Today we viewed an episode from the latter part of season 2 of "Servant of the People." Zelenskyy's, character, President Goloborodko is onto the corruption that has influenced the Ukrainian government, from the interference of the oligarchs, to bribery of government officials. These last few episodes will change Ukrainian and world history.

A business oligarch is generally a business magnate who controls sufficient resources to influence national politics. In "Servant of the People," the issue of oligarchs and their connection to many Eastern European governments was introduced. A group of oligarchs think that they may have control over Ukraine's new president (Zelenskyy) as they have in the past. Even a business group might be defined as an oligarchy. Oligarchs are the largest private owners in the country and they possess sufficient political power to promote their own interests. Oligarchs control multiple businesses, which intensively coordinate their activities. Prior to Zelenskyy, there were oligarchs controlling much of the Ukrainian .

Today, we viewed most of the first episode of Zelenskyy's hit TV show, "Servant of the People." It's a comedy, but it has a lot to say about political corruption in Ukraine. The show is about a history teacher (Zelenskyy) who "accidentally" becomes president of the Ukraine. Despite the subtitles, Kaitlin said she enjoyed it. It is so sad to see how beautiful the Ukraine was before this horrible war. As we know, life imitated art quite a bit because this show spawned the creation of a political party called, "Servant of the People" and Zelenskyy's popularity, combined with the message in the program led to him becoming president of Ukraine. We obviously won't be viewing all episodes, but Kaitlin would like to view some more of it to get a better understanding of Ukraine. The finale of the program broke viewership records in Ukraine and changed the course of Ukrainian history. We will be sure to see that episode by the end of the week.

Kaitlin was absent for 4th period today.

Why has Putin waged war against Ukraine? Many historians and political scientists believe much of the motives are related to geographic history. Ukraine and much of Eastern Europe was part of an area of Russia known as The Pale of Settlement from 1791 - 1918. After WWII, this region was controlled by the USSR, falling behind the Iron Curtain. Today this region comprises Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, parts of Eastern Poland and Romania, as well as a small part of western Russia. There is justifiable concern that Putin wants these lands back - even though the USSR collapsed in 1991. In 2014, Russia invaded Ukraine and took the Crimean Peninsula on the Black Sea and has held it since then. The Ukraine is also the largest country in Europe (just a small portion of Russia is in Europe - the rest is in Asia) with a variety of natural resources Putin may also want to control.

Did you know that Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was once considered the "Tom Hanks of the Ukraine?" In 2015, Zelenskyy wrote for and starred in the television series "Servant of the People," where he played the role of the president of Ukraine. In the series, Zelenskyy's character was a high-school history teacher who won the presidential election after a viral video showed him ranting against government corruption in Ukraine. In March 2018, a new political party emerged in Ukraine. It was called "Servant of the People" – the same name as the television program that Zelenskyy had starred in over the previous 3 years. Kaitlin is enthusiastic to see what Zelenskyy and Kyiv were like before this horrific war.

We are going to begin a unit on Russia's war against Ukraine. After learning about Alexei Navalny yesterday, today's lesson was a brief overview of Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He's accomplished a lot at only 45. Most people don't know that he was a very talented former comedian and actor before becoming the 6th president of Ukraine in 2019. He also has a law degree! Born to a Ukrainian Jewish family, he descends from Holocaust survivors. He is married to his college sweetheart and they have 2 young children. Zelenskyy is an inspiring person and leader and we will be focusing more on him and the war in future classes.

Navalny is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption activist. He has organized anti-government demonstrations and run for office to advocate reforms against corruption in Russia, and against president Vladimir Putin and his government, who avoids referring directly to Navalny by name.
In August 2020, Navalny was hospitalized in serious condition after being poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent. He became seriously ill as a passenger on an airplane. He was medically evacuated to Berlin and discharged a month later. Navalny accused Putin of being responsible for his poisoning, and an investigation implicated agents from the Federal Security Service In January 2021, Navalny returned to Russia and was immediately detained on accusations of violating parole. Following his arrest, mass protests were held across Russia. In February 2021, his suspended sentence was replaced with a prison sentence of over two and half years' detention. In March 2022, Navalny was sentenced to an additional nine years in prison after being found guilty of embezzlement and contempt of court in a new trial described as a sham by Amnesty International; his appeal was rejected and in June, he was transferred to a high-security prison.

Material culture refers to the physical objects that the people of a certain culture make and use. Popular examples include tools, artwork, buildings, and weapons. The phrase material culture is used to describe the opposite of non-material culture. Non-material culture refers to ideas, rules, laws, and other parts of culture that are not physical items that can be touched and saved. Material culture objects leave behind items from which we can study and learn about the people of the past. Sociologists use these materials to study and record history. Thus, material culture items are important because they can survive even after all the people of the culture have died.

The five most spoken languages in the world today are English, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, and French, in descending order. Mandarin and Hindi are so widely spoken because the countries where they are natively spoken, China and India respectively, are the most populous on Earth. One reason Spanish, French, and English are known by so many is because of the past colonial efforts of those languages' homelands. English is the most spoken language of them all not only because of the international colonization, but also the rapid development of technology that allowed English to become a highly demanded and, in some places, needed language of economic and cultural commerce. In current events, there was a meeting this week between President Biden and South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol. The two leaders unveiled the "Washington Declaration" which outlines steps to boost US and South Korean cooperation on military issues.