Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-04-19DOI: 10.7916/D8BR92J4
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"The Abkhaz Dilemma and the Czar's Dog","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D8BR92J4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D8BR92J4","url":null,"abstract":"There is an old story about a pogrom in Czarist Russia. During the pogrom, attackers break into a Jewish home, destroy much of the meager property inside and threaten to kill the man of the house. The terrified man pleads for his life and is finally spared under the condition that he teach the Czar’s dog to talk within one year. If he fails, his attackers promise they will come back and kill him. When the attackers leave, the man’s wife says to him “Are you crazy? How are you ever going to teach the Czar’s dog to talk?” The man responds “Who knows? In a year, the dog might die, or the Czar might die.”","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"106 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122450167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-04-12DOI: 10.7916/D88W3PPV
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"Kyrgyzstan and the Cost of Not Supporting Democracy","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D88W3PPV","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D88W3PPV","url":null,"abstract":"During the Bush administration, as democracy assistance evolved from being a relatively uncontroversial U.S. policy with bipartisan support to a controversial policy associated with the neoconservative agenda, academics, journalists and others hastened to identify the political costs of doing democracy work. Critics of democracy assistance argued that encouraging elections too quickly in war torn countries could exacerbate ethnic tensions and ensure greater instability. Others argued that more democracy would bring antiAmerican leaders to power, particularly in Muslim countries, while still others argued that for poor unstable countries, stability, security and economic development should all be higher priorities than democracy.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130961284","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-04-08DOI: 10.7916/D864003M
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"A Second Chance in Kyrgyzstan","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D864003M","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D864003M","url":null,"abstract":"The angry demonstrators on the streets of Bishkek, and elsewhere in Kyrgyzstan, this week were pushed too far by the corrupt and greedy thugs who had run the country since 2005. By raising the fees for utilities, cell phones and the like the government of President Kurambek Bakiev sought to squeeze even more money out of the largely impoverished people of Kyrgyzstan, but the people showed that they had a breaking point. The upheaval was somewhat violent, and is not yet over, but it could have been a lot worse if the security forces had been loyal to the defeated Bakiev regime and been more willing to defend him.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125674571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-03-26DOI: 10.7916/D8ZC8C8P
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"Change and Continuity in Global Politics","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D8ZC8C8P","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D8ZC8C8P","url":null,"abstract":"Coverage of foreign affairs tends to focus on change, specifically how events change a country, a particular region or the world. We have been told that the end of the Cold War, the attacks of September 11th, Bush’s decision to go to war in Iraq, the global economic crisis, the emergence of China as a global power and a few other events in the last twenty years have changed everything about the world.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"84 ","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133784501","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-03-16DOI: 10.7916/D86W9MG0
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"Economic Cooperation's Poor Track Record","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D86W9MG0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D86W9MG0","url":null,"abstract":"It seems as if whenever there is a disputed territory or ethnic conflict, regardless of where, the strategy of pursuing economic cooperation to ameliorate political and ethnic tension is enthusiastically pursued by foreign governments and international organizations. The rationale behind this is hard to question because Palestinians and Israelis, ethnic and Abkhaz and ethnic Georgians, Armenians and Turks and other similar pairings all value the opportunity to make money and do business. This is also approach is also consistent with the post-Cold War global consensus in Washington and elsewhere that markets solve all problems.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"137 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115698821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-03-04DOI: 10.7916/D8348VS1
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"Democracy Isn't the Only System in Crisis Now","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D8348VS1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D8348VS1","url":null,"abstract":"The collapse of the Greek economy, which has exacerbated the crisis facing the European Union, along with the bickering, partisanship and inability to get anything done in Washington reflects the post-recession meltdown facing western democracies. Europe and the U.S. are experiencing one of the periodic crises which have come and gone in recent decades. Because of the economic problems, this one may well be worse.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128810765","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-02-09DOI: 10.7916/D87089TQ
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"Is the Orange Revolution Over or Did It Never Happen","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D87089TQ","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D87089TQ","url":null,"abstract":"Viktor Yanukovich’s victory in the Ukrainian presidential election Sunday has predictably sparked a spate of commentary that Ukraine’s Orange Revolution has come to an end. This conclusion seems natural given that it was the same Yanukovich’s efforts to steal the 2004 presidential election that led to the Orange Revolution. At first glance, it is difficult to imagine a more clear symbolic rebuke to the western oriented reform agenda of President Viktor Yuschenko, who defeated Yanukovich in 2004, but received only 5% of the vote in the first round of this election, and to Yulia Timoschenko, the other major leader of the Orange Revolution, who lost to Yanukovich on Sunday, than Yanukovich’s victory.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"33 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-02-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127306312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-01-26DOI: 10.7916/D8ZK5S2W
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"Ukraine's Election and the Value of a Divided Electorate","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D8ZK5S2W","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D8ZK5S2W","url":null,"abstract":"The first round of the Ukrainian election, which was held on the 17th of January, was inconclusive making a runoff, scheduled for February 7th , necessary. At first glance, the contrast between the two candidates in the runoff, Prime Minister Yulia Timoschenko the heroine of the 2004 Orange Revolution, and Viktor Yanukovich, the man whose fraudulent attempt to claim victory led directly to the Orange Revolution, is stark. According to the most common narrative, Timoschenko is viewed as pro-west and likely to bring Ukraine closer into the European orbit while Yanukovich is closer to Russia and likely to strengthen ties with Russia while weakening relations with Europe and the U.S.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127776335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-01-20DOI: 10.7916/D8FF42RR
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"International Responses to the Earthquake in Haiti","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D8FF42RR","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D8FF42RR","url":null,"abstract":"The earthquake in Haiti is a terrible tragedy that has resulted in thousands of deaths, widespread destruction and a terrible setback to progress in Haiti. Several factors contributed to this earthquake being particularly devastating. First, Haiti is not a place like, for example California, where earthquakes occur with great frequency, so the buildings and other structures were not built with seismic issues taken into consideration. Second, seismic precautions are not cheap; and Haiti, of course, is an extremely poor country, so even if it had been a concern, it is unlikely buildings able to sustain an earthquake of this magnitude would have been built.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122883720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Faster TimesPub Date : 2010-01-14DOI: 10.7916/D8CC193P
Lincoln A. Mitchell
{"title":"A Grim Report on Democracy","authors":"Lincoln A. Mitchell","doi":"10.7916/D8CC193P","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7916/D8CC193P","url":null,"abstract":"This week Freedom House released its annual Freedom in the World report. This in depth report is particularly useful because it makes comparisons over time and identifies trends in democracy and freedom both globally and within different regions. The central findings of the report, that “Global freedom suffered its fifth consecutive year of decline in 2010” and “(T)he increasing truculence of the world’s most powerful authoritarian regimes has coincided with a growing inability or unwillingness on the part of the world’s democracies to meet the authoritarian challenge, with important con-sequences for the state of global freedom,” are grim. The report goes on to detail the decline of democracy and freedom throughout the world.","PeriodicalId":389468,"journal":{"name":"Faster Times","volume":"46 13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-01-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121027940","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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