Tournament: Tahoma | Round: 3 | Opponent: Gig Harbor | Judge: Rowe
NAFTA Bad Aff

1NC
Interpretation - Engagement requires DIRECT talks – means both governments must be involved
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=1and

PRESIDENT OBAMA will have a hard time achieving
…….
The goal of engagement is to change the other country’s perception of its own interests and realistic options and, hence, to modify its policies and its behavior.

Severs “United States” – means all 3 branches have to act- they use Canada too-
Princeton University WordNet 1997, http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=united20states, accessed May 25, 2001

united states: 2
…..
 federal government of the US 

The plan must cause the next measure of economic engagement to be greater than the current one – means that the increase hast to be immediate
Rogers 5 Judge, STATE OF NEW YORK, ET AL., PETITIONERS v. U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY, RESPONDENT, NSR MANUFACTURERS ROUNDTABLE, ET AL., INTERVENORS, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 12378, ; 60 ERC (BNA) 1791, 6/24, lexis
 48  Statutory Interpretation. HN16While the CAA defines a "modification
…….
, not the value of the car five or ten years ago when the engine was in perfect condition.  

Aff is “human rights engagement”
Wikileaks 9
(Leaked USAID Cable Transfer, “UZBEKISTAN INDICATES AREAS WHERE HUMAN RIGHTS PROGRESS IS POSSIBLE,” http://www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/09TASHKENT395_a.html)//BB
9.  (SBU) While Uzbek officials did not accept all recommendations ¶ made by UNHR member states at the UPR, they accepted several ¶ substantive recommendations in key human rights areas. In the
……
Engagement is much ¶ more likely to produce results than sanctions and isolation. ¶ NORLAND

1NC
Specifications are key in the context of engagements – vagueness makes it impossible to predict affs
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 and POLITICS VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 (2010), http://versita.metapress.com/content/0w3157n438689417/fulltext.pdf)

The concept of engagement has different interpretations in the sphere of international relations
….
is of a certain state?s foreign policy during the particular period, when engagement dominated, can be detected.

1NC Mexico

Mexican violence against women and gender discrimination is increasing- lack institutional is the root cause
Amnesty International, 12
(Amnesty International, 7/11/12, Amnesty International, “Mexico fails to tackle increased levels of violence against women,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/mexico-fails-tackle-increased-levels-violence-against-women-2012-07-11, Accessed: 9/9/13, LPS.)

¶ The Mexican authorities have failed to protect women from increasing levels of violence and discrimination or to ensure those responsible face justice,
…..
. Much of the problem, however, lies in the lack of effective implementation of these laws and the weakness of the institutions,” said Rupert Knox.

Lack of institutional compliance leads to mass violence, rape, murder, indigenous genocide, and further systemic injustice
Amnesty International, 12
(Amnesty International, 7/11/12, Amnesty International, “Mexico fails to tackle increased levels of violence against women,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/mexico-fails-tackle-increased-levels-violence-against-women-2012-07-11, Accessed: 9/9/13, LPS.)

Amnesty International’s submission details some of the areas in which the
….
“The Mexican authorities, led by both the actual and new government to take office in December, must move to implement commitments to protect women's rights to end abuses and impunity,” s id Rupert Knox.

1NC
The affirmatives attempts to access education through the topic and apply multi-culturism to the region lead to further “Amer

Tournament: Fullerton | Round: 2 | Opponent: Claremont | Judge: Clark
1
A. Interpretation - Economic Engagement is conditional
Helweg, Professor of Public Policy @ SMU, 2000 (Diana, Economic Strategy and National Security, p. 145) 

Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright has argued that
….

it is a variation of the traditional carrot and stick approach rather than one or the other.
1NC Cuba

1NC Cuba

Paramilitary human rights abuses account for the number one violence against women in Cuba
Peterson, 12
(Sabina, Special Contributer, 3/26/12, The Human Rights Brief, “Attacks on Women Human Rights Defenders in Cuba,” http://hrbrief.org/2012/03/attacks-on-women-human-rights-defenders-in-cuba/, Accessed: 9/11/13, LPS.)

On Friday, March 23, 2012, during the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) 144th session, three Cuban women served as petitioners, opposing a silent bench with empty chairs
……
Cuba are women who have been fighting for their rights.

The affs Gendered structured view of international relations and politics culminate in environmental destruction, nuclear war, and extinction
Tickner 1992
(J. Ann Tickner, Professor of International Relations at USC. Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security. 1992, http://www.ciaonet.org/book/tickner/)
In the modern West, women's activities have typically been associated with a devalued world of reproduction and maintenance
…..

They will be valued in the public realm only when men participate equally in the private realm in tasks associated with maintenance and responsibility for child rearing. If we are to move toward a more secure future, what we value in the public
1NC
Economic engagement demonstrates a drive to control ‘uncivilized’ countries – this justifies further attempts to Americanize already independent countries
People’s Daily, 63
(People’s Daily, October 22, 1963, Foreign languages Press, “Apologists Of Neo-Colonialism”, http://www.marxists.org/subject/china/documents/polemic/neocolon.htm, Accessed 7/5/13, IGM) 

The facts are clear.
….
This neo-colonialism is a more pernicious and sinister form of colonialism.

Shohat, Professor of Cultural Studies at New York University and Stam, French University Professor at New York University, 97
(Ella, Professor of Cultural Studies at New York University, and has taught, lectured and written extensively on issues having to do with Eurocentrism and Orientalism, and Robert, Robert Stam is University Professor at New York University, where he teaches about the French New Wave filmmakers. Stam has published widely on French literature, comparative literature, and on film topics such as film history and film theory, 1997, Routledge, “Unthinking Eurocentrism,” http://www.google.com/url?sa=tandrct=jandq=andesrc=sandsource=webandcd=2andsqi=2andved=0CDkQFjABandurl=http3A2F2Fwww.csus.edu2Findiv2Fo2Fobriene2Fart1122Freadings2FUnthinkingEurocentrismIntroduction.rtfandei=0v7VUcj6C8agigLbt4FIandusg=AFQjCNGzs72xcKKnpIfpEkBPsIhMONn0eQandsig2=6WnFAZPF8pes3AW7uu-HLwandbvm=bv.48705608,d.cGE, Accessed: 7/4/13, LPS.)

Eurocentrism first emerged as a discursive rationale for colonialism, the process by which the European powers reached positions of hegemony in much of the world.
……
"holds a monopoly on beauty, intelligence, and strength." 

Baker, Professor of Education and Human Development at the University of Rochester, 12
(Michael, Professor at the Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, October 31 - November 4, 2012, American Educational Studies Association, Annual Conference Seattle, Washington, “Decolonial Education: Meanings, Contexts, and Possibilities,” http://academia.edu/3266939/Decolonial_Education_Meanings_Contexts_and_Possiblities, Accessed: 7/7/13, LPS.)

¶ What do decoloniality and decolonial education mean
……
  European Renaissance universities, for example, were soon transplanted across the Atlantic that had no relation to the languages and histories of the native peoples.  

1NC

Removal from the Terror List is a pre-req-The list carries severe economic repercussions—prevents financial aid, trade, and sovereign im

Tournament: Alta | Round: Doubles | Opponent: Denver School or Arts and Science | Judge: Montreuil, Uncle Jimmy, Conklin
T-
Specifications are key in the context of engagements – vagueness makes it impossible to predict affs
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 and POLITICS VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2 (2010), http://versita.metapress.com/content/0w3157n438689417/fulltext.pdf)

The concept of engagement has different interpretations in the sphere of international relations.
….
– in studies of international relations only the analysis of a certain state?s foreign policy during the particular period, when engagement dominated, can be detected.

1NC

1.  “United States Federal Government should” means the debate is solely about the outcome of a policy established by governmental means
   Ericson, California Polytechnic Dean Emeritus, 03
   (Jon M., 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,
…..
affirmative side in such a debate is to offer sufficient and compelling reasons for an audience to perform the future action that you propose.
2. Roleplaying is good and key to in-depth political knowledge – the process of debating politics and counterplans is key
Zwarensteyn, Grand Valley State Masters’ student, 12
Ellen C., 8-1-2012 “High School Policy Debate as an Enduring Pathway to Political Education: Evaluating Possibilities for Political Learning” http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034andcontext=theses accessed: 7/5/13 EYS

The first trend to emerge concerns how
…..

often acknowledge their relative dismay with television news and traditional outlets of news media as superficial outlets for information.
3. That turns the aff – focusing on the details and inner-workings of government

Tournament: ASU | Round: 2 | Opponent: Damien RL | Judge: Some Random Kurten-somthing from DV
1nc

Economic engagement requires a quid pro quo
Shinn 96 James Shinn, C.V. Starr Senior Fellow for Asia at the CFR in New York City and director of the council’s multi-year Asia Project, worked on economic affairs in the East Asia Bureau of the US Dept of State, “Weaving the Net: Conditional Engagement with China,” pp. 9 and 11, google books
In sum, conditional engagement consists of a set of objectives, a strategy for attaining those objectives, and tactics (specific policies) for implementing that strategy
….
 the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and transnational problems such as crime and illegal migration, by engaging in arms control negotiations, multilateral efforts, and a loosely-structured defensive military arrangement in Asia.8

1NC
Mexican maquila employees suffer from a fatal indifference – corporations care more about rapid production of goods, and workers are treated as insignificant cogs in the wheels of production.
Arriola - visited several border towns and met privately with mostly female workers - 7 Elvia R., Professor of Law - NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, Seattle Journal for Social Justice, Vo. 5, Issue 2, Spring/Summer

Claudia Ivette-González might still be alive if her employers had not turned her away. The 20-year-old resident of Ciudad Juárez-
….
. It is a policy that doesn't give a damn about workers. The workers, after all, are only an insignificant cog in the wheel of production.

The affs Gendered structured view of international relations and politics culminate in environmental destruction, nuclear war, and extinction
Tickner 1992
(J. Ann Tickner, Professor of International Relations at USC. Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security. 1992, http://www.ciaonet.org/book/tickner/)
In the modern West
…..
They will be valued in the public realm only when men participate equally in the private realm in tasks associated with maintenance and responsibility for child rearing. If we are to move toward a more secure future, what we value in the public

1NC
State sovereignty is over; Empire is the new transnational form of rule characterized by globalization and economic integration.  The affirmative aligns with Empire, submerging borders beneath the subjective engagements of international economic forces.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. xi-xiii
Empire is materializing before our very eyes
….
the creation of wealth tends ever more toward what we will call biopolitical production, the production of social life itself, in which the economic, the political, and the cultural increasingly overlap and invest one another.

Imperial power constrains national sovereignty through atomic weapons and capitalist domination; the intertwining of economic production and police force is finally the inversion of power against life, the end-point of biopolitics.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. 345-46
Imperial control operates through three global
….
as the "non-place" of life, or, in other words, as the absolute capacity for destruction. Empire is the ultimate form of biopower insofar as it is the absolute inversion of the power of life.
Don’t be seduced by the particularity of the plan text—view their plan as a specific act of Empire that reveals the entire network of economic production and regulatory authority. Sovereignty operates by masking its own violence—don’t fall for 2AC mystification.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. 210-212
This recognition takes us back to the initial question: What does it mean to be republican today? We have already seen that
….
Today the generalized being-against of the multitude must recognize imperial sovereignty as the enemy and discover the adequate means to subvert its power. 

1NC

Unemployment benefits will pass- bi-part support-
Kane, 1/9
(Paul, overs Congress and politics for the Washington Post, 1/9/14, The Washington Post, “Senators debate extension of unemployment benefits,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senators-debate-extension-of-unemployment-benefits/2014/01/08/73723aa8-78b6-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html, Accessed: 1/9/14, LPS.)

¶ The Senate on Wednesday haggled over competing proposals to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless,
…..
His plan would bring an estimated $5.4 billion in savings, almost enough to match the short-term extension of unemployment benefits. “I’m hopeful we’ll be able to make progress on this,” Portman said.

PC key to unemployment deal- Obama push now-
Associated Press, 12/21
(Associated Press, 12/21/13, UPI, “Obama: Progress in 2014 depends of Congress,” http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/12/21/Obama-Progress-in-2014-depends-of-Congress/UPI-28521387623600/, Accessed: 12/25/13, LPS.)

¶ WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday urged Congress to extend unemployment
….
"And if Congress continues to act in the spirit of cooperation we've seen in recent weeks, I'm confident we can make much more progress together in the year to come," the president said.¶ Topics: Barack Obama

Congressional opposition to Mexico infrastructure legislation—Bush Administration proves
Farah, founder, editor, and CEO of Creators News Service, 06
Joseph, July 13, 2006, “Cornyn wants U.S. taxpayers to fund Mexican development”, http://www.wnd.com/2006/07/36998/, accessed 7-8-13 BLE

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has quietly introduced a bill to create a “North American Investment Fund”
….
and to improve job training and workforce development for high-growth industries.” As WND reported recently, opposition is mounting to similar programs, including President Bush’s North American Security and Prosperity Partnership.

Unemployment is the largest stimuli for the economy- we hold the best internal-
Roberts, 12/23
(Dan, the Guardian's Washington Bureau chief, covering politics and US national affairs, 12/23/13, “The Guardian, Expiration of unemployment benefits threatens US recovery, adviser warns,” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/us-unemployment-benefits-expiration-economy, Accessed: 12/25/13, LPS.)

The expiration of benefits for 1.3 million jobless Americans this weekend will exacerbate the worst period of chronic unemployment in post-war history,
….
New Year with a vote on a three-month extension and the resumption of talks about longer-term benefits.

Economic collapse causes global wars and terrorism
Royal ‘10 director of Cooperative Threat Reduction at the U.S. Department of Defense (Jedediah, Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal, and Political Perspectives, pg 213-215)
Less intuitive is how periods of economic decline may increase the likelihood of external conflict.
…..
This implied connection between integration, crises and armed conflict has not featured prominently in the economic-security debate and deserves more attention.

1NC
Internalized oppression is forced upon us, as women when the term “You guys” is used.  It ignores our true identity and enforces the invisibility of femaleness and entrenches the patriarchal hierarchy.
Bilger 02
(Audrey, Woman and gender studies professor, 2002, Transformation and Renvention, Issue 8, “What’s up with “You guys””, 1/5/14, CF)

In “The Ascent of Guy,” a 1999 article in American Speech, Steven J. Clancy writes, “Contrary to everything we might expect because of the pressures of ‘politically correct’ putative language reforms, a new generic noun is developing right before our eyes.” Although Clancy doesn’t take issue with the development (as you could probably guess from his disparaging tone on the whole idea of feminist language reform), his report ought to make us stop and think. During the same decades in which feminist critiques of generic uses of “man” and “he” led to widespread changes in usage-no mean feat-”you guys” became even more widely accepted as an informal and allegedly genderfree phrase. What Clancy concludes is that English contains a “cognitive framework in which strongly masculine words regularly show a development including specifically male meanings (man, he, guy) along with gender nonspecific forms...whereas in English, feminine words do not undergo such changes.” In practice, that is, terms signifying maleness have been more readily perceived as universal than those signifying femaleness. Or, to put it another way, if you call a group of men “you gals,” they’re not going to think you’re just celebrating our common humanity. And this should trouble us. After all, haven’t we been largely pleased by the way the media has worked to adopt at least a semblance of nonsexist language? Newscasters and other public figures make an effort to avoid obviously gender-biased words, and major publications such as the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal do the same. In spite of vocal criticism from those who view such shifts as preposterous, genuine feminist language reform has gained some ground. But as is the case with all advances brought about by feminism and other progressive movements, we need to stay on top of things-or else we may wake up one day to find them gone. This seemingly innocent phrase may be operating like a computer virus, worming its way into our memory files and erasing our sense of why we worry about sexism in language to begin with. Up until a couple of years ago, I used the phrase as much as anyone, and I never gave it a thought. “You guys” sounds casual, friendly, harmless. In Southern California, where I live, it’s positively ubiquitous. When two female friends told me one day that it bothered them to be called “you guys,” my wounded ego began an internal rant: I’m a literature and gender studies professor, I know about language, I spend much of my time teaching and writing against sexism, and here were people whose opinions I valued telling me that I was being patriarchal. Impossible! And then I started listening. I listened first to my own defensive indignation. Clearly, my friends had touched a nerve. Deep down I knew that they were right: Calling women “guys” makes femaleness invisible. It says that man-as in a male person-is still the measure of all things. Once I copped to being in the wrong, I started hearing the phrase with new ears. Suddenly it seemed bizarre to me when a speaker at an academic conference addressed a room full of women as “you guys”; when a man taking tickets from me and some friends told us all to enjoy the show, “you guys”; and on and on. It was as if these speakers were not really seeing what was before their eyes. I experienced a sense of erasure, of invisibility. Alice Walker, a vocal opponent of this usage, recounts how she and filmmaker Pratibha Parmar toured the U.S. supporting the film Warrior Marks and were discouraged to find that in question-and-answer sessions audience members continually referred to them as “you guys.” “Each night, over and over, we told the women greeting us: We are not ‘guys.’ We are women. Many failed to get it. Others were amused. One woman amused us, she had so much difficulty not saying ‘you guys’ every two minutes, even after we’d complained” (from “Becoming What We’re Called,” in 1997’s Anything We Love Can Be Saved ). Because it took me the better part of a year to eradicate this usage from my own speech, and after hearing friends-whom I’ve encouraged to follow suit-apologize when they slip back into it, I feel like I understand the problem from the inside out. Most of us are familiar with the idea of internalized oppression, the subtle process by which members of disenfranchised groups come to accept their own lesser status. We need to recognize that accepting “guys” as a label for girls and women is a particularly insidious example of that process.

