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Friday April 13, 2018 vol. CXLII no. 42
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S T U D E N T A F FA I R S
NATALIE NAGORSKI :: THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Ambassador Husam Zomlot emphasized Palestine’s commitment to nonviolence in his talk.
SARAH WARMAN HIRSCHFIELD :: THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
Volunteers read names of Holocaust victims for 24 hours non-stop.
Palestinian ambassador U. community discusses Middle East peace honors Holocaust Remembrance Day
By Natalie Nagorski Contributor
Palestinian ambassador to the U.S. Husam Zomlot was born as a refugee in a tent in the Gaza Strip. Today, Zomlot spoke at the Wilson School about a multilateral solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conf lict. After 17 Palestinians were killed and over a thousand injured by Israeli military gunfire and tear gas on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel two weeks ago, Zomlot offered a hopeful tone in his proposal for a peaceful solution. The demonstration, called the “March of Return,” was
the “largest protest seen in Gaza in years.” The Israeli Defense Forces said that their use of force was in response to the protesters “rolling burning tires and hurling stones.” “There are signs that the reality on the ground is not just going to be shaped by the officials. The reality is going to be shaped by the masses, the thousands, the hundreds of thousands,” he said. Zomlot proceeded to outline the Palestinian stance on peace. “We believe that the best way forward is the twostate solution on the 1967 borders with East Jerusa-
lem being the capital of Palestine,” continued Zomlot. “The two-state solution is not a compromise. The twostate solution is a Palestinian concession.” Zomlot explained that many Palestinians support this solution not because they believe it is the best solution, but because it is a possible solution. “We are more invested in possibility rather than in desirability. We are more keen on saving another generation rather than wasting another generation,” he said. The ambassador outlined a two-state, twofold See ZOMLOT page 2
U . A F FA I R S
By Sarah Warman Hirschfield Associate News and Video Editor
Beginning on the night of April 11 until the following night, University community members came together to observe Yom Hashoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, through a student-led program supported by the Center for Jewish Life. The commemoration started at 7 p.m. on Wednesday with a ceremony in the CJL, which
featured a talk by Larry Buchsbaum, a Holocaust survivor and grandfather of Samuel Schultz ’19, a candle-lighting ceremony, and stories from other community members whose families were in the Holocaust. Hannah Slabodkin ’21, who planned the program along with Raffi Snow ’18, explained that Buchsbaum shared stories about his family’s survival during the war and his eventual See HOLOCAUST page 2
U . A F FA I R S
Holder Hall repair work finishes, students begin to move back in
By Joseph Kawalec Contributor
After about a month of hearing hammering and seeing trucks line up outside Holder Hall entryway four, residents will be able to move back into their rooms. On Feb. 21, a sprinkler head accidentally activated above the fourth entryway of Holder Hall, resulting in extensive water damage to
In Opinion
the dorm rooms of multiple students. Holder Center 4B, home to the art gallery in Rockefeller College, where students study, work, and view their peers’ artwork, was also damaged by the activated sprinkler. For all of March, Holder 4B was off limits. Additionally, the students who lived in the damaged rooms were forced to relocate. “As a result of the extensive water damage, all
Senior columnist Nick Wu reflects on tragedy at Panera, Assistant Street Editor Lucy Chuang explains why the pejorative phrase “tiger mom” does not describe her mother, and guest contributor Louis René Beres *71 reflects on the nuclear policy implications of U.S. action in Syria. PAGE 4
See HOLDER page 3
Today on Campus
COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Cory Booker, currently a U.S. senator, previously served both as mayor of Newark and as a member of the city’s council.
Cory Booker selected as Class Day speaker By Benjamin Ball Staff Writer
New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has been selected as the keynote speaker for the University’s Class Day ceremony on Monday, June 4, according to the Office of Communications. The ceremony is organized by
7:30 p.m.: A Grammy Award-winning internationally acclaimed viol consort, Fretwork Consort, makes their Princeton debut. Taplin Auditorium, Fine Hall
members of the graduating class. Class Day co-chair Miranda Rosen ’18 told the Office of Communications that she and the other organizers believe Booker to truly exemplify the University’s motto: Princeton in the nation’s service and See BOOKER page 3
WEATHER
JOE KAWALEC :: THE DAILY PRINCETONIAN
The students affected by the Holder Hall water damage were relocated to temporary housing on and off campus for the past month.
