The 2000’sWelcome to the 21st century!

By: Sean Mackey, Tommy O’connor, and Becca DeGregorio

Mods: 7-8

America’s General Standing…Dawn of the 21st century

U.S. is the strongest, wealthiest, and most powerful nation

Possessed the world’s most productive economy, dominated manufacturing, lead in invention, and spread its culture world-wide

Background: Ossama Bin Laden:

Born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1957

Bin Laden lived under a strict, Islamic roof, as established by his stern father.

When his family split, Bin Laden went to live with his mother in Jedda and attended Al Thagher Model School.

By his teenage years, he became an Islamic activist. (preached throughout Jedda)

Al Qaeda: The US stepped in and aided the Afghans and Bin Laden in

expelling the Soviets from Afghanistan (1979); however, afterwards, there was residual American presence in Saudi Arabia.

In response, Bin Laden created the terroristic group Al Qaeda (1998) that sought to combat The US’s presence in the Islamic world.

Al Qaeda’s Goals: rid Islamic world of US presence (superpower), destroy Israel and its government (restore Palestine), create a single Islamic nation

September 11th, 2001: “modern-day Pearl Harbor” Al-Qaeda members hijacked the airlines of several

commercial airlines to use as missiles to attack key political and economic centers of the US.◦ Struck World Trade Center in NYC, The Pentagon in Arlington County

(Virginia), and Southeast of Pittsburgh.

Killed a total of 2,819 people: civilians, airline passengers, workers, police officers, firefighters, etc.

The attacks surprised and shook the nation.

US Reaction:

Immediately, Congress agreed to spend around $40 billion toward recovery.

George W. Bush organized an international union against Al Qaeda and the Taliban Government.

October 7th 2001:US’s retaliation: The US coalition attacked key areas of Afghanistan(later on, Britain sends in troops to help the US). This attack marked the start of the War On Terrorism.

USS Cole Incident: October 12th, 2000

The USS Cole (US liner) was bombed off of the coast of Yemen

17 US soldiers were killed and 39 were injured

Al-Qaeda was blamed for the incident

Iraq and Saddam Hussein: US invaded Iraq in the spring of 2003

WHY: Saddam Hussein (Iraqi president) had been supplying weapons of mass destruction to Al-Qaeda (supported terrorism)

Also, The US wanted to liberate the Iraqi people from Hussein’s tyranic, unforgiving, and bloodthirsty rule (additional hatred toward Israel).

May 1st ended the combat/invasion period, and began the military occupation period.

The combined forces of the US, the UK, Australia, and Poland managed to defeat Hussein’s gov’t (Ba’ath party) in under a month and sent the administration into hiding.

On December 13th, 2003, the US coalition captured Saddam Hussein, who was then executed in 2006 for the murder of 148 Shi’ites (1982).

Target: Identify the War On Terror and evaluate its effects on international policy.

The War On Terror: the ongoing campaign of the US and its allies to confront and defeat international terrorism.

Target: summarize the impact of and responses to natural

disasters: Southeast Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and

the Haitian Earthquake:

Southeast Asian Tsunami (2004): Occurred as a result of an earthquake in the Indian ocean (9.3 magnitude) The quake was so strong that it spurred vibrations and other earthquakes all around the

world.

It hit the coasts of: Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Somalia, Myanmar, Maldives, Malaysia, Bangladesh, but MOSTLY Indonesia

Hit the coast of Indonesia on December 26th, 2004

Over 200,000 people were killed, 10’s of 100’s of people were missing, and millions were left homeless.

The tsunami also shattered schools and community buildings, and caused food and clean water to be scarce.

The world community immediately gave about $500 million to Indonesia and the other countries affected.

A large sum of this money was donated by the US.

Haitian Earthquake (2010): Hit Haiti on January 12th, 2010 (7.0 magnitude) and completely destroyed Port-au-Prince

Killed approximately 316,000 people but affected an estimated 3,000,000 people due to property damage

Known as “The Largest Urban Disaster in Modern History”

Served to be a worst-case-scenario for the already struggling third world country

The US and UN performed numerous humanitarian efforts: helped to aid in the long-term areas of infrastructure, energy, economic security, food security, healthcare, education, and governance.

Hurricane Katrina (2005): Category 4 hurricane that was formed in Gulf of Mexico and hit Louisiana on August

29th, 2005 (by August 31st, 80% of New Orleans was flooded)

It is estimated that the storm killed about 1,883 people; however, it Louisiana and Mississippi’s economy MUCH more than it hurt it’s people.

Estimated damage cost: over $100 billion

The oil industry was disrupted and production reduced by 95%.

Gas prices skyrocketed reaching a record high.

Criticisms toward Bush: Poor management of the crisis and lack of an emergency crisis plan for citizens Slow response to the damage His complete absence from New Orleans until many months later

2008 Presidential Election Barack Obama becomes the first African American and bi-racial president

Obama and Biden become the first president/vice president in which neither candidate is Protestant

Democrats reclaim the presidency and increase their majority in Congress

Obama’s Domestic Policy American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

Economic stimulus package signed into a law by Obama on February 17, 2009 in response the recession of the 2000s

Main objective was to save and create jobs

Secondary objectives were to provide relief for people impacted the most by the recession and to invest money in infrastructure, education, health, and green energy

Created 1.8 million jobs so far, and is predicted to create up to 2.5 million in the near future

Considered successful by most Americans

Obama’s Domestic Policy Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

◦ Signed into law by Obama on March 23, 2010

◦ Requires people not covered by insurance plans to maintain minimal essential health insurance coverage

◦ Ensures that all Americans have access to affordable healthcare

◦ Initially supported by Americans in 2008, but became opposed after being changed in 2009 and 2010 due to the amount of money one needed to spend on healthcare because of the act and due to too much government involvement in healthcare

World Population Growth and the Energy Crisis

Rate of world growth increased rapidly due to advances in health and technology

World population grew from 6.1 billion to 6.8 billion from 2000 to 2010

As the population increased, use of and need for energy also increased, creating a high demand for energy, especially oil

As demand for oil increased, supply decreased and the prices skyrocketed, creating a worldwide energy crisis

World Population Growth and the Energy Crisis

Other Effects of World Population Growth

Destruction of 80% of the world’s rainforests

Extinction of thousands of species of plants and animals

Increased pollution

Global warming

Increased epidemics

Elevated crime rate and warfare

Shortages of resources

◦ Food, water, and energy

MUSIC: People began to develop individual “tastes”

Some “tastes”: hip-hop & rap, hip-hop & pop, electronic & alternative, alternative & rock, country & folk, etc.

Birth of mixes, remixes, and dubstep (originated in England in 90’s but didn’t become popular in the US until around 2010)

Lip-syncing became increasingly popular with artists

Dominate hits were of the pop genre

Rise of female popstars: Beyonce, Christina Aguilera, Lady GaGa, Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson, etc.

(during the later years of the decade) With the rise of the “hipster” movement and the deaths of great artists from earlier decades (ex: Michael Jackson), people actually turned back to older and more vintage music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0p3jn7ODuc

FASHION:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnzOd43pbCg

Sports

Theater, Film, Television & Radio

Works Cited:<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/haiti/index.html><http://haiti.usaid.gov/issues/earthquake.php><http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/background-2004-tsunami-southeast-asia><http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41643><http://www.katrina.noaa.gov/>