China
No impact-China is already filling in the gaps-transition will be peaceful
Grudgings, 10/6
(Stuart, Special Southeast Asia correspondent/ Head of News, Malaysia, Rueters, 10/6/13, “As Obama's Asia 'pivot' falters, China steps into the gap,” http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/06/us-asia-usa-china-idUSBRE99501O20131006, Accessed: 10/12/13, LPS.)

Since 2011, China has consolidated its position as the largest trade partner with most Asian countries
…..
China's military diplomacy with Southeast Asia is rapidly evolving as it takes steps to promote what Beijing describes as its "peaceful rise".

No risk of Asian war – stability now
Desker 8 6/25, *Barry Desker: dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, NTU and writes for The Strait Times, “Why war is unlikely in Asia,” http://www.asiaone.com/News/the2BStraits2BTimes/Story/A1Story20080625-72716.html, AJ
THE Asia-Pacific region is both a zone
….
rather than disruptive or revolutionary - innovation and change.  War in the Asia-Pacific is unlikely. But the emergence of East Asia, especially China, will require adjustments by the West, just as Asian societies had to adjust to Western norms and values during the American century. 

No competition- US China can cooperate in Mexico
Peters, Hearn, Shaiken, all journalists for the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, 13
Enrique, Adrian, Harley, 2013, Shanghai Institute for International Studies, “US-Mexico-China Relations in the Context of Regional Cooperation”, http://en.siis.org.cn/index.php?m=contentandc=indexanda=showandcatid=15andid=87, accessed 7/9/13, JA

The psychology, though understandable,
…
the three countries may cooperate more actively with each other and achieve an all-win outcome through the interactions.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing not key to deterrence
Reich 09 (Robert B., former U.S. Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. His latest book is Supercapitalism, “Manufacturing Jobs Are Never Coming Back,” May 28th, 2009, Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/28/robert-reich-manufacturing-business-economy.html EH)

Others argue we need
….
American consumers and taxpayers. I just don’t get how those costs could possibly be justified.

Non-unique – Mexican Manufacturing and energy ties are already strong
Energy and Capital 7/5/13
Justin Williams, Staff writer, July 5th 2013, “U.S. Natural Gas Fuels Mexican Manufacturing,” http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/us-natural-gas-fuels-mexican-manufacturing/3596, Accessed 7/10/13, CB 

U.S. natural gas is shaping up to be a very important competitive advantage for manufacturers to the south. U.S.
….

and its energy costs are significantly higher, making it almost impossible for the Eastern nation to battle with Mexico for U.S. positioning.to open up for more business to the south. 

Aerospace high now- Innovations
Aeronautical University ’11 “Center for Aviation and Aerospace Leadership Concludes Successful and Collaborative Manufacturing Summit”, 2011, http://worldwide.erau.edu/why-worldwide/news/center-for-aviation-and-aerospace-leadership-concludes-successful-and-collaborative-manufacturing-summit.html

As each presentation and panel discussion concluded, two recurring themes presented themselves and became the clear call to action for the industry. First, the aviation and
…
America’s brightest and most talented young minds. Aviation and aerospace are the backbone of the U.S. export economy. 

Air power ineffective – empirics
Mueller, 10 (Karl P., senior political scientist at RAND Corporation, adjunct associate professor in the Security Studies Program, Georgetown University, 2010, “Air Power,” RAND Corporation, http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/2010/RAND_RP1412.pdf, AJ)
Strategic bombing campaigns failed to produce the sort of rapid, decisive results originally envisioned by many of their proponents
….
 strategic attack today are in many respects not fundamentally different from those needed for other types of air campaigns. 

The impacts of bioweapons are overblown – current investment solves and no extinction
Macfarlane, MIT Security Studies Program, 5
Allison, 2005, MIT Center for International Studies, “All Weapons of Mass Destruction Are Not Equal”, http://web.mit.edu/cis/pdf/Audit_6_05_Macfarlane.pdf, pg. 2  accessed 7-10-13, HG

Some experts consider biological and?nuclear weapons to be the “true”
…..
At this time, there is simply not enough data to suggest that biological weapons should occupy the same policy category as nuclear weapons.

Tech and operational difficulties overwhelm
Mueller ‘6 John Mueller, professor of political science at Ohio State University, Overblown, 2006, p. 24
Not only has the science about chemical and biological weapons been quite sophisticated for more than a century,
….
and poisons still presents serious technological hurdles that greatly inhibit their effective use.” 31
Weapon delivery’s near impossible
Newhouse ‘2 John Newhouse, Senior Fellow at the Center for Defense Information, Former senior policy advisor on European Affairs to secretary of State, Former director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, “The threats America faces,” World Policy Journal, Summer 2002, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6669/is_2_19/ai_n28936779/?tag=content;col1
Temperature, sunlight, wind, and moisture can all prevent effective delivery of chemical weapons. Biological pathogens are living organisms and thus more fragile than chemical agents. Chlorine in the water supply can kill them. Munitions can as easily vaporize an agent as dispense one. If released from a bomb or warhead, explosive effects would destroy all but 1-2 percent of the agent. 31
No bioterror threat
Orent ‘9 Wendy Orent, Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Michigan, leading freelance science writer, and author of Plague: The Mysterious Past and Terrifying Future of the World's Most Dangerous Disease, "America's Bioterror Bugaboo,” LA Times, 7/17/2009
After the anthrax letter attacks of October 2001, the Bush administration pledged $57 billion to keep the nation safe from bioterror. Since then, the
….
, it has turned out, had no active program. And Al Qaeda's rudimentary explorations were interrupted, according to an Army War College report, by the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

Latin American countries aren’t key to hegemony– historic boom-bust economy proves
Bonnor, The Political Bouillon editor-in-chief, 13
(Clara, The Political Bouillon, “No One Cares About Latin America,” 5/14/2013, http://thepoliticalbouillon.com/en/no-one-cares-about-latin-america, AFGA).

How is this possible? How is it that all of the leaders of the Americas, including the most powerful man in the world, Barack Obama
…

 Latin America is a mirage more than a reality or a hope of economic stabilization and growth.

Prolonging transition risks global stability
Farley, University of Kentucky assistant professor of Diplomacy and International Commerce, 3-7-12
(Dr. Robert, World Politics Review, "Over the Horizon: The Future of American Hegemony," http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/11696/over-the-horizon-the-future-of-american-hegemony, accessed 7-6-12, CNM)

What are the dangers? Hegemony has never meant the ability to achieve any outcome the United States wants, whenever it wants.
….

Nothing about the future is guaranteed; wise policies can revise and extend a globally acceptable “American Century,” while foolish policies can cut it short.

Turns the case – Hegemony causes econ collapse, backlash, and foreign overstretch – only retreat is sustainable
Posen, MIT Political Science Professor, 13
Barry R., Jan/Feb 2013, Foreign Affairs, “Pull Back,” Vol. 92, Issue 1, Academic Search Complete, accessed 7/2/13,  WD

Despite a decade of costly and indecisive warfare and mounting fiscal pressures, the long-standing consensus among American policymakers
….

the United States to spend its resources on only the most pressing international threats, it would help preserve the country's prosperity and security over the long run.

Tournament: Alta | Round: 4 | Opponent: George Washington | Judge: Vanluvanee
1NC
Interpretation - Engagement requires DIRECT talks – means both governments must be involved
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=1and

PRESIDENT OBAMA will have a hard time achieving his foreign policy goals until he masters some key terms and better manages the expectations they convey. Given the furor that will surround the news of America’s readiness to hold talks with Iran, he could start with “engagement” — one of the trickiest terms in the policy lexicon The Obama administration has used this term to contrast its approach with its predecessor’s resistance to talking with adversaries and troublemakers. His critics show that they misunderstand the concept of engagement when they ridicule it as making nice with nasty or hostile regimes. Let’s get a few things straight. Engagement in statecraft is not about sweet talk. Nor is it based on the illusion that our problems with rogue regimes can be solved if only we would talk to them. Engagement is not normalization, and its goal is not improved relations. It is not akin to détente, working for rapprochement, or appeasement. So how do you define an engagement strategy? It does require direct talks. There is simply no better way to convey authoritative statements of position or to hear responses. But establishing talks is just a first step. The goal of engagement is to change the other country’s perception of its own interests and realistic options and, hence, to modify its policies and its behavior.

Violation – The affirmative is not engagement – they (use private companies for engagement/engage private companies/use a 3rd party organization)

Reject the team

Limits – not limiting engagement to the 2 governments involved blows the lid off the topic – justifies the involvement of international organizations, non governmental actors, and private companies

Ground – direct engagement with the government is the only stable basis for negative ground – both governments must be involved to gain links to international politics DA’s, explicit QPQ’s, and relations based disadvantages
1NC
The United States Federal Government should remove Cuba from the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism.  

Removal from the Terror List is a pre-req-The list carries severe economic repercussions—prevents financial aid, trade, and sovereign immunity, and medicine exchange
Bender, 13
(Bryan, Globe reporter joined the Globe's Washington Bureau in 2001, covers the US military, global terrorism, the international arms trade, and government secrecy.  2/21/13, The Boston Globe, “Talk grows of taking Cuba off terror list Kerry reviewing policy that could pave way for renewed relation,” http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/02/21/cuba-label-terrorist-state-longer-justified-some-officials-say/CmVFXsVC4M1R1WbHE8lb0H/story.html, Accessed: 9/18/13, LPS.)

A major impediment to normalizing relations with Cuba, according to McGovern and others, is that Cuba has been listed by the State Department each year since 1982 as a sponsor of terrorist groups. Yet that is a view no longer held by a number of senior US officials. Even North Korea, which the Obama administration has criticized for conducting nuclear tests and making threatening comments toward the United States, is not listed as a terrorism sponsor. That contrast is one reason for calls within the State Department to consider taking Cuba off the list.
“There is a pretty clear case . . . that they don’t really meet the standard anymore,” said a senior administration official with direct knowledge regarding US-Cuba policy who was not authorized to speak publicly. “They have neither the wherewithal nor are they doing much.”
In addition to Cuba, the list of terrorist sponsors includes Syria, Sudan, and Iran. Inclusion imposes strict sanctions. For example, it prohibits the United States from selling arms, providing economic assistance, and restricts financial transactions between citizens. Countries that were removed from the list in recent years include North Korea, Libya, and Iraq.
The United States initially cut off diplomatic relations in 1961, and later put in place a trade embargo. Cuba served as a satellite for the Soviet Union and flash point of the Cold War, most famously in 1962 when Russia placed nuclear missiles on the island. The Cuban government also armed and trained Marxist revolutionaries across Latin America and Africa during the 1970s and 1980s.

1NC
The affirmative represents a masculinized attempt to impose security through control – this entrenches gender hierarchies and prevents successful alternatives.
Tickner 1992
(J. Ann Tickner, Professor of International Relations at USC. Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security. 1992, http://www.ciaonet.org/book/tickner/)
In previous chapters I have argued that traditional notions of national security are becoming dysfunctional. The heavy emphasis on militarily defined security, common to the foreign policy practices of contemporary states and to the historical traditions from which these practices draw their inspiration, does not ensure, and sometimes may even decrease, the security of individuals, as well as that of their natural environments. Many forms of insecurity in the contemporary world affect the lives of individuals, including ethnic conflict, poverty, family violence, and environmental degradation; all these types of insecurity can be linked to the international system, yet their elimination has not been part of the way in which states have traditionally defined their national security goals. Previous chapters have also called attention to the extent to which these various forms of military, economic, and ecological insecurity are connected with unequal gender relations. The relationship between protectors and protected depends on gender inequalities; a militarized version of security privileges masculine characteristics and elevates men to the status of first-class citizens by virtue of their role as providers of security. An analysis of economic insecurities suggests similar patterns of gender inequality in the world economy, patterns that result in a larger share of the world's wealth and the benefits of economic development accruing to men. The traditional association of women with nature, which places both in a subordinate position to men, reflects and provides support for the instrumental and exploitative attitude toward nature characteristic of the modern era, an attitude that contributes to current ecological insecurities. This analysis has also suggested that attempts to alleviate these military, economic, and ecological insecurities cannot be completely successful until the hierarchical social relations, including gender relations, intrinsic to each of these domains are recognized and substantially altered. In other words, the achievement of peace, economic justice, and ecological sustainability is inseparable from overcoming social relations of domination and subordination; genuine security requires not only the absence of war but also the elimination of unjust social relations, including unequal gender relations
Gendered structures of international relations and politics culminate in environmental destruction, nuclear war, and extinction
Tickner 1992
(J. Ann Tickner, Professor of International Relations at USC. Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security. 1992, http://www.ciaonet.org/book/tickner/)
In the modern West, women's activities have typically been associated with a devalued world of reproduction and maintenance, while men's have been tied to what have been considered the more elevated tasks of creating history and meaning. Yet all these activities are equally important for human well-being. History and the construction of meaning help us to achieve the kind of security that comes from an understanding of who we are as individuals and as citizens, while reproduction and maintenance are necessary for our survival. In the discourse of international politics, however, our national identities as citizens have been tied to the heroic deeds of warrior-patriots and our various states' successful participation in international wars. This militarized version of national identity has also depended on a devaluation of the identities of those outside the boundaries of the state. Additionally, it has all but eliminated the experiences of women from our collective national memories. A less militarized version of national identity, which would serve us better in the contemporary world where advances in technology are making wars as dangerous for winners as for losers, must be constructed out of the equally valued experiences of both women and men. To foster a more peaceful world, this identity must also rest on a better understanding and appreciation of the histories of other cultures and societies. The multidimensional nature of contemporary insecurities also highlights the importance of placing greater public value on reproduction and maintenance. In a world where nuclear war could destroy the earth and most of its inhabitants, we can no longer afford to celebrate the potential death of hundreds of thousands of our enemies; the preservation of life, not its destruction, must be valued. The elimination of structural violence demands a restructuring of the global economy so that individuals' basic material needs take priority over the desire for profit. An endangered natural environment points to the need to think in terms of the reproduction rather than the exploitation of nature. This ethic of caring for the planet and its inhabitants has been devalued by linking it to the private realm associated with the activities of women; yet caring and responsibility are necessary aspects of all dimensions of life, public and private. They will be valued in the public realm only when men participate equally in the private realm in tasks associated with maintenance and responsibility for child rearing. If we are to move toward a more secure future, what we value in the public realm, including the realm of international politics, should not be so rigidly separated from the values we espouse in the home.
The alternative is to reject the affirmative’s knowledge production in favor of examining politics through a gendered lens—this is a prior question to effective policies
Tickner 1997
(J. Ann Tickner - Professor in the School of International Relations at University of Southern California, President of the International Studies Association, the most respected and widely known scholarly association in this field - Dec., 1997 “You Just Don't Understand: Troubled Engagements between Feminists and IR Theorists” International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 4.)
Many of these issues seem far removed from the concerns of international relations. But, employing bottom-up rather than top-down explanations, feminists claim that the operation of the global economy and states' attempts to secure benefits from it are built on these unequal social relations between women and men which work to the detriment of women's (and certain men's) security. For example, states that successfully compete in attracting multinational corporations often do so by promising them a pool of docile cheap labor consisting of young unmarried women who are not seen as "breadwinners" and who are unlikely to organize to protest working conditions and low wages (Enloe, 1990: 151-76). When states are forced to cut back on government spending in order to comply with structural adjustment programs, it is often the expectation that women, by virtue of their traditional role as care-givers, will perform the welfare tasks previously assumed by the state without remuneration. According to Caroline Moser (1 99 1 : 105), structural adjustment programs dedicated to economic "efficiency" are built on the assumption of the elasticity of women's unpaid labor. In presenting some feminist perspectives on security and some explanations for insecurity, I have demonstrated how feminists are challenging levels of analysis and boundaries between inside and outside which they see, not as discrete constructs delineating boundaries between anarchy and order, but as contested and mutually constitutive of one another. Through a reexamination of the state, feminists demonstrate how the unequal social relations on which most states are founded both influence their external security-seeking behavior and are influenced by it. Investigating states as gendered constructs is not irrelevant to understanding their security- seeking behaviors as well as whose interests are most served by these behaviors. Bringing to light social structures that support war and "naturalize" the gender inequalities manifested in markets and households is not irrelevant for understanding their causes. Feminists claim that the gendered foundations of states and markets must be exposed and challenged before adequate understandings of, and prescriptions for, women's (and certain men's) security broadly defined can be formulated. 

1NC-Terror

National Defense Authorization Act will pass- bi-part support
Coburn, 12/5
(James, Associate Press, 12/5/13, Edmund Sun, “Inhofe supports House version of NDAA bill,” http://www.edmondsun.com/local/x439241025/Inhofe-wants-new-NDAA-bill, Accessed: 12/5/13, LPS.)

The NDAA is voted on each year as part of defense authorization legislation. President Barack Obama said of signing NDAA for 2013 that the bill “authorizes essential support for service members and their families, renews vital national security programs, and helps ensure that the United States will continue to have the strongest military in the world.”
So he worked last week on an NDAA bill with the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the ranking member and chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.s He calls the group, the Big Four.

PC key to pass NDAA
Kouri, 11/30
(Jim, CPP, formerly Fifth Vice-President, is currently a Board Member of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, an editor for ConservativeBase.com, and he's a columnist for Examiner.com. In addition, he's a blogger for the Cheyenne, Wyoming Fox News Radio affiliate KGAB (www.kgab.com). Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty, 11/30/13, The Albany Tribune, “Obama Claims National Security Strategy Will Be Updated?,” http://www.albanytribune.com/30112013-obama-claims-national-security-strategy-will-updatedE2808F/, Accessed: 12/1/13, LPS.)

