Taya Weiss

How to Change the World, One Fun Weekend at a Time

TLWadmin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:55:10 +0000

This article was published as a feature in Parachutist Magazine, December 2011 issue.

Skydiving changes our lives, and in turn we can use skydiving to change the world. As beginners, we look at the…

October 28, 2007

TLWadmin — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:31:29 +0000

Eric “tonto” Stephenson’s Logbook Jump No.: 5314
Date: Sunday, 28 October 2007
Location: JSC
Equipment: Velocity 84
Aircraft: Porter ZS-IHB
Altitude: 11,000 feet
Type Jump: AFF
Freefall Time: 48 seconds

Sunday dawns clear in…

Wingsuit Formation Presentation (IPC)

TLWadmin — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 16:37:32 +0000

I used Scribd to share my PowerPoint presentation – some of the formatting is lost, but here it is.

WWG_Presentation13x10//

Flying to Inspire: Raise the Sky’s 2009 68-way Wingsuit Formation Record

TLWadmin — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 11:34:53 +0000

For the pdf with full photo layout of this article, click: Flying to Inspire 01-10

By Taya Weiss, Parachutist, January 2010

There are two lingering images from the U.S. national wingsuit record set on November 11 at Skydive Elsinore in…

From Mercenaries to Market: Africa and PMCs

TLWadmin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:45:17 +0000

I contributed a chapter, along with my co-author Angela McIntyre, to the book “Weak Governments in Search of Strength: Africa’s experience of mercenaries and private military companies”, edited by Simon Chesterman and Chia Lenhardt, From Mercenaries to Market: The Rise and Regulation of Private Military Companies, London: Oxford University Press, 2007. The book is available in paperback on Amazon.com. The chapter seeks to illustrate change and continuity in the use of private force on the African continent, and argues that Private Military Companies (PMCs) are sometimes used to safeguard commercial interests that are the very source of discontent in local politics, leading to complications in regulation at the nexus of states, multinational corporations, and exploitation of natural resources.

South Africa’s Nuclear Future

TLWadmin — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 20:04:20 +0000

Attempting to enrich uranium through the development of domestic centrifuge technology would be neither cost effective nor well received in the international arena. South Africa should choose alternatives that promote multilateralism and transparency, such as collaborating with an established enrichment program or investing jointly in a potentially much more proliferation-resistant enrichment technology such as Argentina’s SIGMA. Additionally, South Africa should take a farsighted view towards supporting international institutions that would curb the proliferation of costly, inefficient, and risky domestic enrichment start-up programs. As the only economic and political powerhouse in Africa with deep nuclear experience, South Africa should be especially mindful of the costs involved with domestic centrifuge programs when the majority of South Africans do not have affordable access to electricity.

Provincial Reconstruction Teams

TLWadmin — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:55:49 +0000

Read the full policy report, “Provincial Reconstruction Teams: Lessons and Recommendations”, published by Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy in January 2008.

I was a contributing author.

Executive Summary

There are 50 Provincial Reconstruction…

South African Position on the US-India Nuclear Deal

TLWadmin — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 13:08:03 +0000

Read the full memo.

Beginning Excerpt:

To: Ambassador Leslie Gumbi, Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations in Vienna
From: Taya Weiss, MPA Candidate, International Relations, Princeton University
Subject: South African Position on the…

Protected: Home is Where the House is

TLWadmin — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 17:15:35 +0000

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

Home is Where the House Is

TLWadmin — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 13:21:06 +0000

So these politicians had the same vision I did: and in theirs, as in mine, the people who live there now are nowhere to be found. Over a hundred million rand (about 15 million US dollars) has been poured into the new Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication. The open field where the charter was originally signed, where kids used to play soccer and people used to dump their garbage, has been paved over. A new taxi rank building and a museum have been erected, and the street hawkers are being herded into stalls at the new indoor market and mall. Office space has been built and is now ready for occupation by “corporate NGOs” that have no roots in the neighborhood but like the idea of a flashy address in the township.