What’s News In This Story?
This interview is part of the “Tomorrow Lives Here” Conversation Series presented by Miami Business School.
WATCH:
–The head of the Bank for International Settlements, Agustín Carstens defended globalism and bashed bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in an exclusive interview with RISE NEWS.
–Carstens is the general manager for BIS, a massive institution that is often called the “bank for the central banks”.
–Carstens was interviewed by Miami Business School Vice Dean Henrik Cronqvist.
–The former governor of Mexico’s Central Bank, Carstens has earned a reputation as being a strong skeptic of cryptocurrencies.
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U.S. Universities Struggle With Specter Of Concealed Weapons Laws
By Camila Saenz
Mass shootings across the United States seem to be rising at an alarming rate.
Fears of mass shootings on college campuses are also acute in the nation and there are some who wish to add more weapons to the mix in order to fix the problem.
A new law- known as the Campus Carry Law will be going into effect in Texas on August 1, 2016, the date marking the 50th anniversary of the UT Tower sniper shooting.
The UT Tower sniper shooting was one of the first mass shootings on a college campus in the United States, when a former U.S. Marine killed 16 people.
Read More: Donald Trump Says He Would Take In 0 Syrian Refugees During National TV Town Hall
The Campus Carry law will allow for those who have a concealed weapons permit to carry a handgun on campus.
“I’ve spent my whole life around guns. I grew up in Texas hunting. I spent 37 years in the military. I like guns, but I just don’t think having them on campus is the right place,” University of Texas System Chancellor William McRaven told CNN.
McRaven is a former Navy SEALs admiral responsible for directing the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
“It isn’t about restricting people it is about making sure students feel safe on their campuses.”
UT Professor Daniel Hamermesh has already announced his intention to retire from the University.
“With a huge group of students my perception is that the risk that a disgruntled student might bring a gun into the classroom and start shooting at me has been substantially enhanced by the concealed carry law,” Hamermesh wrote to the UT president.
At Florida International University in Miami, many students and staff are against Campus Carry and do not want for the law to become active in Florida.
“I would rather that statute didn’t pass,” Alexander Casas, chief of the University’s police department told the FIU student newspaper, the Beacon.
Casas told the Beacon that more guns on a college campus would only make the situation more dangerous.
“Campus carry not passing would not infringe on our second amendment,” said Nicole Perdomo, a FIU student said. “It isn’t about restricting people it is about making sure students feel safe on their campuses.”
Eight states allow students and staff to carry concealed weapons on the grounds of public colleges: Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin and Texas.
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Cover Photo Credit: F Delventhal/Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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The VFW Just Took A Big Punch At Trump Over The Way He’s Talked About The Khans
The Veterans of Foreign Wars, one of the most powerful American Veterans organization in the nation strongly condemned Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump for his attacks on the family of a fallen soldier.
The strongly worded VFW statement comes on the heels of Trump’s continued swipes at Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of an American soldier who died in Iraq in 2004.
“Election year or not, the VFW will not tolerate anyone berating a Gold Star family member for exercising his or her right of speech or expression,” Brian Duffy, the newly elected head of the VFW said in a statement. “There are certain sacrosanct subjects that no amount of wordsmithing can repair once crossed. Giving one’s life to nation is the greatest sacrifice, followed closely by all Gold Star families, who have a right to make their voices heard.”
The statement also says:
“Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has a history of lashing out after being attacked, but to ridicule a Gold Star Mother is out-of-bounds.”
Duffy was only elected as the head of the VFW on July 27. He has previously said that he believes that soldiers should return home from war more emphatic.
Khizr Khan famously said in his speech to the Democratic National Convention that Trump lacks empathy.
“We must push a message that the VFW is an organization that has always been rooted in service to others, that we are an organization of doers, and an organization comprised of men and women who returned home from their wars and conflicts as better, more compassionate and confident human beings,” Duffy said after winning his role as the head of the VFW last week.
Arizona’s Senior senator John McCain has also bashed Trump over the way in which he has treated the Khan family.
“Arizona is watching,” McCain said in a 700 word statement. “It is time for Donald Trump to set the example for our country and the future of the Republican Party. While our Party has bestowed upon him the nomination, it is not accompanied by unfettered license to defame those who are the best among us.
“Lastly, I’d like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Khan: thank you for immigrating to America,” McCain said. “We’re a better country because of you. And you are certainly right; your son was the best of America, and the memory of his sacrifice will make us a better nation — and he will never be forgotten.”
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Cover Photo Credit: Valerie Everett
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Millennial Intelligencer: Why Syria Won’t Be Putin’s Vietnam
It is clear that the Russian military is willing to engage in a more aggressive way in Syria- a region that has long been considered important for the former superpower.
The Russians have fielded about 30 fixed wing aircraft, primarily SU-25 Frogfoots, and SU-24 Fencers, as well as 20 Mi-24s. This is further complimented by cruise missile strikes, and a detachment of Marines to defend Russian facilities. In short, that’s a lot of fire power that the Russians seem more than willing to commit to a protracted conflict in the Middle East.
The Russian Army, like it’s forbearer the Red Army, is often both grossly overestimated and underestimated. One either conceives dastardly “little green men”, or a lumbering brute itching to lob it’s surplus T-62s at Estonia. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Taking into account the likelihood of Russians being killed in Syria, be it an Mi-24 knocked out by MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System), or the recent tragic deaths of three Russians in an artillery attack, some have suggested that the Kremlin has fumbled into a scenario akin to the American experience in the Vietnam War.
While it is not out of the realm of possibility that Moscow may be forced to further invest into Syria to prop up the floundering Assad Regime in response to the continued civil war and threat from ISIS, Moscow must also be aware of its own very real limitations.
The Russian Army, like it’s forbearer the Red Army, is often both grossly overestimated and underestimated. One either conceives dastardly “little green men”, or a lumbering brute itching to lob it’s surplus T-62s at Estonia. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Whilst Soviet/Russian equipment has held a number of qualitative advantages over NATO equipment (including purportedly “invincible” American assets) during the Cold War and to this day, the Russians have consistently been inferior in both training and Command & Control (C&C). The former is due to the Russians utilizing a conscript system. This means that the Russian government drafts young men for a year at a time to serve, and then they are sent on their way.
This includes the three months of training for soldiers, and contributes to questionable quality. Recognizing this for some time, the Kremlin has been attempting to phase out the conscript model, in favor of the “contract” or professional model, in which soldiering is a job.
While contract soldiers are better both logistically and in terms of quality than conscripts, only 200,000 solders out of 774,500 (and 1,000,000 requested, unmet due to draft dodgers) are contract soldiers. This also includes 220,000 officers, leaving 354,500 conscripts. When cutting those professional forces between Ukraine and Syria, Moscow does not have a large margin of error.
Syria acts as Russia’s only port in the Mediterranean Sea, and is thus a vital asset to power projection. However, the Russians must further enhance their contract soldier system to stay competitive for long term operations. Thus, it seems unlikely that Moscow intends to prop up the Assad government as fervently as the United States did South Vietnam.
Russia’s intervention into Syria comes not from a position of strength, but one of weakness, due to diplomatic isolation and a overly long campaign in Ukraine. It seems more likely that Mr. Putin is trying to gain support for rapprochement, in exchange for a show of force against ISIS. If that is the objective, it’s working.
Like this piece? Rise News just launched a few weeks ago and is only getting started. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with global news. Have a news tip? (No matter how big or small!) Send it to us- [email protected].
Cover Photo Credit: Mikhail Kamarov/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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