President Barack Obama on Friday claimed that he and his national security team will update his administration’s National Security Strategy in 2014, according to the White press office.¶ The National Security Strategy was passed as part of a law during the Reagan Administration mandating that the president to would submit an annual strategy.¶ In a letter sent to the chairpersons and members of both houses of the U.S. Congress, Obama stated that he intends to release a new, comprehensive National Security Strategy in early 2014, updating his prior strategy which he released in 2010.¶ President Barack Obama’s security and anti-terrorism advisers had been ordered to remove terms such as “Islamic extremism” from the U.S. National Security Strategy and use the rewritten document to emphasize that the United States doesn’t view Muslim nations “through the lens of terror.”¶ In fact, according to an Examiner news story, a top United States counterterrorism expert, who taught a course that familiarized military officers with the U.S. war against radical Islamists was fired from a military college and had his course removed from the curriculum.¶ Obama noted in his letter that his new strategy will reveal his administration’s national security priorities for the remainder of his second term.¶ Obama stated that he will also submit a broader update on the “whole-of-government implementation plan” in an effort to promulgate his new strategy to all government agencies and personnel.¶ In the White House’s 2010 National Security Strategy, Obama detailed his focus which included U.S. troop withdrawal from Irag; defeating al-Qaeda; and achieving economic recovery at home and abroad.

Even bipartisan energy industry funding triggers backlash and spending fight
Engblom, 12
Andrew Engblom, SNL Financial Editor, SNL Electric Utility Report, October 1, 2012, lexis

The natural gas boom and the impending budgetary shakeout are likely to heavily influence energy policies and politics in the upcoming presidential election, if comments made at a roundtable hosted by the American Petroleum Institute on Sept. 19 are any indication. While both President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, have spoken of their respective "all of the above" energy policies, their differing views on regulation, taxes and markets could lead to vastly different outcomes, panelists said in a discussion meant to preview the candidates' upcoming debates. "The top-level rhetoric is they are both going to say we need it all, but underneath the surface you are going to see very pointed distinctions between the two," said Kyle Isakower, API vice president for economics and regulatory policy. In just the four years since the last presidential election, natural gas production has soared due to the controversial hydraulic fracturing method, the nuclear energy renaissance suffered a body blow from the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster and the coal industry has found itself struggling to survive a one-two punch of cheap gas and new environmental regulations. The renewable energy sector, meanwhile, has gone from an era of plenty to one where it is fighting just to maintain the long-running and generally bipartisan production tax credit for wind generation. Ethanol subsidies have now expired, and the loan guarantees that helped finance thousands of megawatts of new generation have become a political football by the name Solyndra. But even with all this change, the so-called fiscal cliff, including expiring tax credits, could prove the dominant factor in upcoming energy policy. Charles Ebinger, Brookings Institute senior fellow and director of the Energy Security Initiative, said the nation has to deal with an unprecedented, massive and sustained fiscal challenge ahead. He cited a recent article in the Financial Times by Citigroup Inc.'s global head of commodities research, Edward Morse, that made similar comments. "It may be difficult even for those companies that have existing benefits to sustain them under what would be a brutally fought battle," Ebinger said. "When we say that the industry can't give up the oil and gas tax credits, well, who is going to give up food stamps or who is going to give up things that are equally important to other constituencies?" Frank Verrastro, senior vice president and director of the Energy and National Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed. "This tax discussion and the fiscal discussion is going to limit our possibilities," Verrastro said, adding that he is optimistic that the industry can meet upcoming challenges given new resources and technologies that have come online. "Climate change is going to be there, but we just bought ourselves some time." Established versus alternatives With the budget battle brewing, API President and CEO Jack Gerard said, the energy industry should position itself as an answer to the jobs issue instead of simply focusing on industry-specific issues. "Can we tie energy to what the public is focused most on - and that is job creation, economic recovery?" Gerard said. It remains to be seen, though, whether energy will be fighting for funding together as industry or fighting over the energy funding left on the table. "Unfortunately, some of the debate has digressed down to this 'we versus them,'" he said, adding, "We are not on that platform."

Military cuts lead to further vulnerability to a terror attack and no military capabilities to respond-
Edwards-Levy, 8/4
(Ariel, Politics Intern at The Huffington Post ¶ Executive Producer at Annenberg Radio News ¶ Intern for MSNBC Chief Washington Correspondent at NBC News, 8/4/13, The Huffington Post, “Lindsey Graham: Sequestration Could Hurt America's Response To Threats (VIDEO),” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/04/lindsey-graham-america-threats_n_3703824.html, Accessed: 8/14/13, LPS.)

The current major budget cuts known as sequestration could make America less safe in the event of a future terrorist threat, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday.¶ Speaking on CNN's "State of the Union," Graham called the Sunday closure of U.S. embassies in several countries "scary" and said he had been briefed by the vice president on the issue. Embassies will be closed for one day due to an unspecified al Qaeda threat, CBS News reported.¶ Graham said the budget cuts enacted in March are hurting America and could do further damage if they're not reversed.¶ “Al Qaeda’s on the rise in this part of the world, and this NSA program has proven its worth yet again. But we need to reevaluate where we’re at in light of these threats. Sequestration has to be fixed," Graham said.¶ Speaking of the weekend's embassy security threat, Graham said, "If this happens a year from now, our intelligence community and military will be less capable."¶ Despite his criticisms, Graham praised the Obama administration Sunday for taking security threats seriously.¶ “I appreciate what the administration’s doing. They’re taking the right approach to this,” he said of the current closures. “Benghazi was a complete failure ... we’ve learned from Benghazi, thank God, and the administration’s doing this right.”

Terrorist retaliation causes nuclear war – draws in Russia and China
Ayson, Victoria University professor in strategic studies, 10(Robert, Professor of Strategic Studies and Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand at the Victoria University of Wellington, July, “After a Terrorist Nuclear Attack: Envisaging Catalytic Effects,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Volume 33, Issue 7, Available Online to Subscribing Institutions via InformaWorld)

A terrorist nuclear attack, and even the use of nuclear weapons in response by the country attacked in the first place, would not necessarily represent the worst of the nuclear worlds imaginable. Indeed, there are reasons to wonder whether nuclear terrorism should ever be regarded as belonging in the category of truly existential threats. A contrast can be drawn here with the global catastrophe that would come from a massive nuclear exchange between two or more of the sovereign states that possess these weapons in significant numbers. Even the worst terrorism that the twenty-first century might bring would fade into insignificance alongside considerations of what a general nuclear war would have wrought in the Cold War period. And it must be admitted that as long as the major nuclear weapons states have hundreds and even thousands of nuclear weapons at their disposal, there is always the possibility of a truly awful nuclear exchange taking place precipitated entirely by state possessors themselves. But these two nuclear worlds—a non-state actor nuclear attack and a catastrophic interstate nuclear exchange—are not necessarily separable. It is just possible that some sort of terrorist attack, and especially an act of nuclear terrorism, could precipitate a chain of events leading to a massive exchange of nuclear weapons between two or more of the states that possess them. In this context, today’s and tomorrow’s terrorist groups might assume the place allotted during the early Cold War years to new state possessors of small nuclear arsenals who were seen as raising the risks of a catalytic nuclear war between the superpowers started by third parties. These risks were considered in the late 1950s and early 1960s as concerns grew about nuclear proliferation, the so-called n+1 problem. t may require a considerable amount of imagination to depict an especially plausible situation where an act of nuclear terrorism could lead to such a massive inter-state nuclear war. For example, in the event of a terrorist nuclear attack on the United States, it might well be wondered just how Russia and/or China could plausibly be brought into the picture, not least because they seem unlikely to be fingered as the most obvious state sponsors or encouragers of terrorist groups. They would seem far too responsible to be involved in supporting that sort of terrorist behavior that could just as easily threaten them as well. Some possibilities, however remote, do suggest themselves. For example, how might the United States react if it was thought or discovered that the fissile material used in the act of nuclear terrorism had come from Russian stocks,40 and if for some reason Moscow denied any responsibility for nuclear laxity? The correct attribution of that nuclear material to a particular country might not be a case of science fiction given the observation by Michael May et al. that while the debris resulting from a nuclear explosion would be “spread over a wide area in tiny fragments, its radioactivity makes it detectable, identifiable and collectable, and a wealth of information can be obtained from its analysis: the efficiency of the explosion, the materials used and, most important … some indication of where the nuclear material came from.”41 Alternatively, if the act of nuclear terrorism came as a complete surprise, and American officials refused to believe that a terrorist group was fully responsible (or responsible at all) suspicion would shift immediately to state possessors. Ruling out Western ally countries like the United Kingdom and France, and probably Israel and India as well, authorities in Washington would be left with a very short list consisting of North Korea, perhaps Iran if its program continues, and possibly Pakistan. But at what stage would Russia and China be definitely ruled out in this high stakes game of nuclear Cluedo? In particular, if the act of nuclear terrorism occurred against a backdrop of existing tension in Washington’s relations with Russia and/or China, and at a time when threats had already been traded between these major powers, would officials and political leaders not be tempted to assume the worst? Of course, the chances of this occurring would only seem to increase if the United States was already involved in some sort of limited armed conflict with Russia and/or China, or if they were confronting each other from a distance in a proxy war, as unlikely as these developments may seem at the present time. The reverse might well apply too: should a nuclear terrorist attack occur in Russia or China during a period of heightened tension or even limited conflict with the United States, could Moscow and Beijing resist the pressures that might rise domestically to consider the United States as a possible perpetrator or encourager of the attack? Washington’s early response to a terrorist nuclear attack on its own soil might also raise the possibility of an unwanted (and nuclear aided) confrontation with Russia and/or China. For example, in the noise and confusion during the immediate aftermath of the terrorist nuclear attack, the U.S. president might be expected to place the country’s armed forces, including its nuclear arsenal, on a higher stage of alert. In such a tense environment, when careful planning runs up against the friction of reality, it is just possible that Moscow and/or China might mistakenly read this as a sign of U.S. intentions to use force (and possibly nuclear force) against them. In that situation, the temptations to preempt such actions might grow, although it must be admitted that any preemption would probably still meet with a devastating response.

1NC
The affirmative engages with known human rights abusers-— moral duty to shun
Beversluis 89 — Eric H. Beversluis, Professor of Philosophy and Economics at Aquinas College, holds an A.B. in Philosophy and German from Calvin College, an M.A. in Philosophy from Northwestern University, an M.A. in Economics from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Education from Northwestern University, 1989 (“On Shunning Undesirable Regimes: Ethics and Economic Sanctions,” Public Affairs Quarterly, Volume 3, Number 2, April, Available Online to Subscribing Institutions via JSTOR, p. 17-19)
A fundamental task of morality is resolving conflicting interests. If we both want the same piece of land, ethics provides a basis for resolving the conflict by identifying "mine" and "thine." If in anger I want to smash your end page 17 face, ethics indicates that your face's being unsmashed is a legitimate interest of yours which takes precedence over my own interest in expressing my rage. Thus ethics identifies the rights of individuals when their interests conflict. But how can a case for shunning be made on this view of morality? Whose interests (rights) does shunning protect? The shunner may well have to sacrifice his interest, e.g., by foregoing a beneficial trade relationship, but whose rights are thereby protected? In shunning there seem to be no "rights" that are protected. For shunning, as we have seen, does not assume that the resulting cost will change the disapproved behavior. If economic sanctions against South Africa will not bring apartheid to an end, and thus will not help the blacks get their rights, on what grounds might it be a duty to impose such sanctions? We find the answer when we note that there is another "level" of moral duties. When Galtung speaks of "reinforcing … morality," he has identified a duty that goes beyond specific acts of respecting people's rights. The argument goes like this: There is more involved in respecting the rights of others than not violating them by one's actions. For if there is such a thing as a moral order, which unites people in a moral community, then surely one has a duty (at least prima facie) not only to avoid violating the rights of others with one's actions but also to support that moral order. Consider that the moral order itself contributes significantly to people's rights being respected. It does so by encouraging and reinforcing moral behavior and by discouraging and sanctioning immoral behavior. In this moral community people mutually reinforce each other's moral behavior and thus raise the overall level of morality. Were this moral order to disintegrate, were people to stop reinforcing each other's moral behavior, there would be much more violation of people's rights. Thus to the extent that behavior affects the moral order, it indirectly affects people's rights. And this is where shunning fits in. Certain types of behavior constitute a direct attack on the moral order. When the violation of human rights is flagrant, willful, and persistent, the offender is, as it were, thumbing her nose at the moral order, publicly rejecting it as binding her behavior. Clearly such behavior, if tolerated by society, will weaken and perhaps eventually undermine altogether the moral order. Let us look briefly at those three conditions which turn immoral behavior into an attack on the moral order. An immoral action is flagrant if it is "extremely or deliberately conspicuous; notorious, shocking." Etymologically the word means "burning" or "blazing." The definition of shunning implies therefore that those offenses require shunning which are shameless or indiscreet, which the person makes no effort to hide and no good-faith effort to excuse. Such actions "blaze forth" as an attack on the moral order. But to merit shunning the action must also be willful and persistent. We do not consider the actions of the "backslider," the end page 18 weak-willed, the one-time offender to be challenges to the moral order. It is the repeat offender, the unrepentant sinner, the cold-blooded violator of morality whose behavior demands that others publicly reaffirm the moral order. When someone flagrantly, willfully, and repeatedly violates the moral order, those who believe in the moral order, the members of the moral community, must respond in a way that reaffirms the legitimacy of that moral order. How does shunning do this? First, by refusing publicly to have to do with such a person one announces support for the moral order and backs up the announcement with action. This action reinforces the commitment to the moral order both of the shunner and of the other members of the community. (Secretary of State Shultz in effect made this argument in his call for international sanctions on Libya in the early days of 1986.) Further, shunning may have a moral effect on the shunned person, even if the direct impact is not adequate to change the immoral behavior. If the shunned person thinks of herself as part of the moral community, shunning may well make clear to her that she is, in fact, removing herself from that community by the behavior in question. Thus shunning may achieve by moral suasion what cannot be achieved by "force." Finally, shunning may be a form of punishment, of moral sanction, whose appropriateness depends not on whether it will change the person's behavior, but on whether he deserves the punishment for violating the moral order. Punishment then can be viewed as a way of maintaining the moral order, of "purifying the community" after it has been made "unclean," as ancient communities might have put it. Yet not every immoral action requires that we shun. As noted above, we live in a fallen world. None of us is perfect. If the argument implied that we may have nothing to do with anyone who is immoral, it would consist of a reductio of the very notion of shunning. To isolate a person, to shun him, to give him the "silent treatment," is a serious thing. Nothing strikes at a person's wellbeing as person more directly than such ostracism. Furthermore, not every immoral act is an attack on the moral order. Actions which are repented and actions which are done out of weakness of will clearly violate but do not attack the moral order. Thus because of the serious nature of shunning, it is defined as a response not just to any violation of the moral order, but to attacks on the moral order itself through flagrant, willful, and persistent wrongdoing. We can also now see why failure to shun can under certain circumstances suggest complicity. But it is not that we have a duty to shun because failure to do so suggests complicity. Rather, because we have an obligation to shun in certain circumstances, when we fail to do so others may interpret our failure as tacit complicity in the willful, persistent, and flagrant immorality.

Dehumanization is the worst comprehensible impact: it outweighs everything
Montagu and Matson, anthropologist and professor of American Studies, 83
(Ashley and Floyd, “The Dehumanization of Man,” 1983)

This book is concerned with an invisible disease, an affliction of the spirit, which has been ravaging humanity in recent times without surcrease and virtually without resistance, and which has now reached epidemic proportions in the Western world.  The contagion is unknown to science and unreckognized by medicine (pyschiatry aside); yet its wasting symptoms are plain for all to see and its lethal effects are everywhere on display.  It neither kills outright nor inflicts apparent physical harm, yet the extent of its destructive toll is already greater than that of any war, plague, famine, or natural calamity on record-and it's potential damage to the quality of human life and the fabric of civilized society  is beyond calculation.  For that reason the sickness of the soul might well be called the "Fifth horseman of the apocalypse."  It's more conventional name, of course, is dehumanization.

Blackouts
No impact to terrorists or solar storms- The GRID Act is already securing our grid from these threats
Schewe 10 (Phillip Schewe, ISNS, Phys.org, "Plans to Secure Power Grid From Terrorists, Solar Storms", phys.org/news195752582.html, 6/14/10, Accessed 7/18/12, KW)
Electricity is all around us. It lifts elevators, pumps gas, lights rooms, cooks food, and even powers a growing fleet of cars. We generally take the vast electric grid for granted until it turns off. Only then do we realize how important it is. Blackouts owing to technical foul-ups are bad enough, but new hazards, some malicious and some from nature, threaten to create electrical disturbances on an unprecedented scale. New legislation, passed June 9 by the U.S. House of Representatives and referred to the Senate's Energy and Natural Resources committee, hopes to strengthen the grid’s robustness against attacks of many kinds. The immediate aim of the Grid Reliability and Infrastructure Defense Act is to direct the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the main federal agency responsible for electricity matters, to establish security rules for utilities and other energy companies. The GRID Act amends the old power law by recognizing several threats to the grid. One of these is an attack that tampers with grid computer control systems. Some utilities report fending off thousands of such cyber-attacks per day. Another is infrequent but potent geomagnetic storms, which can happen when eruptions of material from the sun send cascades of particles into Earth's atmosphere. These particles can cause beautiful auroral displays ("northern lights"), but can burn out the wiring in orbiting satellites and induce short-lived but large voltage surges in grid equipment on the ground. Past such storms have burned out expensive equipment and left millions in the dark. A carefully detonated nuclear bomb could emit radiation pulses that could do some of the same damage. "The electric grid's vulnerability to cyber and other attacks is one of the single greatest threats to our national security," said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the Energy and Environment subcommittee and one of the sponsors of the bill. "Every one of our nation’s critical systems -- defense, water, healthcare, telecommunications, transportation, law enforcement, and financial services -- depends on the grid. This bipartisan legislation is critical to protecting the United States against this emerging threat." One of the chief fears addressed by the GRID Act is that a major power outage might be long-lasting, especially if critical components were affected. Even "a small disruption in the power supply can wreak havoc on our economy, while an extended blackout of months would be catastrophic," said Rep. Fred Upton, R- Mich., another sponsor of the bill. The GRID Act stipulates that energy companies take more precautions to guard against the highlighted threats. This would include having more spare parts on hand to deal with breakdowns. Transformers, the bulky devices that change electricity from one voltage to another, are particularly vulnerable to disturbances. Companies might pool their resources, and if necessary pass along the cost of extra equipment directly to consumers. The act also creates a category of "protected" technology security information that is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act, the better to foil those who would plan terror attacks on the grid.

