Monthly Archives: November 2014

photo 2 haiku

the life of the tree
is at its edge where it is

Total War OR Total Peace

The concept of total war has been especially widespread in execution in the twentieth century. It means just what it says, that is, the decision by one or both sides in a conflict to use all and every means in order to prevail. War crimes become unavoidable and are a matter of course under these scenarios. Moral and legal concerns are completely set aside. Intended to prevent or, at best, minimize carnage directed towards the innocent, the rules of war are effective only so long as one side enjoys vastly superior capacities and thus the luxury of choosing how to conduct itself in an engagement. Recent comments by Vladimir Putin as to his country’s continued possession of a nuclear arsenal illustrate what recourse a threatened nation feels justified to employ. Today, the United States is able to act militarily within the rules of war. Should the day come that a figure such as the present Russian leader were to carry out his veiled threat, it is not conceivable that the United States would not respond in kind.

The Isis fighters presently operating in the Middle East are employing tactics of total war that would be familiar to any student of military history. It is pointless to be self-righteous in one’s condemnation as long as one possesses the means and is willing in certain circumstances to employ the exact same strategy. When the United States dropped the bomb on Hiroshima and then on Nagasaki, the rules of war were set aside, the innocents sacrificed. Similar events have occurred throughout history although by different means. The Germans employed these tactics as did the British who fire-bombed Dresden. Cities and their populations have been razed. In the distant past, Hannibal levelled Carthage, annihilated its entire populace and returned it to desert. Today he enjoys the status of a heroic figure crossing the wintry Alps with his elephants. Al-Asaad’s father, the former Syrian dictator, put down a rebellion and subsequently massacred all the families of the rebels. He had them buried beneath a parking lot. For his people, he too is a hero. The Soviets and the Chinese are infamous for what they unleashed upon their own citizens. What has been inflicted upon native peoples everywhere is a shame of international proportions. All sides feel justified in what they do no matter how “evil” when they see the opposing side having done the same. Today’s torture debate where the United States’ traditional means of responding to an enemy appeared insufficient fits exactly into these scenarios.

Humanity has produced a climate of violence that extends throughout history and in this climate lightning and thunder penetrate deep into anyone who feels wronged or threatened. At the street level, individuals avail themselves of as much weaponry as possible and embark on killing sprees. Paranoia sets in. Police officers and citizens are the tragic victims. The powers that be conduct themselves no differently and set the example. They continue to threaten the entire planet with annihilation as long as they insist upon a nuclear option for their perceived or postulated “interests”.

The logical conclusion of man’s history of armed conflict is that the weak will turn to whatever means they have at hand and the strong will resort to them if they must. No power can expect a lesser opponent to abide by the so-called rules of war. Warring parties have the most lethal instruments possible at their disposal and all sides whatever the conflict are willing to use them should the excuse be there.

Every single action of armed conflict is a denial of another’s right to exist or an assertion of one’s right to supremacy. The question arises and has, in fact, always been there as to what is humanity’s purpose. If it is solely to gain ascendancy over others or solely to gain its own ends in disregard of everything else, then it is little wonder that today it finds itself and the planet under constant threat. It may be that respect not only for our fellow man but also for the world itself with all of its life forms is required in order to avert a complete and total tragedy. Does not a true greatness of soul extend beyond the works of man – his art, his scientific discoveries – to a connection with the whole of life?

The biblical story of Genesis begins with an injunction for man to “subdue” the earth and to have “dominion” over it. The further admonition is to “replenish” the earth. It seems we’ve gotten the subduing and dominion half of it down pat, but tragically, we’ve neglected the replenishing part both of the earth and of ourselves. Man being the creature of infinite possibilities that he is, such a transcendent undertaking should eventually find partners and give pause to those who continue to be inflamed. Mankind has always entertained an Edenic vision. It is a vision of total peace.

Tolstoy, in his great novel War and Peace, postulates that history results from an accumulation of individual decisions. Ordinary citizens determined of their own accord to leave their day to day lives and join Napoleon’s armies. Without them, there would not have been the Napoleon of history. Tolstoy entertained this view of individual responsibility in czarist Russia. How much more obvious must it be today in our democracies? Each one of us decides the life that we want and the world in which to live. Wars come to an end when individuals say no. The American people ended the Vietnam war not their government.

When Voltaire’s eponymous hero Candide returns home disillusioned with the world of man, he determines that the best he can do in the wicked world that he finds himself is to take care of his own little garden. At least here he can make and be the difference and realize the good in himself. A multitude of Candides – disillusioned with wars and counter-wars and respectful of more than their own human-centric interests – may be what is needed in order to replenish the world in which we all have a part.

I don’t usually stop for these people unless they approach me. As I say, I’ve learned my lesson. You can go up to someone who is in obvious need, he’s rummaging through a waste bin or checking out all the pay phones and he’s in rags. You can proffer a couple of bucks and for your efforts receive a dismissive sneer that’s not interested in your charity. Fine. I’ve had enough of having my charity rebuffed, and so I leave them alone if they leave me alone. If they make no effort in my direction I’ll leave them alone even if they have a paper cup sitting in front of them or an empty hat. Ask me is all I ask. If they don’t, sometimes I’ll drop something in but sometimes I won’t.

This time I’m passing a sheltered alcove between two coffee shops – a Second Cup and a Starbucks – and some fellow standing there calls out a hello and I answer the same but continue on my way. I continue for a few steps until I decide that he has made an approach and the weather is cold and why not go back and against my established principle offer some change to someone who hasn’t asked for it. I’m sure in this case not to receive a rebuff.

He’s in his 60’s dressed against the cold with a bushy beard and lips that protrude. I say something about his being in a protected spot and he thanks me for stopping and gladly takes the two buck coin I extend while we exchange pleasantries that are entirely forgettable. In the process of this back and forth conversation, he tells me a bit of his story that is hard luck as all these stories are but, in his case, touches a chord since he had been a musician who had once lived in a fine home and had had a stroke and his very aged mother was demented and he could hardly walk a few steps. Someone had given him five dollars only the day before and someone else had stolen it. Well, I had some cash on me and it wouldn’t hurt to restore him completely to his former self of the day before with extra, and so I peeled off a twenty that he gladly accepted. In this spirit of bonhomie he asked if I would have breakfast with him and since it was a Sunday morning and to turn him down with some excuse or other would be the equivalent of a lie, I agreed and together we entered the Starbucks, him shuffling beside me.

As I was out on my morning walk and wished to make this occasion as brief as possible, I ordered no more than a black coffee for myself while he asked for the same along with a bagel and cream cheese that he asked me to spread for him – such an establishment is Starbuck’s that their food comes in little plastic containers. Naturally I had paid and that was all right. We exchanged more conversation as we breakfasted and had some jokes. He told me that he would have to wait until the eighteenth of the month when the Mission’s doors opened for the coming winter in order for those like himself to sleep inside. When he asked me for my phone number, I borrowed a pen from the Starbuck’s lady and wrote it down for him on a card that he had. I couldn’t say no. Outside the café, we went our separate ways and in order not to show that I wanted to get away scot-free as I felt I was giving the appearance, I called out for him to call me should he ever really need to. That evening my phone rang.


Need to buy a custom-written essay related to "Pro-Life Physician Horatio Storer"?

Visit (since 1995)!

In 1865, at the suggestion of the American Medical Association, Storer wrote a popular book 'calculated for circulation among females, and designed to enlighten them upon the criminality and physical evils of forced abortion.'  Horatio named it, Why Not?  A Book for Every Woman.  This was followed a year later by his companion book on abortion, Is It I?  Book for Every Man.

Thousands of these books were sold to the public and many copies of Why Not? were distributed by physicians to their women patients.  These popular books contributed much to the success of the physicians' crusade against abortion, which, according to James Mohr in his Abortion in America, produced a substantial decrease in the number of abortions, at least among married women. As a result, there is an excellent chance that one or more of your ancestors were among the additional children who were born. This important point may not be obvious. Hopefully, it will become clear as a result of the following discussion and computations.

However, it also means that 9.75% of that generation would have had one or both of Storer's survivors for a parent.  Similarly, the .9025 proportion without 'survivor' parents would marry each other at the rate of .9025 x .9025 which equals .8145.  This means that 81.45% of the next generation would not have had one or more of Storer's survivors for a grandparent, but 18.55% would.

Similar calculations show that in the next generation, 33.7% of children would have had one or more of Storer's survivors as a great-grandparent, and 56% of the next generation (our current generation) would have one or more of Storer's survivors as a great-great-grandparent.

According to James Mohr, the abortion reductions produced by the 'physicians' crusade' were not limited to a single generation.  If two generations are assumed to have the additional five percent of children surviving pregnancy, 12.75% of the second generation are Storer survivors or have Storer survivors for one or more parents, 23.9% of the next generation have Storer survivors for one or more parents or grandparents, 42% of the next generation have Storer survivors for grandparents or great-grandparents, and 66% of the current generation have Storer survivors for great-grandparents or great-great-grandparents.

Reprinted with Permission


Vol. 89 (2003) No. 12 P 1191-1197

A method for preheating steel scraps using waste heat in a continuous casting process was proposed. Experiment and numerical analysis were carried out to examine the ability of scrap preheating and to determine the factors affecting the rise in scrap temperature. The commercial FEM software ANSYS was used for simulation of temperature distributions in the scrap. The simulated results agreed well to the experimental ones with the emissivities of heat source and samples of 0.85 and 0.65, respectively. The thickness (Hs) of the scrap sample and the distance (D) between the heat source and sample were found to affect the rise in sample temperature largely. The overall heat transfer can be given by the following dimensionless relation:
A higher preheating efficiency is anticipatable to combine the proposed method with the conventional ways of scrap preheat using waste gas.

