and promote economic activities that advance just and sustainable economic development.

The aff is a shift in the way US trade policy is conducted, which re-conceptualizes trade as a means to promote food security and biodiversity rather than an end in itself.

Gonzalez 07 – Carmen G. Gonzalez is a Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law. Professor Gonzalez has advised the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by serving as member and vice-chair of the International Subcommittee of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Professor Gonzalez has published widely on the environmental and social justice implications of trade liberalization. ("Markets, Monocultures, and Malnutrition: Agricultural Trade Policy through an Environmental Justice Lens", April 2007, Center for Progressive Reform, http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf-http://www.progressivereform.org/articles/Gonzalez_702.pdf)
Reform of international trade policy must begin by re-conceptualizing trade as a means
AND
to target the concentrations of corporate power that can lead to monopolistic abuse.

Risk Calculus

CONTENTION THREE IS RISK CALCULUS

Contemporary risk analysis should be rejected. It is driven by corporate interests who use one-percent logic and threat inflation to justify neoliberal expansion and violence.

Krahmann 08 – Dr. Elke Krahmann is Senior Lecturer in International Relations in the Department of Politics at the University of Bristol. She is has published widely on international foreign and security policy, including New Threats and New Actors in International Security (Palgrave, 2005) and Multilevel Networks in European Foreign Policy (Ashgate, 2003) and articles in numerous journals. Her forthcoming research monograph States, Citizens and the Privatization of Security examines the privatization of military force in Europe and North America, while her current research project analyses the theoretical and normative implications of the commodification of security. ("The Commodification of Security in the Risk Society", January 1, 2008, http://www.esrc.ac.uk/my-esrc/grants/RES-000-22-1516/outputs/Read/d3e8b6e5-88a1-449d-9ebf-6158aaea905a)
With the perceived rise of global dangers such as transnational terrorism, nuclear proliferation,
AND
and individuals are monitored and managed through the goals of neo-liberalism."

The impact is the militarization of US foreign policy. Hypothetical extinction scenarios benefit interest groups and bureaucratic interests who maintain the fiction of danger.

Cohen and Zenko 12 – Micah Zenko is a Fellow in the Center for Preventative Action at the Council on Foreign Relations. Michael Cohen is a Fellow at the Century Foundation. ("Clear and Present Safety", Foreign Affairs, March/April 2012, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/137279/micah-zenko-and-michael-a-cohen/clear-and-present-safety?page=show)
This reality is barely reflected in U.S. national security strategy or in
AND
to the overreactions that have defined its foreign policy for far too long.

Risk calculus in policy debate exemplifies these problems. The rush to extended internal link chains and nuclear war scenarios is bankrupt and ensures serial policy failure.

Berube 2K – David Berube is a professor of communication studies at the North Carolina State University. ("Debunking Mini-Max Reasoning: The Limits of Extended Causal Chains in Contest Debate", Contemporary Argumentation and Debate (CEDA), 2000, http://www.cedadebate.org/CAD/index.php/CAD/article/viewFile/248/232)
Outsiders to contest debating have remarked simply that too many policy debate arguments end in
AND
anticipated results, the product of their probabilities and values" (238). 

This masks the slow violence of neoliberalism. Emphasizing the most colossal and most immediate impacts frames violence as instantaneous and explosive which explicitly normalizes disposibility and exclusion. The affirmative’s representational exposure of slow violence is key to prevent war in the future.

Nixon 10 – Rob Nixon is the Rachel Carson Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ("Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor", pg. 1-14)
When Lawrence Summers, then president of the World Bank, advocated thai the bank
AND
how our rhetorical conventions for bracketing violence routinely ignore ongoing, belated casualties.

War will not happen. A confluence of factors ensures great power peace.

Deudney and Ikenberry 09 – Daniel Deudney is a professor of political science at Johns Hopkins. John Ikenberry is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University. ("The Myth of the Autocratic Revival: Why Liberal Democracy Will Prevail", Foreign Affairs, January/February 2009)
This bleak outlook is based on an exaggeration of recent developments and ignores powerful countervailing
AND
-first century point to the renewed value of international integration and cooperation.

Nuclear war does not lead to extinction.

Robock 10 – Alan Robock works for the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University. ("Nuclear Winter," WIREs Climate Change, May/June 2010)
While it is important to point out the consequences of nuclear winter, it is
AND
consequences of nuclear winter are extreme enough without these additional effects, however.

That’s specifically true because nuclear winter would not occur.

Cook 10 – Nigel B. Cook has a Ph.D. in Computer Programming and a B.A. in Physics. ("The Effects of Nuclear Weapons", http://glasstone.blogspot.com/-http://glasstone.blogspot.com/, (His blog is dedicated to articles on nuclear weapons), 2/13/10)
A nuclear winter can’t happen because nuclear weapons can’t burn brick, steel and concrete
AND
firestorm, no nuclear winter, and the whole thing is a lie.

Tournament: Harvard | Round: 6 | Opponent: Westminster MZ | Judge: Eric Forslund

Open Source.

Tournament: Harvard | Round: 1 | Opponent: Bishop Guertin SZ | Judge: Andy McCoy

Open Sourced. It just looks pretty to have a cite for all of the 1ACs hehe.

Tournament: IHSA Varsity State | Round: 2 | Opponent: Niles North OW | Judge: Aaron Vinson and Adam Griesbach

See Open Source for this round.

Tournament: Maine East | Round: 2 | Opponent: Maine East JK | Judge: Harris

Plan Text

Text: the United States federal government should normalize its trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.

Sustainable Agriculture

Contention One is Sustainable Agriculture:

Cuban agriculture sustainability is failing—foreign investment is key

King 12 – M. Dawn King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Politics at Colorado State University and worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Geological Survey – conducting research on environmental decision-making models and internal governance of watershed management councils. (and#34;Cuban Sustainability: The Effects of Economic Isolation on Agriculture and Energyand#34;, March 21, 2012, http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/meet/2012/kingmdawn.pdf)
Cuba needed an alternative agricultural model when foreign oil imports were cut off significantly at
AND
goal of sustainable development to increase short-term capital and energy needs.

The plan provides foreign capital to Cuba and allows its model to be exported globally

Shkolnick 12 – JD Candidate, Drake University Law School. (and#34;SIN EMBARGO: THE CUBAN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE UNITED STATESand#34;, 17 Drake J. Agric. L. 683, fall, http://students.law.drake.edu/aglawjournal/docs/agVol17No3-Shkolnick.pdf)
Cuba today is experiencing the most rapid shifts towards privatization and reform since the revolution
AND
presents a unique opportunity American business and agricultural enterprises cannot afford to overlook.

Access to the US market is critical to sustainability and emulation

Kost 04 – William is part of the Economic Research Service for the USDA. (and#34;CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?and#34; 2004, http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)
MARKETS MAY BE CRITICAL FOR AN ORGANIC CUBA In addition to the above European markets
AND
and other inputs to support growth in other sectors of the Cuban economy.

Organic agriculture outproduces industrial agriculture—newest, best studies

Wright, 9 - Deputy Director of Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology and Food Security (Julia, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity, p. 19)
Nonetheless, more ecologically based, organic production approaches are sidestepped by international development agencies
AND
, their performance would be greatly enhanced (Pretty et al, 1996). 

Industrial agriculture is the primary factor in bird flu spread

Otte et al 07 – Joachim Otte is the Senior Animal Production and Health Officer at FAO. (and#34;Industrial Livestock Production and Global Health Risks,and#34; Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative, June 2007, MCallahan)
Concentration of food animal production and the unregulated ’evolution’ of densely populated livestock production
AND
in a watershed subunit as described by Osowski et al. (2001).

Overdue for a deadly bird flu mutation—their impact defense doesn’t apply—zoonotics are superhuman

Nebehay 05 ~Stephanie. Staff Writer: Reuters. and#34;Evolution of Bird Flu Virus May Favor Pandemicand#34; Reuters, 20 Jan 05. LexisGBS-JV~
The bird flu virus endemic in Asia appears to be evolving in ways that increasingly
AND
difficult to control and increase the likelihood of human exposures,and#34; it said.

The bird flu will lead to extinction

Zakaria 05 (Fareed, and#34;A Threat Worse than Terror,and#34; 10-31, Newsweek, http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/103105.html-http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/103105.html)
A flu pandemic is the most dangerous threat the United States faces today,and#34; says
AND
for the first time. No such expertise exists for today’s deadliest threat.

Continued reliance on industrial mechanized agriculture results in catastrophic warming

Cummins 10 – Ronnie is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association. (and#34;Industrial Agriculture and Human Survival: The Road Beyond 10/10/10and#34;, Organic Consumer’s Association, October 7, 2010, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm-http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm)
Although transportation, industry, and energy producers are obviously major fossil fuel users and
AND
oxide, which are responsible for at least 22 of global warming.

