To: POL 245- American Foreign Policy From: Jackie McLaughlin, Jacky Davis, Shannon Sylvester, Hayden Ball, and Jack Herndon Date: March 31, 2019 RE: Current Situation in Venezuela Executive Summary Currently, in Venezuela, there are a number of pressing issues creating political disarray both nationally and internationally. First and foremost, there is a leadership crisis - the dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, who succeeded Fidel Castro after his death in 2013, has been replaced by Juan Guaidó as of January 23, 2019. Maduro, who ruled Venezuela as a dictator in the Fifth Republic Movement/United Socialist Party, was highly disliked by the citizens of Venezuela while Guaidó was a popular politician. Another added layer to the crisis in Venezuela is the country’s ties to Russia. Rosneft, a large Russian oil company, is one of the largest business endeavors in Venezuela. Both Rosneft and Putin are political allies with Maduro, causing international disarray due t...
To: POL 245- American Foreign Policy From: Jackie McLaughlin, Jacky Davis, Shannon Sylvester, Hayden Ball, and Jack Herndon Date: March 17, 2019 RE: The United States and the Ukrainian Conflict Executive Summary In March 2014, the Russian annexation of Crimea sparked the formal Ukraine-Russia conflict that has complicated the role of NATO and European relations. Although this conflict did not erupt until 2014, this European-Russian tension litters Ukraine’s history with Ukraine’s and more specifically Crimea’s deep ties to Russia. Particularly, in 1954, Nikita Krushchev granted Crimea-- formerly part of Russia-- to Ukraine. Thus, even after Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Crimea maintains cultural and linguistic ties to Russia that complicate the relationship between these two countries as some Ukrainians prefer to align themselves with NATO and the European powers while others identify with Russia. Because Ukraine finds itself divided between these two camps with...