Change by Marijn Otte

The past weeks have been stressful in more than one way. Sure midterms and paper deadlines caused a few sleepless nights but mostly the euro crisis has been on mind. A more than healthy chunk of my daily routine is now devoted to bond yields, exchange rates, credit default swaps and any other information I can get my hands on. The result? I still don’t know.

I don’t know what is the best or worst course of action.  Nor do I know what is likely to happen and frankly, it seems nobody else does either; least of all those who are supposed to lead: politicians. Broadly speaking there are three options proposed: a Eurobond, a ECB bailout and a split of the euro. At this stage none of these options are particularly favourable.

Academics have been mostly in favour of the Eurobond proposal. One bond backed by the entire European Union would eliminate most risks for investors. This would immediately lower the borrowing costs for the troubled countries but costs would go up for Germany and other ‘disciplined’ countries. Not surprisingly those countries that stand to lose the most are also the most vocal opponents of the Eurobond.  However, arguably the biggest problem is that the proposal includes further EU integration at a time when there are strong anti-Europe sentiments in, for example, the Netherlands.

Irrespective of its qualities it is probably too late to move to a Eurobond, and with several countries near collapse investors might not be convinced regardless. This is probably why the proposal for an ECB bailout has gained momentum in the past weeks. The European Central Bank is only the institution with the firepower necessary to squash any market sentiment and lower interest rates. However, Germany and its Bundesbank are not ready to go this far. Any ECB intervention will inevitably lead to increased inflation with the risk of hyperinflation if not properly managed, a prospectus of which the Germans are especially sensitive.

If there is anything that commentators agree on it is that a split or break-up is likely to be extremely costly. In economic terms it can result in bank runs and a round of write-downs on foreign debt (think Lehman Brothers).  Furthermore, businesses will suddenly have to adapt to a completely new economic environment. Politically, it would be a deathblow to the European ideal and its even questionable if the EU will have any meaningful role to play afterwards. Hence, for a long time a split or break-up was not even considered, the fact that it is even mentioned just proofs how dire the situation really is.

Whatever happens, our image of Europe, economically and politically, is going to change drastically.  That much is for sure.  And time will tell if that will be for the better of Europe or for the worse.

Post Scriptum:

Another chess problem, same rules as last time. First correct solution earns a drink at Julio’s bar. Solutions can be send by mail or shown in person. White is to move and win.

HINT: The key to the position is the defence of white’s pawn on e4 by the bishop (which will be chased by the black king) but white can only win by moving his king all across the board to take the black bishop. Hence, the solution is rather long but once you get the concept it is quite easy.

Chess Quiz Solution by Marijn Otte

And the solution is ……

First of all, I need to confess something. The position I showed in last week’s post never occurred on the chess board. Ok, that’s not completely true either. The real position (shown below) had the colours reversed, everything else was the same; this was to deter any clever Googlers.

Posted diagram:                                               Real:

1 – diagram.png                                                1 – Original.png

In the actual position (Diagram 2) with Fischer playing the black pieces came the crucial 64…. h1Q! 65. Rxh1 Kd5! Fischer temporarily sacrifices a pawn to get his king into play which was previously cut off by the rook and bishop. This solution was first found by John Cheng, who thereby earns a free drink at Giulio’s. Congratulations!

Fischer eventually won the game, although Spasssky missed a draw at move 69 (Rc3 instead of Rd1 would have drawn). After he lost Spassky allegedly stayed seated at the board in disbelief, remarking: “It is very strange. How can one lose with the opponent’s only rook locked in completely at g8?”

To replay this game (the 13^th) and read more on the match visit the following link: http://www.worldchesslinks.net/ezdm1.html

First Edition of the 2012 BC Blog!

Ciao Ragazzi,

Welcome to the first issue of the 2012 SAIS BC Blog. This week’s inaugural edition features posts by

Cameron Thomas Shah: Homecoming

Jemila Abdulai: Africa Remixed,  A Rise From the Ashes

Marijn Otte: Cold War Redux

Sarah Gardiner: Veteran’s Day

Photos by Frances Cuomo, Shelley Ranii, and Steve Farole

Homecoming by Cameron Thomas-Shah

Having the opportunity to return to the states midway through my first semester in Bologna proved to be a larger shock than I assumed.

Homecoming is a big event at most American Universities. Food, fun, and the celebration of tradition. Notably there’s the football game and the tailgate.

At my Alma Mater, Morehouse College, it’s no different. As the nations only all-male Historically Black College (HBCUs) Morehouse prides itself on producing “renaissance men” with a social conscience and a global perspective.

Atlanta, a cultural epicenter of American southern culture, provided a culture shock. From the moment I stepped off the plane everything was much more fast paced. All of a sudden usually indistinguishable banter of neighboring conversation became recognizable. No longer was there a need to decrypt vocabulary words learned in pre-term italian classes from a colorful strings of elongated rhythmic phrases. Along the roads orderly traffic conducted itself free from fearful pedestrians and bike riders.  Suddenly the bustling city that I knew so well as an undergraduate became overwhelming.

