5 Must Watch Videos on YouTube
You never get bored with YouTube
This week I am continuing with my YouTube recommendation series and will talk about some must-watch YouTube videos on the topic of International Affairs.
All my recommendations are from VOX and Johnny Harris. VOX is a media outlet that apart from hard-hitting journalism, makes really great content on YouTube. You might have seen their Explained series on Netflix. Johnny Harris is an independent content creator who has made some amazing videos for VOX in the past, some of which I am going to recommend here.
1. VOX — The rise of ISIS
Remember the time when there was a major crisis in Syria and Iraq due to the rise of ISIS? Even though everyone was talking & writing about it, I couldn’t find any decent article or videos that explained the entire situation. How ISIS rose? Who was fighting whom? How it all started and what were the motives of different parties involved. While I was searching the internet for all these answers I stumbled upon this video by VOX on YouTube, and It had all the answers. It is of very high production quality with amazing animations, sound, and motion graphics. If you want to understand the rise of ISIS then you should definitely check this video out.
2. Johnny Harris — How The US Stole The Middle East
Johnny Haris started this series called “How The US Stole…” this year where he takes us back in time and talks about the US’s historic foreign policies and how it managed to steal land from different countries using its economic and military influence.
Johnny has released 4 videos in the series so far and I really like How The US Stole The Middle East video. One really interesting thing that I learned after watching the video is, how one of the major beneficiaries of the US’s middle east presence was a guy named Mohammad who was Osama Bin Laden’s father. Check out this video to understand how the US established its military and economic presence in The Middle East.
3. VOX — It’s time to draw borders on the Arctic Ocean
This video is from VOX’s Borders series where they tell stories of Borders. Yes, you heard it right, Borders. They try to tell stories of what happens when you draw a line on a map. According to Johnny the video creator of the series borders are interesting places and each one has a unique human story around it. The series does really good at capturing these stories through short documentaries.
I really like the arctic episode where they try to figure out who really owns arctic? How countries are using strategies like running a money-losing coal mine on an island just so that they can influence this region which is nothing but a frozen ocean.
4. Johnny Harris — International Date Line Explained
This is an explainer video about the international dateline. It explains how if you take a flight to New Zealand from Hawaii on Monday evening by the time you land in New Zealand you would have changed the date twice and landed on a Wednesday morning in just a 9-hour flight.
It was interesting to learn the notch we see on the international dateline is the result of some tiny island’s decision to stay on the east of the international dateline rather than on the west.
5. VOX — Why China is building islands in the South China Sea
The World’s 30% of ship traffic passes through the south china sea and it contains a lot of oil and natural gas resources. Naturally, China and the surrounding 6 countries want to lay claim to this region.
This video by VOX explains how China is building a lot of man-made islands and building military bases on those islands to lay claim to this resource-rich and strategically important sea region.