Nearly impossible to black out the power grid- hurricanes, physics prove
Brown 10 )Joshua E. Brown, staff writer at the University of Vermont, “Study: It's Hard to Bring Down the Electric Grid”, http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=NewsandstoryID=17119, 10/8/10, Accessed 7/14/12)
An important implication of Hines's work, funded by the National Science Foundation, is that electric grid is probably more secure that many people realize -- because it is so unpredictable. This, of course, makes it hard to improve its reliability (in another line of research, Hines has explored why the rate of blackouts in the United States hasn't improved in decades), but the up-side of this fact is that it would be hard for a terrorist to bring large parts of the grid down by attacking just one small part. "Our system is quite robust to small things failing -- which is very good," he says, "Even hurricanes have trouble taking out power systems. Hurricanes do cause power system failures, but they don't often take out the whole system." Blumsack agrees. "Our paper confirms that it would be possible for somebody who wanted to do something disruptive to the power grid to do so," he says. "A lot of the infrastructure is out in the open," which does create vulnerability to planned attack. "But if you wanted to black out half of the U.S., it will be much more difficult than some of these earlier models imply," he says. "If you were a bad guy, there is no obvious thing to do to take out the power system," Hines says. "What we learned from doing the simulations is that if you take out the biggest substation, with the most flow, you get the biggest failure on average. But there were also a number of cases where, even if you took out the biggest one, you don't get much of a blackout." "It takes an incredible amount of information," he says, "to really figure out how to make the grid fail." 

Impacts to solar flares are empirically denied
Huffington Post 9-7 (Huffington Post, “Solar Flare Unlikely to Cause Problems, National Weather Service Says,” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/07/solar-flare-national-weather-service_n_952946.html)
WASHINGTON -- Forecasters say a new solar flare should provide only a glancing blow on Earth on Friday and is unlikely to cause any problems. The National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center says northern lights may be slightly more visible, but there should be no radio, satellite or electrical grid disruptions. They say the flare that erupted from a sunspot Tuesday is fairly big, but most of it will miss Earth, going far above the planet. Senior forecaster Norm Cohen said the flare should arrive around 1:30 p.m. EDT Friday, but is nothing to worry about.
The coming storm won’t be large and status quo measures solve
Gary 10 (Stuart “Solar max claims 'overstated': expert,” http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/08/27/2995543.htm)
Australia's leading body responsible for monitoring space weather has dismissed claims that a massive solar storm could "wipe out the Earth's entire power grid".  One report quotes an Australian astronomer as saying "the storm is likely to come sooner rather than later".  But Dr Phil Wilkinson, assistant director with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's Ionospheric Prediction Service, says claims that this coming solar maximum will be the most violent in 100 years are not factual.  "All this talk about gloom and doom has selling power, but I'm certain it's overstated," says Wilkinson. "It's going far beyond what's realistic and could be worrying or concerning for people who don't really understand the underlying science behind it all."  "The real message should be that the coming solar maximum period could be equally as hazardous as any other solar maximum."   11-year cycle  The Sun goes through an 11-year solar cycle moving from a period of low activity called solar minimum to a time of heightened activity called solar maximum.  During solar maximum there's an increase in sun spot activity, which are dark patches on the Sun's surface caused by magnetic field lines breaking through from deep below.  Because the Sun isn't a solid object like the Earth, different parts of the Sun rotate at different speeds, which cause these field lines to twist and stretch, eventually snapping like elastic bands.  When they snap they produce an eruption of electromagnetic energy called a solar flare, which can be accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME).  If directed at Earth, charged particles within the CME slam into the magnetosphere, resulting in the northern and southern auroral lights.  Previous CME events have damaged spacecraft, interfered with communications systems and overloaded ground-based power grids. Aware of the problems  Despite the potential threat, Wilkinson says authorities are aware of issues and are taking precautions.  "We monitor solar activity and give out warnings if something is heading our way," says Wilkinson. "That will be at least a few hours in advance, enough time to prepare."  He says while some satellites could be damaged by a future CME, others could be protected by being placed in 'safe mode'.  Wilkinson adds the impact on power grids would be minimal. "At worst, it's a regional thing, not a global thing as these reports imply."  He says high frequency communications may also be affected, but it would be temporary. Low maximum  According to Wilkinson, the Sun has been through a long solar minimum and appears to be heading into a low solar maximum.  Previous observations have shown this could result in high spikes of CME activity.  "It means we could see auroral activity over all of Australia rather than just the higher latitudes," says Wilkinson.  "It's unusual, but not unprecedented. James Cook made mention of just such an event off Timor."

Nuclear meltdowns don’t cause death-multiple backups and its empirically denied
Beller works at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Las Vegas , 2004
Dennis, “Atomic Time Machines: Back to the Nuclear Future” Land Resources and Envtl. vpotluri
No caveats, no explanation, not from this engineer/scientist. It's just plain safe! All sources of electricity production result in health and safety impacts. However, at the National Press Club meeting, Energy Secretary Richardson indicated that nuclear power is safe by stating, "I'm convinced it is." 45 Every nuclear scientist and engineer should agree with that statement. Even mining, transportation, and waste from nuclear power have lower impacts because of the difference in magnitude of materials. In addition, emissions from nuclear plants are kept to near zero. 46 If you ask a theoretical scientist, nuclear energy does have a potential tremendous adverse impact. However, it has had that same potential for forty years, which is why we designed and operate nuclear plants with multiple levels of containment and safety and multiple backup systems. Even the country's most catastrophic accident, the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979, did not injure anyone. 47 The fact is, Western-developed and Western-operated nuclear power is the safest major source of electricity production. Haven't we heard enough cries of "nuclear wolf" from scared old men and "the sky is radioactive" from *50 nuclear Chicken Littles? We have a world of data to prove the fallacy of these claims about the unsafe nature of nuclear installations. Figure 2. Deaths resulting from electricity generation. 48 Figure 2 shows the results of an ongoing analysis of the safety impacts of energy production from several sources of energy. Of all major sources of electricity, nuclear power has produced the least impact from real accidents that have killed real people during the past 30 years, while hydroelectric has had the most severe accident impact. 49 The same is true for environmental and health impacts. 50 Of all major sources of energy, nuclear energy has the least impacts on environment and health while coal has the greatest. 51 The low death *51 rate from nuclear power accidents in the figure includes the Chernobyl accident in the Former Soviet Union. 52
Early warning allows for nuclear shut down- even if grid goes multiple backups solve
Biello, Associate Editor, Energy and Environment Scientific American 11, (David, 3/11,“How to Cool a Nuclear Reactor”, Scientific American, http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-to-cool-a-nuclear-reactor Duvarney
Scientific American spoke with Scott Burnell, public affairs officer at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the government agency charged with monitoring the safety of the 104 nuclear reactors in the U.S., about what it takes to cool down a reactor. An edited transcript of the interview follows. How do you typically cool a reactor? The approach to cooling is very simple: push water past the nuclear core and carry the heat somewhere else. The chain reaction that actually runs the reactor can be shut off in a matter of seconds. What's left over in the core, the radioactive material, will continue to give off heat for a long time. Unless you have a mechanism to remove that, the heat can build up and can eventually damage the radioactive fuel or the reactor. Pushing water past the core means pumps that are generally run by electricity. What happens when a reactor gets disconnected from the grid? There are emergency diesel generators. You also have a battery system to keep instruments running, but that can also provide power to safety systems which prevent a meltdown by cooling the reactor core. It's all meant to provide defense in depth. First you rely on the grid. If the grid is no longer available, you use diesel generators. If there is an issue with the diesels, you have a battery backup. And the batteries usually last long enough for you to get the diesels going.

Sugar Ethanol

Corn ethanol saves energy
BIN 13
Before It’s News, 6/11/2013, “Good News for Corn Ethanol and Feeding the World”, http://beforeitsnews.com/energy/2013/06/good-news-for-corn-ethanol-and-feeding-the-world-2450036.html, accessed 7/9/2013, #BD
A new enzyme technology allowing the corn ethanol biofuels industry to produce more ethanol with less corn while saving energy and improving profits was announced yesterday. The technology is a new pair of enzymes combined with a third one that Novozymes shows saves up to 5 of the corn used in U.S. ethanol production. Even more useful in the food vs. fuel debate is the technology also increases corn oil extraction by 13. As a practical matter the technology also saves 8 of the energy needed during production.¶ The efficiency improvements can be achieved when two new enzymes, Spirizyme® Achieve and Olexa®, are used together with another Novozymes enzyme, Avantec®.¶ Andrew Fordyce, Executive Vice President for Business Operations at Novozymes explains the effect with, “These new enzyme innovations offer strong benefits to ethanol producers. It allows our customers to make more from less and substantially improve their profit margins”.¶ For example take a typical U.S. ethanol plant. These use around 36 million bushels (900,000 tons) of feed-grade corn per year to produce 100 million gallons of fuel ethanol, 300,000 tons of animal feed called Dried Distillers Grain with the Solubles (DDGS) the Wikipedia link while informative is quite out of date. and 8,500 tons of corn oil. By using Avantec, Olexa and Spirizyme Achieve, such a plant can save up to 1.8 million bushels (45,000 tons) of corn while maintaining the same ethanol output, increasing the corn oil extraction, and generating up to $5 million in additional profit.¶ The Avantec product was introduced in October 2012 and Novozymes says it has been well received in the U.S. ethanol industry. “Our customers demand risk-free options that do not require major investments. That is exactly what our enzymes offer. We are the first to market this full package and are looking forward to implementing it together with our customers, trialing the technology at their plants, and getting the solutions out there. It’s a competitive industry and only via innovation like this can Novozymes continue to be the leading supplier of enzymes to the ethanol industry.” Fordyce added.¶ Starch Degrading Enzyme Action Effects. Click image for the largest view. Image Credit: Novozymes.¶ In the U.S. corn is the key raw material in biofuel production and by far the biggest cost component for an ethanol plant. After the corn is harvested, the kernels are ground into corn meal and water is added to make a mash. The enzymes convert the starch in the mash to sugar, which can then be fermented with brewers yeast to make ethanol. Avantec and Spirizyme Achieve convert starch to sugar more efficiently than any other enzyme product on the market, while Olexa works by freeing up oil bound in the corn germ.¶ Corn oil is used in a huge array of products. It’s used in food preparation, the production of animal feed, biodiesel and soaps and other products. Corn oil has become an increasingly important revenue stream for ethanol producers. Extensive implementation of extraction technology from 2008 to 2012 has seen the industry record a nearly five-fold increase in corn oil production, according to a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago.¶ Novozymes estimates that approximately 80 of the operating ethanol capacity in the U.S. will have incorporated oil extraction into their plants by end 2013. There is too much opportunity for products and revenue streams to be ignored.¶ A bit of background about corn. There are four primary corn crops. The most familiar is “Sweet Corn” that is what people eat. This corn variety doesn’t make starch – it makes sugar at least until it over matures or sits too long after harvest when the sugar will degrade to starch. The second is “Waxy Corn” that is used to make the corn oil found on the grocers’ shelves in the cooking and baking section and myriad other uses. Both of these crops are small markets and require a great deal more hands on attention. They are strong attractants for vermin, wild animals and insects. The third is popcorn we are all familiar with.¶ The fourth and huge market is field or flint corn. Field corn is starch rich and thus isn’t such a strong attractant for pests and can be grown in huge amounts all around the world without such intense labor inputs and property capital invested to keep the crop up to food quality. The future will see corn grown for primary proteins and pharmaceutical production.¶ Meanwhile, the field corn used for ethanol is only stripped of its carbohydrate or starch leaving a very desirable set of components, the protein, fiber and oil. The DDGS noted above, dried and with most of the oil removed is still a third of the mass of the original corn feedstock. Taking out the oil offers savings as the oil out makes drying easier and more efficient.¶ Novozymes’ technology is not just welcome for lower cost ethanol or less pressure on corn prices, its welcome as the DDGS is a necessary animal feed product and offers researchers a great potential for protein products.¶ Those making the food vs. fuel argument rely on the ignorance of the audience. The ethanol industry is continually making improvements and seeking higher value from the process. It’s only a matter of time before the corn that hasn’t ever been directly used as human food will indirectly become a protein based human food product. As the world’s population increases there will be a great incentive to use that huge reservoir of protein directly to feed people instead of feeding it to animals and then eating them. The future, and its coming fast, won’t be food vs. fuel it will be fuel and food.
Corn ethanol good for the environment
Anthony 9
Neal St. Anthony (a business columnist and reporter for the Star Tribune for more than 25 years. He also has worked in financial communications for two publicly held companies), 2/9/2009, Star Tribune, “New study praises corn as source for ethanol”, http://www.startribune.com/business/39345102.html, accessed 7/10/2013, #BD
A University of Minnesota study released last week played nicely into the hands of the anti-ethanol crowd and upset the state's powerful corn lobby, which extols the corn-based gasoline supplement as a cleaner-burning domestic fuel that is blended with gasoline sold in Minnesota.¶ The university study found that corn-based ethanol, including the environmental effects of growing and harvesting, is no better an energy alternative than gasoline and it may be worse for air quality.¶ The corn crowd should get over any umbrage. The U's Institute on the Environment study won't put ethanol out of business. At the same time, another ag-research institution released an encouraging study about the environmental and fuel-replacement strides made by corn ethanol.¶ The University of Nebraska research reveals that the latest crop of efficient corn-ethanol refineries has helped cut greenhouse gas emissions to half that of gasoline and the industry now is producing up to 1.8 units of energy through ethanol for every unit of energy used to produce it. That's quite a leap in efficiency for an industry that early on had efficiency ratios that barely exceeded 1 to 1.¶ "Critics claim that corn ethanol has only a small net energy yield and little potential for direct reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the use of gasoline," said Ken Cassman, a University of Nebraska scientist. "This is the first peer-reviewed study to document that these claims are not correct."¶ In short, the Nebraska researchers found that claims of ethanol inferiority were rooted in corn-production statistics, ethanol plant performance and byproduct use that dates back years. By the end of 2009, Cassman said, newer and renovated plants will account for 75 percent of ethanol production. They increasingly use alternative fuels, are more productive and efficient and are located close to livestock for efficient use of the residual distillers grains as feed.¶ Finally, the Nebraska study estimates that up to 19 gallons of ethanol are produced for every gallon of petroleum used in the entire corn-ethanol production cycle.¶ The Minnesota study concluded that ethanol made from switchgrass and other plant material that requires less energy and that doesn't compete with food is far better for the planet than corn ethanol or gasoline.¶ Still, government-subsidized corn ethanol was the politically doable way to start producing alternative fuels. It's just the beginning.¶ "We could, as a society, chase our tail for a good long time about the merits and demerits of corn ethanol," said Rolf Nordstrom, executive director of the Minneapolis-based Great Plains Institute, which had a role in the Nebraska study and is leader in bringing divergent players together with the goal of a cleaner, domestic-fueled economy over the next generation.¶ "My personal frustration is that the 'what-do-we-do-to-replace-gasoline goal' has been wrapped around the axle while this corn-ethanol debate goes on. Even the boosters of corn ethanol who are making a handsome profit will tell you that it's not the only answer.¶ "Folks need to stop arguing over whether corn ethanol is good or bad and get along to what's next -- a suite of fuels that can add up to a 100 percent solution."¶ To wit: The dirtiest and most expensive fuel, particularly when you add in related defense spending, is oil, two-thirds of which we import at a cost of something like $400 billion annually. The money goes to mostly government-owned monopolies, and some of those countries are hostile to the United States.¶ Only in the last few years, when the cost surged to $3 or more per gallon, did Americans feel the pain in the wallet sufficiently to change their driving habits. Although fuel prices have dropped in recent months, even Detroit has given up the notion that gas-guzzlers will be the industry's future.¶ Moreover, consumers, government and carmakers seem to have learned that we can transport ourselves just as well with hybrid-battery vehicles that get 50 miles per gallon and the plug-in electric cars that soon will debut on showroom floors.¶ Meanwhile, next-generation ethanol and diesel will be made not just from soybeans, but canola, jatropha and other non-edible grains that grow like wildfire and yield a lot more juice per acre than corn or soybeans.¶ Advances in corn-ethanol productivity are to be hailed. But it's no panacea. It's been estimated that if the nation's entire corn crop were turned to ethanol production, we would only displace up to 12 percent of motor-fuel consumption.¶ That leaves lots of room for other clean-burning fuels and transport technology. And that also will turbocharge the U.S. economy.
Corn ethanol reduces greenhouse emissions
Captain 9
Sean Captain (writer for POPSCI), 1/29/2009, POPSCI, “Ethanol—Better Than We Thought?”, http://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-01/ethanolE28094better-we-thought, accessed 7/10/2013, #BD
Common sense says that burning a plant you regrow every year is better for the atmosphere than spewing out carbon dioxide that’s been buried underground for eons. But the truth behind biofuels and petroleum often seems to defy common sense. Neither ethanol nor gasoline bubbles out of the ground ready to put in your tank. So to figure out which one does less environmental harm, you have to calculate all the energy that goes into making it.¶ For years, studies have shown that ethanol is no better—or even worse—for the environment than gasoline. Some studies even claimed that it takes more energy to make a gallon of ethanol than you get from burning it.¶ But a new federal government-sponsored study released this week says the opposite. The report, entitled Improvements in Life Cycle Energy Efficiency and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Corn-Ethanol, claims that a gallon of ethanol produces nearly twice as much energy as it consumes, and that switching from gasoline to ethanol cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 54 percent.¶ Why such different results? Better data, say the study’s authors—researchers from midwestern universities including the University of Nebraska, Iowa State, Michigan State, and the University of Wisconsin. The pessimistic studies were based on old data about crop production and inefficient early ethanol plant designs, they claim.¶ RELATED ARTICLES¶ The Future of Cellulosic Ethanol is Green¶ GRAY MATTER Make Your Own Ethanol¶ Beyond Ethanol¶ TAGS¶ The Environment, Sean Captain, biofuel, corn, ethanol, gasoline, global warming, greenhouse gasesThe making of corn is at least as important as turning it into ethanol. Up to 65 percent of all emissions come from growing and transporting the crop, for items such as tractor fuel, fertilizer and electricity. New hybrids plants produce more corn with less fertilizer.¶ And new refineries run on efficient natural gas, recycle heat to use in other parts of the plant, and put the waste to crop good use. The scrap from the refineries actually makes nutritious cattle feed. So putting a feedlot right next to a refinery saves the emissions that would go into growing food separately and trucking it in. The best facilities save even more energy by collecting the manure and urine from cows and turning it into methane gas for use in the plant.¶ Unlike “clean coal” plants that exist only in the minds of their proponents, ultra-efficient ethanol operations are the norm. According to the study, the new facilities account for 60 percent of all U.S. ethanol production today and will produce 75 percent of national supply by the end of the year.

