ContemporaryVirginian

Sending Offensive Weapons to Ukraine: Will it change the war? It is clear that Trump has no more patience with Vladmir Putin. I am generally more skeptical of America than I used to be in the past. I was one of those Americans who wanted to give Russia and Putin a fair chance, however, I have always been an American first but I wanted us not to waste our money on wars that we do not need to spending our time on. However, I am not idealist like those many citizens in the 1910s who believed in Woodrow Wilson's War to End All Wars. It is clear that man is too greedy or too ambitious to have peace with nations of the globe. Russia and Ukraine's war with each other has been going on for three years and it looks like there is no end in sight. Russia has concerns for sure on the issue of Ukraine. The country is filled to the brim with radicals and mercenaries. The government is unwavering and uses any tactic to attack Russians. The Russian government has been dragging its feet for yea...

  Regal Stadium 14 is the only theater in my local area until you get to Centreville. Ever since the Manassas movie theater closed this year, the Regal Stadium 14 at Virginia Gateway Promenade has been getting many customers. I have been in the theater many times on the Promenade. It is a special place for me as I watched many movies in there. As a Movie theater, it is unique among many modern establishments in the United States. Unlike most multiplexes in the United States, it located in a promenade. This is a place which lined with shops and restaurants. This gives the theater lots of synergy with other establishments; unlike the Manassas theater at Parkview Plaza, this one is going to be getting more prosperity in the future as many people are going there to watch films now. Warrenton does not have a movie theater neither does Manassas so everyone is going to be converging on Gainesville. Regal Stadium 14 was always crowded in comparison with the Manassas theater that was once t...

Ten Tips on How to save money and live better on less than 100,000 Dollars in Northern Virginia in 2025 Northern Virginia is among one of the most expensive places in America. It is home to three wealthy counties, Loudon, Fairfax and Arlington. These are the nerve centers of America's government and have transformed a sleepy region of family farms and small towns into an urban behemoth that is one of the leading areas in information technology. There are many great areas that offer reasonable public transit, which is quite an anomaly in the rest of the country outside the Northeast Corridor. They are also a variety of groceries stores such as H-Mart and Lotte in Korean enclaves such as Centreville. This makes the region more culturally interesting which differentiates from other parts of the country. While it can create a sense of alienation at times, the region has some strong ethnic enclaves that help to give people another perspective on how to organize their societies. However,...

  Hezbollah joined the war against Isreal on October 8th, 2023, just a day after Hamas' attacks on the government from the Gaza Strip. They did not full commit to the war however, deciding to spend their time firing missiles at the country but not sending troops into Northern Isreal. The organization spent the better of a whole year attacking the country with missiles.  In September 2024, Israel upped the ante and set off bombs by sending signals to pagers. Many Hezbollah commanders were killed by the bombs and the war escalated as Hezbollah sought to get reclaim the initiative here.  Hezbollah would fight vigorously as Israel invaded Lebanon in early October 2024. However, the damage caused by the pager attacks had been done. In November 2024, Hezbollah signed a ceasefire with the Israelis. Within days, President Bashar Al-Assad was overthrown in Syria and a terrorist commander known as Julani took power in the legendary city of Damascus.  Hezbollah's blood that it ...

Five Guys: Burger and Fries is a premium fast food burger restaurant that began in Arlington, Virginia in the 1990s. Northern Virginia is my home region, and I used to consider them to be one of the best burger restaurants that wasn't a mom and pop or an incredibly expensive hipster area. However, it is clear  that it is not healthy .  That is obvious. It is a great food if you are working a lot and burning calories right after eating but as a meal one could be a fan eating week after week, you need to be exercising caution. This is not a restaurant you should eating at weekly unless you cut down on the calories in your meals. The issue with Five Guys is simply that there is alot of grease with their meals. This is deliberate, helping give them a distinctive taste.  Five Guys  is more of a premium burger place but it's not like Shake Shack  where the focus is more on clean eats. This is a classic calorie-increasing burger joint, and they are not afraid of it. Ho...

