Model UN Crisis Simulation
By the end of it all, I found the Model United Nations Crisis Simulation quite entertaining and thought provoking. However, my first impression was quite different. Initially I expected us to break off into our countries and work in small groups to resolve problems as they were presented to us. I did not know that there would be communication between countries or that our actions would affect the countries around us. I assumed it would be more isolated and each group would work to a desired resolution and then the problem would be forgotten. I have to say I do not think I would have enjoyed the simulation nearly as much as I did if it had been isolated.
When I first got to Koury Business Center on Sunday afternoon I was directed into the LaRose Theater with the rest of the Model UN participants. The Vice President of the Model United Nations club greeted us and he explained we would be sent to different classrooms dependent on our country. The Vice President then introduced the rest of the staff and greeted the group from Eastern Carolina University and we were dismissed to break up into our groups. The Iran group was assigned Room 353 for all sessions.
During the three-story climb I wondered how this was going to work and was nervous that I was not fully prepared. Once we got into our room all my anxieties were relieved. Our excitable Grand Ayatollah, Andrew Black, and our studious President, Amanda Kuss, directed us to sit down and first asked us how we had prepared for this simulation. They were happily surprised to hear we had written two papers and composed fact sheets about Iran. Andrew then asked us what sort of international issues faced Iran and we made a list of things we needed to fix in the country and things to worry about during the simulation. After we made our list the simulation began.
Within minutes the crisis staff brought us intelligence about our current under production of our largest export, petroleum. This was awful news for our economy so of course it became our immediate concern. While we were brainstorming resolutions to the problem the Chinese group contacted us to arrange a meeting in the next 5 minutes. We had to give up on our domestic concern and take care of the more pressing international matter with China first, if for no other reason than it had a 5-minute time limit on it. We found out they were interested in building an intelligence base in our country and decided we would allow it under certain circumstances, one of them being they resolved our oil problem by paying us for the barrels of oil we failed to produced every day (over 300,00) barrels, a total of $5.5 billion per year, just for their location. Thanks to some salesmanship the Chinese agreed.
This was an awesome move for us. Not only did we now have a powerful ally with a booming economy in China but we also had full access to the intelligence facilities. We were in great shape and it felt for a minute like it was real. You could feel the excitement after solving our first problem and it just grew throughout the night. The scenarios were realistic and the crisis staff made us work to resolve them in a realistic fashion making the experience extremely educational and leaving me personally satisfied after each session.
For the rest of the first session we just got used to the format and sent in a couple action orders and press releases that were botched by the under staffed news crew and over worked crisis staff. The mistakes proved costly because they strained our relations with China and because of a miscommunication the crisis staff sent our national guard into Iraq instead the special operations group we put in our action order. We got caught trying to frame different countries using Iranian spies posing as foreign militants but both attempts failed.
After dinner we returned with a greater focus on nuclear technology and immediately got to work trying to contact North Korea or sneak into Pakistan. The crisis staff blocked both actions and no matter what we tried they prevented us from getting nuclear technology until the next day. While nuclear advancement was unsuccessful we did start to strengthen ties with Syria, Hezbollah, and Palestine, sending money and weapons to the latter two. Hezbollah gained extra political power behind our funding but that ultimately turned them away from our cause. They now had to worry about losing political legitimacy. Meanwhile, the weapons we sent to Palestine took forever to get there. The second session was far less successful then the first.
During the third and final session our group was finally comfortable with the action orders and we really shined as international minds. We established an attack contingency plan based on the Millennium Project to protect Iran by suicide bombing American and Iraqi air force bases. We gained nuclear weapon technology and equipped some of those planes with dirty bombs. We got Hezbollah a mythological nuclear bomb from the movie, Sum of All Fears, which they planned to set off in Tel Aviv, Israel. We convinced Palestine to attack the new Israeli Desalinization plants, and after much convincing got Syria to agree to attack towns in the Sheeba Farm region of Israel. Then we waited for the first sign of the imminent Iraqi attack.
Finally, with about 15 minutes left, American boats entered our water and it was on. What happened next no one really knows. The simulation basically ended but we found out later that the United States declared victory over Iran, so I guess we got blasted.
I really enjoyed how busy we were and how hard we had to work when planning our attacks and forming our alliances. It was realistic for the most part and really showed me what it might be like to be a member of the cabinet or Joints Chief of Staff. It was exciting and we faced a lot of diverse problems, which really helped to educate me not only about the region but also about realism, and why country leaders must act the way they do. I didn’t like the fact that a lot of our private orders and news got printed. I understand the staff was over worked and under employed, but it really hurt us on a couple of occasions. Our group worked efficiently and effectively and really took Middle Eastern politics into account. We considered every angle before we acted and I think that really added to the experience. Overall it was a great experience and I would definitely do it again.
