Tournament: Greenhill | Round: 2 | Opponent: Cedar Ridge RR | Judge: Morgan Titcher

1NC

The Aff’s failure to advance a defense of the federal government substantially increasing its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico, or Venezuela undermines debate’s transformative and intellectual potential

A limited topic of discussion that provides for equitable ground is key to productive inculcation of decision-making and advocacy skills in every and all facets of life—-even if their position is contestable that’s distinct from it being valuably debatable—-this still provides room for flexibility, creativity, and innovation

Steinberg 26 Freeley 8 *Austin J. Freeley is a Boston based attorney who focuses on criminal, personal injury and civil rights law, AND David L. Steinberg , Lecturer of Communication Studies @ U Miami, Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making pp45-

Debate is a means of settling differences, so there must be a difference of
AND
particular point of difference, which will be outlined in the following discussion.

That’s key to social improvements in every and all facets of life

Steinberg 26 Freeley 8 *Austin J. Freeley is a Boston based attorney who focuses on criminal, personal injury and civil rights law, AND David L. Steinberg , Lecturer of Communication Studies @ U Miami, Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making pp9-10

If we assume it to be possible without recourse to violence to reach agreement on
AND
in our intelligent self-interest to reach these decisions through reasoned debate.

Only portable skill—-means our framework turns case

Steinberg 26 Freeley 8 *Austin J. Freeley is a Boston based attorney who focuses on criminal, personal injury and civil rights law, AND David L. Steinberg , Lecturer of Communication Studies @ U Miami, Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making pp9-10
After several days of intense debate, first the United States House of Representatives and
AND
customer for out product, or a vote for our favored political candidate.¶ 

Discussion of specific policy-questions is crucial for skills development—-we control uniqueness: university students already have preconceived and ideological notions about how the world operates—-government policy discussion is vital to force engagement with and resolution of competing perspectives to improve social outcomes

Esberg 26 Sagan 12 *Jane Esberg is special assistant to the director at New York University’s Center on. International Cooperation. She was the winner of 2009 Firestone Medal, AND Scott Sagan is a professor of political science and director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and#34;NEGOTIATING NONPROLIFERATION: Scholarship, Pedagogy, and Nuclear Weapons Policy,and#34; 2/17 The Nonproliferation Review, 19:1, 95-108

These government or quasi-government think tank simulations often provide very similar lessons for
AND
quickly; simulations teach students how to contextualize and act on information.14

Their framework’s exclusive, moralizing presupposition that they have to be outside of the state prevents self-reflexivity and results in the total breakdown of dialogue and engagement – thinking about costs and benefits for societies as a whole is important because we are less likely to be violent towards others which is the only way to prevent totalitarian thought and atrocities

Keenan, 1998 (Alan, Ph.D., Member of the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard University, Theory and Event, Vol. 2 No. 1, http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/journals/theory_and_event/v002/2.1keenan.html)**

The anti-political nature of guilt, in turn, helps explain the political
AND
their belief in the futility, aggressivity, and dreariness of political action.

Switch-side is key to self-reflexivity– that forces critical thinking and better advocacy of one’s positions

Keller et al 1 – Asst. professor School of Social Service Administration U. of Chicago (Thomas E., James K., and Tracly K., Asst. professor School of Social Service Administration U. of Chicago, professor of Social Work, and doctoral student School of Social Work, and#34;Student debates in policy courses: promoting policy practice skills and knowledge through active learning,and#34; Journal of Social Work Education, Spr/Summer 2001, EBSCOhost)
SOCIAL WORKERS HAVE a professional responsibility to shape social policy and legislation (National Association
AND
yield a reevaluation and reconstruction of knowledge and beliefs pertaining to the issue. 

Effective deliberation is only possible in a switch-side debate format where debaters divorce themselves from ideology—-that’s key to self-reflexivity which is vital to preventing mass violence and genocide

Patricia Roberts-Miller 3 is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Texas and#34;Fighting Without Hatred:Hannah Ar endt ’ s Agonistic Rhetoricand#34; JAC 22.2 2003
Totalitarianism and the Competitive Space of Agonism

Arendt is probably most famous for her analysis of totalitarianism (especially her The Origins
AND
not relativist, adversarial but not violent, independent but not expressivist rhetoric.

And independently a voting issue for fairness—-our entire negative strategy is based on the affirmative’s instrumental defense of increasing economic engagement towards Latin America—-there are an infinite number of reasons that the scholarship of their advocacy could be a reason to vote affirmative—- these all obviate the only predictable strategies based on topical action—-they overstretch our research burden and undermine preparedness for all debates

Resolved requires a policy

Louisiana House 3-8-2005, http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm**
Resolution  A legislative instrument that generally is used for making declarations,  stating policies, and making decisions where some other form is not  required. A bill includes the constitutionally required enacting clause; a  resolution uses the term and#34;resolvedand#34;. Not subject to a time limit for  introduction nor to governor’s veto. ( Const. Art. III, §17(B) and House  Rules 8.11 , 13.1 , 6.8 , and 7.4)

Federal government is the national government

Black’s Law 4 (Dictionary, 8^th Edition, June 1, 2004, pg.716.)

Federal government. 1. A national government that exercises some degree of control over smaller political units that have surrendered some degree of power in exchange for the right to participate in national politics matters – Also termed (in federal states) central government. 2.  the U.S. government – Also termed national government. ~Cases: United States -1 C.J.S. United States - - 2-3~

and#34;Itsand#34; refers to the United States Federal Government and is possessive

Updegrave 91 (W.C., and#34;Explanation of ZIP Code Address Purposeand#34;, 8-19, http://www.supremelaw.org/ref/zipcode/updegrav.htm)

More specifically, looking at the map on page 11 of the National ZIP Code
AND
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, making the explanatory statement literally correct. 

and#34;Economic engagementand#34; is limited to expanding economic ties

Celik 11 (Arda Can Çelik, graduate M.A in political science and international relations at Uppsala University Sweden, 2011, and#34;Economic sanctions and engagement policies,and#34; http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/175204/economic-sanctions-and-engagement-policies)

Introduction¶ Economic engagement policies are strategic integration behaviour which involves with the target state
AND
position of one state affects the position of others in the same direction.

Tournament: Pace RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Straford | Judge: 

US credibility is collapsing due to detention policy—-plan reverses that

David Welsh 11, J.D. from the University of Utah, "Procedural Justice Post-9/11: The Effects of Procedurally Unfair Treatment of Detainees on Perceptions of Global Legitimacy", http://law.unh.edu/assets/images/uploads/publications/unh-law-review-vol-09-no2-welsh.pdf
The Global War on Terror 1 has been ideologically framed as a struggle between the
AND
this article offers a psychological perspective of legitimacy in the context of detention. 

Judicial involvement is key to judicial and broader credibility

Matthew C Waxman 9, Professor of Law; Faculty Chair, Roger Hertog Program on Law and National Security, "Legislating the War on Terror: An Agenda for Reform", November 3, Book
Judicial review can help safeguard liberty and enhance the credibility at home and abroad of
AND
to contest what with the assistance of counsel? Transparent determinations of what?

Tournament: Greenhill | Round: 2 | Opponent: Cedar Ridge RR | Judge: Morgan Titcher

2NC Framework

Government solutions are necessary to solve problems like poverty and education in Latin America – the affirmative is just rhetoric that can’t create change

IRI ’12 (International Republican Institute; and#34;Latin America Think Tank Policy Initiativeand#34;; http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/Latin20America20Think20Tank20Policy20Initiative2011-4-11_0.pdf)
An ongoing political trend in Latin America is the inconsistent execution of parties to create
AND
elected officials on how to solve the most  pressing issues facing Latin America.

That is not only false but it essentializes politics as inherently dangerous, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy and results in massive state-based violence

Duarte 4 - André Duarte, Professor of Philosophy at the Federal University of Brazil, November 7, 2004, and#34;Biopolitics and the dissemination of violence: the Arendtian critique of the present,and#34; online: http://web.archive.org/web/20041107231353/http://hannaharendt.net/research/biopolitics.html

It would be hard to find another thesis in Political Theory that is more assertive
AND
actions of acknowledging, welcoming, and extending hospitality and solidarity towards others.

Internal Link Turn – Only researching specific mechanisms will result in policies geared towards the interest of Latin Americans

Margheritis and Pereira ’07 (Ana- assistant professor of international relations and Latin American politics at the University of Florida and Anthony- associate professor of political science at Tulane University; and#34;The Neoliberal Turn in Latin America: The Cycle of Ideas and the Search for an Alternativeand#34;; Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 3, Contested Transformation (May, 2007),pp. 25-48)
This analysis is offered from a critical point of view in the hope that it
AND
also important—but that the mechanisms for their promulgation have been understudied.

Constraints are key to creativity—-challenging ourselves to innovate within the confines of rules creates far more creative responses than starting with a blank slate

Mayer 6 – Marissa Ann Mayer, vice-president for search products and user experience at Google, February 13, 2006, and#34;Creativity Loves Constraints,and#34; online: http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/06_07/b3971144.htm?chan=gl

When people think about creativity, they think about artistic work — unbridled, unguided
AND
be a clock) or constrained possibilities (a canvas that is marked).

Framework isn’t itself forceful oppression—-it’s simply an advocacy on behalf of certain decision making practices—-it’s no different than any other argument in debate

Amanda Anderson 6, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities and English at Brown University, Spring 2006, and#34;Reply to My Critic(s),and#34; Criticism, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 281-290 

Lets first examine the claim that my book is and#34;unwittinglyand#34; inviting a resurrection
AND
is clearly, and indeed necessarily, significant room for further elaboration here.

True challenges to authority require acts of dialogue and self criticism—-they otherwise result in the same authoritative exclusion that they critique

Morson 4—Northwestern prof (Greg, Bakhtinian Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Learning, 317-23)
Sarah Freedman and Arnetha Ball describe learning as a dialogic process. It is not
AND
allowed one’s own evolving convictions to be tested by experience and by other convictions

Tournament: MBA | Round: Octas | Opponent: Stratford OS | Judge:
1NC – Agriculture Plank

Text: The United States federal government should increase its organic research funding and create an Organic Transition Assistance program to compensate organic farmers for ecosystem services.

CP solves organic agriculture and the environment

Redell 11 (Charles Redell has been covering renewable energy and sustainable business for the better part of 10 years at various publications including Greenfab-media.com, Sustainable Industries, and Energy Prospects West, 9/30/11, "Organic Farming Could Grow Even More Jobs with Better Policy Support" http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2011/09/30/organic-farming-grow-more-green-jobs-better-policy-support

Organic farmers can make all those hires because they are economically viable, says OFRF
AND
farming, but we want it to be fair funding for organic farmers."

Tournament: MBA | Round: Octas | Opponent: Stratford OS | Judge:
1NC – Credibility Plank

Text: The United States federal government should establish a civilian-controlled National Security Court System to try detained enemy combatants.

Court oversight is the only way to restore America’s image abroad

Glenn Sulmasy 9, Associate Professor of Law at the United States Coast Guard Academy and was a National Security and Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Center, Harvard Kennedy School, April 13, "THE NEED FOR A NATIONAL SECURITY COURT SYSTEM", PDF
THE WAY FORWARD¶ The President, Secretary Gates and Secretary Rice have all declared
AND
dedicated to the administration of justice and to upholding the rule of law.

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 5 | Opponent: St Marks MJ | Judge: 

1NC

Hardline against Cuba now – terror list

Kasperowicz 5/30/13 ~Pete, Staff Writer for the Hill, and#34;State keeps Cuba on terror sponsors listand#34;, 5/30/13, http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/americas/302609-cuba-remains-a-state-sponsor-of-terror-despite-some-improvements, Accessed July 6,~
As expected, the State Department on Thursday released a report that keeps Cuba on
AND
between FARC and Colombia were not enough to remove Cuba from the list.

Lifting the embargo is appeasement – emboldens adversaries and turns the case

Brookes 9 (Peter is a Heritage Foundation senior fellow and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. and#34;KEEP THE EMBARGO, Oand#34; April 15, 2009, http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_Oul9gWKYCFsACA0D6IVpvL)

In the end, though, it’s still Fidel Castro and his brother Raul who’ll
AND
communist regime, we should hold firm onto the leverage the embargo provides.

Appeasement kills credibility – it shows countries that the US isn’t hard line - playing a weak hand doesn’t work

Weissberg 10 - Professor of Political Science-Emeritus, University of Illinois-Urbana (Robert, and#34;President Obama’s Compulsive Appeasement Disorderand#34;, August 27 of 2010, American Thinker, http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/president_obamas_compulsive_ap.html)
There’s a simple explanation: we are no longer feared. Superpowers of yesteryear,
AND
it. Israel long ago learned this lesson, regardless of world outrage.

Obama’s credibility is uniquely key to solve conflict – prevents Indo-Pak war

Ben Coes 11, a former speechwriter in the George H.W. Bush administration, managed Mitt Romney’s successful campaign for Massachusetts Governor in 2002 26 author, and#34;The disease of a weak presidentand#34;, The Daily Caller, http://dailycaller.com/2011/09/30/the-disease-of-a-weak-president/
The disease of a weak president usually begins with the Achilles’ heel all politicians are
AND
one or the other. The status quo is simply not an option.

Indo-Pak war escalates quickly to extinction—-no checks

Greg Chaffin 11, Research Assistant at Foreign Policy in Focus, July 8, 2011, and#34;Reorienting U.S. Security Strategy in South Asia,and#34; online: http://www.fpif.org/articles/reorienting_us_security_strategy_in_south_asia
The greatest threat to regional security (although curiously not at the top of most
AND
lead to all-out war between the two that could quickly escalate.

2NC:

Credible engagement is key to prevent Iranian proliferation

Ghitis 13 (Frida, world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television. and#34;World to Obama: You can’t ignore us,and#34; 1/22, http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/22/opinion/ghitis-obama-world)

President Obama made it very clear: The second term is all about the domestic
AND
with the best laid, most well-intentioned plans of American presidents.

Iran prolif causes nuclear war

Jeffrey Goldberg 12, Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for the Atlantic, January 23, 2012, and#34;How Iran Could Trigger Accidental Armageddon,and#34; online: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/how-iran-may-trigger-accidental-armageddon-commentary-by-jeffrey-goldberg.html
The experts who study this depressing issue seem to agree that a Middle East in
AND
must be stopped before it reaches fruition with a nuclear weapons delivery capability.and#34;

Their ev is political hype – Obama’s hardcore

Mataconis 12 – B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law (Doug, and#34;The GOP’s Ridiculous Appeasement Argumentand#34;, January 3 of 2012, http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-gops-ridiculous-appeasement-argument/)
This isn’t really entirely new, of course. For three years now, Republicans
AND
overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. That’s not exactly a record reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain.

Obama is a hard liner on Iran

Carpenter 11 - Senior fellow for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute (Ted Galen, and#34;The GOP’s Allegations of Appeasement Against Obamaand#34;, December 28 of 2011, Cato, http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/gops-allegations-appeasement-against-obama)
The appeasement allegations directed against Obama, though, border on bizarre. And the
AND
overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. That’s not exactly a record reminiscent of Neville Chamberlain.

US credibility still high even after Syria – Iran proves

Drezner, 9/19/2013 (Daniel, Ph.D in International Relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and#34;Syria, Iran and the Credibility Fairyand#34; Foreign Policy Blog http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/09/19/syria_iran_and_the_confidence_fairy )

Your humble blogger continues to be interested in the divide between current/former policymakers
AND
-in-the-planning rollout to reignite negotiations with the West. 

Syria won’t tank credibility – Obama pushed it on to the Russians and distanced himself – only a risk it helps him

Easley 9/14/13 (Jason, and#34;Obama’s Thoughtful Diplomatic Triumph on Syria Leaves His Critics Speechlessand#34; http://www.politicususa.com/2013/09/14/obamas-thoughtful-diplomatic-truimph-syria-leaves-critics-speechless.html)

President Obama’s critics on both the left and right were silenced today, as his
AND
and his critics are once again reeling in retreat with nothing to say.

Global weakness — lifting the embargo is

Perales 10 (José Raúl August and#34;The United States and Cuba: Implications of an Economic Relationshipand#34; (Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars Latin American Program, Senior Program Associate) http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/LAP_Cuba_Implications.pdf

The Helms-Burton Act  created a clear roadmap stipulating the conditions  by which the
AND
labor rights. What sort of message would that send  to the world?

Years of work have gone into pressuring reform in Cuba. Backing out damages U.S. reputation irreparably

Castañeda 8 – (Jorge Castañeda, professor at New York University and fellow at the New America Foundation, September-October 2008, and#34;Morning in Latin America,and#34; Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 5

Over the past few decades, the United States, Canada, the European Union
AND
for other exceptions that would justify their existence by invoking the Cuban precedent.

Relaxing sanctions on Cuba will kill Obama’s credibility

Rubin 11 (Jennifer, writer for the Washington Post, and#34;Obama’s Cuba appeasementand#34;, Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/obamas-cuba-appeasement/2011/03/29/gIQAjuL2tL_blog.html )

The administration’s conduct is all the more galling given the behavior of the Castro regime
AND
to throw gifts to tyrants in the expectation they will reciprocate in kind. 

Removing the embargo’s a concession to rogue regimes

Karon 10 
- is a senior editor at TIME, where he has covered international conflicts in the Middle East, Asia, and the Balkans since 1997.  (Tony  - TIME and#34;Do We Really Need an Embargo Against Cuba? and#34; Wednesday, Apr. 21, 2010  http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,48773,00.html)EB

Lifting the embargo will strengthen Castro’s government There’s no private sector in Cuba; its
AND
its hard line. Democracy should be the condition for lifting the embargo.

No escalation
Phadke 3—Senior Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies 26 Analyses. Air Commodore in the Indian Air Force.  (Ramesh, Power and Escalation Control, http://www.stimson.org/southasia/pdf/phadkefinal.pdf, AG) 

India, in contrast, has repeatedly declared its commitment to NFU and has stated
AND
executed can achieve the desired results without coming anywhere near Pakistan’s nuclear threshold.

Tournament: St Marks | Round: Semis | Opponent: GBN CH | Judge: 

Hardline against Cuba now – terror list

Kasperowicz 5/30/13 (Pete, Staff Writer for the Hill, "State keeps Cuba on terror sponsors list", 5/30/13, http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/americas/302609-cuba-remains-a-state-sponsor-of-terror-despite-some-improvements, Accessed July 6)
As expected, the State Department on Thursday released a report that keeps Cuba on
AND
between FARC and Colombia were not enough to remove Cuba from the list.

The plan is appeasement – emboldens adversaries and turns the case

Brookes 9 (Peter is a Heritage Foundation senior fellow and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. "KEEP THE EMBARGO, O" April 15, 2009, http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/item_Oul9gWKYCFsACA0D6IVpvL)

In the end, though, it’s still Fidel Castro and his brother Raul who’ll
AND
communist regime, we should hold firm onto the leverage the embargo provides.

We don’t appease Cuba now

Jilani 9/3/13 (Zaid, "How a Hardline Lobby Is Blocking Closer Relations Between Cuba and America" http://www.alternet.org/world/cuba-lobby-blocks-detente-between-cuba-and-america)

Over the years, there has been some easing of the travel ban, with President Obama allowing for greater travel by academic, religious, and cultural group. Yet Obama has chosen to maintain the major features of frozen relations, even once saying that his previous position during his U.S. Senate campaign that the embargo should be ended was simply "eons ago."
The official explanation behind why there’s a general travel ban and embargo on Cuba is
AND
no major overhaul of its political system that embargo proponents long-predicted.

Appeasement kills credibility – it shows countries that the US isn’t hard line - playing a weak hand doesn’t work

Weissberg 10 - Professor of Political Science-Emeritus, University of Illinois-Urbana (Robert, "President Obama’s Compulsive Appeasement Disorder", August 27 of 2010, American Thinker, http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/president_obamas_compulsive_ap.html)
There’s a simple explanation: we are no longer feared. Superpowers of yesteryear,
AND
it. Israel long ago learned this lesson, regardless of world outrage.

Credible engagement is key to prevent Iranian proliferation

Ghitis 13 (Frida, world affairs columnist for The Miami Herald and World Politics Review. A former CNN producer and correspondent, she is the author of The End of Revolution: A Changing World in the Age of Live Television. "World to Obama: You can’t ignore us," 1/22, http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/22/opinion/ghitis-obama-world)

President Obama made it very clear: The second term is all about the domestic
AND
with the best laid, most well-intentioned plans of American presidents.

Iran prolif causes nuclear war

Jeffrey Goldberg 12, Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for the Atlantic, January 23, 2012, "How Iran Could Trigger Accidental Armageddon," online: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/how-iran-may-trigger-accidental-armageddon-commentary-by-jeffrey-goldberg.html
The experts who study this depressing issue seem to agree that a Middle East in
AND
must be stopped before it reaches fruition with a nuclear weapons delivery capability."

Tournament: MBA | Round: 2 | Opponent: Cypress Bay | Judge: Pipkin

1NC

CIR will pass but PC is key

Lopez 1-2 (Oscar, Reporter for Latin Times, writer in New York Magazine, "New Year 2014: 4 Reasons Immigration Reform Will Pass In 2014," Latin Times, January 2, 2014, http://www.latintimes.com/new-year-2014-4-reasons-immigration-reform-will-pass-2014-141778)

Immigration reform is set to be the key issue of 2014. Following Mitt Romney’s
AND
, comprehensive legislation is one thing we can be sure of in 2014.

Plan saps Obama’s capital—-anti-Cuba lobby is too powerful

Birns and Mills 13 (Larry, Director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, Frederick B., COHA Senior Research Fellow, 01/30, "Best Time for U.S.–Cuba Rapprochement Is Now," http://www.coha.org/best-time-for-u-s-cuba-rapprochement-is-now/)
Despite the basic intransigence of US policy towards Cuba, in recent years, important
AND
history may very well be that it ought never to have been started.

CIR solves cyber-security

McLarty 9 (Thomas F. III, President – McLarty Associates and Former White House Chief of Staff and Task Force Co-Chair, "U.S. Immigration Policy: Report of a CFR-Sponsored Independent Task Force", 7-8, http://www.cfr.org/ publication/19759/us_immigration_policy.html) 

We have seen, when you look at the table of the top 20 firms that are H1-B visa requestors, at least 15 of those are IT firms. And as we’re seeing across industry, much of the hardware and software that’s used in this country is not only manufactured now overseas, but it’s developed overseas by scientists and engineers who were educated here in the United States.
We’re seeing a lot more activity around cyber-security, certainly noteworthy attacks here
AND
returning back? This potentially puts us at a competitive disadvantage going forward.
MCLARTY: Yes. And I think your question largely is the answer as well
AND
going to strengthen, I think, our system, our security needs.

The impact is accidental nuclear war

Fritz 9 (Jason, BS – St. Cloud, "Hacking Nuclear Command
AND
mass DDoS attacks, real world protests, and accusations between governments.

Tournament: Greenhill | Round: Doubles | Opponent: Notre Dame AB | Judge: 

1NC

No war in the Falklands and Britain overwhelms Argentine capability

RT 1/13 – ("Britain preparing for new Falklands War?" RussiaToday, January 13, 2013,  http://rt.com/news/britain-war-falklands-argentina-914/)//SS

Despite the increasingly hostile rhetoric between London and Buenos Aires, the British government does
AND
United Kingdom?’ All of the 3,000 islanders are British.

Alt cause to relations – protectionism and immigration – outweighs their internal link

Hakim 6 (January/February 2006, Peter Hakim is the President of the Inter-American Dialogue, "Is Washington Losing Latin America?", http://www.chileconsult.com/Is_Washington_Losing_Latin_America.pdf)

What the majority of Latin American countries most want and need from the United States
AND
their views carry little weight with U.S. decision-makers.

Doesn’t solve – Latin America doesn’t care and want the embargo in place

Suchlicki 2k (JAIME SUCHLICKI is Emilio Bacardi Moreau Professor of History and International Studies and the Director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies at the University of Miami. He was the founding Executive Director of the North-South Center. For the past decade he was also the editor of the prestigious Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs. He is currently the Latin American Editor for Transaction Publishers and the author of Cuba: From Columbus to Castro (1997), now in its fourth edition, and editor with Irving L. Horowitz of Cuban Communism (1999). He is also the author of Mexico: From Montezuma to NAFTA (1998). He is a highly regarded consultant to both the private and public sector on Cuba and Latin American affairs. The U.S. Embargo of Cuba Jaime Suchlicki University of Miami June 2000 http://www6.miami.edu/iccas/USEmbargo.pdf, nkj) Note: The first line of the card is saying an aff argument and then refuting it.

If we lift the Embargo, U.S.-Latin American relations will improve.
Cuba is not an important issue in U.S.-Latin American relations.
AND
tourism will flock to Cuba, to the detriment of the Caribbean economies.

Relations are inevitable

Hakim 8— President of the Inter-American Dialogue (Peter, "Latin America: the next U.S. President’s agenda", http://www.thedialogue.org/PublicationFiles/Peter20Hakim20-20Great20Decisions202008.pdf)

Most countries have made clear they want strong trade links and other economic ties with
AND
—and therefore usually try to maintain cordial relationships with the world’s superpower. 

OAS fails – credibility is inherently ineffective

AP 6/4 (Associated Press, "John Kerry seeks changes to OAS," 6/4/13, http://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/john-kerry-latin-america-oas-changes-92245.html)//SJF

Secretary of State John Kerry is demanding reforms in the 35-nation Organization of
AND
, Hugo Chavez, reveled in tweaking Washington until his death last year.

Oceans resilient

Kennedy 2 - Environmental science prof, Maryland. Former Director, Cooperative Oxford Laboratory. PhD. (Victor, Coastal and Marine Ecosystems and Global Climate Change, http://www.pewclimate.org/projects/marine.cfm)

There is evidence that marine organisms and ecosystems are resilient to environmental change. Steele (1991) hypothesized that the biological components of marine systems are tightly coupled to physical factors, allowing them to respond quickly to rapid environmental change and thus rendering them ecologically adaptable. Some species also have wide genetic variability throughout their range, which may allow for adaptation to climate change.

Biodiversity loss doesn’t cause extinction – other species will adapt

NPR 7 (5/30/2007, Donald J. Dodds M.S. P.E., President of the North Pacific Research, "The Myth of Biodiversity," northpacificresearch.com/downloads/The_myth_of_biodiversity.doc CS)

Notice next that at least ten times biodiversity fell rapidly; none of these extreme
AND
successful survived six extinctions, without the aid of humans or the EPA. 

No impact to disease – they either burn out or don’t spread

Posner 05 – Senior Lecturer at University of Chicago (Richard A, "Catastrophe: the dozen most significant catastrophic risks and what we can do about them.", Winter, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmske/is_3_11/ai_n29167514/pg_2?tag=content;col1)//WL

Yet the fact that Homo sapiens has managed to survive every disease to assail it
AND
lesson of the AIDS pandemic. And there is always a lust time.

Countries will cooperate over food

Burger et al. 10 -Development Economics, Corresponding author, Wageningen University (Kees, "Governance of the world food system and crisis prevention" http://www.stuurgroepta.nl/rapporten/Foodshock-web.pdf ) SQR
Both European water and agricultural policies are based on the belief that there will always
AND
al. 2008: 512, Boin et al. 2008: 406). 

Tech development solves

Thompson 5/13/11 –senior fellow for The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Robert, "Proving Malthus Wrong, Sustainable agriculture in 2050" http://scienceblogs.com/tomorrowstable/2011/05/proving_malthus_wrong_sustaina.php)//SQR

Tools available today, including plant breeding and biotechnology, can make presently unusable soils
AND
impede, continued agricultural research and adoption of new technologies around the world. 

Cuban ag techniques are insufficient to resolve food demand

1AC Kost 04 – agricultural economist, Specialty Crops Branch, Economic Research. Service, US Department of Agriculture (William, "CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?"
http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)

In organic approach to food production, is Cuba’s urban gardening system viable? In
AND
-term role in providing a substantial portion of urban consumers’ food needs.

Cuban ag can’t solve sustainability – they’re reliant on US industrial ag

Avery 3/29/09 (Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington.  Dennis is the Director for Global Food Issues cgfi.org. He was formerly a senior analyst for the Department of State., "Cubans Starve on Diet of Lies" http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9571)

The Cubans told the world they had heroically learned to feed themselves without fuel or
AND
helps to have a nearby neighbor with a million or so industrial farmers." 

Modern ag developments solve their impacts – organics are just as bad

(Savage 13, Steve Savage, PhD, Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, President of Savage and Associates, a consultation company to agricultural technology industry, "Six Reasons Organic Is NOT The Most Environmentally Friendly Way To Farm", http://www.science20.com/agricultural_realism/six_reasons_organic_not_most_environmentally_friendly_way_farm-110209, 4/24/13)
Contrary to widespread consumer belief, organic farming is not the best way to farm
AND
. That is why the following six environmental issues exist for organic farming. 

Plan crushes sustainable Cuban agriculture – crowds out Cuban producers

Carmen G. Gonzalez, Assistant Professor, Seattle University School of Law, Summer 2003, SEASONS OF RESISTANCE: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY IN CUBA, p. 729-33

Notwithstanding these problems, the greatest challenge to the agricultural development strategy adopted by the
AND
and economic pressure from the United States and from the global trading system.

Can’t solve organoponics – need other federal programs – means no spill-over

1AC 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 (Kathryn, "Creating a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Revolution" J. ENVTL. LAW AND LITIGATION ~Vol. 25, 203, http://law.uoregon.edu/org/jell/docs/251/peters.pdf)

Establishing an urban agricultural system requires acquisition, dedication, and protection229 of urban land
AND
inputs would play a central role in developing a viable urban agricultural system.

Cuban ag can’t solve sustainability – they’re reliant on US industrial ag

Avery 3/29/09 (Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington.  Dennis is the Director for Global Food Issues cgfi.org. He was formerly a senior analyst for the Department of State., "Cubans Starve on Diet of Lies" http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9571)

The Cubans told the world they had heroically learned to feed themselves without fuel or
AND
helps to have a nearby neighbor with a million or so industrial farmers." 

2NC

OAS fails – political differences and restrictions

Lee, 12 - Brianna Lee, Senior Production Editor "The Organization of American States" http://www.cfr.org/latin-america-and-the-caribbean/organization-american-states/p27945~~23p3 April 13, 2012)/mm

One of the OAS’s major administrative constraints is its consensus model, which requires a
AND
the charge that the organization supported anti-democracy regimes in Latin America.

OAS fails – consensus failure and undermined perception

Jsacson, 12 - Adam Isacson staff writer, Conflict Resolution in the Americas: The Decline of the OAS, 22 May 2012, http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/11979/conflict-resolution-in-the-americas-the-decline-of-the-oas) 

"The ~Organization of American States~ is an enemy of the U.
AND
of it entirely in the 2002 run-up to the Iraq War. 

Diseases burn out – prevents spread

Morse 4 - Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and virologist at Columbia University (Stephen S, "Emerging and Reemerging Infectious Diseases: A Global Problem", May 2004, http://www.actionbioscience.org/newfrontiers/morse.html)//WL
A pandemic is a very big epidemic. It requires a number of things.
AND
become a pandemic. Luckily, it’s not an easy thing to do.

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Centennial | Judge: 

1NC – PEMEX

Plus, their Kerry evidence concedes that political interests will be a massive roadblock - only proves our alt cause argument and subsumes their 2AC answer

3) Long timeframe for solvency – large scale investments and regulations

Myers et al 12(William C. Danvers, Staff Director Kenneth A. Myers, Jr., Staff Director U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 77-567 WASHINGTON : 2012 A MINORITY STAFF REPORT PREPARED FOR THE USE OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE –BRW)

A key difference between the unitization agreements envisioned under the TBA and traditional PSAs is
AND
be substantially beneficial to U.S. interests in Mexican economic growth. 

1NC – Spills

1) Their spillover evidence actually says nothing – there’s no reason why an agreement with Mexico would convince countries like Cuba to get on board

That independently makes the impact inevitable

LaGesse 12 (David LaGesse, staff writer for National Geographic, 11/19/2012, and#34;Cuba’s Oil Quest to Continue, Despite Deepwater Disappointmentand#34;, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2012/11/121119-cuba-oil-quest/ | JJ)

But an energy-poor Cuba also has its risks. One of the chief
AND
embargo has left Cubanswith insufficient resources and inexperience with high-tech gear.

