O-Week Wrap-Up

Jacobs Should Have

Known Better

PAGE 03

PAGE 10

the

PULSE

Jacobs University Student Newspaper Since 2004

Leaving Professors

What does this mean for students next year?

by Safiya Mann

pending on professor availabilty.

International Politics & History 2016,

USA

any of you are aware of the

changes Jacobs is currently undergoing in an attempt to have a more
financially stable future. There are
various measures being taken to save
money in areas that could possibly be
downsized however, does faculty
fall under one of these areas? Over the
past months, it seems so. Unfortunately, there has been a spat of faculty
dismissals as well as faculty leaving to
pursue opportunities elsewhere.
One of the strengths of Jacobss academics is that there is such a low student to faculty ratio, and the majority
of classes are taught by professors.
But by cutting into various departments and majors, the changes will
be noticeable. Already, students from
both SES and SHSS have noticed how
the faculty changes are affecting their
majors and classes. Either the main
professor is no longer teaching certain
classes or classes are rescheduled de-

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Leaving Professors

How to best approach this issue is a

relevant concern for students, many
of whom have come up with ideas for
how to raise awareness about what is
happening to their majors and reach
out to the Jacobs Administration--and
remaining professors--for information
and advice about the faculty changes.
A student who worked closely with
Dr. De Santis recalled the moment
when De Santis was asked to leave.
"When her students, alumni and current students, heard of this, we were
all very upset and immediately composed a letter to the leadership concerning the enormous loss for any
student who has to learn Statistical
Methods if she will be let go. There
were more than 50 names on this letter of supporting students. All we got
as a response was that they are happy about our commitment. I get that
these decisions cannot be revoked.
However, we as students were proSports Section 4

EDITORIAL
Letter from the Editor

1
1

JACOBS LIFE
USG Update

2
O-Week Wrap-Up 3

OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE

The Ebola Outbreak

The Hong Kong Protests

The Ukraine Crisis

The Karabakh Conflict

PAGE 07

OF THE
WORLD
Issue 36 Monday October 13, 2014

Letter from
the Editor
DEAR POTW READERS,
The Pulse of the World would like to welcome
all old and new students to the first issue of this
academic year. Everyone has settled back in
on campus after a long summer of internships,
traveling or quality time with friends and family. The rainy days have started and with them,
the first midterms are falling from the sky. This
years POTW team is composed of old-timers
and new enthusiasts who are mentioned in this
issue.
Our first issue of the semester addresses relevant topics that have been haunting us during
summer, as well as issues that are yet unheardof. Articles reflect issues of particular student
concern, like the leaving of professors, but also
of immediate international concern, like Ukraine crisis.
In the Jacobs Life section, we will revisit this
years O-Week from two different standpoints
and introduce the Undergraduate Student
Government and its new president and parliamentarians. Besides, the now implemented
cuts in personnel will be reflected on.
The Outside the Bubble section focusses on
issues that are of international relevance and
unescapably tackles the Ukraines crisis, the
recent Ebola outbreak, the current protests in
Hong Kong and the Karabakh conflict.
Food for Thought is offered in the last section,
in which students can freely express themselves in any possible way be it through poetry
slams or photography.
The Pulse of the World would like to thank the
contributors and wishes everyone all the best
for the upcoming exams and warm jackets for
the onrushing winter!
BEST REGARDS,
LISA-MARLEN GRONEMEIER

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Posterboys to Iron Lady

"You are Complete

A Poem 10
It Was the Best of Times

10

A Farewell to Two Critics

11

Find Us on Facebook or
Catch Up at www.pulseoftheworld.com

02 Jacobs Life

MEET THE STAFF

Editor-In-Chief
Lisa-Marlen Gronemeier
Section Editors
Christopher Casebeer
Beenish Waris
Emre Yildiz
Copy Editors
Helena Gellerson
Gabriela Constantin-Dureci
Creative Designer
Ciara Mulvaney

mised that our evaluations of lecturers

would be taken into consideration. I,
and many other students, feel like this
has not been the case at all especially
when looking back at more than excellent evaluations for her teaching."
This statement reflects concerns
many students have: are Professors
being dismissed over issues such as
lack of tenure, when otherwise their
classes are informative, well-structured and receive positive evaluations at
the end of the semester? In addition,
the question is raised: to what extent
do students actually have a say in preventing certain teachers from leaving?
There is no easy way to breach the
topic of Professors leavingwhatever
their reasons may be. It is difficult
for students as they will miss some of
their favorite teachers and also possibly the opportunity to collaborate
with them on projects or their theses;
so, it is a concern on the personal and
academic sides. And lastly, for Jacobs
itself, Professors are an integral aspect
of the academic culture of the university. Some teachers classes are known
for their fun approach to an otherwise dry topic; but, then again, it really
is the teacher who makes the class.
Overwhelmingly this is the sentiment
reflected by Jacobss students, and
hopefully is incentive for you to get
involved and be informed about what
is happening with your major and improve your Jacobs experience overall.

