My first picture is a political cartoon on the Iraq war and it's effectiveness. It plays on George Bush's speech where he infamously said "Mission accomplished". In the cartoon, a banner saying "Misery accomplished" hangs over the tombstones of tens of thousands of Iraqi citizens. The Iraq war was made out to be protecting the U.S but in actuality the war was about America's economic national interest and oil. The Iraq war had heavy civilian casualties, at what cost? America pursuing it's own national interest through war is questionable. Especially when the lives of civilians are at stake and when the motivation behind the war is economics. I think that no nation-state should start war over their own economic national interest. Because even if the war is successful and there are minimum civilian casualties the country that war is being declared on will lose economically, international relations will be strained, and war pursuing economic national interests is inherently selfish. In this situation The United States pursuit of economic national interests went too far. Not only is plundering another countries resources immoral at best. Thousands of innocent civilians life's being taken is completely wrong.
The cartoon above is about the issue of arctic sovereignty in Canada. The issue stemmed from the discovery of resources such as oil in the arctic and the possibility of economic gains if a nation-state were to control the arctic. Many nation-states laid claims to parts of the arctic such as; Canada, Russia, Denmark, The United States. Many nation-states such as the United Kingdom believe that areas of the arctic should not be under control of any nation, but are subject to international maritime law. This issue has caused lots of international tension and strained international relations. Russia was the first to stake a claim in the arctic. Canada and many others followed suit. I personally think that the area in the arctic that is contested should be considered international waters to ease tensions. I think this because the tension could lead to war and losses on all sides. This is an instant of national interest being pursued to aggressively. The risk of international conflict is too high and all involved nation-states, even Canada. Should, for lack of better words, chill.
Pictured above is a deforested part of the Amazon rain forest in Peru. It symbolizes the clash between national interests in Peru. The situation started when Peru decided it was in their economic c national interest to auction off parts of the rain forest to sell to oil companies. This would boost the Peruvian economy at the expense of not only the environment but also indigenous peoples lifestyles in Peru. It begs the question, when does pursuing national interest become not desirable? For the Peruvian government the desire to boost the economy is strong but the people of Peru opposed this decision. I think that the land should be given back to the Peruvian peoples. After all, they were the first peoples living there and their own lifestyles are at risk. I believe that in this situation the pursuit of national interest went to far.