Romania is not a country that you hear about often in the news. Located along the Black Sea, the country has not been in the center of Eastern European crises, such as the mass refugee migrations that have shaken Hungary and Bulgaria. Though Romania may not be a sexy topic as far as international politics…
Ethiopia is one of East Africa’s fastest growing economies. Though its per capita income is much lower than the regional average, the economy doubled the regional economic growth average with an annual growth rate of 10.8%. The percentage of Ethiopians living in extreme poverty has decreased from 55.3% in 2000 to 33.5% in 2011. This…
Just recently, after a magnitude 5.3 earthquake was detected in South Korea, North Korean officials in Pyongyang claimed that they had successfully completed their fifth nuclear test, a 10-kiloton nuclear warhead that could be mounted onto a ballistic missile. To put into perspective the amount of damage a 10 kiloton nuclear bomb could cause, Little…
This past Thursday, the Reiff Center had the pleasure of hosting a discussion entitled: “China on the World State: Understanding China’s Military Rise and Human Rights Record,” and welcomed two esteemed guest panelists to Christopher Newport University. Our first panelist, Dr. Larry Wortzel, is a former Army intelligence officer and eight-term Commissioner of the…
Affirmative action at the university level is a topic that has been a subject of controversy in the United States, especially since the ruling of Grutter v. Bollinger in 2003, in which the Supreme Court upheld the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy. While the system attempts to make up for racial inequalities and…
In a world where conflict arises from ethnic and religious differences, Myanmar is not often a name that is brought up, but perhaps represents one of the most complicated and longest cases of ongoing ethnic conflict in a country. Today, due to the internal ethnic conflict, it is estimated that almost one-and-a-half million people…
A quick author’s note: Dear reader, This article is a recap a discussion hosted by the Reiff Center and the Rumi forum about the Mediterranean refugee crisis. Amongst other topics in this article, I will be mentioning the Islamic State. However, from this point on, I will be referring to the Islamic State only…
One of the most controversial events following the Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges was without a doubt county clerk Kim Davis’ refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in Rowan County, Kentucky. Davis, after defying a federal court order to issue marriage licenses, spent five days in jail for refusing to…
On Tuesday, March 31st, the Reiff Center had the pleasure of hosting Ermira Mehmeti, a member of Parliament from the Republic of Macedonia. Miss Mehmeti is one of the youngest members of the Macedonian Parliament, and was just recently reelected to her third consecutive term. She holds a master’s degree in comparative politics from…
In 2010, a Spanish man named Mario Costeja González sued Google Spain and Google Inc. after complaining that a Google search brought up a digitized auction notice of his repossessed home. He claimed that because the issue had been resolved in 1998, the information was unnecessary and a violation of his privacy rights. Google…
