Topic A: Measures to put an end to World War II, with special attention to the plans for an European ally landing and the atomic bombing of Japan (June 1st, 1944).

The D-Day marked the beginning of the end in the European front. This enormous coordinated effort from the allied nations, however, became one of the bloodiest military operations of recent history. Recent researches calculate that almost 5,000 ally soldiers died in a single day during this operation. And that count doesn’t reflect the military and civil casualties that followed the next days.

On the other hand, an Interim Committee decided to drop the atomic bombs in Japan and American President Truman issued the Potsdam Proclamation as Japan’s final warning. In consequence of this approach the world would learn the meaning of “complete and utter destruction”. On August 6 and 9, a plutonium implosion-type (Fat Man) and an uranium gun-type (Little Boy) bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The real mortality of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan will never be known. The destruction and overwhelming chaos made orderly counting impossible. It is not unlikely that the estimates of killed and wounded in Hiroshima (150,000) and Nagasaki (75,000) are over conservative.

Topic B: Current political and humanitarian crisis in Syria.

Prior to the discovery of oil, the Middle East had been a hotbed for religious conflict and wars over other rich resources and land. The declining Ottoman Empire paved way for the rising European imperial and colonial powers interested in securing various territories and controlling access to Asia. In more recent times, interest in the region has been due to the energy resources there.

The crisis in Syria began with anti-government demonstrations in March of 2011, as part of the Arab Spring. The peaceful protests quickly escalated after the government's violent crackdown, and armed opposition groups began fighting back. By July of that same year, army defectors had loosely organized the Free Syrian Army and many civilian Syrians took up arms to join the opposition. However, divisions between secular and religious fighters, and between ethnic groups, continue to complicate the politics of the conflict.

Nearly eight years since it began, the war has killed more than 480,000 people. Cities have been destroyed and horrific human rights violations are widespread. Basic necessities like food and medical care are sparse. The U.N. estimates that 6.3 million people are internally displaced. When you also consider refugees, well over half of the country’s pre-war population of 22 million is in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, whether they still remain in the country or have escaped across the borders.