2) Either fishing is the biggest alt cause to the Gulf of Mexico, or the status quo solves – we start where their card ends

1AC Author Brenner 8 – Jorge Brenner, March 14th, 2008, and#34;Guarding the Gulf of Mexico’s valuable resourcesand#34; www.scidev.net/en/opinions/guarding-the-gulf-of-mexico-s-valuable-resources.html | JJ)

About one-third of the Gulf is a broad continental shelf, which provides
AND
efficient communication between scientists, stakeholders and government officials from the three countries.

3) Biodiversity loss won’t cause extinction – other species will adapt

NPR 7 (5/30/2007, Donald J. Dodds M.S. P.E., President of the North Pacific Research, and#34;The Myth of Biodiversity,and#34; northpacificresearch.com/downloads/The_myth_of_biodiversity.doc CS)

Notice next that at least ten times biodiversity fell rapidly; none of these extreme
AND
successful survived six extinctions, without the aid of humans or the EPA. 

Biodiversity is resilient and inevitable

Sagoff 8 Mark, Senior Research Scholar @ Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy @ School of Public Policy @ U. Maryland, Environmental Values, and#34;On the Economic Value of Ecosystem Servicesand#34;, 17:2, 239-257, EBSCO
What about the economic value of biodiversity? Biodiversity represents nature’s greatest largess or excess
AND
pretextual, and disingenuous economic ones.78 As David Ehrenfeld has written,
We do not know how many ~plant~ species are needed to keep the
AND
- for all 600,000-plus species of beetles?7*
The disappearance in the wild even of agriculturally useful species appears to have no effect
AND
into virtually any other - which allows for the unlimited creation of biodiversity.
A neighbor of mine has collected about 4,000 different species of insects on
AND
kind of moth flies off, you can easily attract hundreds of others.

Biodiversity is high and there’s no impact

NPR 7 (5/30/2007, Donald J. Dodds M.S. P.E., President of the North Pacific Research, and#34;The Myth of Biodiversity,and#34; northpacificresearch.com/downloads/The_myth_of_biodiversity.doc)

Biodiversity is a corner stone of the environmental movement. But there is no proof
AND
of this graph. Biodiversity has never been higher than it is today. 

1NC – Relations

Multilateralism fails – inhibits effective response to international crises

Lieber 9 (Robert J. Lieber, Professor of Government at Georgetown University, and#34;Persistent primacy and the future of the American eraand#34;, International Politics (2009) 46, 119–139. doi:10.1057/ip.2008.44 )

Almost every deliberation about foreign policy sooner or later gives rise to calls for renewed
AND
his aid, as it did to the effects of the bombing campaign. 

Can’t solve – Guantanamo is an alt cause

1AC 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)

As countries like China, Venezuela, Canada, Spain, and Brazil continue to
AND
, simultaneously increasing American legitimacy and weakening the viability of harsh Cuban rhetoric.

Plan’s engagement fails – fractures international consensus

Ásgeirsdóttir and Steinwand Feb-28-12 and#34;Drawing the Line: The Use of Equidistance versus Equitable Distribution in Demarcating Shared Ocean Areas,and#34; Áslaug Ásgeirsdóttir is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Politics at Bates College, Martin Steinwand is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Stony Brook University, http://mysbfiles.stonybrook.edu/~~msteinwand/papers/AsgeirsdottirSteinwand.2012.pdf)

At first glance, we see that the regime type variables are statistically significant,
AND
shows ¶ strong evidence that democracies are better at bargaining with each other.

Plan isn’t sufficient – sanctions against Iran, North Korea, Venezuela are equally important and make the US look evil – they don’t change that

Multilateralism fails – inhibits effective response to international crises

Lieber 9 (Robert J. Lieber, Professor of Government at Georgetown University, and#34;Persistent primacy and the future of the American eraand#34;, International Politics (2009) 46, 119–139. doi:10.1057/ip.2008.44 )

Almost every deliberation about foreign policy sooner or later gives rise to calls for renewed
AND
his aid, as it did to the effects of the bombing campaign. 

The thesis of their advantage is wrong – the Western liberal order is inevitable and solves

Ikenberry 11 (G. John, PhD, 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, and#34;The Future of the Liberal World Order,and#34; May/June issue of Foreign Affairs,  http://www.foreignaffairs.com/ articles/67730/g-john-ikenberry/the-future-of-the-liberal-world-order?page=show)

For all these reasons, many observers have concluded that world politics is experiencing not
AND
and prosperity that it has provided since the middle of the twentieth century. 

Status quo solves credibility

Charles A. Kupchan 12, professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and the Whitney Shepardson senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Bruce W. Jentleson, professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, October/November 2012, and#34;Obama’s strong suit,and#34; http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/The20World20Today/2012/october/WT1012Kupchan.pdf
When it comes to handling matters of America’s national security, Republicans have for decades
AND
off; diplomatic and commercial contacts have deepened in step with political liberalization.

Aggressive democracy promotion inevitable – plan can’t solve

Carothers 11/29/12 (Thomas, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he founded and currently directs the Democracy and Rule of Law Program, and#34;Reenergizing Democracy Promotionand#34; http://carnegieendowment.org/globalten/?fa=50142)

Over time, however, Obama’s engagement on democracy issues increased. Like his recent
AND
. policy toward the other Gulf states and Jordan follows a similar logic.

Can’t solve – need UN reforms and regional institutions – your author

1AC Kupchan and Mount 9 (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, and#34;The Autonomy Rule,and#34; Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, Spring 2009,  http://www.democracyjournal.org/pdf/12/Kupchan.pdf)

The diffusion of global power ultimately necessitates the devolution of international responsibility from a handful
AND
diplomacy by demonstrating the new administration’s commitment to revitalizing the U.N.

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 4 | Opponent: Greenhill | Judge: 

1NC — Cooperation

No impact to disease – they either burn out or don’t spread

Posner 05 – Senior Lecturer at University of Chicago (Richard A, and#34;Catastrophe: the dozen most significant catastrophic risks and what we can do about them.and#34;, Winter, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmske/is_3_11/ai_n29167514/pg_2?tag=content;col1)//WL

Yet the fact that Homo sapiens has managed to survive every disease to assail it
AND
lesson of the AIDS pandemic. And there is always a lust time.

No TB impact – can’t spread and isn’t deadly enough – their ev is media hype

Young 7 (Allison, 6/14/07, and#34;Fears about TB patient overblown26~2344; doctors sayand#34; http://m.jems.com/article/industry-news/fears-about-tb-patient-overblo

TB —- whether drug-resistant or not —- is not that easy to catch
AND
Transmission aboard aircraft, while possible, is rare, hospital officials said.

No H5N1 disease impact – it’s stable

NBC 8 (1/10/13, and#34;Were bird flu fears overblown?and#34; http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22590623/ns/health-infectious_diseases/t/were-bird-flu-fears-overblown/~~23.Ujtvq8ZvNCo)

PARIS — Fears of a flu pandemic originating from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus
AND
them pay attention to economic and social consequences,and#34; he told BBC radio.

Government responses solve

Zakaria 9 - Editor of Newsweek, BA from Yale, PhD in pol sci, Harvard (Fareed, and#34;The Sky Isn’t Falling,and#34; 5/16/9,  Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/id/197922)//WL
It certainly looks like another example of crying wolf. After bracing ourselves for a
AND
far better than anything Britain or France had in the early 20th century.

Burnout theory disproves the impact

Gerber 5 (Leah R. Gerber, PhD. Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Sciences, Ecological Society of America, and#34;Exposing Extinction Risk Analysis to Pathogens: Is Disease Just Another Form of Density Dependence?and#34; August 2005, Jstor)

The density of it population is an important parameter for both PVA and host-
AND
extent to which transmission depends on the density of the endangered host species. 

Biotech fails

Dr. Ayoub 7 received his B.Sc. in Human Biology from the University of Toronto, and his Doctorate of Medical Dentistry from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale and#34;The Biotech Industry: 30 Years of Failure, Starting with Genentechand#34; Jan 9 seekingalpha.com/article/23696-the-biotech-industry-30-years-of-failure-starting-with-genentech

Biotechnology as a business arguably began with the birth of Genentech (DNA) 30
AND
not narrowing. There is no evidence that the biotech industry is learning.

Algae biofuels impossible – never can replace conventional fuels

Sawahel 10 (Wagdy, Science Development Network, and#34;Biofuels from algae plagued with problems, says reviewand#34; http://www.scidev.net/global/biofuels/news/biofuels-from-algae-plagued-with-problems-says-review-1.html)

Hopes that algae could become a source of biodiesel that is friendly both to the
AND
infinitely more feasible than ~they were~ just a few years agoand#34;.

Cooperation in the squo is enough to solve

Villareal 13 – Specialist in International Trade and Finance(M. Angeles, and#34;U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: ¶ Trends, Issues, and Implicationsand#34;, Congressional Research Service, Mar 19, 2013, http://meangreenworkshops.com/uploads/CRS20Report-20US-Mexico20Economic20Relations.pdf, Daehyun)

The United States, Mexico, and Canada have made efforts since 2005 to increase
AND
effort similar to the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation ¶ Council. 

Turn – the plan’s use of the Bayh-Dole model slows down research and commercialization

Sampat 9 (Bhaven N. Sampat Department of Health Policy and Management Columbia University, and#34;The Bayh-Dole Model in Developing Countries: Reflections on the Indian Bill on Publicly Funded Intellectual Propertyand#34; http://ictsd.org/downloads/2011/12/the-bayh-dole-model-in-developing-countries-reflections-on-the-indian-bill-on-publicly-funded-intellectual-property.pdf)

Unlike the apparently widespread view among some emulators that Bayh-Dole was an unambiguous
AND
to instead seek out academic partners in China, Russia, and India. 

1NC — U.S. IP Leadership

US-China won’t go to war- interdependence, weak military, other countries won’t help, no incentive, and history

Burney and Hampson, 12 – Burney is an officer of the Order of Canada, is a senior strategic advisor to Norton Rose Fulbright, and a chancellor of Lakehead University and a visiting professor and Senior Distinguished Fellow at Carleton University ; Hampson is a Distinguished Fellow and director of Global Security at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (Derek and Fen, and#34;Could the United States and China go to war?and#34;, iPolitics, November 19, http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/11/19/could-the-united-states-and-china-go-to-war/)//VP

On the other side of the ledger, here are five reasons why there won’t
AND
, thereby making the and#34;Asian pivotand#34; more than a trendy pirouette.

Trade disputes with China don’t escalate

Daniel J. Ikenson 12, director of the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, and#34;Trade Policy Priority One: Averting a U.S.-China and#34;Trade Warand#34;and#34; March 5, CATO Institute, Free Trade Bulletin no. 47, www.cato.org/publications/free-trade-bulletin/trade-policy-priority-one-averting-uschina-trade-war

An emerging narrative in 2012 is that a proliferation of protectionist, treaty-violating
AND
that suggests that the kerfuffle is containable and the recent trend reversible.1

Alt causes to IP leadership – trademarks and music licensing disputes

Grimmet 4/23/12 (Jeanne, Legislative Attorney, WTO Dispute Settlement: Status of U.S. Compliance in Pending Cases, Congressional Research Service, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32014.pdf**

Six of the nine pending trade remedy cases focus on the U.S.
AND
Congresses aimed at ¶ resolving the trademark dispute, none has been enacted.

China won’t change IPR policy – retaliation for US restrictions

Scissors 12 (Derek, Ph.D, Heritage Foundation, and#34;The Most Important Chinese Trade Barriersand#34; http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/2012/07/the-most-important-chinese-trade-barriers

The Committee’s focus on intellectual property is entirely justified. Incentives come from secure property rights, and the incentive to innovate comes from secure intellectual property rights (IPR). When IPR is weak, the incentive to innovate weakens.
This is crucial because America’s comparative advantage is in innovation. Our comparative advantage is expressed in export of technology goods, focused on computing but also including medical and other advanced equipment. Innovation makes competitive a wide range of American services, from education to entertainment. This is true for U.S. trade with all countries.
The China angle: It is universally accepted that Chinese IPR protection in China is inadequate.~1~ This reduces incentives for American individuals and firms to innovate in goods and services trade with the PRC. Beijing expects the U.S. to respect China’s comparative advantage in assembly of consumer goods. In contrast, the American comparative advantage in IPR will be respected at some point in the future.
A standing Chinese complaint is that the U.S. restricts technology exports to
AND
volumes consistent with combined Sino–American GDP of over 2422 trillion.

China’s military can’t catch up and no risk of war

Zenko and Cohen 12 (Micah Zenko, Fellow in the Center for Preventive Action
AND
yale.edu/content/clear-and-present-safety)
As the threat from transnational terrorist groups dwindles, the United States also faces few
AND
Beijing will continue to prefer a strong United States to a weak one.

Resource constraints and credibility concerns deter conflict

Diaz, 4/23 – Writer for the Global Balita (Perry, and#34;Why China Won’t Go to War VS USand#34;, Global Balita, April 23, 2013, http://globalbalita.com/2013/04/23/why-china-wouldnt-go-to-war-vs-u-s/)//VP

If China attacked the United States, she had better knock her out in the
AND
behavior would hurt her image and credibility for a long time to come.    

Economic interdependence solves

Garrett, 13 – Dean of the University of Sydney Business School and a professor of politics at the United States Studies Centre (Geoff, and#34;No Cold War- US Will Ensure China Follows the ’Road Rules’and#34;, November 13, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/no-cold-war—us-will-ensure-china-follows-the-road-rules-20121112-298f1.html)VP 

Of course, like the rest of the world, the US’s economic future depends
AND
talked about in his speech to the Australian Parliament almost a year ago.

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 5 | Opponent: St Marks MJ | Judge: 

1NC — Agriculture

No resource wars

Tetrais 12—Senior Research Fellow at the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratgique (FRS). Past positions include: Director, Civilian Affairs Committee, NATO Assembly (1990-1993); European affairs desk officer, Ministry of Defense (1993-1995); Visiting Fellow, the Rand Corporation (1995-1996); Special Assistant to the Director of Strategic Affairs, Ministry of Defense (1996-2001).(Bruno, The Demise of Ares, csis.org/files/publication/twq12SummerTertrais.pdf)

The Unconvincing Case for ’’New Wars’’ ¶ Is the demise of war reversible?
AND
will be driven by nationalist passions, not the desperate hunger for hydrocarbons.

No ecosystem collapse impact

Holly Doremus 2k Professor of Law at UC Davis, and#34;The Rhetoric and Reality of Nature Protection: Toward a New Discourse,and#34; Winter 2000 Washington 26 Lee Law Review 57 Wash 26 Lee L. Rev. 11, lexis
Reluctant to concede such losses, tellers of the ecological horror story highlight how close
AND
material benefits of destructive decisions frequently will exceed their identifiable material costs.  n221

No warming impact—-mitigation and adaptation will solve

Robert O. Mendelsohn 9, the Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, June 2009, and#34;Climate Change and Economic Growth,and#34; online: http://www.growthcommission.org/storage/cgdev/documents/gcwp060web.pdf
The heart of the debate about climate change comes from a number of warnings from
AND
range climate risks. What is needed are long?run balanced responses.

No impact to industrial ag—modern developments solve—organics are just as bad

Savage 13, Steve Savage, PhD, Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, President of Savage and Associates, a consultation company to agricultural technology industry, and#34;Six Reasons Organic Is NOT The Most Environmentally Friendly Way To Farmand#34;, http://www.science20.com/agricultural_realism/six_reasons_organic_not_most_environmentally_friendly_way_farm-110209, 4/24/13)
Contrary to widespread consumer belief, organic farming is not the best way to farm
AND
. That is why the following six environmental issues exist for organic farming. 

No ag collapse – tech solves

Thompson 5/13/11 –senior fellow for The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (Robert, and#34;Proving Malthus Wrong, Sustainable agriculture in 2050and#34; http://scienceblogs.com/tomorrowstable/2011/05/proving_malthus_wrong_sustaina.php)//SQR

Tools available today, including plant breeding and biotechnology, can make presently unusable soils
AND
impede, continued agricultural research and adoption of new technologies around the world. 

Plan crushes sustainable Cuban agriculture – crowds out Cuban producers

Carmen G. Gonzalez, Assistant Professor, Seattle University School of Law, Summer 2003, SEASONS OF RESISTANCE: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY IN CUBA, p. 729-33

Notwithstanding these problems, the greatest challenge to the agricultural development strategy adopted by the
AND
and economic pressure from the United States and from the global trading system.

Cuban ag techniques are insufficient to resolve food demand

1AC Kost 04 – agricultural economist, Specialty Crops Branch, Economic Research. Service, US Department of Agriculture (William, and#34;CUBAN AGRICULTURE: TO BE OR NOT TO BE ORGANIC?and#34;
http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume14/pdfs/kost.pdf)

In organic approach to food production, is Cuba’s urban gardening system viable? In
AND
-term role in providing a substantial portion of urban consumers’ food needs.

Can’t solve organoponics – need other federal programs – means no spill-over

1AC 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 (Kathryn, and#34;Creating a Sustainable Urban Agriculture Revolutionand#34; J. ENVTL. LAW AND LITIGATION ~Vol. 25, 203, http://law.uoregon.edu/org/jell/docs/251/peters.pdf)

Establishing an urban agricultural system requires acquisition, dedication, and protection229 of urban land
AND
inputs would play a central role in developing a viable urban agricultural system.

Cuban ag can’t solve sustainability – they’re reliant on US industrial ag

Avery 3/29/09 (Dennis T. Avery, a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington.  Dennis is the Director for Global Food Issues cgfi.org. He was formerly a senior analyst for the Department of State., and#34;Cubans Starve on Diet of Liesand#34; http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9571)

The Cubans told the world they had heroically learned to feed themselves without fuel or
AND
helps to have a nearby neighbor with a million or so industrial farmers.and#34; 

Warming inevitable even if we cut emissions to zero—multiple studies confirm

Gillett et al 10—director @ the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis
Nathan, and#34;Ongoing climate change following a complete cessation of carbon dioxide emissionsand#34;.Nature Geoscience 

Several recent studies have demonstrated that CO2-induced 17 global mean temperature change is
AND
several centuries owing to the long delay associated with 42 subsurface ocean warming.

1NC — Multilateralism

Multilateralism fails – inhibits effective response to international crises

Lieber 9 (Robert J. Lieber, Professor of Government at Georgetown University, and#34;Persistent primacy and the future of the American eraand#34;, International Politics (2009) 46, 119–139. doi:10.1057/ip.2008.44 )

Almost every deliberation about foreign policy sooner or later gives rise to calls for renewed
AND
his aid, as it did to the effects of the bombing campaign. 

No counterbalancing – liberal order is inevitable

Ikenberry 11 (G. John, PhD, 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, and#34;The Future of the Liberal World Order,and#34; May/June issue of Foreign Affairs,  http://www.foreignaffairs.com/ articles/67730/g-john-ikenberry/the-future-of-the-liberal-world-order?page=show)

For all these reasons, many observers have concluded that world politics is experiencing not
AND
and prosperity that it has provided since the middle of the twentieth century. 

Alt cause – Guantanamo and Iraq

1AC Burgsdorff 09 – Ph. D in Political Science from Freiburg University, EU Fellow at the University of Miami (Sven Kühn von, and#34;Problems and Opportunities for the Incoming Obama Administrationand#34;, http://aei.pitt.edu.proxy.lib.umich.edu/11047/1/vonBurgsdorfUSvsCubalong09edi.pdf)

In addition, the US needs to improve its international human rights reputation which was
AND
Cuban authorities and Cuba’s emerging civil society, including the human rights defenders.

Status quo solves credibility

Charles A. Kupchan 12, professor of international affairs at Georgetown University and the Whitney Shepardson senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and Bruce W. Jentleson, professor of public policy and political science at Duke University, October/November 2012, and#34;Obama’s strong suit,and#34; http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/The20World20Today/2012/october/WT1012Kupchan.pdf

When it comes to handling matters of America’s national security, Republicans have for decades
AND
off; diplomatic and commercial contacts have deepened in step with political liberalization.

Unilat inevitable – Obama will never change grand strategy

Walt 9 (Stephen Walt, Robert and Rene Belfer Professor of International Relations at Harvard University, previously taught at Princeton University and the University of Chicago, resident associate of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace and a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution, November 2009, and#34;Restoring Solvencyand#34;, http://www.americanreviewmag.com/articles/restoringsolvency)

It is by now a cliché to observe that Barack Obama took office facing the
AND
see why, let us look more closely at the crises he faces. 

Plan can’t solve – have to consult the region first

1AC Robert E. White, 3/7/2013, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, was the United States ambassador to Paraguay from 1977 to 1979 and to El Salvador from 1980 to 1981, After Chávez, a Chance to Rethink Relations With Cuba, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/opinion/after-chavez-hope-for-good-neighbors-in-latin-america.html?pagewanted=all

The re-election of President Obama, and the death of Mr. Chávez
AND
cooperating in matters of common concern would be reduced to a historical footnote.

1NC — Transition

SQ solves – Cuban reforms

Lopez, 2/25 (Arturo, LevyLecturer and Doctoral Candidate, University of Denver and#34;Cuba Under Raul Castro: Economic Reform as Priority?and#34; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arturo-lopez-levy/cuba-under-raul-castro_b_2754397.html) 

Raul Castro’s first presidential term was marked by economic reform and political liberalization. Over
AND
and local corporations extract the maximum rent from a basically unprotected Cuban consumer.

No Cuban collapse – countless checks prevent escalation

Cuba News, 13 ¬– the world’s leading source of business information on Cuba (and#34;Analysis: Cuba is much stronger today than after USSR’s collapse in the 1990s,and#34; 5/20/2013, http://www.cubanews.com/sections/analysis-cuba-is-much-stronger-today-than-after-ussrs-collapse-in-the-1990s)  MS
Cuba watchers are pushing a new and#34;domino theoryand#34; lately. They suggest that
AND
prefers the more ac-curate description, and#34;oil on preferential termsand#34;.

No Taiwan impact

Steketee 8 8/19, *MIKE STEKETEE: NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, and#34;China unlikely to go to war over Taiwan, says defence expert,and#34; http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/china-wont-fight-over-taiwan-expert/story-e6frg6t6-1111117233275, AJ

CHINA is unlikely to be a military threat and the chances of a conflict over
AND
that is more than the foreign service officers in the entire State Department.and#34; 

Not hotspots impact – their Basco ev concedes small provocations are inevitable and trigger conflict

====No Cuban terror threat – takes out Gorrell’s warrant for escalation====
Pomerantz, 01/16/2013 (Phyllis Pomerantz is a professor of the practice of public policy at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and a former staff member of the World Bank, and#34;Now’s the time to lift the U.S. embargo on Cubaand#34;, The Globe and Mail, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/nows-the-time-to-lift-the-us-embargo-on-cuba/article6790494/)**
Is it because Cuba poses a military threat? Maybe, once upon a time
AND
the government or its people sympathetic to Islamic fundamentalism is quite a stretch.

Impacts empirically denied – overstretch in Afghanistan and Iraq disprove Gorrell’s claim about isolationism

Removal won’t solve the economy – only the government gets money

Bustillo 13 (Mitchell Bustillo, writer for International Policy Digest, Hispanic Heritage Foundation Gold Medallion Winner, and a former United States Senate Page, and#34;Time to Strengthen the Cuban Embargoand#34; http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2013/05/09/time-to-strengthen-the-cuban-embargo/ 5-9-13)
Still there is the idea that further increasing American tourism to this nearby Caribbean island
AND
the Cuban people cannot be blamed on the United States or the embargo.

Plan derails reforms – turns the advantage

Egozcue 12 (Jorge Mario Sachez, Researcher and Professor at the Univeristy of Havana’s
AND
University. Debating U.S.-Cuban Relations and#34;The Pending Normalizationand#34 

Unless the frame of reference for political relations changes, the potential for economic relations
AND
what has been achieved so far, for the benefit of both nations.

OFAC sanctions on Cuba being loosened now – solves your internal link

World Compliance ’12 World Compliance is an organization committed to researching and targeting potential risks to financial systems. They work to identify individuals and companies linked to terrorist funding, fraud money laundering, corruption, drug trafficking , collateral crimes, arms trafficking, beneficial owners, and human trafficking, http://www.worldcompliance.com/en/resources/due-diligence-legislation/OFAC-guidelines/OFAC-cuba-sanciones.aspx)

Since the ascendance of the Castro regime in Cuba, the U.S. Treasury Department has used economic sanctions as a manner of shutting out the nation and encouraging a transition from communism to democracy. In recent years, several notable OFAC regulations and restrictions have been eased. This is at least partially due to long-time dictator Fidel Castro stepping down and ceding power to his brother Raul, who has implemented some market-based reforms. Although the guidelines are currently being updated by the Office of Foreign Assets control, travel restrictions and remittances between family members in the United States and relatives in Cuba are slowly becoming less onerous. In 2011, the allowances were extended to include exceptions for educational, religious, and journalism-related travel. This gives greater leeway to individuals, organizations, and businesses, although most commercial activity is still limited and requires an OFAC license.

2NC:

Multilat

Multilat empirically fails – Arab Spring proves interventionism inevitable

Rothkopf 3/10 (David, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf, 2011, and#34;Libya is a crucial test for Obama the multilateralistand#34;, http://rothkopf.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/03/10/libya_is_a_crucial_test_for_obama_the_multilateralist)

History has shown that there are some real obstacles to making multilateralism work. First
AND
Obama administration cannot merely chalk it up to global apathy or institutional inefficiencies. 

Multilateralism fails to solve security threats

Jenkin, 6 – University of New Hampshire, citing Frank Harvey, University Research Professor of International Relations, professor in the Department of Political Science, and the director of the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University (Clinton, and#34;Book Review: Smoke and Mirrors: Globalized Terrorism and the Illusion of Multilateral Security,and#34; Sage Journal, Spring 2006, http://icj.sagepub.com.proxy.lib.umich.edu/content/16/1/69.full.pdf+html)  MS

Smoke and Mirrors, a runner-up for the Donner Book Prize, offers
AND
an incorrect course of action does not become correct because of widespread agreement.

Multilateralism is structurally incapable of conflict prevention

Mnookind, 3 – leading expert in the field of conflict resolution (Robert, and#34;STRATEGIC BARRIERS TO DISPUTE RESOLUTION: A COMPARISON OF BILATERAL AND MULTILATERAL NEGOTIATIONS,and#34; Harvard Negotiation Law Review, Spring 2003, http://www.hnlr.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/STRATEGIC_BARRIERS_TO_DISPUTE_RESOLUTION_A_COMPARISON_OF_BILATERAL_AND_MULTILATE.doc)  MS

I. Introduction Why do negotiations so often fail even when there are possible resolutions
AND
Ireland, the goal was to create a framework for self-government.

Transition

Reforms are solving the economy now

Sweig and Bustamante 13 (Julia Sweig, Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies and Director for Latin America Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations; and Michael Bustamante, Ph.D. candidate in Latin American history at Yale University, and#34;Cuba After Communismand#34; http://internalreform.blogspot.com/ 6-27
The reforms have yielded several modest successes thus far. After facing sharp liquidity and
AND
financial accountability bureau has begun the hard task of weeding out endemic corruption.

The economy is growing in all sectors

HT 7-7 (Havana Times, and#34;Cuban Gov. Presents and#34;Favorableand#34; Statsand#34; http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=95985 7-7-13)
The economy showed an overall a and#34;favorable performanceand#34;, said Yzquierdo. Almost all
AND
the fight against corruption, one of the banner efforts of his administration.

Multiple alt causes to the Cuban economy but the SQ solves anyways

CSM 12 (Christian Science Monitor, 10/3/12, and#34;Cuba reforms: Important changes, but pace is slowand#34; http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/Latin-America-Monitor/2012/1003/Cuba-reforms-Important-changes-but-pace-is-slow

And there are other challenges facing the country which keep it on rather fragile footing
AND
United States in select industries that meet regulations imposed around the broader embargo.

A2 WOT Add-On

No terror impact and the loose nukes thesis is wrong

Schneidmiller 9 (Chris, Experts Debate Threat of Nuclear, Biological Terrorism, 13 January 2009, http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090113_7105.php)

There is an and#34;almost vanishingly smalland#34; likelihood that terrorists would ever be able
AND
be difficult to build a weapon or use one that has been stolen.

Tournament: Greenhill | Round: 2 | Opponent: Cedar Ridge RR | Judge: Morgan Titcher

Case

The state is inevitable and coopts their affirmative

Habermas 98 ~Jürgen Habermas teaches philosophy at the University of Frankfurt, and#34;The European Nation-State: On the Past and Future of Sovereignty and Citizenship,and#34; Public Culture10(2): 397–416~
Talk of overcoming the nation-state is ambiguous. On one reading—let
AND
a binding  force that extends beyond the level of the nation-state. 

The affirmative produces a bad form of politics

Horowitz 89—David, author and civil rights activist, founder of the New Left in the 1960s and editor of its largest magazine, Rampart, and Peter Colier, journalist, and#34;Destructive Generationand#34;, pp 265-270
The manufacture of innocence out of guilt: it is the eternal work of the
AND
by Leftists to be and#34;another Vietnam,and#34; Nicaragua is never another Cuba.
How does the Left maintain its belief against the crushing weight of its failures in
AND
Credo quia impossi-bileand#34;: and#34;I believe because it is impossible.and#34;
In the Stalin era, an English Quaker, returning from a visit to Bolshevik Russia, reported to his flock:
The Communist view of human nature seems to me far more inspired by Faith, Hope and Charity than our own— The simple unostentatious life of Russia’s rulers represents a notable advance in real civilization—real because based on a more enlightened interpretation of human nature, both of its needs and capacities; an interpretation which incidentally is also a more Christian one.
Almost forty years later, in the mid-Sixties, the Reverend William Sloane
AND
where they were all together must have been almost like paradise for them.and#34;
It is often observed that a symmetry exists between the extreme ends of the political
AND
, it exploits mankind’s faith, as well as its hope and charity.
If self-righteousness is the moral oxygen of the radical creed, self-deception is the marrow of its immune system. Credo quia impossi-bile: because what he believes is impossible, the radical believes because it is necessary to believe.
Malcolm Muggeridge observed the prototypes of the radical faithful on a tour of Russia in the 1930s:
Their delight in all they saw and were told, and the expression they gave
AND
university-educated tourists astonished even Soviet officials used to handling foreign visitors.
After Stalin’s death, when the Soviet rulers were forced to admit a considerable part
AND
and hindered if the truth about Stalin’s paradise were revealed to the publicand#34;
It is easy for today’s Leftists to dismiss such revelations, saying that and#34;that
AND
that lead directly to the gulag—waiting room of the socialist paradise.
But while Utopian fantasies provide socialism with a shield against external criticism, within its own borders a brutal pragmatism rules the state. The millions who have been and#34;liberatedand#34; by revolutionaries know the dirty little secret of their liberation: that they are more oppressed by the revolution itself than they ever had been by the regime it replaced.
It is the need to bridge the chasm between the socialist dream and the socialist
AND
It is this bleak landscape that the totalitarian poetry is meant to beautify.

No social death – history proves

Brown 9 Vincent, Prof. of History and African and African-American Studies @ Harvard Univ., December, and#34;Social Death and Political Life in the Study of Slavery,and#34; American Historical Review, p. 1231-1249
THE PREMISE OF ORLANDO PATTERSON’S MAJOR WORK, that enslaved Africans were natally alienated and
AND
of becoming ’African American’ in culture, orientation, and identity.and#34;40

Trying to make debate a site for social change destroys coalitions

Atchison and Panetta 9 – *Director of Debate at Trinity University and Director of Debate at the University of Georgia (Jarrod, and Edward, and#34;Intercollegiate Debate and Speech Communication: Issues for the Future,and#34; The Sage Handbook of Rhetorical Studies, Lunsford, Andrea, ed., 2009, p. 317-334)

The final problem with an individual debate round focus is the role of competition.
AND
long community problems requires a tremendous effort by a great number of people.

resistance generates backlash—-reverses efforts towards racial justice

Shelby 7 – Tommie Shelby, Professor of African and African American Studies and of Philosophy at Harvard, 2007, We Who Are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity
Even if it were possible to effectively mobilize a multicorporatist Black Power program without running
AND
past and, to some extent, continue to do even now.51
Such resistance would not come solely from racists, however. Some potential allies would
AND
elect effective political representation without the support of like-minded nonblack citizens.

