Opinion
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4A — Wednesday, April 10, 2019
Emma Chang
Joel Danilewitz
Samantha Goldstein
Elena Hubbell
Emily Huhman
Tara Jayaram
Jeremy Kaplan
Sarah Khan
Lucas Maiman
Magdalena Mihaylova
Ellery Rosenzweig
Jason Rowland
Anu Roy-Chaudhury
Alex Satola
Ali Safawi
Ashley Zhang
Sam Weinberger
Erin White
FINNTAN STORER
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MAGDALENA MIHAYLOVA
AND JOEL DANILEWITZ
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Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of The Daily’s Editorial Board.
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EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS
L
ate
philosopher
and
novelist
George
Santayana
famously
said,
“Those
who
cannot
remember
the
past
are
condemned to repeat it.” In
recent weeks, this sentiment
has showed itself to be true in
regards to the ever-escalating
governmental
crisis
in
Venezuela. As he is prone to
do, Russian President Vladimir
Putin has decided to extend the
tentacles of his foreign policy
into places it doesn’t belong.
This
time
he
has
chosen
South America, and has acted
by providing military aid to
the embattled president of
Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro, under immense
protest
and
pressure
from
the
Venezuelan
people
to
abdicate
his
premiership
after
potentially
fraudulent
elections
last
May,
has
sought to remain in power
at all costs. One particularly
extreme measure to preserve
his power was his blocking of
international
humanitarian
aid to relieve people who have
been crushed by a crumbling
economy, viewing such aid
as an imperialistic American
Trojan horse. In the fight to
decide Venezuela’s future, the
United States and most Latin
American and European Union
countries
have
decided
to
support Juan Guaidó, president
of
the
National
Assembly,
as interim head of state. If
he becomes the provisional
president
of
Venezuela,
Guaidó says he will call for
new elections to determine
democratically who will rule
his country, after leading the
charge against Maduro and his
corrupt election last year.
Along with their packages
of material aid, the U.S. and its
allies in the Venezuela crisis
have tried to bring international
legitimacy to Guaidó’s efforts
to restore democracy. Their
biggest challenge in doing so,
however, has been gaining
the support of the Venezuelan
military.
In
an
interview
published in The Washington
Post on Feb. 7, Antonio Rivero,
a former Venezuelan general
who was exiled in 2014, noted
that challenges in this regard
mainly come from the military
allegiances to late President
Hugo Chávez and his ideas.
Some Venezuelans see Maduro
as the “son” of Chavez and
his legacy. Rivero also noted
that military personnel are
concerned that their illegal
activities,
such
as
black
market drug trafficking, will
be punished under Guaidó
or another future president’s
rule. As such, it has proven
difficult for those who support
an interim Guaidó presidency
to
convince
the
military
leadership in Venezuela to join
the cause and abandon Maduro.
Moscow
has
made
this
task even more difficult in
the last month, after planes
carrying 100 Russian troops
landed in Venezuela. Putin
hopes to bolster the staying
power of Maduro and fortify
his military support with his
own forces. For quite some
time, Russia has provided aid
and other resources to the
Maduro regime, which, unlike
aid coordinated by Guaido,
was accepted by the military
government.
On
Thursday,
U.S. President Donald Trump
scolded Putin, telling him to
“get out” of Venezuela, and
his national security adviser
John Bolton warned against
external interference in the
Western hemisphere by states
seeking to prop up Maduro. The
Russian president responded
by
promising
to
continue
arming Caracas and to keep
troops there.
This pattern of involvement
from Russia is eerily similar
to its actions in Syria shortly
after
the
breakout
of
the
Syrian Civil War. In the cases
of both Venezuela and Syria,
two authoritarian leaders have
acted against their own people
in order to maintain power.
The U.S. placed a plethora of
sanctions against the offending
regimes. Then, Russia came
in to support the regimes and
keep the tyrannical leader in
power against the will of the
people. Both Damascus and
Caracas have had historic ties
with Russia, and Putin likely
hopes to assure that these
governments
remain
firmly
allied with Moscow in the
foreseeable future. The thought
of Venezuela — a member of
OPEC and a longtime Russian
ally — growing closer to the
West is likely a deep concern of
Putin’s.
