The Caucasus… A quick Primer

Anyone who has followed the aftermath of the Bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon has heard that even though the suspects had lived in the US for several years, the family originally came from the Caucasus region in the southernmost part of Russia.  That may explain why Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed a great desire to help the US in the investigation.  The brothers are ethnic Chechens, though the elder brother was born in Kyrgyzstan in South Central Asia, while the younger brother was born in Dagestan province, near the Chechnya state.  The region has been a dangerous place ever since the end of the former Soviet Union, as a large group of Muslim ethnicities that live in this area have tried to break away from Russia with sometimes violent means, while the Russian response has been equally as destructive.  A map below shows the region.

Just looking at the neighborhood, one can see some huge issues.  Armenia is the only Christian nation in the region south of the Caucasus Mountains, but it is landlocked and surrounded by 3 Muslim countries (Turkey-who committed genocide on Armenians in WWI, Iran-who is probably the 2nd most antagonistic state in the world right now after North Korea, and Azerbaijan-who isn’t exactly a stable state).  Georgia also has a large Muslim group in their province, and they just lost a war to Russia over the South Ossentia and Abkhazia territories.  As for the Russian provinces, Chechnya and Dagestan have caused a particularly huge amount of problems for Russia, with attacks over the last 20 years extending from Groznyy all the way up to Moscow itself.  Bombings, hostage standoffs, and other attacks have killed hundreds of people.  The Russian response has killed thousands and have left a ruthless strongman in charge of the Chechen state.

For further details, here is the breakdown of ethnic groups in the Caucasus:

As you can see, the neighborhood is eerily similar to the diversity found in the Balkans region just across the Black Sea from this area.  It is a toxic brew that has flashed into violence on more than one occasion.  Many Muslims from this region have fought in other conflicts in the neighboring Middle East areas, including Iraq and Afghanistan, so the temptation is to link the Muslims from this area with the Al-Qaida network.  Though no official link has been made, that hasn’t stopped President Putin from asserting such a link exists.  Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.  But, if a link is found, it may force the United States to confront another troubled region in the Middle East.

Ironically, this area is another region rich with oil with a large transnational oil contingent invested in the nearby Caspian Sea area, so Natural Resources will play a role in the decisions the US makes in this region.  Until we can wean ourselves off of foreign oil, we will be pressured into sending forces into oil-rich regions to stabilize these areas.  That increases the risks of terrorists targeting the US and their policies.

And there is another potential flashpoint.  Next February, the eyes of the Sports World will focus on the Winter Olympics, which will take place in this region, in the Russian town of Sochi (you see it on the left side of the first map).  A terrorist attack during the Olympics is highly possible, even with Russian troop presence.  Considering the instability, you have to wonder why the IOC thought giving into Putin’s wishes was a good idea.

There are no easy answers.  Evidence is not conclusive that the brothers had support from the region.  But it cannot be ruled out.  It may take another terrorist attack to determine whether the Boston Bombings were lone wolf operations or the start of a larger campaign against the US.  The next move is up to the terrorists in the Caucasus.  Will they not target the US for another attack?  Or will they strike the US/International Community with even more deadly force?  We shall see.

Ending the use of Native American mascots…

Since it appears that the argument over gay marriage is about to be resolved, allow me to give you PC-minded folks a new argument to go after.  Pay attention, you might learn something. (Jim Ingram, you can sit this one out, because you and I see eye-to-eye on this issue).

Native Americans have been up in arms over the use of their images as mascots from everything from elementary schools up to the professional sports level.  Two of the most offensive Indian nicknames to Native Americans are the Washington Redskins, and, regrettably as a former Atlanta resident, the Atlanta Braves.  In the early 90s as the Braves made their 1st Championship run and the Washington NFL team made their last Super Bowl Run, Native American groups made a huge push to pressure all professional sports teams to eliminate their Native America mascots and nicknames.  Though several college and high school teams did get rid of their mascots, the push seemed to fail and the argument died, possibly forever.

But underneath the surface, the elimination of Native American mascots has made significant ground.  There are only a handful of colleges that still have Indian mascots (Florida State being the most recognizable).  Stanford, Syracuse, Oklahoma, St. Johns, and Illinois are just a few of the major colleges which have eliminated Indian mascots over the years.  On the public high, middle, and elementary school levels, several states are outlawing Indian nicknames.  At one time, 3000 schools had Indian nicknames.  Now, that number has shrunk to 900 and is still declining.

