The Phoenix - Hills Road Sixth Form College

26 News and Politics 4th April 2014 | The PhoenixNews and PoliticsWhy is There Turmoil in Ukraine?Emily Thomas discusses therecent crisis in UkraineIn recent months the revolutionin Ukraine has seen huge politicalupheaval, bloodshed anduncertainty for its future. However,it is the relationship betweenRussia and Ukraine thathas caused countries aroundthe world to turn their gaze towardsthe situation, as it teeterson the edge of potential war.Russia and Ukraineshare not just a border,but a history. A historythat involved Ukraine beinga member of the SovietUnion from 1922 to 1991, aperiod which left the countryat the mercy of Stalin’sruthless policy of collectivisation,that left millionsdead in a horrific famine.Many Ukrainians despisedthe dominance of Russia somuch that during the SecondWorld War, men in thecountry flocked to supportthe Nazis in the hope ofridding themselves of thetight grip of the USSR.However, after gaining independencein 1991, newtensions began to form.Native Russians remainedliving in the country, particularlyin Crimea and the easternregions. In Crimea, 58% ofthe population is Russian, comparedwith 24% being Ukrainian;consequently there weredisputes over how this could bejustified- what needs to be justified?REPHRASE MAYBE. In1992, Crimea became an autonomous,parliamentary republicwithin Ukraine; however, thissolution was far from perfect.Since a pro-Russian, Crimeanseparatist was voted as presidentwith a large majority in1995, Crimea has not had itsown president. Instead, Ukrainereplaced the elected presidentwith a Ukrainian appointmentand this has continued to thisday. Furthermore, tensions haveincreased as a result of Ukraine’srecent attempts to join the EUand NATO, actions deemed toopro-Western for Russia’s liking.During the 2009 oil conflict, theRussian media, much of whichis controlled by the state, portrayedUkraine as a greedycountry as it tried to side withWest and exploit cheap Russiangas simultaneously. Evidently,Russia-Ukraine relations havegreatly deteriorated since its‘union’ during the Soviet period,and with their disputes notablyinvolving the West as well, howmuch further can it be pushed?Political pressure inUkraine had been mounting wellbefore revolutionary protestsbegan in November last year.In 2004, the Orange Revolutionwas triggered by rigged electionsin which the pro-Russiancandidate, Viktor Yanukovych,the now recently ousted president,had won. After mass streetprotests, the election result wasoverrun. Yanukovych returnedto power in 2010 after ‘free andfair’ elections. Despite this, theunderlying dark side of Ukrainianpolitics persisted, as hisrival Yulia Tymoshenko was arrestedand jailed for ‘abuse ofpowers’, in what many suspectas a politically motivated case.Additional tensions can be attributedto Ukraine’s complexdemographic divisions. Thereare strong differences betweenEast and West Ukraine; withthe majority in the East speakingRussian as a first language,in contrast with the majority inthe West who speak Ukrainianas their first language. The heavilyindustrialised East whollydepends on Russia for cheap energyand exports. However, theseeconomic and geographic ties toRussia do not mean a disregardfor Ukrainian identity in the region,the overwhelming majority,92.3%, voted for Ukrainianindependence in 1991 acrossthe country. To this day, beliefin Ukrainian unity is still upheldby the majority. Rather, theprinciple division and the onewhich sparked the first protests,is whether Ukraine’s future isEuropean or Russian reliant.This leads us to 21st November2013, when PresidentYanukovych announced that hewas abandoning the EU associationagreement, which wouldhave strengthened trade tieswith the rest of Europe, a tantalizingeconomic opportunity tomany pro-Western Ukrainians.Instead the decision wasmade to accept a Russianbailout, suggesting a futurethat leant more towardsclose co-operationwith Ukraine’s neighbour.Equally provoking to thosewho oppose Yanukovychwas the rejection of a billthat could have enabled hisrival, Yulia Tymoshenko,who had been jailed since2010, to leave the country.By 24th November, protestshad reached a threateninglevel, a demonstration inKiev saw 100 000 peopleattending. As time movedon, the protests evolvedfrom much more than thedispute over Ukraine’s futurewith the EU. The brutalitywith which policedealt with protesters andthe new draconian lawsbrought in to curb the democraticrights of the protesters highlightedthe deep corruption of theUkrainian government and itsPresident, Viktor Yanukovych.The crisis escalated inFebruary, the violence worsenedleading to further deaths andlater in the month Yanukovychwas ousted as President. A newcoalition government formed tounite all the opposition partiesand Olexander Turchynov wasnamed as the standing president.Disturbingly, the Russianpresence in not only Crimeabut reportedly in mainlandUkraine, suggests a worryingand bloody future for the country.The Phoenix |4th April 2014The Mystery of MH370By Henry SandersonThe disappearance of the MH370plane has, understandably,made some people confused asto how such a thing can happen.On March 8th 2014, theMalaysia Airlines plane disappearedfrom radar operators justoff the coast of Malaysia. Fromhere it began to change course, accordingto military