The drive for collective identity inherent to their project makes mass violence and genocide inevitable

Irbe 1 - Canadian Department of Environment and Political Journalist
George Irbe, Canadian Department of Environment and Political Journalist, 1/26/01 (http://jonjayray-netiirms.com/irbe.html
Kuehnell-Leddihn has conducted studies into the historical origins of modern Leftism. His
AND
unrestrained mass venting of the blind rage aroused by envy and xenophobic hatred.
Kuehnell-Leddihn makes the following observations about the first instance of organized selective mass murders in modern times that occurred during the French Revolution:
’In spite of Rousseuauistic fancies, the depravity of which the average man is capable soon became evident. People literally danced around the guillotines.  Various military and civil commanders openly and officially boasted about their bestial deeds, which in all their sick horror were perpetrated above all against the and#34;internal enemyand#34;.
Kuehnell-Leddihn relates from the available historical record of the French Revolution graphic descriptions of macabre atrocities and of campaigns to exterminate entire populations in the name of the revolution. In his words: ’Mass murder had become the order of the day in France’.
Further on he draws a telling comparison between the French Revolution and those that followed in the 20th Century:
’The picture painted by dogmatic socialism in action is strikingly similar to that of
AND
political thinking, and turmoil in the countryside accompanied by arson and robbery’.
At least since Marx and Engels, if not before. Leftists have explained their revolutions in terms of class struggle, and have postured themselves as devoted champions of the noble cause of the working class. In the above quotation Kuehnell-Leddihn reminds us that the coercive Utopians and the simply opportunistic criminal rogues who led the revolutions came from every social and economic class.
~Continues…~
George Watson, a historian of the modern era who is presently engaged in writing
AND
to be Leftists from birth, and b) those that do not.
That explains why some individuals are attracted to Leftism, seem so mesmerized by it, while others dislike it in some cases instinctively abhor it.
The above theory sounds preposterous, to say the least. How can it be
AND
doubt intense envy hides beneath the patina of righteous egalitarianism of the Leftist.

Tournament: Greenhill | Round: 3 | Opponent: Highland Park Dallas HS | Judge: Rachel Boroditsky

TPP Aff

1) Small countries are leaving

Prestowitz 12 (Clyde, founder and president of the Economic Strategy Institute, advisor to a number of global corporations including Intel and FedEx, former counselor to the secretary of commerce during the Reagan administration, MBA from the Wharton Graduate School of Business, Foreign Policy, April 27, 2012, and#34; Is the Trans-Pacific Partnership foundering?,and#34; http://prestowitz.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/04/27/is_the_trans_pacific_partnership_foundering, alp)

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk was here in Singapore yesterday and told
AND
see about the TPP, but things are not getting easier for it.

2) Buy America provisions – midterms prove – China ensures it’s not effective even if it works

Moody 12 (Glyn, technology writer and author, writer for the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the New Scientist, the Economist, and the Financial Times, TechDirt, May 7th, 2012, and#34;After SOPA And ACTA, Now TPP Starts To Fall Apart,and#34; http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120504/03424318777/after-sopa-acta-now-tpp-starts-to-fall-apart.shtml, alp)

Foreign Policy magazine, for example, has a feature entitled Is the Trans-
AND
for copyright and patent maximalism that a year ago would have seemed impossible.

Your aff does literally nothing – Mexico’s already a part of TPP negotiations—vote negative on presumption and structural inherency

Wolverton 12 (Joe, citing US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, The New American, June 19, 2012, and#34;Mexico and Canada Invited to Join the Secret TPP Negotiations,and#34; http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/foreign-policy/item/11775-mexico-and-canada-invited-to-join-the-secret-tpp-negotiations, alp)
This week President Obama and U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Ron
AND
forward to continuing consultations with the Congress and domestic stakeholders as we move forward

NAFTA integration proves

Palmer 12 (Doug, Reuters, June 18, 2012, and#34;Mexico to join Trans-Pacific Partnership talks,and#34; http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/18/us-usa-mexico-transpacific-idUSBRE85H1LC20120618, alp)

and#34;We look forward to working with Mexico as we seek to conclude a comprehensive
AND
include Canada and Mexico than to negotiate one that does,and#34; Farnsworth said.

And no functional impact – status quo FTAs solve

Wise and Gallagher 11 (Timothy A., and Kevin, director of the research and policy program at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University, AND professor at the Boston University International Relations department, AlterNet, September 9, 2011, and#34;Obama’s and#34;21st Century Trade Dealsand#34; Look a Lot Like the Same Bad Policies He Campaigned Against,and#34; http://www.alternet.org/story/152359/obama~’s_2221st_century_trade_deals22_look_a_lot_like_the_same_bad_policies_he_campaigned_against, alp)

From an economic perspective, the TPP would be the largest US trade agreement since
AND
because most of the participants already have bilateral trade agreements with TPP counterparts.

Trade does not prevent war—no correlation

Martin et al 8, Phillipe Martin, School of Economics, and Centre for Economic Policy Research; Thierry MAYER, University of Paris 1 Pantheon—Sorbonne, Paris School of Economics, CEPII, and Centre for Economic Policy Research, Mathias THOENIG, University of Geneva and Paris School of Economics, The Review of Economic Studies)
Does globalization pacify international relations? The and#34;liberaland#34; view in political science argues
AND
, even taking into account the increase in the number of sovereign states. 

Trade is strong and resilient

Daniel Ikenson, 3/5/12,Daniel Ikenson is director of the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute,
 ~http://www.cato.org/publications/free-trade-bulletin/trade-policy-priority-one-averting-uschina-trade-war~~ 

Although some governments will dabble in some degree of protectionism, the combination of a
AND
far more impressive than when governments attempt to limit choices through policy constraints.  

Prefer our ev – most robust studies

Goldstone 7 (P.R., PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science and a member of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a non-resident research fellow at the Center for Peace and Security Studies, Georgetown University, AlterNet, September 25, http://www.alternet.org/audits/62848/?page=entire)
          
The analytic literature on the Commercial Peace is much less robust than scholarship on the
AND
about war or prompted them to escalate rather than become dependent on others.

They’ve got it backwards – peace causes trade, not the other way around

Mueller 9—pol sci prof and IR, Ohio State. Widely-recognized expert on terrorism threats in foreign policy. AB from U Chicago,  MA  in pol sci from UCLA and PhD in pol sci from UCLA (John, Faulty Correlation, Foolish Consistency, Fatal Consequence: Democracy, Peace, and Theory in the Middle East, 15 June 2007, http://psweb.sbs.ohio-state.edu/faculty/jmueller/KENT2.PDF)

This already seems to hold for the relationship between peace and trade. Although expanding
AND
and#34;peace is the premise of the system, not the product.18

Trade doesn’t solve war – leaders care more about domestic politics

Goldstone 7 (P.R., PhD candidate in the Department of Political Science and a member of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a non-resident research fellow at the Center for Peace and Security Studies, Georgetown University, AlterNet, September 25, http://www.alternet.org/audits/62848/?page=entire)

Many hope trade will constrain or perhaps pacify a rising China, resurgent Russia,
AND
There will always be someone else with the capability to buy and sell.

The TPP shuts out China and doesn’t help trade

Solis 13 - Mireya Solís is the Philip Knight Chair in Japan Studies and senior fellow at the Brookings Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, and associate professor at American University. An expert in Japan’s foreign economic policies, Dr. Solís earned a PhD in government and an MA in East Asian Studies from Harvard University, and a BA in international relations from El Colegio de México. Her main research interests include Japanese politics, political economy, and foreign policy; international and comparative political economy; international relations; and government-business relations. She also has interests in broader issues in U.S.-Japan relations and East Asian multilateralism, (and#34;The Containment Fallacy: China and the TPPand#34;, May 24, 2013, http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2013/05/24-china-transpacific-partnership-solis)//sawyer
In recent commentary for the Financial Times, David Pilling argues that the central objective
AND
. In this rendition, the TPP appears politically myopic and economically irrelevant.

China won’t join:
 

1) Has its own agenda

Moody 12 (Glyn, technology writer and author, writer for the Guardian, the Daily Telegraph, the New Scientist, the Economist, and the Financial Times, TechDirt, March 8th, 2012, and#34;Why The Chances of China Joining ACTA Or TPP Are Practically Zero,and#34; http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120308/09284118036/why-chances-china-joining-acta-tpp-are-practically-zero.shtml, alp)

Still not happy, apparently. But maybe China doesn’t like the Western bias of
AND
ACTA or TPP; and without China, both become largely pointless exercises.

2) We’ll concede incentives are key to get China on board with international trade – the TPP disincentivizes Chinese participation – currency manipulation, Japan, inter-agreement protectionism, and trade hypocrisy

Pilling 5/22 (David, columnist for the Financial Times on Asian business, Financial Times, May 22, 2013, and#34;It won’t be easy to build an ’anyone but China’ club,and#34; http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/08cf74f6-c216-11e2-8992-00144feab7de.html~~23axzz2eYjsRFs6, alp)
Here are two things that New Zealand, Vietnam, Peru, Japan and the
AND
the clock back. The Chinese cat is long out of the bag.

US-China won’t go to war- interdependence, weak military, other countries won’t help, no incentive, and history

Burney and Hampson, 12 – Burney is an officer of the Order of Canada, is a senior strategic advisor to Norton Rose Fulbright, and a chancellor of Lakehead University and a visiting professor and Senior Distinguished Fellow at Carleton University ; Hampson is a Distinguished Fellow and director of Global Security at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (Derek and Fen, and#34;Could the United States and China go to war?and#34;, iPolitics, November 19, http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/11/19/could-the-united-states-and-china-go-to-war/)//VP

On the other side of the ledger, here are five reasons why there won’t
AND
, thereby making the and#34;Asian pivotand#34; more than a trendy pirouette.

China’s military can’t catch up and no risk of war

Zenko and Cohen 12 (Micah Zenko, Fellow in the Center for Preventive Action
AND
yale.edu/content/clear-and-present-safety)
As the threat from transnational terrorist groups dwindles, the United States also faces few
AND
Beijing will continue to prefer a strong United States to a weak one.

Resource constraints and credibility concerns deter conflict

Diaz, 4/23 – Writer for the Global Balita (Perry, and#34;Why China Won’t Go to War VS USand#34;, Global Balita, April 23, 2013, http://globalbalita.com/2013/04/23/why-china-wouldnt-go-to-war-vs-u-s/)//VP

If China attacked the United States, she had better knock her out in the
AND
behavior would hurt her image and credibility for a long time to come.    

Increased Chinese relations don’t result in increased cooperation

Bremmer 9—IR prof, Columbia. Faculty member at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Senior Fellow, World Policy Institute. PhD in pol sci, Stanford—AND—Nouriel Roubini—professor of economics at New York University’s Stern School of Business and chairman of RGE Monitor. (Ian, The Yin and Yang of U.S.-China Relations, 1 September 2009, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574384601554931882.html)

American and Chinese officials said all the right things during this summer’s inaugural round of
AND
from words to work, they’re going to be pulling in different directions.

Relations resilient – traditional and global issues engagement has gone effectively with Obama administration

Kifle 10 (Elias Kifle, Publisher of The Ethiopian Review 01/15/10 and#34;Around the Halls: Obama’s First Year in Foreign Policyand#34;, http://www.ethiopianreview.com/news/12326)

President Obama wanted to get off to a smooth start in his relations with China
AND
resolution condemning Iran’s failure to live up to its obligations under the IAEA.

No China-Taiwan war

Steketee 8 8/19, *MIKE STEKETEE: NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR, and#34;China unlikely to go to war over Taiwan, says defence expert,and#34; http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/china-wont-fight-over-taiwan-expert/story-e6frg6t6-1111117233275, AJ

CHINA is unlikely to be a military threat and the chances of a conflict over
AND
that is more than the foreign service officers in the entire State Department.and#34; 

No conflict – normalizing relations now

Cole 12 — Taipei-based journalist who focuses on military issues in Northeast Asia and in the Taiwan Strait (J. Michael, 9/3, and#34;Taiwan Hedges its Bets on China,and#34; http://thediplomat.com/flashpoints-blog/2012/09/03/taiwan-hedges-its-bets-against-china/)

By a number of yardsticks, relations in the Taiwan Strait today are the best
AND
sea-rescue operations in the waters off Taiwan’s Kinmen and China’s Xiamen.

====US dominance makes the TPP ineffective —- alternative trade regimes without the US are sufficient to solve====
Palit, ’12 – Head (Partnership 26 Programme) and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies (Amanda, and#34;TPP may drive BRICS into actionand#34;, 10/16/12, National University of Singapore. http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/10/16/tpp-may-drive-brics-into-action/)//SP
Second, the TPP is attempting to create a major trade bloc without some of the biggest emerging economies. None from the BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — are part of the TPP. And while the countries negotiating the TPP are all members of APEC, some major APEC economies — in particular the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Russia and Thailand — are not included in the negotiations.
China’s exclusion is strange given its huge economic presence in the Asia Pacific. This has given rise to views that the US is driving the TPP with the strategic objective of marginalising China.
Another concern with the TPP is its impact on Asian integration. Various models of
AND
in Asia and force Asian economies to develop different strategies for regional integration.
The complications created by the TPP are becoming visible in Asia. Japan and the ROK, while expressing interest in the TPP, are also negotiating the EAFTA. The dilemma of choosing between the TPP and other Asian trade frameworks will affect more Asian economies.
Emerging markets like China, Brazil and India will find it difficult to join the
AND
strategically balance global trade, which could otherwise be dominated by the TPP.

China cannot join the TPP

Kissinger 12 - HENRY A. KISSINGER is Chair of Kissinger Associates and a former U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Adviser. This essay is adapted from the afterword to the forthcoming paperback edition of his latest book, On China (Penguin, 2012), (and#34;The Future of U.S. - Chinese Relations
Conflict Is a Choice, Not a Necessityand#34;,  January 19, 2012, http://www.henryakissinger.com/articles/fa0412.html)//SAWYER
Obama has invited China to join the TPP. However, the terms of accession
AND
positive-sum issues, such as territory and security, may grow insurmountable

Tournament: St Marks | Round: Quarters | Opponent: Pine Crest | Judge: 

1NC — Case

The aff’s usage of the Codex fails – totalizes Latin American experience and fails to combat dominant ideology – links to their West bad arguments

Pagel 93 (Richard, art critic at the New York Times, 9/30/12, "ART REVIEW : ’Chicano Codices’ Has a Social Identity Crisis" http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-30/entertainment/ca-40424_1_chicano-art)

The title refers to the ancient picture books that conveyed the religious myths, social laws and cultural practices of the Mayans, Mixtecs and Aztecs. Most of these remarkable documents were burned by European colonials as they propagated Christianity and scientific rationalism. The few that remain have been renamed after the Europeans who "discovered" them. Bequeathed to museums and libraries, they are now preserved as curious emblems of extinct civilizations.
To symbolically counteract this appropriation, displacement and neutralization of indigenous culture in the Americas
AND
for a single codex to speak for all members of a unified society.
A justified attempt to counteract five centuries of exploitation, domination and oppression, "The Chicano Codices" lacks verve, vitality and conviction. Instead, it merely repeats standard conceptions about the contemporary relationship between art and social identity.
As objects of art, the modern codices represent nothing more—and nothing less—than the deep-seated opinions and heartfelt experiences of individual personalities. Titling these highly subjective and sometimes extremely personal paintings, sculptures and assemblages after authoritative manuscripts, which once embodied widely shared laws and social codes, erroneously suggests that an eradicated tradition can be instantaneously remade, whenever an artist enters the studio and invokes the past.
Chicano art often strives to represent knowledge shared by a community, but the individualism represented in these codices would seem to be at cross-purposes with that aspiration. Emphatic individualism is a modern trait, embodied in much 20th-Century European art; usually, though, it has proven to be a poor substitute for the cohesive qualities of religion and myth, social history and political education.

Turns the entirety of the case – homogenizing Latin America justifies imperialism

Donald J. Mabry, 10-15-2009, Professor of History @ Mississippi State University, and The Historical Text Archive, "Colonial Latin America," http://historicaltextarchive.com/latin/colonial.pdf

Colonial Latin America, which lasted for about 300 years for most of the region
AND
look very hard in this part of the world to find other examples.

No risk of endless warfare

Gray 7—Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies and Professor of International Relations and Strategic Studies at the University of Reading, graduate of the Universities of Manchester and Oxford, Founder and Senior Associate to the National Institute for Public Policy, formerly with the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Hudson Institute (Colin, July, "The Implications of Preemptive and Preventive War Doctrines: A Reconsideration", http://www.ciaonet.org/wps/ssi10561/ssi10561.pdf)
7. A policy that favors preventive warfare expresses a futile quest for absolute security
AND
strategy, though not always policy, must be nothing if not pragmatic.

Democracy checks

O’Kane 97 – Prof Comparative Political Theory, U Keele (Rosemary, "Modernity, the Holocaust and politics," Economy and Society 26:1, p 58-9)
Modern bureaucracy is not ’intrinsically capable of genocidal action’ (Bauman 1989: 106).
AND
and common attributes of modernity which stand in the way of modern genocides. 

The impact is the exception not the rule

Abrahamsen 5 (Rita, Department of International Politics, University of Wales, Blair’s Africa: The Politics of Securitization and Fear, Alternatives 30:1)
The war on Iraq can be seen to demonstrate the willingness of the British government
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securitization is more likely to give rise to policies of containment or policing. 

And be rational, just because we might justify genocide doesn’t mean we guarantee it

Dunn 6 – PoliSci Prof at Hobart 26 William Smith Colleges (Kevin, www.asu.edu/clas/polisci/cqrm/APSA2006/Dunn_Historical_Representations.pdf)
Representations do not cause policies, such as intervention, nor do they explain choices
AND
To examine individual decision making, one would need to employ other methods. 

Criticizing Western "imperialism" obscures more insidious practices by regional powers

Shaw 2 – Sussex IR Professor (Martin, The Problem of the Quasi-Imperial State, www.martinshaw.org/empire.htm)
Nor have many considered the possibility that if the concept of imperialism has a relevance
AND
many of them there are far more real and dangerous enemies closer to.

Prefer pragmatic action – it’s possible and desirable to improve Latin American policy

Giordano and Li 12 - *Paolo, PhD in Economics from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris, Lead Economist @ the Integratoin and Trade Sector of the IADB, Kun, Research Fellow @ IADB
("An Updated Assessment of the Trade and Poverty Nexus in Latin America," p. 375-377)BB

Despite the move towards more open trade regimes, Latin American economies are still ¶
AND
to overstate the importance of strengthening the capacity of policymaking in this area.

Western norms matter and are inevitable—the success of global democratic revolutions depends on a focus on the pragmatic details of international institutions and global norms—the alternative is genocides and nuclear war

Shaw, Professor of International Relations and Politics at the University of Sussex, ’99 (Martin, November 9, "The unfinished global revolution: Intellectuals and the new politics of international relations"
The new politics of international relations require us, therefore, to go beyond the
AND
and analytical challenges for students of international relations and politics, are intertwined. 

2NC Case

They strip indigenous peoples of their individuality – that allows the marginalization of difference and turns the case

Rodriguez ’06 (Gregory Rodriguez- founding director of the Center for Social Cohesion, is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, and executive director of Zócalo Public Square. He has written widely on issues of social cohesion, civic engagement, national identity, assimilation, race relations, religion, immigration, ethnicity, demographics and social and political trends in leading publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Time, Newsweek, and the Los Angeles Times, where he is an op-ed columnist. The author of Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America (Pantheon), which The Washington Post listed among the "Best Books of 2007," Rodriguez is at work on a book on the American cult of hope; "Look beyond the ’Latino’ label"; November 12, 2006; http://www.latimes.com/news/la-op-rodriguez12nov12,1,1839578.column)

HOMOGENIZING the image of the "other" has always been a way for groups
AND
it’d make it more reflective of the complex ethnic reality of Los Angeles. 

Aesthetics link – the 1AC is like an art gallery that strips the Codex of any analytical potential – their lack of historical context prevents solvency

Pagel 93 (Richard, art critic at the New York Times, 9/30/12, "ART REVIEW : ’Chicano Codices’ Has a Social Identity Crisis" http://articles.latimes.com/1993-09-30/entertainment/ca-40424_1_chicano-art)

But many of the works resemble last-minute, slap-dash efforts.
AND
fall flat because they fail to adequately address their context and its history.

History link – their focus on the Codex in the context of Western imperial domination reifies Eurocentric throught by placing Western experience at the center of their analysis

Thomas H. Holloway, xx-xx-2008, University of California, Davis, "Latin America: What’s in a  Name?" http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405131616.html

What constitutes "Latin America" and its "history"? All three of these
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Mexican border less relevant in distinguishing Anglo America from Latin America (Acuña1972).

Tournament: St Marks | Round: 2 | Opponent: Greenhill ML | Judge: Ryan Galloway

1NC — Cooperation

Cooperation in the squo is enough to solve

Villareal 13 – Specialist in International Trade and Finance(M. Angeles, "U.S.-Mexico Economic Relations: ¶ Trends, Issues, and Implications", Congressional Research Service, Mar 19, 2013, http://meangreenworkshops.com/uploads/CRS20Report-20US-Mexico20Economic20Relations.pdf, Daehyun)

The United States, Mexico, and Canada have made efforts since 2005 to increase
AND
effort similar to the U.S.-Canada Regulatory Cooperation ¶ Council. 

Status quo solves US-Mexico cooperation on Intellectual property protection enforcement

Department of State 13 – it’s the state yo("U.S. Relations With Mexico", Sep 5, 2013, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35749.htm, Daehyun)

Mexico is making progress in its intellectual property rights enforcement efforts, although piracy and
AND
launch an ambitious regional economic integration effort, the Alliance of the Pacific.

Cross-border cooperation on life sciences now

Bailey 12 — W. Scott Bailey, Reporter/Project Coordinator for the San Antonio Business Journal ("San Antonio eyes bioscience collaboration with Mexico", San Antonio Business Journal, 10-17-12, Available Online at: http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantonio/print-edition/2012/09/14/san-antonio-eyes-bioscience.html?page=all, Accessed 10-18-2013)

Mexico is experiencing significant growth in its bioscience industry — particularly in the pharmaceutical and medical technology markets.
That expansion is expected to continue over the next several years, and it could open the door for San Antonio, which depends heavily on the bioscience industry, to pursue potentially lucrative collaboration with its cross-border ally.
"Things are changing so rapidly in Mexico for the better," says David Marquez, director of Bexar County Economic Development. "This (potential collaboration) is certainly something we will want to look at."
San Antonio has leveraged health care and the biosciences into a 2425 billion industry annually. But local stakeholders are convinced that the Alamo City can build on that success by expanding its reach internationally. Mexico may be the perfect gateway to that growth because of the economic and cultural ties that exist between San Antonio and the world’s second-largest Latin-American country.
A new health report from GlobalData projects that the economic impact of Mexico’s pharmaceutical market is expected to approach 2423 billion by 2020. The Rockville, Md.-based research firm says that sector was valued at a little over 248 billion as recently as 2005.
Mexico has seen significant growth in its medical device sector, as well. The economic impact from that market was just over 243 billion in 2011, according to the GlobalData report. It’s projected to nearly double by the end of the decade.
Plenty of incentive
Some U.S. cities have taken note of Mexico’s growing bioscience industry.
Officials in San Diego, for example, have been aggressive in attempting to seek out opportunities with Mexicans. The San Diego Dialogue, a program tied to the University of California at San Diego, launched a Life Sciences Gateway Initiative a few years ago. The focus of that partnership has been to identify and build relationships between the bioscience communities in California and Mexico.
San Diego may have a head start on San Antonio when it comes to potential collaboration with Mexico in the bioscience arena. But Alamo City officials believe South Texas has some advantages over California.
"San Diego has its place," Marquez says. "But San Antonio is connected to Mexico’s heartland by substantial infrastructure."
BioMed SA President Ann Stevens says San Antonio officials have had conversations with Mexican leaders in the past about health care and the biosciences.
"Some relationships have been formed," she says. "Some foundation has been laid. But the conversations have been somewhat broad."

No impact to disease – they either burn out or don’t spread

Posner 05 – Senior Lecturer at University of Chicago (Richard A, "Catastrophe: the dozen most significant catastrophic risks and what we can do about them.", Winter, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmske/is_3_11/ai_n29167514/pg_2?tag=content;col1)//WL

Yet the fact that Homo sapiens has managed to survive every disease to assail it
AND
lesson of the AIDS pandemic. And there is always a lust time.

No TB impact – can’t spread and isn’t deadly enough – their ev is media hype

Young 7 (Allison, 6/14/07, "Fears about TB patient overblown26~2344; doctors say" http://m.jems.com/article/industry-news/fears-about-tb-patient-overblo

TB —- whether drug-resistant or not —- is not that easy to catch
AND
Transmission aboard aircraft, while possible, is rare, hospital officials said.

No H5N1 disease impact – it’s stable

NBC 8 (1/10/13, "Were bird flu fears overblown?" http://www.nbcnews.com/id/22590623/ns/health-infectious_diseases/t/were-bird-flu-fears-overblown/~~23.Ujtvq8ZvNCo)

PARIS — Fears of a flu pandemic originating from the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus
AND
them pay attention to economic and social consequences," he told BBC radio.

Biotech fails

Dr. Ayoub 7 received his B.Sc. in Human Biology from the University of Toronto, and his Doctorate of Medical Dentistry from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale "The Biotech Industry: 30 Years of Failure, Starting with Genentech" Jan 9 seekingalpha.com/article/23696-the-biotech-industry-30-years-of-failure-starting-with-genentech

Biotechnology as a business arguably began with the birth of Genentech (DNA) 30
AND
not narrowing. There is no evidence that the biotech industry is learning.

Algae biofuels impossible – never can replace conventional fuels

Sawahel 10 (Wagdy, Science Development Network, "Biofuels from algae plagued with problems, says review" http://www.scidev.net/global/biofuels/news/biofuels-from-algae-plagued-with-problems-says-review-1.html)

Hopes that algae could become a source of biodiesel that is friendly both to the
AND
infinitely more feasible than ~they were~ just a few years ago".

Turn – the plan’s use of the Bayh-Dole model slows down research and commercialization

Sampat 9 (Bhaven N. Sampat Department of Health Policy and Management Columbia University, "The Bayh-Dole Model in Developing Countries: Reflections on the Indian Bill on Publicly Funded Intellectual Property" http://ictsd.org/downloads/2011/12/the-bayh-dole-model-in-developing-countries-reflections-on-the-indian-bill-on-publicly-funded-intellectual-property.pdf)

Unlike the apparently widespread view among some emulators that Bayh-Dole was an unambiguous
AND
to instead seek out academic partners in China, Russia, and India. 

1NC — U.S. IP Leadership

US-China won’t go to war- interdependence, weak military, other countries won’t help, no incentive, and history

Burney and Hampson, 12 – Burney is an officer of the Order of Canada, is a senior strategic advisor to Norton Rose Fulbright, and a chancellor of Lakehead University and a visiting professor and Senior Distinguished Fellow at Carleton University ; Hampson is a Distinguished Fellow and director of Global Security at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (Derek and Fen, "Could the United States and China go to war?", iPolitics, November 19, http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/11/19/could-the-united-states-and-china-go-to-war/)//VP

On the other side of the ledger, here are five reasons why there won’t
AND
, thereby making the "Asian pivot" more than a trendy pirouette.

Trade disputes with China don’t escalate

Daniel J. Ikenson 12, director of the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, "Trade Policy Priority One: Averting a U.S.-China "Trade War"" March 5, CATO Institute, Free Trade Bulletin no. 47, www.cato.org/publications/free-trade-bulletin/trade-policy-priority-one-averting-uschina-trade-war

An emerging narrative in 2012 is that a proliferation of protectionist, treaty-violating
AND
that suggests that the kerfuffle is containable and the recent trend reversible.1

Alt causes to IP leadership – trademarks and music licensing disputes

Grimmet 4/23/12 (Jeanne, Legislative Attorney, WTO Dispute Settlement: Status of U.S. Compliance in Pending Cases, Congressional Research Service, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32014.pdf**

Six of the nine pending trade remedy cases focus on the U.S.
AND
Congresses aimed at ¶ resolving the trademark dispute, none has been enacted.

China won’t change IPR policy – retaliation for US restrictions

Scissors 12 (Derek, Ph.D, Heritage Foundation, "The Most Important Chinese Trade Barriers" http://www.heritage.org/research/testimony/2012/07/the-most-important-chinese-trade-barriers

The Committee’s focus on intellectual property is entirely justified. Incentives come from secure property rights, and the incentive to innovate comes from secure intellectual property rights (IPR). When IPR is weak, the incentive to innovate weakens.
This is crucial because America’s comparative advantage is in innovation. Our comparative advantage is expressed in export of technology goods, focused on computing but also including medical and other advanced equipment. Innovation makes competitive a wide range of American services, from education to entertainment. This is true for U.S. trade with all countries.
The China angle: It is universally accepted that Chinese IPR protection in China is inadequate.~1~ This reduces incentives for American individuals and firms to innovate in goods and services trade with the PRC. Beijing expects the U.S. to respect China’s comparative advantage in assembly of consumer goods. In contrast, the American comparative advantage in IPR will be respected at some point in the future.
A standing Chinese complaint is that the U.S. restricts technology exports to
AND
volumes consistent with combined Sino–American GDP of over 2422 trillion.

China’s military can’t catch up and no risk of war

Zenko and Cohen 12 (Micah Zenko, Fellow in the Center for Preventive Action
AND
yale.edu/content/clear-and-present-safety)
As the threat from transnational terrorist groups dwindles, the United States also faces few
AND
Beijing will continue to prefer a strong United States to a weak one.

Resource constraints and credibility concerns deter conflict

Diaz, 4/23 – Writer for the Global Balita (Perry, "Why China Won’t Go to War VS US", Global Balita, April 23, 2013, http://globalbalita.com/2013/04/23/why-china-wouldnt-go-to-war-vs-u-s/)//VP

If China attacked the United States, she had better knock her out in the
AND
behavior would hurt her image and credibility for a long time to come.    

Economic interdependence solves

Garrett, 13 – Dean of the University of Sydney Business School and a professor of politics at the United States Studies Centre (Geoff, "No Cold War- US Will Ensure China Follows the ’Road Rules’", November 13, http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/no-cold-war—us-will-ensure-china-follows-the-road-rules-20121112-298f1.html)VP 

Of course, like the rest of the world, the US’s economic future depends
AND
talked about in his speech to the Australian Parliament almost a year ago.

Tournament: St Marks | Round: 4 | Opponent: Caddo Magnet | Judge: Cat Duffy

1NC — Venezuela

Economy’s on the rise – reforms solve every warrant and their authors are wrong

Moncanda 13 – the Ambassador of Venezuela to the United Kingdom since 2007 and holds a PhD in Modern History from Oxford University(Samuel, "Isn’t it time to respect Venezuela’s democracy?", CNN, Feb 22, 2013, http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/18/opinion/venezuela-democracy-moncada, Daehyun)

(CNN) — Reading the international press, one would be forgiven for thinking
AND
isn’t it time to respect Venezuela’s democracy and the will of the people?

No Latin American escalation

Cárdenas 11 ~Mauricio, senior fellow and director of the Latin America Initiative at the Brookings Institution, 3-17, "Think Again Latin America," Foreign Policy, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/03/17/think_again_latin_america?page=full~~

"Latin America is violent and dangerous." Yes, but not unstable. Latin
AND
tactic which contributed in large part to the organization’s loss of popular support.

Foreign oil investment destroys the economy

Green Left Weekly 13 – Newspaper("Venezuela: War for oil fuels economic crisis", Venezuela Analysis, Jul 8, 2013, http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/9820, Daehyun)

The rise of oil production in the 1920s dramatically transformed Venezuela’s economy. Agricultural production
AND
became vehicles to bolster the flow of oil rent to the local elites.

