Glitter and Nukes, Bikini Atoll, Rise of Armenophobia, and More
This week on Inkstick Media.
Hello everyone!
In this month’s installment of The Mixed-Up Files of Inkstick Media, Molly Hurley did not just pull at the threads connecting glitter, the condiment aisle of the grocery store, and an Italian club banger with national security, but looked at an entire web of how every single topic is connected to every single other. With the democratization of information online comes great responsibility to sleuth out what online sleuths might be trying to “uncover” for us and how all these roads lead to fascism (well, hopefully not).
Hawaii-based journalist Jon Letman took us to Bikini Atoll of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, where 30 artists, filmmakers, storytellers, scientists, researchers, activists, and academics gathered to participate in a project called Kõmij Mour Ijin, which translates as “Our Life is Here.” Letman interviewed Victoria Jamore, whose late father had served as a mayor on the island. For her, arriving in Bikini evoked a complicated mix of emotions — guilt, gratefulness, joy, responsibility, and heartbreak.
Cheryl Rofer, a chemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory for 35 years, explained that the concepts of vulnerability and control both have gendered connotations. Does performative masculinity influence decisions about the level of force necessary for deterrence? Because President Vladimir Putin seems to value stereotypically masculine characteristics, is it appropriate to meet his actions or to break the pattern? More importantly, why aren’t these questions discussed in today’s popular media?
There’s more, so check out the rest of the pieces below.
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This week on Inkstick Media:
“Congress Should Repeal the Iraq War Authorization Now” by Heather Brandon-Smith and Ursala Knudsen-Latta (Sept. 25)
Heather Brandon-Smith and Ursala Knudsen-Latta from the Friends Committee on National Legislation got us ready for yesterday’s hearing on the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) in the House. They explained that while repealing the AUMF is an important and historic step in its own right, US policymakers must not risk derailing the promising effort to finally repeal the 2002 Iraq AUMF by needlessly linking it to the broader war powers negotiations.
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“While Germany Faces A Contracting Workforce, Refugees in the Country Struggle to Get a Job” by Kristina Jovanovski (Sept. 25)
Germany is facing a massive labor shortage. Journalist Kristina Jovanovski reported on what that means for refugees and asylum seekers there. It’s logical to think that the influx of asylum seekers struggling to integrate into the German economy could help address the country’s labor shortage. But bureaucratic tangles make the problem more complex than it seems.
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“Back to Bikini” by Jon Letman (Sept. 26)
When considering the violence and destruction the United States unleashed on these islands, it is rarely mentioned that in its last two years of testing (1956 and 1958), the United States conducted at least seven back-to-back nuclear tests on consecutive days and seven instances when it detonated two nuclear bombs on the same day at Bikini and Enewetak atolls. Those tests had deceptively peaceable names like Aspen, Cedar, Maple, and Sycamore.
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“How Armenophobia Fuels Azerbaijan’s Foreign Policy” by Martin Makaryan (Sept. 26)
A defining characteristic of this conflict and arguably the biggest hindrance to a sustainable resolution — something that Western and Russian mediators have not grasped and keep neglecting — is the deep-seated, prejudicial hatred and lack of trust that fuels what we now define as “Armenophobia,” attitudes and policies based on the hatred of everything Armenian.
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“The Limiting Language of Nuclear Strategists” by Cheryl Rofer (Sept. 27)
Few have followed with gendered analysis of nuclear history and strategy, although the gendering of the field is painfully obvious. For one recent example, the annual STRATCOM deterrence symposium was composed mainly of older white men, as illustrated in their tweet from the conference. That tweet, and others from STRATCOM about the conference, showed no awareness of the homogeneity of the participants. Why has gender analysis in nuclear discourse been so neglected?
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“Tilting at Windmills: Part I” by Kelsey D. Atherton (Sept. 27)
In this week’s Deep Dive, originally featured in Critical State, Atherton looks at the prevalence and predictors of wind energy opposition in North America. He quotes the researchers, who concluded that “Opposition to clean energy is a privilege. It imposes pollution burdens on poorer communities and communities of color, as it slows down the transition away from fossil fuel electricity sources overwhelmingly placed in their backyards.”
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“All That Glitters Is Not Boat Paint” by Molly Hurley (Sept. 28)
The adage is “people fear what they don’t understand,” but TikTok and a lot of online spaces often feel more like “people devour what they don’t understand.” Frame it as an unsolved mystery, ask a leading question, make people suddenly wonder about a facet of life they’ve always taken for granted, and that’s step one of curiosity-farming. The less context people already have when entering a new field of information, the easier the catch. So then, why, in the United States, is it so hard to convince some people of the perils of nuclear weapons and deterrence theory when public education on the issues is little more than a paragraph in most US history books?
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“The US Has a National Security Imperative to Partner with Non-Aligned Countries” by Carisa Nietsche and Kristen Taylor (Sept. 28)
As the United States grapples with an uncertain future with China, it must secure partnerships with non-aligned countries in Africa, Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Cooperating with these countries is a prerequisite for the United States to effectively compete with China.
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“Is China’s Balancing Approach in the Middle East a Recipe for Success?” by Syeda Saba Batool (Sept. 28)
The success of Chinese diplomacy not only lies in striking at the best of times and taking advantage of waning US influence but also in its balanced approach to both regional powers. This deal shows that a balanced approach by an extra-regional power toward both major players of the region — Iran and Saudi Arabia — may be beneficial to sustain the stability of the region.
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–From the desk of Sahar Khan, managing editor of Inkstick Media.