USG Update

he Undergraduate Student
Government (USG) has spent
the first weeks of the semester
whipping itself back into shape.
The President, the Vice-president
and the Parliament members were
voted in by the student body. During the first meetings, the Parliamentarians were introduced to
the Constitution and the internal
structure and functioning of the
USG. The goal of the upcoming
weeks will be to recruit committee
members, approve pending funding
applications, and become fully operational.
For the past weeks, the President
and Vice-President of the USG have
been in negotiations with the NDR,
which is in charge of collecting the
radio fee (GEZ fee) from Jacobs
University students. The USG has
successfully convinced the NDR to
drop the charges for all summer
months. In addition the USG has
designed a plan meant to structure
and ease the process for the students (see emails for more details).
In order to continue the semester
with comparable successes , the
USG is in need of passionate and
committed students who want to
make a difference at this university. At the moment, the USG is recruiting secretaries, Student Court
judges, PR team members, IT team
members, and committee members
for all committees: Campus Affairs
Committee, Finance Committee, Internal Affairs Committee, External
Affairs Committee, and Academic
Affairs Committee (see emails for
more details).
Finally, all USG meetings are
open to the public. Any student can
attend, listen in, ask questions, raise concerns, and comment.
If you have any questions or think
there is an issue on campus that
should be dealt with, dont hesitate
to approach any of the USG members or send an email to: studentparliament@jacobs-university.de.

SIEGFRIED WEGMANN
USG President

NICK LEE
USG Vice-President

TIANYI WANG
Head of PR

TOM WIESING
Head of IT

ANA HERNANDEZ
Campus Affairs Committee

GLENDI MALIQATI
Campus Affairs Committee

NATIA MURUSIDZE

LEON VON KOSLOWSKI

Academic Affairs Committee

Academic Affairs Committee

PAUL LADWIG
Internal Affairs Committee

YASHAN BU
Internal Affairs Committee

SALAHUDDIN UQAILI

ALIN TEODORESCU
Finance Committee

External Relations Committee

Jacobs Life 03

O-Week 2014

Stories of Lost Bags, Sleep Deprivation, and Fire Drills

by Hanna Smidt

Global Economics & Management 2016,

Germany

his article is a short summary of what

happened during this years O-Week
which might become helpful to those who
might not remember everything, only arrived
when classes started, or simply want to relive
the fun. So, let us start the journey!
As it usually happens when there are important events taking place on campus, the sun
came out; this time to welcome the new students. Having this on our side, it seemed clear
to everyone that this Orientation Week would,
without any doubt, be a great one. And it was,
wasnt it? Apart from the lost bags, sleep deprivation, and the annoying cancelled fire drill,
it was an amusing week.
The cancelled fire drill? You mean, IUB
Rocks? Wait, hmm... did you not enjoy getting
up at 6 a.m. in the morning after you had only
slept for 30 minutes because you had just gotten back from clubbing? Hold on! Being forced
to run was not fun either? Trust me, we had to
go through the same thing last year and, once
you are done, all aggression is gone, and the
flour is not sticking to your hair anymore, you
will start thinking about how much fun it will
be to do the same to the next class. The week
was full of: a variety of parties, not enough
hours of sleep, the hundredth time listening to
When I Met You in the Summer", forms that
had to be handed in, the painful choice between AOK and TK, the decision of what major to study and which clubs to join, and other
things that one would like to have avoided-pretty relaxing right?
Regardless of what happened, at least you
made your way here. And I promise that you
will enjoy your stay! Lets consider the following:
[1] You have probably met many friendly
new people who will soon become good
friends of yours.
[2] You started studying at a great university, in a great town, in a great country.
[3] There will be many annoying things
that come your way, but remember that
everyone before you went through the
same struggles-and they survived too!
So, consider these points when you are feeling overwhelmed and fun seems part of your
distant future. Therefore, embrace your future
and enjoy every moment here, dear Class of
2017 - time passes by way too fast!

by Francoise De Sutter
Integrated Social & Cognitive Psychology 2015,

Ecuador

xperiencing O-Week as a Main Organizer is a lot of fun, especially when interacting with the freshmen. They were
so amazed by everything, which reminded me
of my own O-Week and how the last two years
flew by. However, even though many of the activities remain the same, the experience is a lot
more different than the first O-Week.
First of all, if this is not your first O-Week,
you remember quite a lot more and even if you
dont know the freshies, youve looked at the
names list so many times (or you walked by
the floors to see the new names) that you know
most of the nationalities and names that are going to be new on campus. Yes, we are aware of
how creepy this might sound, but its perfectly
normal for us.
Hi! Welcome! So where are you from?
Im from Uzbekistan
Oh, youre in C3, A1 right?
Yes... how did you figure that out?
Well, I was just casually walking by and
saw the flag.
We are so used to recognizing peoples nationalities either by their accent, names or habits, so when we guess a freshmans nationality
when they first talk to us, theyre quite amazed.

Im a freshie too!
But how? Youre a Main Organizer! I saw
you posting a lot on the Facebook Page
about that
Well, I was a Foundation Year last year,
so this year Im a first year, so technically
a freshie.
Oooh, ok, cool, so can I be a Main Organizer next year?
And once in a while, we do tell them we are
a third year, but sometimes their responses are
quite unexpected.
Hi!
Hi! Youre a first year?
Yes! And you?
Im a third year!
Oh . . . cool
Afterwards, awkward silence. Are we third
years intimidating? Or maybe its because third
years are not seen around that much and have
their own bubble inside the bubble, especially
when I talk to friends that were not around in
O-Week to see the freshmen. Apparently, being
a third year is an excuse to everything during
and after O-Week.
So how does it feel to be a third year?
I feel lost sometimes, I barely recognize anyone in the servery, too many new
faces.

Hmm... youre Indian right?

Why dont you talk to them?

How did you know?!

Im a third year, Im too lazy.

Well... your name sounds Indian, you

look Indian and your accent sounds Indian... so I took a wild guess, plus being
with many nationalities for at least 2 years is quite helpful too.
Thirdly, they dont know about the rules that
much or about many things in general, so playing quite a few pranks is not that uncommon.

Third year does make a few of us lazier, and

we might be more often MIA with our thesis.
However, this O-Week was the last one for
some of us. Well miss pranking the freshmen,
waking them up with loud pans and screams at
7am in the morning; and, above all, making a
memorable O-Week for everyone, from freshmen to third years.