Iranian influence is not a threat – their authors are conservative hawks

Mallett-Outtrim ’13
Ryan Mallett-Outtrim; writer for Merida News Organization; Venezuelanalysis.com, "Venezuela-Iran Relations: No Longer Imperilled by Imperialism?" – June 30th 2013

Two events that defy hawk logic have taken place in the same month. First
AND
as interesting, but it just doesn’t read like an Ian Fleming novel.

No way your aff solves terrorism

Neumann 11 – Senior Fellow of the Foreign Policy Research Institute and is co-chair of FPRI’s Manhattan Initiative (Vanessa, "THE NEW NEXUS OF NARCOTERRORISM:
HEZBOLLAH AND VENEZUELA", Foreign Policy Research Institute, Dec, 2011, http://www.fpri.org/enotes/2011/201112.neumann.narcoterrorism.html
First and foremost, the United States is under territorial threat through its Mexican border
AND
. Al Qaeda is also rumored to have a strong presence in Brazil.

No terror impact—-super unlikely

Schneidmiller 9 (Chris, Experts Debate Threat of Nuclear, Biological Terrorism, 13 January 2009, http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090113_7105.php)

There is an "almost vanishingly small" likelihood that terrorists would ever be able
AND
be difficult to build a weapon or use one that has been stolen.

No impact – short term instability is inevitable – long term stability will arise

Puchi 13 ~June 25, 2013. Leopoldo Puchi is an opposition political scientist and ex general secretary of the MAS. Article translated by Tamara Pearson. "Venezuelan Government: Stability in Instability" Venezuelanalysis. http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/9764**~~  

Different signs indicate that the government of Nicolas Maduro is tending to stabilise itself and
AND
. But without a doubt, we have to be on the alert.

1NC — Russia

No war with Russia or miscalc

Ryabikhin et al 9 ~Dr. Leonid Ryabikhin, expert of the Russian Science Committee for Global Security, General (Ret.) Viktor Koltunov,  Dr. Eugene Miasnikov, June 2009, "De-alerting: Decreasing the Operational Readiness of Strategic Nuclear Forces," http://www.ewi.info/system/files/RyabikhinKoltunovMiasnikov.pdf~~
The issue of the possibility of an "accidental" nuclear war itself is hypothetical
AND
5 the United States have developed proper measures to observe the agreed requirements. 

No US-Russia war – domestic problems

Lieber 8 Robert is professor of government and international affairs at Georgetown (World Affairs, "Falling Upwards", Summer 2008)

Farther East, and despite its economic recovery and the restoration of central power under
AND
own internal decline put it well short of being a major power challenger. 

Russia has abandoned aggression in favor of cooperation

Sawczak 11 ~Dr. Peter Sawczak, Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University, "Obama’s Russia Policy: The Wages and Pitfalls of the Reset," peer reviewed paper presented at the 10th Biennial Conference of the Australasian Association for Communist and Post-Communist Studies, Feb 3-4 2011, http://cais.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/Sawczak_Obama.pdf~~
As a measure of their optimism, US officials like to point – cautiously –
AND
waged any major gas wars, threatened leaders, or incited civil war. 

Communications check

Ford 8 ~Christopher, Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. former U.S. Special Representative for Nuclear Nonproliferation and former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Verification, Compliance, and Implementation "Dilemmas of Nuclear Force ’De-Alerting,’" http://www.hudson.org/files/documents/De-Alerting20FINAL22028229.pdf~~
The United States and Russia have also worked for years to improve communications, reduce
AND
of impending U.S. belligerence vis-à-vis Russia. 

1NC — Solvency

Venezuela will say no -

====1. Venezuela isn’t interested in relations with the US – Snowden proves ====
Neuman, 6/20/13 (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/world/americas/venezuela-stops-efforts-to-improve-us-relations.html?pagewanted=print) New York Times Andes Region correspondent/Corresponsal para la Región Andina: Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Suriname, Guyana, Guiana.¶
 CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela announced late Friday that it was stopping the latest
AND
relations with the United States should be conducted on a basis of respect.

2. Recent statement locks Venezuela into rejection of US offers.

BBC News ’13
"Venezuela ’ends’ bid to restore full US ties" – July 20^th – http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23387807

Venezuela says it has "ended" steps towards restoring diplomatic ties with the US
AND
tone and in content" earlier statements by Secretary of State John Kerry.

3. Maduro must say "no". The upside of plan gets outweighed by domestic politics. If he accepts, he’ll get destroyed politically.

Shifter ’13 
Michael is an Adjunct Professor of Latin American Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and writes for the Council’s journal Foreign Affairs. He serves as the President of Inter-American Dialogue. "A Bolivarian Dream Deferred" – Foreign Policy, June 24, 2013 – http://thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=3226pubID=3338

It makes sense for Venezuela to reach out to the United States, but at
AND
ideological movement that Chávez was able to cobble together in his glory days. 

4. The plan will always be portrayed as imperialism – Maduro says so himself

Maduro 9/8 – the big M himself(Nicolas, "Interview: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Talks to Le Monde Diplomatique", Sep 8, 2013, http://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/10007, Daehyun)

How are relations with Washington going?¶ Nicolas Maduro: I would first like to
AND
each aggression with greater strength. The time for zero tolerance has arrived.

5. Strict investment regime means the plan fails- Venezuela prefers our rivals

Roberts and Daga 4-15-13 ~James M. Roberts is Research Fellow for Economic Freedom and Growth in the Center for International Trade and Economics and Sergio Daga is Visiting Senior Policy Analyst for Economic Freedom in Latin America at The Heritage Foundation, "Venezuela: U.S. Should Push President Maduro Toward Economic Freedom," http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/04/venezuela-us-should-push-president-maduro-toward-economic-freedom~~

An inefficient and non-transparent regulatory environment that is hostile to private foreign direct
AND
extensive nationalizations and expropriations, only about 9,000 remained.~12~

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 5 | Opponent: St Marks MJ | Judge: 

1NC

Text: the United States Federal Government should normalize its trade relations with Cuba if and only if the Republic of Cuba agrees to release Alan Gross.

CP solves and Cuba says yes

Piccone 12 (Ted, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director, Foreign Policy @ The Brookings Institution, Richard Feinberg,
nonresident Senior Fellow @ The Brookings Institution, Diego Ruiz, Member of delegation of business leaders to Cuba organized by the Council of the Americas, Inc.http://www.brookings.edu/~~/media/events/2012/12/1020cuba/20121210_cuban_economy.pdf)

Thank you. Back to the stalemate in which we now find¶ ourselves with
AND
facilitate economic relations between the two, if would¶ seem to me.

Key to relations with Cuba and turns the case

Sullivan 13 (Mark, specialist in Latin American Affairs from the Congressional Research Service, 6/2/13, and#34;Cuba: U.S. Policy and Issues for the 113^th Congress,and#34; http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R43024.pdf)

Relations took a turn for the worse in December 2009, however, when Alan
AND
in January 2011 and it is unclear when additional talks may take place. 

That crowds out Russia

Blank 9 (Stephen, Research Professor of National Security Affairs at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, and#34;Russia in Latin America: Geopolitical Games in the US’s Neighborhood,and#34; pdf)

The only way in which Russian policy truly threatens the US and Latin America is
AND
reverse those outcomes and demonstrate what liberal democracy in action can truly accomplish.

Prevents a Cuba-Russia war—draws in the U.S.

Richter 08 (Paul, Staff Writer for Los Angeles Times, and#34;Moscow-Havana ties worry U.S.,and#34; 9/1/08 http://articles.latimes.com/2008/sep/01/world/fg-usrussia1)

But at a time when Russia has intervened forcefully in Georgia and is extending the
AND
that sending the bombers would cross a and#34;red line in the sand.and#34;

Impact is extinction

Frumkin and Helfand 12 (Howard, MD, DrPH, School of Public Health, University of Washington; and Ira, MD, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and#34;A Prescription for Survival: Prevention of Nuclear War,and#34; American Journal of Preventive Medicine, March 2012, http://www.psr.org/nuclear-weapons/rxforsurvival.pdf)

Still it is not the arsenals of these new nuclear powers that pose the greatest
AND
starve to death and it is possible that homo sapiens could become extinct.

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 2 | Opponent: Highland Park MN RM | Judge: Miles

Farm bill will pass now, but PC is still key to negotiate a compromise

Dale Hildebrant, 11-17-2013, "Farm Bill Conference Committee wants to finish by Thanksgiving," Minnesota Farm Guide, http://www.minnesotafarmguide.com/news/regional/farm-bill-conference-committee-wants-to-finish-by-thanksgiving/article_2e07f0b2-4d4a-11e3-9894-001a4bcf887a.html
Little has been heard from the Farm Bill Conference Committee since its opening session on
AND
believes that President Obama’s intervention will prove useful in getting the issue resolved.

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

New farm bill key to prevent a food price spike – massive economic damage

NELSON 10 – 17 – 13 Staff Writer ~Joe Nelson, Obama, ag industry waiting for new Farm bill, http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/Obama-ag-industry-waiting-for-new-Farm-Bill-228259521.html~~
With the government shutdown over, farmers are still waiting for a deal to be made.
President Obama listed the farm bill as one of his top priorities to address, which could protect farmers and low income families.
"We should pass a farm bill, one that American farmers and ranchers can
AND
What are we waiting for? Let’s get this done," Obama said.
Farmers said if they struggle without a farm bill, it could cause food prices to spike, force some out of the industry and damage the economy.
"If the milk price falls below a certain level, the Farm bill does help support farmers during a time of an economic crisis when prices drop too low," Chippewa County U.W. Extension Crops and Soils Educator, Jerry Clark
The current, five-year Farm bill was temporarily extended, but both farmers and Clark said with much to lose, a new one is needed.
"Any time we can get the new bill passed, it’s definitely going to help because there’s always new changes in agriculture, as far as commodities or practices that need to be implemented," Clark said. "So those types of things should be passed to keep up with the current trends in agriculture.
Durand corn and soybean farmer and Value Implement dealer TJ Poeschel says not having a new farm bill and reverting to a bill from 1949 could cut down profits or even force some farmers to quit or retire.

High food prices cause Russian instability —— forces the Kremlin to force dietary changes which was at the core of past revolutions

Stratfor 8
("Russia: Problems in the Winners’ Circle", 6-13, http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/russia_problems_winners_circle, Google Cache)
As an energy and grain exporter, Russia is one of the clear winners in
AND
Europe, though Moscow wants to be the dominant partner in that relationship. 

Nuclear war

Filger 9 (Sheldon, author and blogger for the Huffington Post, "Russian Economy Faces Disastrous Free Fall Contraction" http://www.globaleconomiccrisis.com/blog/archives/356)

In Russia historically, economic health and political stability are intertwined to a degree that
AND
the financial impact of the Global Economic Crisis is its least dangerous consequence.

Tournament: Greenhill | Round: 2 | Opponent: Cedar Ridge RR | Judge: Morgan Titcher
1NC

The Aff’s failure to advance a defense of the federal government substantially increasing its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico, or Venezuela undermines debate’s transformative and intellectual potential
A limited topic of discussion that provides for equitable ground is key to productive inculcation of decision-making and advocacy skills in every and all facets of life—-even if their position is contestable that’s distinct from it being valuably debatable—-this still provides room for flexibility, creativity, and innovation
Steinberg 26 Freeley 8 *Austin J. Freeley is a Boston based attorney who focuses on criminal, personal injury and civil rights law, AND David L. Steinberg , Lecturer of Communication Studies @ U Miami, Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making pp45-

Debate is a means of settling differences, so there must be a difference of
AND
particular point of difference, which will be outlined in the following discussion.

That’s key to social improvements in every and all facets of life
Steinberg 26 Freeley 8 *Austin J. Freeley is a Boston based attorney who focuses on criminal, personal injury and civil rights law, AND David L. Steinberg , Lecturer of Communication Studies @ U Miami, Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making pp9-10

If we assume it to be possible without recourse to violence to reach agreement on
AND
in our intelligent self-interest to reach these decisions through reasoned debate.

Only portable skill—-means our framework turns case
Steinberg 26 Freeley 8 *Austin J. Freeley is a Boston based attorney who focuses on criminal, personal injury and civil rights law, AND David L. Steinberg , Lecturer of Communication Studies @ U Miami, Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making pp9-10
After several days of intense debate, first the United States House of Representatives and
AND
customer for out product, or a vote for our favored political candidate.¶ 

Discussion of specific policy-questions is crucial for skills development—-we control uniqueness: university students already have preconceived and ideological notions about how the world operates—-government policy discussion is vital to force engagement with and resolution of competing perspectives to improve social outcomes
Esberg 26 Sagan 12 *Jane Esberg is special assistant to the director at New York University’s Center on. International Cooperation. She was the winner of 2009 Firestone Medal, AND Scott Sagan is a professor of political science and director of Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation and#34;NEGOTIATING NONPROLIFERATION: Scholarship, Pedagogy, and Nuclear Weapons Policy,and#34; 2/17 The Nonproliferation Review, 19:1, 95-108

These government or quasi-government think tank simulations often provide very similar lessons for
AND
quickly; simulations teach students how to contextualize and act on information.14

Their framework’s exclusive, moralizing presupposition that they have to be outside of the state prevents self-reflexivity and results in the total breakdown of dialogue and engagement – thinking about costs and benefits for societies as a whole is important because we are less likely to be violent towards others which is the only way to prevent totalitarian thought and atrocities
Keenan, 1998 (Alan, Ph.D., Member of the Committee on Degrees in Social Studies at Harvard University, Theory and Event, Vol. 2 No. 1, http://muse.jhu.edu.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/journals/theory_and_event/v002/2.1keenan.html)**

The anti-political nature of guilt, in turn, helps explain the political
AND
their belief in the futility, aggressivity, and dreariness of political action.

Switch-side is key to self-reflexivity– that forces critical thinking and better advocacy of one’s positions
Keller et al 1 – Asst. professor School of Social Service Administration U. of Chicago (Thomas E., James K., and Tracly K., Asst. professor School of Social Service Administration U. of Chicago, professor of Social Work, and doctoral student School of Social Work, and#34;Student debates in policy courses: promoting policy practice skills and knowledge through active learning,and#34; Journal of Social Work Education, Spr/Summer 2001, EBSCOhost)
SOCIAL WORKERS HAVE a professional responsibility to shape social policy and legislation (National Association
AND
yield a reevaluation and reconstruction of knowledge and beliefs pertaining to the issue. 

Effective deliberation is only possible in a switch-side debate format where debaters divorce themselves from ideology—-that’s key to self-reflexivity which is vital to preventing mass violence and genocide
Patricia Roberts-Miller 3 is Associate Professor of Rhetoric at the University of Texas and#34;Fighting Without Hatred:Hannah Ar endt ’ s Agonistic Rhetoricand#34; JAC 22.2 2003
Totalitarianism and the Competitive Space of Agonism

Arendt is probably most famous for her analysis of totalitarianism (especially her The Origins
AND
not relativist, adversarial but not violent, independent but not expressivist rhetoric.

And independently a voting issue for fairness—-our entire negative strategy is based on the affirmative’s instrumental defense of increasing economic engagement towards Latin America—-there are an infinite number of reasons that the scholarship of their advocacy could be a reason to vote affirmative—- these all obviate the only predictable strategies based on topical action—-they overstretch our research burden and undermine preparedness for all debates
Resolved requires a policy
Louisiana House 3-8-2005, http://house.louisiana.gov/house-glossary.htm**
Resolution  A legislative instrument that generally is used for making declarations,  stating policies, and making decisions where some other form is not  required. A bill includes the constitutionally required enacting clause; a  resolution uses the term and#34;resolvedand#34;. Not subject to a time limit for  introduction nor to governor’s veto. ( Const. Art. III, §17(B) and House  Rules 8.11 , 13.1 , 6.8 , and 7.4)

Federal government is the national government
Black’s Law 4 (Dictionary, 8th Edition, June 1, 2004, pg.716.)

Federal government. 1. A national government that exercises some degree of control over smaller political units that have surrendered some degree of power in exchange for the right to participate in national politics matters – Also termed (in federal states) central government. 2.  the U.S. government – Also termed national government. Cases: United States -1 C.J.S. United States - - 2-3

and#34;Itsand#34; refers to the United States Federal Government and is possessive
Updegrave 91 (W.C., and#34;Explanation of ZIP Code Address Purposeand#34;, 8-19, http://www.supremelaw.org/ref/zipcode/updegrav.htm)

More specifically, looking at the map on page 11 of the National ZIP Code
AND
Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, making the explanatory statement literally correct. 

and#34;Economic engagementand#34; is limited to expanding economic ties
Celik 11 (Arda Can Çelik, graduate M.A in political science and international relations at Uppsala University Sweden, 2011, and#34;Economic sanctions and engagement policies,and#34; http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/175204/economic-sanctions-and-engagement-policies)

Introduction¶ Economic engagement policies are strategic integration behaviour which involves with the target state
AND
position of one state affects the position of others in the same direction.

2NC:
Government solutions are necessary to solve problems like poverty and education in Latin America – the affirmative is just rhetoric that can’t create change
IRI ’12 (International Republican Institute; and#34;Latin America Think Tank Policy Initiativeand#34;; http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/Latin20America20Think20Tank20Policy20Initiative2011-4-11_0.pdf)
An ongoing political trend in Latin America is the inconsistent execution of parties to create
AND
elected officials on how to solve the most  pressing issues facing Latin America.

That is not only false but it essentializes politics as inherently dangerous, which creates a self-fulfilling prophecy and results in massive state-based violence
Duarte 4 - André Duarte, Professor of Philosophy at the Federal University of Brazil, November 7, 2004, and#34;Biopolitics and the dissemination of violence: the Arendtian critique of the present,and#34; online: http://web.archive.org/web/20041107231353/http://hannaharendt.net/research/biopolitics.html

It would be hard to find another thesis in Political Theory that is more assertive
AND
actions of acknowledging, welcoming, and extending hospitality and solidarity towards others.

Internal Link Turn – Only researching specific mechanisms will result in policies geared towards the interest of Latin Americans
Margheritis and Pereira ’07 (Ana- assistant professor of international relations and Latin American politics at the University of Florida and Anthony- associate professor of political science at Tulane University; and#34;The Neoliberal Turn in Latin America: The Cycle of Ideas and the Search for an Alternativeand#34;; Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 3, Contested Transformation (May, 2007),pp. 25-48)
This analysis is offered from a critical point of view in the hope that it
AND
also important—but that the mechanisms for their promulgation have been understudied.

Constraints are key to creativity—-challenging ourselves to innovate within the confines of rules creates far more creative responses than starting with a blank slate
Mayer 6 – Marissa Ann Mayer, vice-president for search products and user experience at Google, February 13, 2006, and#34;Creativity Loves Constraints,and#34; online: http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/06_07/b3971144.htm?chan=gl

When people think about creativity, they think about artistic work — unbridled, unguided
AND
be a clock) or constrained possibilities (a canvas that is marked).

Framework isn’t itself forceful oppression—-it’s simply an advocacy on behalf of certain decision making practices—-it’s no different than any other argument in debate
Amanda Anderson 6, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Humanities and English at Brown University, Spring 2006, and#34;Reply to My Critic(s),and#34; Criticism, Vol. 48, No. 2, p. 281-290 

Lets first examine the claim that my book is and#34;unwittinglyand#34; inviting a resurrection
AND
is clearly, and indeed necessarily, significant room for further elaboration here.

True challenges to authority require acts of dialogue and self criticism—-they otherwise result in the same authoritative exclusion that they critique
Morson 4—Northwestern prof (Greg, Bakhtinian Perspectives on Language, Literacy, and Learning, 317-23)
Sarah Freedman and Arnetha Ball describe learning as a dialogic process. It is not
AND
allowed one’s own evolving convictions to be tested by experience and by other convictions

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Centennial | Judge: 

1NC

Will Pass – renewed interest in politically difficult compromises

Bowles and Simpson 9/16 (Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson co-chaired the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and now co-chair the Moment of Truth Project, and are guest writers for CSM, 9/16/13, and#34;Government shutdown? A leap of trust can seal a budget dealand#34;, http://news.yahoo.com/government-shutdown-leap-trust-seal-budget-deal-144702994—politics.html)
For their part, …raising new revenue.

The plan would trade off with Congress’s ability to avert the shutdown - GOP has momentum and will, but they need literally every hour to get it done

Frank James, 9-13-2013, and#34;Congress Searches For A Shutdown-Free Future,and#34; NPR, http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/09/13/221809062/congress-searches-for-a-shutdown-free-future
The only thing found …, we’ll let you know.and#34;

Government shutdown wrecks CDC disease monitoring – key to check outbreaks

Emily Walker, 4-8-2011, and#34;Both Sides Claim Win as Shutdown Averted,and#34; Med Page Today, http://www.medpagetoday.com/Washington-Watch/Washington-Watch/25826
The vast majority … the HHS spokesman said.

Extinction

Quammen 12 David, award-winning science writer, long-time columnist for Outside magazine for fifteen years, with work in National Geographic, Harper’s, Rolling Stone, the New York Times Book Review and other periodicals, 9/29, and#34;Could the next big animal-to-human disease wipe us out?,and#34; The Guardian, pg. 29, Lexis
Infectious disease …, and viruses in particular.

Tournament: St Marks | Round: Octas | Opponent: GBN | Judge: 

The USFG should offer Mexico to facilitate a substantial increase in United States’ importation of Mexican jatropha biofuels if and only if Mexico agrees to end human rights abuses. The USFG should enact a periodic certification process to determine that abuses are effectively investigated and prosecuted.

Congress should make assistance to Mexico contingent upon a periodic certification process to determine Mexican human rights abuses are investigated and prosecuted – counterplan effectively uses leverage to improve human rights conditions

HRW, 07 Human Rights Watch, the world’s leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse, 10/24, http://www.hrw.org/news/2007/10/23/mexico-us-aid-should-include-human-rights-conditions, "Mexico: US Aid Should Include Human Rights Conditions," ADM
The US Congress should oppose counternarcotics assistance to Mexico unless it includes strong conditions aimed
AND
Mexico’s security forces to improve their appalling human rights record," said Vivanco.

Aid without human rights conditions send the message that US condones torture, rape, and disappearances – turns the aff and reinforces organized crime

WOLA 10 - (Washington Office of Latin America- contains multiple experts on human rights abuse in latin america and quotes the state department’s report "Congress: Withhold Funds for Mexico Tied to Human Rights Performance" 9/14/10, http://www.wola.org/publications/congress_withhold_funds_for_mexico_tied_to_human_rights_performance)//AP
However, research conducted by our respective organizations, Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission,
AND
established by Congress, particularly those dealing with prosecuting military abuses and torture:  

US human rights leadership is key to international peace, security, domestic interests, and the pursuit of global democracy

Griffey, 11 Brian, human rights consultant who has worked for the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International USA and as an investigative journalist, 3/18, http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/150667-us-leadership-on-human-rights-essential-to-strengthen-democracy-abroad, "U.S. leadership on human rights essential to strengthen democracy abroad," ADM
In the midst of what many are calling the Arab world’s 1989, the United
AND
concerted and collective effort to be upheld, especially in times of crisis.

Extinction

Diamond 95 - Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, December 1995, Promoting Democracy in the 1990s, http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/ccpdc/pubs/di/1.htm

OTHER THREATS This hardly exhausts the lists of threats to our security and well-
AND
which a new world order of international security and prosperity can be built.

Tournament: Pace RR | Round: 7 | Opponent: Niles West NP | Judge: 

Iran Sanctions aren’t passing now but PC is key – signal of passage through congress destroys the deal even if Obama Veto’s it

Benen 1/18 (Steve, MSNBC News, "Support for new Iran sanctions wanes," 2014, http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/support-new-iran-sanctions-wanes)

As recently as last week, bipartisan congressional support for new sanctions on Iran,
AND
the Hill with phone calls and emails, voicing opposition to the bill.

====The plan drains PC and no link turns — deficit concerns and gridlock neutralize support====
Halverstadt 13 — Lisa Halverstadt, reporter at Voice of San Diego (Lisa Halverstadt, Voice of San Diego, 04-25-2013, "Waiting on Congress to Ease Border Waits", http://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/04/25/waiting-on-congress-to-ease-border-waits/, Accessed 08-01-2013 | AK)

Funding to improve the world’s busiest land border crossing made it into President Barack Obama’s budget but that doesn’t mean the project will shorten lines at the San Ysidro port anytime soon.
Some San Diego politicians and business leaders have spent years advocating for the completion of a three-phase project that would boost the crossings’ outdated infrastructure with 38 new inspection booths and realign Interstate 5 to match up with Mexico’s El Chaparral facility, among other fixes.
The latest upgrade would create the new southbound connection to Mexico and add northbound inspection booths.
But no one is certain the 24226 million the president included in his budget for the latest phase of the project will make its way to San Ysidro.
The budget proposal must survive both the budget appropriations process and an ever-dysfunctional Congress, which hasn’t approved a formal budget since 2009.
Rep. Susan Davis, part of San Diego’s congressional delegation who has championed the funding, said she doesn’t feel comfortable making promises.
"We know that no matter where we try and push it in the budget we have a lot of people who don’t want to move in the direction of investment that supports the economy right now," Davis told Voice of San Diego.
Davis and other advocates are cautiously optimistic.
They’re grateful the Obama administration identified the funds but if Congress once again fails to pass a budget, the funding is history.
That’s significant because Congress hasn’t passed a budget since 2009. Instead, it’s relied on continuing resolutions — legislative tools that allow lawmakers to simply extend the previous year’s budget.
Continuing resolutions don’t incorporate construction projects, meaning such a move would keep San Ysidro funding off the nation’s balance sheet for next year.
Funding for improved border infrastructure in Calexico, Calif., fell prey to a continuing resolution in 2011.
The Senate allocated 2484.4 million for the area’s west port of entry but Congress never produced a bill.
Last December, the Imperial Valley Press reported that Imperial County is now negotiating with California Power Corp., which may be willing to bankroll the border crossing upgrades. This is the county’s backup plan for the Calexico crossing should federal leaders fail to allocate funds anytime soon.
If there isn’t a continuing resolution, the funds are more likely to survive but there’s still a chance they could be nixed in a bid to lower the nation’s deficit, or in a budget compromise.
That’s why even the San Ysidro project’s strongest advocates aren’t convinced it will get started anytime soon.
"I think being in the president’s budget is a very positive sign but whether it will make it through the budget or not, I don’t know," said Paul Ganster, director of San Diego State University’s Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias.
Ganster, who has long pushed San Diego leaders to collaborate more with their Baja California counterparts, said the full backing of the region’s full congressional delegation will be key.
City Councilman David Alvarez, whose district includes San Ysidro, agreed.
"If we don’t have our own delegation from our own backyard advocating in support of this, it’s going to be hard to persuade 430 members of Congress to do the same," Alvarez said.

Sustaining a permanent Iran deal is key – its key to solve Iran prolif and real concessions

Golnaz Esfandiari 11/24/13, writer @ Radio Free Europe citing Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert @ the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst @ the International Crisis Group, "Road To Permanent Iran Deal Is Long, Time Is Short," http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-nuclear-deal-analysis-us-obama-eu/25178532.html
...Or Building Block?¶ ¶ But at the end of the day, says
AND
Arak project, long-term ~International Atomic Energy Agency~ verification."

Nuclear war

Jeffrey Goldberg 12, Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for the Atlantic, January 23, 2012, "How Iran Could Trigger Accidental Armageddon," online: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/how-iran-may-trigger-accidental-armageddon-commentary-by-jeffrey-goldberg.html
The experts who study this depressing issue seem to agree that a Middle East in
AND
must be stopped before it reaches fruition with a nuclear weapons delivery capability."

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 4 | Opponent: St Paul Central | Judge: 

1NC

Iranian nuclear negotiations are working now – perception of a strong international sanctions regime incentivizes talks – that’s key to prevent Iranian proliferation and regional war

Rubin 11/10/13 (Joel Rubin is the Director of Policy and Government Affairs for the Ploughshares Fund, "This Is What A Winning Negotiation With Iran Looks Like" http://thinkprogress.org/security/2013/11/10/2920331/winning-deal-iran-looks-like/)

The absence of a deal with Iran did nothing to prevent it from increasing its
AND
acquire a nuclear weapon. This is what a winning negotiation looks like.

Removing Cuba from the State Sponsors List destroys cred – perceived as weakness because of Alan Gross

Rubin 11 (Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post reporter who covers a range of domestic and foreign policy issues, 10/18/11, "Obama’s Cuba appeasement" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/obamas-cuba-appeasement/2011/03/29/gIQAjuL2tL_blog.html)

As bad as a prisoner exchange would have been, the administration actions didn’t stop
AND
Gross’s imprisonment. So naturally the administration orders up more of the same.

Credibility is key to get Iran and other countries on board

Stephens 11/14/13 (Phillip, Financial Times reporter, "The four big truths that are shaping the Iran talks" http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/af170df6-4d1c-11e3-bf32-00144feabdc0.html~~23axzz2lILwmeum)

By the same token, bombing Iran’s nuclear sites could certainly delay the programme,
AND
with Tehran about the speed and scope of a run down of sanctions.

Nuclear war

Jeffrey Goldberg 12, Bloomberg View columnist and a national correspondent for the Atlantic, January 23, 2012, "How Iran Could Trigger Accidental Armageddon," online: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/how-iran-may-trigger-accidental-armageddon-commentary-by-jeffrey-goldberg.html
The experts who study this depressing issue seem to agree that a Middle East in
AND
must be stopped before it reaches fruition with a nuclear weapons delivery capability."

Tournament: St Marks | Round: 4 | Opponent: Caddo Magnet | Judge: Cat Duffy

Opposition parties are challenging Maduro now – the plan is a concession which allows him to crack down on dissidents

Christy 6/13/13 (Patrick, senior policy analyst at the Foreign Policy Initiative, "U.S. Overtures to Maduro Hurt Venezuela’s Democratic Opposition" http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/06/13/us-overtures-to-chavez-successor-maduro-hurt-venezuelas-opposition)

For Venezuela’s opposition, the Obama administration’s eagerness to revive relations with Maduro is a
AND
support. It’s time the Obama administration rethink this hasty reset with Maduro. 

The plan sends mixed signals that boost Maduro – causes regional democratic backsliding

Noriega 6-14 (Roger Noriega, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, "Why is the State Department obsessed with legitimizing the Venezuelan narco-state?" American Enterprise Institute public policy blog, June 14, 2013, http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/06/why-is-the-state-department-obsessed-with-legitimizing-the-venezuelan-narco-state/)
¶ Although President Obama has refused to recognize the legitimacy of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro
AND
an American foreign policy whose direction is unclear and whose objectives are unknown.

Latin American democracy key to environmental protection

Jacobs 2 - Jamie Elizabeth Jacobs, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at West Virginia University, 2002, "Community participation, the environment, and democracy: Brazil in comparative perspective," online: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4000/is_200201/ai_n9031315/print?tag=artBody;col1

In Brazil and other Latin American countries attempting to strengthen democracy, the mobilization of
AND
specifically, that higher levels of community participation are associated with environmental participation.

Extinction

Takacs 96 (David, Philosophies of Paradise, The Johns Hopkins Univ. Pr., Baltimore)

"Habitat destruction and conversion are eliminating species at such a frightening pace that extinction
AND
the famines could lead to a thermonuclear war, which could extinguish civilization.""

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Centennial | Judge: 

1NC

Text: The United States Federal Government should implement the agreement between the United States and United Mexican States concerning Transboundary Hydrocarbon Reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico if and only if the Federal Government of Mexico changes regulations to further incentivize renewable energy.

Nieto’s commitment to renewables is key to send a signal – the international community doubts his commitment to Calderon’s reforms

Ochoa and Vega 12 (Alberto, professor @ San Diego state university, and Julian, staff writer for renewable energy world news, 12/24/12, and#34;Renewable Energy Review: Mexico ,and#34; http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/renewable-energy-review-mexico)

While few doubt that the new climate change law represents a turning point in Mexico’s
AND
, and only time will tell the extent to which this opportunity is realized

Mexico key to global renewables- reforms key

Huacuz 7 (Jorge, Electrical Research Institute, and#34;Renewable Energy in Mexico,and#34; Towards a Cleaner Planet, google books)

Mexico is at cross-roads regarding green power. On the one hand,
AND
be established. Above all, a new energy culture must be created.