Copyright © 一般社団法人 日本鉄鋼協会


Accuracy of an automated algorithm to detect nocturnal sleep in adults using 24-h waist accelerometry

  • Published on Jun 21, 2017

Purpose: We previously developed and tested the accuracy of an automated algorithm implemented using SAS to detect bed time, wake time, and sleep period time (SPT) in a sample of children. The purpose of this study was to test the accuracy of the algorithm in an adult sample.

Methods: 104 adults were asked to log evening bed time and morning wake time and wear an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer at their waist 24 h/days for seven consecutive days, unless coming in contact with water. Data were averaged for each participant before additional analysis. Mean difference (MD) and mean absolute difference (MAD) were computed. Pearson correlations and dependent sample t-tests were used to compare log-based variables of bed time, wake time, and SPT to corresponding accelerometer determined variables estimated using the automated algorithm.

Results: 85 participants (75% female, BMI=23.9±3.8 kg/m², age=23.3±5.6 years), provided 2+ days of valid accelerometer and log data for a total of 369 days. There was no mean difference between log and accelerometer estimates of bed time (11:48pm vs. 11:53pm, t(84)=1.56, p=.12, MD=5min, MAD=25min, r=.92). However, there was a significant mean difference (t(84)=2.53, p=.01) between log and accelerometer estimates of wake time (7:41am vs. 7:49am, MD=8min, MAD=24min, r=.92). Regardless, there was no mean difference (t(84)=0.70, p=.49) between log accelerometer estimates of SPT (473±59 vs. 476±66 min, MD=3min, MAD=30min, r=.82).

Conclusion: The log and automated accelerometer algorithm estimates were highly correlated and relatively small differences were present. Although a significant mean difference was found for wake time, this difference might not be meaningful in practice (i.e., MD=8 min) and did not ultimately contribute to significant differences in SPT. MAD, which gives a better estimate of the expected differences at the individual level, also provided good validity evidence for the automated algorithm use of individual estimates.

  • Tiago Barreira 1
  • Jessica Redmond 2
  • John Schuna Jr 3
  • Catrine Tudor-Locke 4

Syracuse University
Utica College
Oregon State University
University of Massachusetts Amherst

ICAMPAM 2017 Abstract Booklet

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Santa Rosa to Mendocino distance, location, road map and direction

Santa Rosa is located in Argentina at the longitude of -64.3 and latitude of -36.62. Mendocino is located in USA at the longitude of -123.8 and latitude of 39.31 .

Distance between Santa Rosa and Mendocino

The total straight line distance between Santa Rosa and Mendocino is 10410 KM (kilometers) and 284.57 meters. The miles based distance from Santa Rosa to Mendocino is 6468.7 miles. This is a straight line distance and so most of the time the actual travel distance between Santa Rosa and Mendocino may be higher or vary due to curvature of the road .

Time Difference between Santa Rosa and Mendocino

Santa Rosa universal time is -4.2866666666667 Coordinated Universal Time(UTC) and Mendocino universal time is -8.2533333333333 UTC. The time difference between Santa Rosa and Mendocino is 3.9666666666667 decimal hours. Note: Santa Rosa and Mendocino time calculation is based on UTC time of the particular city. It may vary from country standard time , local time etc.

Santa Rosa To Mendocino travel time

Santa Rosa is located around 10410 KM away from Mendocino so if you travel at the consistant speed of 50 KM per hour you can reach Mendocino in 208.21 hours. Your Mendocino travel time may vary due to your bus speed, train speed or depending upon the vehicle you use.

Santa Rosa To Mendocino road map

Santa Rosa is located nearly south side to Mendocino. The given south direction from Santa Rosa is only approximate. The given google map shows the direction in which the blue color line indicates road connectivity to Mendocino . In the travel map towards Mendocino you may find enroute hotels, tourist spots, picnic spots, petrol pumps and various religious places. The given google map is not comfortable to view all the places as per your expectation then to view street maps, local places see our detailed map here.

Santa Rosa To Mendocino driving direction

The following diriving direction guides you to reach Mendocino from Santa Rosa. Our straight line distance may vary from google distance.

Travel Distance from Santa Rosa

Travelers and visitors are welcome to write more travel information about Santa Rosa and Mendocino.

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Melon salad with ginger, lime and mint

- 1 Galia melon
- 5 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 3 tablespoons fresh mint
- 3 teaspoons lime zest
- 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
- 3 teaspoons honey

1. Cut the melon in half and, using a small spoon, carve out small balls from the inside of the melon until empty.

2. Cut the mint in small pieces.

3. In a bowl, mix the melon balls with all the ingredients.

4. Keep in the fridge until serving.

Bon appétit!

Spinach and mascarpone tart

- 350g puff pastry
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 500g baby spinach leaves
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 250g mascarpone
- 80g parmesan cheese
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Nutmeg
- Salt

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C.
2. Cover a baking tin with greaseproof paper and roll out the pastry pushing the corners and making sure the pasty covers the rim of the tin. Pinch the pastry with a fork.
3. Cover the pastry with aluminium foil and chickpeas (or anything that is heavy enough) and bake for around 15 minutes.
4. Remove the chickpeas and the aluminium foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool down for 5 minutes.
5. In the meantime, sauté the garlic over medium heat with a tablespoon of olive oil and add the spinach. Cook until the excess water evaporates. Season with nutmeg and salt.
6. Mix together the eggs, the mascarpone and half of the Parmesan cheese and pour into the pastry.

7.  Top with the spinach and the rest of the Parmesan cheese.
8. Bake for 30 minutes until the filling is set.

Bon appétit!

Ingredients for 2 glasses:
- 1½oz good quality tequila
 ¾oz triple sec liqueur (I used Cointreau)
- 1oz fresh lime juice
- Ice
- Lime wedges
- Salt

1. Mix the tequila, triple sec and lime juice in a shaker.

2. Add a handful of ice cubes and shake well.

3. Prepare your cocktail glasses by salting the rim.

4. Pour the mixed drink into the glasses making sure the ice remains in the shaker.

5. Present with few lime wedges.

Bon appétit!

Fruit pops

Ingredients for 6 popsicles:
- 170g passion fruit pulp
- 230g raspberries
- 230g kiwi, peeled and chopped
- Simple syrup (50% water / 50% sugar)

1. Blend the raspberries and the kiwi, separately.

2. Try the three fruit purees and add syrup to taste.  The sweetness of the fruit will depend on the type you use and the quality. You should try as you make the puree, as it could be that you do not need any syrup at all.

3. Distribute the passion fruit pulp into the 6 pops moulds. Try to put the same amount in each of them. Leave the popsicles in the freezer for 1 hour.

4. When the first layer is frozen, add the raspberry puree, again try to put the same quantity in each mould. Freeze for 1 hour.

5. Add the last layer and keep in the freezer for at least 8 hours before eating.

Bon appétit!

Pasta with speck and mushrooms

Ingredients for 2 people:
- 200g pasta*
- 200ml cream
- 400g mushrooms* (I used chestnut mushrooms)
- 60g speck
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

*The pasta used and the mushrooms chosen are completely depending on your preferences.

1. Cut the speck into small strips.

2. Sauté the speck over medium heat with a tablespoon of olive oil until golden, keep aside.

3. Clean and cut the mushrooms.

4. Sauté the garlic and mushrooms for around 10 minutes or until all water has evaporated.

5. In the meantime, cook the pasta according to instructions making sure that it is "al dente".

6. When the mushrooms are cooked, add back the speck and pour in the cream. Cook for around one minute.

7. Finally add the drained pasta and toss well to make sure all flavours are blended.

8. Serve immediately and top with Parmesan cheese.

Bon appétit!


Cook's Corner: Going Greek

Greek Leg of Lamb in Paper

R.T.’s mother used to make a leg of lamb baked in a paper bag for Christmas Eve. He believed she brought the recipe with her to the United States from her native Greece.

Several readers were familiar with the dish he described. “My family has made this for every holiday for as long as I can remember,” said G. Papadoulus. “You just put the lamb, rubbed well with olive oil and lemon juice and sprigs of fresh oregano in the bag and cook it till it is done as much as you want. There’s no real recipe we follow.”

Pamela Suarez sent a recipe from a Greek cooking website that actually has measurements and timing, but I was dubious since it calls for no treatment of the bag or for putting water in the pan you set the roast in.

Sara L. suggested the recipe here, from the website About.com. In the Greek food section Nancy Gaifyllia uses parchment paper rather than paper bags, and this made sense to me. Parchment paper is sanitary and burn-resistant.

I was also fascinated by an accompanying explanation for why paper is used: “Arnakis Kleftiko (pronounced ahr-NAH-kee KLEF-tee-koh) is an adaptation of a dish fixed in the mountains by guerrillas (bandits) who needed to cook without being seen. They placed the meat on coals in a hole, covered it up, and let it cook for up to 24 hours. No trace of any stolen animal, and no smell of cooking meat to give them away.”