hardwood f looring, f loor molding, sheetrock, and carpeting were replaced,” said Michael E. Hotchkiss, a University spokesperson. Facilities workers could be seen around Holder Monday through Friday and occasionally on Saturday. ServPro, an outside contractor, assisted in getting rid of water damage in the first half of March, while demolition and construction work lasted for the rest of the month. By the end of the first week of April, students were ready to be moved back into their rooms. “The team was able to complete the project despite the very tight project time frame, the need for similar remediation work elsewhere on campus, and severe weather,” Hotchkiss said. Rocky College resident Ara Eagan ’21 and her three roommates were among the relocated students. Eagan had to alter her daily schedule after being moved into a printer lounge in Forbes College, which was remodeled as a temporary living space. “Moving to Forbes, not only do I logistically have to take more time everyday
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Friday April 13, 2018
Zomlot: Nobody has negotiated more than us ZOMLOT Continued from page 1
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solution that operates on a “bottom-up” approach, including negotiation and non-violent pressure, while involving the collaboration of Palestinian citizens. He noted that a peace process must be in place in order to build “bottom-up” support. He also emphasized the Palestinians’ commitment to peace. “Nobody has negotiated more than us,” added Ambassador Zomlot. “Our commitment to nonviolence is absolutely religious.” Although Zomlot explained that Palestinians value democracy, he pointed out that the Palestinian democratic system has been “disappointing” since 2007. The ambassador explained that there are four possible mechanisms for implementing peace: unilateralism, bilateralism, trilateralism, and multilateralism. Zomlot prefers multilateralism, noting that bilateral and trilateral negotiations with the United States as a mediator have
failed to achieve peace. He also added that unilateralism will not take Palestine where they “want to go at this point in time.” Zomlot believes that multilateralism is the most realistic approach to the peace process, and he challenged the audience to “name one recent international event that was not changed by multilateralism.” He added that the solution might seem farfetched, but that a long peace process is better than one that will not work. Joseph Wood ’18 heard Zomlot speak in Palestine over a year ago, and found the talk to be uplifting. He added that hearing the ambassador’s optimism about the situation was inspiring. “He’s a really moderating force,” said Wood. “I think a lot of Princeton students, and a lot of Americans in general, tend to think of Palestinians in a stereotyped way.” The talk was held on Thursday, April 12 as part of the Conversations about Peace series co-sponsored by the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice and the Wilson School.
Slobodkin: Scale of this tragedy is unfathomable and a haunting reality HOLOCAUST Continued from page 1
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emigration from Europe to the newly-established state of Israel. “He tried to define what ‘Never Again’ means to him,” said Slabodkin. “These words do not mean that genocides will never happen again [...] Instead, it is the realization that the Jewish people must secure its own survival.” Following the ceremony, students, faculty, and staff began a 24-hour name reading of Holocaust victims, a ceremony conducted by Jewish communities nationally. Volunteers signed up for 30-minute slots via a Google Doc that circulated in the weeks leading up to the ceremony. “We were worried at first that we would struggle to fill all of time slots, especially the ones in the middle of the night,” explained Marni Blitz, associate director of the CJL, “but these amazing students quickly and eagerly volunteered.” Blitz added that she is grateful that the campus community honored and memorialized the victims all through the day and night. Darleny Cepin, Mathey College’s Director of Student Life, volunteered for the 1 a.m. shift. “We read the names to commemorate those who might otherwise be forgotten, and to remind ourselves that no matter the length of time, we can barely name a fraction of the victims,” Slobodkin said. David Major ’20, whose
grandparents were in the Holocaust — one in Auschwitz and both losing five siblings — signed up for the last slot: 8:30 p.m. on April 12. “I think it’s hard to comprehend six million dead,” explained Major. “It’s simply too big a number to really understand, so ceremonies like these help us understand and better mourn the dead.” Many did not anticipate how impactful the name reading would be, according to Blitz. “If I stood there and said there were 150,000 prisoners in the Plaszow camp, it would have been difficult to say,” explained Blitz. “But I stood there and read the name ‘Sarah Finkelstein,’ who died in Plaszow at age 8 in 1944, and that was devastatingly poignant. My father’s cousin was in Plaszow. Maybe he knew Sarah, or her parents. Maybe he thought about this little girl years later when he named his own daughter Sarah. These are not just victims, they were family members and friends who deserve dignity in death.” Slobodkin explained that she hoped the commemoration would have a tangible effect. A survey by The New York Times found that the Holocaust is fading from memory, that a lack of basic knowledge of what happened is more pronounced among millennials. “The scale of this tragedy is unfathomable and a haunting reality,” said Slobodkin. “I hope that this demonstration helps to replace the numbers with the individuals.”