Renewables can solve global warming

Bose 10 (Bimal K. Bose, The Condra Chair of Excellence in power electronics at the University of Tennessee, March 2010, and#34;Global Warming: Energy, Environmental Pollution and the Impact of Power Electronicsand#34;, Industrial Electronics Magazine, IEEE 4.1)

Nuclear power is claimed to be environmentally clean, and currently, there is demand
AND
efficiency in generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization of electrical energy.

Warming is an existential risk – quickening reductions is key to avoiding extinction

Mazo 10 (Jeffrey, PhD in Paleoclimatology from UCLA, Managing Editor, Survival and Research Fellow for Environmental Security and Science Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, 3-2010, and#34;Climate Conflict: How global warming threatens security and what to do about it,and#34; pg. 122)

The best estimates for global warming to the end of the century range from 2
AND
adaptation to these extremes would mean profound social, cultural and political changes.

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 5 | Opponent: St Marks MJ | Judge: 

1NC

====Expanding globalization to Cuba is part of an imperial strategy to displace revolutionary potential in Cuba- that makes envirionmental degradation and mass inequality inevitable ====
Bliss 2005 (Dr. Susan Bliss: Director of Global Education, 7/5/2005, and#34;Sustainability of Modern Cuba’s post revolution globalisation processand#34;,)

Globalisation is not a new phenomenon in Cuba, evolving from the 16th century with
AND
are ’free and fair’, equitably structured and immune from corporate power.

Neoliberalism specifically in Latin America exacerbates inequality and justifies endless intervention — causes extinction – moral obligation to put those oppressed by the West at the center of decision making

Makwana 6 (Rajesh, STWR, 23rd November 06, http://www.stwr.org/globalization/neoliberalism-and-economic-globalization.html, ZBurdette)

Neoliberalism and Economic Globalization
The goal of neoliberal economic globalization is the removal of all barriers to commerce, and the privatization of all available resources and services. In this scenario, public life will be at the mercy of market forces, as the extracted profits benefit the few, writes Rajesh Makwana.
The thrust of international policy behind the phenomenon of economic globalization is neoliberal in nature. Being hugely profitable to corporations and the wealthy elite, neoliberal polices are propagated through the IMF, World Bank and WTO. Neoliberalism favours the free-market as the most efficient method of global resource allocation. Consequently it favours large-scale, corporate commerce and the privatization of resources.
There has been much international attention recently on neoliberalism. Its ideologies have been rejected by influential countries in Latin America and its moral basis is now widely questioned. Recent protests against the WTO, IMF and World Bank were essentially protests against the neoliberal policies that these organizations implement, particularly in low-income countries.
The neoliberal experiment has failed to combat extreme poverty, has exacerbated global inequality, and is hampering international aid and development efforts. This article presents an overview of neoliberalism and its effect on low income countries.
Introduction
After the Second World War, corporate enterprises helped to create a wealthy class in society which enjoyed excessive political influence on their government in the US and Europe. Neoliberalism surfaced as a reaction by these wealthy elites to counteract post-war policies that favoured the working class and strengthened the welfare state.
Neoliberal policies advocate market forces and commercial activity as the most efficient methods for producing
AND
corporations and affluent countries to secure their financial advantage within the world economy.
The policies were most ardently enforced in the US and Europe in the1980s during the
AND
, economic and political leverage, they continue to further their neoliberal objectives.
There is a consensus between the financial elite, neoclassical economists and the political classes
AND
the most likely means of reducing poverty and inequality in the poorest regions.
There is a huge discrepancy between the measurable result of economic globalization and its proposed
AND
economic growth per capita grew to over 8 between 1980 and 2000.)
Neoliberalism has also been unable to address growing levels of global inequality. Over the last 25 years, the income inequalities have increased dramatically, both within and between countries. Between 1980 and 1998, the income of richest 10 as share of poorest 10 became 19 more unequal; and the income of richest 1 as share of poorest 1 became 77 more unequal (again, not including China).
The shortcomings of neoliberal policy are also apparent in the well documented economic disasters suffered
AND
and medical expertise throughout the region and with other countries around the world.
The dramatic economic and social improvement seen in these countries has not stopped them from
AND
economic dominance has been and continues to be the USA’s main economic objective.
According to Maria Páez Victor:
and#34;Since 1846 the United States has carried out no fewer than 50 military invasions and destabilizing operations involving 12 different Latin American countries. Yet, none of these countries has ever had the capacity to threaten US security in any significant way.  The US intervened because of perceived threats to its economic control and expansion.  For this reason it has also supported some of the region’s most vicious dictators such as Batista, Somoza, Trujillo, and Pinochet.and#34;
As a result of corporate and US influence, the key international bodies that developing
AND
project contracts. They all gain considerably from the neo-liberal model.
So influential are corporations at this time that many of the worst violators of human rights have even entered a Global Compact with the United Nations, the world’s foremost humanitarian body. Due to this international convergence of economic ideology, it is no coincidence that the assumptions that are key to increasing corporate welfare and growth are the same assumptions that form the thrust of mainstream global economic policy.
However, there are huge differences between the neoliberal dogma that the US and EU
AND
to achieving development by imposing an ideology that suits their own economic needs.
The US and EU also provide huge subsidies to many sectors of industry. These devastate small industries in developing countries, particularly farmers who cannot compete with the price of subsidized goods in international markets. Despite their neoliberal rhetoric, most ’capitalist’ countries have increased their levels of state intervention over the past 25 years, and the size of their government has increased. The requirement is to ’do as I say, not as I do’.
Given the tiny proportion of individuals that benefit from neoliberal policies, the chasm between what is good for the economy and what serves the public good is growing fast. Decisions to follow these policies are out of the hands of the public, and the national sovereignty of many developing countries continues to be violated, preventing them from prioritizing urgent national needs.
Below we examine the false assumptions of neoliberal policies and their effect on the global economy.
Economic Growth
Economic growth, as measured in GDP, is the yardstick of economic globalization which
AND
economic growth is the only way to prosper a country and reduce poverty.
Logically, however, a model for continual financial growth is unsustainable. Corporations have to go to extraordinary lengths in order to reflect endless growth in their accounting books. As a result, finite resources are wasted and the environment is dangerously neglected. The equivalent of two football fields of natural forest is cleared each second by profit hungry corporations.
Economic growth is also used by the World Bank and government economists to measure progress
AND
growth have proved impossible due to the inadequacy of the statistical measures employed.
The mandate for economic growth is the perfect platform for corporations which, as a result, have grown rapidly in their economic activity, profitability and political influence. Yet this very model is also the cause of the growing inequalities seen across the globe. The privatization of resources and profits by the few at the expense of the many, and the inability of the poorest people to afford market prices, are both likely causes.

Reject neoliberalism to embrace Cubanalismo – endorsing Cuba’s economic model is key to demonstrate that alternatives exist outside dominant Western ideology

Fanelli 8 (Carlo Fanelli, Department of Sociology, York University, November 2008, and#34;’Cubanalismo’: The Cuban Alternative to Neoliberalismand#34;, https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=226ik=ca602910b826view=att26th=1402883ba36493ee26attid=0.126disp=inline26realattid=f_hjp4psz2026safe=126zw26saduie=AG9B_P_TyPHIjOArXXGZNtwjo8L526sadet=137538208314226sads=e9iC4I3SMN1yjSDGkdM0Hnivuwo) ZA

As this paper has attempted to integrate throughout this discussion, alternatives to neoliberalism do
AND
alternative modes of socioeconomic and environmental polices can and do continue to exist.

2NC:

Neoliberalism is a genocidal impulse that leads to extinction

Santos, sociology prof, 3 (Boaventura de Sousa, Professor of Sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra (Portugal) and Distinguished Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School. and#34;Collective Suicide?and#34; March 28, 2003 online http://www.ces.fe.uc.pt/opiniao/bss/072en.php)

According to Franz Hinkelammert, the West has repeatedly been under the illusion that it
AND
machine of democracy and liberty turns into a machine of horror and destruction.

Neoliberalism coopts reform. Pragmatism for Liatin American governments results in control by international capital.

Boron, Buenos Aires political science professor, 2008
(Atilio, The New Latin American Left, pg 242-245)

THE CURSE OF CONSERVATIVE ’POSSIBILISM’ Given the above, and granting the existence of alternatives
AND
electing Lula, because the markets would govern the country in any case.

Claims of the inevitable demise of Cuban socialism are mired in a neoliberal word view that sees itself as the only possible option

Lambie, 10 – Ph.D., joint-editor of the International Journal of Cuban Studies, and Lecturer in Public Policy at De Montfort University (George Lambie, and#34;The Cuban Revolution in the 21^st Centuryand#34;, Pluto Press, pg. 60)eek

The previous chapter sought to explain the process of globalisation, principally in its macro
AND
alternative and radical perceptions of democracy have emerged to challenge the dominant ideology.
The radical political economy approach to globalisation, as argued in Chapter 1, allows us to question the mainstream views that presume the inevitability of Cuban socialism’s demise. But to see how Cuba’s Revolution might evolve, and not merely survive, it is necessary to delve deeper into the ideological formation of capitalism to reveal its weaknesses and contradictions.

The reason moral obligation is b/c they claim the embargo helps the econ but it doesn’t – Removal of the embargo actually hurts Cuba – empirics, competition, and elite takeover

Lambie, 10 – Ph.D., joint-editor of the International Journal of Cuban Studies, and Lecturer in Public Policy at De Montfort University (George Lambie, and#34;The Cuban Revolution in the 21^st Centuryand#34;, Pluto Press, pg. 245-247)eek

In practice, the difficulty with the market prescription, and with the establishment of
AND
, whose interests are often distinct from the majority of the national population.
Moreover, democracy in the region is weak. In Chapter 2, it was
AND
and is unlikely to be put back on track in the foreseeable future?

We impact turn their education argument: endless focus on government policy forgets the importance of public debates and discourse in shaping policy

Fischer and Plehwe 13 (Karin Fischer, Dr. phil, Department of Sociology at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria. Her interests include uneven development, global commodity chains and transnational class formation, with a special regional focus on Latin America. Dieter Plehwe, Dr. phil, Research Fellow of the Project Group and#34;Modes of Economic Governanceand#34; at the Social Science Research Center Berlin and co-founder of the Think Tank Network Research Initiative - and#34;The and#34;Pink Tideand#34; and Neoliberal Civil Society Formation: Think Tank Networks in Latin America,and#34; http://www.stateofnature.org/?p=6601)
Rather than looking for coherent (national) models and big political leaders we argue
AND
within the wider context of a and#34;war of positionand#34; (Gramsci).

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Centennial | Judge: 

1NC

The aff’s attempt to increase free trade in Latin America is a form of neoliberal engagement that exacerbates inequality and justifies endless intervention — causes extinction – moral obligation to put those oppressed by the West at the center of decision making

Makwana 6 (Rajesh, STWR, 23rd November 06, http://www.stwr.org/globalization/neoliberalism-and-economic-globalization.html, ZBurdette)

Neoliberalism and Economic Globalization
The goal of neoliberal …are both likely causes.

Our alternative is to decolonize economic engagement. Questioning the politics of space and knowledge that make engagement an economic tool of manipulation is key to sustainable development.

Walsh, Estudios Culturales Latinoamericanos de la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, 2012
(Catherine, and#34;The Politics of Namingand#34;, Cultural Studies, 26.1, Project Muse)

Cultural Studies, in our project… and part of the politics of
naming.

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Centennial | Judge: 

1NC

Nieto’s energy reform will pass now – his credibility is key

Hernandez 6/20/13 (Maria Jose, analyst in Eurasia Group’s Latin America practice, holds a master’s degree in public administration and economic policy analysis from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, and#34;Politics and Oil: Mexico’s Road to Reform,and#34; 2013, http://eurasia.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/06/20/politics_and_oil_mexicos_road_to_reform)

Is Mexico finally on the verge …president’s political skills.

Plan derails Nieto’s agenda – perceived as interference

Hennessey and Wilkinson 13 ~Kathleen Hennessey and Tracy Wilkinson, writers for the Los Angeles Times, LA Times, and#34;Obama, Mexico leader to avoid hot topics, at least publicly,and#34; 5/1/13, http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/01/world/la-fg-obama-mexico-20130502

Obama’s visit to Mexico …irritationand#34; in private talks.

Reform turns and solves the case – U.S. and Mexican economies

Siskind 6/25/13 (Cory, Research analyst, Control Risks, and#34;Mexico Plays the Waiting Game on Big Reformsand#34; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cory-siskind/mexico-plays-the-waiting-_b_3493542.html)

Early 2013 saw one of … in the Americas.

Tournament: St Marks | Round: Octas | Opponent: GBN | Judge: 

Reform will pass, but Nieto’s political capital is at a tipping point – Plan breaks the balance

Farrar 10/6 – (Julie, "Mexican President’s Big Ambitions All Come Down to Oil", http://www.worldcrunch.com/world-affairs/mexican-president-039-s-big-ambitions-may-all-come-down-to-oil/pemex-pena-nieto-mexico-oil-government/c1s13584/~~23)
Ten months after taking over the presidency of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto has found himself at a critical moment. His ambitious project to reform practically all Mexican institutions is meeting opposition from the right and the left, at a time when his popularity is beginning to wane.
The right opposes his proposal to increase taxes on businesses and individuals with high incomes, while the left disagrees with his education reforms, which call for reorganizing the National Union of Education (SNTE, the biggest trade union in all of Latin America, with 1.5 million members).
Peña Nieto is preparing to remove cushy jobs and other privileges from teachers. During
AND
as well as his own party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI).

Plan causes massive opposition – engagement with the US is an insurmountable obstacle which tanks Nieto’s cred

Starr 12 - Director, U.S.-Mexico Network Associate Professor (NTT) University Fellow, Center on Public Diplomacy University of Southern California (Pamela, "U.S.-Mexico Relations and Mexican Domestic Politics", October 6 of 2012, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t26rct=j26q=26esrc=s26source=web26cd=326cad=rja26ved=0CD4QFjAC26url=http3A2F2Fcollege.usc.edu2Fusmexnet2Fwp-content2Fuploads2F20102F102FCamp-Oxford-paper-final.doc26ei=mTLYUZTDMbOLyQGT14GwCQ26usg=AFQjCNH_cqiYTQRo7SFmpfWugH9ABshhCg26sig2=_M2KmLNnt3e8v4vVshc_fQ)
The final implication of Mexican nationalism for U.S.-Mexico relations is the
AND
being too willing to accept support and guidance from north of the border.

Reform is key to manufacturing competitiveness

Mead 7/2/13 (Walter Russell Mead, James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and Humanities at Bard College and Editor-at-Large of The American Interest magazine, "Mexico Gasses Up on US Shale" http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/07/02/mexico-gasses-up-on-us-shale/

Within five years, higher manufacturing exports due to a widening cost advantage over China
AND
energy. That’s good news for everyone—well, except for China.

Prevents China-Taiwan conflict and Chinese heg

Mosher 6 (Stephen Mosher, President of the Population Research Institute, CQ Congressional Testimony, "Chinese Influence on U.S. Foreign Policy," February 14, 2006, pg lexis)

The ruthless mercantilism practiced by the CCP is thus a form of economic warfare.
AND
American military assets in the Asian-Pacific will have to be neutralized.

Taiwan escalates and goes nuclear—-no defense

Lowther 3/16 William, Taipei Times, citing a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 3/16/13, "Taiwan could spark nuclear war: report," 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."

2NC/1NR/2NR Cites for all the Mexican Politics Cards Ever as per Molly's Request

Reforms key to energy independence

Andrianova 8/16/13 (Anna, "Mexican energy reform: Here are the winners" http://www.cnbc.com/id/100965068)

Reforms that would open Mexico’s energy industry to foreign investment turned out less aggressive than
AND
chance to become more energy-independent from the rest of the world."

Global war

Glaser ’11 (Professor of Political Science and International Relations Elliot School of International Affairs The George Washington University, " Reframing Energy Security: How Oil Dependence Influences U.S. National Security," August 2011, http://depts.washington.edu/polsadvc/Blog20Links/Glaser_-_EnergySecurity-AUGUST-2011.docx,)
Oil dependence could reduce a state’s security if its access to oil is vulnerable to
AND
import oil will be uninterrupted and will pursue policies to ensure secure access. 

Statistical support – their defense doesn’t account for global crises

Royal 10 Jedediah, Director of Cooperative Threat Reduction at the U.S. Department of Defense, "Economic Integration, Economic Signaling and the Problem of Economic Crises," in Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal and Political Perspectives, ed. Goldsmith and Brauer, p. 213-215

Less intuitive is how periods of economic decline may increase the likelihood of external conflict
AND
such, the view presented here should be considered ancillary to those views.

b. Prefer empirics and intelligence experts

Schrage 9 (Michael J. Green and Steven P., Michael J. Green is Senior Advisor and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Associate Professor at Georgetown University. Steven P. Schrage is the CSIS Scholl Chair in International Business and a Former Senior Official with the US Trade Representative’s Office, State Department and Ways 26 Means Committee, It’s not just the economy, Available Online @ the Asian Times)

Facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, analysts at the World Bank
AND
economics and security are intertwined in most of the critical challenges we face.

Taiwan conflict triggers miscalculation — escalates to nuclear war.

Lowther 13 — William Lowther, Taipei Times, citing a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (William Lowther, 03-16-2013, "Taiwan could spark nuclear war: report," 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."

Energy reform makes the aff effective – its solves renewables

Marks 8 — UC Berkeley law professor, Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City visiting professor ~Allan, partner in Milbank, Tweed, Hadley 26 McCloy LLP, an international law firm, "Mexico Offers Diverse Opportunities for Investment in Renewable Energy," World Energy, 10.4, www.worldenergysource.com/articles/text/marks_WE_v10n4.cfm~

Investors seeking opportunities in renewable energy outside the United States should consider our next-
AND
an alternative source of development capital and expertise, particularly for renewable energy.

Turns peso stability – reform sends a strong investor signal

Bloomberg 4/23/13 ("Vote Scandal Threatens Pena Nieto Support in Mexico Congress" http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/vote-scandal-threatens-pena-nieto-support-in-mexico-s-congress.html)

Nomura Holdings Inc., said some "cracks in the pact" have appeared,
AND
discuss the bank lending bill before the legislative period ends on April 30.

PEMEX reforms will pass now and is key to the Mexican economy – all relevant parties are on board

Kerner and Hernandez 8/21/13 (Daniel Kerner is director with Eurasia Group’s Latin America practice. Maria Jose Hernandez is an associate with the Latin America practice., "Mexico Moves Toward a Major Energy Reform" http://eurasia.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/08/21/mexico_moves_toward_a_major_energy_reform)

President Enrique Peña Nieto presented a long-awaited energy reform on 12 August that
AND
is likely to be approved in congress before the end of the year.

Will pass now – Nieto has a majority

Rathbone 8/12/13 (John Paul Rathbone, Financial Times reporter, "Mexico opens up its energy sector" http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/9d377b14-0377-11e3-980a-00144feab7de.html~~23axzz2cE9yOFtp)

Mr Peña Nieto, seeking to deflate nationalist opposition and assuage national pride, quoted
AND
has proposed "all hydrocarbons will remain the property of the Mexican people".

Will pass – political momentum and support from key investors

Cattan and Espinosa 7/10
Nacha Cattan 26 Veronica Navarro Espinosa, Bloomberg News, 7/10/13, "Mexico Poised to End State Energy Monopoly, Pemex Official Says", http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-10/mexico-poised-to-end-state-energy-monopoly-pemex-official-says.html

Mexico is on the cusp of opening its energy industry to outside investment as a
AND
for Mexican securities in the second half of the year, Cepeda said.

Will pass – PAN support and analysts

Reuters 7/24/13 ("UPDATE 1-Mexico to propose constitutional energy reform in August -top lawmaker" http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/24/mexico-oil-idUSL1N0FU2E020130724)

"We will have President Pena’s initiative in August," said Penchyna. "We
AND
to pass with support from the conservative National Action Party, or PAN.

Will pass, but barely

Aguilera 9/9 –(Rodrigo, Editor/Economist specializing in Latin America for the Huffington Post, "Energy Reform and Its Discontents" ,http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rodrigo-aguilera/energy-reform-and-its-discontents_b_3879920.html)
The congressional debate on Enrique Peña Nieto’s recently proposed energy reform has not yet begun
AND
, and without championing an ideologically-tainted view of the country’s future.

Will pass – protests irrelevant – prefer Congressional consensus

Aguilera 9/9 –(Rodrigo, Editor/Economist specializing in Latin America for the Huffington Post, "Energy Reform and Its Discontents" ,http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rodrigo-aguilera/energy-reform-and-its-discontents_b_3879920.html)

In an ideal world, the debate on energy reform should focus on setting a
AND
failed to win over the market can’t be that bad, can it?¶ 

Constitutional reform is a prerequisite to aff solvency

Melgar, 2012 (Lourdes, director of the Center for Sustainability and Business at EGADE Business School of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, Summer 2012, "The Future of PEMEX," http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/3781)
The challenge for PEMEX is to increase reserves and oil and gas production in areas
AND
Mexican Constitution, and the new contracts are unlikely to attract those companies. 

Pressing joint ventures before a Mexican constitutional amendment causes mass litigation, conflict, and uncertainty—-turns every advantage

Grunstein, 2011 (Miriam, professor and researcher at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, attorney, served as an advisor to a commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in Mexico as well as to the Mexican Senate, 2011, "UNITIZED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL: A MEXICAN RESPONSE TO KARLA URDANETA’S ANALYSIS OF TRANSBOUNDARY PETROLEUM RESERVOIRS IN THE DEEP WATERS OF THE GULF OF MEXICO," Houston Journal of International Law, http://www.hjil.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Grunstein-Final.pdf)
When it was first drafted by the Mexican revolutionary government in 1917, Article 27
AND
instead of cooperation, and all would parties suffer greatly as a result.

US involvement in Mexican energy creates massive domestic opposition

Hennessey and Wilkinson 13 ~Kathleen Hennessey and Tracy Wilkinson, writers for the Los Angeles Times, LA Times, "Obama, Mexico leader to avoid hot topics, at least publicly," 5/1/13, http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/01/world/la-fg-obama-mexico-20130502

Obama, in turn, must be mindful of how he discusses Peña Nieto’s agenda
AND
, a Mexico expert at the College of William 26 Mary in Virginia.

Overt U.S. push for joint ventures derails PEMEX reform-turns the aff

Barnes, 2011 (Joe, the Bonner Means Baker Fellow, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University, 4/29/11, "Oil and U.S.-Mexico Bilateral Relations," http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/EF-pub-BarnesBilateral-04292011.pdf)
Nonetheless, the ability of the United States to encourage reform is severely limited.
AND
, perhaps more importantly, sustain the political compromises necessary to attain reform.

Engagement over energy will happen after PEMEX reform- doing it now crushes Nieto’s capital

McAllister, 13 — Reuter’s senior energy correspondent ~Edward, "For Obama and Pena Nieto, a delicate ’first dance’ around energy," Reuters, 5-2-13, www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/02/energy-usa-mexico-idUSL2N0DI21H20130502~

When the conversation between President Barack Obama and his newly elected Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena
AND
situation doesn’t lend itself at all to bringing this subject up in public."

Hypersensitivity – Mexico hates the US Congress

Starr 12 - Director, U.S.-Mexico Network Associate Professor (NTT) University Fellow, Center on Public Diplomacy University of Southern California (Pamela, "U.S.-Mexico Relations and Mexican Domestic Politics", October 6 of 2012, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t26rct=j26q=26esrc=s26source=web26cd=326cad=rja26ved=0CD4QFjAC26url=http3A2F2Fcollege.usc.edu2Fusmexnet2Fwp-content2Fuploads2F20102F102FCamp-Oxford-paper-final.doc26ei=mTLYUZTDMbOLyQGT14GwCQ26usg=AFQjCNH_cqiYTQRo7SFmpfWugH9ABshhCg26sig2=_M2KmLNnt3e8v4vVshc_fQ)
The nature, depth, and anti-American undertones of Mexican nationalism have operated
AND
has repeatedly found its policy autonomy constrained in situations where Congress has interests. 

The PRI – they oppose engagement with the US – endangers his agenda

Oliveres 12 (JORDI OLIVERES, reporter for Rolling Stone, 6/29/12, "Mexico’s Election: Why It Matters to the U.S." http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/mexicos-election-why-it-matters-to-the-u-s-20120629~~23ixzz2aapAjK8v 

Another strike against the PRI, from Washington’s perspective, is that the party has
AND
trade," which already supports some 6 million U.S. jobs.

The public – they hate engagement and will antagonize Nieto

Hakim 13 - president emeritus and senior fellow of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank on Western Hemisphere affairs (Peter, "Which Mexico for Obama?", May 1 of 2013, Inter-American Dialogue, http://www.thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=3226pubID=3296)
When President Barack Obama meets this week with President Enrique Peña Nieto in Mexico,
AND
U.S. financial crisis left the Mexican economy reeling in 2009.

Negotiations – the plan is perceived as trying to shape the Mexican political discussion – triggers fights

Hakim 4/4/13 (Peter Hakim is President Emeritus and Senior Fellow of the Inter-American Dialogue, "Obama Heads South Again," http://www.thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=3226pubID=3284)

Its most critical achievement has been the three-party "Pact for Mexico",
AND
as Mexican politicians know to keep their distance from US debates on immigration. 

Unanimous political backlash to enforcing property rights

OpenNet Initiative  13 – a collaborative partnership of three institutions: the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; the Berkman Center for Internet 26 Society at Harvard University; and the SecDev Group (Ottawa)("Mexico", Jul 15, 2013, https://opennet.net/research/profiles/mexico, Daehyun)

Mexico has been invited to join negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (
AND
passed, the law would leave citizens afraid to report crimes online.50

Plan can still upset reforms – Nieto has to choose his battles

LA Times 12 ~Tracy Wilkinson and Ken Ellingwood, Los Angeles Times staff writers, July 2^nd 2012, "Mexico President-elect Peña Nieto’s win is weaker than expected," http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/02/world/la-fg-mexico-election-analysis-20120703, Accessed 6/28/13, CB~

Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party is marching back into the presidential palace bolstered by its control
AND
choose his battles because he’s likely to encounter resistance from within his coalition."

The plan causes delays and public backlash – biosafety regulations

1AC Quezada 2k6
(Fernando Quezada is Executive Director of the Biotechnology Center of Excellence Corporation, a Massachusetts-based organisation advising international public and private sector agencies in biotechnology development programmes. He served on the Presidential Commission for Biotechnology Development for the Republic of Chile and as Consultant to the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, JOURNAL OF COMMERCIAL BIOTECHNOLOGY. VOL 12. NO 3. 192–199. APRIL 2006, lol eric forslund
)
Mexico Mexico represents the tenth biggest economy in the world today and is a destination
AND
initiatives and become an integral part of Latin America’s future in commercial biotechnology.

Their evidence is media grandstanding – cooperation is still limited to narrow security concerns

Schaefer 5/29/13 (Agnes Bereben Schaefer is a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corp, "If U.S.-Mexico Get Security Right, Other Good Policy Will Follow" http://www.rand.org/blog/2013/05/if-us-mexico-get-security-right-other-good-policy.html)

During their joint news conference, Obama and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto touted their
AND
keep security issues as a high priority for the United States and Mexico.

Nieto is reducing engagement now – the plan is a reversal

LA Times 5/3/13 ("Security south of the border" http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/03/opinion/la-ed-mexico-20130503)

Some critics worry that Peña Nieto, who took office in December, is scaling back cooperation and distancing himself from the United States in an effort to protect his image and burnish his nationalist credentials. Those concerns aren’t irrational. After all, his Institutional Revolutionary Party, which held power in Mexico for 70 years until the 2000 election, has a long history of nationalism and anti-American rhetoric.

No real economic engagement – Nieto statements

Bove-LaMonica 12 (Daniella Bove-LaMonica, former Foreign Service Officer in Mexico, Master’s in International Security Policy and Latin American studies from Columbia University, fellow with the Truman National Security Project, 6/28/12 "Mexico 2012 Election Results: What is at Stake for the US?" http://trumanproject.org/doctrine-blog/what-not-to-expect-from-mexicos-upcoming-elections/)

Policymakers in Washington have long-running concerns about changes in Mexican governance that would
AND
next president of Mexico is going to break with current regional security cooperation.

Focus is still on security issues

Wilson et al 13 (Christopher E. Wilson, Associate at the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, January 2013, "New Ideas for a New Era: Policy Options for the Next Stage in U.S.-Mexico Relations" http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/new_ideas_us_mexico_relations.pdf)

While economic issues are likely to see increased attention, much of the day to
AND
(Gobernación) and the organization changes affecting the Secretariat of Public Security.

Nieto’s shifting away from US security cooperation

Stratfor 5/2/13 (Stratfor is a geopolitical intelligence firm that provides strategic analysis and forecasting to individuals and organizations around the world, "Evolving U.S.-Mexico Relations and Obama’s Visit" http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/evolving-us-mexico-relations-and-obamas-visit

Pena Nieto’s predecessor, the National Action Party’s Felipe Calderon, focused heavily on Mexico’s
AND
the Mexican military with a security body better equipped with law enforcement training.

Budget – PEMEX reform keeps the government afloat

Garza 7/19/13 (Antonio Garza is a former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, counsel in the Mexico City office of White 26 Case and chairman of Vianovo Ventures, "To Keep Mexico’s Energy Reforms on Track, Pena Nieto Must Engage Public" http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/13102/to-keep-mexico-s-energy-reforms-on-track-pena-nieto-must-engage-public)

A reform push in Mexico that many have termed historic could get epic this fall
AND
found that 65 percent of Mexicans disapprove of foreign investment in the sector.

b. Foreign Investment – only reform attracts investors

Corpart 13 (Guillaume Corpart is the Managing Director of Americas Market Intelligence and a veteran of Latin American competitive intelligence and strategy consulting, Americas Market Intelligence, May 2013, "President Peña Nieto’s Reforms and What They Mean for Business in Mexico" http://americasmi.com/en_US/expertise/articles-trends/page/president-pena-nietos-reforms-and-what-they-mean-for-bussiness-in-mexico~~23sthash.VYG8vrGE.dpuf

The most highly anticipated of Peña Nieto’s announced reforms are the energy and fiscal reforms
AND
to attract more attention from international investors and become a top investment destination.

c. Debt Ratings – key to revenue which prevents downgrades

PRS Group 7/29/13 (political risk analysis group, "Mexican Energy, Labor and Tax Reforms Could Have Major Impact" http://www.manzellareport.com/index.php/economy/714-mexican-energy-labor-and-tax-reforms-could-have-major-impact)

Opening up the oil-and-gas sector to foreign participation will entail amending
AND
and energy reforms would likely result in an upgrade of Mexico’s debt rating.

Nieto has influence from other victories – he’s pushing for more reforms

Jones 3/1/13 (James R. Jones, member of the Advisor board at the Inter America Dialogue, and co-chair of Manatt Jones Global Strategies, "How Well Has Peña Nieto Performed in His First 100 Days?" http://www.thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=3226pubID=3245)

A: James R. Jones, member of the Advisor board and co-
AND
His next challenge needs to be reforming and strengthening the rule of law."

Nieto’s cred is high – he needs it for more legislative victories

Wood 3/1/13 (Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, "How Well Has Peña Nieto Performed in His First 100 Days?" http://www.thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=3226pubID=3245)

A: Duncan Wood, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International
AND
govern effectively, one of the central campaign messages during last year’s election."

Credibility is key – spills over to other agenda items

Jones 3-1 - member of the Advisor board and co-chair of Manatt Jones Global Strategies (James, "How Well Has Peña Nieto Performed in His First 100 Days?", March 1 of 2013, Inter-American Dialogue, http://www.thedialogue.org/uploads/LAA/Daily/2013/LAA130301.pdf)
"President Peña¶ Nieto has excellent political instincts and¶ he understands building momentum
AND
challenge needs to be¶ reforming and strengthening the rule of¶ law."