A move towards organic agriculture mitigates future emissions and prevents warming

Scialabba 10 – Nadia is from the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (and#34;Organic agriculture and climate changeand#34;, February 2, 2010, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 25.2, http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf-http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf)
Organic agricultural systems have an inherent potential to both reduce GHG emissions and to enhance
AND
are needed to better unlock its potential and application on a large scale.

Warming leads to extinction, feedbacks are positive, and now is key

Morgan 09 – Professor of Current Affairs @ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea (Dennis Ray, and#34;World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human raceand#34;, Futures, Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2009, Pages 683-693, ScienceDirect)
As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
AND
Russian roulette while time increasingly stacks the cards against our chances of survival?

Warming is real and anthropogenic—every single warrant possible

Prothero 12 – Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. (and#34;How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Causedand#34;, 3/1/2012, http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-02-08/)
How do we know that global warming is real and primarily human caused? There
AND
honesty came first, and did not sell out to the highest bidder.

CO2 emissions cause ocean acidification and extinction

Romm 12 (Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, and#34;Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity’s Ability to Feed Itself,and#34; 3/2/2012, http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/436193/science-ocean-acidifying-so-fast-it-threatens-humanity-ability-to-feed-itself/?utm_source=feedburner26utm_medium=email26utm_campaign=Feed3A+climateprogre)
The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they
AND
corals, mollusks and some plankton need for reef and shell-building.

CO2 releases methane from arctic permafrost—that causes extinction

Ryskin 3 (Gregory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Illinois, and#34;Methane-driven oceanic eruptions and mass extinctionsand#34; Geology 31(9): 741-744,)
The consequences of a methane-driven oceanic eruption for marine and terrestrial life are
AND
, implicated in the nuclear winter scenario (Turco et al., 1991).

Soft Power

Contention Two is Soft Power:

Soft power is low and ineffective now

Glassman 13 (James K. Glassman, May 6, 2013, and#34;President Obama surprisingly ineffective at using soft power,and#34; The Hill, http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/298077-president-obama-surprisingly-ineffective-at-using-soft-power-)
So how’s it working for you? In my view, not particularly well.
AND
requires leadership — a consistency that reassures our allies and deters our enemies. 

The embargo continually degrades our soft power—total repeal is key

Koenig 10 - Colonel Lance R. Koenig, US Army. (Nov. 3, ’10, and#34;Time for a New Cuba Policy,and#34; www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA518130?)
The efforts expended by the United States to keep the embargo effective, the loss
AND
guides her onto a path that will benefit the nations of the Americas.

Economic engagement with Cuba restores US credibility—declining influence in Latin America produces global backlash

Perez 10 ¬– JD, Yale Law (David, and#34;America’s Cuba Policy: The Way Forward: A Policy Recommendation for the U.S. State Departmentand#34; 13 Harv. Latino L. Rev. 187)
As the global financial crisis begins to negatively affect Cuba’s state-benefactors (particularly
AND
interest in one day seeing a free and open society flourish in Cuba.

The plan is key to cooperation and credibility in the international sphere

Dickerson 10 – Sergio is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. (and#34;UNITED STATES SECURITY STRATEGY TOWARDS CUBAand#34;, 1/14/2010, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U226doc=GetTRDoc.pdf26AD=ADA518053-http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U226doc=GetTRDoc.pdf26AD=ADA518053, Callahan)
So why would the Obama Administration add the Cuban-relations conundrum to an already
AND
of a and#34;new beginningand#34; in U.S.-Cuba relations. 

Repealing the embargo is key to solving soft power—shows a commitment to benevolent free trade and liberalism

Holmes 10- Michael G. Holmes, MA The School of Continuing Studies, Georgetown (and#34;SEIZING THE MOMENT,and#34; June 21, 2010, Georgetown, https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/553334/holmesMichael.pdf?sequence=1-Accessed-7-2-13-RX~~
From an image stand point repealing the sanctions and removing the embargo is symbolic.
AND
, the two benefits that stand out the most are trade and fuel.

The embargo is the symbol of failed American democratization – repeal is key to send an international signal of willingness to engage non-democratic states

Hinderdael 11 (Klaas, M.A. candidate at SAIS Bologna Center, concentrating in American Foreign Policy and Energy, Resources, and Environment, and#34;Breaking the Logjam: Obama’s Cuba Policy and a Guideline for Improved Leadershipand#34;, 6/11/2011, http://bcjournal.org/volume-14/breaking-the-logjam.html?printerFriendly=true)
The two countries’ histories have long been intertwined, particularly after the Monroe Doctrine of
AND
truly willing to extend his hand once America’s traditional adversaries unclench their fists.

U.S. acceptance of alternate forms of governance is key to soft power and U.S. credibility

Kupchan 12 (Charles, professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and#34;No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turnand#34;, Kindle edition (no page numbers)
As a starting point, responsible governance, rather than liberal democracy, should be
AND
important assets as it works with rising powers to manage the global turn.

Any step short of unconditional removal won’t create the same symbol of legitimacy

Vivanco 6 – LLM from Harvard Law School, Americas director of Humans Rights Watch. (Jose Miguel, and#34;Restraint, not force, will bring change to Cubaand#34;, humans rights watch, 12/22/06, http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba-http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba,  google scholar)
This reluctance would be understandable but misguided. Most Cubans do want change. If
AND
when the US stops acting like Goliath will Cuba stop looking like David.

Soft power solves war and is key to primacy

Jervis 09 (professor of international politics at Columbia University. (Robert, Unipolarity: A Structural Perspective, World Politics Volume 61, Number 1, January 2009)
To say that the system is unipolar is not to argue that the unipole can
AND
that others share the American vision and believe that its leadership is benign. 

It’s reverse causal—lack of soft power makes leadership unsustainable—solves their only warrant for impact turns because soft power legitimizes our involvement in other countries

Gallarotti, 11 — Professor of Government Wesleyan University (1/1, and#34;The Power Curse: The Paradox of Power in World Politic.and#34; Division II Faculty Publications, Wesleyan University. http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=105726context=div2facpubs)
Over and above the effects of complexity, the augmentation of power generates another deleterious
AND
international presence (i.e., more potential adversaries and fewer allies). 

Even if they win that it’s not reverse causal and primacy is inevitable, soft power is key to effectively exercise it

Eckersley 11, Robyn, University of Melbourne ~and#34;Does Climate Leadership Matter?and#34; 9/28, Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference~ HURWITZ
Yet these simple formulations beg the questions of how A is able to influence others
AND
, facilitate or galvanise others to embrace them and work towards their achievement.

Hegemonic decline leads to extinction

Zhang and Shi 11, 1/22 – *Yuhan Zhang is a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C.; Lin Shi is from Columbia University. She also serves as an independent consultant for the Eurasia Group and a consultant for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. (America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/)
 Thus, the global distribution of power is shifting, and the inevitable result
AND
forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

Decline kills free trade—American primacy is key to the sustainability of liberal institutions—that leads to great power war and extinction

Zhang 11, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Researcher. ~Yuhan, and Lin Shi, Columbia University, January 22, 2011, East Asia Forum, and#34;America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry,and#34; http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/-http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/, accessed 7/7/13~
Over the past two decades, no other state has had the ability to seriously
AND
forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

Free trade solves war—economic incentives ensure prosperity and peace

Griswold 11 Daniel Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and author of Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. and#34;Free Trade and the Global Middle Class,and#34; Hayek Society Journal Vol. 9 http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12-http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12
Our more globalized world has also yielded a and#34;peace dividend.and#34; It may not
AND
and less likely those gains will be destroyed by civil conflict and war.

Tournament: Maine East | Round: 4 | Opponent: New Trier BK | Judge: Melanie Johnson

Plan Text

Text: The United States federal government should normalize its trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.

Transition

Contention One is the Transition:

Cuban economic reforms are inevitable but the absence of external investment will lead to collapse—normalizing relations is key to solvency

Ashby 13 – Timothy is a Senior Research Fellow at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs. (and#34;Preserving Stability in Cuba After Normalizing Relations with the United States—The Importance of Trading with State-Owned Enterprisesand#34;, March 29, 2013, http://www.coha.org/preserving-stability-in-cuba-timothy-ashby/-http://www.coha.org/preserving-stability-in-cuba-timothy-ashby/)
Cuba under Raúl Castro has entered a new period of economic, social, and
AND
defeating, what could be a major U.S. policy goal. 

Lifting the embargo enhances Cuba’s economy and motivates political reform

Griswold, 2005 (Daniel, director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Trade Policy Studies, Four Decades of Failure: The U.S. Embargo against Cuba, Cato Institute, October 12, 2005, http://www.cato.org/publications/speeches/four-decades-failure-us-embargo-against-cuba)
The real dividing line in U.S. policy toward Cuba is how best
AND
enjoy a comfortable, insulated lifestyle by extracting any meager surplus produced by their
captive subjects.