04 Jacobs Life

The Sports Desk

Catch Up on the Latest News and Results

The New
Volleyball Captain

Mens Football
Last Game Results: 28 September

Next Games: 05 October at 15.00 (A) and 11 October at 15.00 (H)

by Darlina Mamaqi

Global Economics & Management 2017,

Albania

Introducing the new volleyball captain, Hannah Behrens.

WHEN DID YOU FIRST
PLAYING VOLLEYBALL?

START

I start playing volleyball in 2007 or 2008 in

my local club. Afterwards,
in 2012 I joined the Jacobs Team. Playing Volleyball just puts me in a good
mood.

5:3SC BORG FIELD III

JACOBS

Womens Football
Last Game Results: 28 September

3:5

JACOBS FC HUNTING

Next Games: 12 October at 11.00 (H) and 19 October at 15.00 (A)

Mens Basketball

Womens Basketball

First Game: 4 October at 17.00 (A)

First Game: 12 October at 16.45 (H)

WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING A

C APTAIN?

Its my first year as a

captain. But I think
it will be great. Hristo
Tsankov, Kim Jablonski
and me will be captains
together. We have played
together for quite a while
now and it was always a lot
of fun.

DO YOU COMPETE IN A LEAGUE?

Unfortunately, Jacobss
team cannot play in a
league because we cannot
provide certified referees
(and there are some other
minor issues).

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THIS

YEAR?

I hope that we can get

an awesome team together that gets along well
and has fun playing. I hope
that people show up regularly and I hope that we
will take part in some tournaments and win them obviously!
Photo Source Alena di Primio, Paul Ladwig, and Nico Frhberg

Outside the Bubble 05

The Ebola Outbreak

A Horror Story

by Hannah Behrens

Biochemistry & Cell Biology 2015,

Germany

t started half a year ago and still has not

been stopped. Ebola has killed more
than 2800 people this year (as of 23.9.14),
more than in all previous years combined.
There is no treatment available and around
70% of the infected patients die. Doctors
do not expect that the epidemic can be
controlled by the end of the year. What is
behind this horror story?
Ebola is a virus, a small particle that is
not even considered alive by strict biological definition. It can multiply in cells of
humans and other animals. When infected
with the Ebola virus, it takes 2 to 21 days
until the symptoms of the disease can be
observed. In this time one patient can already infect the next. The first stage of an
Ebola infection results in various kinds of
pain, weakness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
and a rash all over the body except for the
face. This is followed by a second stage
in which the virus destroys blood vessels
leading to external (meaning the skin) and
internal bleeding, finally resulting in organ
failures and death of the patient. But how
do you get infected with Ebola?
The Ebola virus can be transmitted by
any bodily fluid, likely including transmission by aerosol, small droplets in the
air that form when you cough, sneeze or
speak. Bats and a several other animals can
transmit the virus to humans. The problem
is: the Ebola viruses have gotten used to
the 40C body temperature of bats. When
a human is infected, body temperature increases (leading to fever) in order to kill
the germs. While most other viruses would
be killed by this mechanism, Ebola has adapted to this high temperature.
This year in March an outbreak occurred in West Africa in Guinea. The disease
quickly spread to Sierra Leone, Nigeria,
and Liberia. Ibrahima Tour, director of an
NGO in Guinea, explained it like this: "The
poor living conditions and lack of water
and sanitation in most districts of Conakry
[capital of Guinea] pose a serious risk that
the epidemic escalates into a crisis. People do not think to wash their hands when
they do not have enough water to drink."
Another problem is that Ebola prevention
goes against many West African cultures.
If someone is sick family members stay

for
support.
Dead
bodies
are washed and
buried. The washing poses risk
to the practicing
undertaker. Furthermore the lack of
treatment leads
many families
to refuse to go
to doctors, since
those
cannot
heal their sick
either.
Doctors without borders described the
situation as totally out of control in late
June. At this point there were 107 infections with 65 deaths. On July 27th Liberia closed its borders with the exception of
a few crossing points including the main
airport, where screening centers were established for all travelers. In September Sierra Leona implemented a 72 hour curfew
during which they identified 170 infected
people. Despite these and many other efforts, the disease continues to spread.
Many countries including Germany are
sending help and the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has announced to provide
$50 million to fight Ebola. On top of that
more and more children who have lost
their parents to Ebola are ending up on the
streets. Nobody wants to help them since
everyone is afraid to catch the virus.
Why are there no drugs? Ebola first occurred in 1967 in Germany. Since then, till
March of this year small outbreaks occurred in south and east Africa. Overall the
disease was very rare. Since it is so deadly, scientists have to be very careful when
working with Ebola. The researchers are
dressed like astronauts: They are covered
in a protective suit from bottom to top and
breathe special filtered air that they bring
into the lab with them. This made research
and the development of drugs very difficult. Moreover, the disease used to be so
rare that there was little money available
for this course. Now several drugs are under development. However none of them
are tested and approved. The World Health
Organization (WHO) stated recently that it
could be possible under certain conditions
to use experimental drugs. This means
that the drugs were not tested on humans
yet.