T HE DA ILY
Revealing the truth, one news story at a time.
Friday April 13, 2018
The Daily Princetonian
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McGhee: We are thrilled to have such a motivated, socially conscious, and eloquent speaker
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BOOKER Continued from page 1
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the service of humanity. “I am proud of all the work accomplished by the Class Day co-chairs and worked with them closely,” wrote president of the senior class Brandon McGhee ’18. “I am confident that Senator Booker will deliver a captivating speech that empowers and inspires us all as we prepare for life after graduation.” Booker is a Rhodes Scholar who studied United States history at the University of Oxford. After-
wards, he received a J.D. at Yale Law School in 1997. Booker has been in the Senate since his election in 2013 and currently sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and the Committee on Environment and Public Works. Prior to his Senate career, Booker served as a member of Newark’s city council. Beginning in 2006 and up until his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as mayor of Newark. “We are so excited to
have our own senator, Cory Booker, as our Class Day speaker,” McGhee told the Office of Communications. “We are thrilled to welcome such a motivated, socially conscious and eloquent individual who has dedicated his career to bettering the lives of Americans as an honorary class member of the Great Class of 2018.” Class Day will take place the day before Commencement and will be held on Cannon Green unless severe weather necessitates a move into the University Chapel. The ceremony will begin with the class procession at 10 a.m.
Hotchkiss: Steps are being taken to prevent future sprinkler failures HOLDER Continued from page 1
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figuring out how I’m getting to my class, but I have to leave 30 minutes early from Forbes to get to class instead of 15 minutes early from Rocky,” Eagan said. Meanwhile, Michael Psenka ’21 and his roommates were moved into a Residential Graduate Student suite in Witherspoon Hall, still located in Rockefeller. “The room was definitely a bit bigger, and I got used to [the room] being my new home fairly quickly,” Psenka said. Now that they are back in their original rooms, the students said they are glad to once again be a part of the Rockefeller community. “We missed Holder a lot,” Eagan said. “Especially the
Rocky Staff and the personnel.” “I’m definitely going to miss my old room, but by the time I came back to [Holder] this past weekend, I really felt the nostalgia f low back from the start of the year and it just feels more like home,” Psenka explained. Along with being back in the community, the students are also appreciating the renovated parts of entryway four and their rooms. “They redid the f loors, so we don’t get splinters anymore,” Eagan said with a chuckle. “They also repainted the walls, and we got new doors.” “The f loorboards don’t creak anymore, which is wonderful,” Psenka added. According to Hotchkiss, the University is taking steps to prevent something
like this from happening again, both in Holder and anywhere else on campus. “The cause of the water f low from the sprinkler head hasn’t been determined,” Hotchkiss said. “However, several steps have been taken to address potential causes of such water f low.” Nearby sprinkler heads have been inspected for damage or failure, and shields are being installed around sprinklers at risk of being bumped into, which could prevent someone from accidentally setting one off. “The sprinkler system is fully inspected and tested once a year and undergoes additional inspections every three months,” said Hotchkiss, adding that the most recent full inspection and test was conducted in June of last year.
Friday April 13, 2018
Opinion
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Let’s be honest: the Panera shooting was a tragedy Nicholas Wu
opinion editor emeritus
M
y sister Maddie texted me at 10:41 a.m. “Don’t come to Nassau right now. There’s cops behind their cars with guns I can’t go outside.” Maddie was stuck in Frutta Bowls, perhaps the epitome of the safe, innocuous Princeton bubble, just a few doors down from Panera, where a man had just entered with what the police had assumed was a gun. Shops up and down Nassau Street were all locked down. Maddie was released after about an hour, but the standoff continued for the rest of the afternoon. For that first hour, there wasn’t much information about the standoff other than what I could find on Twitter, or the updates texted along by my sister. The initial reports of the ordeal entirely missed the mark, ranging from tweets about multiple shots in Panera, even to rumors that hostages had been taken. It didn’t help when I received an erroneously sent message from the University’s emergency
alert system ordering everyone to shelter in place after shots were fired in Panera. The armed standoff continued for several more hours, until the gunman was finally shot dead by police. And then it was all over, leaving us only with questions. So, what are we to make of that shooting? What actually happened in Panera that day is much more complicated that it first seemed. It wasn’t just an act of gun violence by a deranged man. Instead, it seems to be something much more tragic — and it shouldn’t be forgotten. By the time you read this column, you might already have seen the surveillance videos of Scott Mielentz’s death. We still don’t know a whole lot about his motives, or what actually led him to enter the Panera that one day, but we do know how it all ended — he was shot dead by police. The State Attorney General’s Office has been rather reluctant to release any details about the shooting, other than the video showing the police shooting Mielentz as he raised a weapon at them. Yet, we do know that Mielentz was only holding a BB gun, not a real gun, when police shot him dead, only adding to the tragedy.