Nieto PC k2 passage

Lagesse 10/2 –(David, Writer for the National Geographic, "Mexico’s Bid for Energy Reform Stirs Passion on Oil Patrimony", http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/energy/2013/10/131002-mexico-energy-reform-pemex-oil/)
Peña Nieto has pledged to revive Mexico’s moribund energy industry, but the path ahead
AND
last month in a nationally televised speech from Los Pinos, the presidential residence

Tournament: Pace RR | Round: 7 | Opponent: Niles West NP | Judge: 

Secondary reform is passing now – action now is key to consensus building

Snow 1/14 – OGJ Washington Editor(Nick, "Second phase critical in Mexico’s energy reforms, officials say", Oil and Gas Journal, Jan 14, 2014, http://www.ogj.com/articles/2014/01/second-phase-critical-in-mexico-s-energy-reforms-experts-say.html, Daehyun)

Mexico moved quickly once politicians there decided to adopt energy sector reforms, but the
AND
it will be important to achieve a political consensus during this second period."

Plan causes massive opposition – engagement with the US is an insurmountable obstacle which tanks Nieto’s cred

Starr 12 - Director, U.S.-Mexico Network Associate Professor (NTT) University Fellow, Center on Public Diplomacy University of Southern California (Pamela, "U.S.-Mexico Relations and Mexican Domestic Politics", October 6 of 2012, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t26rct=j26q=26esrc=s26source=web26cd=326cad=rja26ved=0CD4QFjAC26url=http3A2F2Fcollege.usc.edu2Fusmexnet2Fwp-content2Fuploads2F20102F102FCamp-Oxford-paper-final.doc26ei=mTLYUZTDMbOLyQGT14GwCQ26usg=AFQjCNH_cqiYTQRo7SFmpfWugH9ABshhCg26sig2=_M2KmLNnt3e8v4vVshc_fQ)
The final implication of Mexican nationalism for U.S.-Mexico relations is the
AND
being too willing to accept support and guidance from north of the border.

Reform solves US oil dependence

Hakim 11-26 (Peter 2012, president emeritus of the Inter-American Dialogue, "Won’t You Be My Neighbor?", Foreign Policy, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/11/26/won_t_you_be_my_neighbor?page=0,0)

Beyond immigration, Peña Nieto and his advisors consider energy policy one of their highest
AND
Middle East and other distant and/or troubled parts of the world. 

Oil dependence causes extinction

Lendman 7 (Stephen, renowned author and research associate at the Center for Research on Globalization, "Resource Wars - Can We Survive Them?", July 2007, http://www.rense.com/general76/-resrouce.htm)
*This card edited to remove holocaust rhetoric which we do not endorse

With the world’s energy supplies finite, the US heavily dependent on imports, and
AND
, or at least a big part of it, would have survived.

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 2 | Opponent: Highland Park MN RM | Judge: Miles

The United States Federal Government should increase its funding for social programs outlined by the Merida Initiative in Mexico on the condition that Mexico accepts a National Truth Commission

Competes—-the CP excludes "reconciliation" from the plan—-textually plan-minus.

It’s functionally distinct—-the plan includes the mandate that the commission promote reconciliation—-the CP excludes it

Priscilla B. Hayner 11, Director, International Policymakers Unit, at the International Center for Transitional Justice, 2011, Unspeakable Truths: Transitional Justice and the Challenge of Truth Commissions, Second Edition, p. 23
Fifth, truth commissions may be given the mandate to "promote reconciliation," and
AND
also increase tensions. A government must enter this arena with care.5
In a similar vein, many proponents of truth-seeking assert that forgiveness and
AND
likely to affect this elusive goal, remain questions for much further consideration.

Net-beneficial—-including reconciliation in the title and mandate of a commission creates rising expectations which cause backlash and collapse the commission, turning the whole case—-the CP promotes individual reconciliation outside of the commission’s mandate

Marten Zwanenburg 3 is a lawyer for the Department of Defense of the Netherlands, 2003, "Much Truth about Truth Commissions," University of Denver Human Rights 26 Human Welfare Roundtable, online: http://www.du.edu/korbel/hrhw/volumes/2003/zwanenburg-2003.pdf
Chapter 10 of Unspeakable Truths discusses, among other things, the question of whether
AND
human rights) have prompted a limited but fierce backlash (Forero 2003).
Hayner also argues for a distinction between individual reconciliation and national or political reconciliation.
AND
examples that Hayner takes from the experience of the South African truth commission.

Tournament: St Marks | Round: 4 | Opponent: Caddo Magnet | Judge: Cat Duffy

The United States federal government should provide all necessary aid towards the Venezuelan oil sector if and only if the governments of a majority of Latin American nations commit to actively seeking a naturalization process between the United States and Venezuela, and to compelling the Venezuelan government to work towards establishing representative democracy and better respect for human rights.

Conditions are key – sends a signal to hold Venezuela accountable

Christy 13 (Patrick, senior policy analyst at the Foreign Policy Initiative, "Obama Must Stand Up for Democracy in Post-Chavez Venezuela," US News, 3/15/13, http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/world-report/2013/03/15/after-chavez-us-must-encourage-democratic-venezuela)

Washington must realize that a strategy of engagement alone will not ensure a renewed and
AND
date, the Obama administration has done little to hold Venezuela’s leaders accountable.

Tournament: St Marks | Round: Semis | Opponent: GBN CH | Judge: 

1NC

The United States federal government offer Cuba the option to export Cuban nickel to the United States if and only if the governments of a majority of Latin American nations commit to actively seeking a naturalization process between the United States and Cuba, and to compelling the Cuban government to work towards establishing representative democracy and better respect for human rights.

Counterplan solves the case—-Latin American governments will say yes—-it triggers Cuban reform that avoids a Vietnamese model during the transition—-and it avoids politics

Castañeda 9 - Jorge G. Castañeda, professor at New York University and fellow at the New America Foundation, was Mexico’s foreign minister from 2000 to 2003, April 21, 2009, "The Right Deal on Cuba," online: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027198023237151.html

The question of what to do about the embargo has once again cornered an American
AND
change) would be a major foreign policy victory for Mr. Obama.

Unilaterally cooperating with Cuba destroys the credibility of all Latin American democracy—-causes authoritarian backsliding

Castañeda 8 - Jorge G. Castañeda, professor at New York University and fellow at the New America Foundation, was Mexico’s foreign minister from 2000 to 2003, September-October 2008, "Morning in Latin America," Foreign Affairs, Vol. 87, No. 5

Realpolitik and fear of another exodus of Cuban refugees across the Straits of Florida may
AND
for other exceptions that would justify their existence by invoking the Cuban precedent.

Latin American democracy’s a key model for democracy globally

Fauriol 26 Weintraub 95 – Georges Fauriol, director of the CSIS Americas Program, and Sidney Weintraub, the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS and the Dean Rusk Professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, Summer 1995, "U.S. Policy, Brazil, and the Southern Cone," The Washington Quarterly, lexis 

The democracy theme also carries much force in the hemisphere today. The State Department
AND
on all three in Latin America will compromise progress elsewhere in the world.

Extinction

Diamond 95 - Larry Diamond, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, December 1995, Promoting Democracy in the 1990s, http://wwics.si.edu/subsites/ccpdc/pubs/di/1.htm

OTHER THREATS This hardly exhausts the lists of threats to our security and well-
AND
which a new world order of international security and prosperity can be built.

Tournament: MBA | Round: Octas | Opponent: Stratford OS | Judge:
1NC Rice DA

China, Vietnam, and Thailand are the major exporters of rice to Cuba now — further easing restrictions substantially trades off

Ruan 12 (R.G., April 12, United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, "I am L.G. Raun, a rice producer from El Campo, Texas, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:y0xpJdP-kPkJ:www.ag.senate.gov/download/3Fid3Da7caeddb-b518-4e98-8503-aad67454d291+26cd=126hl=en26ct=clnk26gl=us)

Cuba: Prior to 1962 Cuba was the largest market for U.S.
AND
place could provide substantial¶ opportunities for much larger rice exports to Cuba.

Rice is key to the Vietnamese Economy

Young 2 (Kenneth B, Professor @ University of Arkansas, Young, Eric J. Wailes, Gail L. Cramer, Nguyen Tri Khiem - Can Tho University, April, "Vietnam’’s Rice Economy: Developments and Prospects", p 5, http://arkansasagnews.uark.edu/968.pdf)

Vietnam’s food crop sector, comprising more than¶ 85 rice, is the
AND
at 1.8 million mt¶ (USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service).

Internal Instability leads to lashout

Lun 12 (Justin Ho Chen, honours student at the Department of International Relations, the Australian National University. East Asia Forum:  Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific. A joint effort of the East Asian Bureau of Economic Research (EABER) and the South Asian Bureau of Economic Research (SABER). December 15th, 2012. "Sino–Vietnamese tensions in the South China Sea." http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2012/12/15/sino-vietnamese-tensions-in-the-south-china-sea/)

Vietnamese nationalism today is inextricably linked to anti-China sentiment and the South China
AND
, lead claimant states onto a collision course in the South China Sea.

South China Sea conflicts cause extinction

Wittner 11 (Lawrence S. Wittner, Emeritus Professor of History at the State University of New York/Albany, Wittner is the author of eight books, the editor or co-editor of another four, and the author of over 250 published articles and book reviews. From 1984 to 1987, he edited Peace 26 Change, a journal of peace research., 11/28/2011, "Is a Nuclear War With China Possible?",  www.huntingtonnews.net/14446)
While nuclear weapons exist, there remains a danger that they will be used.
AND
—destroying agriculture, creating worldwide famine, and generating chaos and destruction.

Tournament: Pace RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Straford | Judge: 

Turns multilat – Vietnam is key to East Asian multilateral organizations – solves the advantage

XINHUA 2004 (Roundup: Vietnam plays bigger role in ASEAN Xinhua General News Service November 29, 2004)

Vietnam, one of the four less- developed countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has made greater contributions to and benefited from the regional grouping for economic, social and cultural cooperation, resulting in its bigger role in the block.
After Vietnam joined ASEAN in July 1995, becoming the block’s first new member in the post-Cold War period, the association has experienced changes in both quantity and quality. Its joining ignited the accession of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia, turning the idea about an entity comprising all 10 nations of Southeast Asia, by Southeast Asia and for Southeast Asia into reality.
The joining of Vietnam in particular and the three countries in general changed the block’s nature and development orientation. Southeast Asia, which had suffered complex and hostile regional situations, became a region of friendship and cooperation. From an organization in the region, ASEAN advanced into the region’s organization.
After the admission of Cambodia in ASEAN in April 1999 in Vietnam’s Hanoi capital,
AND
the world with a higher status and stronger voice in the international arena.
Vietnam’s role in ASEAN has gone well so far, though it was cautious in
AND
Weapon-Free Zone (SEANWFZ) in the 2000-2001 periods.
In other words, Vietnam participated in managing ASEAN and issuing policies for its development after five years of actively partaking in its activities. In the context of the Asian financial crisis in late 1990s, the 6th ASEAN Summit with the adoption of the Hanoi Declaration and the Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA) was of great significance.
The six-year HPA is the first in a series of plans of actions
AND
helping recover the international community’s confidence in the block’s role and future development.
It is Vietnam’s political and social stability and economic growth that have helped boost the
AND
, East Asia tourism cooperation, and the organization of ASEAN culture weeks.
Vietnam has also contributed to the peace and stability in the region, helping turn
AND
Conduct in the South China Sea (COC) between ASEAN and China.
Through its active participation in and contribution to ASEAN, Vietnam has gained stronger international acceptance, and wider access to added investment both from the region and the world. The nation’s joining in ASEAN has helped the country conduct its external policies effectively, enhanced its bilateral ties with regional countries, offered it opportunities to strengthen bilateral relations with ASEAN partners as well as other non-block members such as the European Union (EU), Canada and Australia.
Specifically, Vietnam’s involvement in ASEAN’s economic cooperation programs and partnerships such as the ASEAN
AND
to advanced technologies via cooperation programs with countries inside and outside the region.
Notably, trade between Vietnam and ASEAN countries sees average annual growth of 26.8 percent, and accounts for one-third of the country’s total imports and exports. The two-way trade stood at 5. 2 billion US dollars in 1996, up 525.9 percent against 1990. By early 2004, total investment of ASEAN in Vietnam was 9.5 billion dollars, representing 20 percent of combined foreign investment in the country.
Cooperation between Vietnam and ASEAN in all fields, especially economy, trade and investment is expected to bear more fruits in the coming time. Vietnam with a current population of 82 million has seen rapid economic development in recent years, recording a 7. 24-percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) which stood at 38.8 billion dollars last year.

Vietnamese collapse causes Asian Economic collapse – the economies are intertwined

WEF 12 (World Economic Forum, Cochairs: Pailin Chuchottaworn, President and Chief Executive Officer of PTT Public Company in Thailand, Helene D. Gayle, President and Chief Executive Officer of CARE USA, Gerald Lawless, Executive Chairman of Jumeirah Group in United Arab Emirates, Gérard Mestrallet, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GDF SUEZ in France, Malvinder M. Singh, Executive Chairman of Fortis Healthcare in Singapore, Masami Yamamoto, President and Representative Director of Fujitsu in Japan, "World Economic Forum on East Asia," May – 1 June 2012, http://www3.weforum.org/docs/EA12/WEF_EA12_Report.pdf

At the same time, closeness with neighbours can carry new threats from the exposure
AND
link her nation ¶ with northern China, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore.

The impact is regional instability — escalates to nuclear war

Auslin 9 (Michael Auslin 9, resident scholar at AEI, "Averting Disaster", The Daily Standard, 2/6, http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.29339/pub_detail.asp)

As they deal with a collapsing world economy, policymakers in Washington and around the
AND
types of miscalculation and greed that have destroyed international systems in the past.

Trade restrictions prevent the US from dominating Cuba’s rice market

Park 2010 (Beth, Manager, International Policy for USA Rice Federation, "The National Export Initiative and the U.S. rice industry," http://www.ricefarming.com/home/issues/2010-05/2010_MayUSARiceFed.html)

U.S. rice farmers produce less than two percent of the world’s annual
AND
. There was no trade in 2009 and none so far in 2010.

Other countries dominate Cuba’s rice market—lifting the embargo changes that

Guinn 2011 (Jim Guinn is the Vice President, International Promotion, with the USA Rice Federation, "U.S. Rice Export Update," One Grower Publishing, http://www.ricefarming.com/home/issues/2011-04/2011_AprExportUpdate.html)

There is no market that has more potential for U.S.-grown rice
AND
world trade, facing subsidized production, highly protected markets and stiff competition.

Lifting Sanctions cause US to flood the Cuban rice market

USITC 1 (U.S. International Trade Commission, "THE ECONOMIC IMPACT OF U.S. SANCTIONS WITH RESPECT TO CUBA", USITC Publication 3398, Investigation No. 332-413, February, http://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/PUB3398.pdf)

Rice. During 1955-58, Cuba was the leading market for US.
AND
of the value of I996-98 U.S. rice exports.

Plan massively increases US rice exports to Cuba

New York Times, 7/13/10 ("Farm Groups Push Congress to East Exports to Cuba", http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/us/politics/14cuba.html?_r=0)

Rice farmers in particular have a great deal at stake in the legislation. Even
AND
000 to 600,000 metric tons of rice to Cuba every year.

Cuba is Vietnam’s largest export market

VTP 9 (VIETNAM TRADE PROMOTION AGENCY December 2009, "REPORT ON VIETNAMESE RICE SECTOR", P 34, http://www.aseankorea.org/files/upload/board/120/6/VIETNAMESE 20RICE20SECTOR202008.pdf)

In June 2008, Cuba has overcome Philippines to become the biggest rice export ¶
AND
.4 in value compared to the ¶ same period of 2007.

U.S. rice is not exported to Cuba – plan reverses that

ORYZA 13 (6/4, Oryza agricultural news– Global Rice Prices and latest news, "USA Rice Urges Government to Remove Trade Restrictions with Cuba", http://oryza.com/content/usa-rice-urges-government-remove-trade-restrictions-cuba~~23sthash.V9s5yVWq.dpuf)

The U.S. exported around 176,000 tons of rice to Cuba
AND
U.S. agricultural sales to Cuba," USA Rice said today.

American exports are dropping and Vietnam is dominating Cuban trade, but the plan reverses this
FNL 2012 (Fox News Latino, "Floundering US Exports to Cuba Buck Optimism," Nov 10, http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/11/10/floundering-us-exports-to-cuba-buck-optimism/)
But cold numbers belie the enthusiasm on the convention center floor. Cuban purchases of
AND
at the fair, which included 500 exhibitors from overseas and ended Saturday.¶ 

Rice is key to the Vietnamese economy

Niimi et al 2004 (Yoko Niimi, Puja Vasudeva-Dutta and L. Alan Winters, Dept of Economics, U of Sussex, "Storm in a Rice Bowl," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 9(2))

The significance of rice in the Vietnamese economy cannot be overstated. Rice is the
AND
a significant impact on the welfare of Vietnamese households and on poverty levels.

Vietnam has resolved structural economic problems
Geary 2012 (Sean, MA candidate in International Relations, "Vietnamese economy slows, but it’s not all bad news," Emergency Money, May 25, http://emergingmoney.com/etfs/vietnamese-economy-slows-vnm-indy/~~23sthash.qXzKff7s.dpuf)

While growth continues to diminish, it appears as if the Vietnamese economy has ameliorated
AND
’frontier market’ into one that can be deemed to be ’emerging’."

Vietnam is resolving structural economic problems—fundamentals are strong

SCMP 10 (South China Morning Post, "It’s time for Hanoi to take centre stage" March 17, 2010, lexis)

Yet Townsend, managing director of property services and consulting firm CB Richard Ellis (
AND
and open up links to provinces over the next five to 10 years.

Asian war goes nuclear—-no defense—-interdependence and institutions don’t check

C. Raja Mohan 13, distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, March 2013, Emerging Geopolitical Trends and Security in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the People’s Republic of China, and India (ACI) Region," background paper for the Asian Development Bank Institute study on the Role of Key Emerging Economies, http://www.iadb.org/intal/intalcdi/PE/2013/10737.pdf
Three broad types of conventional conflict confront Asia. The first is the prospect of
AND
geographic scope and the normative basis for a future security order in Asia.

Vietnamese Rice is also Low Quality

Nielsen 2 — Chantal Pohl Nielsen, http://www.foi.life.ku.dk/Publikationer/Rapporter/~~/media/migration20folder/upload/foi/docs/publikationer/rapporter/nummererede20rapporter/130-139/132.pdf.ashx

Vietnam exports primarily indica rice, mainly of intermediate and low quality. As documented
AND
systems, limited rice seed control, and insuf?cient drying and storage facilities.

US Rice is Higher Quality – lifting restrictions causes a substantial trade-off

USITC 7 — U.S. International Trade Commission, U.S. Agricultural Sales to Cuba: Certain Economic Effects of U.S. Restrictions, http://books.google.com/books?id=OEGpZfNR0a8C26pg=SA4-PA826lpg=SA4-PA826dq=cuba+rice+quality26source=bl26ots=3lUKs0jek326sig=DUGIFXKGwXoA26VXEGGbNqlUsrE26hl=en26sa=X26ei=EJXdUsf-A6zgsAS1moGoBw26ved=0CFUQ6AEwBQ~~23v=onepage26q=superior20quality26f=false

The US. rice industry is located mainly in Arkansas and the Gulf States has
AND
exports by 2415 million to 2444 million above the 2006 level.

====US will get drawn in====
Kapila 2013 (Dr. Subhash, Royal British Army Staff College, with a Masters in Defence Science (Madras University) and a PhD in Strategic Studies (Allahabad University), 5/3/13, South Asian Analysis, "South China Sea Disputes: Strategic Implications and Perspectives on Conflict Resolution", http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/node/1260)

The South China Sea disputes between China and its South East Asian neighbours which has
AND
The United States has not indicated any intentions to abdicate this strategic dominance.

Domestic Instability Inflames tensions – unique scenario for SCS escalation

Kleinsteiber 13 (Meghan, "Nationalism and Domestic Politics as Drivers of Maritime Conflict," SAIS Review of International Affairs: Volume 33, Number 2, Summer-Fall 2013, Project Muse, Editor-in-Chief of The SAIS Review of International Affairs  at the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS))

Although questions of resource ownership have existed for decades, conflict has only been sporadic
AND
allowed for large public demonstrations against China’s perceived infringement on Vietnamese sovereignty.6

Economic Downturns lead to Vietnamese nationalism- specifically true in the context of the South China Sea.

Hiep 12 (Le Hong, Lecturer at the Faculty of International Relations at Vietnam National University, 2012, Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International 26 Strategic Affairs. Vol. 34, No. 2, "Performance-based Legitimacy: The Case of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Doi Moi," http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2165025)

This article examines the link between the legitimation process of the Communist Party of Vietnam
AND
been revived as an additional source of legitimacy in times of economic difficulties.

Vietnamese Economy stable now but its on the brink—posdates their ev by three months which is a better assessment of the current economic climate

Thanh Nien News 12/4 (Vietnamese News Agency, 2013, "Vietnam economy to become more stable, but risks remain: World Bank," http://www.thanhniennews.com/index/pages/20131204-vietnams-economy-to-become-more-stable-risks-remain-wb.aspx)

Vietnam’s economic growth will rise to 5.5 percent by 2015, with macroeconomic
AND
stability," Sandeep Mahajan, the bank’s Lead Economist for Vietnam, said.

Vietnam’s Economy is stable now

Knanh 12/23 (Vu Trong, Wall Street Journal Staff writer, 2013, "Vietnam Economy Ends Year on a Higher Note," http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304244904579275504112780062)

HANOI—Vietnam’s economy is ending the year with some positive signs after it posted
AND
and regain macroeconomic stability are sound and timely," the government office said.

Cuba is Vietnam’s largest export market

VTP 9 (VIETNAM TRADE PROMOTION AGENCY December 2009, "REPORT ON VIETNAMESE RICE SECTOR", P 34, http://www.aseankorea.org/files/upload/board/120/6/VIETNAMESE 20RICE20SECTOR202008.pdf)

In June 2008, Cuba has overcome Philippines to become the biggest rice export ¶
AND
.4 in value compared to the ¶ same period of 2007.

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 2 | Opponent: Highland Park MN RM | Judge: Miles

Interpretation – Quid Pro Quo’s are not Engagement

Smith 5 (Karen E, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, London School of Economics, "Engagement and conditionality: incompatible or mutually reinforcing?,"  May 2005, Global Europe: New Terms of Engagement, http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:8-3RqE0TzFMJ:scholar.google.com/+engagement+positive+incentives+bilateral26hl=en26as_sdt=0,14)

First, a few definitions. ’Engagement’ is a foreign policy strategy of building
AND
induce change in another country, conditionality more of a top-down strategy

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 4 | Opponent: St Paul Central | Judge: 

Interpretation – Economic engagement is exclusively economic

Jakštait? 10 (Gerda, Doctoral Candidate Vytautas Magnus University Faculty of Political Sciences and Diplomacy (Lithuania), "CONTAINMENT AND ENGAGEMENT AS MIDDLE-RANGE THEORIES," December 10, 2010, BALTIC JOURNAL OF LAW 26 POLITICS VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 (2010), http://versita.metapress.com/content/0w3157n438689417/fulltext.pdf)

The approach to engagement as economic engagement focuses exclusively on economic instruments of foreign policy
AND
ensure safety in particular, whereas economic benefit is not a priority objective.

"Increase" means to become greater in quantity

Encarta 6 (Encarta Online Dictionary, 2006, "Increase" http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861620741)

in•crease ~ in kr?ss ~ transitive and intransitive verb (past and past participle in•creased, present participle in•creas•ing, 3rd person present singular in•creas•es)Definition: make or become larger or greater: to become, or make something become, larger in number, quantity, or degree noun (plural in•creas•es)

Violation – removing Cuban from the state sponsor terror list doesn’t cause economic engagement – the embargo still prevents trade

OFAC 12 (Office of Foreign Asset Controls, US Department of treasury, "CUBA: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE U.S. EMBARGO," 1/14/12, http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/Cuba/lawg_cip_dec_2011.pdf)

CUBA: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE U.S. EMBARGO¶ ... licensed services incident to Internet-based communications (see § 515.578).¶

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 4 | Opponent: Greenhill | Judge: 

1NC

Interpretation – Engagement requires trade promotion

Celik 11 (Arda Can Çelik, graduate M.A in political science and international relations at Uppsala University Sweden, 2011, and#34;Economic sanctions and engagement policies,and#34; http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/175204/economic-sanctions-and-engagement-policies)

Literature of liberal school points out that economic engagement policies are significantly effective tools for
AND
believes in that economic linkages have political transformation potential.(Kroll,1993)

Tournament: St Marks | Round: 4 | Opponent: Caddo Magnet | Judge: Cat Duffy

Interpretation – Engagement requires government to government DIRECT talks

Crocker ’9 ~9/13/09, Chester A. Crocker is a professor of strategic studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, was an assistant secretary of state for African affairs from 1981 to 1989. "Terms of Engagement," http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/14/opinion/14crocker.html?_r=126~~

PRESIDENT OBAMA will have a hard time achieving his foreign policy goals until he masters
AND
realistic options and, hence, to modify its policies and its behavior.

Tournament: Greenhill RR | Round: 1 | Opponent: Centennial | Judge: 

1NC

Interpretation – Removing sanctions is a form of appeasement

Stern 6 (Martin, University of Maryland Graduate, Debunking detente, 11/27/06, http://www.diamondbackonline.com/article_56223e79-7009-56a3-8afe-5d08bfff6e08.html)

Appeasement is … better to define the word.

TBHA lifts the restrictions in the Gulf.

DOS 12 (United States Department of State, they are a part of the federal government and is the department responsible for international relations of the United States, May 2, 2012, and#34;U.S.-Mexico Transboundary Hydrocarbons Agreementand#34;, http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/02/184235.htm)**

The United States and … of the Gulf of Mexico will end.

and#34;Engagementand#34; is distinct from and#34;appeasementand#34; — the plan must mandate long term interaction

Rock 2k — Stephen R. Rock, Associate Professor of Political Science at Vassar College, 2000 (and#34;The Study of Appeasement,and#34; Appeasement in International Politics, Published by the University Press of Kentucky, ISBN 0813132282, p. 22-23)

Appeasement and engagement are not … and reduce tensions.

Tournament: TOC | Round: 2 | Opponent: Austin SFA | Judge: 

1NC

1nc

Our interpretation is that the affirmative can only get offense based off the implementation of the federal government increasing its economic engagement toward Cuba, Mexico or Venezuela.

Toward means in the direction of

Taylor 6 (CJ Taylor, Supreme Court Justice on the Supreme Court of Michigan, "Supreme Court of Michigan. Grievance Administrator, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Geoffrey N. Fieger, Respondent-Appellee", 7-31, http://faculty.law.wayne.edu/henning/ProfResp/Grievance20Administrator20v20Fieger.pdf)

MRPC 3.5(c) provides that a lawyer shall not "engage
AND
in the direction of" and "with respect to; as regards."

Most predictable—the agent and verb indicate a debate about hypothetical government action

Jon M Ericson 3, Dean Emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts – California Polytechnic U., et al., The Debater’s Guide, Third Edition, p. 4
The Proposition of Policy: Urging Future Action In policy propositions, each topic contains
AND
compelling reasons for an audience to perform the future action that you propose. 

"Economic engagement" is limited to expanding economic ties

Celik 11 (Arda Can Çelik, graduate M.A in political science and international relations at Uppsala University Sweden, 2011, "Economic sanctions and engagement policies," http://www.grin.com/en/e-book/175204/economic-sanctions-and-engagement-policies)

Introduction¶ Economic engagement policies are strategic integration behaviour which involves with the target state
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position of one state affects the position of others in the same direction.

economic engagement is aid and trade

Resnick 01 – Assistant Professor of Political Science at Yeshiva University (Evan, Journal of International Affairs, "Defining Engagement" v54, n2, political science complete)
A REFINED DEFINITION OF ENGAGEMENT
In order to establish a more effective framework for dealing with unsavory regimes, I propose that we define engagement as the attempt to influence the political behavior of a target state through the comprehensive establishment and enhancement of contacts with that state across multiple issue-areas (i.e. diplomatic, military, economic, cultural). The following is a brief list of the specific forms that such contacts might include:
DIPLOMATIC CONTACTS
Extension of diplomatic recognition; normalization of diplomatic relations
Promotion of target-state membership in international institutions and regimes
Summit meetings and other visits by the head of state and other senior government officials of sender state to target state and vice-versa
MILITARY CONTACTS
Visits of senior military officials of the sender state to the target state and vice-versa
Arms transfers
Military aid and cooperation
Military exchange and training programs
Confidence and security-building measures
Intelligence sharing
ECONOMIC CONTACTS
Trade agreements and promotion
Foreign economic and humanitarian aid in the form of loans and/or grants
CULTURAL CONTACTS
Cultural treaties
Inauguration of travel and tourism links
Sport, artistic and academic exchanges(n25)

A general subject isn’t enough—debate requires a specific point of difference with fairly and predictably divided ground in order to promote effective exchange – that’s key to inculcate decision making and advocacy skills

Steinberg and Freeley 13, * David, Lecturer in Communication studies and rhetoric. Advisor to Miami Urban Debate League. Director of Debate at U Miami, Former President of CEDA. And  Austin, attorney who focuses on criminal, personal injury and civil rights law, JD, Suffolk University, Argumentation and Debate, Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making, 121-4
Debate is a means of settling differences, so there must be a controversy,
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particular point of difference, which will be outlined in the following discussion.

Their incorporation of Red Pedagogy into the structures of debate becomes an insular valorization of the academy disconnected from real Indigenous struggles—-*(also proves debate’s not key and there’s only a risk it gets coopted as per all our turns)

Sterling 12—MA student at York University. "an Indigenous woman making her way through academia" –her description (Rebecca, A Review of Red Pedagogy: Native American Social and Political Thought by Sandy Grandewww.neoamericanist.org/review/red-pedagogy)

I certainly appreciate much of Grande’s thought, as her writing resonates with some of
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who we write for reflects who we consider as part of that relation.

1nc

Normalizing trade relations destroys the Cuban medical sector

Garrett 10 (Laurie Garrett; Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations, Foreign Policy, July-August, 2010, "Castrocare in Crisis: Will Lifting the Embargo on Cuba Make Things Worse?" http://thecubaneconomy.com/articles/2013/02/castrocare-in-crisis-will-lifting-the-embargo-on-cuba-make-things-worse/)

Cuba is a Third World country that aspires to First World medicine and health.
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its overall economy, it may be the better of two bad options.