Embargo triggered Cuba’s shift to sustainable agriculture, lifting the embargo will crush it -Monocultures deplete the soil and lead to a loss of Bio-diversity  
Roslin, associate producer for CBC-TV, 2008
Alex: on three Canadian Association of Journalists awards for investigative reporting and eight nominations for CAJ and National Magazine Awards, founder the Canadian Centre for Investigative Reporting and was president of its board., 4/16/08, Straight, “Monocrops bring food crisis”, http://www.straight.com/news/monocrops-bring-food-crisis, Accessed: 7/10/13, PR

Because the new monocrops were poorly adapted to local conditions, the plants didn’t do so well unless sustained by massive amounts of water, fertilizers, and pesticides. Little wonder that almost all of the world’s largest seed companies, including the likes of Monsanto, Syngenta, and DuPont, got their start as chemical manufacturers. “A lot of diseases that had never been a problem started appearing during the Green Revolution,” Kuyek says. “All of a sudden, instead of adapting seeds to local conditions, the farm had to be adapted to the seed variety.” The result of all this has been a tremendous loss of biodiversity. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says 75 percent of crop varieties have disappeared since 1900. Nine-tenths of the world’s calories now come from 20 crop species, with four making up half of total calories: rice, corn, wheat, and potatoes. Soaking farmland with chemicals has had other impacts as well. It meant only a few larger farming operations could afford the astronomical costs of the new type of farming. Small farms were crowded out, making communities less self-reliant. As well, the chemicals produced environmental problems, like the explosion of toxic blue-green algae in Canadian lakes, due largely to fertilizer runoff. Monocrops also deplete soil of key nutrients and billions of microorganisms that help keep plants disease-free, reducing soil productivity 18 times faster than natural processes can rebuild it on average in the U.S.

Biodiversity loss leads to extinction
Craig ‘3 (Robin Kundis Craig, Associate Professor of Law, Indiana University School of Law, 34 McGeorge L. Rev. 155)

Biodiversity and ecosystem function arguments for conserving marine ecosystems also exist, just as they do for terrestrial ecosystems, but these arguments have thus far rarely been raised in political debates. For example, besides significant tourism values - the most economically valuable ecosystem service coral reefs provide, worldwide - coral reefs protect against storms and dampen other environmental fluctuations, services worth more than ten times the reefs' value for food production. n856 Waste treatment is another significant, non-extractive ecosystem function that intact coral reef ecosystems provide. n857 More generally, "ocean ecosystems play a major role in the global geochemical cycling of all the elements that represent the basic building blocks of living organisms, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur, as well as other less abundant but necessary elements." n858 In a very real and direct sense, therefore, human degradation of marine ecosystems impairs the planet's ability to support life. Maintaining biodiversity is often critical to maintaining the functions of marine ecosystems. Current evidence shows that, in general, an ecosystem's ability to keep functioning in the face of disturbance is strongly dependent on its biodiversity, "indicating that more diverse ecosystems are more stable." n859 Coral reef ecosystems are particularly dependent on their biodiversity.  *265   Most ecologists agree that the complexity of interactions and degree of interrelatedness among component species is higher on coral reefs than in any other marine environment. This implies that the ecosystem functioning that produces the most highly valued components is also complex and that many otherwise insignificant species have strong effects on sustaining the rest of the reef system. n860 Thus, maintaining and restoring the biodiversity of marine ecosystems is critical to maintaining and restoring the ecosystem services that they provide. Non-use biodiversity values for marine ecosystems have been calculated in the wake of marine disasters, like the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. n861 Similar calculations could derive preservation values for marine wilderness. However, economic value, or economic value equivalents, should not be "the sole or even primary justification for conservation of ocean ecosystems. Ethical arguments also have considerable force and merit." n862 At the forefront of such arguments should be a recognition of how little we know about the sea - and about the actual effect of human activities on marine ecosystems. The United States has traditionally failed to protect marine ecosystems because it was difficult to detect anthropogenic harm to the oceans, but we now know that such harm is occurring - even though we are not completely sure about causation or about how to fix every problem. Ecosystems like the NWHI coral reef ecosystem should inspire lawmakers and policymakers to admit that most of the time we really do not know what we are doing to the sea and hence should be preserving marine wilderness whenever we can - especially when the United States has within its territory relatively pristine marine ecosystems that may be unique in the world. We may not know much about the sea, but we do know this much: if we kill the ocean we kill ourselves, and we will take most of the biosphere with us. The Black Sea is almost dead, n863 its once-complex and productive ecosystem almost entirely replaced by a monoculture of comb jellies, "starving out fish and dolphins, emptying fishermen's nets, and converting the web of life into brainless, wraith-like blobs of jelly." n864 More importantly, the Black Sea is not necessarily unique. The Black Sea is a microcosm of what is happening to the ocean systems at large. The stresses piled up: overfishing, oil spills, industrial discharges, nutrient pollution, wetlands destruction, the introduction of an alien species. The sea weakened, slowly at first, then collapsed with  *266  shocking suddenness. The lessons of this tragedy should not be lost to the rest of us, because much of what happened here is being repeated all over the world. The ecological stresses imposed on the Black Sea were not unique to communism. Nor, sadly, was the failure of governments to respond to the emerging crisis. n865  Oxygen-starved "dead zones" appear with increasing frequency off the coasts of major cities and major rivers, forcing marine animals to flee and killing all that cannot. n866 Ethics as well as enlightened self-interest thus suggest that the United States should protect fully-functioning marine ecosystems wherever possible - even if a few fishers go out of business as a result. 

Warming won’t cause extinction
Barrett, professor of natural resource economics – Columbia University, ‘7
(Scott, Why Cooperate? The Incentive to Supply Global Public Goods, introduction)

First, climate change does not threaten the survival of the human species.5 If unchecked, it will cause other species to become extinction (though biodiversity is being depleted now due to other reasons). It will alter critical ecosystems (though this is also happening now, and for reasons unrelated to climate change). It will reduce land area as the seas rise, and in the process displace human populations. “Catastrophic” climate change is possible, but not certain. Moreover, and unlike an asteroid collision, large changes (such as sea level rise of, say, ten meters) will likely take centuries to unfold, giving societies time to adjust. “Abrupt” climate change is also possible, and will occur more rapidly, perhaps over a decade or two. However, abrupt climate change (such as a weakening in the North Atlantic circulation), though potentially very serious, is unlikely to be ruinous. Human-induced climate change is an experiment of planetary proportions, and we cannot be sur of its consequences. Even in a worse case scenario, however, global climate change is not the equivalent of the Earth being hit by mega-asteroid. Indeed, if it were as damaging as this, and if we were sure that it would be this harmful, then our incentive to address this threat would be overwhelming. The challenge would still be more difficult than asteroid defense, but we would have done much more about it by now. 

No impact---mitigation and adaptation will solve---no tipping point or “1 risk” args
Robert O. Mendelsohn 9, the Edwin Weyerhaeuser Davis Professor, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, June 2009, “Climate Change and Economic Growth,” 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 scientists and others that give the impression that human-induced climate change is an immediate threat to society (IPCC 2007a,b; Stern 2006). Millions of people might be vulnerable to health effects (IPCC 2007b), crop production might fall in the low latitudes (IPCC 2007b), water supplies might dwindle (IPCC 2007b), precipitation might fall in arid regions (IPCC 2007b), extreme events will grow exponentially (Stern 2006), and between 20–30 percent of species will risk extinction (IPCC 2007b). Even worse, there may be catastrophic events such as the melting of Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets causing severe sea level rise, which would inundate hundreds of millions of people (Dasgupta et al. 2009). Proponents argue there is no time to waste. Unless greenhouse gases are cut dramatically today, economic growth and well?being may be at risk (Stern 2006).
These statements are largely alarmist and misleading. Although climate change is a serious problem that deserves attention, society’s immediate behavior has an extremely low probability of leading to catastrophic consequences. The science and economics of climate change is quite clear that emissions over the next few decades will lead to only mild consequences. The severe impacts predicted by alarmists require a century (or two in the case of Stern 2006) of no mitigation. Many of the predicted impacts assume there will be no or little adaptation. The net economic impacts from climate change over the next 50 years will be small regardless. Most of the more severe impacts will take more than a century or even a millennium to unfold and many of these “potential” impacts will never occur because people will adapt. It is not at all apparent that immediate and dramatic policies need to be developed to thwart long?range climate risks. What is needed are long?run balanced responses.

30 year time gap prevents solving warming – any effect takes decades
Walker and King 8—Director of the School of Environment @Oxford
Gabrielle, PhD in Chemistry, Sir David, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, and a senior scientific adviser to UBS, The Hot Topic, pg. 47
Most people have now realized that climate change is upon us.  If pushed, most would probably say that if we don’t do something to change the way we live, things are more likely to get worse.  But few seem to have noticed one of the most important points to emerge from the last few years of scientific projections.  All the evidence suggests that the world will experience significant and potentially highly dangerous changes in climate over the next few decades no matter what we do now.    That’s because the ocean has a built in lag.  It takes time to heat up, which is why the nicest time to swim is often the end of the summer rather than the middle.  The same principle holds for global warming, but on a longer timescale: Because the oceans gradually soak up heat generated by the extra greenhouse gases, the full effect won’t be felt for decades to centuries.  This means that whatever we do now to change our carbon habits will take several decades to have any effect.   In other words, according to our most sophisticated models, the next twenty to thirty years will be more or less the same whether we quickly kick the carbon habit or continue burning as many fossil fuels as we can. Whatever we do today to reduce emissions will matter for our children’s generation and beyond, but not for our own.  The problem of climate change is one of legacy.  

FFs lead to aerosols

Schueneman 10 (Thomas, Writer @ triplepundet, enn.com/pollution/article/42125, 12/16, DA 6/30/11, OST)
Global dimming is a less well-known but real phenomenon resulting from atmospheric pollution. The burning of fossil fuels by industry and internal combustion engines, in addition to releasing the carbon dioxide that collects and traps the sun's heat within our atmosphere, causes the emission of so-called particulate pollution—composed primarily of sulphur dioxide, soot and ash. When these particulates enter the atmosphere they absorb solar energy and reflect sunlight otherwise bound for the Earth's surface back into space.

Aerosols cool the world more than the warming from associated GHGs
Henson 2k (Bob, ucar.edu/communications/highlights/1998/particles.html, 4/10, DA 7/1/11, OST)
After being emitted by coal burning or other industry, sulfur reacts in clouds with ozone or hydrogen peroxide to form sulfates. A key element in acid rain, these aerosols (airborne particles) are concentrated above the world's industrial centers--eastern North America, Europe, and eastern Asia. Overall, it's believed that up to half of this century's potential global warming from increased levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases has been negated by the effects of sulfates.  The main reason for this is well understood. Sulfates excel at scattering sunlight in all directions, including back out to space. "The typical size of sulfate aerosols around one micron, or one millionth of a meter happens to match the peak scattering wavelength of sunlight," explains Kiehl.  Along with their direct scattering effect, sulfates have a secondary effect that is much trickier for scientists to model. Sulfates act as nuclei for water vapor to condense around, which means that adding sulfates can boost the total number of droplets in a cloud. That, in turn, increases the cloud's ability to reflect sunlight. In some recent climate models, the cooling from these indirect effects has rivaled--or even eclipsed--the warming from greenhouse gases. However, most global models can only predict the mass of sulfates or liquid water in a cloud, or they project the number of aerosols or droplets using empirical relationships. An actual count usually requires far more computer time than present systems and budgets allow. 

Removing aerosols leads to rapid warming 

BBC 5 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dimming_trans.shtml,”Global Dimming” documentary transcript, 1/14, DA 6/30/11, OST)
NARRATOR: If so much could happen in such a short time, removing just one form of pollution, then it suggests that the overall effect of Global Dimming on world temperatures could be huge.  DR DAVID TRAVIS: The nine eleven study showed that if you remove a contributor to Global Dimming, jet contrails, just for a three day period, we see an immediate response of the surface of temperature. Do the same thing globally e might see a large scale increase in global warming.  NARRATOR: This is the real sting in the tail. Solve the problem of Global Dimming and the world could get considerably hotter. And this is not just theory, it may already be happening. In Western Europe the steps we have taken to cut air pollution have started to bear fruit in a noticeable improvement in air quality and even a slight reduction in Global Dimming over the last few years. Yet at the same time, after decades in which they held steady, European temperatures have started rapidly to rise culminating in the savage summer of 2003.  Forest fires devastated Portugal. Glaciers melted in the Alps. And in France people died by the thousand. Could this be the penalty of reducing Global Dimming without tackling the root cause of global warming? 

CO2 solves food shortages – no habitat destruction
Sherwood and Idso 10 (Keith and Craig, "Surviving the Perfect Storm," CO2 Science Magazine, Volume 13, Number 44:3 November, http://www.co2science.org/articles/V13/N44/EDIT.php)

In introducing their review of food security publications pertinent to the challenge of feeding nine billion people just four decades from now, Godfray et al. (2010) note that "more than one in seven people today still do not have access to sufficient protein and energy from their diet and even more suffer some form of micronutrient malnourishment," citing the FAO (2009); and they write that although "increases in production will have an important part to play" in correcting this problem and keeping it from worsening in the future, they state that mankind "will be constrained by the finite resources provided by the earth's lands, oceans and atmosphere," which set of difficulties they describe at the end of their review as comprising a "perfect storm."¶ The first question they ask in regard to how we might successfully navigate this highly restricted terrain is: "How can more food be produced sustainably?" They say that the primary solution to food shortages of the past was "to bring more land into agriculture and to exploit new fish stocks," but they note that there is precious little remaining of either of these pristine resources. Thus, they conclude that "the most likely scenario is that more food will need to be produced from the same or less land," because, as they suggest, "we must avoid the temptation to sacrifice further the earth's already hugely depleted biodiversity for easy gains in food production, not only because biodiversity provides many of the public goods upon which mankind relies, but also because we do not have the right to deprive future generations of its economic and cultural benefits." And, we might add, because we should be enlightened enough to realize that we have a moral responsibility to drive no more species to extinction than we have already sent to that sorry state.¶ So how can these diverse requirements all be met? ... and at one and the same time? A clue comes from Godfray et al.'s statement that "greater water and nutrient use efficiency, as well as tolerance of abiotic stress, are likely to become of increasing importance." And what is there that can bring about all of these changes in mankind's crops? You guessed it: carbon dioxide.¶ Yes, the colorless, odorless, tasteless gas that all of us release to the atmosphere with every breath we exhale fits the bill perfectly. Rising concentrations of atmospheric CO2 increase the photosynthetic prowess of essentially all of earth's plants, while generally reducing the rate at which they simultaneously transfer water from the soil to the air. In addition, more CO2 in the air tends to enhance the efficiency with which plants utilize nutrients in constructing their tissues and producing the edible portions that we and all of earth's animals depend upon for our very existence, as you can read about -- almost interminably -- on our website (check out our Subject Index for a host of related topics), and as you can readily convince yourself is true by perusing our vast Plant Growth Database, which lists the experimentally-derived photosynthetic and biomass production responses of a huge host of different plants to standardized increases in the air's CO2 concentration.¶ Oh, and by the way, you can also spend a few months reading about all of the scientific studies which, taken in their entirety, pretty much demonstrate that the climatic catastrophes prophesied by the world's climate alarmists to result from anthropogenic CO2 emissions are largely devoid of significant real-world substantiation.
CO2 Ag Fertilization is key to solve the root cause of global war – resource disparity
Idso and idso 99 (Craig, president of CO2 Science, Keith, Vice president of CO2 Science, Give Peace a Chance by Giving Plants a Chance, October 1, 1999 http://www.co2science.org/articles/V2/N19/EDIT.php)