Grace Arapakis adds the juice and grated zest of a lemon to basically the same recipe, and I found that a great addition. Arapakis also says you can use lamb shanks and make individual packets using the same method and seasoning ingredients.

Greek Leg of Lamb in Paper

4 pound leg of lamb

10 to 12 cloves of garlic, peeled

6 ounces cheese (kefalotyri, pecorino) cut in cubes

1 tbsp. of olive oil

4 pounds of roasting or baking potatoes, peeled, cut in half or quarters

3 medium carrots, cut in chunks

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

4 or 5 sheets of parchment cooking paper

Heat the oven to 480 degrees. Rub the lamb with a little olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. With a sharp knife, pierce the lamb and insert a clove of garlic and a piece of cheese into each opening. Drizzle the potatoes and carrots with any remaining oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.

On a clean work surface, spread out the parchment sheets and lay the lamb in the center, with the potatoes and carrots. If there is any remaining cheese and/or garlic cloves, add as well. Close the parchment paper and secure well, tucking the sides underneath to make a packet.

Fill a roasting pan 1/3 full of water, add the packet and cook for 2 hours 30 minutes, adding more water to the pan as needed to keep from getting dry.

When done, lift the entire packet onto a serving platter, and cut open at the table to serve. Makes 6 servings.

Per serving: 760 calories (43percent from fat), 36.5 g fat (17.7 g saturated, 14.6 g monounsaturated), 137 mg cholesterol, 48.6 g protein, 59.3g carbohydrates, 5.5 g fiber, 597 mg sodium.

Sleuth’s Corner:

Q. I lost a recipe for a chocolate cookie made with a devil’s food cake mix from a magazine feature on “light” recipes. Into the center of each ball of dough you seal a Junior Mint candy. They were absolutely delicious.

— Ann Justice, Elyria, Ohio

Contact the writer: lindacicerocooks@aol.com


Cave Diros Mani

Vlychada Cave Diros Mani One of the most enchanting caves in the world lies on the western coast of the Laconian peninsular, in the bay of Diros.

With the utmost patience and artistry, nature has fashioned a wonder beyond imagination beneath the austere landscape of Mani.

Brilliant white stalactites and stalagmites and impressive glittering crystal drapes decorate every corner creating a breathtaking spectacle.

The existence of the cave was known to locals from around 1900.

No one, however, suspected the wonders hidden in its interior until 1949, when Yiannis and Anna Petrocheilou, founders of the Hellenic Speleological Society, began to explore it systematically.

Up until 1960 they had explored and charted 1600metres, while today the known length of the cave is 14 kilometres! In 1970 the first underwater exploration took place.

Exploration continues to this day both above and beneath the water with cave diving. Inside the cave have been found fossilized bones of panthers, hyenas, lions, deer, ferrets and the largest collection of hippopotamus bone in Europe.

Pottery has also been found near the cave, indicating the presence of man.

The tourist route has total length of 1500 metres. The first 1300 metres are on a lake and it takes about 250minutes to tour by boat.

The cave is open to visitors from 08:30 to 15:00 from October to May and until 17:30 from June to September.

Telephone:27330 52222-3


TI - Assessment of the relationship between sleep disorder and the ability to do work in workers in one of the oil-rich southern regions PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE TA - SSUJ JN - SSUJ VO - 9 VI - 3 IP - 3 4099 - http://tkj.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-764-en.html 4100 - http://tkj.ssu.ac.ir/article-1-764-en.pdf SO - SSUJ 3 AB  - Introduction: Daytime sleepiness is the most common daily manifestations of obstructive sleep apnea disorder that have a negative impact on many people's cognitive and behavioral performance. Patients who suffer from these disorders compared with healthy people exposed to increased risk of neuropsychiatric complications, driving accidents and occupational accidents that can reduce workers' ability to work. WAI (Work Ability Index) is an important and simple indicator that it can objectively measure the balance between work demand and the ability to work in workers. Methods: This cross-sectional study has been done on 224 personnel in one of the South oil fields that have been randomly selected. All participants were asked to complete two questionnaires ESS (Epworth Sleepiness Scale) and WAI. The score of ≤ 13 for ESS questionnaire is considered as excessive daytime sleepiness and the score of ≥ 36 for WAI questionnaire was considered as poor ability to work. Results: The mean index of WAI in this study was 40.22±5.48 and the mean score of ESS was 6.99 ± 4. The results of the statistical tests showed that there was a significant correlation between excessive daytime sleepiness and the ability to work in different age groups (p<0.5). Conclusion: In this study, the WAI index was at an acceptable level (36<WAI). The relationship between WAI and ESS shows that sleep modification and treatment of diseases that are leading to daytime sleepiness can improve the workers' ability to do work. CP - IRAN IN - LG - eng PB - SSUJ PG - 14 PT - Applicable YR - 2017


Clues to new antibiotics could lie in medieval texts

    Are we overusing antibiotics?

Are we overusing antibiotics? 02:31

Story highlights

  • Evolution of microbes means it is necessary to find new drugs to battle them
  • The Ancientbiotics team is compiling a database of medieval medical recipes
  • One recipe turned out to be a potent antistaphylococcal agent

For a long time, medieval medicine has been dismissed as irrelevant. This time period is popularly referred to as the "Dark Ages," which erroneously suggests that it was unenlightened by science or reason.

    The drug discovery pipeline is currently stalled. An estimated 700,000 people (PDF) around the world die annually from drug-resistant infections. If the situation does not change, it is estimated that such infections will kill 10 million people per year by 2050.

    Bald's eyesalve

    In 2015, our team published a pilot study on a 1,000-year old recipe called Bald's eyesalve from "Bald's Leechbook," an Old English medical text. The eyesalve was to be used against a "wen," which may be translated as a sty, or an infection of the eyelash follicle.
    In our study, this recipe turned out to be a potent antistaphylococcal agent, which repeatedly killed established S. aureus biofilms -- a sticky matrix of bacteria adhered to a surface -- in an in vitro infection model. It also killed MRSA in mouse chronic wound models.

    Medieval methods

    Premodern European medicine has been poorly studied for its clinical potential, compared with traditional pharmacopeias of other parts of the world. Our research also raises questions about medieval medical practitioners. Today, the word "medieval" is used as a derogatory term, indicating cruel behavior, ignorance or backwards thinking. This perpetuates the myth that the period is unworthy of study.
    During our eyesalve study, chemist Tu Youyou was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for her discovery of a new therapy for malaria after searching over 2,000 recipes from ancient Chinese literature on herbal medicine. Is another "silver bullet" for microbial infection hidden within medieval European medical literature?
    Certainly, there are medieval superstitions and treatments that we would not replicate today, such as purging a patient's body of pathogenic humors. However, our work suggests that there could be a methodology behind the medicines of medieval practitioners, informed by a long tradition of observation and experimentation.
    One key finding was that following the steps exactly as specified by the Bald's eyesalve recipe -- including waiting nine days before use -- was crucial for its efficacy. Are the results of this medieval recipe representative of others that treat infection? Were practitioners selecting and combining materials following some "scientific" methodology for producing biologically active cocktails?
    Further research may show that some medieval medicines were more than placebos or palliative aids, but actual "ancientbiotics" used long before the modern science of infection control. This idea underlies our current study on the medieval medical text, "Lylye of Medicynes."

    A medieval medicines database

    The "Lylye of Medicynes" is a 15th-century Middle English translation of the Latin "Lilium medicinae," first completed in 1305. It is a translation of the major work of a significant medieval physician, Bernard of Gordon. His "Lilium medicinae" was translated and printed continuously over many centuries, until at least the late 17th century.
    The text contains a wealth of medical recipes. In the Middle English translation, there are 360 recipes -- clearly indicated with Rx in the text -- and many thousands more ingredient names.
    As a doctoral student, I prepared the first-ever edition of the "Lylye of Medicynes" and compared the recipes against four extant Latin copies of the "Lilium medicinae." This involved faithfully copying the Middle English text from the medieval manuscript, then editing that text for a modern reader, such as adding modern punctuation and correcting scribal errors. The "Lylye of Medicynes" is 245 folios, which equates to 600 pages of word-processed text.
    Join the conversation

    We are specifically interested in recipes associated with recognizable signs of infection. With Bald's eyesalve, the combination of ingredients proved to be crucial. By examining the strength of ingredient relationships, we hope to find out whether medieval medical recipes are driven by certain combinations of antimicrobial ingredients.
    The database could direct us to new recipes to test in the lab in our search for novel antibiotics, as well as inform new research into the antimicrobial agents contained in these ingredients on the molecular level. It could also deepen our understanding of how medieval practitioners "designed" recipes. Our research is in the beginning stages, but it holds exciting potential for the future.


For Established Patients

Once you have established yourself as one of my patients, I offer you access to a secure site referred to as the Patient Portal.

Through the Patient Portal you can view your lab results (after we've discussed them in the office) and send me messages through a HIPAA compliant messaging system.

I will provide you with the instructions to access the Patient Portal, once you are an established patient.

Regarding the patient portal messaging system: I spend the majority of my time face to face with patients. Please limit your messages to simple, follow-up questions only.

New health concerns or more complicated questions will require an office visit. Charges will be applied to any email or message that takes more than 5 minutes for me to address.

~ Thank you ~ Dr. Charlotte


The old Chinese proverb advising "A picture is worth a thousand words" is no more amply demonstrated than in the visual information found in magnified images. The crucial detail revealed by extreme close-up or macro photographic and microscopic imaging of failed or unidentified materials displays a whole new realm of information for investigators seeking to explain probable root cause failures in processes or materials.