Dinner with my friends consisted of overly flavored foods, high in sodium and dusted with spices I simply hadn’t been privy to in the past two months. Indulgence in American pizza only resulted in disillusion.

However, the excitement of the American football and Five Guys Burgers and Fries was soon eclipsed with worry about problem sets, whether I had my notes ready for my America and the World reading group, and language class assignments.

It was time to capitalize on my absolute gains while I was home. I decided to make an effort to divorce from my life at SAIS for the weekend. However, to my surprise I ran into a man with a SAIS hat on at the tailgate. I introduced myself to him and immediately he yelped a hardy “Via Belmeloro Undici”, class of 79. We spoke briefly exchanging business cards and he left me with a word of advice.

“No Matter how difficult your time at the Bologna Center may become, remember you are having a remarkable experience, don’t get overwhelmed with school work, but become overwhelmed with experiences and travel, because you’ll miss it all when you’re stuck in DC”

The SAIS-Morehouse grad had a great point. I enjoyed the rest of homecoming, an experience I hope to share with my non-American colleagues next year..

But most importantly, I realized that the largest shock of my return was the change in myself. In less than three months abroad I’d met the most dynamic people at BC, and embarked on an unparalled personal and academic journey. Since returning to SAIS, the pasta Bolognese tastes better, the gelato even sweeter, and though I find the program strenuous at times, I’ve learned so much. I look forward to bittersweet May where I will look back and marvel at the number of equations, theories, and historical facts I’ve learned since being here.  As I write this, I can say that my late-summer campus switch from SAIS DC to Bologna was the best decision I could have made.

Africa Remixed: A Rise From the Ashes by Jemila Abdulai

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.” I guess I threw that idiom right out the door while choosing classes for my first semester at SAIS Bologna. I had a plan and I was going to stick with it ‘til the very end. The end came quickly. A number of class conflicts, and I found myself right back at square one. To take “War, Democratization and Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa”, or not to take “War, Democratization and Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa?” That was the question.

Repetition made me want to stay clear of the course. I’d taken similar in college and all it did was leave me feeling depressed. Back track. Make that suppressed, oppressed and THEN depressed. Why? Because Iwas  am tired of hearing about how unfortunate Africa is; wrecked with all that hunger, poverty, and disease. In my experience, Africa, or to be specific my native country Ghana, is just like any country in the West. True , it’s a mix of poverty and affluence on somewhat aggravated degrees, but the striking feature about all the Africans and African countries I’ve encountered is the spirit of resilience. We just never give up. So, bearing that in mind, why would I take yet another course reminding me of the struggles earlier generations of Africans bore; some of which my generation are inheriting? Well, for one thing, War and Conflict in SSA happens to be the only class this semester which fulfills my African Studies concentration requirement. Two:  apparently I have a lot to learn.

Fast forward a month, and I’m sitting here dumbfounded, wondering how my favorite,  and coincidentally, most inspiring class ended up being about the oh-so-gruesome topic of war and conflict? I certainly never saw this one coming. By the end of the first class session, somewhere between Rwanda, Somalia and Liberia, I was madly and truly overtaken. Now for the record, I’d like to point out that I am no expert on Africa. Don’t get me wrong, I am African – no conflict of identity here – I just don’t know as much about the motherland outside Ghana and maybe West Africa. Unfortunately, the Ghanaian educational system considers the genesis of our history to be colonization. When very little is said about our immediate neighbors Togo, Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, who’s thinking of far off places like South Africa?

My foray into war and conflict studies began with a desire to learn more about the rest of Africa. During our last session we watched the film Kinshasha Symphony.  From the audio-visual equipment in class not working to the images of “lights off” (blackouts) and hair-braiding on the screen, I can already tell you this: I feel right at home.

Cold War Redux by Marijn Otte

While midterms for IR are taking place this week it seems a good moment to go back to the year 1972.

It’s July 11^th and the temperature has just dipped below freezing point in Reykjavik, Iceland where when one of the most peaceful clashes of the cold war is going to take place.. Forget about the Vietnam war that was raging on full speed in South-east Asia, this was the real deal: Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky were going to square it off in black and white on the 64 squares of the chess board.

To this day Russia and Other Former Soviet countries dominate the international chess arena and it was no different in 1972 (the top 20 at the time contained only 5 non-Soviet players). To put it mildly, chess was important for the Soviet Union as a demonstration of the supremacy of the communist model and Boris Spassky their champion . Chicago-born Bobby Fischer posed the first serious challenge to the Soviet Chess Hegemony, on his road to the World Championship he disposed – no,  demolished – Taimanov, Larsen and Petrosian (a former World Champion himself).

