PACE’s Russian restoration will set a dangerous new precedent in Europe

By Mark Temnycky, Freelance Journalist who covers politics and sports in Europe and Ukraine and PARCC Alumni.

Originally posted on the Euractiv.com website on ‎Jul‎y ‎5‎, ‎2019.

Despite its continued meddling in European affairs, Russia has been reinstated in the Council of Europe, with full voting powers. The decision will only encourage Moscow to continue its erratic behaviour on the European continent while others, like Turkey, may follow its example, writes Mark Temnycky.

On 25 June, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted to reinstate Russia as a full voting member within the assembly. The Russian Federation was stripped of its voting power in 2014 after the illegal annexation of Crimea and for supporting the separatist movement in eastern Ukraine.

Fox News’ ‘3 Mexican Countries’ gaffe perfectly sums up Trump’s policies

By Gladys McCormick, Assistant Professor of History, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

Originally posted on The Hill, April 1, 2019.  

On Sunday morning, an on-screen banner for an episode of “Fox & Friends” displayed “Trump Cuts Aid to 3 Mexican Countries” during a segment on the administration’s cut of hundreds of millions of dollars of promised foreign aid to help Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador deal with their ongoing security crisis.

Later in the day, Fox News issued an apology and clarified that they knew these nations were part of Central America and not of Mexico. However, the damage was done and the screenshots of the banner had been displayed far and wide among social media circles. Responses ranged from horror to laughter at the geographical mistake. Among Latinos/as, it confirmed that Fox News is not sensitive or knowledgeable of issues important to our community. I am originally from Costa Rica and I laughingly posted on Facebook that little did we know that, as Central Americans, we belonged to Mexico — and to please pass the mescal.

Ukraine’s Athletes Shine Through National Gloom

By Mark Temnycky, Freelance Journalist who covers politics and sports in Europe and Ukraine and PARCC Alumni.

Originally posted on the Atlantic Council website on February 28, 2019.

Five years after the Euromaidan, most analysis of Ukraine is grim. It tends to focus on the patchy reforms that have been put in place, the country’s endemic corruption, the ongoing war in its east, and the current unpredictable presidential election campaign. Hardly any of the coverage is positive.

But that’s not the full picture. Writers and analysts have missed something important: the country has emerged as a leader in sports, uplifting the spirits of Ukrainians in the process. Ukrainian athletes have given their compatriots a renewed sense of pride and optimism during this difficult period.

There’s nothing humanitarian about politicized aid to Venezuela

By Gladys McCormick

Assistant Professor of History, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University

Originally posted on The Hill, February 27, 2019.

Mike Pence’s visit to Colombia this week is in line with the Trump administration’s overt interest in the Venezuelan crisis. His presence there suggests that the U.S. government wants to undermine humanitarian aid and diplomatic routes to diffusing the crisis. As he and President Trump have stated on several occasions, “All options are on the table.”

How can the government expect people to work without pay indefinitely?

The system wasn’t built for an era of routine shutdowns. It pits the Antideficiency Act against a key labor law.

Originally published in The Washington Post on January 11, 2019.
By Todd Dickey, Assistant Professor of Public Administration at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School.

The current federal government shutdown has just tied the longest in United States history. For 21 days, more than 400,000 federal employees have worked without pay. As they will keep doing, indefinitely.

They have no choice. Their jobs are classified as vital to a basic level of government functioning. The requirement to report to work without knowing when they will be paid is both a condition and the reality of their employment. Furloughed employees might (within ethics guidelines) labor elsewhere during the shutdown so they can put food on their tables and gas in their tanks and keep the lights on. But the “excepted” workers are already occupied. Eric Young, president of the union that represents federal prison workers, told the Atlantic that this “constitutes involuntary servitude.”

FOR BETTER FOREIGN POLICIES

Louis Kriesberg and Robert A. Rubinstein prepared the statement, gathered the signers, raised funds for the  ad by GofundMe, and placed the ad in USA Today.  It was published  December 14, 2018 in USA Today, p. 2, in weekend, District of Columbia, edition.

FOR BETTER FOREIGN POLICIES

The foreign policy actions of President Donald J. Trump and his administration are damaging the United States. Abruptly and unilaterally breaking off long-standing commitments is counter-productive and picking fights with other governments, including allies, reduces U.S. bargaining power and is often self destructive.

The Double Standard Surrounding Ukraine’s Education Law

Originally posted November 30, 2017 on  BlogActiv and shared with PARCC by guest author Mark Temnycky, graduate of Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

As Ukraine celebrated its “Ukrainian Literacy and Language Day” on 9 November, controversy surrounding its education law remains.  Passed in September, the legislation stated secondary education in public schools would be taught in Ukrainian. This sparked outrage from the ethnic Russian community in eastern Ukraine, who represent nearly one-fifth of the Ukrainian populace, and the minority groups in Transcarpathia, such as the Hungarians and Romanians, who account for 0.6% of Ukraine’s population.