Underreported News in 2014

With 2014 now solidly in the rearview mirror, it’s clear that several key issues were not adequately covered by the major media. To name just three:

DISCRIMINATION

News sources reported extensively on matters involving alleged discrimination in cases involving race. Yet one of the most significant discrimination stories continues to be underreported.

Unfair treatment of older workers has become increasingly prevalent. An early 2014 AARP analysis found that the percentage of those ages 45—74 working full time has dropped 11 points since their 2002 survey. The percentage working part time has increased 5%, and the percent looking for work has increased 7%. This may at least partially coincide with a report by the Center for Immigration Studies revealing all new jobs created in the past several years have gone to immigrants.

GLOBAL WARMING

While many key leaders, including the President, continue to advocate costly and economically burdensome measures to deal with global warming, the reality is, that particular problem has not been a factor for about 18 years.

Scientists Patrick Michaels and Chip Knappenberger, according to the Cato Institute, have found that “…observations show that the rise in the global average surface temperature has been little different (in the case of the University of East Anglia record, no different) from zero for the past 18 years or so. So instead of accelerating, global warming is actually decelerating, or, (nearly) stopped.

Despite the observations of Michaels, Knappenberger and others, expensive “solutions” to a problem that doesn’t actually exist to any harmful degree continue to be debated.

DEFENSE

Nothing should capture headlines more than Russian nuclear arms capable bombers flying along American coastlines, or nuclear subs stealthily patrolling near our shores. Both of these incidents have been occurring, but the readers and viewers of most major media sites didn’t hear very much about it. Similarly, the news that President Obama withdrew all American tanks from Europe early in 2014 (Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine later prompted 150 to be returned) and the lack of any available US aircraft carrier for East Asia patrol in the first half of 2015 have also received scant notice.

Quick Analysis

What is Russia Up To?

Is Russia preparing for long-term war with the West? Military analysts in Washington this week are evaluating the impact of President Putin’s recent acceleration of societal militarization. He appears to be bolstering his country’s mobilization capacity while simultaneously reducing access to higher education. The question is — to what end? The Kremlin is employing progressively aggressive conscription tactics and increasing the pace and breadth of its expansion of military training in civilian education. It is just in time for the April spring draft. The goal, according to Hlib Parfonov writing in the Eurasian Daily Monitor, is to create a long-term competent military force. He points out that to reinforce centralized military control, Russia is opening more Military Training Centers and reopening command academies. The move is viewed as a response to heavy losses in Ukraine and a desperate attempt to replenish its officer and non-commissioned ranks. “[Western] Europe’s lack of preparation risks leaving it underprepared if tensions with Russia continue to rise,” says Parfonov. Worse yet, Russia may be learning from the Ukraine war experience in how to implement comprehensive reforms, that include providing universal military training for all students and military departments in universities and expansion of reserve mobilization structures. Last week Russian riot police and military enlistment officers conducted a joint raid on the Moscow Spirit Fitness Club in search of people evading military enlistment. Reports indicate that the Kremlin is calling for the expansion of this type of raid across the country. It left those in the Moscow club with their faces planted on the floor, and separated by ethnicity, while officers verified their military registration. At a time when much of the world is moving forward with advanced technologies, Russia is undergoing a “reverse industrialization,” says Parfonov. Instead of expanding access to higher education, the Kremlin is promoting vocational training and military service. Last month the Asian daily Monitor reported that those who were able to study in institutions of higher learning had to comply with new mobilization and military training programs instituted by the Kremlin. Army Help, a Russian publication, says that the concept of military training programs within civilian educational institutions replicates the former Soviet Union’s “military departments,” where students would go to avoid conscription. A change in the present system, is the addition of a new Russian government resolution calling for the consolidation of all military departments and faculties into “Military Training Centers” to more effectively support Russia’s defense and security. The number of centers increased from 93 in 2019, to 137 last year, with more than 60,000 students participating in training under them this year. “Given the scale of Russia’s losses in its war against Ukraine and the need for a continuous flow of trained reserves, this system plays a crucial role in sustaining the country’s military capabilities, according to the January edition of the Bulletin of Military Education. Putin lacks junior and mid-level commanders in his armed forces. The Russian system employs top-down control and emphasizes centralization. This is due, in part, to poorly educated troops under the dictatorship, with authoritarian forms of control common throughout the country. These critical lower-level commanders form what is known in Russian as a core part of ensuring “Befehlstaktik,” or the execution of detailed orders. The pace of similar military programs outside of Russia is slow. Poland is the only Western country to have a program with about 16,000 graduates. Other European nations, including Germany, are reassessing their need for similar style training given their past reliance on NATO forces. In recent years, however, Europe has been trending toward the downsizing of its armed forces. It resulted in severe personnel shortages. In Germany, its military recruiting currently falls short by over 260,000, due to the suspension of compulsory military service in 2011. Even if Berlin reinstates a program in response to the war in Ukraine, it will take years to implement. Other European states are also slow in moving toward programs to increase and train new military personnel. As of March 2025, Ukraine has only limited military training departments in its universities. Although starting in September, it will finally institute universal military training for all university students in the country. Russia, with its rapid militarization efforts, recognized the value of a trained reserve force. The ongoing war in Ukraine in 2025 raises concerns about Europe’s response to the ongoing conflict, should tensions rise with a new Russian escalation. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Photo: Pixabay