Photo Source BBC

ZMapp is the most famous drug in development. It is a combination of three monoclonal antibodies, which was given to
18 monkeys and 2 humans so far. All monkeys recovered, and the two humans did
but it is not sure whether this was due to
the drug. Unfortunately the production of
ZMapp is very difficult and supplies have
been used up for the moment. A number
of other drugs are under development and
three vaccines are expected to enter the
first trials at the end of this year.
The WHO estimates that there will be
21,000 cases of Ebola by the end of November, and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) even expects this number to be
reached by the end of September. For the
WHO prediction this would mean 10,000
casualties until the end of November. All
this sounds scary but let us bring that into
proportion: Every year the flu kills between 250,000 and 500,000 people (notice
10 to 20 times more). The reason why Ebola casualties are lower than that of the flu
is because it is a scary disease and we take
it seriously. This is very good and should
not change into panic or an attitude of indifference. Both would make the situation
worse.
And finally (admit it you read all this to
find out about this): Will Ebola spread to
Germany? It is very unlikely that this will
happen. Germany has experienced Ebola
outbreaks before and handled them very
well. Hygienic infrastructure is at a very
high level in Europe. Specialized hospitals,
such as in Hamburg, practice weekly what
needs to be done in emergencies and airports are prepared as well. Thus, Germany
as well as the EU stated that they do not
see a risk.

06 Outside the Bubble

Occupy Central
Hong Kong in Flux

by Yingzhao Zhu

Integrated Social Sciences 2016,

China

ept. 22, 2014 was an unforgettable day for Hong Kong starting
from this day, Asias world city
has been instilled with anger which has
been carried into the Occupy Central
event. This event is directed towards
the current chief executive, Chun-Ying
Leung, and his government which consists of some pro-Beijing politicians.
There are also strong complaints voiced
against the Chinese central government
in Beijing over its potential betrayal of
the One country, two systems promise.
This might overrule Hong Kong residents
freedom to elect their chief executive in
the 2017 public election. People in Hong
Kong are afraid that under the leadership
of C. Y. Leung and the Chinese central
government, Hong Kong will soon lose
democracy, which is a value cherished by
the local people and keeps them distinct
from Mainland China. This along with
their demand of true universal suffrage
marks the occupy Central movement.
Also being referred to as the umbrella
revolution in Hong Kong by the non-Chinese media, the event Occupy Central
is initiated by university students and is
supported by school-going children as
well. The Xuemin Sichao organization (Scholarism), which is a Hong Kong
based, student activist group, formed on
29 May 2011 by a group of secondary
school students, is prominent in this mo-

Photo Source Reddit

vement too. Since

the past ten days;
citizens of Hong
Kong followed the
students initiative
and occupied Hong
Kongs main business areas (Mong
Kok, Central, and
Admiralty on the
Hong Kong Island).
All the universities
in Hong Kong have
joined this event.
Moreover, the Facebook page: united
for democracy: global solidarity with
Hong Kong has been
continuously updating
the page encouraging: wearing yellow
for Hong Kong on Oct.1. Although the
initial purpose was very clear: people
want the right to elect the chief executive, the reality turned out to be much
more complicated. The chaotic situation
in Hong Kong resulted in internal conflicts, public ethics violation, and defamation of the pro-Beijing politicians making the movement difficult to sustain.
Following the headlines recently from the
Hong Kong local news agencies like the
Southern China Morning Post and Apple Daily; share the same reports as in the
global media coverages like BBC and CNN
which show a clear trend that students
are at the weak side of the conflict,
being threatened by the police and the
government. At the
same time, a different voice emerges
in the local media,
which supports the
police.
Although,
not against the movement itself, this
view marks the
police as a victim
since they have to
follow the orders of
the government regardless of whether
they really want
to or not (this was
reflected in the suicide of a police officer at North Point
on Sept. 30). The

Photo Source Reddit

strategy of using tear gas to separate the

crowd was widely considered an immoral
act by majority of the Chinese society.
Even though the current situation leads
the peoples attention to the bad leadership of the C. Y. Leung government
and the Chinese central governments
policies, it might not always be the case.
People of Hong Kong have been struggling with its relationship to the Chinese
central government and the communist
party in charge for a long time now. The
thought of Hong Kong should not return
to China has been taking root from the
day that Hong Kong came back to China.
As mentioned before, one of the reasons
mentioned by the protesters in the event
is that the Chinese central governments
political reform in 2017 might not grant
the Hong Kong residents freedom to elect
their own chief executive anymore. Theoretically, the government is the representative of the people, but it is even more
important to distinguish the action of the
government from that of the people.
What is also worth mentioning is that
Police and Tear gas, have become
rather sensitive topics in this event. On
Sept.28, the Hong Kong Police shot, 27
tear gas bombs at the students in the Central and Wan Chai area on the Hong Kong
Island. It was claimed that this was due
to the violent actions of the protesters
and in order not to lose control of the situation. 27 tear gases couldnt burn out
peoples hope for a better and democratic Hong Kong was one of the headlines

Outside the Bubble 07

in local Hong Kong Media (Apple Daily).

While most people have been anxiously
focusing on how the violence is affecting
everyday life of the Hong Kong people,
the remaining silent Chinese population is once again being ignored. Although
being covered once to show the positive
side; the non-Chinese support seems to
raise its importance again. On Sept. 29
and Sept. 30, there was a survey pointing
out that the Chinese media censorship
had reached its peak in this year following Facebook and Twitter; Instagram
too was blocked in China due to the Hong
Kong users posts about the protest.
On Oct.1, the Chinese National Day,
against the expectations of many people, the situation still didnt change a lot.
The rising clash between the pro-Beijing
groups and the majority of boycotting
students resulted in some relatively small
emergencies in the gathering areas of
Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. In the afternoon, the chief executive C. Y. Leung
and other officials arrived at the Golden
Bauhinia Square to attend the flag-raising
ceremony for the Chinese National Day.
During the ceremony, the protesters were
quiet and respect, however, their gesture
of making a cross using their bows over
their heads showed that they were not
going to let this event end as it was. After
the ceremony, the chief executive and the
officials left, but the protesters were still
occupying the main streets on the Hong
Kong Island, waiting for an answer from
the government. Although some violent
incidents did occur, like at around 20:00,
some people started to throw empty bottles and pour water on the protesters, they
still resisted in their position and continued to wait.
This will not be an endless nightmare
for Hong Kong at least, the sleepless
student protesters on the street symbolize
the potential bright future of this city and
its desire for democracy. On Sept. 30th,
the night before the Chinese National
Day, thousands of Hong Kong citizens
were waiting for their chief executive,
C. Y. Leung for a talk in the thunder and
rain. However, will a peaceful ending
according to the Hong Kong peoples expectation be reached? Will the Chinese
central government change its electoral
guidelines for the Hong Kong chief executive and let C. Y. Leung resign? Where will
the yellow ribbon lead to? Everything is
still unclear. But, people definitely want
and need a peaceful Hong Kong.