Cuba’s health care model is remaking medicine and will prevent disease globally

Fitz, 12 - editor of Synthesis/Regeneration: A Magazine of Green Social Thought. (Don, "Why is Cuba’s health-care system the best model for poor countries?" Links: International Journal of Socialist Renewal, 12/8, http://links.org.au/node/3136)

Furious though it may be, the current debate over health care in the US is largely irrelevant to charting a path for the poor countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Pacific Islands. That is because the US squanders perhaps 10 to 20 times what is needed for a good, affordable medical system. The waste is far more than the 30 overhead by private insurance companies. It includes an enormous amount of over-treatment, making the poor sicker by refusing them treatment, exorbitant over-pricing of medications and medical procedures, creation of illnesses, exposure to contagion through over-hospitalisation, and disease-focused instead of prevention-focused research.~1~ Poor countries simply cannot afford such a health system. Well over 100 countries are looking to the example of Cuba, which has the same 78-year life expectancy of the US while spending 4 per person annually of what the US does.~2~ The most revolutionary idea of the Cuban system is doctors living in the neighbourhoods they serve. A doctor-nurse team is part of the community and know their patients well because they live at (or near) the consultorio (doctors’ office) where they work. Consultorios are backed up by policlínicos which provide services during off-hours and offer a wide variety of specialists. Policlínicos coordinate community health delivery and link nationally designed health initiatives with their local implementation. Cubans call their system medicina general integral (MGI, comprehensive general medicine). Its programs focus on preventing people from getting diseases and treating them as rapidly as possible. The MGI integration of neighbourhood doctors’ offices with area clinics and a national hospital system also means the country responds well to emergencies. It has the ability to evacuate entire cities during a hurricane largely because consultorio staff know everyone in their neighbourhood and know who to call for help getting disabled residents out of harm’s way. New York City (roughly the same population as Cuba) had 43,000 cases of AIDS, Cuba had 200 AIDS patients.~5~ More recent emergencies such as outbreaks of dengue fever are quickly followed by national mobilisations.~6~ Perhaps the most amazing aspect of Cuban medicine it that, despite its being a poor country itself, Cuba has sent more than 124,000 health-care professionals to provide care to 154 countries.~7~ In addition to providing preventive medicine Cuba sends response teams following emergencies (such as earthquakes and hurricanes) and has more than 20,000 students from other countries studying to be doctors at its Latin American School of Medicine in Havana (ELAM, Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina).~8~ In a recent Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal article, I gave in-depth descriptions of ELAM students participating in Cuban medical efforts in Haiti, Ghana and Peru.~9, see also http://links.org.au/node/1984~~ What follows are 10 generalisations from Cuba’s extensive experience in developing medical science and sharing its approach with poor countries throughout the world. The concepts form the basis of the new global medicine and summarise what many authors have observed in dozens of articles and books. First, it is not necessary to focus on expensive technology as the initial approach to medical care. Cuban doctors use machines that are available, but they have an amazing ability to treat disaster victims with field surgery. They are very aware that most lives are saved through preventive medicine such as nutrition and hygiene and that traditional cultures have their own healing wisdom. This is in direct contrast to Western medicine, especially as is dominant in the US, which uses costly diagnostic and treatment techniques as the first approach and is contemptuous of natural and alternative approaches. Second, doctors must be part of the communities where they are working. This could mean living in the same neighbourhood as a Peruvian consultorio. It could mean living in a Venezuelan community that is much more violent than a Cuban one. Or it could mean living in emergency tents adjacent to where victims are housed as Cuban medical brigades did after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. Or it could mean staying in a village guesthouse in Ghana. Cuba-trained doctors know their patients by knowing their patients’ communities. This differs sharply from US doctors, who receive zero training on how to assess homes of their patients. Third, the MGI model outlines relationships between people that go beyond a set of facts. Instead of memorising mountains of information unlikely to be used in community health, which US students must do to pass medical board exams, Cuban students learn what is necessary to relate to people in consultorios, polyclínicos, field hospitals and remote villages. Far from being nuisance courses, studies in how people are bio-psycho-social beings are critical for the everyday practice of Cuban medicine. Fourth, the MGI model is not static but is evolving and unique for each community. Western medicine searches for the correct pill for a given disease. In its rigid approach, a major reason for research is to discover a new pill after "side effects" of the first pill surface. Since traditional medicine is based on the culture where it has existed for centuries, the MGI model avoids the futility of seeking to impose a Western mindset on other societies. Fifth, it is necessary to adapt medical aid to the political climate of the host country. This means using whatever resources the host government is able and willing to offer and living with restrictions. Those hosting a Cuban medical brigade may be friendly as in Venezuela and Ghana, hostile as is the Brazilian Medical Association, become increasingly hostile as occurred after the 2009 coup in Honduras, or change from hostile to friendly as occurred in Peru with the 2011 election of Ollanta Humala. This is quite different from US medical aid which, like its food aid, is part of an overall effort to dominate the receiving country and push it into adopting a Western model. Sixth, the MGI model creates the basis for dramatic health effects. Preventive community health training, a desire to understand traditional healers, the ability to respond quickly to emergencies, and an appreciation of political limitations give Cuban medical teams astounding success. During the first 18 months of Cuba’s work in Honduras following Hurricane Mitch, infant mortality dropped from 80.3 to 30.9 per 1000 live births. When Cuban health professionals intervened in Gambia, malaria decreased from 600,000 cases in 2002 to 200,000 two years later. And Cuban/Venezuelan collaboration resulted in 1.5 million vision corrections by 2009. Kirk and Erisman conclude that "almost 2 million people throughout the world … owe their very lives to the availability of Cuban medical services."~7~ Seventh, the new global medicine can become reality only if medical staff put healing above personal wealth. In Cuba, being a doctor, nurse or support staff and going on a mission to another country is one of the most fulfilling activities a person can do. The program continues to find an increasing number of volunteers despite the low salaries that Cuban health professionals earn. There is definitely a minority of US doctors who focus their practice in low-income communities that have the greatest need. But there is no US political leadership which makes a concerted effort to get physicians to do anything other than follow the money. Eighth, dedication to the new global medicine is now being transferred to the next generation. When students at Cuban schools learn to be doctors, dentists or nurses their instructors tell them of their own participation in health brigades in Angola, Peru, Haiti, Honduras and dozens of other countries. Venezuela has already developed its own approach of MIC (medicina integral communitaria, comprehensive community medicine), which builds upon, but is distinct from, Cuban MGI.~10~ Many ELAM students who work in Ghana as the Yaa Asantewaa Brigade are from the US. They learn approaches of traditional healers so they can compliment Ghanaian techniques with Cuban medical knowledge. Ninth, the Cuban model is remaking medicine across the globe. Though best known for its successes in Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean, Cuba has also provided assistance in Asia and the Pacific islands. Cuba provided relief to the Ukraine after the 1986 Chernobyl meltdown, Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami and Pakistan after its 2005 earthquake. Many of the countries hosting Cuban medical brigades are eager for them to help redesign their own health-care systems. Rather than attempting to make expensive Western techniques available to everyone, the Cuban MGI model helps re-conceptualise how healing systems can meet the needs of a country’s poor. Tenth, the new global medicine is a microcosm of how a few thousand revolutionaries can change the world. They do not need vast riches, expensive technology or a massive increase in personal possessions to improve the quality of people’s lives. If dedicated to helping people while learning from those they help, they can prefigure a new world by carefully utilising the resources in front of them. Such revolutionary activity helps show a world facing acute climate change that it can resolve many basic human needs without pouring more CO2 into the atmosphere. Discussions of global health in the West typically bemoan the indisputable fact that poor countries still suffer from chronic and infectious diseases that rich countries have controlled for decades. International health organisations wring their hands over the high infant mortality rates and lack of resources to cope with natural disasters in much of the world. But they ignore the one health system that actually functions in a poor country, providing health care to all of its citizens as well as millions of others around the world. The conspiracy of silence surrounding the resounding success of Cuba’s health system proves the unconcern by those who piously claim to be the most concerned.

1nc

We agree with the entirety of the 1AC except we reject their affirmation of the resolution

1 - The aff’s call for economic engagement modernization is not neutral—it justifies the demarcation of populations as destructible and hides endless invisible deaths—it’s your obligation to bring these to the forefront of your decision calculus

Mignolo 7 (Walter, Argentinian semiotician 26 Duke professor, "The De-Colonial Option and the Meaning of Identity in Politics", Anales N. E. 9/10 pp. 43-72)

But, let’s come back to the Andes and to South America, dwelling in
AND
of human lives; that is, according to a racist classification.5

Focus on development nullifies Latin American identity and culture—forever traps us in the imperialist gaze, replicating policy errors—the alternative is to rejecting the aff and decolonizing our epistemology—this is the prior question to debates about policy action

Grosfoguel 11—UC Berkeley ~dependentistas: Latin American theorists who critiqued the negative effects of capitalism but whose solutions centered around economic policy and action at the level of the nation state~
(Ramon, "Decolonizing Post-Colonial Studies and Paradigms of Political-Economy: Transmodernity, Decolonial Thinking, and Global Coloniality", TRANSMODERNITY: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(1), dml)

The second problem with the dependentista underestimation of cultural and ideological dynamics is that it
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non-institutional locations from which the subaltern can speak and be heard. 

2– The alternative solves the case better. Voting negative to as an act of exploring Taino epistemology is the best way to "Shatter your Western identity." The idea that only voting affirmative can do this commodifies identity which is the ultimate Western act.

Wendy Brown 1, prof at Berkeley, Politics out of History, 127-9
"We are unknown to ourselves, we men of knowledge," Nietzsche begins On the Genealogy of Morals, "and with good reason. We have never sought ourselves. "12 It is this ignorance that Nietzsche seeks to redress with his genealogical tracings of the desires (not only the umediated will to power, but its thwarted forms—envy, resentment, jealousy, and revenge) that materialize into the moral and political formations
128
 of equality, liberal justice, and the state. Unlike other genres of
AND
disrupt without destroying, to offer the possibility of resolving into another story.
Why would anyone actively seek to dissolve or destabilize identity within democracies? If,
AND
we are who or what we want to be, a means of evaluating
129
the principles by which we order ourselves-in short, a means of interrupting
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the meeting of theory and politics as mutual experience of incitation or provocation. 

1nc

CP Text: Cuba should recognize the rights of the Tiano people.

Their 1AC evidence substantiates the CP solvency

Catá Backer ’09 (Larry, Legal scholar and professor of law and international affairs, holds a professorship at the Pennsylvanian State University, W. Richard and Mary Eshelman Faculty Scholar Professor of Law and International Affairs, Dickinson School of Law and School of International Affairs, Pennsylvania State University (2001-), Ashgate Publishing Globalization Law 26 Policy Series editor (2010-), executive director of the Washington-based NGO Coalition for Peace and Ethics (2006-), Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma College of Law, "From Hatuey to Che: Indigenous Cuba without Indians and the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples", 2008/2009, American Indian Law Review, Vol. 33, No. 1 (2008/2009), pp. 201-238, http://www.jstor.org/stable/20455380) J.N.E
 In the essays of Jose Marti, the Indian serves as the basis for
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like Cuba approach the international regulatory context for the protection of indigenous peoples.

1nc – case

Their examination of epistemology fails and produces a vicious cycle

Owen 2 (David Owen, Reader of Political Theory at the Univ. of Southampton,  Millennium Vol 31 No 3 2002 p. 655-7)

Commenting on the ’philosophical turn’ in IR, Wæver remarks that ’~a~
AND
the first and second dangers, and so a potentially vicious circle arises.

Academic discourse is an ineffective route for political change

Bryant 13—philosophy prof at Collin College (Levi, The Paradox of Emancipatory Political Theory, http://larvalsubjects.wordpress.com/2013/05/31/the-paradox-of-emancipatory-political-theory/)
*we don’t endorse offensive language

There’s a sort of Hegelian contradiction at the heart of all academic political theory that
AND
a particularly effective rhetorical strategy for the autopoiesis of academia in the humanities).
Were the aim political change, then the discourse would have to find a way
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academia.  Both options are foreclosed by the sociological conditions of their discourse.
The paradox of emancipatory academic political discourse is thus that it is formally and functionally
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important and like their the best thing since sliced bread, I guess.

The aff’s claim to emancipation collapses the real material difference between our position as debaters and oppressed individuals for whom resistance is not a simple language-game—-their deployment of an unproblematic posture of victimization spotlights the aff’s righteousness while robbing the oppressed of protest

Chow 93—Anne Firor Scott Professor of Literature at Trinity College of Arts and Sciences, Duke University (Rey, Writing Diaspora, 11-5)
*We do not endorse ableist language
Until the very end of the novel, Jane is always excluded from every available
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career. How do we intervene in the productivity of this overdetermined circuit?

This is especially true in this context—-debate too easily becomes a narcotic that eases our anxiety about colonization

Tuck 12—Assistant Professor of Educational Foundations at the State University of New York at New Paltz.  (Eve, Decolonization is not a metaphor, Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education 26 Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2012, pp. 1-40)
Describing acts of passing, Sara Ahmed (2000) asserts the importance of being
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is to move forward, however regretfully, with ’our’ settler future.

Their awareness-based approach backfires—-crowds-out effective political solutions and advocacy through compassion fatigue

Amanda Taub 12, lawyer who teaches international law and human rights at Fordham University, and Kate Cronin-Furman, lawyer and PhD candidate in political science at Colombia University, "Solving War Crimes With Wristbands: The Arrogance of ’Kony 2012’", March 8, www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/solving-war-crimes-with-wristbands-the-arrogance-of-kony-2012/254193/
This awareness-based approach to atrocity strikes many people as worthwhile. As Samantha
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questions can’t be eased by sharing a YouTube video or putting up posters. 

The aff reveals the perspective of the oppressed, and in doing so, shares their secrets—this undermines the potential for resistance, turning the case

Hundleby 5 (Catherine, U of Windsor, The Epistemological Evaluation of Oppositional Secrets, Hypatia, 20(4), Fall 2005, p. 44-58)LA

I keep secrets. Even though I am told over and over by white feminists
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hidden understanding reduces in cases of extreme political vulnerability that morally require secrecy.

2NC

Reading a plan Westernizes the form of the 1AC, even if it’s content is progressive—-that commodifies Indigenous knowledge and turns the case

Hammersmith 7—PhD in Education from U South Africa (Jerome, CONVERGING INDIGENOUS AND WESTERN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR TERTIARY EDUCATION, http://iportal.usask.ca/docs/Hammersmith/Hammersmith.pdf)

In considering the cross-cultural knowledge systems in Saskatchewan, this study reviews observations
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banquet table for all (Odora-Hoppers 2002: 11-12).¶ 

====Expanding globalization to Cuba is part of an imperial strategy to displace revolutionary potential in Cuba- that makes envirionmental degregation and mass inequality inevitable ====
Bliss 2005 (Dr. Susan Bliss: Director of Global Education, 7/5/2005, "Sustainability of Modern Cuba’s post revolution globalisation process",)

Globalisation is not a new phenomenon in Cuba, evolving from the 16th century with
AND
are ’free and fair’, equitably structured and immune from corporate power.

Trade is utilized by the Western powers to create financial dependency of other nations and force a colonial strategy upon those populations and embeds violence and racism in everyday political life.

Kanth 2005 ~Rajani Kannepalli Kanth, Against Eurocentrism: A Transcendent Critique of Modernist Science, Society, and Morals 67-69~
The firearm, the printing press, paper, and the compass were to become
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these propositions, whose truth is confirmable by simple, direct observation alone. 

Legal Normative thought DA – The plan text ignores that there is no connection between the recommendations of the 1AC and material agency.

Schlag ’90 (Pierre, professor of law at the University of Colorado, Stanford Law Review, lexis, AM)

In fact, normative legal thought is so much in a hurry that it will
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in a position to put any of its wonderful normative advice into effect.

1NR

Resolved requires a policy

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

Debating both sides is key to tolerance

Muir 93 – Star Muir, communication studies at George Mason University, 1993 (Philosophy and Rhetoric 26.4, p. 288-291)  

Values clarification, Stewart is correct in pointing out, does not mean that no
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of competition), effectively renders the value structure pluralistic, rather than relativistic. 

no identity da—Our model of debate provides the skills best able to resolve their impacts —- doesn’t require accepting the state outside of debate

Grande 7 (Sany, Critical Pedagogy, ed McLaren and Kincheloe, Chapter 17–Red Lake Woebegone: Pedagogy, Decolonization, and the Critical Project, 330-1)
Red Pedagogy: Where There Is Resistance There Is Power  Audre Lorde’s essay, The
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the grammar of empire as just one tool for unthinking our colonial roots.

Our framework allows for more life-affirming creativity—-authentic creativity requires an interplay between norms and constraints

Lawrence Hatab 5, Nietzsche’s life sentence: coming to terms with eternal recurrence, p. 121-122
To close this section, there are some tangential points about creativity that do not
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creativity is a kind of "dancing in chains" iH’S 140).lK
In general terms, this perspective on creativity reiterates Nietzsche’s reflections on Apollonian and Dionysian
AND
the medial position between form and creative openness, between being and becoming.

Tournament: TOC | Round: 3 | Opponent: Blake SW | Judge: 

1NC

1nc

Patent reform compromise will pass – delay crushes the bill

Pappas 4/24 - Peter C. Pappas is the former Chief of Staff at the USPTO, where he served from 2009-2013. He is a senior advisor to Engine, an advocacy organization supporting startups and technology entrepreneurship ("The Senate and Patent Reform: The Time Is Now" Roll Call, http://www.rollcall.com/news/the_senate_and_patent_reform_the_time_is_now_commentary-232363-1.html?pos=oopih)
Recently, word from the Senate Judiciary Committee is that negotiators have reached a bipartisan agreement in principle on the key elements of a comprehensive patent reform bill. They are reportedly vetting and nailing down language and preparing the package for mark-up when the Senate returns. A deal appears close to being done, and it’s looking more like the House’s Innovation Act, which bodes well for final passage.
Yet time is of the essence as the clock is ticking on this Congress.
AND
when innovation is such a critical driver of economic growth and global competitiveness.
Recognizing that patent trolls leverage the high risk and high cost of litigation to extract nuisance settlements, the House passed the Innovation Act by a lopsided 325-91 margin in December.
As the Senate Judiciary committee struggles to come to terms on some thorny provisions,
AND
business method patents that should not have been issued in the first place.
Current law and practice stack the deck in favor of trolls, who typically send
AND
a fledgling business which can ill afford the cost or distraction of litigation.
To stem this tide, the committee should press ahead to finalize a package that will redress the existing imbalances in the patent litigation system. The bill must include provisions for:
• Transparency of ownership post-issuance and throughout the life of the patent.
• Specificity in demand letters.
• Heightened pleading standards that require the identification of claims asserted to be infringed. Any bona fide claim of infringement should be able to meet these reasonable standards, which even provide an exception in cases where the plaintiff is unable to access all the information.
• Capping discovery costs by enabling the court to determine what the disputed patent covers and the scope of the claims before allowing broad-ranging, expensive, and potentially irrelevant discovery. This will prevent trolls from driving up costs in order to gain leverage in litigation.
• End-of-case fee shifting in favor of a prevailing party while maintaining the court’s discretion to deny fee shifting if the losing party’s actions and conduct were objectively reasonable.
• Provisions that enable the real party in interest to be held liable for any costs assigned to shell entities.
To be sure, infringement is also a very real threat to inventors and startups, so the Senate should take care to ensure that nothing in the legislation prejudices the ability of patent holders to commercialize patents or assert legitimate claims. The proposals that have been reportedly agreed upon reflect a keen sensitivity to balancing these interests and the bipartisan negotiators should be commended for taking such care in walking that fine line.
This legislation needs to be balanced but it also needs to be effective, so potential unintended consequences should not be exaggerated in an effort to water down or derail the bill. The bill, like any legislation, should be evaluated by its intended and likely effects, not by reference to potential consequences which are exceptional or unlikely.
It is clear that the current state of affairs enables abuse and is tilted too
AND
hope the Senate seizes this chance to improve and strengthen the patent system.

Obama’s PC is key
Lengell, 4/4/14 (Sean, Washington Examiner, "Lawmakers look to stop patent abuse", http://washingtonexaminer.com/lawmakers-look-to-stop-patent-abuse/article/2546745)

Momentum is building on Capitol Hill to stop "patent trolls" from harassing businesses and inventors, with optimism high that legislation will pass this year.
With wide bipartisan support, the House has approved a patent reform bill aimed at stopping the so-called trolls — patent-holding companies that extract licensing fees or file infringement lawsuits that many executives complain are frivolous and cost legitimate companies millions of dollars.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is considering its own bipartisan measure, with its members hopeful a bill will reach the full Senate for a vote as early as this spring.
"Members on both sides of the aisle agree that abusive patent tactics hurt the ability of businesses to expand and flourish, and undermine the integrity of our patent system," said Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the panel’s top Republican.
With lawmakers in both parties and the White House on board — President Obama called for reform in his State of the Union address — patent reform legislation could be among the few significant bills passed this year.
"The fact that there have been ongoing conversations since this process started ~last year~ between the two chambers and the White House I think is a positive sign of something actually happening this year," said Beth Provenzano, a lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, which is pushing for the legislation.

====The plan kills PC====
Halverstadt 13 — Lisa Halverstadt, reporter at Voice of San Diego (Lisa Halverstadt, Voice of San Diego, 04-25-2013, "Waiting on Congress to Ease Border Waits", http://voiceofsandiego.org/2013/04/25/waiting-on-congress-to-ease-border-waits/, Accessed 08-01-2013 | AK)

Funding to improve the world’s busiest land border crossing made it into President Barack Obama’s budget but that doesn’t mean the project will shorten lines at the San Ysidro port anytime soon.
Some San Diego politicians and business leaders have spent years advocating for the completion of a three-phase project that would boost the crossings’ outdated infrastructure with 38 new inspection booths and realign Interstate 5 to match up with Mexico’s El Chaparral facility, among other fixes.
The latest upgrade would create the new southbound connection to Mexico and add northbound inspection booths.
But no one is certain the 24226 million the president included in his budget for the latest phase of the project will make its way to San Ysidro.
The budget proposal must survive both the budget appropriations process and an ever-dysfunctional Congress, which hasn’t approved a formal budget since 2009.
Rep. Susan Davis, part of San Diego’s congressional delegation who has championed the funding, said she doesn’t feel comfortable making promises.
"We know that no matter where we try and push it in the budget we have a lot of people who don’t want to move in the direction of investment that supports the economy right now," Davis told Voice of San Diego.
Davis and other advocates are cautiously optimistic.
They’re grateful the Obama administration identified the funds but if Congress once again fails to pass a budget, the funding is history.
That’s significant because Congress hasn’t passed a budget since 2009. Instead, it’s relied on continuing resolutions — legislative tools that allow lawmakers to simply extend the previous year’s budget.
Continuing resolutions don’t incorporate construction projects, meaning such a move would keep San Ysidro funding off the nation’s balance sheet for next year.
Funding for improved border infrastructure in Calexico, Calif., fell prey to a continuing resolution in 2011.
The Senate allocated 2484.4 million for the area’s west port of entry but Congress never produced a bill.
Last December, the Imperial Valley Press reported that Imperial County is now negotiating with California Power Corp., which may be willing to bankroll the border crossing upgrades. This is the county’s backup plan for the Calexico crossing should federal leaders fail to allocate funds anytime soon.
If there isn’t a continuing resolution, the funds are more likely to survive but there’s still a chance they could be nixed in a bid to lower the nation’s deficit, or in a budget compromise.
That’s why even the San Ysidro project’s strongest advocates aren’t convinced it will get started anytime soon.
"I think being in the president’s budget is a very positive sign but whether it will make it through the budget or not, I don’t know," said Paul Ganster, director of San Diego State University’s Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias.
Ganster, who has long pushed San Diego leaders to collaborate more with their Baja California counterparts, said the full backing of the region’s full congressional delegation will be key.
City Councilman David Alvarez, whose district includes San Ysidro, agreed.
"If we don’t have our own delegation from our own backyard advocating in support of this, it’s going to be hard to persuade 430 members of Congress to do the same," Alvarez said.

solves patent reform solves research funding- trolls crush it

Robin Feldman 3-28, professor of Law, Harry 26 Lillian Hastings Chair, and director of the Institute for Innovation Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law, 3/28/14, "Next patent troll victims: Pharma and bio?," http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/201945-next-patent-troll-victims-pharma-and-bio
With scattered signs showing that patent trolls are beginning to purchase biopharmaceutical patents, however, my co-author and I wondered whether the industry was really as safe as assumed. In particular, we wondered whether university holdings could provide a tempting pool of ammunition to launch against current biopharmaceutical products.
To test that theory, we looked at the life science patent holdings of five major research universities: University of California, University of Texas, MIT, CalTech, and the University of South Florida. Our study identified dozens of patents that could be deployed against current bio and pharma industries, following the patterns that NPEs have used against other industries. These include patents on drug formulas, methods of treatments, research methods, dosage forms, and others.
If patents like these are around and threatening, why hasn’t the biopharmaceutical industry found
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out and licensing every patent that could potentially be launched against a product.
That safety net, however, may be coming down. Last fall, the Association of University Technology Managers began revisiting its policy against selling patents to NPEs. Pressure on university technology offices to bring in more revenue is causing the Association to rethink its position. That re-evaluation, however, could have serious consequences for the biopharmaceutical industry and for universities themselves.
Many university patents are developed at least in part with federal funds, and there
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research is being used to harm American businesses with little return to innovation.
As a result, dancing with NPEs could be a risky business for universities. If public anger about patent trolling focuses on universities, they have much more to lose in terms of federal dollars than they have to gain from NPEs.
Concerns about university portfolios and patent trolling are particularly relevant as Congress considers reform proposals. Some of the proposals would exempt universities and those working with universities. It is critical for legislative drafters to understand the potential for problems within university portfolios in general and as they might be aimed at the life sciences in particular.
The study is intended to sound a warning bell. Technology trolling seeped in silently under the radar, growing to extraordinary dimensions before lawmakers had time to react. In contrast, life sciences trolling is predictable and in its infancy. If reforms are implemented before the problem proliferates throughout the industry, legislators and regulators have a chance to cabin the activity before it becomes deeply entrenched and before too much harm occurs.

that’s key to the nuclear complex

Warren Miller et al 7, Research Professor and Associate Director, Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute, Texas A26M University, 1/18/7, "Nuclear’s Human Element," http://www2.ans.org/pi/fine/docs/finereport.pdf
The situation in the world today is extremely complex as it relates to nuclear technology
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); and energy security concerns driving nations toward more diverse electricity production portfolios.   
At the same time, concerns about the potential malevolent use of nuclear technology have
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and people who are literate, trained, and educated in nuclear processes.
The United States must have appropriate numbers of high?quality NSE graduates for the
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must serve as a steward for the national nuclear research and education enterprise.  
For the purposes of this study, NSE includes the disciplines of nuclear engineering,
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is based on fundamental areas related to the interaction of radiation with matter.
THE DOE ROLE IN US NSE EDUCATION
Although  university?based  NSE  programs across the country receive support from various state and
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) interest in radiation effects on humans in space is a notable exception~.   
It is true that university?based NSE programs often conduct research that is only
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, and nuclear weapons design, is not available outside DOE/NE.  
DOE support of graduate programs in NSE is particularly important. Because NSE is so
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professionals but also because the results of the research can be immediately useful.  
The Committee believes the Atomic Energy Act also requires the DOE to take a general
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to the extent needed to assure a healthy NSE enterprise in the country.  
On the other hand, the DOE NSE education support programs cannot, alone, provide the resources needed for a healthy and comprehensive national effort. University?based NSE programs must continue to aggressively seek and obtain research and education support from mission agencies, basic research funding organizations, national laboratories, and industry.    
In short, the Committee believes DOE’s stewardship role is to continuously monitor the NSE education enterprise to ensure that it meets present and future national needs and to conduct a modest research, development, and education program, to appropriately augment other federal and industry supporting efforts, assuring the near? and long?term robustness and health of the discipline to address national needs.  
DEMAND FOR UNIVERSITY?BASED NSE RESEARCH
University?based NSE activities lead to R26D results, as well as
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efforts will need to make great use of university?based NSE capabilities.
In the nuclear security arena, unclassified research needs are also varied and rich.
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water desalination to recovery of usable petroleum products from oil shale and tar sands

Key to deterrence

Townsend 9 (Frances Fragos, Former Assistant to President Bush for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and Senior Member of the Department of Justice, et al., "Leveraging Science for Security: A Strategy for the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories in the 21st Century", Task Force on Leveraging the Scientific and Technological Capabilities of the NNSA National Laboratories for 21st Century National Security, March, http://www.stimson.org/images/uploads/research-pdfs/Leveraging_Science_for_Security_FINAL.pdf)
On the campaign trail, President Obama embraced the vision of a nuclear free world
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, the work to achieve this vision should not undercut US nonproliferation goals. 

Global nuclear war —- perception key

Caves 10, Senior Fellow at the National Defense University– John P. Caves Jr., Senior Research Fellow in the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction at the National Defense University, January 2010, "Avoiding a Crisis of Confidence in the U.S. Nuclear Deterrent," Strategic Forum, No. 252
The United States needs to modernize and ensure the long-term reliability and responsiveness
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scale far more catastrophic than what nuclear-armed terrorists alone could inflict.

1nc

The aff’s attempt to increase free trade in Latin America is a form of neoliberal engagement that exacerbates inequality and justifies endless intervention — causes extinction – moral obligation to put those oppressed by the West at the center of decision making

Makwana 6 (Rajesh, STWR, 23rd November 06, http://www.stwr.org/globalization/neoliberalism-and-economic-globalization.html, ZBurdette)

Neoliberalism and Economic Globalization
The goal of neoliberal economic globalization is the removal of all barriers to commerce, and the privatization of all available resources and services. In this scenario, public life will be at the mercy of market forces, as the extracted profits benefit the few, writes Rajesh Makwana.
The thrust of international policy behind the phenomenon of economic globalization is neoliberal in nature. Being hugely profitable to corporations and the wealthy elite, neoliberal polices are propagated through the IMF, World Bank and WTO. Neoliberalism favours the free-market as the most efficient method of global resource allocation. Consequently it favours large-scale, corporate commerce and the privatization of resources.
There has been much international attention recently on neoliberalism. Its ideologies have been rejected by influential countries in Latin America and its moral basis is now widely questioned. Recent protests against the WTO, IMF and World Bank were essentially protests against the neoliberal policies that these organizations implement, particularly in low-income countries.
The neoliberal experiment has failed to combat extreme poverty, has exacerbated global inequality, and is hampering international aid and development efforts. This article presents an overview of neoliberalism and its effect on low income countries.
Introduction
After the Second World War, corporate enterprises helped to create a wealthy class in society which enjoyed excessive political influence on their government in the US and Europe. Neoliberalism surfaced as a reaction by these wealthy elites to counteract post-war policies that favoured the working class and strengthened the welfare state.
Neoliberal policies advocate market forces and commercial activity as the most efficient methods for producing
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corporations and affluent countries to secure their financial advantage within the world economy.
The policies were most ardently enforced in the US and Europe in the1980s during the
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, economic and political leverage, they continue to further their neoliberal objectives.
There is a consensus between the financial elite, neoclassical economists and the political classes
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the most likely means of reducing poverty and inequality in the poorest regions.
There is a huge discrepancy between the measurable result of economic globalization and its proposed
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economic growth per capita grew to over 8 between 1980 and 2000.)
Neoliberalism has also been unable to address growing levels of global inequality. Over the last 25 years, the income inequalities have increased dramatically, both within and between countries. Between 1980 and 1998, the income of richest 10 as share of poorest 10 became 19 more unequal; and the income of richest 1 as share of poorest 1 became 77 more unequal (again, not including China).
The shortcomings of neoliberal policy are also apparent in the well documented economic disasters suffered
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and medical expertise throughout the region and with other countries around the world.
The dramatic economic and social improvement seen in these countries has not stopped them from
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economic dominance has been and continues to be the USA’s main economic objective.
According to Maria Páez Victor:
"Since 1846 the United States has carried out no fewer than 50 military invasions and destabilizing operations involving 12 different Latin American countries. Yet, none of these countries has ever had the capacity to threaten US security in any significant way.  The US intervened because of perceived threats to its economic control and expansion.  For this reason it has also supported some of the region’s most vicious dictators such as Batista, Somoza, Trujillo, and Pinochet."
As a result of corporate and US influence, the key international bodies that developing
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project contracts. They all gain considerably from the neo-liberal model.
So influential are corporations at this time that many of the worst violators of human rights have even entered a Global Compact with the United Nations, the world’s foremost humanitarian body. Due to this international convergence of economic ideology, it is no coincidence that the assumptions that are key to increasing corporate welfare and growth are the same assumptions that form the thrust of mainstream global economic policy.
However, there are huge differences between the neoliberal dogma that the US and EU
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to achieving development by imposing an ideology that suits their own economic needs.
The US and EU also provide huge subsidies to many sectors of industry. These devastate small industries in developing countries, particularly farmers who cannot compete with the price of subsidized goods in international markets. Despite their neoliberal rhetoric, most ’capitalist’ countries have increased their levels of state intervention over the past 25 years, and the size of their government has increased. The requirement is to ’do as I say, not as I do’.
Given the tiny proportion of individuals that benefit from neoliberal policies, the chasm between what is good for the economy and what serves the public good is growing fast. Decisions to follow these policies are out of the hands of the public, and the national sovereignty of many developing countries continues to be violated, preventing them from prioritizing urgent national needs.
Below we examine the false assumptions of neoliberal policies and their effect on the global economy.
Economic Growth
Economic growth, as measured in GDP, is the yardstick of economic globalization which
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economic growth is the only way to prosper a country and reduce poverty.
Logically, however, a model for continual financial growth is unsustainable. Corporations have to go to extraordinary lengths in order to reflect endless growth in their accounting books. As a result, finite resources are wasted and the environment is dangerously neglected. The equivalent of two football fields of natural forest is cleared each second by profit hungry corporations.
Economic growth is also used by the World Bank and government economists to measure progress
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growth have proved impossible due to the inadequacy of the statistical measures employed.
The mandate for economic growth is the perfect platform for corporations which, as a result, have grown rapidly in their economic activity, profitability and political influence. Yet this very model is also the cause of the growing inequalities seen across the globe. The privatization of resources and profits by the few at the expense of the many, and the inability of the poorest people to afford market prices, are both likely causes.