What makes this particular episode interesting, though, and why I say that it’s more than a simple act of gun violence, is that no other people were injured during the incident. Mielentz released all of the customers and staff from Panera and did not fire on anyone. He had a BB gun, not a real gun. And when you dig into the details of Mielentz’s life, things get even stranger. Some outlets have speculated that his actions were spurred by financial trouble. According to documents obtained by centraljersey. com, he had recently filed for bankruptcy, and was in arrears with the Social Security Administration. Yet, still others speculated that this was an outburst of PostTraumatic Stress Disorder. His attorney had written in documents that Mielentz had been an Army veteran in the Rangers serving in Laos, now suffering from PTSD, but that story doesn’t hold up. The earliest he could have enlisted in the military was in 1979. The Vietnam War ended in 1975. So, what we’re left with is simply more questions, and it’s incumbent on good journalists to dig further, and for the State Attorney General’s office to release more information on
the exact circumstances of the shooting on March 20. For our community’s part, Princeton seems to want to sweep the memory of the shooting away. A window was shot out in the Panera on the day of the shooting; it was replaced by evening the next day, as I walked by. And then a week later, Panera reopened, as if nothing had ever happened. “We remodeled,” read a cheery sign outside the storefront read. So how should we remember this? A few days after the shooting, someone scrawled a message in chalk outside Panera: “[Y]et all he wanted was one last cup of coffee. Asked everyone to leave so he wouldn’t hurt anyone and could have a cup in peace.” Perhaps he was an individual out of touch with the world — a lonely person with whom we can sympathize. Maybe he was just an individual striving for peace. Even if we never find out exactly what possessed Mielentz to walk into that Panera with a BB gun, we should see this day as it truly was — a tragedy — with him as the victim. Nicholas Wu is a senior in the Wilson School from Grosse Pointe Shores, Mich. He can be reached at nmwu@princeton. edu.
My mother and me: Not part of the Tiger Club Lucy Chuang
Contributing Columnist
M
en are dessert. Healthy body, healthy mind. Never walk home alone in the dark. You are stronger than you believe. A smile is a sharp knife. Don’t pick a ripe banana off of the grocery store shelf. Your car keys are in your jeans from yesterday. You will be okay.
These are some commandments that mothers always share with their daughters — rooted in personal frameworks constructed of social experiences and cultural identities. The catapult into womanhood often launches girls into a harrowing trainwreck of all things disgusting, and when teetering along the tightrope of womanhood, girls often (but not always) look to their mothers for the support and guidance they need to come into their own skin. My mother is no different. Except for the fact that she’s a “tiger mom.” To clarify, I hate that word. In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, I wanted to share my family’s narrative. I wanted to share how harmful a moniker like “tiger mom” can be in the context of understanding and accrediting the accomplishments of young Asian-American students in academic and social realms. Misjudging methods of parenting and superimposing boundaries on students based on stereotypes can contribute to the belief that Asian
Pacific Islander communities are without struggles, when in fact, they, like any other collective, face their own forms of scrutiny. People have questioned my credibility because they assume my work is the sole product of the dictator-esque regime my mother supposedly has on my life. They have insinuated that my mother is a soulless, apathetic woman who has nothing better to do than command the path of my education because it’s “in her nature.” They see an Asian-American girl going to Princeton next to a prim and proper mother and then ask if I ever got to “live my own life” by my terms. The answer is yes. My mother is no tiger mom; she’s simply Wen Yan Liang, my mama. She’s no different than any other mom who unflinchingly loves her child and sacrifices to meet their needs. She has instilled in me a desire to serve other people empathetically, a compassion for people with backgrounds unlike my own, a writer of stories for people who don’t have voices, and an unflinching fighter for civic justice. We fight like any mother and daughter over how late I get to go out at night (yes, I do get to go out), whether or not I can buy ripped skinny jeans, and which boys I’m allowed to date. We also celebrate each other endlessly. My mother raised me in a home rooted in conservative immigrant household values and static gender norms, but it was unlike the no-nonsense place that outsiders picture
