Another Pseudo-Ottoman Blog

fyeah-history: Vukašin Mrnjavčević, King of the Serbs and the...

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:53:32 +0300

Vukašin Mrnjavčević, King of the Serbs and the Greeks
Vukašin Mrnjavčević (c. 1320 – 26 September 1371) was a Serbian ruler in modern-day central and northwestern Macedonia, who ruled from 1365 to 1371.

shortformblog: nbcnews: Before and after: Tornado cuts...

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:52:30 +0300

shortformblog:

nbcnews:

Before and after: Tornado cuts devastating path through Oklahoma

(Before photo: Bing, after photo: AP)

Briarwood Elementary School, bottom right in Oklahoma City, Okla. before and after the tornado hit on May 20.

See more photos.

This before-and-after comparison lays bare the force of the tornado, evoking strongly the sights and memories from the 2011 catastrophe in Joplin, Missouri. Our thoughts as always are with the victims — in case you missed it, the death toll in Oklahoma was revised downward from 51 yesterday to just 24 today, a measure of mercy in the face of this tragedy.

anoncentral: Did You Know?

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:50:45 +0300

anoncentral:

Did You Know?

When Tayyip met Barrack: The Syria Conundrum or Rising Turkey Waning?

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:05:53 +0300

On Thursday, 16 May, Turkey’s ever-popular PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with U.S. President Barrack Obama. Prior to boarding his States-bound flight he announced to the nation that, upon his return, things would be very different. In view of the fact that the crisis in Syria was to be on top of the agenda, Erdoğan’s words led some to fear that war was imminent. Particularly, the PM’s enthusiastic endorsement of the idea of a “no-fly-zone” in Syria during his NBC interview with Ann Curry appeared to heighten such fears. And the war in Syria was top of the leaders’ agenda. The U.S. is keen to end the conflict in Syria, and Turkey’s role in the conflict is well-known.

CARTA :The Evolution of Human Nutrition Tracing the evolution of...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 16:30:05 +0200

CARTA :The Evolution of Human Nutrition

Tracing the evolution of the human diet from our earliest ancestors can lead to a better understanding of human adaptation in the past. It may also offer clues to the origin of many health problems we currently face, such as obesity and chronic disease. This fascinating series of talks focuses on the changing diets of our ancestors and what role these dietary transitions played in the evolution of humans. Leslie C. Aiello (Wenner-Gren Foundation) begins with An Overview of Diet and Evolution, followed by Richard Wrangham (Harvard Univ) on Fire, Starch, Meat, and Honey, Steven Leigh (Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) on Diets and Microbes in Primates. – Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny.

Saudi Arabia (and Qatar) & the U.S. (aided by Turkey behind...

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 11:34:00 +0200

Saudi Arabia (and Qatar) & the U.S. (aided by Turkey behind the scenes) deciding Syria’s Fate

The Fall of the US Empire: Global Fault-Lines and the Shifting...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:08:17 +0200

The Fall of the US Empire: Global Fault-Lines and the Shifting Imperial Order

Vassilis K. Fouskas and Bülent Gökay have had their recent work, The Fall of the US Empire: Global Fault-Lines and the Shifting Imperial Order (Pluto, 2012) reviewed in Counterfire, by William Booth.

The study of empire, hegemony and long-term power structures has attracted many prominent and respected authors. On the left these have included Giovanni Arrighi, Eric Hobsbawm, Hardt and Negri, and of course Lenin and Trotsky. Vassilis Fouskas and Bülent Gökay, two professors of international relations of socialist sympathy, are the latest to attempt a reframing of the debate for the contemporary period.

‘Global fault-lines’ is the way Fouskas and Gökay explain the decline of US power, an approach to international relations which uses the geological metaphor of ‘tectonic plates’. Inspired by Andre Gunder Frank, and specifically his post-Marxist works, Fouskas and Gökay sketch out various fault-lines which mark the points at which the ‘tectonic plates’ collide and crumble: the ‘failure of financial statecraft’, ‘the power shift to the Global East’ and ‘depletion and degradation’, the latter referring to both the impending scarcity of oil, water and food but also to climate change and its associated problems. The main thrust of the book is that the US is in serious decline, and that even if it manages to recover, it will only be one power among many: Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia, China and India, referred to (in somewhat puzzling fashion) as the ‘Global East’. This is contrary to the assertions of Leo Panitch (for whom US hegemony is not declining, merely ‘restructuring’) and Ray Kiely (who sees a ‘clash of globalisations’).

Fouskas and Gökay make a historical comparison between contemporary China and India on the one hand, and the United States in the nineteenth century on the other: ‘a huge continental economy with a young population, providing the driving force that enabled it to grab the lead in agriculture, apparel and the high technologies of the era’ (Fouskas and Gökay, p.115). In this way they follow several of the other authors referred to above in seeing both a generalized leeching of global power from the US to China, and the specific possibility that China will emerge as the new global hegemon.

This is in contrast to the work ofLeo Panitch and Sam Gindin, who claim that China has no imperial ambition beyond its own borders. This sort of political-culture argument is, however, undermined by the economic reality.[1] In their recent book The Making of Global Capitalism (2012), Panitch and Gindin refer to the American crisis of the 1970s as ‘neither decline nor moderation but restructuring’ (Panitch and Gindin, p.183). That restructuring, they claim, was borne out of necessity: the necessity of expanding markets to a global scale but on American terms. They argue that hegemonic power is not shifting eastwards, instead suggesting that the world is entering a multipolar phase. Fouskas and Gökay seem to see the multipolar near-future as a transitional stage before the hegemonic rise of the ‘Global East’.

