Hey everybody

Sorry about the lack of posting here. This past year has been full of ups and downs and I’m already into the next school year. For my American Presidency class we have to keep a blog. So for this semester I will be blogging here: http://dnuzumpres.wordpress.com/

-Derek

Lack of Posts

I would like to apologize to my readers for lack of posts lately. I have been very busy here at Whitworth and many of my discussions on topics that I write on have been interpersonal with my peers and professors in an out of classes. I hope to blog some in the coming weeks, but this is not a promise. So, if you don’t see much you now know why.

Thank you for reading my previous blogs and I hope to have much more for you in the future.

How the Russian-Georgian Conflict Benefits Russia and the Putin-Medvedev duo

Good Cop President Medvedev, Bad Cop Prime Minister Putin

If you haven’t been following the recent conflict in Georgia between itself and Russia look at the time line here. Now that both sides have signed a truce it appears the conflict could be at an end. Although the fighting has currently come to an end, the tension between Russia, the break away areas of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and Georgia will continue to be in place. While that is apparent to pretty much everyone, it is less apparent why the crisis erupted so suddenly. The answer is locked away in Russian Prime Minister Putin’s mind. The Georgian-Russian situation was always on the forefront of Putin’s regional policy along with Czech Republic. But, South Ossetia and Abkhazia are a very interest situation in the matter of the citizens that occupy those lands. Most of the citizens are Russian citizens or have Russian issued passports and have chosen to align themselves with Russia and against the pro-Western Georgia. While Georgia has attempted to make concessions to these regions, Russia has continually egged the regions on and offered them aid and protection to continue rebelling against Georgia. As you can tell the political and social differences between Georgia and the breakaway regions erupted into a frenzied weekend.

Georgia’s inability to control the breakaway regions and Russia’s ability to capitalize on this is a huge win for Russia. Click on to find out why.

Tensions Increase Between Putin and Medvedev

They are friends now, but could differing agendas tear them apart?

The honeymoon could be over as President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin’s differences are starting to come out. Putin’s recent comments regarding steel and coal giant Mechel’s primary owner Igor Zyuzin’s ill health. Mechel’s stock value took a slight dip after those comments and just as the company and its PR department recovered, Putin dropped a bomb on the company and the financial sector. Putin accused Mechel of evading taxes by charging less for foreign sales than domestic sales. Well I’m sure you can guess that the stock of the company once again plummeted. This didn’t sit too well with Medvedev to say the least.

Click to find out more.

Cuban Missile Crisis Redux?

Russian newspaper Izvestia reported than an unnamed Russian defense ministry spokesperson hinted at Russian presence in Cuba once again and this time in response to the US missile defense shield. The spokesperson said “While they are deploying the missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, our strategic bombers will already be landing in Cuba.” Yea, the 60’s called and they want their strategy back. But, some are taking the threat a little more seriously than others. General Norton Schwartz (Current nominee for Air Force Chief of Staff) and seemed to take the threat pretty seriously:

“I certainly would offer best military advice that we should engage the Russians not to pursue that approach. [...] And if they did, I think we should stand strong and indicate that that is something that crosses a threshold, crosses a red line for the United States of America.”

My opinion after the break.

Chávez supports the Russian Ruble as a world currency.

President Chávez and President Medvedev (doesn't he look oh so smug?)

While Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is on his European tour he stopped in Russia to meet with President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin and chat about the economy and a strategic alliance to protect Venezuela from the US (I’m sorry did it just get a little Cold War-ish in here?). Chávez had breezed through the country cutting numerous business deals between his nation and oil/energy companies and the Russian Federation. Russia has seen a huge economic boom due to the outsourcing of its oil. This is very similar to the situation as these two oil rich nations see the benefits fill the state coffers. While in Russia Chávez said “The ruble must become a world currency, the dollar must not become a world currency.” This echoes Russian policy as a way for the ruble to become a major reserve currency to oppose the weakened dollar.

