In the past fifty years, the Civil Rights movement has changed America more than any other social movement. The efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King and others profoundly altered America's treatment of its minorities, in a way which represents one of its most powerful domestic accomplishments over the past century.
Yet one aspect of the Civil Rights movement has always been neglected in the conventional history of the movement. This was its connection to the Cold War. For America to win the Cold War, Civil Rights was a necessity. Continuing domestic discrimination against non-white minorities would make it impossible to win over the newly-free Third World.
This is the second part of two posts analyzing Ukrainian elections. This second part will focus upon many factors that lead to Ukraine's exceptional regional polarization. The first part can be found here.
Two Ukraines
Modern Ukraine is a strange hybrid of two quite different regions. One part, composed of western and central Ukraine, is politically more aligned with the West; it favors, for instance, joining the European Union. This part includes the capital Kiev. The other part of Ukraine, consisting of the Black Sea coast and eastern Ukraine, remains more loyal to Russia and the memory of the Soviet Union. It includes Donetsk Oblast (formerly named Stalino Oblast), the most populous province in the country.
This division is reflected in Ukrainian politics. Take the 2004 presidential election, in which pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko faced off against pro-Russian candidate Viktor Yanukovych:
This is the first part of two posts analyzing Ukrainian elections. This first part will focus upon the 2004 presidential election, which showed a remarkable degree of regional polarization. The second part can be found here.
The 2004 Presidential Election, Version Ukraine
In the last months of 2004, Ukraine held a total of three elections. In the first round, candidates Viktor Yanukovych and Viktor Yushchenko received the greatest share of votes. The two then competed in what turned out to be a rigged run-off, with Mr. Yanukovych supposedly winning. After prolonged protests, cumulating in the Orange Revolution, another run-off was held. Pro-western candidate Viktor Yushchenko ended up as the victor of this fair run-off, beginning what would prove to be a troubled presidential term.
This post will analyze the third, and possibly the only unrigged, election. Here is a map of the results:
(Note: This map is taken from the site ElectoralGeography. It's analysis of the 2004 Ukrainian election can be found here.)
North Korea today constitutes one of the most isolated countries in the world. Precious little information is known about the regime; people do not come in, people do not come out. Until recently, there was only one known photo of Kim Jong-un, the purported successor to Kim Jong-il - and even today the most recent photo of the man is decades old.
North Korea is also supposedly a living hellhole. To live in North Korea is to reside in one of the poorest countries in the world. North Koreans are raised to believe that Kim Jong-il is literally a God. They live in perpetual fear of the secret police. Millions are starving from the failed economic policies of the authoritarian government.
Wait a second - if North Korea is such a mystery, how do we know all this?
Much has been made of the recent Russian spy swap, in which ten Russian infiltrators were exchanged for four American infiltrators. The overall reaction has been one of amusement. Russian spies combined with Desperate Housewives? Straight out of a Cold War movie thriller!
In fact, the reaction to the spy scandal reveals far more about American attitudes towards Russia than most classified information would. Simply put, the United States no longer regards Russia as its number-one nemesis and rival. In the days of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union had ten thousand nuclear missiles pointed at America, the reaction would have been far different - far more hostile, and far less amused.
The United States media often - and for good reason - portrays China and Russia as reluctant to implement sanctions on Iran. Rarely (too rarely), however, does it attempt to view the issue through a Chinese or Russian lens. Americans nearly never try to understand the complex motivations behind Chinese and Russian lukewarmness.
I will attempt to do that now. How do China and Russia think of Iran?
Probably in the same way we thought of Honduras. The lukewarm American opposition to the coup strikingly paralleled China and Russia's stances on Iran.
In the past few months and years, media coverage of Israel has had subtle but distinct change in tone. The mainstream media is taking a harder look at Israel's policies, and has found not everything is to its liking.
There are several reasons why coverage of Israel has previously been so positive, and why recently a slight change has occurred. In the first place, Israel is a country culturally very attuned to us. Israel is part of the West; it shares Western norms and values. Many Jews would be comfortable living in the West and do so to this very day. Some of them work in the media and are sympathetic to the struggles their peers face.
