By Niles Wimber
Amid the new outbreaks of violence in Kiev, I’m putting together a piece looking at where the United States and Russia stand on the issue, specifically on the huge strategic positions both sides stand to gain or lose in the conflict. From what analysis I’ve seen, it’s incidents like these that threaten to re-freeze relations between East and West, thus starting a new Cold War.
Source: AFP/BBC
Posted in Announcements, Commentary
By Niles Wimber
The Sochi Olympic Games have been fairly unusual from Olympics past due to the wild fear mongering about terrorist attacks on the Games themselves (even though the rest of Russia is what’s threatened). They’ve also been under scrutiny due to Russia’s new anti-gay activism laws and the very under-whelming accommodations for foreigners. These three topics have been widely covered in the media but as always, there are a few key things that they just so happen to leave out.
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By Niles Wimber
I had a high school AP English class where, near the end of the year, we had a series of “physical debates”. After the overall question was asked, sections of the room were labeled with varying degrees of “agree” or “disagree” and, as the debate progressed, you would physically move around the room to the section that matched your current opinion. This usually boiled down to one or two students who adamantly opposed each other and the rest of us moving to one side or the other.
On one particular day, the topic was globalization. At one point in the conversation, I gave an example to explain investment: a mayor convincing backers to construct a pillow factory that would support a small third-world community. Most of the class had moved to my side after hearing that.
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Posted in Commentary
Tagged gay marriage, logic trick, News media, opinion, subconscious
By Niles Wimber
It’s a warm Friday evening, the third week in May. Memorial Day weekend. Everyone is in a rush to meet family for the holiday and nowhere is that more visible than the crowds thronging Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Amidst the thousands milling through Terminal South, a man walks up to one of the curbside check-in points, suitcase in hand. He smiles at the agent behind the desk as he presents his boarding pass for a flight to New York. As she tags his suitcase, they have a friendly conversation about the last Hawks game in Phillips Arena. When she’s finished, he thanks her warmly and walks on into the airport. He then promptly heads to the MARTA train station and boards a train for downtown. In the bustle, he is a ghost. Just like the other three men spread across the other terminals.
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Posted in Commentary
Tagged airports, America, behavioural profiling, bombs, Israel, national security, playdough, terrorism
A New Cold War: the US/Russia Battle over the Ukrainian Crisis
By Niles Wimber
Update:
Russia has begun deploying troops to the Crimean peninsula in Ukraine “for the safety of ethnic Russians in the region”. Considering they have a major naval base there and the region borders with Russia, that only further confirms my commentary below about Russia’s motivations there. Read on.
Since my original review of the Ukrainian Maidan Revolution on February 20th, things have changed quite a bit, namely, the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych and the installation of a new opposition led government. The new government has immediately turned towards the US and the European Union for help with Ukraine’s crippled economy, much to the dismay of Russia who had previously offered to buy out Ukraine’s debt to the tune of $15 billion dollars. For their part, the Russians have started running massive war drills for troops bordering Ukraine, just for the heck of it according to them. Ukraine isn’t really an influential country compared to, say, Germany or China; what’s provoking this sudden Cold War flashback?
Russian tanks on parade. Source: Niles Wimber
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Posted in Commentary
Tagged America, Cold War, EU, national security, protests, Russia, Ukraine