Brief #150 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
Over a month into Russia’s assault on Ukraine, there still is no end. Russia’s attempt to conquer Ukraine has stalled and taken a much larger toll than many predicted. A lack of preparedness, supplies, and morale has caused a stalemate among ground forces. Yet as Russia’s advance has slowed, its air assaults have intensified. About 300 people are believed to have been killed in an airstrike by Russian warplanes on a theatre in the city of Mariupol.
Brief #149 – Foreign Policy
By Randy Wyrick
American basketball superstar Brittney Griner is a political prisoner in Russia. To see her plight any other way is to fail to see it at all.
Brief #149 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its second week, the destruction and death toll have continued to worsen. Nearly 2 million people or 4.5% of the population, have fled Ukraine. Most refugees have made their way to neighboring countries such as Hungary, Poland, Moldova, and Slovakia.
Brief #148 – Foreign Policy
By Yelena Korshunov
My friend Maria is a New York volunteer who collects clothes, blankets, and medicines for Ukrainian hospitals. She sends it to Poland volunteers, paying for express air shipping from her own pocket. Maria was born in Mariupol. Had you ever heard about this place before the devastating war in Ukraine started? Mariupol was a beautiful green Ukrainian city on the coast of the Sea of Azov. If you travel there before February 24th, 2022, you would love this quiet nice place.
Brief #147 – Foreign Policy
By Reilly Fitzgerald
Sports and politics have always been intertwined, especially the Olympic Games (ancient or modern). The Games have had a history of many highly political moments such as the hosting of the Games in Berlin in 1936 under the Nazi regime; or the 1980 Summer Olympic Boycott against the Soviet Union; or the uproar after the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute atop the podium; and many other instances.
Brief #146 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
On February 24, 2022, the largest assault on a European state since World War Two began as Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces entered by way of air, land, and sea quickly spreading across the country. Areas outside of the capital Kyiv, such as the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv have fallen under Russian control.
Brief #145 – Foreign Policy
By Yelena Korshunov
I spent my childhood years in Odessa, a sunny seaport city in south Ukraine, on the Black Sea shore. People of more than 133 nations and nationalities have been residing in the Odessa region for hundreds of years. This multicultural melting pot induced tolerance to each other’s traditions, cultures, and languages. That is what was engraved in my childhood memory.
Brief #144 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
On February 20, 2022, Belarus’ defense ministry announced that Russian troops which had been sent for military exercises and scheduled to return on Sunday would remain in the country indefinitely.
Brief #143 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
Tensions and the threat of war in Europe remain high in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. On February 10th Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and British Secretary of State Lizz Truss held talks in Moscow to air grievances and attempt to engage in diplomacy.
Brief #142 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
The crisis and possible looming war in Ukraine have historical implications that include more than just Russia and Ukraine. Though the ties between Russia and Ukraine run far back into history, the conflict also involves the historical involvement of the United States and its NATO allies in Europe.
Brief #141 – Foreign Policy
By Reilly Fitzgerald
Ukraine poses a threat in some ways to the stability of the borders around Russia as they have long sought entrance to the European Union and have also sought NATO membership. Russia sees these actions as threatening because it would bring Russia closer to the military alliances of the West that they have rejected since the days of the USSR.
Brief #140 – Foreign Policy
By Abran C
On January 10, 2022, US, its NATO allies and Russian officials began a week of talks in Vienna and other European cities in an attempt to de-escalate the rising tensions on the Ukrainian border. The meetings ended without any breakthrough and did not succeed in their key objective: removing the immediate threat of tens of thousands of Russian troops stationed at the Ukrainian border.