Luckin Coffee and the Cashierless Experience: Will Starbucks Fall to greater Efficency?  Luckin Coffee is already offering cheaper coffees than Starbucks. How do they achieve this? By having a Cashierless experience. The Cashier job still has millions of positions across America. It had its modern beginnings in the late 19th Century with the invention of the cash register, allowing for store owners to have easy access to a machine to count the day's earnings in sales without needing to constantly keep track of everything. As time when on, they merged with the rising power and efficiency of integrated circuits, allowing for the creation of POS(Point of Sale) systems. Being a cashier had never been easier, except for many youths who were unable to count the change.  Luckin Coffee, much like many upscale retail experiences in China is being driven by the fact that China is young when it comes to selling Coffee. China for many centuries was a tea drinking civilization and coffee o...

  It seems that the Gaza War that began on October 7th, 2023 is going to coming to a conclusion. After almost two years of endless bombings, ambushes and attacks, the people of Gaza and Israel will now have some peace. That peace is of course fragile and we are not sure that it is going to hold here. We have seen this show before. We had the November 2023 Ceasefire under Biden, which broken down very quickly. We had the January to March 2025 ceasefire which broken down again.  Apparently, we are getting yet another ceasefire today on America's Fourth of July Holiday. The Qataris are urgently working with Hamas to get them to agree to the ceasefire and also release hostages. In exchange, many Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli detention centers. What awaits Hamas when there is actual peace in Gaza? Ideally in the Western view, they should disarm. However, considering that Isreal was still having men killed in the ground operation in Gaza in recent days. Hamas w...

Luckin Coffee has begun opening stores in America and there is one aspect that should leave Starbucks quacking in their boots; it is the cost of the coffee. According to CNA , Luckin Coffees can go for as little as 99 cents. The Cost of a Starbucks Coffee starts at around 3 to 4 dollars. However, many of their more premium coffees can cost around $10 dollars. You have seen that person, the one that overly customizes their coffee like they were buying an expensive house. Starbucks is a status symbol in America, or it used to be in the 1980s and 1990s. Now, its more of a cherry on top experience for the upper middle class who apparently who can afford to customize their coffees. Luckin is going to be providing value to Americans. Starbucks in some newspapers before 2000 used to call it "Designer Coffee". That is how many Chinese in Shanghai and Beijing used to think about it. Starbucks is too expensive and has diluted its brand by trying to be too many things. I admit, they mak...

 School Choice is better than no Choice When I went to public school, I just went to what was in my zip code. My parents generally did not pay attention to the specific school and just went along with what was in the area. If I had been in my parent's shoes, I would have been looking at the schools like a hawk and making the choice as to which one to choose for them. Some people in our country believe that we shouldn't be able to do so. They even dislike homeschooling even though this how people used to teach children before the Prussians imposed their short-sighted education system on the West. It is time for a change in country here. People should be allowed to pick what school their kids go to. If their kid has a desire for art, then they should be allowed to go to a particular school which focuses on that. Instead of forcing all these people together to stand in front of bureaucrats who are more there for a paycheck then to accomplish anything great, aspiring students will ...

 Serbia Protests: A Rural Country Aching for Change The images above represent a country on the precipice of change twice. Serbia on the left was changing as result of its independence from the Ottomans and becoming a Sovereign nation. That change was not as transformation as some of the modernizing elites in Belgrade may have wanted it to be.  The Serbian Protests that have been rocking the country since late 2024 have continued to grow. While many Russian websites are attempting to see if the Serbian President can stave off the situation by calling elections and then building support with his political parties in Serbia. Serbia seeks to sit on two chairs. The President is not able to fulfill the desires of the people. Many students, who are yearning for an entrance into greater Europe have had enough. Many Russians say that they are being propped up from outside; I agree with this somewhat. However, Serbia is currently having many issues trying to grow its economy. Many yout...