Fordham professor Feels Hopeful for her native Ukraine

** Update: March 11: Olena Nikolayenko, assistant professor of political science, will give a talk on the "Crisis in Ukraine: What's at Stake?" at Fordham's Lincoln Center campus, on Wednesday, March 12, at 4 p.m. Details here.

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin broke his silence over the Ukraine crisis on March 4 for the first time since it boiled over into a possible armed confrontation. He said he saw no reason for Russian forces to intervene in eastern Ukraine at the moment but leaving open the possibility of military action, saying that Russia ‘reserves the right to use all means at our disposal to protect’ Russian speakers in the country.”

Olena Nikolayenko, Ph.D.

Here in New York, Fordham’s Olena Nikolayenko, assistant professor of political science, is watching developments closely. How could she not? Aside from being a native of the Ukraine, Nikolayenko’s research interests include comparative democratization, social movements, public opinion, and youth, with the regional focus on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In her book, Citizens in the Making in Post-Soviet States (Routledge 2011), she examined political attitudes of adolescents in Russia and Ukraine. Her current research project focuses on nonviolent youth movements in five post-communist states: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Serbia, and Ukraine.

Her research has come to life right before her eyes as thousands of Ukrainians have risen up against the authoritarian incumbent.

“This protest campaign, which resulted in the murder of at least 100 people and injuries of more than one thousand, demonstrated to the rest of the world that Ukrainians want to live in a free and democratic state. To date, struggle for democracy still continues in Ukraine,” she said.

Because of her expertise, Nikolayenko has given several media interviews since the unrest reached the Western media. Watch her discuss developments with CBS National News and Al Jazeera America here. She also gave an interview with the Nigerian-founded, global news network, Arise TV.

Nikolayenko on CBS Up to the Minute.

On a more personal note, Nikolayenko said she feels a “great deal of pride in Ukrainian citizens who displayed tenacity and courage in standing up against the regime.

“They did not leave the square when temperature dropped below zero and when snipers began to shoot at protesters. Now Ukrainians face the challenge of holding the interim government accountable to prevent the ascendancy of another authoritarian figure in Ukraine,” she said.

Nikolayenko led a group of Fordham students on a trip to the Ukrainian Catholic University in March 2013. She said it’s important for all college students to keep abreast of happenings in the Ukraine and Russia.

“This way, they can make a difference in world politics,” she said. “Millions of people still live in repressive political regimes or suffer from abject poverty, and Western powers as well as ordinary citizens should not turn a blind to what is happening in other parts of the globe.” 

We asked her about Putin’s actions.

“[He] may back down from the use of military force to reassert his control over Ukraine, but it does not mean that he is going to abandon the idea of building the so-called Eurasian Union and dragging most former Soviet republics into its sphere of influence,” she said. “Russia is likely to use a wide range of political and economic tools to wield power in the region. In particular, the Kremlin might continue to instigate civic strife in the country and back up a pro-Russian candidate at the presidential elections scheduled for May 25 in another attempt to sabotage Ukraine's aspirations for integration with the European Union. 

We also asked for her take on President Barack Obama’s response to the situation.

“[He] seems to underestimate his opponents in the international arena,” Nikolayenko said. “Since the start of his presidency, Obama tried to cultivate friendly relations with Russia and turned a blind eye to gross human rights violations in the country and Putin's belligerent foreign policy toward neighboring states. But autocrats respect only the show of power and playing nice with them won't lead to a fundamental change in the way they do politics.”

Follow Fordham on Twitter (@FordhamNotes) to keep up with Nikolayenko’s media appearances.  

-Gina Vergel

Fordham Professor Discusses the ‘EuroMaidan’ Protests

UCU students protest at Madian square.

(Photo courtesy of Ukranian Catholic University)

The European Union suspended all negotiations with Ukraine on Dec. 15 over a historic trade pact, as 200,000 converged on the main square in Kiev to demand the government align itself to Europe rather than Russia.