However, because of the unfamiliar or "alien" nature of the visual content of magnified images created either by optical magnification or through manipulation of the properties of light with techniques such as polarization or phase contrast, the relevant data establishing the scale of size or the extent of light alteration needs to be displayed directly on the image being viewed. The presence of the degree of magnification or the cause for the unusual visual appearance of the image, actually being part of the field of view, serves to normalize or restore the observers visual perception.

Current technology using large scale integrated circuitry, impressive computing power and image processing software makes possible the real time preparation and integration of both macro and microscopic images with the physical data describing their creation.

Charge coupled devices capable of five mega pixel, full colour resolution can be coupled to cabled or wireless desk top or notebook computing systems with USB technology to capture real time video or still images from cameras on low or high powered microscopy systems using plain or highly manipulated light sources for illumination.

Civil forensic science investigations usually do not allow for destructive materials testing so as various experts can independently examine the evidence at hand. Physics, generally speaking, teaches that high powers of magnification with visible light are obtained at short viewing distances. Fortunately current digital viewing systems permit long USB cables to separate the optical magnification system from the visual display and recording functions. Thus it is often possible to remove the optical viewing components from a desk top mounting stand and with some imaginative arrangements of clamps and supporting structure, produce magnified images of large objects such as failed pieces of furniture or massive vehicle components.

  Small distances, in the metric system are traditionally measured in microns or 1/1,000,000 of a meter. Small distances in the imperial system are traditionally measured in mils or 1/1,000 of an inch. With the conversion factor of 2.54 centimeters per inch we are able to compile the table of measurement equivalence at the left.

Examination of opaque surfaces or objects that do not transmit light requires the use of special techniques. At low powers of magnification the viewing lenses are usually at a distance far enough from the object being examined so that room light or high intensity lamps can be used to illuminate the surface being examined. For higher powers of magnification the lens must be much closer to the surface being observed and the microscope and lens block the light needed to see the surface. High powers of magnification for opaque materials are obtained by a technique known as vertical illumination in which the viewing lens itself provides the light required to illuminate the subject.

Although microscopy and integrated circuitry have radically altered the time required to capture and edit magnified images and the powers of magnification available are large, if required, the majority of civil forensic science problems are often solved with low to moderate degrees of image magnification.

These photos illustrate the crystallized metallic structure of a failed stainless steel on the left and the pair of photos on the right depict two shards from failed plate glasses. The longer shard is from a tempered glass while the short is from regular plate glass. Two photos at different exposures are better able to depict the wide differences in polarization colour intensity. The high degree of surface stress that gives the tempered plate its strength is demonstrated in the intense length wise banding of the fragment, while the weak chaotic un-ordered colours of the short plate glass fragment are the resulting residual stress from the original fracture. All three photos were taken with a hand held digital camera.


Nurturing Spaces and Fertilising Ideas: An Inside Look at Oliver’s Boulevard

By Kenta Motoike

Purpose and Overview

 The goal of the intergenerational creativity project, led by Vancouver Arts Colloquium Society, is to strengthen the connection between youth and seniors through the sharing of their experiences and stories in a collaborative manner. These stories and experiences are conveyed and expressed through multidisciplinary formats in order to facilitate interactions between youth and seniors. The project chose “placemaking” as multidisciplinary format to inspire people to collectively reimagine and reinvent everyday spaces as the heart of every community, including public and semi-public spaces such as boulevards and front yards.  The Placemaking Team comprised of all ages is directed towards addressing the intergenerational and intragenerational distance faced by youth and seniors due to their differences in age, culture and experiences. While youth and seniors at times have trouble relating to each other due to their perceived differences, this distance is further exacerbated by the fact that we live in an increasingly privatised world. Public sites; places for people to converge and congregate such as parks and public parks are dwindling. This matter is compounded by the systemic tendency to prioritise personal and corporate privacy at the expense of the community. Some may say we live in a state of communal limbo, where people are in proximity to each other physically, yet we remain emotionally distant and disconnected. Large scale systematic change on society is daunting yet achievable, but it must begin locally with a social ripple. The article intends to elaborate on the progress in the Placemaking Team through the process involved in the completion of one boulevard located near 23rd and McKenzie St, namely Oliver’s boulevard.

Oliver’s Boulevard (BEFORE)

Concept and Execution

On Sunday March 31st, work on Oliver’s boulevard commenced, however prior to actually working on the garden itself, a considerable time went into conceiving a design for the garden. The Placemaking Team was tasked with realising the potential of each site. At first it seemed like a challenge as Placemaking is both a public and personal affair; each site requires us to consider the particular set of characteristics that determine the suitability of the plants, the aesthetic direction desired by their respective owners and the opinions of their neighbours. FullSizeRenderI would personally like to have cat related decorations on a boulevard garden, however not everyone would necessarily share my enthusiasm for cats. Thus, a multitude of considerations need to be taken into account as each site has to be catered to individually in order to optimise the space and to make it visually appealing. Initially, prior to confirming the line-up of sites, we tossed around several ideas among the team on what could and should be included in a site. For instance, what types of plants would we use, should these plants be perennials or annuals? When deciding on the specific variety of plants and materials for a site, we would also consider how they could contribute to a dedicated motif and theme.  IMG_1993

The guardians of the boulevard, Oliver and Paulina wanted their garden to not only be aesthetically appealing, but also to serve an ecological function. Therefore the garden would be geared towards accommodating pollinators such as bees and butterflies in order modify the space without impeding on the ecosystem. With this in mind the selection of plants was narrowed down to a variety of native and garden plants that would appeal to and attract bees. A bee bath was added to the garden to attract bees, but ended up unintentionally attracted crows and the water from the bath had to be drained. In terms of the aesthetic layout of the garden, we drew influence from one of our facilitators, Ari Lazer, who shared his ideas on Sacred Geometry. The “golden spiral”, also known as the Fibonacci spiral was incorporated into the garden as the proportions of this spiral is associated with beauty in the natural world. It was done so using strings to outline the form of the spiral and we would later solidify the pattern by filling the outline with woodchips and pebbles.  Installing the plants and spiral design would be straightforward; however prior to accomplishing this, time was allocated in laying out the gardens space with newspaper and cardboard in order to prevent any unwanted weeds from sprouting out. Afterwards mulch was put on top of the cardboard and newspapers, acting as the foundation of the garden and from there the plants and spiral would be installed with relative ease. The overall time require to execute the desired design took approximately a few hours due to the knowledge and experience  of our facilitators Gabriel Pliska and Patrick McGuire and of course with the collaborative efforts of the Placemaking team to the task itself. The final touch was a generous donation of hand-made chair by a neighbour Mr. Katsu Ogawa!

Progress and Process

While surveying the sites for the project itself, I noticed a majority of neighbourhood homes were well decorated and thoroughly maintained, just like something you would see in a gardening magazine. Even with the presence of these pristine gardens, the neighbourhoods themselves conveyed a feeling of incompleteness or disruption. Looking back, I realised that this sensation must have come from the contrast between the decorative personal gardens and neglected boulevard space. It’s worth mentioning that the city of Vancouver not only permits placemaking in public boulevard spaces, but also encourages it. Unfortunately, it remains a rare sight. It could be because people are uninformed or are hesitant to invest in these spaces.  With this in mind the Placemaking project is an attempt to break through this wall of hesitance and stimulate connections within the community. Social connections begin with a conversation and these conversations are how we nurture a network of relationships and thus a community. Sure it may seem trivial to furnish public spaces because the concept itself seems foreign to most, but it’s that small push, the impetus that breaks through this apathetic inertia.

Fibonacci spiral and bee pond (photo by Tarik Malik)

Fibonacci spiral and bee pond (photo by Tarik Malik)

On the 13th of June as we headed back to Oliver’s garden to post a sign promoting Placemaking, I noticed a driver passing by the garden, suddenly decelerating for a brief moment. Their heads turned, gazes locked onto the garden. Gradually, they steered back, resuming their daily activities; their gaze gone, but not lost. The purpose of this anecdote is to illustrate how nurturing even a single boulevard space into a fertile garden can send positive ripples within the neighbourhood. Currently, the Placemaking team is working on several sites at varying degrees of completion and we are still open for volunteers to allow us to work on their boulevard spaces!

(From Left) Kenta, Patrick, Sean, Alan, Gabriel

Oliver's Boulevard near completion
Oliver’s Boulevard near completion


Emancipatory Education

In dealing with social and political change processes, the question of education is of major interest. What kind of education is necessary to prepare and strengthen people to kick-start social and political change? Emancipatory education is an approach that goes beyond the simple transfer of knowledge, and questions the given structure of socio-economic and political relations altogether supporting people not only to demand a different world, but also to discuss and prepare for alternatives. But what is emancipatory, critical leftist education and what makes educational approaches emancipatory? How should education be conceptualized, organized and conveyed in order to have an emancipatory impact? How should the role of educators change and how should the settings and the methodologies be structured in order to hinder the reproduction of hierarchical and dominating structures and elements? In the Palestinian context of occupation, economic dependency, enormous socio-economic change processes and stratifications on the one hand and traditional, hierarchical teaching-learning structures on the other hand, the topic becomes even more challenging. RLS cooperates with Palestinian organizations, educators and artists who are using a variety of tools to support critical thinking approaches as well as the activation and participation of people fostering the development of a democratic progressive Palestinian society.