A total repeal of the embargo is key to a successful transition

CSG 13 – The Cuba Study Group is a non-profit and non-partisan organization studying Cuba. (and#34;Restoring Executive Authority Over U.S. Policy Toward Cubaand#34;, February 2013, http://www.cubastudygroup.org/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=45d8f827-174c-4d43-aa2f-ef7794831032-http://www.cubastudygroup.org/index.cfm/files/serve?File_id=45d8f827-174c-4d43-aa2f-ef7794831032)
Beyond failing to advance its stated objectives, the most counterproductive aspect of Helms-
AND
S. policy in the hands of Cuban proponents of the status quo.

More moderate approaches comparatively fail to stabilize Cuba

Koenig 10 – Lance is a US Army Colonel. This is a paper submitted for a Masters in Strategic Studies at the US Army War College. (and#34;Time for a New Cuba Policyand#34;, March 11, 2010, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA518130)
The United States requires a policy that will lead to better relations between the United
AND
guides her onto a path that will benefit the nations of the Americas. 

Failure of economic reform causes civil war

Lopez-Levy 11 – Arturo Lopez Levy is lecturer and PhD Candidate at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. He a Research Associate of the Institute for the Study of Israel in the Middle East (ISIME) and teaches Latin American Politics, and Comparative Politics at the University of Denver and the Colorado School of Mines. (and#34;Change In Post-Fidel Cuba: Political Liberalization, Economic Reform and Lessons for U.S. Policyand#34;, May 2011, New America Foundation, http://newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/naf_all_cuba_reform_final.pdf-http://newamerica.net/sites/newamerica.net/files/policydocs/naf_all_cuba_reform_final.pdf)
Indeed, if Cuba’s economic reform fails and local revolts ensue, the most likely
AND
of political liberalization that welcomes the growth of nonpartisan Cuban civil society organizations.

Cuban collapse leads to Latin American instability and distracts focus from Taiwan and North Korea

Gorrell 05 – Tim is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. This paper is a strategy research project. (and#34;Cuba: The Next Unanticipated Strategic Crisis?and#34; March 18, 2005, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA433074)
Regardless of the succession, under the current U.S. policy, Cuba’s
AND
in an effort to facilitate a manageable transition to post-Castro Cuba?

North Korea is shifting back toward confrontation—weak US focus causes war

Julian Ryall 9/10, Japan Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, and#34;Back to business as usual for North Koreaand#34;, 2013, www.dw.de/back-to-business-as-usual-for-north-korea/a-17077430
and#34;President ~Barack~ Obama is fluctuating one way and then another on Syria
AND
After that, the Korean peninsula will be reunited within another two years.and#34;

North Korea’s threatening war—only status quo focus solves

Tom Rogan 13, BA in War Studies and MSc in Middle East Politics, and#34;North Korea nuclear testand#34;, 2/11, www.tomroganthinks.com/2013/02/north-korea-nuclear-test.html
North Korea is threatening a further nuclear test and evidence suggests that this threat is
AND
suicide. With American resolve and strength, North Korea can be deterred.

Korean war goes nuclear—risk of miscalculation is high and this time is different

Steven Metz 13, Chairman of the Regional Strategy and Planning Department and Research Professor of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute, 3/13/13, and#34;Strategic Horizons: Thinking the Unthinkable on a Second Korean War,and#34; http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/12786/strategic-horizons-thinking-the-unthinkable-on-a-second-korean-war
Today, North Korea is the most dangerous country on earth and the greatest threat
AND
two continued mutual trade and investment. Stranger things have happened in statecraft.

Focus on Taiwan is critical to preventing war

Roy 12 – Dr. Denny Roy is a senior research fellow in Asian security issues with the East-West Center in Honolulu. (and#34;Why the U.S. shouldn’t abandon Taiwanand#34;, December 6, 2012, http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/06/why-the-u-s-shouldnt-abandon-taiwan/-http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/06/why-the-u-s-shouldnt-abandon-taiwan/)
China is the next superpower, the United States is in decline, and America
AND
destroy the political system and political identity chosen by Taiwan’s people is real.

Taiwan crisis is the most likely scenario for nuclear war

Lowther 3/16 – William is a staff writer for the Taipei Times, citing a CSIS report. (and#34;Taiwan could spark nuclear war: reportand#34;, 3/16/2013, http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2013/03/16/2003557211)
Taiwan is the most likely potential crisis that could trigger a nuclear war between China
AND
arsenals, such a conflict would be tremendously dangerous and quite possibly devastating.and#34;

Nuclear war turns every critical impact

FME 2006 (For Mother Earth, and#34;The Effects of Nuclear Weapons,and#34; Last Modified 4-17-06, http://www.motherearth.org/nuke/begin2.php)
To understand the effects of a nuclear war it is important to distinguish it from
AND
of xenophobia, racial and religious intolerance, as well as male chauvinism.

Sustainable Agriculture

Contention Two is Sustainable Agriculture:

Cuban agriculture sustainability is failing—foreign investment is key

King 12 – M. Dawn King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Politics at Colorado State University and worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Geological Survey – conducting research on environmental decision-making models and internal governance of watershed management councils. (and#34;Cuban Sustainability: The Effects of Economic Isolation on Agriculture and Energyand#34;, March 21, 2012, http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/meet/2012/kingmdawn.pdf)
Cuba needed an alternative agricultural model when foreign oil imports were cut off significantly at
AND
goal of sustainable development to increase short-term capital and energy needs.

The plan provides foreign capital to Cuba and allows its model to be exported globally

Shkolnick 12 – JD Candidate, Drake University Law School. (and#34;SIN EMBARGO: THE CUBAN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE UNITED STATESand#34;, 17 Drake J. Agric. L. 683, fall, http://students.law.drake.edu/aglawjournal/docs/agVol17No3-Shkolnick.pdf)
Cuba today is experiencing the most rapid shifts towards privatization and reform since the revolution
AND
presents a unique opportunity American business and agricultural enterprises cannot afford to overlook.

Access to the US market is critical to sustainability and emulation

Kost 04 – William is part of the Economic Research Service for the USDA. (and#34;CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?and#34; 2004, http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)
MARKETS MAY BE CRITICAL FOR AN ORGANIC CUBA In addition to the above European markets
AND
and other inputs to support growth in other sectors of the Cuban economy.

Organic agriculture outproduces industrial agriculture—newest, best studies

Wright, 9 - Deputy Director of Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology and Food Security (Julia, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity, p. 19)
Nonetheless, more ecologically based, organic production approaches are sidestepped by international development agencies
AND
, their performance would be greatly enhanced (Pretty et al, 1996). 

Industrial agriculture is the primary factor in bird flu spread

Otte et al 07 – Joachim Otte is the Senior Animal Production and Health Officer at FAO. (and#34;Industrial Livestock Production and Global Health Risks,and#34; Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative, June 2007, MCallahan)
Concentration of food animal production and the unregulated ’evolution’ of densely populated livestock production
AND
in a watershed subunit as described by Osowski et al. (2001).

Overdue for a deadly bird flu mutation—their impact defense doesn’t apply—zoonotics are superhuman

Nebehay 05 ~Stephanie. Staff Writer: Reuters. and#34;Evolution of Bird Flu Virus May Favor Pandemicand#34; Reuters, 20 Jan 05. LexisGBS-JV~
The bird flu virus endemic in Asia appears to be evolving in ways that increasingly
AND
difficult to control and increase the likelihood of human exposures,and#34; it said.

The bird flu will lead to extinction

Zakaria 05 (Fareed, and#34;A Threat Worse than Terror,and#34; 10-31, Newsweek, http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/103105.html-http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/103105.html)
A flu pandemic is the most dangerous threat the United States faces today,and#34; says
AND
for the first time. No such expertise exists for today’s deadliest threat.

Continued reliance on industrial mechanized agriculture results in catastrophic warming

Cummins 10 – Ronnie is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association. (and#34;Industrial Agriculture and Human Survival: The Road Beyond 10/10/10and#34;, Organic Consumer’s Association, October 7, 2010, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm-http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm)
Although transportation, industry, and energy producers are obviously major fossil fuel users and
AND
oxide, which are responsible for at least 22 of global warming.

A move towards organic agriculture mitigates future emissions and prevents warming

Scialabba 10 – Nadia is from the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). (and#34;Organic agriculture and climate changeand#34;, February 2, 2010, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 25.2, http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf-http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf)
Organic agricultural systems have an inherent potential to both reduce GHG emissions and to enhance
AND
are needed to better unlock its potential and application on a large scale.