Demonstrations have been ongoing for more than two weeks in Kiev’s main square, known as Maidan, in an effort to put pressure on President Viktor Yanukovich. Because the call for European integration sparked an initial wave of protests, the demonstrations are being referred to as “Euromaidan.”

Olena Nikolayenko, Ph.D., an assistant professor of political science and Ukranian native who has a good handle on the political climate in Kiev, gave us her take on the situation. 

“A group of Fordham students went to the Ukrainian Catholic University in March 2013, and another group of Fordham students is scheduled to participate in Global Outreach project in the  Ukraine this coming March,” she says. “The Ukrainian Catholic Church condemned the use of violence against peaceful protesters and some priests even joined the protest events, acting as human shields between protesters and the riot police or reading prayers in front of the police cordon to reduce the likelihood of violence.”

The Fordham student trip to the Lviv, Ukraine, last spring was part of Nikolayenko’s interdisciplinary course, “Youth and Politics,” in which students compared patterns of political behavior among American and Ukrainian youth.

Nikolayenko’s book, Citizens in the Making in Post-Soviet States (Routledge 2011), examined political attitudes of adolescents in Russia and Ukraine. Her current research project focuses on nonviolent youth movements in five post-communist states: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Serbia, and Ukraine.

Here’s our Q & A with Nikolayenko:

1) Why are Ukrainians protesting?

Initially, Ukrainians poured into the street to put pressure on the incumbent president Viktor Yanukovych to sign a trade agreement with the European Union. This trade agreement gives Ukrainians, especially the young generation, some hope of living in a more democratic and less corrupt society. But the government showed utter disregard for citizens’ political preferences and unleashed violence against peaceful protesters. The riot police ruthlessly dispersed protesters in the capital city’s main square at 4 am on November 30, and scores of people, including mostly university students, received head injuries. Images of blood-stained youth caused a public backlash against the current regime. The number of protesters grew and they expanded the list of their demands, calling for the resignation of the incumbent government, end of political violence, and implementation of democratic reforms in the country.

2) They are also protesting the country's "frayed and corrupt political system." Has this been boiling for a while now? 

Ukraine has seen a large wave of mass mobilization against the regime during the 2004 presidential elections. But the newly elected president – Viktor Yushchenko – failed to deliver on his campaign promises and drastically overhaul the political system. Now another cohort of young people is coming of age and demands democratic change.

3) Are the demonstrators mostly young people or are diverse groups of demographics also protesting?

University students constitute a large share of protesters. They grew up in the post-communist period and they defy the idea of living in a repressive political regime. A number of the middle-aged also support closer integration with the European Union because they want their children to have a better future and live in a “normal” country free of corruption and repression.

4) Can this potentially turn into an Occupy Wall Street, where although they had numbers, they didn't have a focused leadership, so the police were able to shut demonstrations down?

Lack of a single political leader facilitated, rather than inhibited, mass mobilization against the regime. No political party could have brought so many people into the street, and leaders of the opposition political parties still cannot figure out how to capitalize upon this outbreak of public outrage and extract concessions from the current regime. Unfortunately, it will be incumbent upon these inept political leaders to find a political solution to the problem.

5) What should the Ukranian president and his administration be doing?

Protesters articulated a few specific demands, including the resignation of the incumbent government, the prosecution of officials responsible for political violence, and the release of political prisoners. Moreover, Ukrainians demand taking steps toward signing a trade agreement with the European Union. 

Rather than entering negotiations with protesters, Yanukovych decided to use violence again. On December 11 the riot police again attacked protesters in downtown Kyiv. The President of Ukraine should resign because he lost any shred of legitimacy in the eyes of Ukrainians.

6) What should the United States play, if any?

The United States can help Ukrainians in their struggle for democratic change by becoming a more active player in Eastern Europe. Since the collapse of communism, only three out of fifteen former Soviet republics consolidated democracy and became members of the European Union. Most citizens in the post-Soviet region still live in non-democracies. And President of Russia Vladimir Putin is obsessed with the idea of establishing the Eurasian Union and pulling the former Soviet republics back into his sphere of influence. As one of the most powerful countries in the world, the United States can serve as a champion of democratic values in the region and obstruct Russia’s systematic efforts to reassert its supremacy in the international community.