as cold and baseless. Because the den of a tiger mom is a prison, where some poor Chinese-American kids are forced to study until the dawn breaks with a rope suspended from the ceiling that keeps their heads from falling over the pages, jerking back any victim from sleep. She didn’t believe in the “achievement/adjustment paradox” that dominated conversations after Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” broached national news because my mother couldn’t accept that a child would be able to succeed while feeling completely torn up inside. It could be because of her history as a daughter of a brain tumor victim, her own childhood that was shaped in seclusion. She decided raise my brother and me with understanding and the constant knowledge that we were loved. My mother is no tiger mom, she’s my mom. She’s human. She fled a small village in Northern China to come to America in pursuit of a dream with only $100 in her pocket. She’s been a janitor for a Georgia elementary school for eight years since she begged my dad to go into the workforce after she single handedly grappled two rambunctious toddlers only a year apart in age and she is a hopeless romantic who cries at the ending of any Hallmark movie. She once forced me to call 911 when my dad couldn’t handle a snake in our garage. Her story defines her, not a stereotype. When she had
my brother and me, she wanted the best possible life for us. Alongside my godmother and father, my mother taught my brother and me the discipline and work ethic that drove us to pursue our own dreams, without tightening nooses around our necks to study or completely secluding us from outside friendships. There were fights about grades and tests, but there were also fights about car privileges and party rights. My mother spearheaded the path I have taken, but she is by no means part of the club that most Asian -American women are forced into as a result of the “tiger mom” narrative. She has given me her own guidance that deviates from the strict confines of the angry Asian mom stereotype and instead formed the tight-knit relationship we share today. Seaweed will make your hair as black as ebony. You can be bent but never broken. Wear red for luck. Don’t be afraid to pay for a date. Work first, play later. Keep your feet warm or you will get sick. Water is more powerful than fire. Lucy Chuang is a first-year from Duluth, Ga. She serves as an assistant editor of Street. She can be reached at lmchuang@princeton.edu.
This month, the University observes Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. If you would like contribute to this monthlong conversation about AsianAmerican and Pacific-American culture, please email opinion@ dailyprincetonian.com.
vol. cxlii
editor-in-chief
Marcia Brown ’19 business manager
Ryan Gizzie ’19
BOARD OF TRUSTEES president Thomas E. Weber ’89 vice president Craig Bloom ’88 secretary Betsy L. Minkin ’77 treasurer Douglas J. Widmann ’90 Kathleen Crown William R. Elfers ’71 Stephen Fuzesi ’00 Zachary A. Goldfarb ’05 John Horan ’74 Joshua Katz Kathleen Kiely ’77 Rick Klein ’98 James T. MacGregor ’66 Alexia Quadrani Marcelo Rochabrun ’15 Richard W. Thaler, Jr. ’73 Lisa Belkin ‘82 Francesca Barber trustees emeriti Gregory L. Diskant ’70 Jerry Raymond ’73 Michael E. Seger ’71 Annalyn Swan ’73
142ND MANAGING BOARD managing editors Isabel Hsu ’19 Claire Lee ’19 head news editors Claire Thornton ’19 Jeff Zymeri ’20 associate news editors Allie Spensley ’20 Audrey Spensley ’20 Ariel Chen ’20 associate news and film editor Sarah Warman Hirschfield ’20 head opinion editor Emily Erdos ’19 associate opinion editors Samuel Parsons ’19 Jon Ort ’21 head sports editors David Xin ’19 Chris Murphy ’20 associate sports editors Miranda Hasty ’19 Jack Graham ’20 head street editor Jianing Zhao ’20 associate street editors Danielle Hoffman ’20 Lyric Perot ’20 digital operations manager Sarah Bowen ’20 associate chief copy editors Marina Latif ’19 Arthur Mateos ’19 head design editor Rachel Brill ’19 cartoons editor Tashi Treadway ’19 head photo editor Risa Gelles-Watnick ’21
NIGHT STAFF copy Natasha Thomas ’20 Susan Guo ’19 Minh Hoang ’19 Jeremy Nelson ’20 Jordan Allen ’20 chief associate copy editor Catherine Benedict ’20 Alexandra Wilson ’20 design Irina Liu ’21
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
T
o the Editor: Dining is an important part of student life at the University, and we understand that students feel strongly about their choices. That’s why the Board Plan Review Committee has been working for two years to devel-
Explanation of dining plan
op recommendations for campus dining options that meet the diverse needs of undergraduates. We’ve been listening to students throughout the process and continue to do so. The draft document that was the subject of a Daily Princetonian article on Thursday highlights some — but not
all — of the recommendations the committee has developed. We are eager to share more about our recommendations with students and continue to gather their feedback. The committee is holding three focus groups on the recommendations next week. For information, visit the commit-
tee’s website, https://boardplan. princeton.edu. On the site, students can also review an updated draft of the recommendations — which include plans for a reduced-cost option for co-op members — and submit feedback. We look forward to hearing from you.
