Muse

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-50
Author(s):  
barbara koenen

Muse is a personal investigation into the historical and contemporary correlations between pomegranates and hand grenades by the author, an artist based in the Midwest. The essay begins with her reminiscences of witnessing a red-stained feast of the “exotic” pomegranate that was hosted by a friend of Armenian descent; then it chronicles the fruit’s historical associations as a fertility and religious symbol in many cultures since ancient times and its cultivation, beginning in the Fertile Crescent and extending across Asia and into Europe and North America. Upon her realization that hand grenades are named after pomegranates, the author describes physical comparisons between the bomb and the fruit, provides a brief history of grenades and grenadiers, and then muses on the contemporaneous marketing campaigns for the War on Terror that paved the way for the 2003 United States invasion into Iraq, and for POM Wonderful beverages that “defy death” as an “Antioxidant Superpower™.” As the hyperbolic claims of both marketing campaigns were later debunked—Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction and pomegranate juice does not cure cancer—the essay concludes by noting a recent, modest investment by the US government into the cultivation and exporting of pomegranates in Afghanistan as a hopeful sign.

2005 ◽  
Vol 31 (S1) ◽  
pp. 3-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID ARMSTRONG ◽  
THEO FARRELL

This volume was produced in the context of the crisis of legitimacy that occasioned the 2003 Iraq War. As is well known, a bitter feud broke out in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) over the legality of using force against Iraq. The US government justified going to war in the context of a new doctrine of preventive use of force for self-defence – a doctrine that was soon named after President George W. Bush. The British government anchored its case for war in two previous UNSC resolutions; res. 678 which originally authorised use of force against Iraq in the 1990–91 Gulf War, and res. 687 which suspended res. 678 on a number of conditions including the disarming of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) stockpiles, facilities and programmes. Both the US and British positions were underpinned by intelligence, subsequently proved to be flawed, that Iraq had failed to get rid of its WMD. Opponents of the war disputed this intelligence and, moreover, argued that the Bush Doctrine was plain illegal and ridiculed the British idea of resurrecting twelve-year-old UNSC resolutions.


Author(s):  
Danylo Kravets

The aim of the Ukrainian Bureau in Washington was propaganda of Ukrainian question among US government and American publicity in general. Functioning of the Bureau is not represented non in Ukrainian neither in foreign historiographies, so that’s why the main goal of presented paper is to investigate its activity. The research is based on personal papers of Ukrainian diaspora representatives (O. Granovskyi, E. Skotzko, E. Onatskyi) and articles from American and Ukrainian newspapers. The second mass immigration of Ukrainians to the US (1914‒1930s) has often been called the «military» immigration and what it lacked in numbers, it made up in quality. Most immigrants were educated, some with college degrees. The founder of the Ukrainian Bureau Eugene Skotzko was born near Western Ukrainian town of Zoloczhiv and immigrated to the United States in late 1920s after graduating from Lviv Polytechnic University. In New York he began to collaborate with OUN member O. Senyk-Hrabivskyi who gave E. Skotzko task to create informational bureau for propaganda of Ukrainian case. On March 23 1939 the Bureau was founded in Washington D. C. E. Skotzko was an editor of its Informational Bulletins. The Bureau biggest problem was lack of financial support. It was the main reason why it stopped functioning in May 1940. During 14 months of functioning Ukrainian Bureau in Washington posted dozens of informational bulletins and send it to hundreds of addressees; E. Skotzko, as a director, personally wrote to American governmental institutions and foreign diplomats informing about Ukrainian problem in Europe. Ukrainian Bureau activity is an inspiring example for those who care for informational policy of modern Ukraine.Keywords: Ukrainian small encyclopedia, Yevhen Onatsky, journalism, worldview, Ukrainian state. Keywords: Ukrainian Bureau in Washington, Eugene Skotzko, public opinion, history of journalism, diaspora.


1987 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Hewitt

In the paper I seek to interpret modern warfare from the perspective of civil society and its geography. I emphasize the predicament of civilians who are subject to direct and deliberate armed assaults. Particular attention is given to enforced uprooting or removals of population, and to annihilation of urban places with weapons of mass destruction. Two case histories are explored, both taken from the last months of the Second World War. They are, the expulsion of German civilians from Eastern Europe, and the firebombing of Japanese cities, especially Tokyo. Damages and casualties are detailed. However, the main concern is to establish the composition, plight, and responses of civilian populations, and this includes their relation to national war efforts. It is concluded that the vast majority, because of gender, age, health, occupation, and class, were essentially marginal to, and little involved in, the war efforts of their respective states. This contrasts sharply with the assumptions or rhetoric of the theory of ‘total war’, and the practice of targetting civilians and nonmilitary areas. It is suggested that the majority of home populations remain civilians in the fullest sense of the term, even in wartime. From this it follows that assaults upon them by military forces are primarily strategies of terror, and that the ‘social space’ attacked is essentially civilian. Such uprootings and mass destruction of human settlements have, however, become an ever larger part of the war strategies, and the history of warfare, of most powers since 1945.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-32
Author(s):  
Emil Vlajki