Further, Russia is not the
only state with which the U.S.
and Europe have had frosty
relations
that
is
growing
more involved in the situation
in Venezuela. China, also a
supporter of both the Assad and
Maduro regimes, has come out
in support of Russian efforts to
maintain Maduro’s rule. This
February, China vetoed a UN
Security
Council
resolution
that
would
have
spoken
out
against
the
fraudulent
elections in which Maduro
claims to have been re-elected
and called for another round
of elections. On March 26,
Chinese
Foreign
Ministry
spokesman Geng Shuang took
a shot at U.S. efforts to halt
Russia’s interference by stating
that “Latin America (is not) a
certain country’s backyard.”
Beijing’s
intent
to
again
support Russia, as well as their
own agenda in Venezuela, is
not a surprise.
China has also worked to
maintain strong relations with
Caracas since the turn of the
century,
eyeing
Venezuela’s
chief
resource:
oil.
When
Venezuela was ruled by Chavez,
the two countries cooperated
on oil trade on a large scale.
Though
it
has
stressed
a
policy of non-interference in
international affairs, China has
subtly been active within Latin
America, quietly advancing its
own goals. A prime example
was
in
2011,
when
China
financed
and
built
Costa
Rica’s Estadio Nacional soccer
stadium as a supposed gift to
the country. The gift came
with a price, however: Costa
Rica soon cut its trade with
Taiwan, a longtime adversary
to Beijing. It also opened a
large free trade agreement
with China. Though China’s
government claims it avoids
interfering with the affairs of
sovereign governments, even
in Latin America, it is on record
for having used bribes to get
what it wants from other states.
So much for respecting another
nation’s independent will.
Trump
and
Secretary
of
State
Michael
Pompeo
should remember the past and
realize that they must escalate
their efforts to see Guaidó
peacefully take the role of
interim president in Venezuela.
Though Trump’s resistance to
sending troops to Venezuela
or elsewhere abroad may be
justified, his administration’s
lack of concrete action in
response
to
Russia’s
and
China’s efforts will lead to a
bad outcome for the United
States and the Venezuelan
people.
Former President Barack
Obama waited too long when
Putin entrenched his forces in
the Syria conflict and China
aided Assad on the world
stage. Though the Venezuelan
crisis
presents
different
challenges, the same must not
be allowed to happen. If prior
mistakes are repeated, then
with or without U.S. sanctions
against the Maduro regime,
the people of Venezuela will
continue to starve and suffer,
and their economy will be
run further into the ground.
Hyperinflation has risen to a
historic rate, and citizens are
already forced to make drastic
choices such as whether to eat
stray dogs and cats or let their
families go hungry.
In the face of this mounting
regional threat, Washington
should
also
remember
the
foundational
U.S.
foreign
policy
established
by
the
Monroe
Doctrine.
Hostile
states
consolidating
their
military
power
with
a
regional adversary has proven
frighteningly
dangerous
to
America in the not-too-distant
past. Though the Cold War
may be over, Trump should
remember that a threat to
freedom
and
democracy
abroad — especially within our
hemisphere — is a threat to us.
ADITHYA SANJAY | COLUMN
The technology that is slowly taking over our lives
I
nternet of things. It’s a
term that most everyone
has
heard
about,
but
also
one
that
nobody
actually
understands.
The
reality
is,
the
internet of things,
IoT for short, is
a
revolutionary
technology
that
has real potential
to
shake
up
the
future of integrated
technology. It is a
gateway to artificial
intelligence and the direct
pathway to business success.
But what exactly is it? IoT is
pretty much everything it says
it is. It is the huge network of
objects and everyday devices
that are connected to the
internet. While we are used
to the traditional smartphone,
laptop and tablet as the only
entryway to the internet, IoT
has managed to really shake
things
up
by
introducing
potential for connectivity for
other objects like refrigerators,
pillows and even umbrellas.