The End of a Crisis

The Situation in Ukraine

by Yashan Bu

Biochemistry & Cell Biology 2017,

China

he Ukraine crisis has been a focus of

the whole world. Generally speaking,
its primary cause is the divergence of
Ukraines opinion on whether to enhance the
countrys relationship with Russia or the European Union. At the end of 2013, Ukrainian
president Mr. Yanukovich canceled the free
trade agreements with the EU to strengthen
its ties with Russia, which has become a flash
point for the Ukraine crisis.
The free trade agreement, which has been
negotiated for years and allows Ukraine to
enter the free trade zone, is a milestone in
Ukraines efforts to become a member state
in the EU. However, Russian president Mr.
Putin also made a clear position on this issue,
exerting that if Ukraine signed the free trade
agreement with the EU, import and export
trade between Russia and Ukraine would be
limited. As a result, Ukraine finally decided
not to benefit from the free trade agreement
at the expense of losing much benefit from
Russia; it was also a decision that sparked
the political crisis in Ukraine the opposition
launched massive demonstrations, demanding the resignation of Mr. Yanukovich and
campaigning for an earlier general election.
In January 2014, President Yanukovich
made a concession by accepting the resignation of the cabinet and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. However, the opposition required
that Mr. Yanukovich resign as well. Thus,
such a confession could not appease the conflicts. In February, conflicts escalated. Mr.
Yanukovich had to sign a settlement with the
opposition to end the bloody conflicts, followed by a regime change in Ukraine. The
parliament dismissed Mr. Yanukovich and
granted Tucci Andrianof as the temporary
president.
In March, conflicts finally came to the
Crimean region and were severely intensified
as the Russian parliament passed the proposal of President Putin to use armed forces in
Crimea, which had been the air base of Ukraine. Soon afterwards, the Crimean government declared the isolation from Ukrainian
governance. At the same time, the Russian
Gas Industry Company announced to stop
providing gas to Ukraine for the debt, which
led the United States to immediately give a
helping hand by offering Ukraine 10 billion
US dollars assistance. However, the situation
in Crimea was getting tense, as a Ukrainian
military aircraft was attacked and the US armies were approaching nearby areas.

Photo Source Global Post

In April, the crisis was about to reach its

peak. While the military conflicts were still
going on, the US government kept up the
pressure against Russia. The situation in Ukraine was getting more and more complex,
and the Ukraine side was trying to end the
turmoil by political means.
Then came May. On May 2nd , in Isllaveryansilk, a city situated in eastern Ukraine, an
overall battle started, while on the same day,
43 people were killed in the conflict between
pro-government and anti-government forces
in Odessa, a city in southern Ukraine. In the
flames of war, an important event, the general election, was held on the agreed date of
May 25th, in which Petro Poroshenko had an
advantage. It was thought that the election
would probably bring hope to Ukraine. But,
perhaps, it didnt bring much.
The opposition shot down a Ukrainian plane on June 14th, taking away 49 lives. Later
on, Ukraine was getting prepared for formally joining the EU. Then, the flight MH17
crashed down on July 17th, shot down by
either side (still in dispute), costing 297 lives.
In August, the conflicts continued and so
did other forms of sanctions. On September 5th, the two sides signed a ceasefire in
Mensk. Afterwards, Ukraine went back to
peace, except for some tiny conflicts.
The Ukraine crisis came to an end, but its
negative effects on Ukraines economy and
its people exist till today. In the academic as
well as the political world, it is widely believed that the basic cause of Ukraine crisis is
the division of going west and going east.
Due to the special geological situation and
the cultural background of Ukraine, it has
been a hard problem to determine whether to
work with the EU or Russia, since both will
bring certain benefits and losses. Therefore,
it is not surprising that such a troublesome
issue will arouse divergence of the opinions
within government and among all the citizens. That is probably why the Ukraine crisis
came so strongly, lasted for such a long time,
took away so many lives, and cost so much
on both sides.

08 Outside the Bubble

Extrapolating the Karabakh Conflict

An Overlooked Issue

by Benedikt van den Boom

International Politics & History 2015,

Germany

ormally, summer is the lazy

time of the year in world politics. Newspapers are said to
have nothing to report and skirmishes
slow down all around the world. The
summer of 2014 was very different in
this regard. Instead of stagnation or even
improvement, it saw an escalation in violence in a whole body of armed conflicts.
International news were dominated by
the Gaza conflict, the crisis in Ukraine,
and new developments in Syria. In midst
of this panorama of conflict, one specific
case escaped the worlds attention: The
Karabakh conflict.
This is a war on stand-by between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Its roots are cultural, political and historical, dating back
to the earliest dates of the Soviet Union.
The main part of concern is the region
of Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally
not recognized republic of predominant
Armenian population on legally Azerbaijani territory. A war between these countries in the early 1990s led to a ceasefire,
and an officially continuing state of war.
There has not been a single month without deaths on either side of the combat.
In July 2014, the situation worsened.
Both sides attempted incursions into the
adversarys territory. Several skirmishes
led to the highest death toll since the
end of the war. The president of Azerbaijan threatened the neighboring country with war via Twitter. His Armenian

