Crisis Simulation: India

Thanks to you guys for a great weekend. I thought each of you performed extremely well- Stephanie and I had a tough time figuring out awards for our committee. Despite losing to Pakistan, I think India still did a great job. I hope you guys had a lot of fun and learned a lot in committee. Crisis may be a lot different, but we still align with the goals of BMUN and strive to put on the best committees ever.

For those of you that are graduating seniors, good luck with your senior year and with college admissions. Maybe I’ll see some of you here at Berkeley! For everyone else, I hope I will see you next year!

You are all free to e-mail me if you want to chit-chat about Berkeley, BMUN, Crisis, or anything else. My e-mail (if you forgot) is bhuang419(at)berkeley.edu. Stephanie’s is stephperez88(at)berkeley.edu.

Here are the awards if you missed them yesterday (our cabinet only):

-Commendation: Minister of External Affairs

-Outstanding: Minister of Information and Broadcasting; Prime Minister

-Gavel: Cabinet Committee on Security

Until BMUN 57!

-Brian

First, it has been brought to my attention that a different format was specified on the topic synopses. Don’t worry, you won’t be penalized if you followed this format, but posting on the blog was indeed mandatory. Since few of you submitted your papers in time for research awards anyways, this will not have a huge impact on your overall evaluation in committee. The rubric is as follows:

National Background- 15 pts
National Objectives- 25 pts
Minister Background/Role- 15 pts
Issue Background- 25 pts

Also, there are three news updates for you. You are free to post comments- analysis, plan of action, general observations–this is pretty much your last chance to get the 10 points necessary for blog participation!

• Cancelled Cricket Match
• Kashmiri Goats at Risk
• Update on Taiwan Elections

Feel free to e-mail me at bhuang419(at)berkeley.edu. This is the last post before the conference. Can’t wait to meet you all on Friday!

Today is March 10th, and we are just about 4 days from the start of BMUN 56. Sorry for the lack of updates in the past few weeks, it’s been pretty hectic with schoolwork and the approach of BMUN getting in the way of blogging. However, I have a few quick updates for you all, mostly logistical.

First off, reality cut-off has set in, and everything after March 1 will not be relevant to our discussion. Basically you can stop reading the news and prepare for conference by knowing everything there is to know BEFORE March 1, 2008.

Next- Position papers were due on March 1, which was about 10 days ago. Those of you who requested an extension got one. So far, I have the papers from the following ministers:

Director of CBI, Prime Minister, Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Home Affairs, National Security Advisor, Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Minister of Information and Broadcasting

I sort of expected more, but 8 is a good number. If I’ve somehow made a mistake and your name is not up there when you think it should be, please e-mail me immediately and attach your paper. I will give you the benefit of the doubt. You will be getting your papers back either on Friday or Saturday of the conference. I’ve written extensive comments on every paper, but if you have any questions you may ask.

The grading scale is as follows:

• 10 points: Formatting and citation
• 10 points: Blog participation
• 5 points: Minister background/history
• 10 points: Ministry department background/history
• 20 points each: Foreign and Domestic affairs
• 25 points: Solutions

That adds up to a grand total of 100 points.

That’s pretty much it. In the next few days I will be posting some “articles” to share with you, as they will be relevant to the conference. You will have a chance to comment on these articles if you haven’t yet posted…remember thats a full 10 points of your research. These articles are created by us,  as we have officially taken a break from reality and we are in crisis world now.

Please e-mail me with questions, logistical, topical, or otherwise. My e-mail is bhuang419(at)berkeley.edu

Looking forward to seeing you all this weekend!!