Warming leads to extinction, feedbacks are positive, and now is key

Morgan 09 – Professor of Current Affairs @ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea (Dennis Ray, and#34;World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human raceand#34;, Futures, Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2009, Pages 683-693, ScienceDirect)
As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
AND
Russian roulette while time increasingly stacks the cards against our chances of survival?

Warming is real and anthropogenic—every single warrant possible

Prothero 12 – Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. (and#34;How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Causedand#34;, 3/1/2012, http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-02-08/)
How do we know that global warming is real and primarily human caused? There
AND
honesty came first, and did not sell out to the highest bidder.

CO2 emissions cause ocean acidification and extinction

Romm 12 (Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, and#34;Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity’s Ability to Feed Itself,and#34; 3/2/2012, http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/436193/science-ocean-acidifying-so-fast-it-threatens-humanity-ability-to-feed-itself/?utm_source=feedburner26utm_medium=email26utm_campaign=Feed3A+climateprogre)
The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they
AND
corals, mollusks and some plankton need for reef and shell-building.

CO2 releases methane from arctic permafrost—that causes extinction

Ryskin 3 (Gregory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Illinois, and#34;Methane-driven oceanic eruptions and mass extinctionsand#34; Geology 31(9): 741-744,)
The consequences of a methane-driven oceanic eruption for marine and terrestrial life are
AND
, implicated in the nuclear winter scenario (Turco et al., 1991).

Tournament: New Trier | Round: 1 | Opponent: Appleton East KS | Judge: Ernie Rose

Plan Text

Text: The United States federal government should normalize its trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.

Soft Power

Contention One is Soft Power:

The embargo kills US legitimacy—promotes backlash to unilateral sanctions and concedes to anti-American movements

Perez 10 ¬– JD, Yale Law (David, "America’s Cuba Policy: The Way Forward: A Policy Recommendation for the U.S. State Department" 13 Harv. Latino L. Rev. 187)
As the global financial crisis begins to negatively affect Cuba’s state-benefactors (particularly
AND
interest in one day seeing a free and open society flourish in Cuba.

Lifting the embargo demonstrates a commitment to reciprocal concessions and soft power

Hinderdael 11 (Klaas, M.A. candidate at SAIS Bologna Center, concentrating in American Foreign Policy and Energy, Resources, and Environment, "Breaking the Logjam: Obama’s Cuba Policy and a Guideline for Improved Leadership", 6/11/2011, http://bcjournal.org/volume-14/breaking-the-logjam.html?printerFriendly=true)
The two countries’ histories have long been intertwined, particularly after the Monroe Doctrine of
AND
truly willing to extend his hand once America’s traditional adversaries unclench their fists.

Engagement with Cuba solves legitimacy and the image of unwavering US hard power

Dickerson 10 – Lieutenant Colonel Sergio M. Dickerson, 2010, "United States Security Strategy Towards Cuba," Strategy Research Project, www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U226doc=GetTRDoc.pdf26AD=ADA518053-http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U226doc=GetTRDoc.pdf26AD=ADA518053
Conclusion Today, 20 years have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall –
AND
decline in the greater global order bringing true peace for years to come.

The plan is key—Cuba is a unique symbol for American exclusion

Naim 09 (Moises, Senior Associate in the International Economics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "The Havana Obsession, Why all eyes are on a bankrupt island", http://www.newsweek.com/2009/06/12/the-havana-obsession.html)
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recently had a face-to-face
AND
of a superpower that punishes a small island while cozying to dictators elsewhere.

Total, unconditional removal is critical to a sufficiently benevolent image

Koenig 10 - Colonel Lance R. Koenig, US Army. (Nov. 3, ’10, "Time for a New Cuba Policy," www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA518130?)
The efforts expended by the United States to keep the embargo effective, the loss
AND
guides her onto a path that will benefit the nations of the Americas.

Soft power is the key internal link to all conflict

Jervis 09 (professor of international politics at Columbia University. (Robert, Unipolarity: A Structural Perspective, World Politics Volume 61, Number 1, January 2009)
To say that the system is unipolar is not to argue that the unipole can
AND
that others share the American vision and believe that its leadership is benign.

The impact is Balancing:

The image of unwavering deterrence is the root cause of proliferation and counterbalancing—credible assurances of reciprocal concessions are key to cooperation and legitimacy of world power

Monteiro 10 – Nuno P. Monteiro is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University. His research and teach¬ing focuses on international relations theory and security studies. He is currently writing a book on the causes of conflict in a unipolar world. Professor Monteiro received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2009 ~http://yalejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/105216monteiro.pdf, Spring Summer 2010, "Why U.S. Does Not Deter Challenges"~
Well into the Obama presidency, the broadest foreign policy challenge facing the United States
AND
no surprise. It follows from the unparalleled power of the United States. 

Proliferation causes extinction—coercive diplomacy ensures escalation

Asal and Beardsley 09 (Victor, Department of Political Science, State University of New York, Albany, and Kyle, Department of Political Science, Emory University, Winning with the Bomb, http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/uploads/Beardsley-Asal_Winning_with_the_Bomb.pdf-http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/uploads/Beardsley-Asal_Winning_with_the_Bomb.pdf)
Conclusion Why do states proliferate? Nuclear weapons and the programs necessary to create them
AND
necessarily mean that the weapons are a net benefit for peace and stability.

MAD doesn’t solve

Kroenig 12 – Matthew Kroenig is the Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University and a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. ("The History of Proliferation Optimism: Does It Have A Future? Prepared for the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center," May 26, 2012, http://www.npolicy.org/article.php?aid=118226tid=30)
Nuclear War. The greatest threat posed by the spread of nuclear weapons is nuclear
AND
that a future Middle East crisis could result in a devastating nuclear exchange.

Counterbalancing takes out free trade and international influence

Ikenberry 09 –  G. John Ikenberry is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University in the Department of Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Michael Mastanduno is the associate professor of government at Dartmouth, William C. Wohlforth is Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/summary/v061/61.1.ikenberry.html, "Introduction: Unipolarity, State Behavior, and Systemic Consequences, PDF, January 2009)
First is the logic of balancing, alliance, and opposition, discussed in the
AND
-ranked great powers to withhold cooperation may sap the unipole’s effective power. 

Protectionism causes nuclear war and kills solutions to all impacts

Panzner 08 – Michael J. Panzner is a 30-year veteran of the global stock, bond and currency markets who has worked in New York and London for such leading companies as HSBC, Soros Funds, ABN Amro, Dresdner Bank, and J.P. Morgan Chase ("Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future from Economic Collapse," p. 136-138)
Continuing calls for curbs on the flow of finance and trade will inspire the United
AND
between Muslims and Western societies as the beginnings of a new world war.

Free trade solves war by providing economic incentives and credible security commitments

Griswold 11 Daniel Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and author of Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. "Free Trade and the Global Middle Class," Hayek Society Journal Vol. 9 http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12-http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12
Our more globalized world has also yielded a "peace dividend." It may not
AND
and less likely those gains will be destroyed by civil conflict and war.

Sustainable Agriculture

Contention Two is Sustainable Agriculture:

Cuban agriculture sustainability is failing—foreign investment is key

King 12 – M. Dawn King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Politics at Colorado State University and worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Geological Survey – conducting research on environmental decision-making models and internal governance of watershed management councils. ("Cuban Sustainability: The Effects of Economic Isolation on Agriculture and Energy", March 21, 2012, http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/meet/2012/kingmdawn.pdf)
Cuba needed an alternative agricultural model when foreign oil imports were cut off significantly at
AND
goal of sustainable development to increase short-term capital and energy needs.

The plan provides foreign capital to Cuba and allows its model to be exported globally

Shkolnick 12 – JD Candidate, Drake University Law School. ("SIN EMBARGO: THE CUBAN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE UNITED STATES", 17 Drake J. Agric. L. 683, fall, http://students.law.drake.edu/aglawjournal/docs/agVol17No3-Shkolnick.pdf)
Cuba today is experiencing the most rapid shifts towards privatization and reform since the revolution
AND
presents a unique opportunity American business and agricultural enterprises cannot afford to overlook.

Access to the US market is critical to sustainability and emulation

Kost 04 – William is part of the Economic Research Service for the USDA. ("CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?" 2004, http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)
MARKETS MAY BE CRITICAL FOR AN ORGANIC CUBA In addition to the above European markets
AND
and other inputs to support growth in other sectors of the Cuban economy.

Organic agriculture outproduces industrial agriculture—newest, best studies

Wright, 9 - Deputy Director of Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology and Food Security (Julia, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity, p. 19)
Nonetheless, more ecologically based, organic production approaches are sidestepped by international development agencies
AND
, their performance would be greatly enhanced (Pretty et al, 1996). 

Industrial agriculture is the primary factor in bird flu spread

Otte et al 07 – Joachim Otte is the Senior Animal Production and Health Officer at FAO. ("Industrial Livestock Production and Global Health Risks," Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative, June 2007, MCallahan)
Concentration of food animal production and the unregulated ’evolution’ of densely populated livestock production
AND
in a watershed subunit as described by Osowski et al. (2001).