More after the link.

Could President Bashir’s International Criminal Court case be applied to President Bush?

President Bush's reaction if he were to get charged. "Aww crap what now?"

An interesting article over on Al Jazeera by an American, Middle East history professor poses the question of applying the charges against Sudanese President Bashir to President Bush. This has always been a small question since the United States unsigned the ICC Statute of Rome. The Bush administration basically unsigned the statute to protect its service members and other foreign nationals from any ICC prosecution in the case of a potential ‘problem’ (aka conduct that would be called a human rights violation or war crimes). And, since the US is not a signatory of the statute they are not under the jurisdiction of the ICC because it is a court independent of the UN and you must opt-in to its jurisdiction. Sudan is not a signatory, so why does it have multiple cases against members of the ruling party? The UN Security Council passed Resolution 1593 in 2005 referring the case to the ICC and giving it jurisdiction over the matter.

So even though the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction over the United States or any of its actions, you still have to think ‘what if?’ Click on to read more.

Legalized Prostitution in South Africa for the World Cup?

Durban's Senzangakhona Stadium

Durban, South Africa may legalize prostitution for the FIFA World Cup in 2010. This possible legislation was initiated way back in January by George Lekgetho, a member of SA Parliament, and argued that prostitution is legal in Germany, the 2006 World Cup Host, and that legalization would mean less rape and “added tax revenue.” Although most of his peers laughed off the idea back then, it is slowly gaining ground in SA due to a fairly large prostitution population for the nation’s third largest city and that legalization advocates claim would better be protected if their work was legalized.

This could be true, but many of the working girls are at the mercy of their pimps and will probably end up just as neglected as before. My opinions after the link.

French Urban Affairs minister Amara denounces burqa

French Urban Affairs Minister Ms. Fadela Amara

While supporting a court’s decision to deny French citizenship to a Moroccan women, Faiza M (who wears a burqa), France’s Urban Affairs minister Fadela Amara slammed the Muslim burqa dress style. The court ruled that the burqa wasn’t compatible with French values. 32 year old Faiza has lived in France since 2000 with her French national husband and 3 French-born children and says that she has never challenged French fundamentals. Amara says “The burqa is a prison, it’s a straitjacket” and that “It is not a religious insignia but the insignia of a totalitarian political project that advocates inequality between the sexes and which is totally devoid of democracy.” She feels that the court’s ruling will “dissuade certain fanatics from imposing the burqa on their wives.”

You may think Ms. Amara is just anti-Muslim, when in fact she is a French-born Muslim with Algerian parents. So I guess in a way she is entitled to denounce parts of her own religion if she wants. My opinions after the link.

President Medvedev grants Prime Minister Putin unprecedented foreign policy rights

Prime Minister Putin and President Medvedev

President Dimitry Medvedev released his new foreign policy strategy today and at the same time gave his Prime Minister (and former President) Vladimir Putin a role in foreign policy. This is a reversal on the President’s post-election speech where he stated that foreign policy control would remain strictly in Presidential hands. The Prime Minister’s new powers allow him to implement foreign policy, a power thought to be only for the President. Other than this change, the strategy is very similar to then-President Putin’s strategy set forth in 2000. This strategy also puts a focus on further relations with the European Union as an economic and foreign policy partner while specifically mentioning France, Germany, and Italy among countries that Medvedev wants to advance relations with. Medvedev’s strategy mentions mending relations with Britain. This is especially important as the ties have become strained by the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko (which Britian has blamed Russia under Putin for) and the treatment of British investors at TNK-BP (joint venture between Russian TNK and British BP oil companies). Medvedev must work to clear Russia in the murder of Litvinenko and to rebuild ties with Britain and BP. The strategy puts a focus on Russia being a major player in a multipolar world where the UN and international law reign over all. This focus on international law comes as no surprise due to President Medvedev’s history as a lawyer.

This emphasis on the UN and international law is what I like most of the strategy. Find out why by clicking below.