President Carter begins by stating that "when the Cold War ended 10 years ago, we expected an era of peace" but got instead "a decade of war." He then asks why peace has been so elusive, answering that most of today's wars are fueled by poverty, poverty in developing countries "whose economies depend on agriculture but which lack the means to make their farmland productive." This fact, he says, suggests an obvious, but often overlooked, path to peace: "raise the standard of living of the millions of rural people who live in poverty by increasing agricultural productivity," his argument being that thriving agriculture, in his words, "is the engine that fuels broader economic growth and development, thus paving the way for prosperity and peace."¶ Can the case for atmospheric CO2 enrichment be made any clearer? Automatically, and without the investment of a single hard-earned dollar, ruble, or what have you, people everywhere promote the cause of peace by fertilizing the atmosphere with carbon dioxide; for CO2 - one of the major end-products of the combustion process that fuels the engines of industry and transportation - is the very elixir of life, being the primary building block of all plant tissues via the essential role it plays in the photosynthetic process that sustains nearly all of earth's vegetation, which in turn sustains nearly all of the planet's animal life.¶ As with any production process, the insertion of more raw materials (in this case CO2) into the production line results in more manufactured goods coming out the other end, which, in the case of the production line of plant growth and development, is biosphere-sustaining food. And as President Carter rightly states, "leaders of developing nations must make food security a priority." Indeed, he ominously proclaims in his concluding paragraph that "there can be no peace until people have enough to eat."¶ Within this context, we recently completed a project commissioned by the Greening Earth Society entitled "Forecasting World Food Supplies: The Impact of the Rising Atmospheric CO2 Concentration," which we presented at the Second Annual Dixy Lee Ray Memorial Symposium held in Washington, DC on 31 August - 2 September 1999. We found that continued increases in agricultural knowledge and expertise would likely boost world food production by 37 between now and the middle of the next century, but that world food needs, which we equated with world population, would likely rise by 51 over this period. Fortunately, we also calculated that the shortfall in production could be overcome - but just barely - by the additional benefits anticipated to accrue from the many productivity-enhancing effects of the expected rise in the air's CO2 content over the same time period.¶ Our findings suggest that the world food security envisioned by President Carter is precariously dependent upon the continued rising of the atmosphere's CO2 concentration. As Sylvan Wittwer, Director Emeritus of Michigan State University's Agricultural Experiment Station, stated in his 1995 book, Food, Climate, and Carbon Dioxide: The Global Environment and World Food Production,¶ "The rising level of atmospheric CO2 could be the one global natural resource that is progressively increasing food production and total biological output, in a world of otherwise diminishing natural resources of land, water, energy, minerals, and fertilizer. It is a means of inadvertently increasing the productivity of farming systems and other photosynthetically active ecosystems. The effects know no boundaries and both developing and developed countries are, and will be, sharing equally."¶ So, let's give peace a chance. Let's give plants a chance. And, while we're at it, let's give all of the world's national economies a chance as well. Let's let the air's CO2 content rise unimpeded, and let's let the peoples of the world reap the multitudinous benefits that come from the God-given - and scientifically proven - aerial fertilization effect of atmospheric CO2 enrichment. Let's live and let live. And let's let CO2 do its wonderful work of promoting world peace via the planet-wide prosperity that comes from enhanced agricultural productivity.

Solvency
Nuclear deterrence fails—terrorist attacks, lack of nuclear safety, and conflict hotspots make miscalc likely
Doyle, senior policy analyst at Science Applications International Corporation, , 2009
(James, Abolishing Nuclear Weapons: a Debate, “Eyes on the Prize: A Strategy for Enhancing Global Security,” http://www.carnegieendowment.org/files/abolishing_nuclear_weapons_debate.pdf, accessed 7-15-13, EB)
In their essay, Perry, Shultz, Kissinger, and Nunn assert that nuclear deterrence is “increasingly hazardous and decreasingly effective.” In essence, they reject the prevailing belief within national security establishments that nuclear weapons still provide powerful security benefits in the evolving international security environment. Theirs is an unprecedented challenge to the existing nuclear order, and their arguments deserve serious analysis. In many ways, they are consistent with traditional critiques of the risks of nuclear deterrence. But they also go deeper to demonstrate why nuclear deterrence is more unstable in the current environment than in the Cold War and why continued nuclear proliferation is likely to exacerbate rather than attenuate these instabilities, increasing the risks yet further. Nuclear deterrence is increasingly hazardous because a large surplus of nuclear weapons and materials left over from the Cold War is, in some cases, not adequately secured. In addition, an entirely new threat in connection with these weapons and materials has emerged in the form of extremist groups that are willing to carry out catastrophic terrorist attacks. Several states that are acquiring nuclear weapons or increasing existing arsenals are located in conflict-prone regions and have limited financial and technical resources to devote to nuclear security. Nuclear deterrence is decreasingly effective because the conditions that enabled mutual deterrence during the Cold War have changed. In today’s world, nuclear-armed states share disputed borders, have limited experience with nuclear weapon safety and security, and have vulnerable early warning and nuclear weapon control capabilities. Moreover, nuclear deterrence cannot effectively reduce the chance of nuclear terrorism. The more states acquire nuclear weapons for “deterrence,” the more they will also risk providing weapons and materials to terrorists who wish to carry out a nuclear attack. These realities refute the view held most notably by Kenneth Waltz that nuclear weapons provide concrete benefits for states and will have a stabilizing influence on the international system.1 The authors of Abolishing Nuclear Weapons do not give enough emphasis to the transformed nature of the security environment and the implications of that transformation for traditional nuclear strategies. Strategic thought on nuclear arms evolved within a global security environment that no longer exists. That security environment was defined by a single primary state adversary, whose threat of nuclear attack against the United States and its allies could be successfully deterred by a reciprocal threat of nuclear retaliation.

Nuclear war causes extinction and climate change—prefer the latest studies
Choi 11—writer for National Geographic News Charles Q., 2/22/2011, National Geographic, “Small Nuclear War Could Reverse Global Warming for Years?,” http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/02/110223-nuclear-war-winter-global-warming-environment-science-climate-change/, DS

Even a regional nuclear war could spark "unprecedented" global cooling and reduce rainfall for years, according to U.S. government computer models. Widespread famine and disease would likely follow, experts speculate. During the Cold War a nuclear exchange between superpowers—such as the one feared for years between the United States and the former Soviet Union—was predicted to cause a "nuclear winter." In that scenario hundreds of nuclear explosions spark huge fires, whose smoke, dust, and ash blot out the sun for weeks amid a backdrop of dangerous radiation levels. Much of humanity eventually dies of starvation and disease. Today, with the United States the only standing superpower, nuclear winter is little more than a nightmare. But nuclear war remains a very real threat—for instance, between developing-world nuclear powers, such as India and Pakistan. To see what climate effects such a regional nuclear conflict might have, scientists from NASA and other institutions modeled a war involving a hundred Hiroshima-level bombs, each packing the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT—just 0.03 percent of the world's current nuclear arsenal. (See a National Geographic magazine feature on weapons of mass destruction.) The researchers predicted the resulting fires would kick up roughly five million metric tons of black carbon into the upper part of the troposphere, the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere. In NASA climate models, this carbon then absorbed solar heat and, like a hot-air balloon, quickly lofted even higher, where the soot would take much longer to clear from the sky. (Related: "'Nuclear Archaeologists' Find World War II Plutonium.") Reversing Global Warming? The global cooling caused by these high carbon clouds wouldn't be as catastrophic as a superpower-versus-superpower nuclear winter, but "the effects would still be regarded as leading to unprecedented climate change," research physical scientist Luke Oman said during a press briefing Friday at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C. Earth is currently in a long-term warming trend. After a regional nuclear war, though, average global temperatures would drop by 2.25 degrees F (1.25 degrees C) for two to three years afterward, the models suggest. At the extreme, the tropics, Europe, Asia, and Alaska would cool by 5.4 to 7.2 degrees F (3 to 4 degrees C), according to the models. Parts of the Arctic and Antarctic would actually warm a bit, due to shifted wind and ocean-circulation patterns, the researchers said. After ten years, average global temperatures would still be 0.9 degree F (0.5 degree C) lower than before the nuclear war, the models predict. (Pictures: "Red Hot" Nuclear-Waste Train Glows in Infrared.) Years Without Summer For a time Earth would likely be a colder, hungrier planet. "Our results suggest that agriculture could be severely impacted, especially in areas that are susceptible to late-spring and early-fall frosts," said Oman, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Examples similar to the crop failures and famines experienced following the Mount Tambora eruption in 1815 could be widespread and last several years," he added. That Indonesian volcano ushered in "the year without summer," a time of famines and unrest. (See pictures of the Mount Tambora eruption.) All these changes would also alter circulation patterns in the tropical atmosphere, reducing precipitation by 10 percent globally for one to four years, the scientists said. Even after seven years, global average precipitation would be 5 percent lower than it was before the conflict, according to the model. In addition, researcher Michael Mills, of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, found large decreases in the protective ozone layer, leading to much more ultraviolet uv radiation reaching Earth's surface and harming the environment and people. "The main message from our work," NASA's Oman said, "would be that even a regional nuclear conflict would have global consequences." 

Nuclear war outweighs- survival is a prerequisite to other values.
Nye, Professor of Political Science @ Harvard, 86
(Joseph S., Served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs; “Nuclear Ethics” pg. 45-46)

Is there any end that could justify a nuclear war that threatens the survival of the species? Is not all-out nuclear war just as self contradictory in the real world as pacifism is accused of being? Some people argue that "we are required to undergo gross injustice that will break many souls sooner than ourselves be the authors of mass murder."73 Still others say that "when a person makes survival the highest value, he has declared that there is nothing he will not betray. But for a civilization to sacrifice itself makes no sense since there are not survivors to give meaning to the sacrifical sic act. In that case, survival may be worth betrayal." Is it possible to avoid the "moral calamity of a policy like unilateral disarmament that forces us to choose between being dead or red (while increasing the chances of both)"?74 How one judges the issue of ends can be affected by how one poses the questions. If one asks "what is worth a billion lives (or the survival of the species)," it is natural to resist contemplating a positive answer. But suppose one asks, "is it possible to imagine any threat to our civilization and values that would justify raising the threat to a billion lives from one in ten thousand to one in a thousand for a specific period?" Then there are several plausible answers, including a democratic way of life and cherished freedoms that give meaning to life beyond mere survival. When we pursue several values simultaneously, we face the fact that they often conflict and that we face difficult tradeoffs. If we make one value absolute in priority, we are likely to get that value and little else. Survival is a necessary condition for the enjoyment of other values, but that does not make it sufficient. Logical priority does not make it an absolute value. Few people act as though survival were an absolute value in their personal lives, or they would never enter an automobile. We can give survival of the species a very high priority without giving it the paralyzing status of an absolute value. Some degree of risk is unavoidable if individuals or societies are to avoid paralysis and enhance the quality of life beyond mere survival. The degree of that risk is a justifiable topic of both prudential and moral reasoning. 

Extinction outweighs their moral obligation claims
Bostrum, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oxford, directs the Oxford Future of Humanity Institute, 2012
(Nick, 3-6-12, The Atlantic“We’re Underestimating the Risk of Human Extinction,” interview with Ross Anderson, correspondent at The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/were-underestimating-the-risk-of-human-extinction/253821, accessed 7-15-12, EB)
Bostrom, who directs Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute, has argued over the course of several papers that human extinction risks are poorly understood and, worse still, severely underestimated by society. Some of these existential risks are fairly well known, especially the natural ones. But others are obscure or even exotic. Most worrying to Bostrom is the subset of existential risks that arise from human technology, a subset that he expects to grow in number and potency over the next century.¶ Despite his concerns about the risks posed to humans by technological progress, Bostrom is no luddite. In fact, he is a longtime advocate of transhumanism---the effort to improve the human condition, and even human nature itself, through technological means. In the long run he sees technology as a bridge, a bridge we humans must cross with great care, in order to reach new and better modes of being. In his work, Bostrom uses the tools of philosophy and mathematics, in particular probability theory, to try and determine how we as a species might achieve this safe passage. What follows is my conversation with Bostrom about some of the most interesting and worrying existential risks that humanity might encounter in the decades and centuries to come, and about what we can do to make sure we outlast them.¶ Some have argued that we ought to be directing our resources toward humanity's existing problems, rather than future existential risks, because many of the latter are highly improbable. You have responded by suggesting that existential risk mitigation may in fact be a dominant moral priority over the alleviation of present suffering. Can you explain why? ¶ Bostrom: Well suppose you have a moral view that counts future people as being worth as much as present people. You might say that fundamentally it doesn't matter whether someone exists at the current time or at some future time, just as many people think that from a fundamental moral point of view, it doesn't matter where somebody is spatially---somebody isn't automatically worth less because you move them to the moon or to Africa or something. A human life is a human life. If you have that moral point of view that future generations matter in proportion to their population numbers, then you get this very stark implication that existential risk mitigation has a much higher utility than pretty much anything else that you could do. There are so many people that could come into existence in the future if humanity survives this critical period of time---we might live for billions of years, our descendants might colonize billions of solar systems, and there could be billions and billions times more people than exist currently. Therefore, even a very small reduction in the probability of realizing this enormous good will tend to outweigh even immense benefits like eliminating poverty or curing malaria, which would be tremendous under ordinary standards.

Tournament: ASU | Round: 6 | Opponent: Kent Denver | Judge: Copenhaver
1nc

Towards means in the direction of
AHD, 9 (‘toward’, http://education.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/entry/toward)
 to·ward  (tôrd, trd, t-wôrd) KEY PREPOSITION:
…
In the direction of: driving toward home.

The USfg is the government in Washington
DGP 98 Dictionary of Government and Politics ’98 (Ed. P.H. Collin, p. 292
United States of America (
…
 (the Supreme Court). Each of the fifty states making up the USA has its own legislature and executive (the Governor) as well as its own legal system and constitution

1NC-Econ

Unemployment benefits will pass- bi-part support-
Kane, 1/9
(Paul, overs Congress and politics for the Washington Post, 1/9/14, The Washington Post, “Senators debate extension of unemployment benefits,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senators-debate-extension-of-unemployment-benefits/2014/01/08/73723aa8-78b6-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html, Accessed: 1/9/14, LPS.)

¶ The Senate on Wednesday
…
unemployment benefits. “I’m hopeful we’ll be able to make progress on this,” Portman said.

PC key to unemployment deal- Obama push now-
Associated Press, 12/21
(Associated Press, 12/21/13, UPI, “Obama: Progress in 2014 depends of Congress,” http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/12/21/Obama-Progress-in-2014-depends-of-Congress/UPI-28521387623600/, Accessed: 12/25/13, LPS.)

¶ WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack
…
I have the privilege of being your president."¶ "And if Congress continues to act in the spirit of cooperation we've seen in recent weeks, I'm confident we can make much more progress together in the year to come," the president said.¶ Topics: Barack Obama

Plan is unpopular- congress hates it
Hattem and Goad, 8/13
(Julian, Staff writer at the Hill Washington Correspondent at The Yomiuri Shimbun
Reporting Intern at Huffington Post Investigative Fund
Project Coordinator at Arete Fund and Ben, Reporter at The Press Enterprise, 8/26/13, The Hill, “REGULATION NATION: Obama bypassing Congress on climate,” http://thehill.com/blogs/regwatch/administration/318599-regulation-nation-obama-pins-climate-hopes-on-bypassing-congress, Accessed: 8/26/13, LPS.)
The success of President Obama's second-term climate agenda
….
Obama announced the steps in June, as part of a wide-ranging plan to counter the effects of global warming at a time when legislative efforts lack traction in Congress.  

Unemployment is the largest stimuli for the economy- we hold the best internal-
Roberts, 12/23
(Dan, the Guardian's Washington Bureau chief, covering politics and US national affairs, 12/23/13, “The Guardian, Expiration of unemployment benefits threatens US recovery, adviser warns,” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/us-unemployment-benefits-expiration-economy, Accessed: 12/25/13, LPS.)

The expiration of benefits for 1.3 million jobless Americans this weekend will exacerbate the worst period of chronic unemployment in post-war history,
….
Instead, Republicans and Democrats are expected to return to the issue early in the New Year with a vote on a three-month extension and the resumption of talks about longer-term benefits.

Economic downturn causes great power wars and extinction.
AUSLIN ‘9 - scholar at American Enterprise Institute (Michael, “The global Economy Unravels” American Enterprise Institute, http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.all,pubID.29502/pub_detail.asp)

What do these trends mean in the short and medium term? The Great Depression showed how social and global chaos followed hard on economic collapse.
….
The result may be a series of small explosions that coalesce into a big bang
1NC
The term “renewable” in the plan includes wind. The Organization of the America States division on sustainable energy defines it as such for policymakers.
Lambrides, et al., 99 (Mark, Division Chief for Energy and Climate Change in the Department of Sustainable Development at the Organization of American States, “The Renewable Energy Policy Manual,”
http://www.oas.org/dsd/publications/Unit/oea79e/ch05.htm
The term “renewable” is generally applied to those energy resources and technologies whose common characteristic is that they are non-depletable
….

eaters and geothermal heat pumps, are also based on renewable resources, but outside the scope of this Manual.

 – Wind farms violate indigenous peoples, pollute their land, destroying small farms and native cultures – straight turns the case.
Godoy, 13 (Emilio, Mexico-based correspondent for Inter Press Service covering the environment, human rights, and sustainable development, “Rural Mexican Communities Protest Wind Farms,” June 18, http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/06/rural-mexican-communities-protest-wind-farms/)
“We can’t sow our fields, which they have rented for next to nothing. What good do we get out of it?” Guadalupe Ramírez complained about wind farms operating in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca. Ramírez said
……

 oil from the turbines is contaminating the soil and the groundwater, the blades are killing birds, and the turbines are noisy,” Esteban López, a 55-year-old Zapotec Indian who grows maize and sorghum, told IPS.

