Stuck In The Middle With Ukraine
The United States and the European Union differed this week in their response to Russia’s role in the crisis in Ukraine.
While Washington is imposing sanctions and strongly criticizing Moscow, the EU has taken softer measures.
As University of Oklahoma political scientist Paul Goode explained two weeks ago, Western media are eager to portray the crisis as a “Cold War 2.0.”
Rebecca Cruise, the Assistant Dean of OU’s College of International Studies and an expert on comparative politics, says while there are some facets of that, a lot of the Cold War rhetoric originated during last month’s Olympics in Sochi.
“We saw a lot of references back to the 1980 ‘Miracle On Ice’, and even a couple of news channels [referred to] the Soviet Union, as opposed to Russia,” Cruise says.
Some European countries are wary of antagonizing Russia, a major energy supplier and trade partner, and anything that might lead to war.
Tea, Tents, And Turmoil In Thailand
Major intersections in Thailand’s capital barricaded by anti-government protesters reopened to traffic for the first time in six weeks.
The protesters have struggled unsuccessfully for months to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down and make way for an unelected council to institute anti-corruption reforms.
“People are accusing this prime minister of being a puppet for her brother, the former prime minister, who was ousted and exiled,” says Suzette Grillot, the College's Dean. "This all seems kind of sketchy, but nonetheless, violence and protests and attempts to try to remove another government by force.”
Cruise says as the protests scaled back, demonstrators built a tent city where merchants and commerce have thrived.
“There are tea stalls, there's TV, all sorts of amenities, showers even,” Cruise says. “So they're protesting, but they're protesting in style.”
Cruise says even though the protests likely won’t lead to an ouster of the government similar to Ukraine’s situation, their demands are still being heard.
“The courts may take over and may be able to bring the prime minister to what many would consider justice,” Cruise says. “There are a number of corruption charges against her, and she will have to go and face the court system.”
Carnage In Caracas
Venezuela’s economic downward spiral helped trigger a wave of protests against new President Nicolás Maduro in mid-February that has claimed more than a dozen lives.
Cruise says the protests coincided with the anniversary of the death of Hugo Chávez, but there’s significant violence on both sides.
“On the one hand, we have the opposition to Maduro saying motorcycle gangs and other people causing the violence, and Maduro is saying that these are fascists, so a lot of internal struggling,” Cruise says. “There are still a lot of pro-government people in Venezuela, so it's not nearly as clear-cut as it's being presented.”
On Thursday, United Nations human rights experts demanded answers from Venezuela's government about the use of violence and imprisonment in a crackdown on widespread demonstrations.
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