In other ways, The Fall of the US Empire is similar to The Making of Global Capitalism, arguing that US imperialism contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction. In this respect, there is some crossover with the political ‘realism’ of Chalmers Johnson (Dismantling the Empire) and David P. Calleo (Follies of Power) who argue that the US state ought to recognise its own (overreached) limits before the costs of running an empire become prohibitive. Fouskas and Gökay do not necessarily see such ‘overstretch’ in military terms though: their critique is rooted in political economy, and they identify ‘Open Door Imperialism’, the imposition of free market ideology (and eventually financialization) through coercion and without reciprocation, as the destabilising factor.

In fact, one of their main objections to Giovanni Arrighi’s work is his apparent underplaying of the weakness inherent in America’s imposition of economy policy throughout large swathes of the world. The other objection cuts to the heart of the debate on empire, hegemony and power: does the rise and fall of imperial nations constitute a cyclical pattern or are should we be thinking about a series of related but ultimately separate phases of capitalism? On this matter, the authors of The Fall of the US Empire are somewhat unfair to Arrighi, as indeed are Panitch and Gindin. They present a caricature of his work which does not, as they suggest, equate early modern city states with contemporary global empires. Arrighi made it perfectly clear that he considered the concentration of power in the financial sector, over-commitment to foreign wars, and increasing government debt, to be signs of American decline.

Hardt and Negri (in Empire, Commonwealth and Multitude) argue that the globalisation of both ‘empire’ – broadly, the state, military and financial elites and their power structures – and the ‘multitude’ (the rest of us) has set up the world for a generalised conflict between the two. They are optimistic about the prospects for a revolution of the multitude against the empire. Fouskas and Gökay do not go into much detail about broad (transnational) class solidarity in this way, instead concentrating on the relative positions of nation-states, though they are also optimistic about opportunities for ‘socialism and green politics … [and] new radical forces’. Against this optimism, though, they (rightly) emphasise the emergence of what they call the ‘increasingly predatory state’ whose functions – ‘police, surveillance, violence’ – are intended to suppress the ‘multitude’. Care must, of course, be taken with the entire concept of ‘multitude’: in its broad nature and inherently vague definition, it tends to obscure crucial class dynamics.

whereis-ja: godiseven: captainfuck: Found this on...

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:00:45 +0200

whereis-ja:

godiseven:

captainfuck:

Found this on Facebook.

looks legit

i just peed a little

Galactus has finally come for his dinner …

revjalen: This book is spectacular. Learn your Anarchism!

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:56:02 +0200

revjalen:

This book is spectacular. Learn your Anarchism!

For all the Pedophiles and Necrophiliacs Out There!!!

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:54:29 +0200

For all the Pedophiles and Necrophiliacs Out There!!!

Worldwide Constant Coverage for the First, and None for the...

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 09:49:00 +0200

Worldwide Constant Coverage for the First, and None for the Latter

nevver: Stay asleep

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:41:48 +0200

nevver:

Stay asleep

breakingnews: Report on Benghazi attack cites failures within...

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:40:14 +0200

breakingnews:

Report on Benghazi attack cites failures within State Department

NBC News: An independent panel’s report on the Sept. 11 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, released Tuesday, places blame on the US State Department for the failure of the consulate to defend itself.

The report specifically blames ‘systemic failures and leadership and management deficiencies within two bureaus of the State Department’ for the lack of sound security. Four Americans were killed in the attack, including US Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Photo: The US Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames on Sept. 11, 2012. (Esam Omran Al-Fetori / Reuters, file)

Photo

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 15:39:18 +0200

Uncle Sam …

Wed, 19 Dec 2012 12:26:03 +0200

Uncle Sam …

mehreenkasana: socialismartnature: Vijay Prashad: Deaths of...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:59:11 +0200

mehreenkasana:

socialismartnature:

Vijay Prashad: Deaths of children that don’t make news

“My op-ed this morning in the stellar Daily Hampshire Gazette, www.gazettenet.com/home/3407669-95/killed-deaths-beings-chicago, on those children whose lives do not provoke a conversation about National Tragedy.”

Image shows Pakistani children protesting against drone strikes.

Make sure you read this piece by Mr. Prashad.

apoibwoy: Mixed media art by Ayad Alkadhi.

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:17:49 +0200

apoibwoy:

Mixed media art by Ayad Alkadhi.

"Of the some 3000 persons killed by US drones, something like 600 have been innocent noncombatant..."

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:08:00 +0200

“Of the some 3000 persons killed by US drones, something like 600 have been innocent noncombatant bystanders, and of these 176 were children. In some instances the US drone operators have struck at a target, then waited for rescuers to come and struck again, which would be a war crime. Obviously, children may run in panic to the side of an injured parent, so they could get hit by the indiscriminate second strike. We don’t know the exact circumstances of the children’s deaths because the US government won’t talk about them, indeed, denies it all.”

- Let’s also Remember the 176 children Killed by US Drones - Juan Cole. (via mehreenkasana)

“Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto...

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 10:04:59 +0200

“Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven”

kawrage: Will send this to the next person who argues that...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 13:11:24 +0200

kawrage:

Will send this to the next person who argues that “women are like pearls and must be protected”