1NC
State sovereignty is over; Empire is the new transnational form of rule characterized by globalization and economic integration.  The affirmative aligns with Empire, submerging borders beneath the subjective engagements of international economic forces.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. xi-xiii
Empire is materializing before our very eyes. Over the past several decades, as colonial regimes were overthrown and then precipitously after the Soviet barriers to the capitalist world market finally collapsed, we have witnessed an irresistible and irreversible globalization of economic and cultural exchanges. Along with the global market and global circuits of production
….

. Empire is the ultimate form of biopower insofar as it is the absolute inversion of the power of life.
Here’s the alternative: Affirm the radical opposition of the multitude—identify Empire as the enemy of ethical relations and sever all ties with the economic ontology of the 1AC.
Don’t be seduced by the particularity of the plan text—view their plan as a specific act of Empire that reveals the entire network of economic production and regulatory authority. Sovereignty operates by masking its own violence—don’t fall for 2AC mystification.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. 210-212
This recognition takes us back to the initial question: What does it mean to be republican today? We have already seen
….
Today the generalized being-against of the multitude must recognize imperial sovereignty as the enemy and discover the adequate means to subvert its power. 

1nc – shunning
The affirmative engages with known human rights abusers-— moral duty to shun
Beversluis 89 — Eric H. Beversluis, Professor of Philosophy and Economics at Aquinas College, holds an A.B. in Philosophy and German from Calvin College, an M.A. in Philosophy from Northwestern University, an M.A. in Economics from Ohio State University, and a Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Education from Northwestern University, 1989 (“On Shunning Undesirable Regimes: Ethics and Economic Sanctions,” Public Affairs Quarterly, Volume 3, Number 2, April, Available Online to Subscribing Institutions via JSTOR, p. 17-19)
A fundamental task of morality is resolving conflicting interests.
….
when we fail to do so others may interpret our failure as tacit complicity in the willful, persistent, and flagrant immorality.

Manufacturing

Non-unique – Mexican Manufacturing and energy ties are already strong
Energy and Capital 7/5/13
Justin Williams, Staff writer, July 5th 2013, “U.S. Natural Gas Fuels Mexican Manufacturing,” http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/us-natural-gas-fuels-mexican-manufacturing/3596, Accessed 7/10/13, CB 

U.S. natural gas is shaping up to be a very important competitive advantage for manufacturers to the south. U.S.
….

higher, making it almost impossible for the Eastern nation to battle with Mexico for U.S. positioning.to open up for more business to the south. 

Adding Mexico grid interconnections means increased renewable investment kills spare capacity – causes overstretch and blackouts
The Economist 11 (“Difference Engine: Disaster waiting to happen,” Babbage, 9/16/11, http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/09/reliability-grid)//SJF

Yet, further down the coast, 6m citizens of southern California and south-west Arizona, along with their cousins
….
Unless the grid is made more robust and secure, the threat to the country—from terrorist or technician—can only become more severe. 

US manufacturing is strong now—multiple warrants
Drezner, professor of international politics at Tufts University 12 Daniel, “Predictions about the death of American hegemony may have been greatly exaggerated”, Foreign Policy, http://drezner.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/01/22/predictions_about_the_death_of_american_hegemony_may_have_been_greatly_exaggerated, accessed 7/10/13, AR

To be honest, this sounds like a lot of pious baloney. As Michael Beckley points out in a new article in International Security
…
"Our report challenges some long-held beliefs. Significant changes in US supply-and-demand prospects, for example, highlight the likelihood that import dependence in what is today's largest energy importer will decline substantially."

Air power ineffective – empirics
Mueller, 10 (Karl P., senior political scientist at RAND Corporation, adjunct associate professor in the Security Studies Program, Georgetown University, 2010, “Air Power,” RAND Corporation, http://www.rand.org/pubs/reprints/2010/RAND_RP1412.pdf, AJ)
Strategic bombing campaigns failed to produce the sort of rapid, decisive results originally envisioned by many of their proponents
….
 whether particular types of strategies are likely to succeed or fail, particularly since the aircraft and weapons used for strategic attack today are in many respects not fundamentally different from those needed for other types of air campaigns. 

Prolonging transition risks global stability
Farley, University of Kentucky assistant professor of Diplomacy and International Commerce, 3-7-12
(Dr. Robert, World Politics Review, "Over the Horizon: The Future of American Hegemony," http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/11696/over-the-horizon-the-future-of-american-hegemony, accessed 7-6-12, CNM)

What are the dangers? Hegemony has never meant the ability to achieve any outcome the United States wants, whenever it wants.
…

Nothing about the future is guaranteed; wise policies can revise and extend a globally acceptable “American Century,” while foolish policies can cut it short.

Turns the case – Hegemony causes econ collapse, backlash, and foreign overstretch – only retreat is sustainable
Posen, MIT Political Science Professor, 13
Barry R., Jan/Feb 2013, Foreign Affairs, “Pull Back,” Vol. 92, Issue 1, Academic Search Complete, accessed 7/2/13,  WD

Despite a decade of costly and indecisive warfare and mounting fiscal pressures, the long-standing consensus among American policymakers
….

the United States to spend its resources on only the most pressing international threats, it would help preserve the country's prosperity and security over the long run.

Warming

Warming won’t cause extinction
Barrett, professor of natural resource economics – Columbia University, ‘7
(Scott, Why Cooperate? The Incentive to Supply Global Public Goods, introduction)

First, climate change does not threaten the survival of the human species.
…..
 The challenge would still be more difficult than asteroid defense, but we would have done much more about it by now. 

30 year time gap prevents solving warming – any effect takes decades
Walker and King 8—Director of the School of Environment @Oxford
Gabrielle, PhD in Chemistry, Sir David, Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford, and a senior scientific adviser to UBS, The Hot Topic, pg. 47
Most people have now realized that climate change is upon us.  If pushed, most would probably say that if we don’t do something to change the way we live, things are more likely to get worse.  But few seem to have noticed one of the most important points to emerge from the last few years of scientific projections.
…
The problem of climate change is one of legacy.  

The exaggerated try or die rhetoric of the aff leads to ineffectual policy making- means the aff can’t solve
National Center for Policy Analysis, 13
(NCPA, 1/31/13, NCPA.org, Exaggerated Global Warming Claims May Lead to Poor Policy, http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=22797, Accessed: 9/21/13, LPS.)

President Obama doubled-down on his commitment to "respond to the threat of climate change" during his second inaugural address
….
The International Energy Agency estimates that wind energy will generate just 2.4 percent of the world's energy while solar will generate just 1 percent. 

CO2 solves food shortages – no habitat destruction
Sherwood and Idso 10 (Keith and Craig, "Surviving the Perfect Storm," CO2 Science Magazine, Volume 13, Number 44:3 November, http://www.co2science.org/articles/V13/N44/EDIT.php)

In introducing their review of food security publications pertinent to the challenge of feeding nine billion people just four decades from now,
…
the world's climate alarmists to result from anthropogenic CO2 emissions are largely devoid of significant real-world substantiation.
CO2 Ag Fertilization is key to solve the root cause of global war – resource disparity
Idso and idso 99 (Craig, president of CO2 Science, Keith, Vice president of CO2 Science, Give Peace a Chance by Giving Plants a Chance, October 1, 1999 http://www.co2science.org/articles/V2/N19/EDIT.php)

President Carter begins by stating that "when the Cold War ended 10 years ago, we expected an era of peace" but got instead "a decade of war."
….
via the planet-wide prosperity that comes from enhanced agricultural productivity.

Tournament: ASU | Round: 3 | Opponent: Leland | Judge: Yu
1-1NC
Interpretation - Engagement requires DIRECT talks – means both governments must be involved
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=1and

PRESIDENT OBAMA will have a hard time achieving his
…
The goal of engagement is to change the other country’s perception of its own interests and realistic options and, hence, to modify its policies and its behavior.

1NC

The United States federal government should increase its nuclear energy production with Cuba and Mexico
Nuclear power solves best- most stable resource and more cost effective than wind or solar
Luke 7-9 (Max Luke, Graduate from McGill University, Canada, where he completed a B.Sc. in Environmental Science with minors in Economics and Biology, German Energiewende Successful, But We Still Need Nuclear Energy, 7-9-13, http://theenergycollective.com/maxluke/246801/german-energiewende-successful-we-still-need-nuclear, anuss)
Germany’s massive investment in distributed and renewable electricity, known as the Energiewende
….
be the most technically optimal replacement for large fossil-fueled power stations like coal plants.

Biofuels can’t cover current levels of consumption—nuclear energy is a better and cleaner alternative
Larouche Pac, 13
Larouche Pac, Political Activism Center, March, 2, 2013, “Go Nuclear and Dump Biofuels, Mexican Scientist Proposes”, http://larouchepac.com/node/25687, accessed
…..

The director of the Institute of Chemical Catalysis and Petroleum from Spain's Council of Scientific Research asked what "social criteria" was used to dictate using food for fuel, and debunked the notion that biofuels are "clean" fuels.

Biofuels kill Biodiversity- monocultures and pesticides
Dale, Ecological Society of America staff, et al., 10
Virginia H., Keith L. Kline, John Wiens, and Joseph Fargione, January 2010, Ecological Society of America, “Biofuels: Implications for Land Use and Biodiversity,” http://www.esa.org/biofuelsreports/files/ESA20Biofuels20Report_VH20Dale20et20al.pdf, p. 3-4, Accessed 7/9/13, CB
Simply stated, biodiversity is the variety of life that¶ exists in any one place at one time. Conservation work
…..
 a single species will tend to require more chemical inputs¶ to control pests and more fertilizer to maintain yields.
Biodiversity loss risks extinction – there’s an invisible threshold
Diner, Major in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps of the United States Army, 94
David N., Winter, Military Law Review (143 Mil. L. Rev. 161), “The Army And The Endangered Species Act: Who's Endangering Whom?,” http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA456541, 7-9-13, ABS

4. Biological Diversity. – The main premise of species preservation is that diversity is better than simplicity. 

…
Each new extinction increases the risk of disaster. Like a mechanic removing, one by one, the rivets from an aircraft's wings, 80 mankind may be edging closer to the abyss.

3
State sovereignty is over; Empire is the new transnational form of rule characterized by globalization and economic integration.  The affirmative aligns with Empire, submerging borders beneath the subjective engagements of international economic forces.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. xi-xiii
Empire is materializing before our very eyes. Over the past several decades, as colonial regimes were overthrown and then precipitously after the Soviet barriers to the capitalist world market finally collapsed, we have witnessed an irresistible and irreversible globalization of economic and cultural exchanges. Along with the global market and global circuits of production
….
the production of social life itself, in which the economic, the political, and the cultural increasingly overlap and invest one another.

Imperial power constrains national sovereignty through atomic weapons and capitalist domination; the intertwining of economic production and police force is finally the inversion of power against life, the end-point of biopolitics.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. 345-46
Imperial control operates through three global
….
Empire is the ultimate form of biopower insofar as it is the absolute inversion of the power of life.
Don’t be seduced by the particularity of the plan text—view their plan as a specific act of Empire that reveals the entire network of economic production and regulatory authority. Sovereignty operates by masking its own violence—don’t fall for 2AC mystification.
Michael Hardt, Associate Professor of Literature and Romance Studies at Duke University, and Antonio Negri, independent researcher and writer and an inmate at Rebibbia Prison, former Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Paris and a Professor of Political Science at the University of Padua, 2000, Empire, p. 210-212
This recognition takes us back to the initial question: What does it mean to be republican today? We have already seen that the modern critical response of opening the dialectic between inside and outside is no longer possible.
…
Today the generalized being-against of the multitude must recognize imperial sovereignty as the enemy and discover the adequate means to subvert its power. 

1NC-Terror

Unemployment benefits will pass- bi-part support-
Kane, 1/9
(Paul, overs Congress and politics for the Washington Post, 1/9/14, The Washington Post, “Senators debate extension of unemployment benefits,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senators-debate-extension-of-unemployment-benefits/2014/01/08/73723aa8-78b6-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html, Accessed: 1/9/14, LPS.)

¶ The Senate on Wednesday haggled over competing proposals to extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless,
…
His plan would bring an estimated $5.4 billion in savings, almost enough to match the short-term extension of unemployment benefits. “I’m hopeful we’ll be able to make progress on this,” Portman said.

PC key to unemployment deal- Obama push now-
Associated Press, 12/21
(Associated Press, 12/21/13, UPI, “Obama: Progress in 2014 depends of Congress,” http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/12/21/Obama-Progress-in-2014-depends-of-Congress/UPI-28521387623600/, Accessed: 12/25/13, LPS.)

¶ WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday urged Congress to extend unemployment
….
"And if Congress continues to act in the spirit of cooperation we've seen in recent weeks, I'm confident we can make much more progress together in the year to come," the president said.¶ Topics: Barack Obama

House is cutting renewable energy spending – it’s a low priority
Wasson and Geman, 2013
(Erik and Ben, 6-17-13, The Hill, “GOP bill would cut renewable energy spending in half,” http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/305921-gop-bill-cuts-renewable-energy-spending-in-half, 7-9-13, EB)
House appropriators on Monday
….
“In a challenging fiscal environment, we have to prioritize funding, and the Subcommittee chose to address the readiness and safety of the nation’s nuclear stockpile and to invest in critical infrastructure projects to protect lives and property and support economic growth,” said subcommittee Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.).

Unemployment is the largest stimuli for the economy- we hold the best internal-
Roberts, 12/23
(Dan, the Guardian's Washington Bureau chief, covering politics and US national affairs, 12/23/13, “The Guardian, Expiration of unemployment benefits threatens US recovery, adviser warns,” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/23/us-unemployment-benefits-expiration-economy, Accessed: 12/25/13, LPS.)

The expiration of benefits for 1.3 million jobless Americans this weekend will exacerbate the worst period of chronic unemployment in post-war history,
….
New Year with a vote on a three-month extension and the resumption of talks about longer-term benefits.

Economic collapse causes global wars and terrorism
Terrorist retaliation causes nuclear war – draws in Russia and China
Ayson, Victoria University professor in strategic studies, 10(Robert, Professor of Strategic Studies and Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand at the Victoria University of Wellington, July, “After a Terrorist Nuclear Attack: Envisaging Catalytic Effects,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Volume 33, Issue 7, Available Online to Subscribing Institutions via InformaWorld)

A terrorist nuclear attack,
….
intentions to use force (and possibly nuclear force) against them. In that situation, the temptations to preempt such actions might grow, although it must be admitted that any preemption would probably still meet with a devastating response.

Collapse

No ECS war – Beijing’s strategic calculations prevent conflict
Allison and Blackwill 13 (Graham, IR professor at Harvard, and Robert, senior fellow at CFR, former ambassador to India, and former assistant dean at Harvard’s Kennedy School. “Beijing still prefers diplomacy to force” Financial Times http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/2bda1e4c-694c-11e2-9246-00144feab49a.html#axzz2JJeYB859)

Should we connect the dots between China’s neighbours’ increasing assertiveness over claims to disputed islands in the South and East China seas on the one hand and sharp declines in their trade with China on the other
….
 to avoid an accident or blunder that sparks military conflict over the Senkakus, which would serve no one’s interests.

Anyway, multipolarity fills in for US influence in East Asia
Lukin ’12 Artyom Lukin, Associate Professor and Deputy Director at the School of Regional and International Studies, Far Eastern Federal University, “Russia and the Balance of Power in Northeast Asia,” Pacific Focus, Vol. 27, Iss. 2, August 2012, pp. 155-183, DOI: 10.1111/j.1976-5118.2012.01080.x
At present, the USA – weakened by the economic crisis, distracted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and being increasingly overshadowed by the rising China – appears to have lost that kind of partial hegemony.
….
Apart from China and the USA, only Russia and the DPRK can be considered as fully independent players in the region. Therefore the present international order in NEA can be identified as a complex multipolar balance of power.

Asia Pivot is locked in no – no trade off with Mexico
Lobe 3/13 Jim Lobe, “U.S. “Rebalancing” to Asia/Pacific Still a Priority,” IPS, 3/13/2013
Amidst growing tensions with North Korea and, to a lesser extent, China, the White House Monday insisted that its “re-balancing” toward the Asia/Pacific remained on track and that Washington is fully committed to its allies there,
….
some have questioned whether this rebalance is sustainable,” he said. “But make no mistake: President Obama has clearly stated that we will maintain our security presence and engagement in the Asia-Pacific.”

Ag

Alt. cause to food insecurity – climate change
Gunyon, OneWorld and Tread Softly managing editor, 13
Bill, 1-13, Tread Softly, “International Causes of Food Insecurity,” http://treadsoftly.net/food-security/international-causes-of-food-insecurity/, accessed 7-12-13, HG

Climate models predict that
….

desertification and temperature rise, and for extreme weather events such as flooding and cyclones.

Resource scarcity doesn’t lead to conflict
Salehyan, University of North Texas political science professor, 7
Idean Salehyan, 8-14-07, Foreign Policy, “The New Myth About Climate Change”, http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2007/08/13/the_new_myth_about_climate_change?wp_login_redirect=0, accessed, 7-12-13 AMS
First, aside from a few anecdotes, there is little systematic empirical evidence that resource scarcity and changing environmental conditions lead to conflict. In fact, several studies have shown that an abundance of natural resources is more likely to
….

Clearly then, there is much more to armed conflict than resource scarcity and natural disasters.

No connection between food prices and social conflict—stats prove—their ev is biased
Barrett and Bellemare ’11 Christopher B. Barrett, distinguished professor of economics at Cornell, and Marc Bellemare, assistant professor of public policy at Duke, “Why food price volatility doesn't matter,” CNN, 7/13/2011, http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/13/why-food-price-volatility-doesnt-matter/
Since volatile food prices do not necessarily harm poor consumers,
…
price volatility favors the same large farmers who already enjoy tremendous financial support from G-20 governments.