homologue retorted that the higher number of casualties on the Azerbaijani side
showed the Armenian military superiority. Cautious remarks from the European
Union as well as the Foreign Ministers of
Germany, the United Kingdom, and the
United States remained without impact.
Only after mediation by Russian President Vladimir Putin did the opposing
sides agree on mutual de-escalation. This
unfolding of events, despite a minimum
of 19 reported deaths, went unnoticed by
international media. The Ukraine, Syria,
and Israel simply seemed more important. But why is it remarkable that the
small conflict did not make it to the front
pages of the press and to the agenda of
European politicians and diplomats? Is
it not too stable, too old and too marginal to really distract attention from more
pressing issues? Three aspects suggest
that this is in fact not the case.
Firstly, the Karabakh Peace Process
since 1994 is special in one regard. The
war between Armenia and Azerbaijan
came to a halt in 1994 after a negotiated ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire
has since then been self-sustained. For
the past 20 years, the governments of the
two post-Soviet republics have creased
a heavily fortified Line of Contact without the presence of international peacekeeping troops. The politicians may not
necessarily be happy with the situation,
but it has averted new armed conflicts
between Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.
This model may be an example for a

Photo Source Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training

whole variety of conflicts in the world.

The island of Cyprus for instance has
been separated in two halves in 1974.
Despite a very peaceful solution, a UN
contingent of more than 1000 from countries such as China and Austria has been
stationed there for almost 50 years. These capacities could be used elsewhere, if
the case of the Karabakh conflict were
extrapolated to Cyprus.
Secondly, the Karabakh conflict is at
the heart a territorial one. The de-facto
independence of a region from one country is sustained by the help of a different country, based on considerations
of security, culture, and influence. This
is surprisingly similar to the situation in
the Crimean peninsula and increasingly
in Eastern Ukraine. The Armenian influence is based to a large extent on more
than 30.000 Russian troops stationed
in the country, whereas the European
Union tends to support the Azerbaijani
cause to decrease energy dependence on
Russia.Very similar to the current crisis
in Ukraine and to the 2008 war between
Georgia and Russia, this context creates
a policy conundrum. The Karabakh conflict plays two roles. On the one hand,
its relatively peaceful stagnation may
serve as a blueprint for the other cases.
On the other hand, the upsurge in violence during the past summer underlines
the volatility of the entire region, inadequacy of European efforts to mediate the
situation and the efficiency of Russian
strategy to destabilize a region in order
to maintain influence.
Thirdly, the Karabakh conflict of 2014
exemplifies a drastic escalation in the
way international conflicts are handled.
One week prior to the events described
above, a convoy of Armenian farmers
drove into the border area of the Line
of Contact to Azerbaijan. This happened
far away from the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic, but instead on internationally
recognized territory of the Republic of
Armenia. The farmers were accompanied
by a convoy of the International Committee of the Red Cross, clearly bearing the
insignia of this institution. Nonetheless,
the group came under fire of Azerbaijani
snipers. Although no human casualties
were reported, the Red Cross condemned

Food for Thought 09

the action in very harsh words.
This is one instance in a trend during
the heated summer of 2014. During the
airstrikes against alleged Hamas positions in the Gaza strip, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted an UN-sponsored
school as well. It is not possible to evaluate the Israeli argument that this school
harbored Hamas missiles, but the attack
of August 3 provoked harsh international comments and strong visual imagery. This was based on the fact that the
school one of many destroyed during
the air raids was not only seen as representative institution of the United Nations, but actually served as harbor for
refugees, about which the Israeli Defense
Forces were informed.Something more
drastic even happened at the end of August in Syria. The rebel group Al-Nusra
Front, which used to dominate the Islamist spectrum in the Syrian war prior to
the rise of the Islamic State, kidnapped
45 UN Blue Helmet Soldiers. Nationals of
Fiji, they were stationed in the so-called
Golan Heights to establish a buffer zone
between Syria and Israel, which officially
occupies this Syrian region. Already in
2012, the Al-Nusra Front declared its objective to regain this area. But the international community appeared to believe that the integrity of an international
peacekeeping force would stop the advances. After the return of the hostages to
Israel, the UN decided to retract all blue
helmets from the Golan Heights, thus
leaving the buffer zone unprotected.The
inviolability of the Red Cross, as in the
case of the Karabakh conflict, is inscribed in the Geneva Conventions, which
has been ratified by most countries in the
world. For UN schools and troops, there
is no hard legal case for inviolability, but
it derives from the role the UN plays. In
the end, the UN charter attempts to regulate use of force worldwide. The fact that
both state and non-state actors however
abuse UN-institutions for weaponry, target the international red-cross, or kidnap
blue helmets indicates a new trend.
Conflicts are not a new phenomenon.
Since 1945 alone, the Centre for Systemic Peace lists 331 armed conflicts in
the world. In this sense, the summer of
2014 is no exception. But from the media
heavyweights of the Ukraine crisis to the
overlooked developments of the Karabakh conflict, there appears to be a new
escalation: A visible bullying of international institutions, which will require the
international community to overthink its
response catalogue to the crises worldwide.