Moreover, many in the media (and the vast majority of our country) believed that Israel had been in the right before 2006. Israel had - has - a democracy and a free press and all the things we like a country to have; the Palestine cause and their Arab supporters by and large do not. Israelis such as Yitzhak Rabin were calling for peace; meanwhile, Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Hamas were sending suicide bombers to kill Israelis civilians day after day.
Then came the 9-11 attacks by Muslim terrorists. In its aftermath media coverage of Israel was probably the most positive it had ever been.
There were three events, however, which changed things. At the very least, they have damaged Israeli prestige.
One of the original purposes of the Olympic Games, I believe, was to allow for brief truces and / or cease fires between warring Greek city states. Additionally, that principle was also included during the organization of the modern Olympics, by finding a way for nations to come together--and compete--peacefully, rather than in war. Obviously, that is a tradition Russia has violated in Georgia. The reason I bring this up is that Russia is set to host the Olympics in a town not far from Georgia in 2014:
Beginning a well-planned war (including cyber-warfare) as the Olympics were opening violates the ancient tradition of a truce to conflict during the Games. And Russia's willingness to create a war zone 25 miles from the Black Sea city of Sochi, where it is to host the Winter Games in 2014, hardly demonstrates its commitment to Olympic ideals.
Now, given this interesting and ironic coincidence, one obvious sanction that it seems the international community could level at Russia would be to withdraw Sochi's award of the 2014 Winter Games. Really, this is probably the minimum that should be done, but it seems like it would be a harsh enough stick to potentially alter behavior. Countries really, really want to host these things, after all.
Yesterday's opening ceremonies of the Olympics seem to be receiving nothing but rave reviews today. Personally, I enjoyed them, too, even if most of the artistic portion struck me as pretty much the same thing as Broadway, Disney or Bollywood musicals that I don't like very much, only on a scale 50 times larger. A bit cloying for my tastes. Then again, the older I get, the more I seem to like those musicals, but I digress...
What I did like, and what I usually like about the Olympic opening ceremonies, is the march of nations. Yesterday's was just as spectacular and enjoyable as any I can remember:
Before the ceremonies, I was generally of the view that, because of its environmental degradation, internal human right's and worker's right's abuses, it should not have been awarded the Olympics games. However, watching the march of nations, it became clear to me why hosting the Olympics was so important to China, and why there really isn't a good argument to deny them these games. Concerning the former, it is pretty obvious that having the world's greatest athletes, along with many of the world's leaders, make a pilgrimage to your country is a remarkable honor--and certification of recent progress--for a once preeminent nation that has struggling mightily over most of the last 170 years. Concerning the latter, considering our extensive economic ties with them, considering our own recent international record, and considering our own environmental abuses, the more I thought about it, who are we to criticize China? Until we put our own house in order, China absolutely deserves to host this pilgrimage every once and a while.
An attack on a political rally killed the Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto near the capital, Islamabad, Thursday. Witnesses said Ms. Bhutto was fired upon at close range before the blast, and an official from her party said Ms. Bhutto was further injured by the explosion, which was apparently caused by a suicide attacker.
Ms. Bhutto was declared dead by doctors at a hospital in Rawalpindi at 6:16 p.m. after the doctors had tried to resuscitate her for thirty-five minutes. She had shrapnel injuries, the doctors said. At least a dozen more people were killed in the attack.
I don't have a huge amount to say about this tragedy, except that I am sure it will be spun as good for Republicans in some way. The tiger attack at the zoo was also good for Republicans, I imagine.
The US is seeking to beef up Pakistan's counter-insurgency efforts in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan by expanding an American special forces team in the country to train the Frontier Corps and recruiting local militias to take on the insurgents.
The aim is to replicate the Iraq model, in which the Americans recruited, financed and armed local militias against insurgents, firstly in Anbar province and then elsewhere in the country.
Or maybe it did work, since we don't really seem to care if Pakistan is democratic, as long as it is stable. Oh wait-stable countries don't see opposition leaders assassinated…
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