In other words, tensions ran high and to make matters worse, Fischer, who was not an accommodating person, decided last minute to make additional demands and accordingly didn’t arrive until the very last minute. Fortunately, an alleged phone call by Kissinger (“the world’s worst chess player calling the world’s best chess player”) and a higher prize fund convinced Fischer to play … and so it began on July 11th.

But this is no fairy tale and the first game turned into a huge disappointment with Fischer making an incomprehensible blunder and losing the game. To add insult to injury, he blamed his loss on the noise of the cameras and the public and therefore did not show up for the second game. To convince Fischer to continue playing, Spassky made a number of concessions (considered by some as a psychological blunder).

What followed can be easily called spectacular with Fischer playing some amazing chess and quickly gaining the lead and eventually winning the match 12.5 vs. 8.5. It goes without saying that Fischer overnight became a national celebrity. Perhaps this proved to be too much because he effectively retired afterwards into a life of obscurity.

This whole story was triggered by a question in the latest issue of the economist: “can a world cup win help New Zealand’s prime minister?”. The importance of sport in national politics might seem obvious (another example could be Mandela’s endorsement of the Springboks), but can sports also play an important role in international politics? Would the euro crisis be easier solved if Greece had just become European champions with Italy as runner-up so that they could better enact reforms? What is you take?

Post Scriptum: In any case, I cannot end without showing at least one chess diagram. The position below is taken from the match and has Fischer behind the white pieces.

The position is beautiful from an aesthetic point of view: white’s rook is trapped by the pawn and the bishop while the black king and rook are trying to fight off the army of pawns marching down. Fischer is to move and the question is what is his best continuation (First correct solution earns a drink at Julio’s).

Veteran’s Day by Sarah Gardiner

November 11 was “Veteran’s Day” in the United States. My feelings about this day have changed vastly over a decade of war.

I was twelve when the attacks on September 11 happened and the United States government made the decision to invade Afghanistan and then Iraq. Some of my first political acts were participation in anti-war protests. At the same time, military recruiters set up tables in my high school cafeteria and placed daily calls to the houses of myself and my friends, promising a free higher education in exchange for five years of military service. Around the same time as I was choosing between colleges, one of my best friends was deciding whether or not to enlist in the army. He signed his contract during my first semester of college (in 2006) and deployed to Ramadi shortly thereafter.

I experienced the War in Iraq largely through my friend’s phone calls and letters at home. I supplemented his firsthand accounts with news articles, social media coverage of U.S. military action (from both military and civilian perspectives), and the testimony of the Iraq Veterans against the War (an organization descended from the Vietnam Veterans against the War). The War in Iraq occupied a huge space in my emotional, mental, and academic consciousness. As long as my friend was deployed, I felt directly connected to the war. If I saw a buzz cut or a uniform on the street (which was often, since I lived in Washington, D.C.), I wanted to make friends. This was partially in reaction to a need to feel closer to my friend and also because, the more I read about the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the more alienated I felt from my peers at school.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been fought by an all-volunteer army. Although service men and women come from a diversity of social and economic backgrounds, military recruiting has targeted lower socioeconomic demographics. During the Vietnam War era, ROTC programs (officer training programs for university students) were eliminated from Ivy League campuses and have only recently begun to be reinstated. These factors have created a dynamic where the impact of America’s most recent wars is only directly felt by a small portion of society. Returning soldiers may find themselves experiencing strong feelings of alienation from a public able to tune in or out of the conflict.

As an undergrad at Georgetown University, I found myself surrounded by peers willing and able to talk about the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from an abstract policy perspective but less willing to focus on the human impact of the conflict – from both a civilian and military perspective.

This past September marked the 10^th anniversary of the 2001 attacks. Within the majority of the media commentary about this landmark date, there was little analysis about how ten years of war has affected the fabric of American society as well as our responsibilities as citizens in a democracy fighting wars in our name. This includes a serious examination of services available to veterans re-integrating into U.S. society (in obtaining job placements, accessing physical and mental health services, finding housing, etc) as well as services available to family members of service men and women. It also involves an examination of which members of American society have born the burden of ten years of conflict. As U.S. active military involvement in Iraq officially comes to a close, and U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan draws down, examining the implications of the past ten years (in terms of domestic and foreign policy) will involve a close examination of U.S. civil-military relations.

The recent spate of “aggressive policing” at the Occupy Oakland protest involved two Iraq veterans (one of which suffered permanent brain damage after being struck in the head with a tear gas canister and the another who sustained critical injuries after a police beating). Veterans have often been at the fore of local Occupy protests.

As the Occupy movements continue to evolve, I hope they will result in critical examination of over-looked social issues. I hope it will make us reconsider how we are responsible to each other. I hope we can carry the conversation forward this Veteran’s Day, beyond a simple moment of silence and “thank you for your service” Facebook status.