Social Fragmentation

The Palestinian society is characterised by a whole bunch of fragmentations, geographically, politically, socio-economically, to name only the most striking. While all aspects are equally relevant, it is the socio-economic fragmentation, e.g. the widening gap between the rich and the poor, the decreasing social solidarity, the relationships between the cities, rural areas, and refugee camps that raises further interest. Resulting from a complex combination of the colonial setting and the neoliberal character of international and domestic policies, the socio-economic fragmentation of Palestinian society is increasingly challenged by social activists, researchers and progressive political parties. Focusing on a selection of topics in this field, e.g. social security policies and social urban development, RLS supports civil society organisations as well as social activists and policy experts in addressing socio-economic fragmentation in the public and political debate and develop and pressure for progressive alternative approaches for social inclusion.

Economic Alternatives

Due to decades of occupation the economic development of Palestine is severely hindered. Today more than twenty years after the signing of the Oslo-agreements, the economic situation has even significantly deteriorated and the Palestinian Territories are among the most aid-dependent places worldwide. Occupation and closure, donor driven aid paradigms as well as the neoliberal character of Palestinian domestic economic policies, leave only a small space for thinking and doing alternatives. However, this space should be used and challenged in order to break off the circle of dependency and to strengthen the capacities for self-determination and change. After years of academic research on the topic, RLS partners with local initiatives and cooperatives who challenge economic dependency through a debate on alternatives at community, national and international level and who practically implement progressive alternative approaches in the country.

Gaza Scenarios

Based on the specific situation of the Gaza Strip, a public debate about urgent questions and challenges as well as about futures scenarios regarding the Gaza Strip is of high relevance. To include a variety of social groups in this process, in particular those who eventually are marginalized from participation in public debate, e.g. youth and women, RLS supports various progressive formats of activation and communication approaches, such as media and art.

Climate Change

Climate change is one of the very highlighted topics that is affecting the whole world, but has an even greater impact in Palestine where natural resources have been systematically destroyed and detained. Addressing climate change through inter-agency coordination, professional relationships between community leaders and government officials, will help in better understanding possible effects of climate change and enhancing the ability to face it more effectively.


Through my exploration of the landscape genre, I emphasize the effects of human intervention and manipulation in terms of altered topographies, cartographic systems of ordering space, and metaphorical interpretations of ecological systems. My narrative prints respond to changes observed in the natural world and acknowledge the essential relationship between people and the land they inhabit.

This recent work presents a variety of landscapes altered by drought, with small figures moving through panoramic compositions. This project draws loosely on autobiographical experiences, from both my childhood in rural Alaska and my periodic relocations throughout my adult life. I grew up on the Yukon-Kuskokwim River Delta, an environment defined by water. The rivers and sloughs meander across the tundra, with countless small ponds and oxbow lakes sustained through snowmelt. The ground is soggy, with a permafrost barrier holding water at the surface. The river often floods in the spring, as melt water from upstream pushes against an ice dam that has yet to drift into the sea. As wet as the region appears, though, it receives little precipitation; the ecosystem depends on flooding and permafrost to sustain life.

The river is a thoroughfare, with boats and barges moving from community to community, and ultimately out to sea. This network of water literally connects people with each other and the outside world. The rivers provide sustenance, commerce, education, and recreation, but without water, the system disappears. Since leaving Alaska, I have lived in many different places, each with distinct conditions regarding resource allocation. In the deserts of New Mexico, water rights are established generations in the past, while in Georgia and Florida, long-term drought coupled with disputes over watersheds and the rights of communities downstream influence the discourse. In Wisconsin, the abundance of water in the Great Lakes benefits only those communities directly adjacent, while in Iowa, communities suffer the seemingly contradictory scourges of flooding and drought. The landscapes I draw refer to these disparate locales, from deserts and boulder formations that evoke regions of the Southwest to references to agriculture and livestock that speak to uses of the Midwestern landscape. The story begins on the tundra, with the drying up of rivers and ponds, but as the series continues and expands to include diverse habitats, the land itself begins to disintegrate. The figures’ journey echoes the changing environments they traverse, with surreal geographies suggesting a tranquility of dreams and an unsettled future.

CYNTHIA BRINICH-LANGLOIS grew up in Bethel, Alaska—a small town on the Yukon-Kuskokwim delta. She attended Kenyon College, where she studied Studio Art and Environmental Biology. While completing an MFA in Printmaking from the University of New Mexico, she participated in Land Arts of the American West and the Tamarind Institute’s Collaborative Lithography program.

Brinich-Langlois has been an artist in residence at Elsewhere Artists Collaborative, RedLine Milwaukee, Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, and the Ucross Foundation, where she collaborated with other artists and scientists to create a multifaceted portrait of place. She has exhibited her prints, books, and video animations in solo and group shows throughout the United States and abroad, including at the Lannan Foundation in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Awagami Factory, Yoshinogawa City, Japan, A1LabArts in Knoxville, Tennessee, Dairy Arts Center in Boulder, Colorado, Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Firehouse Gallery in Louisville, Georgia, Atelier 6000 in Bend, Oregon, WORK Ann Arbor, Artspace in Richmond, Virginia, Purdue University Galleries, Creative Research Laboratory in Austin, Texas, and Museum of Wisconsin Art in West Bend, Wisconsin, among others. Her work is included in the Iowa Print Group archive at the University of Iowa, as well as the Center for Art + Environment collection at the Nevada Museum of Art, Reno.

Brinich-Langlois is the Print & Narrative Forms area technician and teaches printmaking and digital art as an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where she continues to make work that explores the intricacies of the natural world.

www.cynthiabrinichlanglois.com | CV

Inspiration (Backstory)

The following questions are intended to provide insight into the artist's process, how they got started and what inspires them.

Was there a person or event that got you started creating your art? Does that person or event continue to influence the work that you do?
I can’t remember when I started making art, but when I was young, a Yup’ik woman named Linda Watson resided across the street from us in Anchorage, Alaska. She was a schoolteacher, and she would invite my sister and me over to her house during the day in the summertime. She taught me how to do bead embroidery with tiny glass seed beads sewn onto scraps of felt with patterns drawn in intricate designs. My family ultimately moved to Bethel, Alaska where the woman had grown up. Supplies for traditional bead embroidery were plentiful there, and certainly easier to come by than other art supplies, so I did bead embroidery in my spare time and took art classes at school. While I focus more on drawing and printmaking now, I notice similarities to the process of decorative beading in my drawing, with tiny circles accumulating to form entire landscapes, and metallic and pearlescent foils adding a surface sheen to the work.

At what point did you consider yourself an artist?
According to my parents, I have always considered myself to be an artist. They did warn me that artists don’t usually make a lot of money, but money wasn’t something I was worried about in elementary school. At the end of high school, I did briefly entertain the idea of becoming a writer and chose to attend Kenyon College, but after one English class, I decided to turn my attention toward Art and Biology.

Who or what inspires you and why?
I find inspiration in the natural world, sometimes through direct observation of specific sites or specimens, and other times through metaphorical visual narratives. I travel to different parts of the country to experience a variety of landscapes and research different ecological systems in support of my artistic practice. I grew up in a place where the environment was a dominant force in everyday life to a greater degree than in any place I have lived since. People relied on subsistence fishing and hunting to feed their families, and while modern conveniences like outboard motors and snow machines made travel a little easier, the climate is still severe. Rural Alaska is currently a land in flux; as the land warms and the permafrost melts, large swathes of tundra habitat are transforming into something else.

What was the first piece of art you made? Do you remember why you made it? What materials did you use and why?
I cannot properly identify the first piece of art I made, as I’ve been telling stories since I could talk, sometimes in my own made-up language, and drawing pictures long before I could read or write. The first piece of art that I had published, though, was a linocut print that I made during a class at the art museum in Anchorage when I was eight years old, at a time when children were still permitted to handle very sharp objects in the pursuit of artwork (during another class at the museum, I made a stained glass window with actual glass and actual soldering). Each child carved their linoleum block with a large single letter (reversed) in the shape of an animal or other identifiable thing, and our prints were included in the literature for the museum’s exhibition of medieval culture as decorated initials at the start of each section of the brochure. Mine was a letter “C” and I was adamant that the animal was a cougar, not a cat. The language in the publication associated with my letter “C” read, “Castles were big and cold...” and then went on to discuss tapestries and other methods used to make stone buildings more habitable in cool damp climates.

Are there any programs or learning opportunities that you wish you had as a young artist?
This is a difficult question to answer. I grew up in rural Alaska and was immersed in various artistic programs through my school and community, like participating in a traditional Yup-ik dance group at Camai Festival, contributing to the annual dumpster-painting competition run through the city Parks & Rec department, creating a mural based on the six seasons recognized in native Alaskan culture for the school district’s daycare, acting in school theatrical productions, etc. While I certainly felt isolated from the outside world, I took advantage of the many opportunities within my community to build a foundation in the arts. I struggle to identify specific learning opportunities that were absent; the experiences that I had were distinct and formative, and I expect that similar programs to enrich the collective experiences of both young and old members of the community are at least possible, if not already in place, in most areas.

