Thoughts about Atlantic Storm

First off, I want to thank all our amazing SCA's for arranging the exercise today. It was absolutely incredible and one of the best academic experiences I have ever had. I especially liked the intense music that set the tone for the whole day. And I think it goes without saying that having the coffee and treats was invaluable to all of us. : p

I looked at a few articles regarding the real Atlantic Storm, and I became increasingly impressed with our work today. Despite the fact that we went in and out of character as the day went on, we came to most all of the same conclusions that Madeleine Albright and the other politicians came to after the real exercise. One of the things Madeleine Albright was:

"The political situation in the United States, no matter who is in office, is in the context of what has happened in the last four years. It is very hard not to consider what the issues are, what our relationship is with other countries."

I definitely learned this when attempting, as Germany, to communicate with all the other countries represented; Polland, especially. (No hard feelings, Tina!?) It is tough to say what our countries would do in the situation at hand today. However, as Madeleine Albright said in the short documentary today, the leaders of each country are obligated to protect his or her own citizens. There is no getting around that.

I guess the biggest thing I learned today is that we are going to be pretty screwed if there is a biological attack. We need to stockpile more vaccines and take the threat of biological warfare seriously.

..........geeez. Being a world leader must be hard......