Regional Geography

Clearly the water level has decreased in Kazakhstan from 1990 until now. Farming, mining, and building are all indirectly changing the geography of some places. The use of rivers for cotton irrigation has shrunk by 3 quarters in the last 50 years and it is extremely affecting the Aral Sea. 

Is sad to see how humans are changing the environment forcing the wild creatures to abandon the places they've been living for hundred or years or die of starvation. I wonder what will happen in 300 years when there is no more big lakes and the oceans will be completed polluted .

Great tool to show students how human use of natural resources can change landscapes and have permanent impacts on geographical landmarks such as the aerial sea. How do we stop it? Can we undo the damage done? How do we prevent these tragedies from happening in the future?

I couldn't view this article for some reason. It wanted me to subscribe to something.

In a society that is seen by most of the world as strict and rigid, it was interesting to see these children having fun and breaking the mold of traditional afghan kids. What makes this even more fascinating is that female children are doing some of the skating. With gender issues a hot topic in some Middle Eastern countries, letting kids have fun before being made to conform to tradition is a nice experience for them. While they still respect the culture to they belong to, it is a break from that and a breathe of fresh air for them. These youth are not seen primarily as men and woman, but as children.

Who could have imagined, that Skateboards could be used as a geopolitical tool? Over a decade ago, the United States invaded Afghanistan with the aim of rooting out and destroying the terrorist who attacked the nation on 911. As with most of our military campaigns in the Middle East, the mission quickly became bogged down in a nation building campaign. The people of Afghanistan have long been wary of foreign influence. Empire after empire has attempted to conquer this nation, only to suffer humiliating defeats. For any chance at sustained success, the United States must win over the hearts and minds of the Afghan people. This skateboard program is a perfect tool in accomplishing that objective. The parks bring all types of youths together in the spirit of fun. They are a unifying factor amongst the youth in Afghanistan.

So is this just to compete with NAFTA and the EU on an economic level?  Or is this to compete with the EU on economic, political and military level, much like the EU's EuroCorps?  Putin states thie is not a return to the USSR, but Russia has always been weary with the growing of NATO and the EU on its borders.  How about if Turkey gets int the EU right on the Russian border?  This action might move thie bloc creation even more forward and Putin might become more forceful to its creation.  No that former KGB member Putin is foreful.

It is more than understandable that former Soviet satelite states are weary of any kind of union with Russia. However, some sort of treaty could benefit the block, particularly an arangement like the one already held between Russia, Belarus, and Kahzakstan. An agreement that would ease travel between the two countries appears to have little downside.

it can hardly be considered surprising that Putin wants another version of the USSR. every other major nation has some form of organization that it is a part of, and with Russia left alone it must now desperately scrabble for some alliance or union with any other nation.

The article brings back memories of this past year and the Boston Marathon where the two bombers were found out to be from the Chechen region.  Due to social networks and word of mouth, many people jumped to assume that the attack was because of "the Russians".  Little was known about Chechnya and the people within the area, but it showed that in America at least, there was quite a bit of ignorance and assumption floating around.  Even political figures and in news reports there was confusion of the exact boundaries and ethnic backgrounds that the region possessed.  It shows the media gives people what they want to hear, and the listeners are seldom to do their own research to understand the truth.

Russia and its surrounding region has constantly been changing since the fall of the Soviet Union.  New countries form and more ethnicities arise constantly and with all these new developments form even newer confusion.  Many of these areas intertwine various languages, religions, cultures, and at times putting a barrier between them is nearly impossible.  As reports unravelled, they showed actual conflict between Chechnya and those of the Russian capital, Moscow.  There had been hostage situations and terrorist plots carried out by people suspected to be from the Chechen region and even the Russian president Vladimir Putin had grown angry about being apart of Chechnya.  With all these events and learnings, it shows that some countries still have people and areas within its boundaries that have little known about them.

Vladimir Putin was once a symbol of efficiency in Russia, but now that tensions are growing due to the subsidies that are being paid to Chechnya. As the article states, Putin's policies are starting to seem like a dead end and will only get more expensive as time goes on.

We don't usually hear about Chechnya subsidies usually it has to do with growing tensions or terrorism. In Russia there are so many ethnic and political divisions that it make sense the Russians feel allegiance to their ethnic group rather than Russia and there for when the government subsidizes Chechnya they see it as Russia subsidizing a population that really isn't "Russian".