radars, beforedisappearing completely over theAndaman Sea. 239 people wereon board, including 153 Chinesepassengers, and a search effortled the Malaysian authoritiesspanned about 7.7 million squarekilometres with countries joiningin, such as the US and Japan,and even self-proclaimed “internetdetectives” have taken to satelliteimagery to scour the landand sea for any signs of a plane.Conspiracy theories haverisen in all sorts of degrees ofoddness, ranging from the basic“they’re in this country” to “it wasshot down over this country” and“they flew up high on purposeto kill everyone on board”. (Theplane was operating at 45,000feet, which is exceeds the operationalheight of the Boeing 777).Terrorism theories have croppedup due to there being two Iranianpassengers found to have hadstolen passports. However thismay have just been the kneejerkreaction to any situation resemblinga vanishing plane or planecrash. People seem to be graspingat straws, slowly drifting awayfrom the most likely outcomeof a simple mechanical fault.The two pilots have beenput under the magnifying glass.The pilot, 53 year old ZaharieAhmad Shah, had 18,000 flighthours behind him, and a flightsimulator in his house mimickingthe Boeing 777 model thathe apparently piloted into thenether on March 8th, which hassparked doubts as to whether ornot this may have been a premeditatedevent. However, he isa self-confessed aviation fanatic,and relatives and friends of thepilot have dismissed the presenceof the, stating that he ownedthe simulator to share the flyingity, frost, radiation, air pressure,lightning, and stray birdsall while moving at high speeds.Combine that with the immeasurableparanoia instilled from9/11, every re-run of United 93,and every single time you’ve seenthe words “Plane crashes in…”on a news site, then you havesomething that can really scarepeople. I hold the same feelingsabout lightning, which can onlybe expressed the anti-lottery; peoplehave to get unlucky enoughCloudy skies for UKIPBy Bethan CadwallarNigel Farage may have seen excellentresults in recent by-elections, but hisstruggle to establish UKIP as a fullyreasonable, mainstream political partyis far from over. It seems that theparty’s worst enemy may be its ownmembers. Godfrey Bloom has mercifullydropped from public view after amemorable summer in which he talkedabout aid going to ‘Bongo Bongoland’, called a room full of women‘sluts’ and accused a reporter of beingracist because he pointed out thelack of ethnic minorities in UKIP’sconference book. But it appears thatanother embarrassing media honeypothas emerged. Step forward DavidSilvester, a UKIP councillor fromHenley-on-Thames, who claimedthat the legalisation of same-sexmarriage caused the terrible floodswhich have struck much of the UK.He wrote in a letter to theHenley Standard: “The scripturesmake it abundantly clear that a Christiannation that abandons its faith andacts contrary to the Gospel (and in nakedbreach of a coronation oath) willbe beset by natural disasters such asstorms, disease, pestilence and war...It is [David Cameron’s] fault thatlarge swathes of the nation have beenafflicted by storms and floods.” Cameronis surely relieved to have dodgedthe bullet of having the commentsmade by a member of his own party;Silvester defected from the Conservativesto UKIP in protest at his formerleader’s support for the Marriage(Same Sex Couples) Act of 2013.News and Politics27experience withothers. The copilot,27 year oldFariq Abdul Hamid,had 2,700flight hours behindhim, butwas accused in2011 of lettingtwo passengersinto the cockpitduring a flight.In an eeriechain of events,the last wordssent from theplane, “all right,good night”,were said byFariq just after the plane haddisabled primary communicationsystems, shortly before thesecondary communication systemswere shut off which severedall contact. Quite understandablythis is a cause for concern.Whatever the outcomemay be, it has not improved myfeelings towards flying at all.I have never understood how alarge heavy tube with wings isable to resist the effects of gravtohave their organs sizzled.As the event has reachedmaturity, conflict has risen overthe publicity of information of theplane’s whereabouts, and exactlyhow the plane disappeared. Hungerstrikes were proposed in hopesthat the Malaysian governmentwere hiding information. Searchparties have a lot of ground tocover, and it’s unreasonable tothink that any person can pinpointthe location of a lost planein such a short amount of time.Among those quick to mockSilvester’s comments was the creatorof the @UkipWeather Twitterfeed, with choice tweets including:“A lingering look between2 men at a gym in Yorkhas sparked concerns from residentsliving near the River Ouse”“Council gritters are onhigh alert after a man in Peterboroughwent into a pub and ordereda glass of white wine”“Dark clouds are formingover the Midlands followingvoluntary sexual intercourse betweentwo unmarried persons”“An area of low intelligencecentred around the Daily Mail willcause severe outbreaks of capitalletters and exclamation marks”Silvester has been expelledfrom the party for defying an instructionto not do further media interviews,but this whole affair will be one amongmany hanging around the neck ofUKIP as they prepare for the EuropeanParliament elections later this year.