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NATION/WORLD Tuesday, August 9, 2016 East Oregonian Page 7A Why it matters: America and the world by U.S. airpower. He says this is more likely to create a durable success than ighting the Iraqis’ and Syrians’ wars for them. Trump says this is an abdication of a commander-in- THE ISSUE chief’s responsibility to extinguish as quickly How should America use its inluence in a as possible the most immediate threat to the world where being a superpower doesn’t get United States. Clinton supports the thrust of you what it once did? As instability and human Obama’s approach to avoiding another U.S. tragedy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Syria war in the Mideast. have shown, the U.S. alone cannot impose The Iran nuclear deal, which Trump solutions or force the surrender of adversaries trashes and Clinton praises, is an example of like the Islamic State group, which cannot be diplomacy with the potential to change the deterred by the threat of nuclear attack. course of history, for better or worse. Critics WHERE THEY STAND like Trump say it opens the door for Iran to Donald Trump says his approach is get its hands eventually on nuclear weapons, deined by the phrase “America First.” He which would threaten America. Clinton says says, for example, that if allies in Europe and it blocks that path and provides possibilities Asia won’t pay the full cost of U.S. contri- for change in Iran that could reduce the butions to their defense, then the U.S. should chance of war. let them defend themselves. He is sour on At its core, the discussion about U.S. “international leadership gets unions that down to this: tie us up and How much bring America can the U.S. down.” accomplish Hillary acting alone, Clinton takes compared the view that with allying America bene- itself with its from a wide like-minded network of alli- nations? The ances, both for question security and applies not just for economic on the military strength. She front but also says she would in economics. work to widen AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File Trump argues and strengthen In this 2011 ile photo Army Staff Sgt. Christopher the U.S. gets that network. Seeman, right, of Kalispell, Mont., takes the oath of too little out of She criticizes re-enlistment as Spc. Brian Martinez, center, of Auro- current trade a “go-it-alone” ra, Ill., holds up a American lag at Camp Taji, north of arrangements approach for Baghdad, Iraq. as well as the U.S. and decades-old asserts that international partnerships are “a security partnerships like NATO, which is unique source of America’s strength.” anchored in Europe but traditionally led by WHY IT MATTERS the U.S. He has called NATO “obsolete” and The way America wields its power around a bad deal for America. the world affects people in every walk of Clinton, by contrast, sees NATO and life, in every corner of the country. Going alliances with Japan and South Korea as a to war in Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in pillar of U.S. strategy for promoting peace 2003 profoundly changed the lives of tens and preventing war. of thousands of people whose loved ones Trump is right when he says NATO was were killed or grievously wounded. It also created to confront a threat — the Soviet raised questions that confront Clinton and Union — that no longer exists. The question Trump: How can American inluence be used is whether the alliance is capable of adapting most effectively to protect the homeland and to 21st century threats like a resurgent Russia, prevent future wars? instability in the Middle East and the appeal In Iraq and Syria, President Barack Obama of the Islamic State group. Whereas Trump has chosen not to use the full force of the suggests the U.S. can be better off going it U.S. military against IS. Instead he has sent alone, Clinton aligns herself with the more small numbers of troops to prod and coach traditional notion that there is strength in local forces to do the main ighting, backed numbers. Editor’s Note: One in an Associated Press series examining issues at stake in the presi- dential election and how they affect people. Civil Defense Directorate in Liberated Province of Aleppo via AP, File In this ile photo taken on May 31, provided by the Syrian Civil Defense Director- ate in Liberated Province of Aleppo, shows Syrian man carries an injured boy, in Aleppo, Syria. UN hears details of suffering of Aleppo UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Experts painted a graphic portrait of barrel bomb- ings, attacks on medical facilities, chemical weapons use and the ongoing suffering inside the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo, shaming the international community for its inaction at an informal Security Council meeting Monday organized by the United States. Dr. Zaher Shaloul, a Syrian-American doctor from Chicago, said medical facilities in eastern Aleppo are routinely targeted, creating a situation where people are dying from treatable conditions for lack of medical care and basic supplies. Shaloul, who last visited Aleppo in July, said he asked a nurse there what she wanted most from the United Nations and she replied that she wanted help evacuating a 10-year-old girl named Shahd who was wounded by a barrel bomb and is now dying due to a shortage of medicine. “We don’t need condemnations, prayers or pointing ingers, we had enough of that. I ask you to meet the people of Aleppo and see them as humans. I have one request, besides saving Shahd, visit Aleppo your- self and meet with its doctors, nurses and patients. If three doctors from Chicago were able to do that, you can do it,” Shaloul told