The history of humanity is a history of rationality. As a result, mankind has progressed from the Stone Age to the era of modern medicine, genetics, computer science, robotics, and nanotechnology. The life span of a man in ancient times was about twenty years, and today, in highly developed societies, a man lives, on average, to eighty-six years. Advances in science and technology have not always had a positive impact. Suffice to say, the ongoing environmental problems that seriously affect humanity or, for example, the dietary problems that have resulted due to genetic manipulation. Scientific and technological development must be considered in a serious and philosophical manner. Ethics are increasingly becoming an integral part of life. In this paper, we focused on the new coronavirus that has led to the planetary-wide disease called COVID-19. All countries have engaged in their efforts to suppress the resulting pandemic. However, some of the utilized measures have been suspect: whether to lock-down people in quarantine, whether their movement should be restricted, whether they should be forced to vaccinate, and so on. Claiming to act prophylactically, scientists, by adding some DNA, RNA segments (gain of function, GOF) to an innocuous human virus, have created a dangerous artificial influenza virus. Likewise, an artificial, infectious coronavirus was created in a laboratory. Both procedures for creating these dangerous, hybrid viruses have been described in eminent scientific journals. The scientists involved in this research told us that they wanted to find cures and vaccines for these non-natural viruses on the off-chance they ever appeared among humans; when carefully handled, engineered organisms provide a unique opportunity to study biological systems in a controlled fashion. Biotechnology is a powerful tool to advance medical research and should not be abandoned because of irrational fears. But the chance of this type of virus appearing among humans is almost non-existent. However, what if these viruses "escape" from the lab, as has happened in the recent past? What if a terrorist organization start producing these viruses on their own according to detailed instructions and then use them? Finally, since the two great world powers, the US and China, that jointly created the artificial coronavirus, called SHC014-MA15, who can stop them from continuing this practice? Isn't it possible that they also created the current SARS-CoV-2 provoking a death of two and a half million people? Related to these questions, this study deals with the issue of tolerance. A large number of world-renowned scientists really believe that the current cause of the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2, is an artificial, laboratory-created virus, presenting a number of facts for this. It is not disputed that their claims are arguable. This, however, does not mean that their opponents, pharmaceutical companies and some superpowers, who have far greater political and economic power, have to incorrectly and utterly embarrass them all over, morally discredit them, nor ban their texts on the subject. In science, the struggle must be waged by arguments, not by totalitarian Orwellian methods.


Author(s):  
Peter Dauvergne

This chapter adds to the book’s understanding of the shifting nature and great challenges confronting environmentalism, especially more radical strands. A glance at the history of Greenpeace reveals sharp differences as the organization was forming in the 1970s; even today the activism of Paul Watson, who left Greenpeace to spearhead the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, draws the ire of Greenpeace leaders. Since the war on terrorism took root after September 11, 2001, radical activists such as Watson have been increasingly marginalized, with the US government even declaring him an “eco-terrorist.” As this chapter notes, though, many environmentalists who challenge state and business interests face even greater threats, with hundreds murdered over the past two decades. State security agencies are not the only group sidelining radical environmentalists, however; so are business associations, media outlets, and mainstream environmental NGOs.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-168
Author(s):  
Hyojung Cho ◽  
Ernest Gendron

Federal historic preservation is an important way to provide public recognition and to promote heritage that was selected by the government for the nation. The history of (American) Indian policies shows an arduous relationship between the US government and American Indians. In spite of the evolution of federal preservation efforts and the federal government’s public heritage communication, Indian heritage sites still reflect the authoritarian and utilitarian understanding towards the Indian heritage. This research studies the US federal government’s understanding of Indian Wars sites through the analysis of interpretation at the Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, which reveals the historically dual approaches towards Indian heritage conservation and the persistent tendency of limited under-standing for American history in the larger social and political arenas despite policy improvement. American Indian battlefields have been neglected in orthodox preservation considering their insufficient value to qualify for patriotic military history preservation or Indian relics preservation. The analysis of preservation efforts and interpretation of Indian Wars sites indicates the evolution of controlling (American) Indian heritage through policy changes and the assessment of policy implementation.