Now, the push to eliminate the Professional Sports Indian nicknames may have gotten new life.  At a recent forum in DC, many media and elites pushed anew to get rid of the Washington nickname, considered by many Native American groups to be the most offensive, and on par with calling a team the N-word.  At least two Washington area papers, have decided to stop referring to Washington’s NFL team by their nickname, and lead Washington Post Sports columnist, Mike Wise, seems to be leading the media charge to end the use of the R-word in Washington sports.  Late last year, the Atlanta Braves tried to bring back Chief Nocahoma’s image on their logos, but the public outrage that followed terminated that proposal.

It’s interesting to note that the Braves and Washington’s NFL team are the two nicknames that generate the most push for termination of their Indian nicknames.  After all, they originally shared the sports stadium and Braves nickname in what many still consider the most segregated city in America—Boston.  The Football Team changed their name after moving to Fenway Park in 1933, home of the Boston Red Sox.  Here is where another parallel occurs that most people in this country are not aware of.  Washington’s NFL Team was the last NFL franchise to integrate (much like the Red Sox was the last MLB team to integrate), but only after the Federal Government threatened Washington team and pressure was applied from the Washington Post (George Preston Marshall, the owner at that team, was believed to be a racist).  Any attempts to try and re-write the history of the nickname as honoring Native Americans rings hollow, just based on those historical facts.

Congress is trying to pass a new law that may end the use of Native American mascots and nicknames all together.  History now appears to be on the Native Americans.  Yeah, I know, this push sounds like a broken record.  But something feels different now.  I don’t know how I know.  It’s just a feeling, like now is the time where if enough pressure is applied, Washington will change its nickname and the remaining dominos will fall rapidly.

So common, all you champions of PC causes.  Get on board the Ban Native American nickname train while there’s still time.  Because, if you miss this locomotive that is gathering steam, you’re going to be no better than those you regularly mock as being old-fashioned and out-of-touch with today’s world.

The long slow decline of the Greeks

When I was midway through my days at Valpo, I may the decision to join a fraternity.  Granted, many don’t consider a music fraternity (is it a professional Greek society or social society or both?) to be an official fraternity, but Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at Valpo has their own house so I consider it a fraternity all the same.  Sometimes, I even refer to the Kappa Sigma chapter of the fraternity as the 810 Brown Street Mafia, in honor of the house address.  So, I do see things from the Greek perspective, and what I saw regarding the future of Greek in the mid 1990s is sadly starting to play out today.

In the mid 1990s, I made the prediction that the Greek system at Valpo would begin a decline and that within 10 years the number of fraternities and sororities would stand at 5 with all the sororities having gone national and at least 1 fraternity and sorority at Valpo being a minority Greek system.  My prediction was based on declining pledges and the University’s apparent hostility towards the Greek system.  Several fraternities were on probation due to various minor and major violations, the Theta Kappa Epsilon had been gone for a decade, Lambda Chi Alpha was trying to resurrect its Valpo chapter as a dry Greek, and the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity was about to be kicked off of Valpo for good, dropping the number of fraternities from 13 at its peak to 11.  The sororities were still local and numbered 8, with Delta Phi Kappa being the smallest in size.  Turns out I was wrong, but only in how long the decline of the Greeks has taken.

Since I left Valpo, a lot has happened.  The sororities made the decision to go national immediately after I graduated, but it was not enough to save one of the sororities.  Delta Sigma Theta closed its doors around 2000.  Phi Delta Theta was kicked off campus in 2003.  And perhaps the most surprising departure to me was the elimination of Theta Chi, 2 years ago, dropping the fraternity total to 8 (Lambda Chi Alpha, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Sigma Kappa, Phi Mu Alpha, Sigma Tau Gamma, Sigma Chi, and, yes, Sigma Pi) and sorority total to 7.

Now comes word that Sigma Tau Gamma has been kicked off campus for 4-5 years by National and Valpo starting next year due to hazing and drug violations.  Pressure is mounting for the chapter to sell its house, basically marking the potential end of the fraternity at Valpo.  If the chapter is eliminated, that will even the number of fraternities and sororities at 7.

It’s no Greek secret that fraternities are under constant duress from a legal perspective.  Gone are the party days made famous by movies like “Animal House” and “Revenge of the Nerds”, and events like Spring Break.  The drinking is now severely regulated by Universities fearful of being sued should parties go wrong and people die from alcohol-related problems.  National fraternities also face similar pressure, so many of the nationals have gone dry in an attempt to change their image.  Hazing is prohibited under penalty of chapter termination.  In other words, what happened in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s with keggers, hazing, and drunken orgies is no longer tolerated in a PC world.