Such
technology
creates
the
avenue
for
artificial
intelligence
and
inherently
“smart” devices that can better
cater to personalization and
specific function.
The fact of the matter is
that the number of connected
devices is expected to nearly
triple by 2025 to an expected
number of 75 billion devices.
Not only this, but the worth of
the IoT industry is expected
to grow to a whopping $6.2
trillion,
greatly
increasing
the projected maximums for
health care and manufacturing.
Evidently,
the
growth
is
indicative of changing times.
How might it affect us?
For one, IoT is seemingly
turning around the traditional
cloud-based computing model
that has reigned supreme for
the past decade or so. Cloud
computing is a fairly new trend
in a back-and-forth history
of computing. While the first
computer was centralized, the
introduction of servers created
a more distributed model.
Inevitably,
the
move
back
toward a decentralized system
is forthcoming, and it seems
highly likely that
the IoT might just
be the movement
that
will
pull
it
off. As connected
devices
become
more
and
more
complex, it becomes
tougher
to
solely
rely on the cloud,
especially
when
intricate
decisions
and
output
are
needed in very short periods
of time. Expect to see a trend
toward this in the near future.
Perhaps on a more negative
note, however, is the problem
of
security.
The
moment
we
increase
the
numbers
of devices connected to the
network, the more exposed and
readily accessible our personal
information and preferences
become. As such, the IoT
movement does pose quite a
significant risk in this sense.
This is perhaps validated by
the Mirai botnet attack in
2016 that led many to fear an
apocalypse of the internet.
While perpetrated by a few
teenagers with intentions far
less grand than the ensuing
attack,
the
malware
was
successfully
able
to
hack
into various IoT devices and
leverage them to create a
malicious network of internet-
connected
devices
called
botnets to complete a task
that managed to render much
of the internet unavailable on
the East Coast for a day. And
even though IoT security has
arguably advanced quite a bit
since then, there still is a lot of
ground to be made, especially
when reports show only “48
percent
of
businesses
can
even detect whether they’ve
suffered an IoT breach” and
“only 59 percent of companies
encrypt all their IoT-related
data.”
Nevertheless,
IoT
maintains its transformative
benefits, much of which lie
in the arena of sustainability.
As such devices begin to
be implemented more and
more, it is easier for wasteful
appliances and products to
become more cost and energy
efficient. Take, for example,
Cree SmartCast Technology,
a new application of smart
lighting.
The
application
of
IoT
technology
allows
for
increased
savings
in
energy
and
other
costs
while creating an integrated
lighting system that offers
more
personalization
than
other technologically-lacking
alternatives.
A
massive
future
uptrend in big data comes
as a result of this. Many of
these technologies rely on
maintaining vast directories
of data and monitoring them
in order to create increased
personalization. For example,
as cities begin to adopt IoT
solutions
to
make
their
operations efficient, a natural
byproduct is the collection
of massive amounts of user
data and preferences. But in
order to create intelligent and
innovative systems, this data
must be sorted through. Big
data offers this solution by
combining
volume,
variety,
velocity, veracity and value
to create flexible and smart
programs. It isn’t a coincidence
that “data scientist” is being
called the sexiest job of the
21st
century.
And
while
naysayers claim that big data
doesn’t have a future in the
face of “fast data,” the future
of artificial intelligence and
machine
learning
simply
becomes an impossible task
if efficient big data solutions
don’t exist.
To get to the point, IoT is
where the future is. So, if you
haven’t chosen your major
yet, consider data science as
a possibility. And if you have
decided
your
major,
learn
some data science anyway.
Because before you know it,
IoT will have taken over your
life.
A
nyone who has ever
played
or
watched
sports has experienced
this feeling: When everyone’s
heart drops, the game stops
and we all stand still. No, I am
not talking about hitting the
game winning shot that leaves
you breathless. I am talking
about the only true moment of
communal tragedy in sports: a
serious injury.