FROM POSTERBOYS TO IRON LADY

Page 13 of Jacobs Universitys Annual Financial Report for 2012,

also known as the document after
which all hell broke loose. Shadows fall on this sunny scenery.
Posing from left to right: Marc
Janke, CFO until September 2014;
Katja Windt, university president

January 2014; Heinz-Otto Peitgen,

university president until December 2013; Thorsten Thiel, COO until April 2014. At least you cannot
say, that the change process spares
the second floor in Reimar Lst
Hall, can you now?

You are Complete

by Satyaveer Gopychand

Global Economics & Management 2017,

Mauritius
"I.dont need anyone to rectify my existence. The
most profound relationship we will ever have is
the one with ourselves.
SHIRLEY
MACLAINE
I do not have enough time to devote to this topicand even if I did, I wouldnt begin to do it justice. I have wanted to write about this for a while,
so here it goes; I had an epiphany today; one that I
have had many times, but I think I will continue to
have until it actually sinks in my extremely thick,
stubborn brain. Do you often think that you want
to be in a relationship, to be loved by someone
other than yourself, cared for, to feel that you belong, to have someone understand you and give
you purpose? But lets be honest, that is a lot to
ask of someone.
We have the opportunity in our lifetime to know
so many wonderful, beautiful people. In spite of
which, we spend a lot of time pining over a romantic relationship and the ways in which this will
save us, or make us happy; solve our problems.
The moments when we find purpose in our life, or
have a goal, a direction, a passion, in other words
be excited about something, we dont care at all
about being in a relationship. It is not on the mind.
However, it surfaces on the lonely days, when you
feel like you do not fit in, or that no one understands you. Isnt that when you pine for a romantic
relationship? Correct me if Im wrong but it seems
that we often want a relationship in order to fix
ourselves, we desire a relationship to make us feel

understood and as though we belong.

Relationships are wonderful thingsI am sure!
It seems like it can be beautiful, uplifting, supportive, though at times a very difficult (cant speak
from experience here)but that doesnt mean that
it should be this annoying fly that is constantly
buzzing around in our heads, distracting us at
every moment, because even when we cant see
it, we can still hear it! Where is the fly repellant?
The times when we feel the most lonely, misunderstood, etc, we can try to remind ourselves how
many wonderful friends we have, or simply how
many wonderful, supportive people are there in
the bubble, whom we can get to know in a TOTALLY platonic wayand what a gift that is! Also
you can set your eyes on a goal of some sort to
direct our attention, graduating for example.
At the right time, in the right place, if we end
up finding (a) significant other(s), well wonderful! But I dont think that we should encourage
one another to constantly let these thoughts occupy our minds, or to engage in conversations that
are shallow and superficial with each other about
who likes whom, if it is not a serious conversation.
We need to hold each other accountable for recognizing our own gifts and strengths and beauty so
that we dont look for someone else solely for affirmation! We have all the purpose, all the affirmation and love we could ever want within us. You are
complete and again the fact remains that you
dont need someone to complete you. People can
certainly complement us, bring out the best in us,
teach us things, love us, inspire us, etcbut believing that someone will complete us implies that
we cannot be complete without them. And we can.

10 Food For Thought

Untitled
by Anonymous
1.
With white cumulus cloud rising
You appear in lush green prairies,
Gently touch the fresh green grass,
And make them sway.
You stand still,
as you notice someone behind you...
I can sense the vacuum in your heart
You turn back, and smile
Teasingly...

2.
You reappear along the riversides,
And sing along with the river.
You realize my presence again...
Suddenly, you disappear
Behind the oak trees,
Like the river slips through georges
Only to reappear later, fairer and vibrant
You, just like the river...
And whisper a faint giggle behind my
ears
As pixies,
and vanish again...

3.
You reappear along the sea shores
Like a siren...
Your dangling hairs
Rub against my face...
The smell of cherry blossoms
Penetrates deep into my heart...
You play around...
With the youthfulness of fire.
And vanish again...

It Was the Best of Times

Jacobs Should have Known Better

by Gabriela Constantin-Dureci
Integrated Cultural Studies 2015,
Romania

Jacobs should have known

It was the best of times;

this by
now

it was
the worst of times

It was the time of redemption

coming at the cost of privilege.

To Whom it May Concern:

It is not the first time this is happening
and it is sadly not an isolated occurrence.
The objectification of women as an advertising tool has once again reached our screens
and left some of us in awe at such evident
disregard of, and for, members of our own
community. It seems unreasonable that anyone blame what is a blatant display of mockery towards a group of our community on
lack of access to appropriate information or
misinterpretation of good humor1, when incidents such as this seem to have a tendency
of repeating themselves over the years with
absolute dismissal of any sort of regulations
stipulated by both the Jacobs University
Community Standard and the student community.
One can easily recall that less than a year
ago a poster created for Sports Olympix,
which depicted a half-naked woman with
her hands tied at the back and the logo
Unleash your spirit at the bottom, prompted
several debates amongst the student body,
who deemed that it was unnecessarily sexualizing women, especially since it was supposed to advertise a sports event.
Then, why do members of our community insist on making the same mistakes over
and over again? The promotion of intracollegiate activities with the false promise
of having girls fall in your arms or the permission to grab their behind without any
sort of reprimand or consequence not only
discredits said activity but targets a specific
group of our community and encourages it
to satisfy its potential fantasies with complete obliteration of their female counterparts inalienable rights. Such marketing
strategies qualify as misleading advertising,
which, believe it or not, is not taken lightly
and is punishable by law in some countries.
It is not okay to give up a womans right
to consent actions performed upon and ex-