Athletic organizations also discourage joining fraternities due to the ever increasing pressure of athletes to put their sports ahead of everything except education (allegedly).  Also the perception of fraternities being troublemakers doesn’t help.  It is said Homer Drew discouraged his basketball players from going Greek at Valpo, which wouldn’t surprise me if true.

Sororities were never really painted with a broad negative brush that fraternities were, so their image is more positive in certain views.  (Although in Indiana, the rule is if more than 5 woman who are not related live in a house, it is technically considered a brothel, which is illegal-don’t laugh, that law was around when I was a college student.)  But sororities cannot survive independent of fraternities, no matter what some people would like to believe.  Ultimately, what happens to one happens eventually to the other, so sororities must work together with fraternities to try and change the negative connotations.

In order to survive, the college Greek systems must adapt or die.  Students no longer need to go Greek to enjoy college life as there are a number of alternative things to do.  The Greek system must find new ways to encourage people to take a look at becoming Greek.  The alternative is eliminating the Greek experiences at colleges nationwide, which would not necessarily be a good thing.

It’s going to take a lot of work for the Greek system to overcome the “boys will be boys” image that was once allowed.  But in the end, I believe fraternities will be better for it if they can.  Otherwise, the Greek system will become a thing of the past.

The cell phone at 40…

April 3rd marked the 40th anniversary of one of the most important inventions of the last half of the 20th century.  On April 3rd, 1973, Martin Cooper of Motorola made the first cell phone call to his rival at Bell Labs using a DynaTAC phone.  In that moment, the world of communications was changed forever.  Although it would be 6 years before the first cell phone network would come on line in the world, the ability to communicate had forever changed.

The basis for the cell phone were mobile radios the US military had used in World War II.  But it would be nearly 3 decades following the war before Motorola would perfect the technology in a device that was a foot long, 2 pounds in weight, and looked like a brick with a battery life of a mere 20 minutes.  As the first US networks came on line in the 1980s, these devices were largely used by traveling salespeople, doctors, Wall Street executives, and mostly governmental leaders.  These first cell phones had dedicated frequencies and used the entire bandwidth provided to transmit an analog signal.  The capacity of the networks were therefore limited, making wireless phone call a premium service.

The first wireless phone call was just the first of three monumental game-changing moments that the cell phone would create.  The second monumental event came in the early 1990s around the time the first digital cell phone standard, known as GSM was created.  As the voice became digitized, the developers realized that more services could be provided.  Using pagers as a guide, GSM developers created a service called short messaging service (or SMS) to provide another means of communicating.  Of course, we know SMS by another name… texting, which today has replaced voice calls as one of the most popular uses of cell phones.  Other services would be added, such as internet, E-Mail, and digital payments.

Making the phone digital also provided increased capacity, helping to lower the cost of making phone calls and maintaining the network.  But something else happened during the construction which really brought the cell phone to the masses.  As the cellular networks were developed, workers from all over the world came to build the GSM and CDMA networks.  As they did so, they learned how to build these networks, they also learned that they could take that knowledge back to their home countries and build cheap wireless networks of their own in places that never even had a wireline network.  As a result, the ratio of people to cell phones in the world today is closing in on a 1:1 ratio, and within the next two years, there will be more mobile devices than people worldwide.  Every country in the world has a digital cell phone network, and very few even have a 1sst generation analog network still in operation (Thailand is one of the few countries that still have an analog network).

The third great moment was the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.  Sure, the iPhone was not the first smartphone (that was the Blackberry).  However, the iPhone made the concept of the smartphone simple for the younger generation to comprehend, and its ease of use revolutionized the smart phone in ways Blackberry could not.  The iPhone and its Android rivals changed the way we used cell phones again, taking full advantage of social media and using the mobile phone in ways Martin Cooper could not even imagine.  Gaming, GPS, and other services have made the cell phone indispensible in our lives.

The phone used to be a home luxury where an entire family was connected with only one phone line.  Now, each family member can have a dedicated phone lines at a cost cheaper than a home phone line with many of the same services and then some.  In the coming years, the dedicated voice channels of cell phones will be replaced by a more IP-centric concept, turning voice into digital data, again reducing the cost of making a phone call.  How else will the cell phone change?  No one knows for sure, not even Martin Cooper himself.

One thing is clear:  the cell phone is unquestionably a game-changing technology.  What will the cell phone look like at 50?  Who knows.