WEC Articles

In the early summer of 1980, the Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson walked off the floor of the House of Representatives into the Speaker's Lobby. A Teletype at one end spewed out stories from AP, UPI and Reuters. Wilson was a news junkie, and he reached down and began reading a story datelined from Kabul. The article described hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing Afghanistan as Soviet helicopter gunships levelled villages, slaughtered livestock, and killed anyone who harboured guerrillas resisting the occupation. What caught Wilson's attention, however, was the reporter's conclusion that the Afghan warriors were refusing to quit. The article described how they were murdering Russians in the dead of night with knives and pistols, hitting them over the head with shovels and stones. Against all odds, there was a growing rebellion underway against the Red Army. It would have been a sobering insight for the Communist rulers if they could have followed what happened in the ...

Congressman Charlie Wilson was a champion for the covert op that affected the outcome of the Soviet-Afghan War. A former naval officer, Texas native, and 12-time elected member of the House of Representatives, Charlie Wilson was the man behind the longest covert CIA operation in American history. During the Soviet-Afghan War—which lasted from 1979 to 1989—Wilson channeled funds and weapons to Afghan insurgents, hoping the operation would result in a Soviet defeat. Considered a Cold War-proxy war, the Soviet-Afghan conflict began after Afghanistan's communist party gained control in 1978. Their Stalin-like policies quickly earned the support of the Soviet Union, though this alliance grew increasingly fraught as conflict arose within the party’s ranks. The murder of President Nur Murhammad Taraki in September of 1979—and the takeover of his partner-turned-enemy Hafizullah Amin—ultimately led to the Soviets’ intervention shortly afterwards. Their violent invasion and assassination ...

  geopolitics , analysis of the geographic influences on power relationships in   international relations . The word   geopolitics   was originally coined by the Swedish political scientist   Rudolf Kjellén   about the turn of the 20th century, and its use spread throughout Europe in the period between World Wars I and II (1918–39) and came into worldwide use during the latter. In contemporary discourse,   geopolitics   has been widely employed as a loose synonym for international politics. Arguments about the political effects of  geography —particularly  climate ,  topography , arable land, and access to the sea—have appeared in Western political thought since at least the ancient Greek era and were prominent in the writings of philosophers as  diverse  as  Aristotle  (384–322  BC ) and  Montesquieu  (1689–1745). The best-known body of geopolitical writings is the extensive literature of the late...

Zelenskyy warns of Russian chemical   attack in speech to Japan Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday warned Japanese lawmakers in a virtual speech that Russia was escalating its attacks on Ukraine, including possibly employing chemical or nuclear weapons, as he called for tougher sanctions. "I have received reports that Russia is preparing chemical attacks by using chemical weapons such as sarin," he said in the speech to Japan's parliament. "How would the world react if nuclear weapons are used is also now discussed around the world." Japanese are familiar with sarin because it was used by members of a cult in an attack on the Tokyo subway system in 1995 that killed 13 people and injured thousands.    Zelenskyy also pointed to the dangerous situation near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant where forest fires have erupted but Russian troops, which have taken control of the site, are hampering any Ukrainian attempts to put them out. "On Feb. 2...

“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” was filmed on a shoestring budget in a remote Himalayan village. It’s now an Academy Award nominee, a first for Bhutan. Feb. 12, 2022 The director Pawo Choyning Dorji, right, talked with Pem Zam, a young first-time actress from rural Bhutan, during the shooting of his film “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.” Kinley Wangchuk  THIMPHU, Bhutan — As a crew of 35 people prepared to make a movie in Bhutan’s remote Lunana Valley, they faced a slew of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. The valley had no electricity. It could only be reached by walking eight days from the nearest village. And the schoolchildren who were expected to star in the film knew nothing about acting or cinema. “They did not even know what a camera was or what it looked like,” Namgay Dorji, the village schoolteacher, said in a telephone interview. On Tuesday, the movie, “ Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom ,” was nominated for an Academy Award — a first for Bhutan. Its director, Pawo Choyn...