Russia as the Aggressor?

A new article by the New York Times today raises some questions about who is primarily responsible for starting the war in Georgia. I think, in the United States anyway, people were generally quick to assume and believe that Russia was the aggressor and was flexing its muscles against its neighbor Georgia and not acting out of self-defense. The vast majority of people I talk to about Russia, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe assumes this. This general inclination to automatically assume aggressiveness on the part of Russia is probably best seen in Sen. John McCain's reaction to the war (And Barack Obama's albeit less hasty reaction).

Anyway, it's helpful to read this article as it points out the tension that had been mounting for months prior to Aug. 7 and also the shelling and missteps taken by President Saakashvili of Georgia that led to Russia invading S. Ossetia.

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Ukraine and the Financial Crisis

I just read this article about how the global financial crisis is affecting Ukraine. While things do look pretty gloomy there in the short term perhaps this crisis will bring about much needed reform in the long term.

Prefield Training

We just signed up for Prefield Training in Brussels, Belgium. It runs from January 14 to February 10. During that time we'll be learning about church planting, culture, language acquisition, team dynamics, and will be mentored by existing Church-planters. Should be fun!!

the 44th President of the United States

Congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama.

Election Day is Here!

Today is the big day. No matter who wins it's pretty exciting to see and experience the election process we have in the US. You can follow it all online at CNN if you're so inclined.

Russia: The Land

Here is an audio slide show done by James Hill of the New York Times on the Russia that we don't see all that much in the news. In this slide show he talks about the changes and challenges of agrarian life in rural Russia. Ukraine also struggles with many of the themes he talks about and the pictures are quite amazing too!