diplomats. Shahloul then showed slides showing women and child victims, one of them a child he said was injured in a chlorine gas attack. He said only 35 physicians remain in Aleppo where 15 health care facilities had been attacked in July alone. Currently, more than 250,000 people are besieged by government forces in the eastern part of Aleppo, a city that has been divided into rebel and government-con- trolled parts since 2012. The government completely closed the main road into the rebel-held areas of Aleppo on July 17, effec- tively cutting off all supplies and exit routes. Rebels breached the Syrian government siege on opposition neighborhoods in Aleppo on Saturday, opening a corridor in the south and marking a major military breakthrough, but observers said civilians still don’t have a safe route out because of intense airstrikes and shelling in the area. Also Monday, U.N. oficials in Syria urgently called for a humanitarian pause to repair Aleppo’s damaged water and electricity infrastructure and provide aid to those trapped in the eastern part of the city. “Water available through wells and tanks in Aleppo is not nearly enough to sustain the needs of the population. The U.N. is extremely concerned that the consequences will be dire for millions of civilians if the electricity and water networks are not immediately repaired,” said the statement signed by Yacoub El Hillo, U.N. resident coordinator for Syria, and Kevin Kennedy, regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis. “At a minimum, the U.N. requires a full-ledged ceaseire or weekly 48-hour humanitarian pauses to reach the millions of people in need throughout Aleppo and replenish the food and medicine stocks, which are running dangerously low,” the statement continued. Abdullah Nawhlu, a member of Syrian Civil Defense, a neutral and impartial humanitarian group, speaking by video from Aleppo, described a dire situation with rapidly dwindling stocks of food and fuel, not to mention medical supplies. BRIEFLY Trump critics urge RNC to replace Trump in special meeting WASHINGTON (AP) — Desperate conservatives have circulated a petition calling for the Republican National Committee to host a special meeting where Donald Trump could be replaced as the party’s presidential nominee. Organizers — some of the same Republicans who tried to prevent Trump from winning the GOP nomination — acknowledge the effort is a long shot at best. But fearing an Election Day disaster, they have appealed to RNC members across the nation in recent days to intervene. “Desperate times call for desperate measures,” Regina Thomson, executive director of a political action committee known as the GOP Accountability Project, wrote in an e-mail distributed to RNC members over the weekend and obtained by The Associated Press. “Donald J. Trump is a disaster,” Thomson wrote, attaching a copy of the petition in the message. “His post-convention behavior has been deplorable.” Trump has worried many leading Republicans in recent weeks with a string of controversies and ights, notably with the Muslim American parents of an Army captain killed in Iraq and prominent Republicans up for re-election. Trump reversed course and ended up endorsing House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Still, Thomson and other anti-Trump Republicans are concerned. Party rules allow RNC members to replace a presidential nominee in the event of “death, declination, or otherwise” — language Trump critics say allows for his replacement soon after he formally captured his party’s presidential nomination at the national convention. To force a meeting to discuss Trump’s ouster, however, organizers must submit signatures by at least 16 RNC members from 16 states. Should they do so, GOP chairman Reince Priebus has 10 to 20 days to convene the full, 168-member Republican National Committee. Complexity makes airline computer systems vulnerable DALLAS (AP) — Twice in less than a month, a major airline was paralyzed by a computer outage that prevented passengers from checking in and lights from taking off. Last month, it took Southwest days to recover from a breakdown it blamed on a faulty router. On Monday, it was Delta’s turn, as a power outage crippled the airline’s information technology systems and forced it to cancel or delay hundreds of lights. Delta employees had to write out boarding passes by hand, and at one airport they resurrected a dot-matrix printer from the graveyard of 1980s technology. Why do these kinds of meltdowns keep happening? The answer is that airlines depend on huge, overlapping and complex IT systems to do just about everything, from operating lights to handling ticketing, boarding, websites and mobile-phone apps. And after years of rapid consolidation in the airline business, these computer systems may be a hodgepodge of parts of varying ages and from different merger partners. These systems are also being worked harder, with new fees and options for passengers, and more transactions — Delta’s trafic has nearly doubled in the past decade. The result: IT failures that can inconvenience tens of thousands of passengers and create long-lasting ill will. WHAT ENERGY SAVINGS AWAIT YOUR HOME? LET’S FIND OUT. Start by doing a free online Home Energy Review from Energy Trust of Oregon. You’ll get customized energy-saving recommendations and learn all kinds of ways to get more from your energy. Plus Energy Trust can help you with cash incentives and inding a trade ally contractor for your home energy project. + Get more from your energy. Visit www.energytrust.org/start or call us at 1.866.368.7878. Serving customers of Portland General Electric, Paciic Power, NW Natural and Cascade Natural Gas.
