Critical Analysis

           Earth day just passed and not many people were aware. Earth day is supposed to be the day where we celebrate our home planet, and contribute to making it a better place to live. Anne Helmenstine wrote a small article that explained what anyone can do to help the Earth. Although Anne writes a short article, it itself has great ways of helping Earth.

          Anne lists these ways of helping the Earth. She notes that none of them are too great for anyone to accomplish. Some examples of showing your own awareness of environmental issues are: picking up litter and tossing it in the nearest garbage can, turning off the water when brushing your teeth, switching to online payments or bills instead of using paper, use public transportation, changing your regular lights to energy saving lights, turn down your water heater, and recycling your plastics, metals, and paper. These are really easy things that don’t greatly affect your own life, but do affect the Earth. If you were to accomplish perhaps one or two of the things on the list, there is a chance that others will notice your impact on the Earth. If more people notice the ways of helping the Earth, more people may contribute to help the Earth.

          I truthfully have done most of these ways that will slowly impact the world. On Earth day, I changed the lights in my room, and I recycled my paper metals and plastics. 

Critical Analysis on "Putin's Power-Play"

A hot topic in the news lately has been that of Russia’s advance on the southern tip of Ukraine; Crimea. An article that covers the main reasons why and how the advance occurred is, “Putin’s Power-play,” an exclusive article in the latest Upfront issue. Supposedly Vladimir Putin, the Russian President was pushing troops weeks before the public knew about it. Putin claims that he is pushing his troops into Crimea because he feels like his citizens are threatened. But Vladimir Putin has too much of a dishonest past to lie that way.

Vladimir Putin lead the Soviet Union before its collapse a few decades ago. But through the buildup of years, as a government official and as the President of Russia, he still has plots of expanding his own way of life, and taking back the land he once had. He pushed his troops into Crimea, (again using an excuse) because it wasn’t given to Ukraine when the Soviet Union disassembled. Why would Crimea not be part of Ukraine if through these past few decades there hasn’t been any problem with it. Perhaps with the Winter Olympics happening in Sochi, Russia Putin could think he could assemble his troops while everyone is distracted, and he could “secretly” secrete his troops into Ukraine.

I have my own ways of thinking, or theorizing this conflict. I agree with the Upfront article, Putin was indeed upset about the Cold War and how the Soviet Union was disassembled. He wanted to get his troops into Ukraine before the rest of the world would know. He needed the secrecy to complete his operation but clearly word gets around fast.