What would you say to a young person to encourage their study and practice of art?
Be effective in whatever situation arises. While it may not always be practical to create works of art using familiar methodologies (access to facilities/materials/quiet space may not be consistently available), unusual circumstances may inspire new practices or lead to development of ideas that can be completed in the future. These inevitable challenges keep one’s creative practice active and responsive. It is important to continue making—perhaps not always in precisely the same manner—but in a way that reinforces a ritual of innovation adaptable to the diversity of conditions encountered throughout a lifetime of production.


Ilm Sarf
2.3 Varies with device
IlmSarf is the basic Arabic grammar book known as mother of Arabic language. It is a must learning book for learning Arabic language.
It is often translated as ‘morphology’. The actual meaning of sarf is “the metamorphosing or changing of the ‘asl (base/root word) to many different examples so as to achieve meanings that could not otherwise be achieved” The science of sarf is mostly relegated to verbs and that which derives from them. This change is done to stretch the meaning and to also make pronunciation easy upon the toque. An example of changing the meaning through sarf is manipulating the verb ‘nasara’. From ‘nasara’ we may derive the following: Nasara Nas’sara Naasara tanaasara anassara istansara mansar naasir munasar mansoor . All of these words come from one root verb - nasara. As for making it easy upon the tonque I will provide one example. Let us take the word ‘scale in Arabic. It is called ‘meezaan’. This word comes from the root verb ‘wazana’ which means to weigh. According to a principle of sarf the thing which is used to do this action will sound like ‘mif’aal’. If we were to apply this principle here the item used for the act of weighing would be ‘meewzaan’. Due to the difficulty found in pronouncing that upon the tonque we replace the ‘waw’ with a ‘yaa’ to make it easier. This simplification is broken down into set principles known in sarf. Properly applying principles of sarf can sometimes spell the difference between imaan and kufr. For example Allah said about himself in the Qur’an that he is ‘al-musaawir’-the fashioner. If someone was to pronounce the ‘waw’ with a fathah instead of a kasrah the word would mean ‘al-musaawar’-the fashioned one (the one fashioned by another). Of course the ignorant one making this mistake would be excused but this simply shows you the importance of sarf in the Arabic language.

Content rating: Everyone

Requires OS: 3.2 and up

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The quest

This page is a list of resources and links that you might find useful on your quest.

Apache Camel

  • Glue is a developer-oriented conference that is focused on how Serverless Architectures, Containers, Microservices, APIs, DevOps, Mobile, Analytics, Performance Monitoring, and cutting edge developer platforms and tools are changing the technology landscape.


Friday, June 9, 2017

Michael Ellman on the UK Elections

Professor Michael Ellman, of Amsterdam University and an old colleague, co-author and friend, appears to have become our resident phsephologist. He promptly sent me his valuable comments on the UK elections, authorising me to publish them as a Guest Post on this Blog, which I am delighted to do at once. Here is Michael's assessment on the day after (DMN).

(1) Theresa May took a gamble and lost. She was misled by opinion polls that showed a huge lead for her party before the election was called and also by the fact that a majority of Labour MPs had no confidence in Corbyn.

(2) Nevertheless, the Conservatives can form a new government and carry on. The Conservatives will be the biggest party in the new House of Commons and have almost half the total number of MPs. Together with one of the Northern Ireland parties (the Democratic Unionists) the Conservatives will have a (small) majority and will be able to push their legislation through Parliament (provided that their own party remains united).

(3) May's own personal position has been seriously undermined and she will not be able to last five years as Prime Minister. Some other senior figures in the Conservative party (such as Boris Johnson) will seek to take over. Even for her to last 12 months will be very difficult.

(4) The Conservatives got 42% of the vote. That shows that there is a solid block of the population (private sector, professionals, business people, the elderly) who back them.

(5) The Labour party got 40% of the vote. Thuis shows that there is a solid block of the population (students, public sector employees such as teachers and nurses, tenants facing high rents, low-income groups, minority ethnic groups) that opposes austerity and cuts to the public sector. Allowing for the 3% gained by the SNP (Scotttish National Party) which has a similar economic outlook to the Labour party, this shows that slightly more people voted againt austerity than supported it.

(6) Jeremy Corbyn ran a very successful campaign. That shows that in the UK and USA a candidate to the Left of orthodox opinion, such as Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn can enthuse a large part of the population, especially the young. (Turnout rose a couple of percent compared with the last election.)

(7) The decline of the SNP in Scotland and the improved showing there of Unionist parties, notably the Conservatives, make the break-up of the UK less likely.

(8) As far as Brexit is concerned, about half the population (supporters of Labour, SNP and the Liberal Democrats) voted for parties that would prefer a so-called soft Brexit (e.g. membership of the European Economic Area à la Norway) to the complete break that Theresa May seems heading for.

We live in interesting times.

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Michael Ellman: An Update on Dutch Elections

I received the following Update on Dutch elections from Professor Michael Ellman (Amsterdam University) and I am delighted to publish it as a guest post:

Dutch politics have vanished from the headlines after the party of Wilders failed to become the biggest in the lower house of Parliament. However, up till now it has proved impossible to form a new coalition government.

After some weeks of negotiating, the first attempt to do so has collapsed on  the issue of migration. The right wing parties (Rutte & his Christian Democratic friends) wanted strict control over non-EU migration. The Green-Left party (which did well in the recent elections) was against this. However, I expect that one way or another a coalition will be cobbled together (the public does not want new elections and regards it as the obligation of the politicians to overcome the difficulties).

Even if it proves impossible to form a coalition with a majority in Parliament, it is always possible to form a government with a large number of seats but still a minority (considering the divisions among the opposition parties) but this is generally considered undesirable since it makes it very difficult to pursue coherent and consistent policies (if the opposition parties unite they can defeat any government proposal they do not like). A coalition with a majority is obviously much more desirable and has a reasonable chance of being realised after further inter-party negotiations.

Prolonged inter-party negotiations after elections are normal in the Netherlands. They result from a proportional representation system without a threshold (such as 5%) and which therefore enables any party with more than 0.67% of the votes to get a member into the 150 seat lower house. This has the advantage that it enables all shades of opinion to be represented (for example, there is an animal rights party, and two Calvinist parties, amongst others in the lower house) but makes forming a majority government difficult. The strong position of the Wilders party and the Socialist party (both regarded as unacceptable coalition partners by the mainstream) obviously makes coalition-forming more difficult than usual.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Michael Ellman on the Dutch Elections

From Michael Ellman (16 March 2017):

Saturday, February 4, 2017

Vladimir Popov: EU – Nationalism and Inequalities

I am grateful to Vladimir Popov of TsEMI, the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, for contributing this guest post to our Blog as an extended comment on my previous post on Seismic Faults in the European Union.

Vladimir Popov on: EU – Nationalism and Inequalities

             “Imagine there's no countries ... And the world will be one.
             It may happen, if the current rise in inequalities is reversed.

Mario Nuti predicts new difficulties for the EU and believes Lenin was right, when stated that United States of Europe are either impossible or reactionary (post of January 8, 2017).  He may well be right, as he has been so many times, but I wish he wasn’t.

In the EU for the first time in history member countries voluntarily decided to eliminate borders – a dream of many since ancient times. It was by the way also one of the staples of the communist ideology – nations eventually, after the full victory of communism, will merge, borders will disappear, a brotherhood of men will share the whole world.  As the best poet of Soviet era Vladimir Mayakovsky put it,

“For we want this world to be a common earth
Without Latvias and without Russias”.

Many of those born and raised in the USSR cherish this dream and admire the EU that seemed to have been able to achieve this goal without coercion and violence. It would be most regretful, if EU project will not succeed.

This is the moral argument in favor of the EU that does not prove, of course, that Mario is wrong. Many inevitable trends may be undesirable for large groups of people. Below, however, are some “hard core, material” arguments, why current centrifugal forces in the EU and the world may be only a temporary phenomenon.

Nationalism and inequalities
Conservative politicians all over the world have recently spoken against globalization. As former French Prime Minister Dominique De Villepin put it recently, ”globalization, on the one hand, promotes cooperation, on the other hand, brought new mutual exclusion, isolation and radicalization”. And Donald Trump wants “Americanism, not globalism”.

It would be wrong, however, to blame globalization for all the disasters and misfortunes, from non-growing real incomes to the rise of nationalism. History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Those who blame globalization today for economic and social misfortunes are similar to the luddites of the XIX century that believed that the use of machines leads to the rising unemployment and falling wages.

There are cases when globalization works leading to rising incomes of the masses. Theoretically greater international flows of goods, ideas and technology, capital and labor should increase productivity, but in reality this happens only if these flows are carefully managed (Popov, 2014, Chapter 5)..

Why in some countries greater economic interaction with the world was accompanied in recent several decades by rising income and its relatively even distribution (China and other East Asian countries), whereas in other countries modest growth of income coupled with rising inequalities left large masses of  population worse off (many Western countries, including the US, Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union)? The answer is that policy matters a great deal and many good policies that allow gaining from globalization are often non-orthodox and counterintuitive (Polterovich, Popov, 2005). If globalization is accompanied by the increase in income and wealth inequalities within countries, so that gains from globalization are appropriated by the few better off, whereas the masses get nothing or very little, it is only too easy for the interested political forces to blame globalization for the negative developments.