Oliver Avens, Dean, Rockefeller College Smitha Haneef, Executive Director, Campus Dining Co-Chairs, Board Plan Review Committee
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Friday April 13, 2018
Opinion
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An always overriding risk: U.S. airstrikes in Syria and superpower nuclear war
Louis René Beres
Guest Columnist
“
Everything is very simple in war, but the simplest thing is still difficult.” — Carl von Clausewitz, On War With the Russian veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Syria’s latest use of chemical weapons, the United States no longer has any meaningful legal alternative to launching direct attacks upon President Bashar al-Assad’s vulnerable military assets. This is because our decentralized system of international law still generally requires “self-help” responses from major world powers. In this particular case, moreover, the United States is fully obligated (inter alia) under both the U.N. Charter and Genocide Convention to punish Syrian “crimes of war” and “crimes against humanity.” These imperative responses could take the tactical form of certain singular U.S. reprisals, or of more collaborative, alliance-based attacks. (The governing legal principle here, reaffirmed at the Nuremberg trials, is “Nullum crimen sine poena,” or “No crime without a punishment.”) Whichever path is selected, the actual use of armed forces must remain consistent with the controlling law of war, aka humanitarian international law.
More specifically, it must always be discriminate, proportionate and within the recognizable bounds of military necessity. But the key issues facing the U.S. in Syria are not narrowly legal ones. Rather, they concern our meeting both military and legal objectives without simultaneously being caught up in a nuclear war. Although it might first seem that any such prudential quandary is best left to the “experts,” there are no experts on the subject of nuclear war — whether inadvertent or deliberate. To wit, in mathematics and science, true probability estimates must always rest upon the discoverable frequency of pertinent past events. But here there are no “pertinent past events.” There exist literally no previous examples of a nuclear war. To clarify a point of contention, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not examples of a nuclear war, but of unilateral nuclear weapons used against expressly civilian targets in a wholly conventional war against a plainly non-nuclear adversary. Syria is another story altogether. Here, it is entirely possible that Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliberately deploy Russian soldiers to some of those areas likely to be targeted by the United States. In the aptly technical language of nuclear deterrence theory, any such deployment would be known as a “tripwire.” Correspondingly, the real purpose of these Russian troops would not
be to fight against the Americans, but rather to “trip” certain further escalations with the United States. It’s not that Putin would likely welcome any such escalation, but that he would plausibly expect this deployment to strengthen his overall deterrence posture in the region. As per Putin’s expected calculations, any such deployment would be presumptively “cost effective.” To be sure, it would represent a substantial gamble, and one that could quickly escalate out of control toward either an inadvertent or (in the murky later stages of conflict) a deliberate nuclear war. Beyond what we now already know about ascertainable probabilities in such unprecedented circumstances, there is presently no reliable way to figure out exactly, or even “probably,” how it would all end. Above all, this sobering inconclusiveness should be viewed as cautionary (a red flag) for both Putin and Trump. As for the Russian soldiers (remember them?), their only real function in such an inherently ambiguous scenario would be to die. They could serve no other more orthodox military function. Moreover, even if Putin does not explicitly add such a tripwire force, his already deployed S-400 advanced surface-to-air missile systems could elicit the very same perilous consequences. Because the Americans will strike these targets first, Russian military