Overdue for a deadly bird flu mutation—their impact defense doesn’t apply—zoonotics are superhuman

Nebehay 05 ~Stephanie. Staff Writer: Reuters. "Evolution of Bird Flu Virus May Favor Pandemic" Reuters, 20 Jan 05. LexisGBS-JV~
The bird flu virus endemic in Asia appears to be evolving in ways that increasingly
AND
difficult to control and increase the likelihood of human exposures," it said.

Even common, harmless mutations add up to create a superhuman flu strain—cryptic mutations and heat-shock proteins prove

Yong 8/13 – Ed Yong is an award-winning science writer. His blog Not Exactly Rocket Science is hosted by National Geographic, and his work has also appeared in Wired, Nature, the BBC, New Scientist, the Guardian, the Times, Aeon, Discover, Scientific American, The Scientist, the BMJ, Slate, and more. ("Seemingly Unimportant Mutations Can Foster Disease", Scientific American, 8/13/13, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hidden-mutations-seemingly-unimportatnt-mutations-can-foster-disease-http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=hidden-mutations-seemingly-unimportatnt-mutations-can-foster-disease, MCallahan)
That spread "sounded alarm bells to me," Bloom says. Something else had
AND
of evolution’s most puzzling questions—the origin of complex combinations of traits.

The bird flu will lead to extinction

Zakaria 05 (Fareed, "A Threat Worse than Terror," 10-31, Newsweek, http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/103105.html-http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/103105.html)
A flu pandemic is the most dangerous threat the United States faces today," says
AND
for the first time. No such expertise exists for today’s deadliest threat.

Continued reliance on industrial agriculture results in catastrophic emissions and global warming—non-CO2 GHGs are key

Cummins 10 – Ronnie is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association. ("Industrial Agriculture and Human Survival: The Road Beyond 10/10/10", Organic Consumer’s Association, October 7, 2010, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm-http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm)
Although transportation, industry, and energy producers are obviously major fossil fuel users and
AND
oxide, which are responsible for at least 22 of global warming.

A move towards organic agriculture mitigates future emissions and prevents warming

Scialabba 10 – Nadia is from the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). ("Organic agriculture and climate change", February 2, 2010, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 25.2, http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf-http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf)
Organic agricultural systems have an inherent potential to both reduce GHG emissions and to enhance
AND
are needed to better unlock its potential and application on a large scale.

Warming leads to extinction, feedbacks are positive, and now is key

Morgan 09 – Professor of Current Affairs @ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea (Dennis Ray, "World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human race", Futures, Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2009, Pages 683-693, ScienceDirect)
As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
AND
Russian roulette while time increasingly stacks the cards against our chances of survival?

Warming is real and anthropogenic—every single warrant possible

Prothero 12 – Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. ("How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused", 3/1/2012, http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-02-08/)
How do we know that global warming is real and primarily human caused? There
AND
honesty came first, and did not sell out to the highest bidder.

CO2 emissions cause ocean acidification and extinction

Romm 12 (Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, "Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity’s Ability to Feed Itself," 3/2/2012, http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/436193/science-ocean-acidifying-so-fast-it-threatens-humanity-ability-to-feed-itself/?utm_source=feedburner26utm_medium=email26utm_campaign=Feed3A+climateprogre)
The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they
AND
corals, mollusks and some plankton need for reef and shell-building.

CO2 releases methane from arctic permafrost—that causes extinction

Ryskin 3 (Gregory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Illinois, "Methane-driven oceanic eruptions and mass extinctions" Geology 31(9): 741-744,)
The consequences of a methane-driven oceanic eruption for marine and terrestrial life are
AND
, implicated in the nuclear winter scenario (Turco et al., 1991).

Tournament: Niles North | Round: 1 | Opponent: Dowling Catholic KW | Judge: Beth Kloser

Plan Text

Text: The United States federal government should normalize its trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.

Sustainable Agriculture

Contention One is Sustainable Agriculture

Cuban agriculture sustainability is failing—foreign investment is key

King 12 – M. Dawn King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Politics at Colorado State University and worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Geological Survey – conducting research on environmental decision-making models and internal governance of watershed management councils. ("Cuban Sustainability: The Effects of Economic Isolation on Agriculture and Energy", March 21, 2012, http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/meet/2012/kingmdawn.pdf)
Cuba needed an alternative agricultural model when foreign oil imports were cut off significantly at
AND
goal of sustainable development to increase short-term capital and energy needs.

The plan provides foreign capital to Cuba and allows its model to be exported globally

Shkolnick 12 – JD Candidate, Drake University Law School. ("SIN EMBARGO: THE CUBAN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE UNITED STATES", 17 Drake J. Agric. L. 683, fall, http://students.law.drake.edu/aglawjournal/docs/agVol17No3-Shkolnick.pdf)
Cuba today is experiencing the most rapid shifts towards privatization and reform since the revolution
AND
presents a unique opportunity American business and agricultural enterprises cannot afford to overlook.

Access to the US market is critical to sustainability and emulation

Kost 04 – William is part of the Economic Research Service for the USDA. ("CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?" 2004, http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)
MARKETS MAY BE CRITICAL FOR AN ORGANIC CUBA In addition to the above European markets
AND
and other inputs to support growth in other sectors of the Cuban economy.

Continued reliance on industrial mechanized agriculture results in catastrophic warming and biodiversity loss

Cummins 10 – Ronnie is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association. ("Industrial Agriculture and Human Survival: The Road Beyond 10/10/10", Organic Consumer’s Association, October 7, 2010, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm-http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm)
Although transportation, industry, and energy producers are obviously major fossil fuel users and
AND
oxide, which are responsible for at least 22 of global warming.

Status quo food production is failing—a shift to urban agriculture is key to sustainable food and biodiversity

Peters 10 – LL.M. expected 2011, University of Arkansas School of Law, Graduate Program in Agricultural and Food Law; J.D. 2010, University of Oregon School of Law. ("Creating a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Revolution", Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, Vol. 25, 203, http://law.uoregon.edu/org/jell/docs/251/peters.pdf)
URBAN AGRICULTURE Urban agriculture is a system that ensures food security by providing access to
AND
without concern for its impact on society and the environment is not sustainable. 

Ecosystem collapse causes extinction

Watson 06 (Captain Paul, Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has a show on Animal Planet, Last Mod 9-17, http://www.eco-action.org/dt/beerswil.html)
The facts are clear. More plant and animal species will go through extinction within
AND
and with it the horrendous and mind numbing specter of massive human destruction.

A move towards organic agriculture mitigates future emissions and prevents warming

Scialabba 10 – Nadia is from the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). ("Organic agriculture and climate change", February 2, 2010, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 25.2, http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf-http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf)
Organic agricultural systems have an inherent potential to both reduce GHG emissions and to enhance
AND
are needed to better unlock its potential and application on a large scale.

Warming leads to extinction, feedbacks are positive, and now is key

Morgan 09 – Professor of Current Affairs @ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea (Dennis Ray, "World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human race", Futures, Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2009, Pages 683-693, ScienceDirect)
As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
AND
Russian roulette while time increasingly stacks the cards against our chances of survival?

Warming is real and anthropogenic—every single warrant possible

Prothero 12 – Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. ("How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused", 3/1/2012, http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-02-08/)
How do we know that global warming is real and primarily human caused? There
AND
did not sell out to the highest bidder. Science and Anti-Science

Independently, CO2 emissions cause ocean acidification and extinction

Romm 12 (Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, "Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity’s Ability to Feed Itself," 3/2/2012, http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/436193/science-ocean-acidifying-so-fast-it-threatens-humanity-ability-to-feed-itself/?utm_source=feedburner26utm_medium=email26utm_campaign=Feed3A+climateprogre)
The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they
AND
corals, mollusks and some plankton need for reef and shell-building.

CO2 releases methane from the arctic permafrost—that causes extinction

Ryskin 3 (Gregory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Illinois, "Methane-driven oceanic eruptions and mass extinctions" Geology 31(9): 741-744,)
The consequences of a methane-driven oceanic eruption for marine and terrestrial life are
AND
, implicated in the nuclear winter scenario (Turco et al., 1991).

Soft Power

Contention Two is Soft Power

Soft power is low and ineffective now

Glassman 13 (James K. Glassman, May 6, 2013, "President Obama surprisingly ineffective at using soft power," The Hill, http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/298077-president-obama-surprisingly-ineffective-at-using-soft-power-)
So how’s it working for you? In my view, not particularly well.
AND
requires leadership — a consistency that reassures our allies and deters our enemies. 