The central argument of this post is that the reversal of the previous trend towards the decline in income inequalities in the last three decades in most countries created favorable grounds for the rise of nationalist and anti-globalization feelings (Popov, 2016). Lindert and Williamson (2016) claim that income inequalities breed populism and attribute the rise of inequalities to globalization (especially in the two periods of American history – Gilded Age of the late 1800 and recent three decades since the 1980s). My argument is that income inequalities indeed contribute to the rise of populism and nationalism, but that globalization does not necessarily lead to the rise in inequalities.

Trends in nationalism are explained, among other factors, by both between the countries and within the countries inequalities. If the gains from globalization are distributed evenly, the public is willing to embrace it, but if the gains are appropriated by few, it is easy for nationalist political forces to turn the public against globalization.

Hence, there are several globalization models, depending on the trend in inter and intra- country inequalities in recent three decades:
·        Great gains from globalization for the country as a whole and relatively small rise in within the country inequalities (Japan, China, SEA, Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands);
·       Small gains from globalization for the country as a whole, but decline in domestic inequalities (some LA countries, including Brazil);
·       Large gains from globalization for the country as a whole, but increase in domestic inequalities (Britain and some continental European countries);
·       Small gains from globalization for the country as a whole and increase in domestic inequalities (US, Russia in the 1990s).

The worst conditions for the rise of nationalism would be in the first group of countries, the best – in the last, fourth group, with the 2nd and 3rd group falling in between.

The rise of nationalism in recent decades in the EU and many other countries seems to be associated with the increase in within the country income inequalities. In some countries income inequalities did not increase and nationalist and anti-globalist feelings are more related to the slowdown of growth and other reasons, but in most countries there was an increase in income and wealth inequalities since the 1980s – a reversal of the trend of over 50 years that created a fertile ground for rise of nationalism (Popov, 2016).

Recent trends in income inequalities in EU
The fall of the Berlin Wall, collapse of the USSR and the conversion of Eastern Europe and former Soviet republics to capitalism, added additional push to the growing income inequalities trend due to both – the disappearance of “socialist counterbalance” for the Western capitalism and the rise in inequalities in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and former Soviet Union themselves (Jomo, Popov, 2016).

In most European countries income inequalities increased since the beginning of the 1980s – the reversal of the trend that predominated since early 20th century (fig. 1). This increase in inequalities may be the single most important reason for the rise of nationalism. In Eastern Europe there was a transformational recession of the 1990s associated with the transition to the market economy – output fell by 20-50% in the course of 2-5 years (Popov, 2000), which certainly contributed to the rise of nationalism. But in Western Europe there was no major recession (except for Greece). Even though economic growth was not very strong, it was  rather stable, recessions of 1993 (per capita GDP fell by 0.4%), 2009 (-4,7%) and 2012-13 (-0.4%) were overcome and average incomes, unlike in the US,  by 2016 were way higher than in the 1980s. However, the progressing unevenness in income distribution undermined real incomes and social status of large groups of European population making them an easy target for the nationalist politicians.

Britain may be the case in point. The rise in nationalism is often explained by unfairness and humiliation experienced by the whole nation (for instance, Germany after the First World War or developing countries where costs of globalization are often higher than benefits).  In Britain, however, the recent rise of nationalism did coincide with the relatively successful economic development and with the improvement of its economic positions versus the major competitors. Britain was falling behind continental Western Europe in terms of its per capita income and this trend was reversed only a decade after Britain entered the EU (fig. 2).

However. only a minority of the population benefited from the acceleration of economic growth since the early 1980s – income inequalities increased (fig. 1) and so did wealth inequalities (fig. 3).

From the point of view of economic efficiency and future growth, Brexit is bad for the EU and especially bad for Britain. But the majority of British voters apparently blamed economic difficulties not on policies that allowed inequalities to increase, but on the European integration and globalization.

There may be at least two scenarios for the EU and the world. First, if the rise of income inequalities would continue, social tensions in some countries will become unbearable and will produce a social turmoil and anti-globalisation, nationalist sentiments. And the rise of nationalism may lead to conflicts, if not wars, between countries, with the collapse of the international trade and capital flows, like in the 1930s. Then the world may once again get into the familiar 20th century historical track and there may be a pause in or even the reversal of globalization, like during the Great Depression, when the outburst of protectionism led to the decline of the international trade and capital movements. This is the worst scenario: the world degrading into social and national conflicts.
Second, countries that carry out successful policies of limiting inequalities would become more competitive, driving other countries “out of anti-globalisation business”. Even small countries, if they are successful, may create a counterbalance through the demonstration effect to the tendency of unconstrained capitalism to cut welfare programs and increase inequalities. These countries may regulate the functioning of the market mechanisms through direct interventions and high progressive taxation to reduce bubbles and windfall profits. Besides, the crucial way of lowering inequalities is public and collective property, so it could be expected that state enterprises, non-profit institutions, labour managed enterprises and coops, operating not for profits, but for public good would become more common. Such a more optimistic scenario implies that social upheavals within countries and national conflicts between countries could be largely avoided. EU in this case would have a bright future.

Facundo Alvaredo, Anthony B Atkinson, and Salvatore Morelli (2016). Top wealth shares in the UK over more than a century, Working Papers Department of Economics Ca’ Foscari University of Venice No. 01 /WP/20.
Alvaredo, Facundo, Anthony B. Atkinson, Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez (2012). ‘The World Top Incomes Database’,
Jomo, K.S., V. Popov (2016). Income Inequalities in Perspective. Develoipment, No. 2, 2016.
Lindert, P. and Jeffrey Williamson (2016). Unequal Gains: American Growth and Inequality since 1700. Princeton University Press, 2016.
Maddison project (2013)., 2013 version.
Popov, V. (2000). Shock Therapy versus Gradualism: The End of the Debate (Explaining the Magnitude of the Transformational Recession) – Comparative Economic Studies, Vol. 42, No. 1, Spring 2000, pp. 1-57 (;
World Wealth and Income Database.

Mario Nuti’s reply:

I agree with Vladimir that a world without borders would be very attractive, as a realisation of both human freedom and economic efficiency. However it is no accident that it was part of communist utopia only after the expected universal diffusion of communism. For a world without borders involves - as I pointed out in my previous post - global communism in access to national social capital (however defined, whether as physical infrastructure, social cohesion and trust, or welfare state institutions and provisions). This is neither feasible nor desirable nor sustainable in a world where private ownership is globally prevailing and fully protected. I take it that Vladimir would not support unrestricted full communism – in the sense of abolition of both private and national social property – on a global scale or even in a single country or just in the European Union. I regard Vladimir’s unconditional endorsement of the Schengen Area abolition of internal borders (and neglect of external ones) not as a cogent argument in favour of a world without borders but merely as evidence of his generous nature.

I particularly like Vladimir’s characterisation of the relationship between globalisation and inequality, with his four country cases: (a) large gains, small rise of inequality; (b) small gains, inequality decline; (c) large gains, [significant] rise of inequality; (d) small gains, inequality increase. The first case would make people approve of globalisation; the last case would be associated with strongly nationalistic, anti-globalisation feelings and policies; while the two intermediate cases also would be somewhat nationalistic and anti-globalist but to a lesser extent. And at the global level, I would add even more positively and forcefully than Vladimir, globalisation has halved the incidence of poverty in the last twenty years – lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese from starvation to obesity – and achieved the reduction of inequality among the citizens of the world.
However, globalisation, including migrations, does not lead to “gains … appropriated by the few better off, whereas the masses get nothing or very little benefit”, as Vladimir conjectures. It does yield net benefits, as I readily recognised, but it actually makes a non-negligible number of people worse off. In theory we can imagine a redistribution of gross gains to gross losers so as to make everybody better off - which is how Vladimir would be able to achieve a win-win situation. But such Paretian redistribution is not possible, because it would have to be international and/or regressive. International redistribution is presently impossible for lack of political globalisation, i.e. global governance by institutions capable of global taxation and expenditure. Regressive redistribution from gainers who tend to be poorer to losers who tend to be richer would be undesirable, as I trust Vladimir would agree.

And even if everybody gained from globalisation, inequality in the distribution of gains would legitimise some opposition to unrestricted, raw globalisation. Vladimir’s comparison with the Luddites is very apt, but with opposite implications with respect to the one he draws: technical progress in the early 19th century (and today’s automation) also yields net benefits but makes some people worse off, just like globalisation and migrations, therefore justifying – unless there was compensatory income redistribution from gainers to losers – resistance and even forceful opposition by the losers.

The dividing line between populism and democracy is very thin. It is no accident that today we talk of right wing and left wing populism. "The accusation of populism can easily become an instrument to maintain and extend the power of oligarchies, and their influence on public life and decisions, reducing any protest attempt from below to irrationality or intellectual or moral laziness.  Anti-populism therefore can become a weapon in the hands of the élite, a weapon that jeopardizes the essence of democratic coexistence. While populism, if properly articulated, may be useful to democracy" (my translation from Lorenzo Del Savio e Matteo Mameli, "Il populismo è democratico: Machiavelli e gli appetiti delle élite" 2014), whose conclusions are based on a recent debate on Machiavelli's theses in his Discorsi sopra la prima deca di Tito Livio  Though growing support for populist parties is also due to non-economic factors, such as the feeling of marginalisation, of a falling standing in society, of having lost control over one’s condition, determined by the establishment élite; there are also cultural, ethnic and religious diversities coming into play. When these factors determine electoral choice there is no reason to dismiss the results as expression of populism instead of an integral part and parcel of a democratic system.