personnel could still be among the very first casualties of a superpower military engagement in Syria. Then what? Quo vadis? Where should Trump and the United States go now? Insofar as Trump has already announced an irrevocable decision to use armed force — in part because he has no properly accessible diplomatic assets in an effectively leaderless Department of State — the president’s operational choices are readily foreseeable in Moscow. Precluding his earlier vaunted “element of surprise” (recall the election campaign?), President Trump’s residual policy options could lead inexorably to a direct U.S.-Russian military encounter. Among other “simple” things, the president’s most capable strategic thinkers (not tactical military planners) will need to work very quickly through the unimaginably complex dialectics of virtually all possible nuclear scenarios and outcomes. Can they possibly manage such staggering calculations in the total absence of historical experience or precedent? In essence, what will be needed here will be utterly exceptional intellectual skills, not in lieu of the usual operational talents, but in addition to them. Moreover, these complementary intellectual expectations would need to be satisfied prior to any actual U.S.-Russian engagements, and not anterior to them. Can Trump succeed at this very
the ‘real’ problem victor Guan ’21
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demanding level of analytic calculation? However we choose to answer, we need to bear one overarching thought in mind at all times. Potentially, we are betting the Republic on a duly successful outcome. The United States developed a cohesive nuclear strategy in the years following the Second World War. Scientists associated with Princeton and the Institute for Advanced Study, such as Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, played a fundamental role in devising American strategy. Professor Beres was first introduced to arcane issues of national nuclear strategy during his Princeton years, 1967-71. Louis René Beres was educated at Princeton and is the author of twelve major books and several hundred articles dealing with nuclear strategy and nuclear war. Some of his pertinent writings have appeared in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists; The New York Times; The Jerusalem Post; Israel Defense; The Atlantic; Yale Global Online; Harvard National Security Journal; International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence; International Security (Harvard); Oxford University Press and World Politics (Princeton). Dr. Beres’ newest book is Surviving Amid Chaos: Israel’s Nuclear Strategy (Rowman & Littlefield, 2016 (2nd ed. 2018). In December 2016, Professor Beres coauthored a monograph (Tel Aviv University) on nuclear strategy matters with U.S. General (USA/ ret.) Barry McCaffrey.
Sports
Friday April 13, 2018
page 6
{ www.dailyprincetonian.com } W O M E N ’ S W AT E R P O L O
Water polo sweeps four weekend matches By Paige Thompson Staff Writer
This past weekend was a thrilling one for the Princeton women’s water polo team as CWPA conference play got underway at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool. The No. 11 Princeton Tigers (17–7) took a full sweep of the season’s first league tournament, defeating the No. 13 Indiana Hoosiers (24–7), the St. Francis College Red Flashes (12–14), No. 12 Hartwick Hawks (27–9), and No. 9 Michigan Wolverines (27–8). The Tigers look to finish out league play this weekend at DeNunzio Pool with four CWPA matches to secure a top seed in the Northeast Water Polo Conference championship. Coming into the weekend, the Tigers faced a tough uphill battle. A month ago, Princeton lost to Hartwick in a hardfought heartbreaker, 13–12, at their home pool. That same day, long-time rival Michigan Wolverines crushed the Tigers 13–4. However, this weekend, the Tigers were clawing for revenge. The team upset No. 13 Indiana, 10–8, led by three goals and three assists from sophomore attacker Amy Castellano. After a 15–7 win against St. Francis Brooklyn later that day, Princeton recharged for the following day. The Tigers first took on Hartwick, and much like their first showing a month earlier, the teams fought back and forth the entire game, with neither team ever leading by more than one goal. With strong offensive outputs from senior utility Haley Wan, with four goals, and junior attacker Eliza Britt, with three goals, the team was able to hold off Hartwick to win 14–12. Then came the sensation-
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Water polo wraps up regular season play this weekend. Pictured above is senior Haley Wan.