More specifically, American can sign one of the petitions created by a group of concerned citizens: https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions. A number of petitions request the imposition of sanctions on specific members of the Ukrainian government. 

There is also a call for the US boycott of the Winter Olympic Games, to be held in Russia in February 2014. The United States boycotted the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow to protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan so it might take a clear stance in defense of democratic values and condemn authoritarianism in Russia through such action.

-Gina Vergel

Fordham chemistry professor helps research Russian meteor

Frame grab of the meteorite contrail made from a video, on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan, to Chelyabinsk region, Russia, Feb. 15, 2013. (Credit: asha gazeta/www.ng.kz/AP)

Once again, a Fordham professor has played a part in important research about meteors.

Scientists have been studying data on the meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, in February – the largest asteroid in more than a century to enter the earth’s atmosphere. Three studies published earlier this month suggest that such occurrences could be more frequent in the future. 

Jon M. Friedrich. 

Photo by Janet Sassi

Jon M. Friedrich, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, was one of 57 researchers from nine countries present a comprehensive overview of what occurred that day in a report published on Nov. 6 by the journal Science. The report is lead by Dr. Olga Popova of the Institute for Dynamics of Geospheres of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow and by NASA Ames and SETI Institute meteor astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens, who participated in a fact finding mission to Chelyabinsk in the weeks after the fall. 

Fordham’s Chemistry lab examined the “shock history” of the rock before it entered the atmosphere.

“We were able to determine that it experienced an impact at some place before it impacted the earth,” Friedrich said. “It happened at some point in the past. These rocks haven’t changed much since they formed 4.5 billion years ago, but we were actually able to determine this by looking at the fabric of the rock. We were able to determine that it had been hit pretty hard in the past.”

Friedrich said the analysis conducted in his lab helped determine how meteorites entered the atmosphere, which, in turn, plays a pretty important role when it comes to understanding the extinction events and catastrophic events that could happen.

“The better we understand this, it allows us to figure out how to defend ourselves should it arise,” he said.

Earlier this year, Fordham’s chemistry lab analyzed the Sutter's Mill meteorite.

-Gina Vergel

ICCS Breakout Session Dissects Russian "Mule" Network

The term “mules” is often used to describe a criminal who carries illegal drugs on their person across an international border. But in an ICCS breakout session Mauro Vignati described how the United States Postal Service, as well as several unwitting Americans just looking for work, are being exploited by Russian organized crime as mules to ship stolen goods to Russia. Vignati is a senior analyst with the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance in Bern, Switzerland.

Vignati loosely described a cross-continent saga that begins with a criminal injecting himself into a product website, that person is referred to as an ‘injector.’ Then a ‘dumper,’ usually the same person as the ‘injector,’ collects personal data of website customers. Finally a ‘stuffer’ uses the stolen information to buy products.  

But herein lies a dilemma for the thieves: “How do the crooks get products stolen in the United States back to Russia without being detected?” Enter the recruiters. They hire the "mules," who will purchase package labels from dubious companies with ties to Russian criminals, often thinking it's a legitimate job.  The recruiters go so far as to create familiar job applications that include requests for three references, to make the companies seem legit to the mules. But not all the mules are naive. The mules break down into two groups: the unsuspecting job seeker and the knowing criminal--and both are used to transport stolen goods.

Vignati described how a 'panel' of mules print the labels and send the stolen products to Russia, typically through an United States Postal Service’s online mailing service. A ‘control panel’ keeps tabs on the mules to make sure they’re following up on their responsibilities, making calls and leaving messages on cell phones. All of this requires a team of translators and organizers to keep the product flowing to its final destination in Russia, where a much larger organization will then take over for distribution.

Vignati said there was an important key to dissecting the network's operation. 

"Instead of following the money, we followed the package."

-Tom Stoelker