Econ

Mexican economy is resilient and expected to grow
Silber, economics and science writer for Scientific American Mind, 11
June, Kenneth, respected economics and science writer for Scientific American Mind , “Mexico's resilient market: the Mexican stock market has a history of overcoming economic and financial crises”, Research Magazine p. 44, gale infotrac

The benchmark IPC index, which at the start
…..
As in the past, Mexico's market is showing considerable resilience.

U.S. gas boom solves Mexican natural gas needs
Quartz, 7/2/13
Tim Fernholz, Staff writer, July 2nd 2013, Quartz, “That US natural-gas manufacturing boom? It’s happening in Mexico,” http://qz.com/99940/that-us-natural-gas-manufacturing-boom-its-happening-in-mexico/, Accessed 7/10/13, CB 

….
is spending $3.3 billion to build a new, 750-mile pipeline from Los Ramones, Mexico, near the country’s industrial heartland, to Agua Dulce, near Texas’ shale oil fields.

Mexican economic history proves that political stability and economic growth have no correlation
Hanna, Harvard Business School associate editor, 6
(Julia, 7/19/6, Harvard Business School, “Political Turmoil and Mexico’s Economy,” http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5458.html, Accessed 7/12/13, JC)

In research examining Mexico's economic history,
…..

On average, such countries don't do nearly as well as liberal democracies; but there's still a mystery in that they're not doing as badly as the economists and political scientists would have predicted."

No Mexican collapse- their authors misinterpret studies
Strategy Page, 9
1/19/09, Strategy Page, “The Coming Collapse”, http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/mexico/articles/20090119.aspx, Accessed 7/11/13, ML

The internet has been rife with reports
…

Mexico also has money, education, and a comparative political-social coherence the entirety of South and Central Asia should envy.

No terrorism in Latin America – Hezbollah hasn’t had an attack in over two decades
Weitz, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis, 11
(Richard, 11/9/11, Project Syndicate, “Where are Latin America’s Terrorists,” http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/where-are-latin-america-s-terrorists-, accessed 7/9/13, IC)

WASHINGTON, DC – The Colombian army’s killing of Alfonso Cano, head of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), will not eliminate that country’s largest guerrilla group anytime soon. But it does partly illustrate
…..

Hezbollah has not conducted an attack in Latin America in almost two decades. Indigenous organized criminal movements are responsible for the most serious sources of local violence.

Tournament: Fullerton | Round: 5 | Opponent: University | Judge: Goldberg
Ports of Entry FW Version-Univeristy-1NC

1NC Mexico

Mexican violence against women and gender discrimination is increasing- lack institutional is the root cause
Amnesty International, 12
(Amnesty International, 7/11/12, Amnesty International, “Mexico fails to tackle increased levels of violence against women,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/mexico-fails-tackle-increased-levels-violence-against-women-2012-07-11, Accessed: 9/9/13, LPS.)

¶ The Mexican authorities have failed to protect women from increasing levels of violence and discrimination or to ensure those responsible face justice,
….
. Much of the problem, however, lies in the lack of effective implementation of these laws and the weakness of the institutions,” said Rupert Knox.

Lack of institutional compliance leads to mass violence, rape, murder, indigenous genocide, and further systemic injustice
Amnesty International, 12
(Amnesty International, 7/11/12, Amnesty International, “Mexico fails to tackle increased levels of violence against women,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/mexico-fails-tackle-increased-levels-violence-against-women-2012-07-11, Accessed: 9/9/13, LPS.)

Amnesty International’s submission details some of the areas in which
…
must move to implement commitments to protect women's rights to end abuses and impunity,” s id Rupert Knox.

1NC
US Chamber of Congress 12,
(US Chamber of Congress, Enhancing the US-Mexico Economic Partnership, A Report of the US-Mexico Leadership Initiative, P. 22, www.uschamber.com/.../enhancing-us-mexico-economic-partnership, Accessed: 6/14/13, LPS.)

The members of the U.S.-Mexico Leadership Initiative
……
competitiveness in the world’s markets.

1NC-Terror
(Tom Kutsch, Digital News Producer, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/18/in-pursuing-iraniansuccessabroadobamariskstrippingupathome.html, Aljazeera America, 10/18/13, “In pursuing Iran success abroad, Obama risks tripping up at home”) *Ableism Modified

In the current congressional session, there are several additional sanctions bills against Iran under consideration,
…..
10 senators published a bipartisan letter calling for a harder line on sanctions.
Associated Press, 10/2
(Associated Press, 10/2/13, CBS, “Despite thaw, Congress moves new Iran sanctions along,” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57605692/despite-thaw-congress-moves-new-iran-sanctions-along/, Accessed: 10/2/13, LPS.)

WASHINGTON A war-weary Congress generally backs President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran, but with tougher U.S. economic measures against Tehran on the way
…..
Then during his re-election campaign, Obama was called weak on Iran.

Farah, founder, editor, and CEO of Creators News Service, 06
Joseph, July 13, 2006, “Cornyn wants U.S. taxpayers to fund Mexican development”, http://www.wnd.com/2006/07/36998/, accessed 7-8-13 BLE

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has quietly introduced a bill to create a “North American Investment Fund
…..
As WND reported recently, opposition is mounting to similar programs, including President Bush’s North American Security and Prosperity Partnership.

Smith, 9/18
(Lee, Lee Smith is a senior editor at the Weekly Standard and the author of The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations, 9/18/13, The Tablet, “How Iran Uses Terror Threats To Successfully Deter U.S. Military Action,” http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/146178/iran-uses-terror-as-deterrence/2, Accessed: 10/2/13, LPS.)

President Barack Obama thinks that the deal with Russia over Syria’s chemical weapons was possible only because of his credible threat of force.
….
, especially in Latin America.¶ 

Ayson, Victoria University professor in strategic studies, 10(Robert, Professor of Strategic Studies and Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand at the Victoria University of Wellington, July, “After a Terrorist Nuclear Attack: Envisaging Catalytic Effects,” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Volume 33, Issue 7, Available Online to Subscribing Institutions via InformaWorld)

A terrorist nuclear attack, and even the use

Tournament: Gonzaga | Round: 2 | Opponent: Saint Francis- Adi and Anav | Judge: Sam Haley Hill
1NC
Interpretation - Economic Engagement is conditional
Helweg, Professor of Public Policy @ SMU, 2000 (Diana, Economic Strategy and National Security, p. 145) 

Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright has argued that a
…..
In other words, it is a variation of the traditional carrot and stick approach rather than one or the other.
1NC

The Supreme Court can do the aff and avoids politics
Tushnet 8 (law professor at Harvard, Mark, “THE OBAMA PRESIDENCY AND THE ROBERTS COURT: SOME HINTS FROM POLITICAL SCIENCE: POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS OF JUDICIAL SUPREM-ACY: THE PRESIDENCY, THE SUPREME COURT, AND CONSTITUTIONAL LEADERSHIP IN U.S. HISTORY”, Summer, 25 Const. Commentary 343, lexis, Accessed 2/18/2013, rwg)
What can the courts do for a resilient regime? Presidents and Congress have limited time and political energy.
…..
and annoying because the Court's failure to satisfy all the demands emanating from a President's political supporters will put pressure on the President to do something about the Court.

The reviewing and examining laws through ruling it unconstitutional is key to judicial independence- aff crowds it out
Shetreet 89 (Shimon Shetreet. “Judicial Independence: The Contemporary Debate”. Chapter 33. 1985. Martinus Nijhoff. Google Books. http://books.google.com/books?id=jEG0KVCu_soCandprintsec=frontcover#v=onepageandqandf=false)//JuneC//
The Course and Framework of IBA Project¶ The judiciary has developed from a dispute-resolution mechanism, to a¶
…..
In the course of the Project we have been in touch with other organizations¶ involved in similar efforts such as the International Commission of Jurists in¶ Geneva, whose representatives attended our conferences in Lisbon in 1981 in¶ Jerusalem in March 1982 and In New Delhi in October 1982.¶ 

Judicial independence is key to human rights and de-escalates conflicts-that’s an external net benefit- the permutation can’t capture it
OSCE 12 (Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe MISSION IN KOSOVO. “Independence of the Judiciary in Kosovo: Institutional and Functional Dimensions”. January 2012. http://www.osce.org/kosovo/87138)//JuneC//
INTRODUCTION¶ “Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.”¶
…..
, stability, peaceful resolution of conflicts, and economic development.
1NC-Terror

Unemployment benefits will pass- bi-part support-
Lewis and Rushe, 1/2
(Paul, Washington correspondent for the Guardian. He was previously special projects editor, and Dominic, Dominic Rushe is the US business correspondent for the Guardian, 1/2/14, “The Guardian, Senate Democrats plan fast-track fix to reinstate lost unemployment benefits,” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/02/senate-democrats-bill-reinstate-unemployment-benefits, Accessed: 1/2/14, LPS.)

¶ ¶ Democratic leaders in the Senate are planning to fast-track legislation to extend unemployment insurance,
….
told the Guardian the measure would stimulate the economy and alleviate what he called the “mental torment” suffered by those long-term unemployed who now feel abandoned.

PC key to unemployment deal- Obama push now-
Associated Press, 12/21
(Associated Press, 12/21/13, UPI, “Obama: Progress in 2014 depends of Congress,” http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/12/21/Obama-Progress-in-2014-depends-of-Congress/UPI-28521387623600/, Accessed: 12/25/13, LPS.)

¶ WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Saturday urged Congress to extend unemployment insurance
…..
"And if Congress continues to act in the spirit of cooperation we've seen in recent weeks, I'm confident we can make much more progress together in the year to come," the president said.¶ Topics: Barack Obama

Plan saps Obama’s capital
Birns and Mills, Council on Hemispheric Affairs director and senior research fellow, 1/30/13
(Larry and Frederick B., Council on Hemispheric Affairs, “Best Time for U.S.– Cuba Rapprochement Is Now,” http://www.coha.org/best-time-for-u-s-cuba-rapprochemen

Tournament: Fullerton | Round: Quarters | Opponent: College Prep | Judge: Clark, Goldberg, Woodhead
Cuba Terror Aff 1NC
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)

Engagement and appeasement are distinct
Resnick 1 (Evan, Assistant Professor and coordinator of the United States Programme at RSIS, “Defining Engagement,” Journal of International Affairs, 0022197X, Spring2001, Vol. 54, Issue 2, http://web.ebscohost.com.turing.library.northwestern.edu/ehost/detail?sid=1b56e6b4-ade2-4052-9114-7d107fdbd01940sessionmgr12andvid=2andhid=24andbdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ3d3d#db=mthandAN=4437301)

Interpretation - Increase is to make larger
American Heritage Dictionary 1(American Heritage Dictionary  www.answers.com/topic/increase ,2/1/2001 , DA 6/20/11, OST)

To become greater or larger. To multiply; reproduce. 

1NC Cuba

Paramilitary human rights abuses account for the number one violence against women in Cuba
Peterson, 12
(Sabina, Special Contributer, 3/26/12, The Human Rights Brief, “Attacks on Women Human Rights Defenders in Cuba,” http://hrbrief.org/2012/03/attacks-on-women-human-rights-defenders-in-cuba/, Accessed: 9/11/13, LPS.)

On Friday, March 23, 2012, during the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) 144th session, three Cuban women served as petitioners, opposing a silent bench with empty chairs
……
Cuba are women who have been fighting for their rights.

The affs Gendered structured view of international relations and politics culminate in environmental destruction, nuclear war, and extinction
Tickner 1992
(J. Ann Tickner, Professor of International Relations at USC. Gender in International Relations: Feminist Perspectives on Achieving Global Security. 1992, http://www.ciaonet.org/book/tickner/)
In the modern West, women's activities have typically been associated with a devalued world of reproduction and maintenance
…..

They will be valued in the public realm only when men participate equally in the private realm in tasks associated with maintenance and responsibility for child rearing. If we are to move toward a more secure future, what we value in the public

1NC-Human Rights

(Tom Kutsch, Digital News Producer, http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/18/in-pursuing-iraniansuccessabroadobamariskstrippingupathome.html, Aljazeera America, 10/18/13, “In pursuing Iran success abroad, Obama risks tripping up at home”) *Ableism Modified

In the current congressional session, there are several additional sanctions bills against Iran under consideration,
…..
10 senators published a bipartisan letter calling for a harder line on sanctions.

Associated Press, 10/2
(Associated Press, 10/2/13, CBS, “Despite thaw, Congress moves new Iran sanctions along,” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57605692/despite-thaw-congress-moves-new-iran-sanctions-along/, Accessed: 10/2/13, LPS.)

WASHINGTON A war-weary Congress generally backs President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran
….
 Then during his re-election campaign, Obama was called weak on Iran.

Feinberg, former Senior Director for Inter-American Affairs at the National Security Council, 11
Richard E., November 2011, “The International Financial Institutions and Cuba: Relations with Non-Member States,” Cuba in Transition, Volume: 22, p. 44, http://www.ascecuba.org/publications/proceedings/volume22/pdfs/feinberg.pdf, date accessed 6/27/13, YGS

What, then, accounts for the anomaly of the empty¶ Cuban seat at these international organizations?
….
U.S. debates on Cuba policy, there is no¶ equally insistent counter-lobby to balance the hardline pro-sanctions faction.

Associated Press, 10/2
(Associated Press, 10/2/13, CBS, “Despite thaw, Congress moves new Iran sanctions along,” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57605692/despite-thaw-congress-moves-new-iran-sanctions-along/, Accessed: 10/2/13, LPS.)

"We should judge Iranian leaders by their actions, not their words,"
…..
or getting Rouhani on the phone and said the U.S. must increase economic pressure "until Iran stops its

Tournament: Alta | Round: 1 | Opponent: Logan | Judge: Allred
ERROR

Tournament: Fullerton | Round: 3 | Opponent: San Gabrelino | Judge: Luz Lopez
1NC
A. Interpretation - Economic Engagement is conditional
Helweg, Professor of Public Policy @ SMU, 2000 (Diana, Economic Strategy and National Security, p. 145) 

Secretary of State Madeline K. Albright has argued
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In other words, it is a variation of the traditional carrot and stick approach rather than one or the other.
1NC

US Chamber of Congress 12,
(US Chamber of Congress, Enhancing the US-Mexico Economic Partnership, A Report of the US-Mexico Leadership Initiative, P. 22, www.uschamber.com/.../enhancing-us-mexico-economic-partnership, Accessed: 6/14/13, LPS.)

The members of the U.S.-Mexico Leadership Initiative
……
competitiveness in the world’s markets.

1NC Mexico
Mexican violence against women and gender discrimination is increasing- lack institutional is the root cause
Amnesty International, 12
(Amnesty International, 7/11/12, Amnesty International, “Mexico fails to tackle increased levels of violence against women,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/mexico-fails-tackle-increased-levels-violence-against-women-2012-07-11, Accessed: 9/9/13, LPS.)

¶ The Mexican authorities have failed to protect women from increasing levels of violence and discrimination or to ensure those responsible face justice,
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. Much of the problem, however, lies in the lack of effective implementation of these laws and the weakness of the institutions,” said Rupert Knox.

Lack of institutional compliance leads to mass violence, rape, murder, indigenous genocide, and further systemic injustice
Amnesty International, 12
(Amnesty International, 7/11/12, Amnesty International, “Mexico fails to tackle increased levels of violence against women,” http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/mexico-fails-tackle-increased-levels-violence-against-women-2012-07-11, Accessed: 9/9/13, LPS.)

Amnesty International’s submission details some of the areas in which
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must move to implement commitments to protect women's rights to end abuses and impunity,” s id Rupert Knox.

1NC-Terror
Associated Press, 10/17
(Associated Press, 10/17/13, Fox News Politics, “Senators seek escalation of Iran sanctions after nuke talks,” http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/16/senators-seek-escalation-iran-sanctions-after-nuke-talks/, Accessed: 10/17/13, LPS.)

¶ WASHINGTON –  Demands in Congress grew Wednesday for a speedy escalation of sanctions against Iran as two days of nuclear talks ended in Geneva,
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administration at least several weeks to see whether Iran under Rouhani changes course.

Associated Press, 10/2
(Associated Press, 10/2/13, CBS, “Despite thaw, Congress moves new Iran sanctions along,” http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57605692/despite-thaw-congress-moves-new-iran-sanctions-along/, Accessed: 10/2/13, LPS.)

WASHINGTON A war-weary Congress generally backs President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran, but with tougher U.S. economic measures against Tehran on the way,
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Obama the presidential candidate was hit with criticism for suggesting talks with the Iranians without preconditions. Then during his re-election campaign, Obama was called weak on Iran.

Rampton Reuters 13
Roberta, 4/29/13, Reuters, “U.S.-Mexico deal on expanded Gulf oil drilling still in limbo”, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/29/usa-mexico-oil-idUSL2N0DG0CV20130429, accessed 6/30/13, ALT

In a new twist,
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," he said, referring to the exemption.

Smith, 9/18
(Lee, Lee Smith is a senior editor at the Weekly Standard and the author of The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations, 9/18/13, The Tablet, “How Iran Uses Terror Threats To Successfully Deter U.S. Military Action,” http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/146178/iran-uses-terror-as-deterrence/2, Accessed: 10/2/13, LPS.)

President Barack Obama thinks that the deal with Russia over Syria’s chemical weapons was possible only because of his credible threat of force.
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, especially in Latin America.¶
Ayson, Victoria University professor in strategic studies, 10(Robert, Professor of Strategic Studies and Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies: New Zealand at the Victoria University of