The embargo continually degrades our soft power

Koenig 10 - Colonel Lance R. Koenig, US Army. (Nov. 3, ’10, "Time for a New Cuba Policy," www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA518130?)
The efforts expended by the United States to keep the embargo effective, the loss
AND
with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances United States interests.42
The United States cannot afford to miss out on the window of opportunity to affect
AND
guides her onto a path that will benefit the nations of the Americas.

Economic engagement with Cuba restores US credibility—declining influence in Latin America produces global backlash

Perez 10 – JD, Yale Law (David, "America’s Cuba Policy: The Way Forward: A Policy Recommendation for the U.S. State Department" 13 Harv. Latino L. Rev. 187)
As the global financial crisis begins to negatively affect Cuba’s state-benefactors (particularly
AND
interest in one day seeing a free and open society flourish in Cuba.

The plan is key to cooperation and credibility in the international sphere

Dickerson 10 – Sergio is a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Army. ("UNITED STATES SECURITY STRATEGY TOWARDS CUBA", 1/14/2010, http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U226doc=GetTRDoc.pdf26AD=ADA518053-http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U226doc=GetTRDoc.pdf26AD=ADA518053, Callahan)
So why would the Obama Administration add the Cuban-relations conundrum to an already
AND
of a "new beginning" in U.S.-Cuba relations. 

Repealing the embargo is key to solving soft power—shows a commitment to benevolent free trade and liberalism

Holmes 10- Michael G. Holmes, MA The School of Continuing Studies, Georgetown ("SEIZING THE MOMENT," June 21, 2010, Georgetown, https://repository.library.georgetown.edu/bitstream/handle/10822/553334/holmesMichael.pdf?sequence=1-Accessed-7-2-13-RX~~
From an image stand point repealing the sanctions and removing the embargo is symbolic.
AND
, the two benefits that stand out the most are trade and fuel.

The embargo is the symbol of failed American democratization – repeal is key to send an international signal of willingness to engage non-democratic states

Hinderdael 11 (Klaas, M.A. candidate at SAIS Bologna Center, concentrating in American Foreign Policy and Energy, Resources, and Environment, "Breaking the Logjam: Obama’s Cuba Policy and a Guideline for Improved Leadership", 6/11/2011, http://bcjournal.org/volume-14/breaking-the-logjam.html?printerFriendly=true)
The two countries’ histories have long been intertwined, particularly after the Monroe Doctrine of
AND
truly willing to extend his hand once America’s traditional adversaries unclench their fists.

U.S. acceptance of alternate forms of governance is key to soft power and U.S. credibility

Kupchan 12 (Charles, professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, "No One’s World: The West, the Rising Rest, and the Coming Global Turn", Kindle edition (no page numbers)
As a starting point, responsible governance, rather than liberal democracy, should be
AND
important assets as it works with rising powers to manage the global turn.

Any step short of unconditional removal won’t create the same symbol of legitimacy

Vivanco 6 – LLM from Harvard Law School, Americas director of Humans Rights Watch. (Jose Miguel, "Restraint, not force, will bring change to Cuba", humans rights watch, 12/22/06, http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba-http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba,  google scholar)
This reluctance would be understandable but misguided. Most Cubans do want change. If
AND
when the US stops acting like Goliath will Cuba stop looking like David.

Soft power solves war and is key to primacy

Jervis 09 (professor of international politics at Columbia University. (Robert, Unipolarity: A Structural Perspective, World Politics Volume 61, Number 1, January 2009)
To say that the system is unipolar is not to argue that the unipole can
AND
that others share the American vision and believe that its leadership is benign. 

It’s reverse causal—lack of soft power makes leadership unsustainable—solves their only warrant for impact turns because soft power legitimizes our involvement in other countries

Gallarotti, 11 — Professor of Government Wesleyan University (1/1, "The Power Curse: The Paradox of Power in World Politic." Division II Faculty Publications, Wesleyan University. http://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=105726context=div2facpubs)
Over and above the effects of complexity, the augmentation of power generates another deleterious
AND
international presence (i.e., more potential adversaries and fewer allies). 

Even if they win that it’s not reverse causal and primacy is inevitable, soft power is key to effectively exercise it

Eckersley 11, Robyn, University of Melbourne ~"Does Climate Leadership Matter?" 9/28, Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference~ HURWITZ
Yet these simple formulations beg the questions of how A is able to influence others
AND
, facilitate or galvanise others to embrace them and work towards their achievement.

Decline leads to conflict in space

Brzezinski 12 - National Security Advisor in the Carter Administration, Professor of Foreign Policy at Johns Hopkins University (Zbigniew 2012 "Strategic Vision: America and the crisis for global power" book)
America’s decline would have dangerous implications for this strategic common since currently the world relies
AND
new strategic competition, the ’final frontier" could become ominously unstable. 

Mass extinction

Mitchell, et al 1 -Associate Professor of Communication and Director of Debate at the University of Pittsburgh
(Dr. Gordon, ISIS Briefing on Ballistic Missile Defence, "Missile Defence:  Trans-Atlantic Diplomacy at a Crossroads", No. 6 July, http://www.isisuk.demon.co.uk/0811/isis/uk/bmd/no6.html-http://www.isisuk.demon.co.uk/0811/isis/uk/bmd/no6.html)
A buildup of space weapons might begin with noble intentions of ’peace through strength’ deterrence
AND
space could plunge the world into the most destructive military conflict ever seen.

Decline kills free trade—American primacy is key to the sustainability of liberal institutions

Zhang 11, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Researcher. ~Yuhan, and Lin Shi, Columbia University, January 22, 2011, East Asia Forum, "America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry," http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/-http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/, accessed 7/7/13~
Over the past two decades, no other state has had the ability to seriously
AND
forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

Protectionism causes war

Panzner ’8 (Faculty at the New York Institute of Finance, 25-year veteran of the global stock, bond, and currency markets who has worked in New York and London for HSBC, Soros Funds, ABN Amro, Dresdner Bank, and JPMorgan Chase (Michael, "Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future from Economic Collapse," p. 136-138)
Continuing calls for curbs on the flow of finance and trade will inspire the United
AND
between Muslims and Western societies as the beginnings of a new world war.

Free trade solves war—economic incentives ensure prosperity and peace

Griswold 11 Daniel Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and author of Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. "Free Trade and the Global Middle Class," Hayek Society Journal Vol. 9 http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12-http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12
Our more globalized world has also yielded a "peace dividend." It may not
AND
and less likely those gains will be destroyed by civil conflict and war.

Tournament: St Marks Hoedown | Round: 1 | Opponent: Calhoun KW | Judge: Arsht and Burr

Plan Text

Text: The United States federal government should normalize its trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.

Soft Power

Contention One is Soft Power:

The embargo damages legitimacy—only unilateral removal solves

Koenig 10 - Colonel Lance R. Koenig, US Army. (Nov. 3, ’10, "Time for a New Cuba Policy," www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA518130?)
The efforts expended by the United States to keep the embargo effective, the loss
AND
guides her onto a path that will benefit the nations of the Americas.

Full removal is also key

Vivanco 6 – LLM from Harvard Law School, Americas director of Humans Rights Watch. (Jose Miguel, "Restraint, not force, will bring change to Cuba", humans rights watch, 12/22/06, http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba-http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba, google scholar)
This reluctance would be understandable but misguided. Most Cubans do want change. If
AND
when the US stops acting like Goliath will Cuba stop looking like David.

Cuba is uniquely symbolic

Naim 09 (Moises, Senior Associate in the International Economics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "The Havana Obsession, Why all eyes are on a bankrupt island", http://www.newsweek.com/2009/06/12/the-havana-obsession.html)
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recently had a face-to-face
AND
of a superpower that punishes a small island while cozying to dictators elsewhere.

Lifting the embargo demonstrates a commitment to reciprocal concessions and acceptance of political diversity

Hinderdael 11 (Klaas, M.A. candidate at SAIS Bologna Center, concentrating in American Foreign Policy and Energy, Resources, and Environment, "Breaking the Logjam: Obama’s Cuba Policy and a Guideline for Improved Leadership", 6/11/2011, http://bcjournal.org/volume-14/breaking-the-logjam.html?printerFriendly=true)
The two countries’ histories have long been intertwined, particularly after the Monroe Doctrine of
AND
truly willing to extend his hand once America’s traditional adversaries unclench their fists.

That’s key to global legitimacy

Kupchan and Mount 09 (Charles, professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Adam, doctoral candidate in the Department of Government at Georgetown University, "The Autonomy Rule," Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Spring 2009, http://www.democracyjournal.org/pdf/12/Kupchan.pdf)
Many American strategists recognize the inevitability of a more level global playing field, but
AND
the principles around which the next order is most likely to take shape.