al double overtime thriller against Michigan. Freshman goalie Marissa Webb had an outstanding game with 15 stops, shutting down Michigan’s forceful counter-attack many times. The teams entered overtime tied 7–7, but neither team was able to capitalize, leading to a sudden-death second overtime. A pass into set to senior center Chelsea Johnson proved fruitful. Johnson faked and rolled to score the Tigers’ eighth goal, smashing Michigan’s 20-game win streak and 24-game CWPA win streak. Head coach Becca Dorst commented on the weekend’s performance and looked forward to next weekend. “After this weekend, I think we were able to see that there are a lot of things we are doing well, but there are still things we need to fix. We went from being ranked as one of the lowest teams in our conference in
the beginning of season to one of the top teams in one weekend; it will be hard to avoid the target we now have on our back, but I think that is also one of the best ways to test the character of our group… we get the opportunity to put it all on the line again [this weekend],” she said. Britt added that she is proud of the team for this past tournament. “I think last weekend’s success showed our team what we are really capable of, and it was the confidence boost we needed going into this weekend and post-season. No team is ever unbeatable, and our win over Michigan reminded of us of that,” she said. Now 4–0 on conference play, on Saturday, Princeton faces George Washington at 11 a.m. and Brown at 7:30 p.m. The team finishes regular season play on Sunday with Harvard
at 10:30 a.m. and Bucknell at 3:30 p.m. The Tigers defeated George Washington twice 14–6 and 15–11 earlier this season, and took down Brown 13–7 as well. They have not yet played Harvard nor Bucknell. “This weekend’s hardest opponent will probably be Harvard. The Harvard vs. Princeton rivalry runs deep, and even though we have not lost to them since I have been at Princeton, they always put up a good fight and show up to compete,” commented Britt on the Harvard rivalry for this upcoming weekend. Dorst added that she believes the team has been developing well over the season. “We are really settling into playing together as a group and that is something we will continue to focus on in the next three weeks… We have grown so much over the last
few months. While we have definitely improved in the water, I think some of our biggest developments have come from the friendships and trust that’s come from outside of practice,” said Dorst. Wan leads the Tigers in goals and steals with 52 and 48, respectively. Junior utility Lindsey Kelleher leads the team with 34 assists and is second on the team in goals, with 40. Johnson has the most ejections drawn, at 39, and is third on the team in goals. Webb holds 220 saves so far. “This weekend is our last opportunity to practice against another opponent before championship season, so it will be important to execute what we have been working on in practice and take advantage of a high-intensity environment,” remarked Britt on going into postseason after this weekend.
MEN’S BASEBALL
Men’s baseball team takes on Penn to kick off Ivy League stretch By Tom Salotti Staff Writer
Baseball (4–2, Ivy League) faces the Quakers (3–5–1) this Friday and Saturday at Clarke Field as the Tigers look to maintain their footing in the Ivy League. Despite their sweeping loss to Penn last year, the Tigers are going into this weekend’s series, one game Friday and a double-header on Saturday, with confidence. Currently No. 2 in the Ivy League with a conference record of 4–2, Princeton has its “three starting pitchers ready to go,” and a “fully rested” bullpen, according to Head Coach Scott Bradley. Still, the Penn Quakers could repeat their sweep of Princeton this weekend, and the Tigers know it. “This will be a very important weekend,” said Bradley. “[A] hard fought, tough series.” Last weekend the Tigers took two of three games against Brown. Winning the double header on Saturday, 7–4 and 4–3, respectively, Princeton fell short of the sweep on Sunday and lost 12–0.
The week before that the team won two out of three against Cornell at home. Winning two of three is a working strategy for the Tigers, who are treating their games against their Ivy League opponents as “seven little mini playoff series,” according to Bradley. Winning two out of three each weekend could mean a shot at the Ivy Championship. After this weekend, Princeton will host Harvard on Tuesday and Wednesday, a result of their original games being canceled due to inclement weather. Then the Tigers are off to New York to face Columbia next Saturday and Sunday. Including this weekend’s games, Princeton is playing nine matches in ten days. “[These] next ten games are going to dictate the season,” said Bradley. “Play[ing] nine league games over a ten-day span is something that I’ve never had to deal with in my 21 years.” One reason for this challenge is the new conference format for Ivy League baseball. Up until now, the Ivy League was split into two divisions — the (Lou)
Tweet of the Day “Congratulations to Michael Sowers, the nation’s leader in assists per game, on being named to the USILA Team Of The Week for the second time this season.” Princeton Lacrosse (@ TigerLacrosse)
Gehrig Division and the (Red) Rolfe Division. Each school would play four games against each team in their division and two games against teams outside of their division, for a total of 20 conference games. The winners of each division would then faceoff in the Ivy League Baseball Championship Series, with the victor advancing to the NCAA tournament. But things have changed. The two conference divisions were eliminated, and now every Ivy League school plays a three-game set against each of the others, for a total of 21 games. There will still be a Championship series, played between the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams. This change has not go down well with Bradley. “I’m not crazy about it, to be real honest,” the coach said. “If you have a bad weekend in there somewhere, you may not have an opportunity to get back in the race.” When combined with the unpredictable weather of New Jersey, the new conference format has not treated the Tigers well.
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The Tigers are scheduled to face Penn, Harvard, and Columbia this coming week. Pictured above is junior Alex Dickinson.
“We had to start the Ivy League season a week earlier than normal,” Bradley lamented.
Stat of the Day
1 goal
Cat Caro ‘17 recorded her first international goal with the US National Field Hockey Team against Chile on Wednesday.
“The weather has really impacted everything that’s gone on,” he said, making it tough for the team to have a rhythm.”
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