plicitly involving her body. But it is far worse to deny that there is a problem.
far worse to expropriate someone of
their beliefs, to trivialize their experiences,
and make what is a fundamental flaw in our
system a mundane practice.
far worse to believe that if you are privileged enough to not have experienced sexual discrimination, sexual objectification, or
even worse, sexual assault, everyone is and
will be as lucky as you.
far worse to think that negative criticism of your opinion entitles you to become
belligerent against those issues about which
you are blissfully ignorant.
far worse to hide behind the anonymity
of internet to denounce views you do not
agree with instead of promoting a public
exchange of opinions.
far worse to abuse the use of language
and the meaning of the word humor2 in
order to escape from an uncomfortable situation and reinstall yourself in your privileged position.
far worse to step behind a shield of disrespect, denial, privilege, and ignorance, in
order to protect yourself from those who are
overreacting and taking things too seriously.
This is why it is steadily more concerning
and disappointing that members of our
community are refuting their right of becoming engaged in more efficient communication panels than those provided by internet
caricatures and that they are becoming dismissive towards issues that have historically
impacted our society and that clearly affect
us as global leaders of tomorrow.

I am aware that those who believed there

was nothing wrong with the objectification
of women for entertainment purposes found
themselves amused by their own remarks.
However, I would feel bad if I did not break
it to them: it was not funny, it is still not
funny, nor will it ever be funny.

On that note, humor is NOT universal.

Its perception, understanding, and enjoyment shift among different cultures, social
groups, religious affiliations, and, -big surprise- among individuals as well.
2

Food For Thought 11

Farewell to Two Critics

Jacobs Loses More Essential Professors

by Benedikt van den Boom

International Politics & History 2015,

Germany

Three things to be sure about this article:

First, this is an opinion piece. Second, not
being on campus at the moment, I have
not taken any step to validate the opinion
presented here. Third, I have worked together with both protagonists throughout
the last academic year. I ask you to bear
these constraints in mind while reading.
The past summer break framed the deepest cuts in personnel ever seen at Jacobs
University. In the euphemistic style of
servery talk, some people were gone immediately, others were granted a last
semester of grace. Empty offices decorate hallways in Reimar Lst Hall and the
Research Buildings alike. Two offices in
particular tell a rather grim story about
the rationale behind these benevolent reductions.
I cannot help but describe Matthijs Bogaards as an Urgestein of Jacobs, obstacle
for numerous students in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (requiescat
in pace), spring of comments far beyond
political correctness, and certainly a proponent of ideas that I could not agree with
any less . Most importantly though, he
was a voice, if I have ever heard one. His
style surely encouraged polemics; but, in
retrospect, it only followed a clearly defined idea of how Jacobs University should
look and feel. In summer, a last protest
note from the Jacobs faculty surfaced at
Radio Bremen, clearly bearing the signature of Matthijs Bogaards, former professor of Political Science at Jacobs University Bremen.
While the case of Matthins Bogaards can
only remind us of a bull in a china store,
, theother starred a silent admonisher,
but no less of an institution than Matthijs
Bogaards. Ulrike Jeschke managed the
Registrars Office with yearsworth of experience in the dodgy hallways of Reimar
Lst Hall. I grew to respect her not as a
categorical naysayer to change, but as a
cautious voice in the midst of a veritable
revolution. I learned that scheduling issues is surely not sexy , but no less essential
because of that. It is easy, tempting, and
maybe even encouraged to get carried

away by the impervious

array of macro-structures
that shape the vision for
Jacobs Universitys future. However, Ulrike Jeschke countered this drift
with a single word: Feasibility.
Why fire those two in
particular? There is one
answer available. Someone had to go and it happened to be, among others,
Matthijs Bogaards and
Ulrike Jeschke. This is
the easy answer. The ostensibly rational university leadership applied a
set of criteria and the list
contained many names.
Why then pick those two
and make a big fuss about
them? Is it not just personal affection towards specific individuals?
I dare to respond that
this is not the case. That
the dismissal of the Politics professor and
the Registrars director is instead writing
on the wall. One might argue that profound change at Jacobs is simply not possible with a stone-headed ancient rgime
in place. Three presidencies lie between
the current leadership of Professor Windt
and the appointment of the two critics to
their positions. At the end of the day, they
were hired to represent a dream that is
no longer en vogue in Bremen-Nord. Who
needs two partisans of long gone presidents, still hailing traditional, and allegedly, old-fashioned ideas?
Well, everybody needs them! Yes, criticism slows down change. This is true for
redundant criticism as much as for honest
critique. This Change Process, as any of
them, must be executed on middle management levels, and I am painfully aware of the problems that criticism poses in
this setup. But no matter how urgent the
change is portrayed to be, Matthijs Bogaards and Ulrike Jeschke knew from the
start that no idea was perfect. And I am
convinced that they were right about this.
The Jacobs Track: new study programs,

profit centers all these ideas are in vain

without the input from faculty, staff, and
students. More than subtle fine tuning,
they would have required a substantive
debate on purpose and feasibility. Sometimes, these ideas need a strong dose of
Fatalism, the why change at all attitude
of Matthijs Bogaards. Sometimes, these
ideas need the institutional memory of
Ulrike Jeschke, knowing which changes
had failed in the past and which changes
had been successful.
Removing this soft power gives leeway
to the hard fist of the Change Process.
Removing this element of criticism facilitates groupthink. But we dont have to
be just sheep, Matthijs Bogaards and Ulrike Jeschke would have shouted. So we
can bid farewell to two critics and let
it go. Or we can decide to become critics
ourselves; bulls in the china store or silent
admonishers.
Applications are open throughout the
semester

12 Photography Club Presents: The Royal Mile in Edinburgh

BY ALESSANDRA BERTONE

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Disclaimer: This is an independent newspaper. The views

and opinions expressed in this
publication are those of the
authors named and are not
necessarily those of the Undergraduate Student Government or its individual members