Legitimacy is critical to primacy—the alternative is balancing and collapse

Finnemore 09 – (Martha Finnemore, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, January 2009, "Legitimacy, Hypocrisy, and the Social Structure of Unipolarity: Why Being a Unipole Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be," World Politics, Volume 61, Number 1)
Legitimacy is, by its nature, a social and relational phenomenon. One’s position
AND
must give up some of that power to secure legitimacy for their policies.

Balancing kills free trade and leads to protectionism

Ikenberry 09 – G. John Ikenberry is the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University in the Department of Politics and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Michael Mastanduno is the associate professor of government at Dartmouth, William C. Wohlforth is Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/world_politics/summary/v061/61.1.ikenberry.html, "Introduction: Unipolarity, State Behavior, and Systemic Consequences, PDF, January 2009)
First is the logic of balancing, alliance, and opposition, discussed in the
AND
-ranked great powers to withhold cooperation may sap the unipole’s effective power.

Protectionism causes nuclear war

Panzner 08 – Michael J. Panzner is a 30-year veteran of the global stock, bond and currency markets who has worked in New York and London for such leading companies as HSBC, Soros Funds, ABN Amro, Dresdner Bank, and J.P. Morgan Chase ("Financial Armageddon: Protect Your Future from Economic Collapse," p. 136-138)
Continuing calls for curbs on the flow of finance and trade will inspire the United
AND
between Muslims and Western societies as the beginnings of a new world war.

Free trade solves conflict by providing economic incentives and credible security commitments

Griswold 11 Daniel Griswold is director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and author of Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. "Free Trade and the Global Middle Class," Hayek Society Journal Vol. 9 http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12-http://www.cato.org/pubs/articles/Hayek-Society-Journal-Griswold.pdf Accessed 6/30/12
Our more globalized world has also yielded a "peace dividend." It may not
AND
and less likely those gains will be destroyed by civil conflict and war.

Primacy fosters stability—collapse causes great power war

Zhang and Shi 11 – *Yuhan Zhang is a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C.; Lin Shi is from Columbia University. She also serves as an independent consultant for the Eurasia Group and a consultant for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. (America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/-http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/)
 Thus, the global distribution of power is shifting, and the inevitable result
AND
forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

The world is on balance better because of hegemony—statistics prove

Owen 11 – John M. Owen Professor of Politics at University of Virginia PhD from Harvard "DON’T DISCOUNT HEGEMONY" Feb 11 www.cato-unbound.org/2011/02/11/john-owen/dont-discount-hegemony/
Andrew Mack and his colleagues at the Human Security Report Project are to be congratulated
AND
in part by the emergence of the United States as the global hegemon. 

Sustainable Agriculture

Contention Two is Sustainable Agriculture:

Cuban agriculture sustainability is failing—foreign investment is key

King 12 – M. Dawn King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Politics at Colorado State University and worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Geological Survey – conducting research on environmental decision-making models and internal governance of watershed management councils. ("Cuban Sustainability: The Effects of Economic Isolation on Agriculture and Energy", March 21, 2012, http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/meet/2012/kingmdawn.pdf)
Cuba needed an alternative agricultural model when foreign oil imports were cut off significantly at
AND
goal of sustainable development to increase short-term capital and energy needs.

The plan provides foreign capital to Cuba and allows its model to be exported globally

Shkolnick 12 – JD Candidate, Drake University Law School. ("SIN EMBARGO: THE CUBAN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE UNITED STATES", 17 Drake J. Agric. L. 683, fall, http://students.law.drake.edu/aglawjournal/docs/agVol17No3-Shkolnick.pdf)
Cuba today is experiencing the most rapid shifts towards privatization and reform since the revolution
AND
presents a unique opportunity American business and agricultural enterprises cannot afford to overlook.

Access to the US market is critical to sustainability and emulation

Kost 04 – William is part of the Economic Research Service for the USDA. ("CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?" 2004, http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)
MARKETS MAY BE CRITICAL FOR AN ORGANIC CUBA In addition to the above European markets
AND
and other inputs to support growth in other sectors of the Cuban economy.

Organic agriculture outproduces industrial agriculture—newest, best studies

Wright 09 - Deputy Director of Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology and Food Security (Julia, Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity, p. 19)
Nonetheless, more ecologically based, organic production approaches are sidestepped by international development agencies
AND
, their performance would be greatly enhanced (Pretty et al, 1996).

Status quo food production is failing—a shift to urban agriculture is key to sustainable food systems and prevent ecological collapse

Peters 10 – LL.M. expected 2011, University of Arkansas School of Law, Graduate Program in Agricultural and Food Law; J.D. 2010, University of Oregon School of Law. ("Creating a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Revolution", Journal of Environmental Law and Litigation, Vol. 25, 203, http://law.uoregon.edu/org/jell/docs/251/peters.pdf)
URBAN AGRICULTURE Urban agriculture is a system that ensures food security by providing access to
AND
without concern for its impact on society and the environment is not sustainable. 

That ecological collapse risks extinction

Ehrlich and Ehrlich 13 – Anne Ehrlich and Paul Ehrlich, Professor of Biology and Senior Research Scientist at Stanford, 1/9/13 ("Can a collapse of global civilization be avoided?", Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences, Proc. R. Soc. B 2013 280)
But today, for the first time, humanity’s global civilization—the worldwide,
AND
or that gross domestic product can be disengaged from resource use ~26~ 

Continued reliance on industrial agriculture results in catastrophic emissions and global warming—non-CO2 GHGs are key

Cummins 10 – Ronnie is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association. ("Industrial Agriculture and Human Survival: The Road Beyond 10/10/10", Organic Consumer’s Association, October 7, 2010, http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm-http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21747.cfm)
Although transportation, industry, and energy producers are obviously major fossil fuel users and
AND
oxide, which are responsible for at least 22 of global warming.

A move towards organic agriculture mitigates future emissions and prevents warming

Scialabba 10 – Nadia is from the Natural Resources Management and Environment Department, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). ("Organic agriculture and climate change", February 2, 2010, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 25.2, http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf-http://www.fao.org/docs/eims/upload/275960/al185e.pdf)
Organic agricultural systems have an inherent potential to both reduce GHG emissions and to enhance
AND
are needed to better unlock its potential and application on a large scale.

Warming leads to extinction, feedbacks are positive, and now is key

Morgan 09 – Professor of Current Affairs @ Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, South Korea (Dennis Ray, "World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human race", Futures, Volume 41, Issue 10, December 2009, Pages 683-693, ScienceDirect)
As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
AND
Russian roulette while time increasingly stacks the cards against our chances of survival?

Warming is real and anthropogenic—every single warrant possible

Prothero 12 – Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. ("How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused", 3/1/2012, http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-02-08/)
How do we know that global warming is real and primarily human caused? There
AND
honesty came first, and did not sell out to the highest bidder.

CO2 emissions cause ocean acidification and extinction

Romm 12 (Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, "Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity’s Ability to Feed Itself," 3/2/2012, http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/436193/science-ocean-acidifying-so-fast-it-threatens-humanity-ability-to-feed-itself/?utm_source=feedburner26utm_medium=email26utm_campaign=Feed3A+climateprogre)
The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they
AND
corals, mollusks and some plankton need for reef and shell-building.

CO2 releases methane from arctic permafrost—that causes extinction

Ryskin 3 (Gregory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Illinois, "Methane-driven oceanic eruptions and mass extinctions" Geology 31(9): 741-744,)
The consequences of a methane-driven oceanic eruption for marine and terrestrial life are
AND
, implicated in the nuclear winter scenario (Turco et al., 1991).

Tournament: University of Michigan | Round: 1 | Opponent: New Trier GH | Judge: Carly Wunderlich

Plan Text

Text: The United States federal government should normalize its trade relations with the Republic of Cuba.

Legitimacy

Contention One is Legitimacy:

Cuba is making concessions but the US isn’t responding—that ensures backlash and illegitimacy

French 10 (Anya, Director for the U.S.-Cuba Policy Initiative at the New America Foundation, "Stiffing Havana," http://cuba.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2010/stiffing_havana_38758)
In the high-stakes world of international diplomacy, bluffing is a seldom-
AND
influence at this pivotal moment, the time to engage Cuba is now.

Full removal is key

Vivanco 6 – LLM from Harvard Law School, Americas director of Humans Rights Watch. (Jose Miguel, "Restraint, not force, will bring change to Cuba", humans rights watch, 12/22/06, http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba-http://www.hrw.org/news/2006/12/21/restraint-not-force-will-bring-change-cuba, google scholar)
This reluctance would be understandable but misguided. Most Cubans do want change. If
AND
when the US stops acting like Goliath will Cuba stop looking like David.

Cuba is uniquely symbolic of imperial American policy

Naim 09 (Moises, Senior Associate in the International Economics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "The Havana Obsession, Why all eyes are on a bankrupt island", http://www.newsweek.com/2009/06/12/the-havana-obsession.html)
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recently had a face-to-face
AND
of a superpower that punishes a small island while cozying to dictators elsewhere.