Asian Survey ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gi-Wook Shin ◽  
Rennie J. Moon

Kim Jong Un continued to consolidate his power through personnel changes, and North Korean society saw increasing consumerism, along with signs of growing inequality. The economy did well through early 2017 but the subsequent effects of sanctions remained uncertain. North Korea conducted its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile and its sixth nuclear test, triggering heated debate in the US and elsewhere about how to respond. Kim clearly is not going to give up working on weapons of mass destruction.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. s58-s58 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Rossodivita ◽  
M. Guidotti ◽  
M. Ranghieri

In the history of humankind, any new scientific discovery has shown the risk of a “dual use” for peaceful purposes or for warfare. In regard to non-conventional weapons, the recent exponential development of nanosciences and nanotechnology can provide efficient tools for counteracting these threats, by improving the detection, protection, and decontamination capabilities in the field of CBRN defence. Nevertheless, these disciplines also may offer novel, uncontrolled means of mass destruction, leading to the synthesis of new, intentionally toxic systems. Furthermore, several points of concern are linked to the new concepts of “nanotoxicology” and “nanopathology: If a multidisciplinary approach is needed to study nanosciences and nanotechnologies, a multidisciplinary approach also is needed to have a strict control on potential illegal uses of nanosystems. Experts active in various fields, such as academic, industrial, military, and health protection institutions, must work cooperatively to constantly follow the state of the art, note which kind of critical emerging technologies may lead to illicit uses, and control the diffusion of hazardous nanosystems that may be potential precursors of weapons of mass destruction, and cooperate with CBRN emergency prevention organizations in order to plan suitable countermeasures. This presentation will cover some examples of nanosystems applied to defense from non-conventional warfare agents and answer questions regarding potential misuses of basic nanoscience and nanotechnology findings.


2006 ◽  
Vol 188 ◽  
pp. 1092-1097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roderick MacFarquhar

When I was appointed editor of the CQ in 1959, my vision was that it should focus primarily on all aspects of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and on Chinese Communist Party (CCP) history, but that there should also be occasional articles on contemporary Taiwan and the overseas Chinese. That autumn, I did a quick tour of a few American campuses to try to drum up contributors; basically I needed social scientists. But even those universities with significant China programmes were peopled mainly by historians who were not doing research on the PRC. Benjamin Schwartz at Harvard, who had already published Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao, did write articles from time to time on the current scene; at MIT, Lucian Pye was ensuring that political scientists should incorporate East Asia into analyses of comparative politics; at Berkeley, Franz Schurmann (a Yuan historian in an earlier incarnation) was engaged in what became Ideology and Organization in Communist China, S.H. Chen was interested in contemporary mainland literature, and Choh-ming Li (like Alexander Eckstein at Michigan) was studying the economy; at Columbia, C. Martin Wilbur was working on the documents captured when the Soviet embassy in Beijing was raided in the 1920s, but Doak Barnett would not get there till the end of 1960; the only real nest of social scientists examining Chinese behaviour on a daily basis that I found on that trip was located at RAND: Allen Whiting, A.M. Halpern and Alice Langley Hsieh, all working on Chinese foreign relations. The shock of the launch of the first sputnik in 1957 had already led the US government to allocate massive funds to academia for the training of specialists on Russia and China, but the first beneficiaries of the largesse did not start coming out of the pipeline until the late 1960s. With so few potential contributors available, I stopped reviewing China books in case I offended any of them! But the scarcity of talent was also an advantage, for Western and Asian China watchers – diplomats in Beijing, journalists in Hong Kong, businessmen travelling in and out – all subscribed, making the CQ the house magazine of a growing community.


2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (04) ◽  
pp. 922-956
Author(s):  
Lisa Hajjar

Since 2001, we have witnessed the development of a counterterrorism war paradigm built to advance claims about the post-9/11 scope and discretion of US executive power and to articulate specific interpretations of national security interests and strategic objectives in the “war on terror.” What makes this a paradigm rather than merely a conglomeration of evolving policies is the cohesiveness and mutual reinforcement of its underlying rationales about the rights of the US government to prosecute a territorially unbounded war against an evolving cast of enemies. Drawing on Bourdieu’s concept of a juridical field, the article focuses on how officials who constructed a legal framework for this paradigm, rather than disregarding international law wholesale, have engaged in interpretations and crafted rationales to evade some international humanitarian law (IHL) rules and norms while rejecting the underlying logic or applicability of others. This article traces the counterterrorism war paradigm’s development and explains how it now competes with and threatens to supersede the customary law principles enshrined in IHL.


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