Jusuf Nurkić, an NBA player
for the Portland Trail Blazers,
experienced an injury March
26 that made many Reddit
users “feel like crying.” The
injury happened on a routine
basketball play when Nurkić
went up for a rebound and, on
his way down, landed on an
opposing players foot, causing
his leg to bend and snap in
half just above his ankle.
Nurkić is out indefinitely with
compound fractures to his left
tibia and fibula.
As I put my hand in front
of my eyes and tried to look
away from the video clip of
Nurkić’s
gruesome
injury,
another feeling began to swell
over me: a feeling of shame
and guilt. In reality, when
I clicked on a NSFW injury
video, I knew that it would
be gruesome. In fact, I even
let the video play over a few
times to make sure that I had
really seen what happened
to him. I made sure to really
soak in how horrifying the
whole thing was. Why did I
choose to watch something
I knew would send shivers
down my spine? Why was
I trying to look away from
something I chose to watch?
More importantly, why were
other people doing this exact
same thing?
I think the best way to get
at these questions is to start
with a much larger question
about the logic of sports
fandom: Why do people watch
sports? As I see it, sports
fans are compelled by one
driving desire: the desire for
the spectacle. We lust for a
window into the unimaginable
and
the
unbelievable.
In
the most spectacular sports
moments, our sense of self can
drift away and we can become
entranced by the miraculous
movements
of
the
human
body. It is this fading away
from the personal that allows
for fan bases to turn into
pseudo-religious institutions
and for people to yell at their
TV screens and jump for joy.
Our bodies and minds become
so mesmerized by sporting
spectacles that we cease to
have the ability to control
ourselves.
But what makes a sporting
spectacle different from other
spectacles like movies and art
exhibitions? As I see it, one
common thread that ties all
sports together is an emphasis
on the athletic capabilities
of bodies. The Olympics are
a perfect example of this
idea. The Olympics are a
place where the strengths
and weakness of every body
type are put on full display —
where the limits of the human
body are tested in the labs we
call stadiums. It seems fitting,
then, that sports, a fusion of
the spectacle and the body,
are a place where the beautiful
accomplishments of the body
and
the
body’s
grotesque
failures are displayed and
enjoyed by sports fans.
What I have been calling
the
“grotesque”
refers
to
injuries in which the body gets
crushed and cracked in ways
we never thought imaginable,
but it is worth considering
how the “grotesque” might
also be thought of as a form
of violence. In both instances
of violence and grotesque
injuries, we find wounded
bodies screaming out for help.
Put simply, we see people in
pain.
In modern sports fandom,
we often like to pretend that
our lust for violence does not
pull us closer in. For example,
most football fans, like myself,
pretend that we watch the
game for clever strategies
and
teamwork.
Yet,
it
is
quite obvious that football is
structured around the idea of
bodies violently crashing into
each other. A quick genealogy
of sports further shows how
we
have
sublimated
our
values when we claim to hate
violence but love sports like
football. Some of the first
Western sports were built
around honoring violent acts
like limb dislocation and eye-
gouging.
Every time we flip on a
game, like the one where
Nurkić cracked his leg in half,
we tell ourselves that we hope
to see graceful athletic plays,
cutting edge strategy, and
our team win; however, deep
down, we also want to see
violence, mental lapses and the
other team lose. The virality
of injuries like Nurkić’s shows
that our drive to watch sports
is powered by success and
failure, by bodily spectacles
of both grace and violence. In
short, the reason that I chose
to click on the Nurkić injury
video is the same reason I
choose to click on a LeBron
James highlight: I want to see
a bodily spectacle.
REED ROSENBACHER | COLUMN
The cultural logic of the gruesome injury
Reed Rosenbacher can be reached
at rrosenb@umich.edu.
Adithya Sanjay can be reached at
asanjay@umich.edu.
Russia and China bring a cold reality to Venezuela
NOAH ENTE | COLUMN
Noah Ente can be reached at
noahente@umich.edu.
As I see it,
sports fans are
compelled by one
driving desire:
the desire for the
spectacle
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ADITHYA
SANJAY