Lifting the embargo signals a commitment to engage with non-democracies

Hinderdael 11 (Klaas, M.A. candidate at SAIS Bologna Center, concentrating in American Foreign Policy and Energy, Resources, and Environment, "Breaking the Logjam: Obama’s Cuba Policy and a Guideline for Improved Leadership", 6/11/2011, http://bcjournal.org/volume-14/breaking-the-logjam.html?printerFriendly=true)
The two countries’ histories have long been intertwined, particularly after the Monroe Doctrine of
AND
truly willing to extend his hand once America’s traditional adversaries unclench their fists.

That’s key to global legitimacy

Kupchan and Mount 09 (Charles, professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Adam, doctoral candidate in the Department of Government at Georgetown University, "The Autonomy Rule," Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Spring 2009, http://www.democracyjournal.org/pdf/12/Kupchan.pdf)
Many American strategists recognize the inevitability of a more level global playing field, but
AND
the principles around which the next order is most likely to take shape.

Legitimacy is key to primacy

Finnemore 09 – (Martha Finnemore, professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, January 2009, "Legitimacy, Hypocrisy, and the Social Structure of Unipolarity: Why Being a Unipole Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be," World Politics, Volume 61, Number 1)
Legitimacy is, by its nature, a social and relational phenomenon. One’s position
AND
must give up some of that power to secure legitimacy for their policies.

Legitimacy is the only way to successfully exercise hegemony—countries backlash because they’re afraid of US hard power

Monteiro 10 *Nuno P. Monteiro is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yale University. His research and teach¬ing focuses on international relations theory and security studies. He is currently writing a book on the causes of conflict in a unipolar world. Professor Monteiro received his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago in 2009 ~http://yalejournal.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/105216monteiro.pdf, Spring Summer 2010, "Why U.S. Does Not Deter Challenges"~
Well into the Obama presidency, the broadest foreign policy challenge facing the United States
AND
no surprise. It follows from the unparalleled power of the United States.

That’s the root cause of proliferation

Mearsheimer 10 – John, R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago ~"Imperial by Design," National Interest Magazine~
IF ALL of this were not enough, global dominance, especially the Bush administration’s
AND
its nuclear capability in the absence of some sort of rapprochement with Washington.

Proliferation causes extinction—geopolitical incentives to coerce neighbors ensure escalation and destroy MAD

Kroenig 12 – Matthew Kroenig is the Assistant Professor of Government at Georgetown University and a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. ("The History of Proliferation Optimism: Does It Have A Future? Prepared for the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center," May 26, 2012, http://www.npolicy.org/article.php?aid=118226tid=30)
Nuclear War. The greatest threat posed by the spread of nuclear weapons is nuclear
AND
that a future Middle East crisis could result in a devastating nuclear exchange.

Effective primacy creates stability—the alternative is great power war

Zhang and Shi 11 – *Yuhan Zhang is a researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, D.C.; Lin Shi is from Columbia University. She also serves as an independent consultant for the Eurasia Group and a consultant for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. (America’s decline: A harbinger of conflict and rivalry, http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/-http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2011/01/22/americas-decline-a-harbinger-of-conflict-and-rivalry/)
 Thus, the global distribution of power is shifting, and the inevitable result
AND
forecast in a future that will inevitably be devoid of unrivalled US primacy.

The world is on balance better because of hegemony—statistics prove

Owen 11 – John M. Owen Professor of Politics at University of Virginia PhD from Harvard "DON’T DISCOUNT HEGEMONY" Feb 11 www.cato-unbound.org/2011/02/11/john-owen/dont-discount-hegemony/
Andrew Mack and his colleagues at the Human Security Report Project are to be congratulated
AND
in part by the emergence of the United States as the global hegemon.

Sustainable Agriculture

Contention Two is Sustainable Agriculture:

Cuban agriculture sustainability is failing—foreign investment is key

King 12 – M. Dawn King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at Brown University’s Center for Environmental Studies. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Politics at Colorado State University and worked as a policy analyst for the U.S. Geological Survey – conducting research on environmental decision-making models and internal governance of watershed management councils. ("Cuban Sustainability: The Effects of Economic Isolation on Agriculture and Energy", March 21, 2012, http://wpsa.research.pdx.edu/meet/2012/kingmdawn.pdf)
Cuba needed an alternative agricultural model when foreign oil imports were cut off significantly at
AND
goal of sustainable development to increase short-term capital and energy needs.

The plan provides investment which fosters exportation of Cuba’s agricultural model

Shkolnick 12 – JD Candidate, Drake University Law School. ("SIN EMBARGO: THE CUBAN AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE UNITED STATES", 17 Drake J. Agric. L. 683, fall, http://students.law.drake.edu/aglawjournal/docs/agVol17No3-Shkolnick.pdf)
Cuba today is experiencing the most rapid shifts towards privatization and reform since the revolution
AND
presents a unique opportunity American business and agricultural enterprises cannot afford to overlook.

Access to the US market is critical to sustainability and emulation

Kost 04 – William is part of the Economic Research Service for the USDA. ("CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?" 2004, http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)
MARKETS MAY BE CRITICAL FOR AN ORGANIC CUBA In addition to the above European markets
AND
and other inputs to support growth in other sectors of the Cuban economy.

Resistance to industrial agriculture in Cuba will overwhelm agribusinesses

Zunes 2K – associate professor of politics and chair of the Peace 26 Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco (Stephen, "Cuba’s New Revolution" Design/Builder, August http://stephenzunes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Cubas-New-Revolution.pdf-http://stephenzunes.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Cubas-New-Revolution.pdf)
Most of Cuba’s ecological innovations were made more out of necessity than by design.
AND
of a good example, which is perhaps the biggest threat of all.

Industrial agriculture results in zoonotic diseases

Otte et al 07 – Joachim Otte is the Senior Animal Production and Health Officer at FAO. ("Industrial Livestock Production and Global Health Risks," Pro-Poor Livestock Policy Initiative, June 2007, MCallahan)
Concentration of food animal production and the unregulated ’evolution’ of densely populated livestock production
AND
in a watershed subunit as described by Osowski et al. (2001).

Industrial agriculture also destroys natural resistance to diseases

Wright 08 – Julia Wright: Ph.D., Ecological Farming and Food Systems in Cuba, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. P.G.Dip., Land and Water Management, Cranfield University. M.Sc., Sustainable Agriculture, University of London. B.A., Studies in the Rural Environment, University of Wales. She is now a Deputy Director at the Centre for Agroecology and Food Security, ("Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security in an Era of Oil Scarcity : Lessons from Cuba ", page 1, November 2008)
Comparing the human health impacts of foods produced under different farming regimes is challenging:
AND
2005; Lauridsen et al, 2005; Baranska et al, 2007).

Zoonotic diseases lead to extinction

Casadevall 12 – Prof @ Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Division of Infectious Diseases of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Arturo. ("The future of biological warfare," Microbial Biotechnology, p. 584-5)
In considering the importance of biological warfare as a subject for concern it is worthwhile
AND
acquired the capacity for pathogenicity as a consequence of natural evolution or bioengineering.

Industrial agriculture is the primary factor in global warming—catastrophic extinction is inevitable without organic agriculture

Cummins 10 – Ronnie Cummins is the International Director of the Organic Consumers Association, 10/7 (Agriculture and Human Survival: The Road Beyond 10/10/10, http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/10/07-9)
Despite decades of deception and mystification, a critical mass at the grassroots is waking
AND
oxide, which are responsible for at least 22 of global warming.

Warming is real and anthropogenic—every single warrant possible

Prothero 12 – Donald R. Prothero is a Professor of Geology at Occidental College and Lecturer in Geobiology at the California Institute of Technology. ("How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused", 3/1/2012, http://www.skeptic.com/eskeptic/12-02-08/)
How do we know that global warming is real and primarily human caused? There
AND
honesty came first, and did not sell out to the highest bidder.

CO2 emissions cause ocean acidification and extinction

Romm 12 (Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, "Science: Ocean Acidifying So Fast It Threatens Humanity’s Ability to Feed Itself," 3/2/2012, http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/03/02/436193/science-ocean-acidifying-so-fast-it-threatens-humanity-ability-to-feed-itself/?utm_source=feedburner26utm_medium=email26utm_campaign=Feed3A+climateprogre)
The world’s oceans may be turning acidic faster today from human carbon emissions than they
AND
corals, mollusks and some plankton need for reef and shell-building.

CO2 releases methane from arctic permafrost—that causes extinction

Ryskin 3 (Gregory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Northwestern University, Illinois, "Methane-driven oceanic eruptions and mass extinctions" Geology 31(9): 741-744,)
The consequences of a methane-driven oceanic eruption for marine and terrestrial life are
AND
, implicated in the nuclear winter scenario (Turco et al., 1991).