Vladimir offers two alternative visions of the future. A pessimistic scenario involves rising inequalities and anti-globalist policies, the rise of nationalisms with possible commercial or even hot conflicts, a pause or even reversal of globalisation. An optimistic vision, favoured by Vladimir, involves the containment of inequality, the restoration of the welfare state funded by progressive taxation, the build-up of public and collective enterprises (including self-managed non-profit cooperatives). “The EU in this case would have a bright future” – he writes. Unfortunately there are other fault lines in the EU today, which I tried to spell out in my post and are left unscathed by Vladimir’s reflections, which do not alter my fundamental pessimism.

Sunday, January 8, 2017

Seismic Faults in the European Union


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The Evolution and Exercise of American Freedom

Updated on July 5, 2017

The Evolution and Exercise of American Freedom

On July 2, 1776, after much discussion on how to repair the relationship between Great Britain and the American Colonies, the second continental congress voted to separate from the British and become its own nation; the United States of America. Two day later, this resolution, The Declaration of Independence, was adopted and news was spread over all the colonies.

This moment in American history provided the stepping stones to the freedoms we enjoy today but, what did the founders have in mind regarding freedom? If we are a free society, does that mean we can do whatever we please so long as it doesn’t harm another? What is truly meant by the terms “freedom” and “liberty” and what are our “rights”? How were these terms implemented in the founding documents of our country and our government? These questions become ever more important in an era in our history where discontent is growing over multiple issues that are claimed to be freedoms, liberties and rights. But, in fact, the characteristics of our freedom can be found by looking toward the principles that surround our strong roots in Christianity and Deism. It is our attachment to religion that guides our exercise of freedom.

In the 1700’s, the American colonies experienced huge percentages of religious growth. This permeated from the Great Awakening of the 1740’s. This era brought about an emotional aspect to religion that was never really seen before in the Protestant religion. Estimates of church attendance boomed to 75-80% of the population according to some Historians. This boom followed an extreme decline in spirituality due to the disconnect with the previous form of Protestantism among the new generation. In addition, another form of religious thought surfaced out of the scientific way of thinking in the enlightenment. Deism, which did not incorporate spirituality but rather a moral view of how to live your life began to stir in the minds of the more educated.

Many of the founders were in fact Deist and some, such as Thomas Jefferson, became a sort of Christian Deist by adopting religious teachings but, rejecting the miracles of the Bible. Jefferson even went so far as to create his own Bible that was formed by the rigorous work of cutting and pasting verses from the King James Bible that only included the moral teachings (leaving out the miracles) of Jesus Christ. Jefferson believed heavily that following Jesus’s teachings would bring about a great amount of integrity in a person. Many founders, more or less, believed in a “Creator” that sort of created the universe and started time, leaving it alone to play out like a movie and limiting his involvement. The world, according to Deist, functioned like a clock in a system of wheels and springs. Everything works together and plays out as it’s designed to. This way of thinking may also be connected in our ideas regarding freedom and our right to govern ourselves in a system regulated by interconnected branches.

Due to the large religious movements of the time, and the vast religious population, many elements of Christianity and Deism made their way into the formation of our government. The most well-known example of this is The Declaration of Independence. This document included references to a “Creator” and natural rights given to us by Him. Though many elements of religion were mentioned in government and its documents throughout American history, the founders essentially wanted to keep government away from religion and religion away from government. This was to protect our freedoms. Thomas Jefferson set the foundation for this method of thinking while a legislator in the Virginia House of Burgess. He believed that it was essential to keep government separated from religion to preserve religious freedom and to keep government corruption at bay. If one religion controlled government, then the freedom to practice other religions would be gone. Also, churches could have the power to influence politics greatly.

When it came to freedom, the founders believed it was both good and bad. Freedom was important for economic reasons, social reasons and cultural reasons but, too much freedom creates anarchy and too little freedom creates tyranny. In giving freedom to Americans, the founders had to consider a few things. They had to look at mainly, these four things: 1.) class division, 2.) regulation of passions 3.) economy and the needs of the people 4.) the creation of national unity and identity. Each of the 3 branches of government is created with specified powers that are regulated by another branch. For example, the president is the head of the military and can run it, for the most part, as he pleases but, he does not have the power to declare a full war. There have been some modifications and debate about this situation but, you get the idea. Each branch regulates each other in different ways and the people vote for representatives who make their voices heard in congress. Obviously, this whole system is run by humans. Humans are subject to temptation, passions and corruption and the founders saw this. This is why they created a system to limit corruption as best they could in the government. This is also why the people of the country do not have a direct voice to the inner workings of the government. They must be heard through their representative. As James Madison said in Federalist Paper 51,

What did James Madison mean by the last line? He believed the passions of the people were a threat to the unity of government and a threat to freedom. If the people of the country had direct control over the nation without any restraint, there would be utter chaos and anarchy. Everyone has desires and when faced with the opportunity to achieve those desires, humans do just about anything to get them if they don’t have a moral restraint. Ironically, too much freedom leads to the loss of freedom. How do you achieve a moral restraint that allows an equal distribution of freedom? The founders believed that religion was the method by which to regulate passions. It was believed that the nation’s belief in God would create a moral component to our society that would tame the population. It was believed that our government was designed to give freedom to everyone so long as it remained in the realm of morality. That, yes, we do have freedom but, we must filter our desired freedoms through a moral lens. That moral lens is religious principles. This though was expressed by one of the founders himself. In a letter to a division of the Massachusetts militia, John Adams stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other”.

Would John Adams see Americans as a moral and religious people today? Current events would show that we’ve backslid. Americans abuse, misinterpret, or are plain out ignorant of their freedoms, liberties and rights. We live in a world driven by gluttony, immediacy and entitlement and morality takes a back seat which means, religion has taken a back seat. We seek pleasures and call them rights. We fight to justify our entitlement to pleasures and materialism; twisting laws and religion. We abuse laws and regulations to attain our desires and care not of the consequences of our actions and make more laws with the faulty logic that they will save us from those consequences. More laws in actuality, leads to less freedom. Freedom would be secure with the simple practice of morality and ethical behavior. Freedom, you might say, is not being filtered through the moral lens of religion any longer. Americans no longer think as a nation but, as individuals. The clock is not working as it is supposed to.

Religious principles have driven our actions and thoughts throughout our entire history. It hasn’t necessarily been a single religion but rather, the commonality in the belief in God regardless of religion or denomination. We all aspired to please our Creator out of love according to the common guide set among our different beliefs. We all lived our lives according to a standard of integrity set prior to the founding of our country that was a part of everyday life. We created ideas that set us apart from the rest of the world on an ethical and moral level. These ideas guided our understanding of freedom and checked our desire to exploit our liberties. That said, we are also human and our human faults have also crept into our history. It is when our human faults overtake us and tempt us to work outside the designed system that causes the whole thing to become inefficient.

Freedom, as believed by our forefathers, was a privilege fought for in blood. We gained the freedom to our “pursuit of happiness” but, not everyone can be happy without the element of morality; without religion. It is the divine element that checks the faults of our humanity. Our country does not have an absolute freedom, nor does it have absolute tyranny. It has a form of freedom that is dependent on the people itself. It is dependent on the moral atmosphere of the population. It is dependent on the integrity of our people. It’s dependent on what we do with our freedom and how we choose our battles. It requires us to think about who each of us are as an American and what connects us to other Americans; what unites us as a people despite our differences. Freedom is not a word to be thrown around with mishap. It is an idea. It is the idea that we create our own land. That “We the People” evolve our freedom, rights and liberties with every collective decision we make. That God blessed our nation with the ability to be free in accordance to His standards and, without those standards, freedom risks dissolution.

In 1777, during the Revolutionary War, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife, Abigail, which speaks to us today reminding us of the value of our freedom in which he said, “Posterity! You will never know how much it cost the present Generation to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make good use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it”.

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    • Timothius profile image

      Timothius 2 months ago from Jasper, GA

      I appreciate your comment however, I disagree with you. I believe we are straying from these ideas due to the nature of our age and we need these ideals more than ever today.

    • CatherineGiordano profile image

      Catherine Giordano 2 months ago from Orlando Florida

      This is a well-written insightful essay about how the founders intended freedom to work in this country and the place of religion within civic life. I'm afraid that 241 years later, we have moved too far from their ideals.


Professor Neil Macfarlane writes on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

Neil Macfarlane has written a blog article (14 June) for the ZOiS (Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien) website, about the organisation for overseeing political, economic, and security cooperation between Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

He writes, “Concern by the Russian elite over the geopolitical threat from Beijing to Moscow’s position in Northeast and Central Asia is deeply rooted. It would be reasonable to expect considerable tension between the two great powers in the region.

Yet since 1996, China, Russia, and the Central Asian republics (except Turkmenistan) have cooperated in the development of the SCO. In June 2017, the organisation admitted India and Pakistan. In short, Russia has resisted external engagement in the West but has embraced it in Central Asia.

How do we explain the contrast?”

The full article is available here:

Professor Neil MacFarlane is Lester B Pearson Professor of International Relations and Fellow, St Annes College


Pilot cadets navigate J-10 fighter jets

Source：China Military Online Editor：Huang Panyue 2017-09-12

Pilots assigned to an aviation brigade of the air force under the PLA Southern Theater Command walk towards an aircraft hanger prior to a flight training exercise on September 9, 2017. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Wu Gaoming and Qiu Guangquan)

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