Our alternative is to decolonize economic engagement. Questioning the politics of space and knowledge that make engagement an economic tool of manipulation is key to sustainable development.

Walsh, Estudios Culturales Latinoamericanos de la Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar, 2012
(Catherine, "The Politics of Naming", Cultural Studies, 26.1, Project Muse)

Cultural Studies, in our project, is constructed and understood as more than a
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Studies is only one of our options, and part of the politics of
naming.

1nc

Text: The United States Federal Government should facilitate necessary improvements in efficiency and necessary reductions in congestion at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border if and only if the Federal Government of Mexico changes regulations to incentivize renewable energy.

Economic development should be conditioned on the environment – pressure is key

Duke 99 (Brent, Stanford University graduate, "Development, Pollution and the Environment in Developing Countries," latest cited work from 1999, http://www.stanford.edu/class/e297c/trade_environment/energy/hmexico.html)

It is no secret that industrial development, especially if it is concentrated and intense
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of economic prosperity and, as a result, created a global dispute. 

Nieto’s commitment to renewables is key to send a signal – the international community doubts his commitment to Calderon’s reforms

Ochoa and Vega 12 (Alberto, professor @ San Diego state university, and Julian, staff writer for renewable energy world news, 12/24/12, "Renewable Energy Review: Mexico ," http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/renewable-energy-review-mexico)

While few doubt that the new climate change law represents a turning point in Mexico’s
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, and only time will tell the extent to which this opportunity is realized

Mexico key to global renewables- reforms key

Huacuz 7 (Jorge, Electrical Research Institute, "Renewable Energy in Mexico," Towards a Cleaner Planet, google books)

Mexico is at cross-roads regarding green power. On the one hand,
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be established. Above all, a new energy culture must be created.

Renewables can solve global warming

Bose 10 (Bimal K. Bose, The Condra Chair of Excellence in power electronics at the University of Tennessee, March 2010, "Global Warming: Energy, Environmental Pollution and the Impact of Power Electronics", Industrial Electronics Magazine, IEEE 4.1)

Nuclear power is claimed to be environmentally clean, and currently, there is demand
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efficiency in generation, transmission, distribution, and utilization of electrical energy.

Warming is an existential risk – quickening reductions is key to avoiding extinction

Mazo 10 (Jeffrey, PhD in Paleoclimatology from UCLA, Managing Editor, Survival and Research Fellow for Environmental Security and Science Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, 3-2010, "Climate Conflict: How global warming threatens security and what to do about it," pg. 122)

The best estimates for global warming to the end of the century range from 2
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adaptation to these extremes would mean profound social, cultural and political changes.

1nc

"Increase" means to become greater in quantity

Encarta 6 (Encarta Online Dictionary, 2006, "Increase" http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?refid=1861620741)

in•crease ~ in kr?ss ~ transitive and intransitive verb (past and past participle in•creased, present participle in•creas•ing, 3rd person present singular in•creas•es)Definition: make or become larger or greater: to become, or make something become, larger in number, quantity, or degree noun (plural in•creas•es)

1nc

PEMEX secondary reform is passing now – PAN and PRI support

WSJ 4/3/14 ("Mexico Seeks Flexible Tax Model for Oil Industry" http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303847804579479940746243848)

Negotiators said the so-called secondary legislation under discussion could be voted on in
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supported the changes then, but it pushed for a more aggressive reform.

The plan prevents PEMEX reform

Corchado ’13 ~August 7, 2013. ALFREDO CORCHADO is a journalist for the Mexico Bureau. "Premium Article U.S., Mexican officials discuss future of border at conference." http://www.dallasnews.com/news/state/headlines/20130807-u.s.-mexican-officials-discuss-future-of-border-at-conference.ece~~
EL PASO — Battered, bruised and misunderstood, the U.S.-Mexico
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costly for taxpayers. … Both sides need to coordinate and prioritize better."

Legislation is key to implementation – Nieto cred is key

Garza 12/20/13 (Antonio Garza is a former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Ambassador Garza is Counsel in the Mexico City office of White 26 Case and serves as chairman of Vianovo Ventures, "Mexican energy reforms set stage for investment" http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/Mexican-energy-reforms-set-stage-for-investment-5082610.php)

Mexico took a giant leap toward a new economic future last week with Congressional passage
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continued political opposition from the left can’t be dismissed as a potential complication.

Reforms key to energy independence

Andrianova 8/16/13 (Anna, "Mexican energy reform: Here are the winners" http://www.cnbc.com/id/100965068)

Reforms that would open Mexico’s energy industry to foreign investment turned out less aggressive than
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chance to become more energy-independent from the rest of the world."

Oil dependence causes extinction

Lendman 7 (Stephen, renowned author and research associate at the Center for Research on Globalization, "Resource Wars - Can We Survive Them?", July 2007, http://www.rense.com/general76/-resrouce.htm)
*This card edited to remove holocaust rhetoric which we do not endorse

With the world’s energy supplies finite, the US heavily dependent on imports, and
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, or at least a big part of it, would have survived.

1nc innovation

US-China won’t go to war- interdependence, weak military, other countries won’t help, no incentive, and history

Burney and Hampson, 12 – Burney is an officer of the Order of Canada, is a senior strategic advisor to Norton Rose Fulbright, and a chancellor of Lakehead University and a visiting professor and Senior Distinguished Fellow at Carleton University ; Hampson is a Distinguished Fellow and director of Global Security at the Centre for International Governance Innovation (Derek and Fen, "Could the United States and China go to war?", iPolitics, November 19, http://www.ipolitics.ca/2012/11/19/could-the-united-states-and-china-go-to-war/)//VP

On the other side of the ledger, here are five reasons why there won’t
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, thereby making the "Asian pivot" more than a trendy pirouette.

No US-Russia war – domestic problems

Lieber 8 Robert is professor of government and international affairs at Georgetown (World Affairs, "Falling Upwards", Summer 2008)

Farther East, and despite its economic recovery and the restoration of central power under
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own internal decline put it well short of being a major power challenger. 

No Korean war—-laundry list—-(rational regime, empirics, military inferiority, and it’s all just domestic propaganda)

Max Fisher 13, Foreign Policy Writer @ Washington Post 26 Former Editor at the Atlantic, "Why North Korea loves to threaten World War III (but probably won’t follow through)" http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/03/12/why-north-korea-loves-to-threaten-world-war-iii-but-probably-wont-follow-through/
North Korea is indeed a dangerous rogue state that has, in the recent past
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100 artillery shells at Yeonpyeong Island, killing two civilians and wounding 19.
But is North Korea really an irrational nation on the brink of launching "all-out war," a mad dog of East Asia? Is Pyongyang ready to sacrifice it all? Probably not. The North Korean regime, for all its cruelty, has also shown itself to be shrewd, calculating, and single-mindedly obsessed with its own self-preservation. The regime’s past behavior suggests pretty strongly that these threats are empty. But they still matter.
For years, North Korea has threatened the worst and, despite all of its
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to bear the costs of preventing its outbursts from sparking an unwanted war.
Starting World War III or a second Korean War would not serve any of Pyongyang’s
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United States, it would almost certainly end with the regime’s total destruction.
Still, provocations and threats do serve Pyongyang’s interests, even if no one takes
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death that Kim had made up for North Korea’s weakness with canny belligerence:
The shtick of apparent madness flowed from his country’s fundamental weakness as he, like
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nuclear reactor construction, hard cash-earning tourist enclaves and investment zones.
At the risk of insulting Kim Jong Eun, it helps to think of North
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because he deserves it, but because you want the tantrum to stop.

No impact to economic decline – prefer new data

Daniel Drezner 14, IR prof at Tufts, The System Worked: Global Economic Governance during the Great Recession, World Politics, Volume 66. Number 1, January 2014, pp. 123-164

The final significant outcome addresses a dog that hasn’t barked: the effect of the
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surge in protectionist nationalism or ethnic exclusion that might have been expected."43

Manufacturing industry empirically resilient

WSJ 11 (Wall Street Journal. 2/25/11. "The Truth About U.S. Manufacturing."online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703652104576122353274221570.html.html~23articleTabs3Darticle)

Is American manufacturing dead? You might think so reading most of the nation’s editorial
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supplies, pharmaceuticals and medicine, and oil and natural-gas equipment.

Every predictive metric concludes that manufacturing is high and resilient—rising foreign wages are driving operations back to the U.S.—that locks in growth.

Reeves 13 — Jeff Reeves, is a financial journalist, and has been editor of InvestorPlace.com since March 2010 ("Is this a U.S. manufacturing rebirth?", MarketWatch, 11-04-2013, Available Online at: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-this-a-us-manufacturing-rebirth-2013-11-04/print?guid=6BE4F1E4-4306-11E3-9F1C-00212803FAD6, Accessed 11-05-2013)

But when you look beyond the political and PR theatrics of the Wal-Mart
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could be a powerful engine of growth for U.S. manufacturing.

Manufacturing industry is expanding- jobs and workforce

CNBC 2/3 (February 3, 2014, "US manufacturing expands, but at less brisk pace: Markit", http://www.cnbc.com/id/101384121///TS)
U.S. manufacturing grew less briskly in January after hitting an 11-
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. "Panel members attributed increased workforce numbers to rising production requirements.’’ 

The plan alone is insufficient—trusted traveler and shipper programs are also necessary.

Wilson and Lee 1AC Authors 12 — Christopher E. Wilson, is an Associate at the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, and Erik Lee, serves as Associate Director at the North American Center for Transborder Studies (NACTS) at Arizona State University ("Whole Nations Waiting", Site Selection Magazine, July 2012, Available Online at: http://www.siteselection.com/issues/2012/jul/us-mex-border.cfm, Accessed 11-05-2013)

Moderate investments to update infrastructure and to fully staff the ports of entry are certainly
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vetted, low-risk individuals and shipments expedited passage across the border.

Alt cause to manufacturing – Euro zone and fiscal policy – but reports confirm its still high

Reuters 7/3 ("U.S. manufacturing shrinks, 1st time in nearly 3 yrs," pg online @ http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/07/02/usa-economy-idINDEE8610EU20120702 um-ef)

Manufacturing has been one of the drivers of the U.S. economic recovery
AND
the Fed would be forthcoming. The Dow industrials index finished slightly lower.

1nc relations

Relations are resilient because of interdependence – and no spillover between different parts of the agenda

Selee and Diaz-Cayeros 13 (Andrew and Alberto) "The Dynamics of US Mexico Relations" Mexico and the United States: the politics of partnership. 2013. Book

Yet positive factors favor prospects for more effective partnership and are likely to drive cooperation
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whose relationship is guided by a common vision of mutually beneficial shared outcomes. 

No terror impact—-super unlikely

Schneidmiller 9 (Chris, Experts Debate Threat of Nuclear, Biological Terrorism, 13 January 2009, http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20090113_7105.php)

There is an "almost vanishingly small" likelihood that terrorists would ever be able
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be difficult to build a weapon or use one that has been stolen.

No impact to bioterror

Dove 12 ~Alan Dove, PhD in Microbiology, science journalist and former Adjunct Professor at New York University, "Who’s Afraid of the Big, Bad Bioterrorist?" Jan 24 2012, http://alandove.com/content/2012/01/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-bioterrorist/~~
The second problem is much more serious. Eliminating the toxins, we’re left with
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biodefense industry is a far greater threat to us than any actual bioterrorists.

No retaliation – best experts vote neg

GSN 10 (Global Security Newswire, 4/29, U.S. Unlikely to Respond to Biological Threat With Nuclear Strike, Experts Say, http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20100429_7133.php)

The United States is not likely to use nuclear force to respond to a biological
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and biological attacks such as vaccines and other medical countermeasures, he argued.

Terrorists aren’t pursuing nuclear attacks

Wolfe 12 – Alan Wolfe is Professor of Political Science at Boston College. He is also a Senior Fellow with the World Policy Institute at the New School University in New York.  A contributing editor of The New Republic, The Wilson Quarterly, Commonwealth Magazine, and In Character, Professor Wolfe writes often for those publications as well as for Commonweal, The New York Times, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, and other magazines and newspapers. March 27, 2012, "Fixated by "Nuclear Terror" or Just Paranoia?" http://www.hlswatch.com/2012/03/27/fixated-by-"nuclear-terror"-or-just-paranoia-2/
If one were to read the most recent unclassified report to Congress on the acquisition
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,800 terrorist attacks in 2008, none were caused by CBRN hazards. 

2NC

Empirics prove pressure is key to Mexican reforms

Moreno 12 (Rocio, revenue watch institute researcher w/ more than eight years of experience in promoting transparency and accountability mechanisms in the extractive industries, and holds a B.A. in Economics, "Mexico: A Moment of Opportunity," 2012, Revenue Watch Institute Emerging Economies Working Paper Series, http://www.transparency-initiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/TAIMexico.pdf)

The federal government has also commissioned OECD to do an assessment of Pemex’s procurement ¶
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pressure has proven to be very effective in ¶ encouraging domestic Mexican reforms. 

QPQs are not Engagement

Smith 5 (Karen E, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, London School of Economics, "Engagement and conditionality: incompatible or mutually reinforcing?,"  May 2005, Global Europe: New Terms of Engagement, http://scholar.googleusercontent.com/scholar?q=cache:8-3RqE0TzFMJ:scholar.google.com/+engagement+positive+incentives+bilateral26hl=en26as_sdt=0,14)

First, a few definitions. ’Engagement’ is a foreign policy strategy of building
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induce change in another country, conditionality more of a top-down strategy

Should" means "must" and requires immediate legal effect

Summers 94 (Justice – Oklahoma Supreme Court, "Kelsey v. Dollarsaver Food Warehouse of Durant", 1994 OK 123, 11-8, http://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=20287~~23marker3fn13)

¶4 The legal question to be resolved by the court is whether the word
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. 336, 337, 27 L.Ed. 201 (1882).

"Substantial" requires a certainty and immediacy

Words and Phrases 64 (40W26P 759)

The words" outward, open, actual, visible, substantial, and exclusive
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or pertaining to any others; undivided; sole; opposed to inclusive.

Resolved requires certainty

OED 89 (Oxford English Dictionary, "Resolved," Volume 13, p. 725)
a. of the mind, etc.: Freed from doubt or uncertainty, fixed, settled. Obs.

Mexican government will support renewables – rising gas prices

Marks 8 (Allan T, adjunct professor of law at University of California Berkeley Law School, adjunct professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley, has given lectures at Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL), previously an adjunct lecturer for the post-graduate program in Derecho de Empresa at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City, partner in a LA law group and member of the firm’s Project Finance Group and Latin America Practice Group, World Energy, Vol. 10, No. 4, 2008, "Mexico Offers Diverse Opportunities for Investment in Renewable Energy," World Energy Magazine, http://sitemaker.umich.edu/ipe2012/files/0208_mexico_offers_diverse_opportunities_world_energy.pdf)

Given Mexico’s available renewable energy resources,¶ domestic and international incentives and other¶ environmental
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government¶ to look favorably on foreign investment in renewable¶ energy projects.

Mexico will say yes – empirics prove renewable support

Cichon 12 (Meg, associate editor of renewable energy world news, 12/14/12, "Clear Horizon for Mexican Solar," http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2012/12/clear-horizon-for-mexican-solar)

In addition to project plans, the Mexican government is pursuing a research initiative to
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we will see a steady growth in the next decade or so.’

Renewables alone are more than enough to prevent catastrophic warming – continued investment is key
Kelly Rigg, Executive Director Global Climate Change Alliance, 11 ~"IPCC Report: Renewable Energy Key to Solving Climate Change," Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kelly-rigg/ipcc-report-renewable-ene_b_859426.html~~

A new IPCC report is hot off the press this time focused on the potential
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dangerous energy hole we’ve dug for ourselves as fast as we possibly can.

Runaway warming causes extinction—positive feedbacks will push us past the tipping point

Morgan 9 (Dennis Ray Morgan, Professor of Current Affairs at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, "World on fire: two scenarios of the destruction of human civilization and possible extinction of the human race," December 2009 Science Direct)

As horrifying as the scenario of human extinction by sudden, fast-burning nuclear
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civilization has been destroyed, and the question concerning human extinction becomes moot.

China’s military can’t catch up and no risk of war

Zenko and Cohen 12 (Micah Zenko, Fellow in the Center for Preventive Action
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yale.edu/content/clear-and-present-safety)
As the threat from transnational terrorist groups dwindles, the United States also faces few
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Beijing will continue to prefer a strong United States to a weak one.

Chances of conflict are low—-too many mitigating factors

Maral Margossian 3-27-14, Collegian columnist, "Five reasons why Russia won’t start World War III," The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, dailycollegian.com/2014/03/27/five-reasons-why-russia-wont-start-world-war-iii/
The recent events in Eastern Europe involving Russia and Ukraine have spawned, at their
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escalating to a great war are slim — assuming these countries act rationally.

North Korea rhetoric means nothing – they would lose and conflict empirically doesn’t escalate or draw in

Cox and Murray 13 – Professor of Political Science at the School of Advanced Military Studies, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Professor of political science at University of Alberta, Ph.D (Dan G. and Robert W., Crazy, Irrational, or Under Pressure? Why War with North Korea is Unlikely, e-international relations, 4-21-2013, http://www.e-ir.info/2013/04/21/crazy-irrational-or-under-pressure-why-war-with-north-korea-is-unlikely/)
There is little doubt that when discussing the ongoing tension on the Korean Peninsula,
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launch ultimately failed after a short flight, it was justifiably provocative nonetheless.

Manufacturing industry resilient – technological innovation

Engler 09 (John, the former three-term governor of Michigan, is president of the National Association of Manufacturers, the nation’s largest industrial trade association. "Forging A Second American Century," Forbes, May 28th, 2009, http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/27/john-engler-manufacturing-business-america.html EH)

The 20th Century is often called the American Century, marking the U.S
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no reason to accept–or expect–a second-rate status.

US air power is light years ahead – Marines, Army, and Air Force are unmatched

Carpenter 2008 ~US Air Force Colonel and Brigadier General of the Air Force Quadrennial Defense Review Division, respectively ~Mace Carpenter and David Deputla, "Aerospace nations; Invest in improving the Air Force," The Washington Times, 2-21-2008, LexisNexis~NR

We are an aerospace nation in many ways. Our commercial air arm towers over
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, we must preserve our capability to preempt, defend and rapidly respond. 

US-Mexico relations strong now – active coop on border, environmental, natural resource, security, and economic issues

Grobe 2/18 (Dr. Stefan, one of the lead presenters and most familiar correspondents of Europe’s most watched news channel, Euronews, using sources in the US State Department and the IMF, "The US and Mexico – a strong but difficult relationship", Euronews, February 18^th, 2014, http://www.euronews.com/2014/02/18/the-us-and-mexico-a-strong-but-difficult-relationship/) RL

The scope of US-Mexican relations is broad and goes beyond diplomatic and official
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. Mexico is the seventh fastest growing investor country in the United States.

1NR

patent reform solves biopharamceuticals

Feldman 3-28 (Feldman is a professor of Law, Harry 26 Lillian Hastings Chair, and director of the Institute for Innovation Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law. "Next patent troll victims: Pharma and bio?" 3/28/14. http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/judicial/201945-next-patent-troll-victims-pharma-and-bio)

Conventional wisdom has always held that bio and pharma are safe from patent trolling.
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the activity before it becomes deeply entrenched and before too much harm occurs.

that solves bioterror

Bailey, 1 ~Ronald, award-winning science correspondent for Reason magazine and Reason.com, where he writes a weekly science and technology column. Bailey is the author of the book Liberation Biology: The Moral and Scientific Case for the Biotech Revolution (Prometheus, 2005), and his work was featured in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2004. In 2006, Bailey was shortlisted by the editors of Nature Biotechnology as one of the personalities who have made the "most significant contributions" to biotechnology in the last 10 years. 11/7/1, "The Best Biodefense," Reason, http://reason.com/archives/2001/11/07/the-best-biodefense~~

 But Cipro and other antibiotics are just a small part of the arsenal that could one day soon be deployed in defending America against biowarfare. Just consider what’s in the pipeline now that could be used to protect Americans against infectious diseases, including bioterrorism. A Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Research Association survey found 137 new medicines for infectious diseases in drug company research and development pipelines, including 19 antibiotics and 42 vaccines.
With regard to anthrax, instead of having to rush a sample to a lab where it takes hours or even days to culture, biotech companies have created test strips using antibody technologies that can confirm the presence of anthrax in 15 minutes or less, allowing decontamination and treatment to begin immediately. Similar test strips are being developed for the detection of smallpox as well.
The biotech company EluSys Therapeutics is working on an exciting technique which would "implement instant immunity." EluSys joins two monoclonal antibodies chemically together so that they act like biological double-sided tape. One antibody sticks to toxins, viruses, or bacteria while the other binds to human red blood cells. The red blood cells carry the pathogen or toxin to the liver for destruction and return unharmed to the normal blood circulation.
In one test, the EluSys treatment reduced the viral load in monkeys one million-fold in less than an hour. The technology could be applied to a number of bioterrorist threats, such as dengue fever, Ebola and Marburg viruses, and plague. Of course, the EluSys treatment would not just be useful for responding to bioterrorist attacks, but also could treat almost any infection or poisoning.
Further down the development road are technologies that could rapidly analyze a pathogen’s DNA, and then guide the rapid synthesis of drugs like the ones being developed by EluSys that can bind, or disable, segments of DNA crucial to an infectious organism’s survival. Again, this technology would be a great boon for treating infectious diseases and might be a permanent deterrent to future bioterrorist attacks.
Seizing Bayer’s patent now wouldn’t just cost that company and its stockholders a little bit
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they couldn’t be sure of earning enough profits to pay back their costs.
Consider what happened during the Clinton health care fiasco, which threatened to impose price
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, America’s best biodefense is a vital and profitable pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. 

Patent trolls prevent internet innovation

Dawson 13 – cofounder of the Internet Infrastructure Coalition (Christian, 6/5, http://www.i2coalition.com/patent-trolls-hurt-internet-freedom/)
I come from the open source world, which has been the most innovative space
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. We cannot continue to make it legal for them to do so.

Extinction

Eagleman 10 – ~David Eagleman is a  neuroscientist at Baylor College of Medicine, where he directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action and the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law and author of Sum (Canongate). Nov. 9, 2010, " Six ways the internet will save civilization,"
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/12/start/apocalypse-no~~
Many great civilisations have fallen, leaving nothing but cracked ruins and scattered genetics.
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of tweeting or the decline of face-to-face conversation, you

Only legislative fixes solve trolls—-there is an impact

Gary Shapiro 3-26, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, 3/26/14, "Senate should finish off the patent trolls," http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/technology/201701-senate-should-finish-off-the-patent-trolls
Essentially, this is an economic issue. Patent lawsuits are incredibly simple and inexpensive
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patent troll plague once and for all, and allow innovators to thrive.

100 of aff evidence is about the committee vote – not the floor vote.  There have been delays in the committee but they’ve already reached a compromise but didn’t have time to vote on it before the recess.  The bill is now at the top of the docket and will pass committee next week

Freeland 4/17/14 (Stephen, "Senate postpones vote on patent reform bill until after recess"
http://www.essentialpatentblog.com/2014/04/senate-postpones-vote-on-patent-reform-bill-until-after-recess/
A statement released by Senator Leahy, the Committee’s Chairman and the sponsor of the
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-suit notification that fails to set forth claimant’s infringement allegations with particularity.

Second – their evidence doesn’t account for Obama’s sustained leadership on a floor vote – which brings it over the finish line

Hattem 3/5/14 (Julian, "Congress gets out club for patent ’trolls’" The Hill, http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/199954-lawmakers-look-to-push-patent-troll-bill)
Proponents of a bill to prevent patent "trolls" from harassing businesses are increasingly
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on board, according to Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.).

Negotiations between the White House and Senate Democrats are boosting Democratic support for a compromise on fee shifting – that’s key to getting a final bill to pass a full Senate vote

Tummarello 4/13/14 (Kate, The Hill, "Leahy walks tightrope on Senate patent bill"
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/203395-leahy-walks-tightrope-on-senate-patent-bill
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is hoping to advance
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are senators. What they do is cut deals," the lobbyist said.

Our uniqueness factors in current controversy – only new issues can derail the chance of passage

Bauman, 3/26/14 - Editor in Chief- Silicon Valley Business Journal (Greg, "More Silicon Valley CEOs hit D.C. seeking curbs on patent trolls as immigration and tax reform remain elusive" http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/03/26/more-silicon-valley-ceos-hit-d-c-seeking-curbs-on.html?page=all) Guardino = head of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Other issues lie within closer reach.
"We have never been so close to passing meaningful patent troll reform," Guardino said. "For us, that’s important. Other issues aren’t as far along as that one."
The Leadership Group is seeking higher pleading standards that would dissuade patent trolls from filing frivolous suits, shifting of legal fees to plaintiffs of spurious suits, improved records as to who owns patents, and protection against suits for companies that use technologies that are the subject of patent claims, according to briefing document prepared by the organization.
The Silcion Valley Leadership Group divides its lobbying force of executives into small groups and has scheduled 64 meetings with legislators, including 16 with senators, according to briefing documents. The event is sponsored by a group of companies that includes SAP, Microsoft Corp., Verizon, AT26T and Virgin America. Participants pay a fee.
Guardino said his group’s lobbying has yielded results in the past, including the government decision to place a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in San Jose and funding for the extension of Bay Area Rapid Transit south toward the city.
"While many would think advocating in D.C. is like watching grass grow, we have actually seen crops harvested on these trips," he said, noting that securing the PTO’s location took 5 ½ years.
The delegation, led by Leadership Group chairman Steve Berglund, CEO of Trimble Navigation, and Vice Chairman Greg Becker, president at Silicon Valley Bank, is visiting a Congress on the mend. It has emerged from brinksmanship between the Democrats and Republicans that led to a government shutdown from Oct. 1 through Oct. 16.
Still, with senate seats in play for the Nov. 4 election, posturing and defensive tactics may mean the window is closing on more controversial issues this year.

Bipartisan Compromise will be similar to the house bill – includes fee shifting

Pappas 4/24 (Peter C, Rollcall News, "The Senate and Patent Reform: The Time Is Now | Commentary," 2014, http://www.rollcall.com/news/the_senate_and_patent_reform_the_time_is_now_commentary-232363-1.html?pos=oopih)

Recently, word from the Senate Judiciary Committee is that negotiators have reached a bipartisan
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when innovation is such a critical driver of economic growth and global competitiveness.

Winners don’t win and PC theory is true

Todd Eberly is coordinator of Public Policy Studies and assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. His email is teeberly@smcm.edu. This article is excerpted from his book, co-authored with Steven Schier, "American Government and Popular Discontent: Stability without Success," to published later this year by Routledge Press., 1-21-2013 http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-01-21/news/bs-ed-political-capital-20130121_1_political-system-party-support-public-opinion/2

As Barack Obama prepares to be sworn in for the second time as president of
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the current president’s mind today as he takes his second oath of office.

Uniquely true of second term presidents

Bert Atkinson Jr., Independent Review Journal, 3-12-2031 http://www.ijreview.com/2013/03/41467-love-affair-ending-obamas-political-capital-declining/

The second term is notoriously tough for two term candidates. Clinton had a little
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, you’ve got some issues. (Looking at you, Chris Matthews.)

Presidential leadership shapes the agenda

Kuttner 11 (Robert, Senior Fellow – Demos and Co-editor – American Prospect, "Barack Obama’s Theory of Power," The American Prospect, 5-16, http://prospect.org/cs/articles?article=barack_obamas_theory_of_power) ~GREEN~

As the political scientist Richard Neustadt observed in his classic work, Presidential Power,
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well, all of this signals leadership that often moves the public agenda.
 

Budget concerns delay the aff and drain capital
Puig 13 — columnist for the Mexican newspaper Milenio and the anchor of the television show En 15 (Carlos Puig, International Herald Tribune, 06-05-2013, "Toeing the Line", http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/05/toeing-the-line/?_r=0, Accessed 07-31-2013 | AK)

In 2011, the U.S. and Mexican governments agreed to revamp border
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for the border crossings, the allocation is still under discussion in Congress.

Spending ensures it’s a fight—-permitting requirements postpone the aff—-the link turns case

Reilly 13 — reporter at Federal Times (Sean Reilly, Federal Times, 03-06-2013, "Private investors sought for border infrastructure", http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130306/DEPARTMENTS03/303060009/Private-investors-sought-border-infrastructure, Accessed 07-31-2013 | AK)

Cross-border trade is booming, but federal building money to expand and enhance border crossings has dried up.
In response, a spate of proposals aim to leverage private funding to make up the difference, particularly along the U.S.-Mexico border.
The Department of Homeland Security has created a task force to look at ways to
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the package obtained by USA Today, a sister paper of Federal Times.
On a separate track, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, in
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on desks in Washington for decades," Cornyn said in a news release.
Customs and Border Protection estimates it would take some 246 billion to fully modernize its ports of entry, which are more than 40 years old on average and lack the capacity to handle steadily growing traffic volumes.
But as lawmakers crack down on federally funded construction, ports of entry projects have gotten no money from GSA’s Public Buildings Fund since 2010, according to numbers provided by the Texas Border Coalition, an advocacy group.
"We think it’s a big deal," John Cook, mayor of El Paso, Texas, and a backer of Cornyn’s bill, said in a phone interview. "Our No. 1 economic driver is international trade. Anything we can do to enhance and protect it is in our best interest."
There are no rules forbidding public-private partnerships, said Chris Wilson, a trade expert at the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "It’s more a matter of creating a stable legal framework that everyone can refer to."
One example of how this could work is underway along the California-Mexico border, where a group of investors have government approval to build an enclosed pedestrian bridge from San Diego to the Tijuana airport. In return for paying a toll, users will be able avoid traffic tie-ups elsewhere along the border. The walkway is scheduled to open next year.
Congress has yet to act on any specific legislation to spur similar endeavors. And even if it does, permitting requirements and other hurdles means that new projects probably won’t take off for five more years, Wilson said.

Countries will cooperate over food

Burger et al. 10 -Development Economics, Corresponding author, Wageningen University (Kees, "Governance of the world food system and crisis prevention" http://www.stuurgroepta.nl/rapporten/Foodshock-web.pdf ) SQR
Both European water and agricultural policies are based on the belief that there will always
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al. 2008: 512, Boin et al. 2008: 406).

Tournament: Glenbrooks | Round: 4 | Opponent: St Paul Central | Judge: 

Text: The United States Federal government should prohibit the terror list.

Removing Cuba from the terrorist list only increases the credibility of the list

Levy 11 (Arturo Lopez-Levy, Lecturer and Doctoral Candidate at the Josef Korbel School of International Affairs at the University of Denver, received the Leonard Marks Essay Award of the American Academy of Diplomacy, masters degree from Columbia in International Affairs, "A Call for Cuba’s Removal from the List of State Sponsers of Terrorism", Center for International policy/Latin American Working Group, 12/1/11, http://www.lawg.org/storage/documents/Cuba/lawg_cip_dec_2011.pdf) 

So, let me discuss the first issue, why including Cuba on the terrorist
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countries or entities such as Iran whose presence on the list is justified.

We must escape the bounds of state-sponsored terrorism discourse – strengthening the terror list construction turns all of case

1AC Jackson 9 (Richard Jackson is Reader in the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University, and a Senior Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Contemporary Political Violence (CSRV). He is the founding editor of the journal, Critical Studies on Terrorism, Critical Studies on Terrorism, Volume 1 Issue 3, "The ghosts of state terror: knowledge, politics and terrorism studies")

Related to these broader normative and ideological effects, the treatment of state terrorism ¶
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which ignore the involvement in state?sponsorship by ¶ Western states themselves.