Author Archive

From Dublin to Moscow: The EU’s Failure to Protect Asylum Seekers

The French office of the Education Without Borders Network (Réseau Éducation Sans Frontières) has initiated a petition for the Dzhanaralievs, a Chechen family that is facing deportation from France to Poland, the first EU member country that they entered after fleeing the Russian backed oppression that is rampant in their native Chechnya. France's decision is in accordance with the Dublin II Regulation, a pi...

28 Oct 1:51 AM 396 Read More...

(Not) All Fun and Games: Soft Power and Sports in the Caucasus

  On March 8, 2011 an all star football team from Brazil battled the reigning FIFA world champions from Chechnya and their captain; FIFA Player of the Year Ramzan Kadyrov. Give me a second! Okay. Now that the Kadyrovites have left the room I can tell you that the Chechen team was made up of “government officials” and not world champion football players. I can also tell you that while he is team cap...

21 Oct 12:36 PM 5 Read More...

Blood on the Shore: The Circassian Genocide

      The Russian Empire and the Circassians, a group living in the northwest Caucasus Mountains, fought a century long war with each other, which would come to an end on May 21, 1864.  This war was launched by the Russians in an attempt to expand their empire southward, closer to the home base of their rivals, the Ottomans.  The broader Russo-Caucasian War resulted in mass casualties on...

13 Oct 11:31 AM 3 Read More...