Amidst the various staggering developments that have dominated the news cycle in just the first month of the new year, a quiet storm has been brewing right under the noses of the world’s great powers. Although the conflict in which … Continue reading
Oliver Scott-Hansen
Oliver "Ollie" Scott-Hansen is an undergraduate student at McGill University studying history and Russian language, hailing from just outside New York City, yet maintaining similarly strong ties to his familial heritage in north and central Italy. He joined the Catalyst team in Fall 2024 as a staff writer, something he enjoys doing as a hobby as well. With a particularly vested interest in Eastern Europe, the post-USSR world, and the Russo-Ukrainian war, coupled with his various connections throughout the global international relations space, Ollie reports on issues throughout the world that mostly center around key geopolitical developments in contentious places mostly involving war/conflict, and domestic affairs within the United States. He has experience mainly reporting from Telegram, carefully analyzing the Russian Invasion of Ukraine through his updates forum there, but also spends considerable amounts of his free time glued to maps and statistics trying to make sense of the crazy world that surrounds our day-to-day lives.
Looking Back: Syria One Year Post-Assad
Imagine having a 15 to 1 advantage, and you still lose.
That’s how some people described what happened to Bashar Al-Assad’s Syrian regime when it was rapidly overrun by rebel factions in December 2024. While those exact odds are an … Continue reading
Trump’s Ukraine Strategy: Don’t Make One
Covering the Russo-Ukrainian War, or even fully understanding it, is not an easy task. Even for me, someone who has been sifting through niche Telegram channels and combing every piece of media coverage there is to offer, I still find … Continue reading
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Indonesia’s Brand New Capital
Aiming to be the nation’s green city of tomorrow, Nusantara’s construction has already had, and will continue to have, significant environmental impacts.
Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, has been bearing the burden of climate change and overcrowding for quite some time. … Continue reading
Too Numb to the Pain: Hurricane Damage in Southwestern Florida
I had been preparing for the worst, but I was stunned to see that the island was mostly intact.
In early October of 2024, I watched from afar as Hurricane Milton slammed into Florida. While news of these catastrophic events … Continue reading
Corruption and the Facade of a Strong Russia
For most people living in the Western world, Russia has historically been seen as a competitor, an adversary, or an angrily dissatisfied state. Whether that be the Soviet Union during the Cold War, or the modern-day Russian Federation under President … Continue reading
Jungle War: The Guyanese Defense Strategy to Stop Venezuela
Caught between Venezuela’s revisionist dictatorship and Guyana’s fastest-growing economy in the world, lies the Essequibo region; a resource-rich yet incredibly sparsely populated territory in South America. Recently, oil was discovered off the coast of Essequibo; as such, the importance of … Continue reading
A Faltering New Axis Formed: North Korea VS Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022, surprised many. Yet, those living in the Western world seem to have forgotten about the conflict until now, for very good reasons. Kim Jong-un, the so-called “Supreme Leader” … Continue reading
One Country One System: Warnings From Hong Kong
On July 1st, 1997, the United Kingdom handed over the crown jewel of its last remaining overseas possessions, that being Hong Kong, to China, as they had previously agreed in the past. However, although widely supported by both parties, this … Continue reading